“Dear Wife”: The Civil War Letters of Chester K. Leach  Compiled by Edward J. Feidner 243 pp., illustrated; paperbound; ISBN  0-944277-38-1 $16.00 + postage

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This publication presents the experiences of Chester K. Leach of Fletcher, through his own words “in one of the finest and most complete accounts of a Vermonter in service during the American Civil War” (from the Foreword by Connell Gallagher, University of Vermont Libraries Director of Research Collections).

Between June 1861 and June 1864 as a first lieutenant in Company H, Second Vermont Infantry Regiment, Leach wrote more than two hundred letters to his wife Ann, who carefully preserved them. Leach was a civic-minded Franklin County farmer who served Vermont in the legislature after the war. In his correspondence he described the battles and the daily doings of the Army of the Potomac that filled his existence, yet he never lost his keen interest in the activities of family and friends in Vermont. He was “the quintessential citizen-soldier who dropped his plow to shoulder a musket” (from the Afterword by Jeffrey D. Marshall, University of Vermont Archivist).

Edward J. Feidner, who retrieved Leach’s letters from the archives and transcribed them, thereby rescuing the correspondence from obscurity, is University of Vermont Professor of Theatre Emeritus. During a teaching career that spanned 36 years, he directed, produced, or acted in more than 125 theatrical productions. Among numerous other artistic achievements, he was the first producer and artistic director of the Champlain Shakespeare Festival.

To order: To receive a copy of the publication, please mail your check for $19.00—$16.00 plus $3.00 for postage and handling—made payable to the Center for Research on Vermont—to:  Center for Research on Vermont, University of Vermont, 589 Main Street, Nolin House, Burlington, VT 05401-3439.

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