Battery D First Rhode Island Light Artillery in the Civil War

This is a soldier's-eye chronicle of Battery D, the First Rhode Island Light Artillery, from the opening days of the Civil War through Lee's surrender. George C. Sumner, who served in the battery, documents the remarkable journey from wide-eyed volunteers drilling at Camp Sprague to battle-hardened artillerymen who learned war's brutal lessons in actual combat. The narrative captures that distinctive moment when Northern men from varied backgrounds became soldiers, revealing both the earnest patriotism and the practical challenges of transforming civilians into a functioning military unit. Through detailed accounts of camp routines, winter hardships, and the chaos of battle, the book illuminates the intimate texture of Civil War soldier life: the friendships forged in adversity, the terror of artillery fire, and the dark humor that sustained men through unimaginable hardship. Written in 1897 with the distance of memory but the authority of experience, this memoir endures for anyone seeking to understand what ordinary men found inside themselves when the nation went to war.