Colors of Dignity

Leaving his home on the Illinois prairie, Giles Shurtleff attended Oberlin College just prior to the Civil War. President Lincolns call for troops after the firing on Fort Sumter in 1861 led to a great fervor of patriotism in Oberlin. Giles was elected Captain of Company C of the 7thOhio Volunteer Infantry. He wrote this about army life: No other experience could equal it as a school for the study...