A valuable American Civil War diary This substantial diary of a Union soldier serving with a New York infantry regiment benefits from its author's talent for observation. Diary entries were made frequently and regularly, sometimes on more than one occasion during the course of a day, and this provides the reader with what amounts to reportage of a conflict which was fought not too long after the professional reporter became a regular feature of campaign and camp in the nineteenth century. Van Alstyne was a man committed to the preservation of the Union and his views on the subject of slavery, probably because his family had once been slave owners, are initially ambivalent. The 128th New York Volunteers (nicknamed 'Old Steady') took part in the siege of Port Hudson, the Red River Expedition, Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign and many other notable engagements. Eventually Van Alstyne earned a commission and went on to command a regiment of freed slaves from Louisiana. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.