This book contains the transcribed journals and reports of a war correspondent for the Boston Journal covering the campaign that captured New Orleans in 1862. Hills' journals begin in November 1861 and describe the Union preparations for the main assault and subsequent move up the Mississippi river, the attack on forts Jackson and St. Phillip, and his impression of the captured city. His observations from Union vessels in the Gulf Squadron as he covered the war in the Gulf are also included. His articles for the Boston Journal have herein been set near timely journal entries along with other notes to help the reader understand the context of what was going on in the war at the same time. A narrative of Hills' life using available records and family documents is included.

This is the story of the ambush of the USS Isaac P. Smith at the Battle on the Stono River, January 30, 1863. US Navy officers Frederic Calvin Hills and John Wyer Dicks were on the Smith and were the ancestors of the author's wife, although they did not become related until after the Civil War. This book tells the story of the Smith up to the battle and gives the battle story based on eyewitness accounts, battle reports, and official records. The story of the crew's imprisonment as well as the post battle and postwar lives of Frederic and John are also included as well as some short biographies of battle veterans and civilians, Union and Confederate.