Another Must-Read Book for My List

December is always a crazy month for me, and I’m not sure I’ll have the chance to blog as much as I’d like.  But I did want to take a few minutes to mention a book that was reviewed yesterday in the Star Tribune.  Published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, the book is composed of letters written by two brothers from Winona, Thomas and William Christie, who fought in the Civil War.

A monument to the First Minnesota Battery at Shiloh National Military Park.

The men were with the First Minnesota Battery, which fought at Shiloh, Corinth, Vicksburg and Atlanta.  If that sounds familiar to you regular My Musical Family blog readers, it’s because those are all places that my great-great grandfather, Jasper Riggs, fought with the 45th Illinois Infantry.

I took the above picture while we wandered the grounds at Shiloh National Military Park in October.  The monument to the First Minnesota Battery is near the Hornet’s Nest and the Sunken Road, areas where the Iowa Regiments were active, and where my great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs, helped dedicate monuments to Iowa soldiers in 1906.

The book, called Brother of Mine, intrigues me because it details the daily life of a soldier through the eyes of the Christie brothers, who would have shared many of the experiences of my great-great grandfather.  Our family does not possess any letters of Jasper’s from his Civil War days; the only artifact we have, to my knowledge, is his dried corn pouch.

I look forward to reading the new book and gaining more insight into what that experience was like for Jasper, and how it shaped his life.