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Rural Route
Bookstore
An
online-only bookstore featuring books about
Rural and
Small Town Life
and the
History, Heritage and Humor of Scandinavian-Americans

Civil War and Community Life
Civil War
This
year, 2011, marks the 150th Anniversary of the beginning of the
American Civil War.
Minnesota
in the
Civil
War: An Illustrated History
by
Kenneth Carley
Although
Minnesota was one of the least populated states in 1861 when the
Civil War
broke out, and had achieved statehood less than 3 years earlier,
Minnesotans
—many of Scandinavian origin who had recently arrived in
America, and
quite a few who had not even become citizens in the U.S. yet —
made
enormous contributions to the Union cause and its ultimate success. In
several
northern states, specifically MN and WI, whole regiments were made up
of
Scandinavian immigrants.
Books and articles have been
written about various individual
Scandinavian-American regiments, but Carley's book -- rich in detail --
presents the first comprehensive picture of Minnesota's involvement in
the Civil War. Carley, former editor of the magazine, "Minnesota
History", knows historical material and his well-researched text
is fully supplemented with soldiers' diaries and letters, rare
photographs, tintypes, drawings, maps, uniforms and equipment.
Appropriately subtitled "An Illustrated History," this book
creates a vivid picture of the daily life of Minnesota's
soldiers. Helpful and interestingly written are the Appendices
which include a chronology of Minnesota's involvement in the Civil
War and a list of Minnesota's regiments, respective officers and
action in various battles. Also helpful, for one doing family
research, is an index of names mentioned in the book.
Lifelong
interest in history is apparent in the Foreword by Richard Moe,
currently
President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and in the
Introduction and Epilogue by Brian Horrigan, Exhibit Curator and also
Co-chair
of the Education and Cultural Heritage Outreach Committees at the MN
Historical
Society. Both are authors in their own right, and their talent for
making
history come alive through great writing is apparent in the sections
they
contributed to this book. Award-winning author Horrigan is also
co-editor of Christmas in
Minnesota.
CW
- 02A Hardcover
$49.95
CW
- 02B Paperback
$19.95
Ole Goes to
War
by Jerry
Rosholt
Interest
in the Civil War had a come-back of sorts in the past decade perhaps
because grandchildren of Civil War Veterans were few in number and
there was concern that the history and stories of these veterans would
also be lost. Several books were written about a few of the regiments
and some of the leaders among 10,000 Norwegian immigrants in the Civil
War. However, with its strong interest in research and the urgency
to
collect as much first-hand knowledge as possible, the curator at
the Vesterheim Norwegian-American
Museum in Decorah, IA asked Jerry Rosholt to compile a
database of Norwegian immigrants who fought in the U.S. Civil War.
Rosholt
had begun his professional life as a newspaper journalist and moved
into television working for the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC.
Eventually, he became an Emmy Award winner for his work as producer and head
editor of NBC
Nightly News. Eight years into retirement, Rosholt accepted
Vesterheim's challenge and spent the next 7 years working on the
database. He was able to identify
6,500 of the 10,000 Norwegian-Americans who volunteered to fight in the
Civil War. Using the soldiers' own words, photos, and belongings
to
explore the personal experiences of these volunteers and their
families, Rosholt issued this book and the museum sponsored a special
exhibit of this research in 2003.
In September 2006,
Rosholt was awarded the St. Olav's medal by King Harald V of Norway “in
recognition of
[his] great services to Norway, in particular [his]
active involvement with the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum on its
Civil War project." Rosholt died in 2008, but his
"retirement job" lives on to the benefit of other researchers and
to individuals working on family geneologies. As part of a larger project for
Vesterheim, a great user-friendly database is available at www.vesterheim.org/CivilWar/db/.
"Oh
yes, 1,000 of the 6,500 identified were named 'Ole' -- thus the title
for
the book. "And, one of these Ole's was my great-grandfather. He and his
two brothers served in the 15th Wisconsin Regiment and all three have
information
included in the database. "My Ole's" twenty-year-old brother died in
Kentucky.
He had been in the war less than a year, and in America less than two
years." SN
CW - 08
Paperback $14.95

