So I’m reading the local paper and I run across an editorial about the Union soldiers of the Civil War, who are buried on a hill above the banks of the Mississippi River in Hampton, Ill. I had never heard of the writer, but he described his observations and reflections while on a visit there. Then, he proceeded to describe the grave markers with the letters “GAR” or “Grand Army of the Republic” on them and, in effect, gave a very well-thought-out mini-history lesson about their place in time and the soldiers laid to rest under them.
It was a solemn, yet refreshing, piece, as this guy mixed the “old sentiments with new reflections.” I decided to write him to thank him for the “condensed history lesson” I had just taken in. It took me out of the...
