(above: promo material at the Illinois State Military Museum; image courtesy Bill Lear, ISMM)
Fall 2022 Book Presentations Have Started!
12 November 2022: “In Their Letters, in Their Words: Illinois Soldiers on Ulysses S. Grant,” Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War 26th annual meeting, 5p, Crehan’s Irish Pub, 5500 North Belt West, Belleville, Illinois. This is a private event for the Col. Hecker Camp #443.
6 October 2022: “The Civil War within Illinois: Illinois Governor Yates, Early Soldier Recruitment, and the ‘Alton Incident,’” Conference on Illinois History, 6-7 October, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois.
17 September 2022: “Early Civil War Camp Butler and William Tecumseh Sherman: Persistence of a False Narrative,” Midwest Civil War Study Group Symposium, 9a-4p, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois. This paper has already been submitted and accepted for publication in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, likely to appear in a 2023 issue.
The scholars at the Civil War Study Group symposium.
15 September 2022: “In Their Letters, in Their Words: Illinois Soldiers on Ulysses S. Grant,” Springfield Civil War Round Table, 7p, Illinois State Capitol Building, Room 100 (Civil War-themed meeting room), Springfield, Illinois. This was a special featured presentation to commemorate the 200th birthday of Grant. Here are some images from the event.
Left: Myself with the director of the Illinois State Archives, Dave Joens.
Right: With a local U.S. Grant reenactor, Larry Werline.
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As of September 2022, plans are currently in the works for the entire book to be read aloud as an ongoing podcast project with Southern Illinois University-Carbondale’s Blanket Fort Radio Theater. Each 20-25 minute podcast will feature a portion of the book, followed by a featured mini-biography of one of the soldiers heard in the episode. While production is well underway, the project has not yet been scheduled for appearance on the BFRT website. It may be as soon as late 2022 or, perhaps more likely, in 2023. Stay tuned to this page for more details.
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The Conference on Illinois History was 7-8 October 2021 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois. I gave a paper titled: “Early Civil War Camp Butler and William Tecumseh Sherman: Separating Fact from Fiction.” Conference information can be found here. I also did a book signing at the SIU Press book tables.
The latest issue of the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association is out (Vol.42, No.2 – Fall 2021) and contains an article: “Commentary: J. David Hacker’s ‘A Census-Based Count of the Civil War Dead.‘” It features a cook’s tour of the demographer’s kitchen, as it is now at about the tenth anniversary of Hacker’s original article, which at the time offered fresh estimates of the Civil War’s mortality impact. Earlier versions of both the CIH presentation and the JALA article can be found in the right-hand side index on the “Question of the Week” page of this website. Enjoy those for free, even if they are not as polished or complete as the above final products.
The latest book interview (May 2021) is here: “Coffee and Hardtack” at The Civil War Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
New (back) Cover Art, as of May 2021; now in its second printing!!
Features “Book of the Year” award and three new review excerpts!
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As of 1 January 2021, this home page has been reorganized. Near the top, some of it now reads like an old David Letterman top ten list, where #10 is first and so on. In this case, however, #10 is the latest news and #1 is about the debut activities regarding the book when it was hot off the presses. Immediately below the top ten list are welcoming remarks and website overview information, followed by the details for each of the top ten items, again with #10 at the top.
And may 2021 be a better, brighter year for everyone!
THE REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER TOP TEN LIST OF BOOK-RELATED NEWS ITEMS
#10 – The book was highlighted on national television in February 2021 – details below! Or, view it anytime here at C-SPAN3.
#9 – The best deals for purchasing the book are contained in SIU-Press’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide (prices remain in effect until only 5 January 2021). [November 2020]
#8 – The best video about the book is a 12 November 2020 interview with Mark DePue of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. [November 2020]
#7 – Zoom-style book presentations are becoming the new normal. [October 2020]
#6 – New independent book reviews continue to appear. [October 2020]
#5 – The book was recognized by the Illinois State Historical Society with the Russell P. Strange Memorial Book of the Year award for 2020! [June 2020]
#4 – SIU-Press has a special, standing offer for the simultaneous purchase of the print and e-book editions. [June 2020]
#3 – Three memorable book events: at Maldaner’s Restaurant; at the Illinois State Museum; and at the Illinois State Military Museum. [January and February 2020]
#2 – The “Grand Book Launch” and party at “Books on the Square” in Springfield, Illinois. [October 2019]
#1 – 40 copies of the book were sold at the “Conference on Illinois History” in Springfield. [October 2019]
(Details about the above ten items are toward the bottom of this page.)
