A detective story, this socio-cultural biography pieces together methodological inquiry with a jigsaw puzzle composed of secret documents, probate records, court testimony, speeches, and correspondence to tell the story of a man named Smith, of his vision for the US, and of the value of remembering secondary historical characters.

Restores the centrality of households to the American Civil War. These essays complicate the standard distinctions between battlefront and homefront, soldier and civilian, and men and women. From this vantage point, they look at the interplay of family and politics, studying the ways in which the war shaped and was shaped by the American household.