"In 1860, Orlando S. Palmer left his home in north Alabama to study law in Tennessee and the following year went into practice in Des Arc, Arkansas. With Arkansas's secession, Palmer joined what would become Company H of the First (later Fifteenth) Arkansas Infantry and soon became his company's captain and brigade's adjutant. As such, he was closely associated with William J. Hardee, Thomas C. Hindman, and Patrick R. Cleburne, the latter of whom he served from the day that the First Arkansas was organized until Palmer and Cleburne both sustained fatal wounds at the battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864. The letters, almost all of which are addressed to his sister, "Missie," are divided equally between military and social concerns. Cutrer argues these letters offer a clear and entertaining window into the life and times of a junior officer serving in the Army of Tennessee"-- Provided by publisher.