Its first commander was William C. Falkner, great-grandfather of the famous author William C. Faulkner (the author changed the spelling of the family last name). Its second and last commander was John Marshall Stone, later governor of Mississippi. The Second Mississippi Infantry Regiment was one of hardest hitting infantry regiments in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Although there existed, of course, famous brigades, divisions, and even corps, the individual Confederate fighting man always identified most closely with his regiment. This is an introduction to the story of one such regiment, the 2nd Mississippi Infantry Volunteers, that served in the Army of Northern Virginia. It fought in most of the Virginia army's major battles, being detached and absent only at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. The 2nd Mississippi met its final demise a week before Lee's surrender at Appomattox when it was overwhelmed by the Federal breakthrough of the Petersburg defenses on April 2, 1865 along the banks of a stream called Hatcher's Run. The cover photo is a photo of the actual regimental battle flag (colors) they were carrying when captured.

This first volume in an intended series on the history of the Second Mississippi Infantry Regiment includes a introduction to the regiment's organization and makeup, an annotated roster of all identifiable 1,888 members who served, and a special section on those members who were named to the Confederate Roll of Honor for bravery in battle.