“This Infernal War”: The Civil War Letters of William and Jane Standard Edited by Timothy Mason Roberts

Abstract

“This Infernal War” contains some 212 letters written by William and Jane Standard during the former’s service in the 103rd Illinois Infantry Regiment from the summer of 1862 to the summer of 1865, along with a few other letters by the three Standard children, friends, and relatives. Collectively, the letters are a rich source of information on life in the Union army and the home front in Fulton County, Illinois, but what makes them especially important is that they provide a rare glimpse of the worldview of wartime Democrats.