Here he had access to a small library, of which he made sedulous use.
In 1863 his company was mounted, and served in Virginia and North Carolina.
In the spring of 1864 both brothers were transferred to Wilmington,
the head-quarters of the Marine Signal Service, in which they remained
to the end of the war. Finally the two brothers were separated,
each becoming signal officer* of a blockade-runner. Sidney's vessel
was captured, and for five months he was a prisoner at Point Lookout, Md.,
with nothing but his flute to solace him. It was the exposure of prison-life,
no doubt, that first led to decline of health by developing
the seeds of consumption, a disease that was to carry off his mother
and that he was to struggle with the last fifteen years of his life.
Released from prison in February, 1865, he returned to Georgia,
for the most part afoot, and reached home March 15th.
An account of his war-life is given in his novel, `Tiger-lilies',
treated below.

--
* It is sometimes erroneously stated that each was put in charge
of a blockade-runner.
--

During the succeeding nine years (1865-73) his life was checkered indeed.
Seriously ill for six weeks, he arose from his bed to see
his mother carried off by consumption and to find himself suffering
with congestion of the lungs. Slightly relieved, Lanier turned his hand
to various projects for making a living: clerking in a hotel
in Montgomery, Ala., for two years; writing* and publishing his novel,
`Tiger-lilies'; teaching at Prattville, Ala., one year, during which time**
he married Miss Mary Day, of Macon, Ga.; studying and then practising law
with his father at Macon, Ga., for five years; now, in the winter of 1872-73,