Only eighteen when he marched off to war, young Confederate 
Robert Campbell already possessed the keen, perceptive eye of a 
seasoned journalist.
 
    After fighting with the 5th Texas Infantry Regiment in the 
famed Hood’s Texas Brigade, where he held the dubious 
distinction of being the most wounded man, Campbell recorded 
the first months of his service for the benefit of future generations. 
Now George Skoch and Mark W. Perkins bring Campbell’s 
eyewitness accounts from the frontline to the public in Lone Star 
Confederate, a telling glimpse into a Johnny Reb’s life.

    Campbell’s tale begins with his introduction to the unit in 
Virginia and continues until his furlough home after he suffers a 
serious battle wound at Second Manassas. He praises Southern 
women who cared for soldiers along the railroad line from 
Richmond to Montgomery and recalls eating ten ears of green corn 
after three days of short rations and a hard day of fighting. The 
terrible conditions of battle—eating and sleeping too little, 
marching and drilling too much, cleaning weapons and standing 
watch in the rain and cold—are vividly real under Campbell’s pen, 
which also praises Lee, Jackson, and other Confederate officers.

    Skoch and Perkins have supplemented the record of Campbell’s 
wartime service with his letters written during and after the war. 
His remarkable firsthand account of life in the 5th Texas will find a 
permanent niche in the literature of the Civil War.

_________________________________________________________

GEORGE SKOCH, from Fairview Park, Ohio, has written several 
books and articles and served as coeditor of Blue & Gray 
magazine. MARK W. PERKINS is a member of the Kent Civil 
War Society and a Civil War reenactment group that portrays the 
5th Texas Infantry, Company A. He lives in Copley, Ohio.


Number Eighty-four: Texas A&M University Military History 
Series


What people are saying about this book

“Lone Star Confederate should rank among the best postwar 
memoirs written by enlisted soldiers of the War Between the 
States. An educated son of a lawyer, Campbell’s literary skills 
were impressive, especially compared to the more typically 
under-educated Southern soldier.  Preserving its originality, 
editors George Skoch and Mark W. Perking, recognizing 
Campbell’s able pen, thoughtfully allowed him to express himself to
the reader directly, without excessive editorial interpretation or
intervention.”—Blue & Gray

". . . has to rank among the best Civil War accounts by a Lone Star 
soldier."—James I. Robertson, Jr., author, Stonewall Jackson: The 
Man, The Soldier, The Legend

"A welcome addition to the history of the legendary Texas 
Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia."—Stephen W. Sears, author, 
Chancellorsville