John H. Worsham (1855 - 1920) served under General "Stonewall" Jackson in the Civil War; he was an "old "F" and adjutant of 21st Virginia Infantry.

It was the twenty-first regiment, Virginia infantry, that by its steady, compact, and rapid marching won the name of Jackson's Foot Cavalry. It formed a part of the famous Second Brigade, which saw some of the hardest service of the entire war, in the brilliant Valley Campaign, the memorable and sanguinary Seven Days' Campaign, and the Maryland Campaign. Mr. Worsham enlisted in Company F of this gallant regiment at the beginning of the war, rose by successive promotions to the adjutancy of the regiment in 1864, but was wounded and permanently disabled a week later at Winchester.

His narrative is that of one viewing no extended field of military operations, but unassumingly doing the nearest duty and acquitting himself well in his allotted place. Here in his picture of Jackson at Fredericksburg: "Gen. Jackson soon made his appearance along the line with a cavalcade of officers following him. He was dressed in a brand-new uniform, with the usual gold lace trimmings for a lieutenant general. He even had exchanged the old gray cap for a new bespangled one, and looked so unlike our 'Old Jack' that very few noticed him, and none recognized him until he had passed. Then the old accustomed cheer to him went up with unusual vigor!" The whole story of this campaigning with Jackson is well told.

It has been a long time since anything so thoroughly interesting and instructive has come from the South. Here is a contribution to the history of the War between the States that is well worth a place in the nation's library. It is the war experience of a private soldier told with spirit and a persuasive humor truly delightful—as Dickens might have written it.

Worsham's sense of humor, his pathos, his fancy, his descriptive power, made him just the man to write this account of the great campaigns in which he took part. He knew thoroughly how to appraise greatness, and few men have possessed a keener ability for gathering news. Worsham has made realistic the humorous, the dramatic, and the weirdly picturesque of the greatest game played by human pawns.

Worsham writes:

"In writing my experience and what I saw during the war as one of Jackson's 'foot cavalry,' it is not my intention to make a comparison of commands, but simply to state what was seen and experienced by me. When other commands are mentioned, it is done to give their position so that the reader may the better understand the situation; and when I have a word of praise for them, it is because they came under my eye. It is needless to make comparisons between different commands of the Army of Northern Virginia. The world never saw such courage, devotion, and patriotism as was displayed by the men of that army, and every man in it who did his duty was a hero." 353 pages, indexed.