Associate Professor of History Andrea Foroughi's latest book, “Go If You Think It Your Duty: A Minnesota Couple’s Civil War Letters,” recently was published by Minnesota Historical Society Press. The book chronicles America’s deadliest war through the eyes of the Bowlers, who shared more than 230 letters while James Bowler served in the Third Minnesota Volunteer Regiment and Lizzie stayed in Nininger, Minn.
James Madison Bowler was 23 in 1861. Lizzie Caleff was 21. They courted, married, had children and bought a farm. They attended dances, talked politics, confided their deepest fears – all separately, through hundreds of letters, as the American Civil War raged around them.
From the first “Dear Lizzie” in April 1860 to the final “Ever Yours, Madison,” in September 1865, the relationship between James and Lizzie “has an intimacy that’s beguiling,” says Foroughi.
To read a review by the Associated Press that has appeared in publications worldwide, click here.