Thomas Noakes would be a forgotten man, possibly known for his painting of the Civil War Battle of Corpus Christi or the 1875 bandit raid on his Nuecestown store. But he kept a diary of his mundane life, telling of his struggles to exist in South Texas during the hard years of the Civil War. From 1858 to 1867 Noakes recorded his life as a British immigrant to South Texas as he attempted to establish a cattle-raising operation. His struggles were interrupted by the Civil War. His diary details the hardships of life in South Texas exacerbated by a severe drought and freezing winters. Murphy Givens, as Editor, has extensively annotated the diary to clarify Noakes entries.