My grandfather fought in the Civil War with the Union soldiers. His brother fought on the Southern side. One time they met, passed and never spoke and never saw each other again. I have heard my mother tell of his telling about the soldiers being so hungry a storekeeper gave them a barrel of crackers, telling them they were wormy, but they ate them anyway.
When the word came that the Confederate soldiers were coming, my grandmother took his rifle out and buried it. Later it was dug up and found ruined by rust, as she hadn’t thought to wrap it. She was a young girl with, I believe, one little girl at the time.
My grandfather came out a Lieutenant, and when he walked in at home Grandmother was sewing on a black dress, and it hurt him worse than anything he had been through.
Mrs. L. G. Hazen
Coolidge, Kansas
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 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.
