"C. H. Ruffin, of Nash Co., wounded yesterday. Dies in my arms—in perfect peace. Charlie enlisted at 17, and, perhaps, was the wildest boy in his Regiment." Secular or religious, you will find Alexander Betts' diary from his service in the American Civil War moving, interesting, and illuminating of its time. Edited and published by his son in 1901, the diary entries provide fascinating details from everyday life during the war in the south. Betts barely mentions slavery, never mentions the names "Lincoln" or "Grant." He was referred to by Robert E. Lee as "that model chaplain." He attended to the spiritual needs of soldiers, yes, but also held many a dying man to comfort him. He was as devoted in his care to captured and wounded Union soldiers as his own. Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever.