More Terrible Than Victory is the poignant history of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers (later designated the 11th Regiment North Carolina Troops), which figured prominently in many of the most famous campaigns of the American Civil War. Better known as the Bethel Regiment, it was a distinguished but tragic unit that suffered the South's first battlefield death and, remarkably, was still serving proudly when the end came at Appomattox. Craig Chapman's unit-focused tour of the war's Eastern Theater provides fresh insights into the enigmatic character of the Southern soldier, a man who fought valiantly, suffered horribly, and ultimately lost a war that just could not be won.