Yours for the Union
The Civil War Letters of John W. Chase, First Massachusetts Light Artillery
This book can be opened with
Yours for the Union is a collection of letters that takes us inside the life and mind of a Civil War soldier. John Chase's reports of his service with the Army of the Potomac, reveal what the war was really like for the men who fought it.
Chase was a 36 year-old cabinetmaker from Roxbury, a widower with four young children when he enlisted as a private in the First Massachusetts Light Artillery. These well written letters portray a man who is trying to provide for his children, maintain his finances, obtain food and clothing to supplement his meager rations, all while marching in the mud and fighting a war. While he was a patriotic Northerner, his occasionally crude language reflects his strong opinion of abolitionists, and especially, of abolitionist politicians.
Yours for the Union adds another valuable voice to the chorus.——Jennifer L. Weber, Civilwarbookreview.com