My father was a Civil War veteran who carried a gunshot bullet in his leg to his grave. When he was 19 years of age he enlisted in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry Division and served the Northern Army for the entire four years.
He was wounded in the leg at the Battle of Guntown, Mississippi, and rode his horse 75 miles, despite this wound hurting him severely, to keep from being captured. It took him two days and a night to get back. He tied up the wound with a handkerchief he had received from his sweetheart. I still have the handkerchief.
At another time a bullet hit the New Testament he was carrying in his shirt pocket and glanced off. This sweetheart, who later became his wife, had given him the New Testament when he entered the service.
He came in 1886 to Nebraska. I still live on the home place that he established. He lived to be 82 years old.
Mrs. Walter Binford
Polk, Nebraska
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then CAPPER’S WEEKLY asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.