ABOUT THE BOOK . . .
Hello, I am Mark Flotow and author/editor of In Their Letters, in Their Words: Illinois Civil War Soldiers Write Home, published by Southern Illinois University Press.
This is not your ordinary Civil War history book. In fact, I wrote this book because I could not find another one like it, especially regarding Illinois soldiers. The book features what soldiers wrote regarding the war, politics, the military, the South, combat, and much more, all through their personal letters. The book is arranged topically, but secondarily it also goes through the war era and its evolution through the writings of those who experienced it.
If you enjoy reading about the Civil War, you will relish the soldiers’ intimate details of daily living and military experiences, as well as their wide-ranging opinions of the nature of the war, slavery, President Lincoln’s policies, state and national politics, and other subjects. In fact, there are few topics Illinois soldiers did not write about. It is as if each letter writer was asked “what is on your mind today, soldier, and what do you want to share about that with your family and friends at home?” Their stories and insights are refreshingly honest and often straight from the heart. And Civil War soldiers’ letters were not censored by the military (with prisoner-of-war mail being an exception).
If you have family, friends, or a significant other who are not Civil War enthusiasts, this book also is especially for them. The focus is not on the war per se, but how and why ordinary people responded in a variety of ways to extraordinary circumstances. It is about citizen soldiers’ lives during wartime. In essence, the book focuses much more on personal and social history than military and political history. However, by perusing the soldiers’ experiences shared in their letters, the reader will learn about the circumstances and history of the Civil War as a natural byproduct. I have included a concise Civil War timeline that also serves as an outline of the era’s events.
Need a little more information about the nature of the book? Then visit The Seven Secrets of the Book page here.
ABOUT THIS WEBSITE . . .
While first and foremost an informational and promotional vehicle, this website also is meant to be a source of fresh material and insights, particularly about the Illinois soldiers featured in the book. In a sense, the website allows the book to be more of a living document. The website is not a blog, nor does it have a dedicated page for visitors’ postings. That stated, I welcome anyone to write to me by going to the Contact Me page (with a link here) and provide comments, ideas about additional (new or old) information regarding the soldiers, possible corrections, and other interpretations of the content of the featured letter excerpts. There also is a Question of the Week page (here) that is updated every Friday. I cannot guarantee that whatever you write will become part of the website or be included in its content. However, what you do send me I will assume I potentially could include on this site unless you explicitly state otherwise.
SCHEDULE AND APPEARANCES . . .
Please check out the details of my scheduled appearances here.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING . . .
Want to know more about the book? Please visit the other pages of this website.
TOP TEN LIST DETAILS
#10 – The book is to be highlighted on national television, scheduled for 20 February 2021!!
Recently, C-SPAN has sought permission from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum (ALPL&M) to use a 12 November 2020 interview with me by Mark DePue to air on C-SPAN(3), which has American History programming on weekends. (C-SPAN website for the Civil War series: https://www.c-span.org/series/?theCivilWar and the C-SPAN3 schedule: https://www.c-span.org/schedule/?channel=3 Note the air times can default to the Eastern Time zone.)
(Note: This is the same program that the ALPL&M recorded as a live interview – see #8, below.)
#9 – The best deals for purchasing the book are contained in SIU-Press’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide (prices remain in effect until only 5 January 2021).
The Southern Illinois University Press 2020 Holiday Gift Guide can be found here. You can receive 40% off orders (and possibly even free shipping); my book is featured on page 4.
#8 – The best video about the book is a 12 November 2020 interview with Mark DePue of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
This interview was a live presentation at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (ALPL) in Springfield, Illinois, and presented to the public through the ALPL&M’s Facebook page on Thursday, November 12, 2020 as part of the “Illinois History Forum” series. (The only people in the room were us two Marks, Joe Crain as host, a small audio-visual crew, and two guests. This was a scant one week before the ALPL enacted a pandemic-related lockdown.)
