L. H. Graves, from Collin County, Texas, was a Lieutenant in Captain J. W. Throckmorton’s Company K, Sixth Texas Cavalry, one of four regiments composing Ross’s Brigade. He began keeping his diary when he first set out from Texas to join the command of Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch in 1861. He was present at the battle of Pea Ridge (Benton County) in March 1862 and followed his regiment east of the Mississippi during the weeks following the engagement. Graves was seriously wounded in the fighting at Corinth, Mississippi, in October of that year and spent the next few months recuperating as a prisoner of the Union at Iuka, Mississippi. He did not rejoin his regiment until May 1, 1863, at Shelbyville, Tennessee.