From Beardstown to Andersonville features the original, unedited Civil War letters of brothers Newton and Tommy Paschal, common farm boys who abandoned the safety and simplicity of their home near Beardstown, Illinois, to risk and, in Newton’s case, sacrifice, their lives for the Union.

This special edition, commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, includes never-before published love letters to Mary Paschal from Pvt. Thomas Cuppy, the orderly for General Grenville Dodge, plus extensive new information on troop movements of the 114th and 47th Illinois regiments. The book also includes detailed descriptions of the Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads where Newton Paschal was taken as a prisoner-of-war, and Andersonville, where he died during the horrible summer of 1864.

An addendum offers short biographies on scores of Beardstown area soldiers mentioned in the letters of the Paschal brothers. Several vintage photographs, 250 footnotes and an index to names, battles and towns add to the value of this work.