It's everything a poor history text would be: long-winded with scant use of paragraphing and prolific use of passive verbiage. Comprehension requires diligence, something that a younger me would not have bothered with.

The story follows a Confederate army faction and their "guns"--which kind of guns to distinguish them from regular infantry guns, the author never clarifies--in Virginia all through the American Civil War. The Colonel and his division grew fond of their six guns and named them The Cat, The Eagle, and The Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each gun has special character that warrants the name. However, as the title of the story implies, there comes a time when the men must bury their loved machines. Don't worry that's 9,000 words in the making. Most of the story is details about the war from a general's distant, conceptual view and nothing memorable. ( )