No more Gallant a
Deed: A Civil War Memoir
of the first Minnesota Volunteers
by James A. Wright,
Orderly
Sergeant in
Company F; Steven
J. Keillor, editor
Wright's
memoir is based on his diaries and letters from this 3 years in
Company
F of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War.
Painstakingly edited by Keillor, this book has been called the
fullest
personal account of the battles, marches, and soldier life of one of
the most renowned regiments in the Army of the Potomac. Richard Moe,
referred to earlier on this page, has
written that this book "is one of the best
first-person accounts of the
First Minnesota's remarkable story. It is certainly the most complete."
This
regiment took part in every significant battle and action in the war in
the East from 1861 to 1864; Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign,
Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Bristoe Station. At
Gettysburg, the First Minnesota halted the Confederate charge, and
suffered an 82 percent casualty rate. Wright's account of this battle
is striking in its description of the horror the men felt at facing
their foes, their determination to do their duty, and the shock of the
loss of so many of their comrades. Wright recalls the long
marches, the
poor food, the inadequate shelter, the dedicated officers, the
debilitating illnesses, the longing for home, and yet a sense of pride
to preserve the Union.
Keillor,
a college teacher and author of books based on various facets of MN
history, "stumbled" upon Wright's the letters and
manuscript-in-the-making while Keillow was doing research for
another
book.
CW - 03
Hardcover $34.95
The
Last Full Measure:
The
Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers
by Richard Moe
Minnesota, the newest
state in the Union, became the first to
send volunteers to fight in the Civil War. That "first" perhaps marked
the beginning of Minnesota's ongoing reputation
as a very citizen-participatory state.
In 1861, President
Abraham Lincoln
put out a call for troops. Shortly after that, MN Governor
Ramsey volunteered 1,000 men to defend the nation. Ramsey's plea
was
answered by 262 men, many new to MN or new to the US,
and the First
Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment — comprised of farmers, loggers,
clerks,
teachers, students, and lawyers — was formed. The volunteers were
young, mainly
in their late teens to mid-twenties, and some had not had time to even
become U.S. citizens yet. Of the
262, only 47 volunteers came home.
In
describing this book, Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War author
James McPherson wrote: "This is Civil War combat history as it should
be
written….the best thing of its kind that I have ever read."
CW -
04
Paperback $17.95

Go
If You
Think It Your Duty: A Minnesota
Couple's Civil War Letters
by Andrea R. Foroughi
During
the Civil War, James Madison Bowler and Elizabeth Caleff Bowler
courted, married, became parents, and bought a farm. They attended
dances, talked politics, and confided their deepest fears. However due
to the war, they went to — and through — many of these events
separately, sharing them with each other through hundreds of letters
they wrote between 1861-65, the years that James fought with the Third
Minnesota Volunteer Regiment.
The
young couple soon realized war has a way of altering idealism. What had
started out as an exciting adventure — a new town, new state, new
marriage, and his strong love of country (a feeling shared by Lizzie
who proclaimed "go if you think it your duty") — began to fade as
separation and the war began to wear down both James and Lizzie.
As their commitment to the war and to each other began to wane, the
letters became more than love letters. The letters began to show their
fears for, and frustration with, each other.
Thanks to painstaking research more than a century later by U of MN
grad student, Andrea R. Foroughi, the teacher Bowler and one of his
students, Lizzie Caleff, unintentionally became two of that era's
best historians. Their letters, and this book which also contains 10
b&w photos, now provide readers with a window into one couple's
experiences during the Civil War.
CW
- 05
Hardcover $32.95

Brackett's
Battalion
by Kurt D. Bergemann
Shipment
just arrived at Rural Route
Bookstore.
CW -
06
Paperback $15.95
Community Life
Norwegian
Newspapers in
America
by
Odd Lovoll

