Family letters of a religious South Carolina family from around the time of the Civil War.

I cross-referenced these letters with items on the Internet--saw not only the sea islands off S.C. where the family (and servants, as they always called their slaves) grew high-quality "sea island" cotton, saw the old church where the father preached (tiny!! and almost overgrown by the forest), information about the Indian mounds/remains that were studied by the older son at Princeton (the thesis he wrote about those mounds was wrong), and (unprofessionally) researched the, to me, quaint and haunting phrase "no more forever." The earliest reference I found was in a Protestant sermon from Ireland.

Unforgettable view into the past. ( )

Letters written before, during and after the Civil War. Fascinating. 3 volumes ( )

Very dense but can read a letter or two at a time and put down, then pick up and read a few more, finally getting through it.