title: Eyewitness to the Civil War: The Complete History from Secession to Reconstruction
author: Steve Hyslop
description: Neil Kagan, editor, heads Kagan &amp; Associates Inc., a firm specializing in innovative illustrated books, and is the guiding spirit behind numerous book series including <i>Voices of the Civil War</i> and <i>Our American Century.</i> Recently he edited <i>Great Battles of the Civil War, Great Photographs of the Civil War,</i>and <i>National Geographic Concise History of the World.</i> He lives in Falls Church, Virginia. <br /><br />Stephen G. Hyslop is a writer and editor of books on American and world history, including <i>National Geographic Almanac of World History</i> (with Patricia Daniels). He served as editor for the history series <i>Time Frame, What Life Was Like, </i> and <i>American Indians.</i> He is a contributing writer for History Channel Magazine.
zlib_text: # DESTRUCTION
  
  ##### AND
  
  # RECONSTRUCTION:
  
  ###  _PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE LATE WAR._
  
  ##### BY
  
  ## RICHARD TAYLOR,
  
  #### LIEUTENANT-GENERAL IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.
  
  NEW YORK:  
  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,  
  549 AND 551 BROADWAY.  
  1879.
  
  COPYRIGHT BY  
  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,  
  1879.
  
  ##  PREFACE.
  
  These reminiscences of Secession, War, and Reconstruction it has seemed to me
  a duty to record. An actor therein, accident of fortune afforded me
  exceptional advantages for an interior view.
  
  The opinions expressed are sincerely entertained, but of their correctness
  such readers as I may find must judge. I have in most cases been a witness to
  the facts alleged, or have obtained them from the best sources. Where
  statements are made upon less authority, I have carefully endeavored to
  indicate it by the language employed.
  
  > R. TAYLOR.
  
  _December, 1877._
  
  * * *
  
  ## CONTENTS.
  
  [PREFACE](text00000.html#filepos0000000649)
  
  ###  [CHAPTER I.](text00000.html#filepos0000009050)
  
  Secession.  
    
  Ca