Hard Breathing Days -- The Civil War Letters of Cora Beach Benton Transcribed, Edited and Extensively Researched by Thomas R. Taber. First Publication (as an original ebook) September 2001. 467 pages plus an index of 73 pages. PDF text format.

A wonderful collection of letters, containing a wealth of historical and genealogical information. Most Civil War letters that have been preserved and published are those written by the soldiers and sent home, where they were safely stored. This collection represents the other side of the coin -- the wife's tale. Miraculously having survived the trip from their New York origin to the battlefront and return these letters show how one woman managed to cope with war, family, and an absent husband. Left alone to care for herself and her children, these letters reflect the pathos of her situation. There are over 150 letters from Cora to her husband, plus a dozen more from other family members. They are chatty, romantic, and newsy in turn -- revealing a wealth of details about life in the mid-19th century, and a woman's role in society.

Thomas R. Taber has done an outstanding job of transcribing and documenting these letters, with extensive (and clearly marked) editorial notes that clarify and expand the meaning of the text for the reader. There is also an extensive annotated index, that allows the interested reader to follow the references to a particular individual, or find a mention of a particular landmark or event.

All in all, this is a wonderful resource for the historian, genealogists or student of Women's History -- but more than that, it is just plain "a darn good read!"

We have divided this material into two PDF (Adobe Acrobat) files, one containing the letters and photographs (available for purchase at just $19.95) and one FREE file with a map of the village of Albion New York where Cora lived, and the complete annotated index. With two files you can open them both in Adobe Acrobat at once, and using the Window menu option you can toggle between the two, or choose tile to view them both at once. This makes it much easier to look up the references in the index than it would be if they were both in the same file.

For your convenience, we also have an HTML version of the index.

This is an ebook, so it will be sent by email - NO SHIPPING CHARGE! Please note however that this is a very LARGE file (1.8 meg) so make sure your e-mailbox has room, and allow about 15 minutes for it to download. It is in PDF format, a reader is available free, and probably already on your computer. You can read the text in the Acrobat Reader, or print it out. The search function will automatically find any word or name you are looking for, anywhere it appears in the text. Text can be enlarged for easier reading.

Availability and Price:

Available as an ePublication in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) text format for $19.95

The complete annotated index is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD or may be viewed as ON-LINE HTML FILES.