Above a Common Soldier: Frank and Mary Clarke in the American West and Civil War from Their Letters, 1847-1872

by Darlis A. Miller, Mary Clarke, Frank Clarke

First published as To Form a More Perfect Union in 1941, this rare volume of Civil War-era letters relates the poignant experiences of an English immigrant in the service of the United States Army as a noncommissioned officer, civilian employee, and Union volunteer. Frank Clarke served in Mexico, Missouri, New Mexico, and Bleeding Kansas, on the Sioux, Solomon River, and Utah Expeditions, and in war-torn Tennessee and Mississippi. After Frank's tragic death in 1862, his wife Mary corresponded with his English mother, detailing the daily struggles of a military widow and her five sons in frontier Kansas. Darlis Miller has kept George Hammond's original annotations and added a few new ones. Her introductions to the book and individual chapters provide biographical details to Frank's and Mary's lives and place their letters in historical context.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997