"Oh! how sad to think of such times as our country is now passing through, but oh! that a merciful God may be with us, and that this unholy war may soon cease, and peace, sweet peace and quietness may everywhere reign..."

So writes Hattie in January 1862 to the love of her life, husband Ruthvin, who is stationed with the Pee Dee Legion off the coast of South Carolina in Georgetown during the Civil War. Letters from the Rogers, Plowden, Mood, and Haynesworth families, among others herein contain exciting, first-hand/eyewitness accounts of seminal events of the times, such as the great Charleston fire, the beginning attack on Ft. Sumter, and Potter's Raid, as well as vivid details of everyday rural life. Their true examples of unwavering faith in God and exemplary strength of character should inspire and encourage all who hear their stories.

Cherished by the family and protected over many long years, these 300+ epistles are much more than accounts of battles and the "War of Northern Aggression." They are a look back in our history at a time that is no more, but one which vividly lives on in these pages.