[dropcap]I[/dropcap] long for a little excitement,” a Confederate private wrote to the folks back home in Texas on Nov. 11, 1864, “and a battle is the only thing that can satisfy me.”

To hear historians tell it, the War Between the States was a giant chess game played by gentleman generals.  But the soldiers, who fought and died in America’s bloodiest conflict, were men, not faceless board pieces, with families, hopes and dreams and each had his own story to tell.

Confeder...