The journal is very interesting, but due to a serious wound (I believe at Gaines's Mill) and his imprisonment, he reports very little on the war. The really interesting thing about Patterson was that he was originally from Ohio and had moved to Alabama to work in sales. He failed in that and ended up teaching before joining the 9th Alabama. He considered his home now to be Alabama. While he was in prison in Ohio, his family had negotiated with prison officials for his release to them, providing he swore an oath to the Union and returned with them to the family home. He refused, eventually returned to Alabama, and alienated his family for many years afterwards.

John