This collection of letters represents a valuable contribution to the soldier literature of the Civil War and as such deserves a broad readership. High-quality eyewitness accounts of military operations in the Trans-Mississippi theater, where Clayton did much of his campaigning, are rare, as are first-person prisoner-of-war experiences. Furthermore, readers of Iowa history will be interested in the material related to ... Read morethe southeastern part of the state, where residents were split by the secession crisis. Elder's editorial intervention in the letters is minimal, a tribute to the literate style in which they were written. Moreover, his annotations, supported by an impressive array of primary and secondary sources, provide the necessary historical context without being intrusive. - Barry Popchock, editor, Soldier Boy: The Civil War Letters of Charles O. Musser, 29th Iowa Show Less