The diary begins in May 1864 following a furlough and covers the movements of Sam's unit, the 65th Regiment Georgia Infantry, Company I, in the Atlanta area all that summer. Most of the time they were building fortifications. At the end of September, they retreated into North Georgia, Alabama, and then Tennessee where they participated in the Battle of Franklin at the end of November. More marching through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina led them to North Carolina where they finally surrendered at the end of April. A couple of pages at the end mention school, potato digging, and the smallpox. The diary is made up of short statements of activities.