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The Civil War: Gravestone, Memory All That Remain

By Capper's Staff
Published on October 30, 2012

During the time when border warfare raged in Missouri, a respected young man went out early one morning to cut wood. He rode a handsome horse, and suddenly a band of bushwhackers appeared and demanded the horse.

When he was reluctant to part with it, he was shot. His wife and two small girls were left alone, and one later became my grandmother. Today, there is only the memory and a gravestone in a windswept country churchyard.

Elaine Derendinger
New Franklin, Missouri


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.