4 years on the firing line

"James Cooper Nisbet's Four years on the firing line has long been recognized by Civil War experts as one of the best personal narratives by a Confederate officer. Published in 1914 in a small edition by the Imperial Press of Chattanooga, it has been out of print for many years. The author of Four years on the firing line was a remarkable man. Although he was only twenty-two years old when hostilities began in 1861, he soon raised a company in his North Georgia community and became its captain. As Company 'H', twenty-first Georgia regiment, of the famous Doles-Cook Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia, Nisbet's unit made an enviable record. It had its baptism of fire under Stonewall Jackson at Winchester, May 24, 1862, and was actively engaged in the Seven Days' battles. At Second Manassas, Nisbet and his men, after exhausting their ammunition, beat off the Federals with gun butts and rocks. They were also in the thick of the heavy fighting at Antietam and Fredericksburg. Nisbet commanded his regiment when his superiors became temporarily incapacitated during the Seven Days and at Antietam. He seemed to get a thrill out of combat, and his forceful and fearless leadership won the admiration of both officers and men"--Jacket.