Serving With Honor

The third volume in our series Unwritten Chapters of the Civil War West of the River is the diary of a Confederate officer, Captain Eathan Allen Pinnell, Company D, Eighth Missouri Infantry. When the war began, Pinnell enlisted in Company F, Third Missouri Cavalry, Missouri State Guard (probably the Seventh Division). Rising to the rank of sergeant, Pinnell left the Guard after his six month term of service had expired. He joined the regular Confederate Army in August 1862, helping to organize what would become Company D, Eighth Missouri Infantry. Pinnell's diary, in which he made scrupulously regular entries, covers the period of time he served in the Confederate Army from August 1862 to June 1865. Though he participated in only three battles (Prairie Grove, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins' Ferry), Pinnell's diary is probably one of the most thorough recollections of Confederate service west of the Mississippi River. Captain Pinnell presents vivid accounts of battlefield actions, camp life, and opinions of the war, particularly on how the war should have been conducted. The book is thoroughly annotated by author/editor Michael Banasik and contains a complete descriptive roster of the 8th Missouri Infantry (Confederate); also, biographies (with photographs) of some of the more prominent individuals mentioned in the diary, maps, and an index.