The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 [by Leander Stillwell]

Leander Stillwell was an 18-year-old Illinois farm boy, living with his family in a log cabin, when the U.S. Civil War broke out. Stillwell felt a duty "to help save the Nation;" but, as with many other young men, his Patriotism was tinged with bravura: "the idea of staying at home and turning over senseless clods on the farm with the cannon thundering so close at hand was simply intolerable." Stillwell volunteered for the 61st Illinois Infantry in January 1861. His youthful enthusiasm for the soldier's life was soon tempered at Shiloh, where he first "saw a gun fired in anger," and "saw a man die a violent death."

This is a LibriVox recording read by Sue Anderson.

link to the free audiobook
The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 [by Leander Stillwell]