In 1860 Henry Wemyss Feilden (1838–1921) resigned his British army commission and travelled to America, where he joined the Confederate forces in Charleston; until the end of the Civil War he served as a staff officer, travelling widely and marrying a local woman. Feilden’s letters, an important source for our knowledge of military matters and civilian life in the southern states, appear here with annotations and reminiscences which he added in his final years.