Thank you for introducing this book by Daniel Ellis. I was able to get it from my local library and have spent several intriguing hours reading. I was struck by his articulate writing and knowledge since his education was as he put it "basic" English. Either he enjoyed learning and pursued more than the basic or he had better teaching than he realized. I have mentioned in past messages that I haven't been able to find any information on my Cross family in Elizabethton, Carter Co. so this piece of History gives me a better understanding of the atmosphere of the times. My ggrandfather joined the Union Army and the family story is that his father and brother(s) joined the rebels. He said he didn't believe in the Southern cause. He never returned home after the war, but settled in Ky. where he met my grandmother. He was a blacksmith by trade. I have a posed picture of him in later years with a Civil War pin in his lapel. It's too blurry to read. We don't know what unit he fought with. His birth year was 1847, so he was young when the war began. We don't know when he joined, either. He was very closed mouthed and apparently had a mean streak. My father is 85 and he and I have been trying to get a break through for several years on the line. Joan Williams, Miami, FL.