Go If You Think It Your Duty

A Minnesota Couple's Civil War Letters

• Author(s): Andrea R. Foroughi,
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
• Pages: 296
• ISBN_10: 0873516710
  ISBN_13: 9780873516716
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Biography & Autobiography / General , Biography & Autobiography / Military , History / Military / United States , History / Military / Veterans , History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877) , History / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI) , Literary Collections / Letters , Social Science / Sociology / General ,

Description:... During the American Civil War, James Madison Bowler and Elizabeth Caleff Bowler courted, married, became parents, and bought a farm. They attended dances, talked politics, and confided their deepest fears. Because of the war, however, they experienced all of these events separately, sharing them through hundreds of letters from 1861 to 1865 while Madison served in the third Minnesota Volunteer regiment and Lizzie stayed in Nininger, Minnesota. In four years, they spent only twelve weeks under the same roof. These poignant letters provided them a space to voice their fear for and frustration with each other, and they now provide readers with a window into one couple's Civil War.