John Shook was a 19 year old Illinois farm boy who volunteered to fight for the Northern cause in 1861. He wrote more than 40 letters home before being fatally wounded in the Battle of Stones River, Tennessee. His letters have been lovingly preserved by his family for over 145 years. The letters and envelopes contain historic and remarkable print art that is beautifully rendered in this book. The Shook letters are by turns patriotic and jingoistic, humorous and sad, and curious about friends and family back home. Written in the quaint country vernacular of the time without punctuation or capitalization, the book makes for fascinating ...and challenging... reading