A Soldier's Recollections: Leaves from the Diary of a Young Confederate, with an Oration on the Motives and Aims of the Soldiers of the South (Collector's Library of the Civil War)

xvii, 362 pp. Blue boards with gilt title on spine and front board. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. "Born into a distinguished Virginian family, Randolph McKim left university to join the Confederate cause in 1861. Heavily engaged in the fighting in 1861 and 1862 at the first battle of Manassas and Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign, even losing a horse shot under him at Cross Keys, his gallantry did not go unnoticed: he was mentioned in numerous dispatches for his heroic conduct, most significantly for volunteering to resupply Confederate troops under the withering fire of Federals at Culp’s Hill during the battle of Gettysburg. Despite all the signs of a career as an officer of great merit, a higher calling intervened and he resigned to join the clergy, remaining with the Confederate forces as a Chaplain until the end of the War. His memoirs are a testament to his honesty, straight-forwardness and his experiences of the war."