A Union Soldier in Savannah and the Carolinas

"A Union Soldier in Savannah and the Carolinas: A Love and Valor Chapter" offers a captivating look into life during the American Civil War. Both personal and meticulously researched, this one-of-a-kind book offers profound insight into daily life during one of the most difficult moments of American history. This is a must-read for historians and all who are looking to get a rare glimpse into some of the most iconic moments of the Civil War.

"A Union Soldier in Savannah and the Carolinas: A Love and Valor Chapter" offers a captivating look into life during the American Civil War. Both personal and meticulously researched, this one-of-a-kind book offers profound insight into daily life during one of the most difficult moments of American history. This is a must-read for historians and all who are looking to get a rare glimpse into some of the most iconic moments of the Civil War. "Love and Valor" was the featured Civil War book by the Smithsonian in the month after 9/11 as a testament to the strength of the American family. Throughout the Civil War, Captain Jacob Ritner and his wife Emeline exchanged an extraordinary series of letters vividly depicting both life on the battlefield and the home front. Jacob recounts in compelling detail the miliary events of the Western Theater. In this Chapter Book he shares: Sherman's March to the Sea, the Occupation of Savannah, and the Carolina's Campaign. Emeline movingly records the lives of those left behind. This is also the story of a family of abolitionists whose patriarch wrote on the day of the Emancipation Proclamation: "… if we as a nation refuse to acknowledge the rights of the black man then it may cost us our national existence." Here is an unforgettable saga, part of our national heritage.

Charles F. Larimer, the great great grandson of Jacob and Emeline Ritner, was born to an American father and Canadian mother in a U.S. Army Hospital in Trieste, Italy in 1953. He was raised in Sioux City, Iowa, where he attended public schools, and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1975 with a degree in mathematics. He lived in the Chicago area during most of the period while he researched the original version of the book, which made it easy for him to travel to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa on his research expeditions. He now lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife and family.