The Letter

By Edwin Kaarela

This is the story of a volunteer from the State of Kansas as he joins the Northern Army of the Great American Civil War, and his time as being trained as a foot soldier, as well as his strength and value as a foot soldier in the war of Sharpsburg, also called the Battle of Antietam, interspersed with his written love stories to his young wife, while away.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098363727

Edwin Kaarela

Edwin E. Kaarela, winemaker, composer, portraitist, divides his time between interior Massachusetts and the coast of Maine. His verses are derived from musings while walking through the forest, reminding him of his ancestral land of Finland. Alexander Farguhanson has been an illustrator and fine art gallery painter for 25 years. His illustrations have appeared in publications throughout the country, ranging from children’s books to mysteries and educational non-fiction. He resides with his family in Massachusets.

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© 2021 Edwin Kaarela All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. ISBN 978-1-09836-371-0 eBook 978-1-09836-372-7

The Letter

Prologue

July 20, 1862

November 10, 1862

May 4, 2003

Prologue

After a most vicious partisan debate, occasionally involving political rage and bitterness, the United States Congress passed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, signed into law by President Franklin Pierce on May 30, 1854. Among the provisions of the Act was the creation of the Territory of Kansas, as an incorporated territory of the United States, with clearly defined boundaries. However, the most momentous portion of the Act was the virtual repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as well as the Compromise of 1850, which, in effect, intensified the rancor and hatred between the Free-Soiler abolitionists and the pro-slavery groups. Many historians suggest that the bloody American Civil War was really started in 1854 in the Territory of Kansas, long before the confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.

Prior to gaining statehood, the people of Kansas suffered six years of serious and stressful civil disturbance involving savagely aggressive pro-slavery groups as well as equally savage abolitionists. Eventually, upon politically adept actions, the incorporated Territory of Kansas gained admission into the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861.

A national recruitment drive was initiated by President Abraham Lincoln in the spring of 1861, realizing that it was imperative to quickly create an Army of the Northern States. Thus, as well as later, recruitment drives reached far west into Kansas, to which the Kansan abolitionists responded.

Edward Karson was born on February 14, 1832 in a village called Joy in the central area of the United States’ Western Territory (which eventually became Kansas) at the homestead started by Edward’s great-grandfather Joshua Karson, who settled at Joy after the War of Independence.

Susan Haystrand was born on November 10, 1834 in Delisle, Ohio, to Waldo (a successful clothing merchant) and Irene Haystrand, a successful clothing merchant, who moved as a family to a town called Greensburg in the prairie area of the Western Territory of the United States (which eventually became Kansas), and began a homestead of several acres involving the growing of crops of wheat and barley and the raising of cattle.

Having attended the same cooperative school at the Town of Greensburg, Edward Karson and Susan Haystrand soon became sweethearts and eventually married at the Town of Joy in the State of Kansas on May 4, 1862 at the Karson Homestead, which Edward inherited from his family.

A sense of disquietude and angst prevailed over most of the nation as time marched on.

July 20, 1862

Dearest Susan,

Here I am, on my way. As I started writing this letter to you, I couldn’t help