Book excerpt: "John Morris Wampler was a topographical engineer in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States and eventually became chief engineer of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. Based on extensive use of Wampler's unpublished correspondence and journals, the biography follows his experiences before hostilities and then during the war in both major theaters. It also draws on the writings of his wife, Kate, to show how she struggled to hold their family together during the fighting. The combination of both the husband and wife's perspectives on the war makes this treatment unique."--Jacket.