By Gene Bar
A Civil War Captain and His Lady is a true “Cold Mountain”
love story from the Northern perspective.
More than 150 years ago, 27-year-old Irish immigrant Josiah Moore met
19-year-old Jennie Lindsay, a member of one of Peoria, Illinois’s most
prominent families. The Civil War had just begun, Josiah was the captain of the
17th Illinois Infantry, and his war would be a long and bloody one. Their
courtship and romance, which came to light in a rare and unpublished series of
letters, forms the basis of Gene Barr’s memorable A Civil War Captain and His
Lady: Love, Courtship, and Combat from Fort Donelson through the Vicksburg
Campaign.
The story of Josiah, Jennie, the men of the 17th and their families tracks the
toll on our nation during the war and allows us to explore the often difficult
recovery after the last gun sounded in 1865.
Josiah’s and Jennie’s letters shed significant light on the important role
played by a soldier’s sweetheart on the home front, and a warrior’s
observations from the war front. Josiah’s letters offer a deeply personal
glimpse into army life, how he dealt with the loss of many close to him, and
the effects of war on a man’s physical, spiritual, and moral well-being.
Jennie’s letters show a young woman mature beyond her age dealing with the
difficulties on the home front while her brother and her new love struggle
through the travails of war. Her encouragement to keep his faith in God strong
and remain morally upright gave Josiah the strength to lead his men through the
horrors of the Civil War. Politics also thread their way through the letters
and include the evolution of Jennie’s father’s view of the conflict. A leader
in the Peoria community and former member of the Illinois state house, he
engages in his own political wars when he shifts his affiliation from the Whig
Party to the new Republican Party, and is finally elected to the Illinois
Senate as a Peace Democrat and becomes one of the state’s more notorious
Copperheads.
In addition to this deeply moving and often riveting correspondence, Barr
includes additional previously unpublished material on the 17th Illinois and
the war’s Western Theater, including Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and the
lesser known Meridian Campaign―actions that have historically received much
less attention than similar battles in the Eastern Theater. The result is a
rich, complete, and satisfying story of love, danger, politics, and warfare,
and it is one you won’t soon forget.
About the Author
Gene Barr is the president and CEO of the Pennsylvania
Chamber of Business and Industry, the largest broad-based business advocacy
group in Pennsylvania. He has spent more than 40 years in the political and
government affairs world, including more than twelve years with a Fortune 100
energy company. Barr is a board member and former chair of the National Civil
War Museum in Harrisburg, PA and spent many years engaged in Civil War living
history events. He has a bachelor's degree in political science from St.
Joseph's University in Philadelphia and lives in Mechanicsburg with his wife
Mary.
ISBN 978-1611212907, Savas Beatie, © 2016, Hardcover, 360
Pages, Photographs, Maps, Footnotes, Appendix, Bibliography & Index. $32.95. To
Purchase the book click HERE.
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