Letters From the Storm: The Intimate Civil War Letters of Lt. J. A. H. Foster, 155th Pennsylvania Volunteers

LETTERS FROM THE STORM is based on a collection of 101 letters written by Lieutenant Foster, mostly to his wife Mary Jane, while serving with the 155th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company K. Skillfully interspersed with Linda Arden's commentary about the events and situations of the era, these letters are a time capsule of the mid-nineteenth century. In many respects, Foster's letters mirror the comments made by soldiers on both sides: their efforts to seek comfort with news from home, their litany of complaints about the rigors of camp and battle, and their descriptions of men and events on the front lines. However, there is another dimension to Foster's letters that is much less common in Civil War correspondence -the intimate exchange of the couple's views on sex. Throughout their long separation, the couple shares their passionate longing for each other, their fantasies, and their apprehensions about mutual faithfulness--expressions that certainly challenge the broad assumption that Victorians did not speak of these matters. Another important dimension to Foster's letters is that he had an especially keen eye for detail, reflected in occasional drawings of subjects as varied as pontoon boats across the Rappahannock or the new corps badges adopted by the Union Army, and a talent for colorful language in speaking of events or personalities. At his best, Foster's comments about the war as seen from a soldier in the field rival anything that has been published. The legacy of Lieutenant Foster's letters reveal a man who lived almost 150 years ago as a man of detail, purpose, and passion. To say the least, the Civil War had an immeasurable effect on Lieutenant Foster, his family, his wife. No readers of LETTERS FROM THE STORM can come away without a true sense of what life was during that time and not be affected themselves. Indexed, 53 illustrations and photos 365 pages, 7 x 10 soft cover Item #7904

Linda Foster Arden is the great-great-granddaughter of Lt. Foster. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in mathematics from Eastern Michigan University and California State University-Hayward. For thirty-five years, Ms. Arden worked for major corporations as an information technology consultant, responsible for project management and acquisition negotiations. She lives with her husband, Ted Arden, a retired American history teacher, who helped her conceive the idea for this book. While doing much of the research and writing, they lived for two summers on a 150-year-old farm in Western Pennsylvania. Currently she lives in Clayton, California, at the foot of Mt. Diablo, where she enjoys reading, camping, working on family history and genealogy, and being a grandmother to Samantha.