Books by Earl J. Hess

The Tar Heels were one of the hardest-fighting units in the Army of Northern Virginia, Hess draws on letters, diaries, memoirs and service records to explore the camp life, social backgrounds and political attitudes as well as chronicling their military engagements.

A native of Warren County, Iowa, Cyrus F. Boyd served a year and a half as an orderly sergeant with the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry before becoming first lieutenant in Company B of the Thirty-Fourth Iowa Infantry. His diary offers a full account of soldiering in the Union Army.