Civil War Journal of a Union Soldier was edited and published this year by P.C. Zick, great-granddaughter of Harmon Camburn, a sergeant in the Second Michigan Infantry from 1861-1864.

Harmon Camburn gave the strongest years of his youth and lost his health in the war between the states. He enlisted at age 19, was made sergeant, survived marches, privation, battles, injury and capture, and was discharged with a wounded lung in 1864.  He wrote the journal years later, at the request of his children, from a diary he kept throughout that time. He tells about his part in the war with dispassion and no praise for himself, but it’s plain he was a remarkable young man, dependable, resourceful, loyal, cheerful, and humane. His journal praises those traits in others.

I couldn’t follow all the maneuvers of the Second Michigan, but I got a clear idea of how much territory the army covered, a year or more in Virginia, advancing…