This is the story of two brothers from Edgar County, Illinois, who served in the Civil War and wrote home to their sister. One was young, single, and a volunteer in 1862. The other was forty, married with six children and one on the way, when he was drafted in 1864. The younger was captured in the Battle of Chickamauga and spent nine months in Confederate prisons, finally dying of scurvy at Danville, Virginia. The older was drafted three months after his brother died in 1864 and participated in the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. With the end of the war in April 1865, the older brother was mustered out of the service and returned to his home in time to celebrate the Fourth of July. There he became a large and prosperous farmer until his death in 1898. This is also the story of their sister, Lucinda (Nay) Yowell and her descendants, who preserved the letters until they came to the attention of the author some 150 years later. The author presents this volume in recognition of the 158th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and in recognition of all the ordinary soldiers who have served “so that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

“Old Abe is a hard man to work for and he pays his hands when he gets ready.” —Harrison Nay, December 26, 1862.

“Harriet informs me she is trying to get me a substitute. If she does, it would suit me very well as this is rather rough for a delicate constitution like mine.” —William Nay, December 5, 1864.

“I heard this morning that old Abe was dead. I don’t think it is so. I am afraid it ain’t. . .. I would pull off my coat and holler a big holler, but I am afraid it ain’t so. Then they would laugh at me. So, I will wait a while.” —Nay cousin John Lawler, April 16, 1865.

“I found the stories to be both interesting and informative from eyewitness accounts of Civil War events. I congratulate the author on his in-depth research in writing this compelling family history.” —Chris D. Caldwell, JD, Attorney-at-Law and Civil War buff, 2023.  

W. Edward Rolison is Professor Emeritus and former Head of the Department of the Social Sciences at Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Weatherford, where he taught political science and history for thirty-five years. He recently published On Democracy: Essays on Principles Fundamental to American Government and the 2020 Presidential Election (2023).