The American Civil War was slightly more than a year old—already having lasted longer than most had anticipated—when an eighteen-year-old named William Royal Oake left his family’s farm in Charlotte, Iowa, to join the Union forces. He fought in a total of twenty major battles, was captured and incarcerated as a prisoner of war, and was wounded during his long odyssey as a soldier. In the winter of his sixty-ninth year, Oake wrote a detailed and thoughtful memoir of his years at war—from the moment he told his parents he had joined the army until the day the campaign-hardened soldier walked back to the farm and into their grateful arms. Discovered 80 years after his death, this remarkable memoir brings to light the inner thoughts and experiences of an engaging storyteller. Please visit us at FarcountryPress.com for more information!