Published in 1863, English novelist George Alfred Lawrence's first foray into travel-writing recounts a failed attempt to join the Confederate Army of Virginia. Lawrence (1827 76), who abandoned a law career when his first novel (1853) sold, became known for books that celebrated the brash, violent, aristocratic hero. Lawrence had joined the militia in England, and one critic has suggested that Lawrence's American expedition was his attempt to live as his most famous character, Guy Livingstone, and his attempt to write himself into heroism. In novelistic fashion his work describes his voyage...