"Recollections of a Pioneer" is an autobiographical account by J. Watt Gibson, which primarily focuses on the author's participation in the American Civil War. The book was written at the solicitation of many Gibson's friends and acquaintances who urged that his recollections of that period ought to be preserved. It covers the author's first journey to California in the late 1840s, gold mining, crossing the plains with cattle and his experiences during and after the Civil War, and ends with his return to Missouri and getting married in 1868.