Book excerpt: This is the never before told story of hundreds of Americans who went to war in defense of their beliefs, to seek adventure and to see some of the world beyond their rural Pennsylvania neighborhoods. Developed largely in the words of the soldiers of the 145th Pennsylvania Infantry, Common Men highlights some of the men's lives before the war and then carries the reader through trials and triumphs from enlistment, Jubilant send-off, action from Antietam through Gettysburg and casualty, Democracy and the Union are sustained through the actions of common men, men not always given the best of orders.