Far more than a mere documentation of the horrors and banality of the Civil War, John Preston Sheffey's literate and often witty writings demonstrate his ardor for battle, his love of his home state of Virginia, and his passion in waging a most arduous and suspenseful campaign: to win Josephine Spiller of Wytheville, Virginia, as his wife. Edited by James I. Robertson, Jr., Sheffey's letters are the first published correspondence by a member of the 8th Virginia Cavalry. They reflect the ever-present dangers of war and a soldier's poignant attempts to assuage a woman's fears of committing to a man enmeshed far from home in the dire struggle for the Confederacy.