Bouquets from the cannon's mouth

"Organized in the spring of 1861, the Pennsylvania Reserves became of the storied divisions in the Army of the Potomac. Focusing on five young volunteers who served with the Reserves' Eight Regiment, Bouquets from the Cannon's Mouth tells the story of the regiment and the legendary division it belonged to. Drawing on numerous letters, diaries, and other personal accounts, Eberly immerses the reader in the heartbreak of the American Civil War and brings to life the camaraderie of a nineteenth-century band of brothers.

Of the five volunteers who form the focus of the story, one lost a leg at Antietam, one died in a Confederate prison at Salisbury, North Carolina, and the three who survived the war were so broken by their experience as prisoners of war it took them years to recover."--Jacket.