Love & Valor: The Intimate Civil War Letters, is a tremendously moving story of a Union soldier and his wife during the Civil War. Based on the book by the same name, the film follows the lives of Jacob Ritner, a Union captain, teacher, farmer and abolitionist from Iowa, and his wife, Emeline. Their story is framed by the real-life letters they wrote each other, augmented by the research of Charles Larimer, Jacob and Emeline's great, great grandson, who uncovered additional information about some of the people featured in the letters, including a young run-away slave whom Ritner met in Mississippi in 1862 during the Vicksburg campaign, and the Ice Merchant of Savannah who hosted Jacob Ritner for Christmas dinner in 1864 at the end of Sherman's March to the Sea.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.