Scope and Content The collection consists of two volumes of Beck’s diary compiled during his service in the Army of Northern Virginia. Beck’s diaries from 1861 through February 1864 were lost in a 1894 fire at the headquarters of a Confederate Reunion in Birmingham. In 327 diary entries, Beck provides detailed observations on the daily life of an enlisted man in the Confederate Army. Beck ruminates on weather conditions, daily marches, and his primary duty of feeding the troops. He gives detailed accounts of...