The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

It Was Fun - It Was Meaningful

by Dessa Rodeffer, Publisher/Owner

18 September 2013

The Southeast Iowa Civil War Round Table (SEICWRT) re-enactors try to learn, recreate and encourage others to remember the cost of our United States.

Last Thursday, I and our comrades at SEICWRT, helped host the final showing of Charles F. Larimer's Love & Valor - The Intimate Civil War Letters, at The Capitol Theater, 211 N. 3rd, Burlington, IA.

The intimate Civil War letters between the loyal Mt Pleasant patriot, farmer and teacher Captain Jacob Ritner and his devoted wife Emeline Ritner. The movie was a good sampling of their letters that bear a true account of their thoughts, struggles, loneliness and ability to make do, and carry through with their great devotion to family union, and the union of this great nation to the very end.

There is not a more fitting title for Larimer's book which carries the entire letters of his Iowa great grandparents then â"Love and Valor"!

After the movie we were privileged to discuss the book with Larimer who explained his long search for the letters and the book (7 years) which bear the stories he had heard from his grandmother as a young lad.

And then another 7 years to write and produce the movie. Both are part of special collections at the Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers in Washington D.C.