Above a common soldier
Subtitle: Frank and Mary Clarke in the American west and Civil War
By: edited by Darlis A. Miller.
Contributors: Clarke, Mary; Miller, Darlis A., 1939-
Edition: Rev. ed., 2nd ed.
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Albuquerque
Language: eng
Number of pages: 222
Subjects: Clarke, Charles Francis, 1827-1862 -- Correspondence.; Clarke, Mary -- Correspondence.; United States. Army -- Military life -- History -- 19th century.; Pioneers -- West (U.S.) -- Correspondence.; Soldiers -- West (U.S.) -- Correspondence.; Women pioneers -- West (U.S.) -- Correspondence.; Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Kansas -- History -- 1854-1861.
Description: First published as To Form a More Perfect Union in 1941, this rare volume of Civil War-era letters relates the poignant experiences of an English immigrant in the service of the United States Army as a noncommissioned officer, civilian employee, and Union volunteer. Frank Clarke served in Mexico, Missouri, New Mexico, and Bleeding Kansas, on the Sioux, Solomon River, and Utah expeditions, and in war-torn Tennessee and Mississippi.

After Frank's tragic death in 1862, his wife Mary corresponded with his English mother, detailing the daily struggles of a military widow and her five sons in frontier Kansas. Darlis Miller has kept George Hammond's original annotations and added a few new ones. Her introductions to the book and individual chapters provide biographical details on Frank's and Mary's lives and place their letters in historical context.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-213) and index.
Originally published: To form a more perfect union. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1941. With new introduction, chapter introductions, and bibliographies.
Table of contents: title: The West beckons, 1847-1849; title: With the First Dragoons, 1849-1854; title: Civilians again, 1854-1861; title: A Civil War tragedy, 1861-1863; title: A bird alone, 1863-1865; title: Junction City, Kansas, 1865-1872.