Osband provides vivid and opinionated daily accounts of his experiences as a sergeant in the 1st Michigan Engineers and Mechanics. Osband is very attentive to the scenery of each place they visit, and he often details the landscape, the weather, and the local people (typically in unflattering terms). In addition, Osband observes and often critiques the routines of camp life, especially the irregularity of pay and the lack of transparency about wages. This becomes such a contentious issue among the regiment that about twenty soldiers refuse to march despite the possibility of court martial. Eventually, Osband and a number of other non-commissioned officers are demoted, presumably for refusing to accept wages that were less than those promised to them upon enlistment. Along with these major themes, a few topics of particular interest to Osband include officer decision-making, field reports, chores, and his poor health, the latter of which eventually helps him obtain a furlough to visit home.
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