The above program was recorded and is now on YouTube here. Currently, this is probably the best overview + interview about the book. You also can find it on the “Videos” page of the Illinois State Historical Society website here. (Note: This is the same program planning to appear on C-SPAN3 – see #10, above.)
#7 – Zoom-style book presentations are becoming the new normal.
Perhaps like many of you, I spent a number of months in 2020 upping my Zoom skills. I have done a handful of Zoom presentations, including for the 2020 Conference on Illinois History in October, which was entirely virtual. You can find an example of one of my book-related Zoom presentations – in this case, for the Sangamon County Historical Society about what Illinois soldiers wrote regarding the greater Springfield area – on this page here.
#6 – New independent book reviews continue to appear.
Several of these independent book reviews have links in the “Useful Information” sidebar, above on this page. A new one – from the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society – is expected to appear in print in January 2021. Also check out the “Comments about the Book” page here.
#5 – The book was recognized by the Illinois State Historical Society with the Russell P. Strange Memorial Book of the Year award for 2020!
In June 2020, I was stunned to learn that the Illinois State Historical Society had recognized In Their Letters, in Their Words: Illinois Civil War Soldiers Write Home by bestowing its highest annual award for published materials. Here is a link to the award: Russell P. Strange Memorial Book 2020 To put this in better perspective, you can view the book titles and names of previous awardees here. (The entire list of the 2020 ISHS awards and awardees can be found here.)
#4 – SIU-Press has a special, standing offer for the simultaneous purchase of the print and e-book editions.
This is an ongoing offer by Southern Illinois University Press when you buy both versions of the book a) from SIU Press and b) order at the same time. (Sorry, you cannot buy the second version retroactively to get the discount.) In essence, it is like the buying the paperback at the regular price and getting the e-book version “free.” Personally, I am not much of an e-book fan but, for reference, I use the e-book version at least twice a week for looking up topics, quotations by letter writer, regiments, etc. by using the “Find” feature. Plus, I am able to use the e-book version without having one of the popular commercial e-book readers.
[Special Offer Instructions: Southern Illinois University Bundle & Save on the paperback and e-book. Visit the SIU Press page for this book here. Press the ADD TO CART box. Under “Format” check the boxes for both “Paper” and “PDF.” Press the ADD TO CART box. Where it states “Enter promo code” type in BUNDLE. The prices will be recalculated for a 20% discount off the paperback version and $5.00 for the e-book version.]
#3 – Three memorable book events: at Maldaner’s Restaurant; at the Illinois State Museum; and at the Illinois State Military Museum.
The “Leap Day Release Party” (held 29 February 2020 – “leap day”) was a ticketed “books and beer” event hosted by Rolling Meadows Farm Brewery at the upstairs portion of Maldaner’s Restaurant. (Okay – maybe more like “beer and books.”) I had a few attendees read some Illinois soldiers’ letter quotations about beer and alcohol in the Civil War armies. (Unfortunately, Rolling Meadows Farm Brewery has since been mothballed due to the covid-19 pandemic.) Earlier that February, I selected ten letter quotations for audience members to read at the Illinois State Museum’s Research and Collections Center in a packed presentation room. In January, during snowy weather, hardy souls read Illinois soldiers’ quotations about Civil War combat experiences at the Illinois State Military Museum. Both of these two latter events also had a local TV-news presence.
Both images from the 11 Jan 2020 presentation at the Illinois State Military Museum; images courtesy Bill Lear, ISMM
#2 – The Grand Book Launch party at “Books on the Square” in Springfield, Illinois.
On 17 October 2019, John and Jeannie Alexander, owners of “Books on the Square” in Springfield, Illinois, hosted a discussion between noted Lincoln historian James Cornelius and myself about the book. Today, this is the only location where you can purchase an autographed copy of the book.
#1 – 40 copies of the book were sold at the “Conference on Illinois History” in Springfield.
During this conference on 3-4 October 2019, the SIU Press table sold 40 copies of the book and I signed many of those in person. Statistically speaking, it equates to about one in seven conference attendees buying the book (albeit some purchasers snagged multiple copies).
“First Day of Issue,” 3 October 2019, at the Conference on Illinois History, in Springfield