Extraordinary Times and Everyday Lives

"A story to be told"

During the fighting of the Civil War between 1861 & 1866, Henry Harris had worked his way up through the ranks from a Private to a Major. A first to ever have commanded a colored regiment. Henry was proud of his men. Throughout this book are many of Henry's original letters that he had written to both his father and his sister back home while he was away at war. They remain word for word just as he wrote them with his mistakes and misspelled words. This book is truly a journey back in time including the interesting lives of his family and friends back home showing the role that family and friends played in the mere survival of their men at war. The Army supplied them with very little leaving soldiers to depend on people back home to send them even bare necessities. Oil for guns, needles, thread, cloth buttons for coats in winter, boots, mittens, blankets, food, medicine etc. Today Henry's name remains on a monument which can be viewed in Washington D. C. Henry's gravesite can be found in The Old North Cemetery in North Salem, N. H. Henry lived and survived the horrors of war seldom complaining. Without today's technology, It often took weeks to communicate with the family with handwritten letters that often got lost along the way... Yet... Though technology has made our lives physically more comfortable and communication instant, emotionally we humans remain stagnant. Our circumstances and that of theirs back then have changed but all humans experience the same emotions. Hope, Love, Hate, Fear, Joy etc. etc. Henry's story has unmistakably opened my eyes as to how much our generations have to be thankful for......