Hi cousins and Huntingdon County genealogists, First, let me give the credit for this letter to Robert Cree whom I met while in Huntingdon Co for our Clark Reunion. He has been very helpful in obtaining family material, and forwarded this letter he had in Civil War Roundtable files. Some of you are Houck/Clark family, and some of you are folks that I just think will be interested in reading this letter. Also, I may have sent a WPS version of this to some of you earlier, but some people couldn't open it, so I have finally converted it to a pdf file. If you have not read E. C. Houck's Civil War booklet on my site, read it in addition to this letter. The two of them together make a very heartbreaking combination. http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~lanaclark/Civil%20War%20Reminiscences%20by%20Elijah%20Corbin%20Houck.html This letter is written by Benjamin Houck, one of four Houck brothers. He is writing to his oldest brother Allison in Minnesota. Benjamin has joined the Union army and was commisioned a Captain. He is quite distraught that their youngest brother, E. C. has become an officer in the Confederacy. He has heard rumors that E. C. has been killed, and for some reason fears that his own twin, Joseph is also dead. He is terrified that he will never see his brothers again, and that their elderly mother will be left sonless. Upon reading E.C.'s booklet, you will find that in fact, Benjamin is the only son who does die before his time. In the booklet, E. C. tells the heroic story of the twin Joseph, who crosses into enemy territory determined to bring his slain brother's body back to be buried in Huntingdon County. These Houck brothers are all my great great granduncles, being the brothers of my great great grandmother Diana Houck Clark, wife of William F. Clark (the family mentioned in the letter as "still increasing in family"). I have pictures of E.C. and Diana, if anyone is interested in having them. Lana Clarkhttp://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~lanaclark/ http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~lanaclark/ _________________________________________________________________ Your smile counts. The more smiles you share, the more we donate.  Join in. www.windowslive.com/smile?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_oprsmilewlhmtagline