In the
nineteenth century, the United States, "the land of
newspapers," was also fast becoming the land of immigrants, with
increasing numbers of Norwegians arriving amid the European influx.
Already
Skandinaven, published out of Chicago, kept newcomers and their Old
World friends and family
informed of
political, religious, and social matters discussed in burgeoning
Norwegian
American communities.
From
1847 to today, more than 280 Norwegian-language papers were launched in
cities
ranging from Minneapolis to Fargo, Boston to Seattle. Some lasted just
a few
months;
others continued for decades; all contributed to a developing
Norwegian-
American perspective.
Odd
Lovoll traces newspaper ventures both successful and short lived to
offer a
comprehensive look at America’s Norwegian-language
press.
Highlighting diligent editors and analyzing topics of interest to
readers
through the years, Norwegian Newspapers in America demonstrates how
newspapers pursued
a twofold goal: forging a bridge to the homeland while nurturing
cultural
practices in the New World. Odd S. Lovoll is
professor emeritus of history at St. Olaf College and the author of
numerous books,
including "Norwegians on the Prairie: Ethnicity and the Development of
the Country Town."
IM - 11 Paperback
$24.95
Norwegians on
the
Prairie: Ethnicity and
the Development of the Country Town by
Odd Lovoll
Lovoll,
born in Norway and professor emeritus of history at St. Olaf College,
has authored many books and articles on Norwegian immigration to the
Upper Midwest. His earlier books, and those by many other
authors,
have generally been centered on experiences immigrants faced in big
cities or on the hardships and adversity they lived through as they
cleared the prairie preparing for a livelihood of farming.
In
this book, however, Lovoll's subject is the lingering impact on
small
towns that 100 and 150 years earlier had served as trading centers
for
farmers. Lovoll focuses on three communities located on Minnesota's
western prairie; Benson, Madison, and Starbuck, MN. In
this work, he points out that "family stability and inmarrriage,"
reinforced by the Lutheran Church, sustained the Norwegian language and
customs for an extended period" and this theory led Lovoll to examine
the historical, economic, cultural, religious and political history of
these communities from the 1860s until the present. The
author's academic background becomes obvious to the reader.
Lovoll's meticulous research into census data, careful reading of
local
newspapers, and extensive interviews with descendants of Norwegian
immigrants support his conclusion that strong ties to homeland are
visible today in each town’s social, political and religious character.
IM - 9A Hardcover $32.95
IM - 9B Paperback $19.95
They Chose Minnesota
June Drenning Holmquist; ed.
Why
did emigrants leave their homelands and move to Minnesota? Where in the
state did they settle? What did they do, and how did they organize? How
did they maintain their ethnicity? These are just a few of many
deep
questions addressed in this massive document making the subtitle, "A
Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups", almost a misnomer. This is not
"survey", as in quick scan or exit poll. This is an 8 1/2"
X 11",
614-page tome with photos, illustrations, and charts covering 60 ethnic
groups that settled in Minnesota. This is by far the largest and most
expensive book carried by Rural Route Bookstore, and if it weren't
worth the price, we wouldn't carry it. The various scholarly
contributors read like a Who's Who of ethnic studies.
When
published, the St. Paul Dispatch-Pioneer
Press wrote, "If
you are a descendant of Icelanders or Lebanese, Greeks or Japanese, you
will find interesting material in this book about your forebears and
how it was when they settled in Minnesota." And yes, all five
Scandinavian groups are covered in detail in this "must have" book for
historian or genealogist.
GLY - 04 Paperback $39.95
Notable North Dakotans by
Erling N. Rolfsrud
Twenty-four
true stories about the people who shaped the
"Flickertail State."
R
1- 09 $8.95
More
books by Rolfsrud
are found here.
Order
by using the 'Place
an Order' form or you
may order by
phone (800 494-9124). For payment and shipping charges, see 'Place an Order.'
All Caragana Press
products are
available at wholesale prices to qualified retailers, organizations,
churches, schools, and libraries. Call 800 494-9124 for details.
Copyright
© 2003
RRBS. All rights reserved.
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