Illinois Artillery Officer's Civil War: The Diary and Letters of John Cheney
Gordon Armstrong has a long standing interest in history and genealogy. It was through his genealogical interest that he met Nancy Hay of Newport, IR. At her death in 2001 he helped organize the large quantity of family papers and photos she had preserved, including the content presented in this book. After sitting down and reading part of Cheney's diary, Gordon became intrigued with Cheney and what he experienced. In writing the diary, Cheney had a sense he was preserving something personally important. His great-granddaughter Nancy Hay. Rather than just deposit the material in a public archive, Gordon undertook the task of transcribing, editing and researching the record context of John Cheney's Civil War papers.