Download or read book Rebel at Large written by Philip Van Buskirk and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-10-21 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This diary is one of the most unusual produced during the Civil War because it contains very little about military life. Early in the war Van Buskirk abandoned his regiment, working as a schoolmaster, farmhand, and casual laborer. He wrote of the suffering civilians endured at the hands of contending armies. But he also found time to chronicle his fascination with handsome young lads he encountered during his life as a deserter--unwittingly providing modern readers an illuminating glimpse of class differences and sexual mores. Naval, social and sexual historians, in particular, will find much valuable source material.