Book excerpt: This second in a series of books on Bristol's history gives a vivid account of her most trying years—the Civil War period. It begins with a look at slavery as it existed in the new town in those years just prior to the beginning of the war. For a town its size, Bristol had a surprising number of slaves. Information given in the opening section of the book was largely obtained from the writings of two persons who lived in the new town at that time—thus a valuable insight into slave life is given by those who saw it firsthand. The author has endeavored to show how this great civil conflict affected the everyday lives of local citizens. An effort is made here to show that Bristolians suffered more from the atrocious acts of roving bands of bushwhackers than by the invasion of conquering Yankees.