"Still I am proud of my gallant soldier husband" -- "You are in danger now, every day, I know" -- "I want to know whether our government is really worth dying for" -- "Since I came home I am entirely satisfied with Iowa" -- "I knew somebody had lost friends, and I feared it was I" -- "I will never forget all the bitter experiences of the last year" -- "I listen every hour to hear of a decisive battle" -- "Our war can't last much longer as it is now carried on" -- "The days are long and dreary till you come home."
Summary:
William Vermilion (1830-1894) served as a captain in Company F of the 36th Iowa Infantry from October 1862 until September 1865. Although he was a physician in south central Iowa at the start of the war, after it ended he became a noted lawyer in nearby Centerville; he was also a state senator from 1869 to 1872. Mary Vermilion (1831-1883) was a schoolteacher who grew up in Indiana; she and William married in 1858. In this volume historian Donald Elder provides a careful selection from the hundreds of supportive, informative, and heart-wrenching letters that they wrote each other during the war - the most complete collection of letters exchanged between a husband and a wife during the Civil War.
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.