Excerpt from Our Boys: The Personal Experiences of a Soldier in the Army of the Potomac I have endeavored to relate each incident just as it occurred, and to portray each scene as it presented itself to me in its originality. I do not pretend to justify all the acts of the characters, but simply lay the facts before the reader, for criticism. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This memoir provides a firsthand account of the daily life of a Union soldier during the Civil War. A. F. Hill served in the Army of the Potomac and participated in some of the most pivotal battles of the conflict. He offers a gritty, unvarnished look at the realities of war, as well as insights into the minds and motivations of the men who fought it. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1864 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI. A FIGHTING DAT. After a long season of peace and quiet, a season of something neither peaceful nor quiet is apt to come. There is no surer sign of a storm than a long-continued calm; and when, after a calm of long duration, the storm does come, it is sure to be one of considerable magnitude. For a long time we had not had a single civil fight. What I mean by "civil fight," is, a fight among ourselves, entirely to ourselves--in our own company. We had been at perfect peace ever since the fight of Corporal Chair and John G. Graham, which occurred in Camp Wilkins. As misfortunes never come singly, neither are fights apt to; and they did not come singly on the occasion of which I am about to speak. When two men do not like each other, that is, when there is a feeling of animosity existing between them, it is truly astonishing how trifling a circumstance will lead to a "coming together." Now, there was a feud existing between Sergeant Cue and Sergeant Zee, of our company. I know not from what cause the bitter feeling arosj, unless from envy; but I do know that just the smallest matter in the world was sufficient to lead to a row between them, notwithstanding that they were non-commissioned officers; and it is highly improper for officers, either commissioned or non-commissioned, so far to forget their dignity as to indulge in a vulgar knock-down. But on this occasion, dignity, position, and all else were forgotten--all save hate. But I will proceed in due form to relate the incident. It was near noon. Groups were collected here and there in the company street, engaged in discussing the probability of the war's being over by Christmas. Sergeant Cue accidentally dropped his cap; it fell in the dust, and the blue cloth was slightly, ...