Every Civil War veteran had a story to tell. But few stories top the one lived by Wright Stephen Batchelor. Like most North Carolina farmers, Batchelor eschewed slaveholding. He also opposed secession and war, yet he fought on both sides of the conflict. During his time in each uniform, Batchelor barely avoided death at the Battle of Gettysburg, was captured twice, and survived one of the war's most infamous prisoner-of-war camps. He escaped and, after walking hundreds of miles, rejoined his comrades at Petersburg, Virginia, just as the Union siege there began. Once the war ended, Batchelor returned on foot to his farm, where he took part in local politics, supported rights for freedmen, and was fatally involved in a bizarre hometown murder. Michael K. Brantley's story of his great-great-grandfather's odyssey blends memory and Civil War history to look at how the complexities of loyalty and personal belief governed one man's actions--and still influence the ways Americans think about the conflict today.

A Guest of Mr. Lincoln: The Wartime Service of Sergeant Joseph W. Wheeless, Company K, 32nd NC Infantry Regiment, Confederate States Army is a must-read story of four years of America’s colorful history. It is also the story of how the Wheeless family came from England to America in the late 1600’s and spread out across the new Republic to participate in its growth from infancy during the American Revolution to the Internet Age and beyond. This book is a story about the legacy of the Wheeless family and how Joseph survived four years of the bloodiest war ever fought in North America. The book also provides snapshots of Joseph’s life and experiences before, during, and after the war, most based on available documents, letters, and newspapers of the day, and some based on suppositions. This book is not a political statement about the war or its aftermath; it simply adds another chapter to the story of the Wheeless’ long history that helps educate current and future generations.

Acclaimed as "the finest state roster ever published" and a "magnificent achievement," North Carolina Troops is an invaluable resource for scholars, local historians, genealogists, and Civil War enthusiasts. Each indexed volume contains unit histories and the names and service records of approximately 7,000 North Carolinians who served in the Civil War.