The year was 1861, and Mary Hulett did the best she could to get her son ready for surviving the conflict that loomed over a broken nation. "She gave me a list of items to carry in my saddle bags and I went about securing those items as if my life depended on it. I still remember that list: a slicker to help keep me dry and warm, a pocket knife and a whet rock to keep it sharp, a shaving razor and leather strop, flint for starting fires, a hatchet to split kindling and chop wood, a hawk bill knife, a needle and tack hammer for leather repair, and a bottle of turpentine spirits to make beef tallow poultices for treating wounds." However, nothing could have prepared David Thomas Hulett for what awaited him not only during the Civil War, but afterwards as he navigated a world filled with unknowns, unexpected heartbreak, and newfound joys. In this imagined first-person account, Hulett's great-grandson, Jim L. Yonge, provides a detailed account of Hulett's life that is filled with wit and wisdom, and is as thought-provoking as it is inspirational.