This book reveals W. Henry Oettiker a young Wisconsin farmer who left the wheat fields of the Wisconsin frontier and traveled 10,000 miles all through his Civil War journey. The diary takes up Oettiker’s experiences during the last stages of the Civil War to his enlistment and service on the Great Plains and western frontier. From 1865 to 1866 Oettiker traveled another 2,000 miles west; a journey that was full…

Why is a Civil War soldier’s letter describing a bloody battle and his vision of free blacks potentially worth thousands of dollars when it goes up for auction later this month? The letter by the son of John Carter, an African-American grocery store owner in Madison who helped move slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, has long been in the hands of private collectors. It will be included in…