The collection consists of the American Civil War diary of James Miles. The diary's entries date from January through March 1865 and include descriptions of battles and the deaths of soldiers by snipers. Miles' short entries relate the physical and emotional difficulties of being a soldier as evidenced by an entry about a fellow soldier who had deserted, "supposed to shoot him but didn't have it in me". The last entry is on the day before Miles was killed in action which was ten days before the end of the war.