In a conflict that was the largest in the history of the Western Hemisphere, the Civil War brought unprecedented suffering in every form. Yet the greatest tragedy of all was that both sides were fighting for the same thing : America, as North and South each envisioned what the still-ripening republic should be. Young men of the Union and Confederacy alike went to war to defend the same constitution...Those recruits were ready to fight, but few of them know how to fight. The War of 1812 was history, the Mexican War a vague childhood recollection to most of the youths drawn into the struggle of the 1860s. They had no conception of drill, life in the open, following orders unhesitatingly, mastering weapons, digging earthworks, and eating unfamiliar food. They would face diseases they had never known and wounds they had never imagined. And through it all, these common-folk-turned-soldiers would endure homesickness to a degree none of them had ever envisioned. Their story is a mixture of hardship, humor, and heroism - which are doubtless the ways in which Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks would like to be remembered. -- From the first chapter.