His writings were found by chance in 1988 in the manuscript store of the Berlin State Library. The surviving part covers a range of 25 years between 1625 and 1649. The book was folded from 12 sheets of paper which he bought at the end of the war in 1648 to write a fair copy of his notes. The 192 pages tell of a 22,500 km long journey across Europe filled with battles in Italy, the German states, Spanish Netherlands and France. He took part in the Sack of Magdeburg (the devastation was so great that "magdeburgization" became an oft-used term signifying total destruction, rape and pillaging for decades) and the Battle of Nördlingen (1634). He details a life on the verge of death which includes his first wife and seven of his children.