Josiah Volunteered

Edited by Arnold H. Sturtevant with Drawings by S.W. Hilton
Sample Pictures & Book Excerpts



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"Ah me, if I could tell the story as it is...but real life cannot be held
up to the Public.  I am convinced, however, that there is not so
much difference in fact and fiction as we are apt to think.  Perhaps
I shall write my book yet!" (March 29, 1891)

"I should die, I guess, if I couldn't write.  I often think if my right
hand should fail what would I do -- and if my poor letters are any
comfort to you, I'm more than glad to write them." (November 22,
1892)

Helen Ormsby Sturtevant

Private Josiah Sturtevant, 17th Maine Infantry

Josiah (Civil War Photo)

"I am in a perilous place...I would like to get out of it...still we all like to know what we are & what we've got to do...while my comrades have been cut down on the field of battle, I am spared & there is yet a future for me here below."

(Josiah's 1863 diary)

The Girls he Left Behind

The pen of Josiah's wife, Helen, and her predisposition toward preserving family writings was essential to this chronicle.

"Bless his dear old heart, how his little gals do want to see him!  I look out every night to see if I can see you coming up the road.  Oh, I have faith to believe I shall put my arms around your neck and give you a kiss or two pretty soon...you better believe!"

 Helen & May -- The Girls he Left Behind

"Sometimes Charles milks before noon, sometimes he don't."

Fifty-five drawings by S. W. Hilton appear in the book.  Hilton was a Maine artist, who lived in the state until his death in the spring of 1977.

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