In this historical treasure, now restored to posterity, text and drawings by a Union cartographer record the daily life of Civil war soldiers, the firsthand observation of officers, and the battles he witnessed from Yorkville to Bull Run. 85 full-color illustrations.

What did the Civil War mean to Virginia-and what did Virginia mean to the Civil War?

Nelson Lankford draws upon Civil War-era diaries, letters, memoirs, and newspaper reports to vividly recapture the experiences of the men and women, both black and white, who witnessed the tumultuous fall of Richmond. In April 1865 General Robert E. Lee realized that his army must retreat from the Confederate capital and that Jefferson Davis's government must flee. As the Southern soldiers moved out they set the city on fire, leaving a blazing ruin to greet the entering Union troops. The city's fall ushered in the birth of the modern United States. Lankford's exploration of this pivotal event is at once an authoritative work of history and a stunning piece of dramatic prose.

"The Jefferson Society is the University of VIrginia's oldest student organization. Founded in 1825, the Society has counted the likes of Woodrow Wilson and Edgar Allan Poe among its members and remains one of the largest and most active student organizations on the Grounds. Society Ties tells the Society's story and gives a history of student life at the University of Virginia, exploring what motivated students and how they experienced the ineffable place that is Jefferson's Academical Village." -- Front dust jacket flap.

Both exhibition and book celebrate the society's 225th year. Distributed for the Massachusetts Historical Society