The War Outside My Window (Young Readers Edition): The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865

A vivid, personal Civil War diary reveals a privileged youth’s sharp wit, daily life, and fading health amid a nation’s collapse.

LeRoy Wiley Gresham was born into an affluent slave-holding family in Macon, Georgia. A horrific leg injury left him an invalid, but that didn’t stop the educated, inquisitive, perceptive, and exceptionally witty 12-year-old from keeping a diary in 1860—just as secession and the Civil War began tearing the country and his world apart. He continued his reading, stu...