The year of 1861 was full of incidents that few people today are aware of. The authentic 1861 artwork on the book cover brings forward what the public knew then, but does not know now. The cause of the American Civil War was not only over slavery as in the mix were state rights, tariffs, taxes and trade. This book concentrates on the war and the slaves. Shown within these pages is exactly as it was for both the north, the south and for those enslaved shown in the words of 1861.

Having raised a dyslexic son, I did a lot of searching for things that he enjoyed listening to as he would try to follow along as I read to him. Most were historic items that helped teach him history with stories about dogs being his favorite. The historic words did make him think along with helping him retain the spellings and meanings of many words, plus I would explain situations with the stories. Those collections, that took years to build, are now going into book forms.