This collection consists of letters of Thomas Pimer to his father John during his service in the Civil War. From the week after he joined the 21st in September of 1862 to the week before he was finally mustered out of the regiment in June of 1865, Thomas wrote twenty-two letters home to his father. The letters trace Pimer's progress through the war. His first glimpse of combat comes at Fredericksburg, where the 21st is ordered to charge the Confederate batteries, but is then ordered to retreat before the attack can take place. The scene of the battle leads to a loss of Pimer's idealism and confidence in the necessity of the war. In this and the following letters there are disturbing descriptions, not only of the battle, but of Pimer's and his fellow soldiers' callous disregard for both the local population and for the enslaved African-Americans.