As news of the war is learned of sporadically through newspapers that are read and re-read, the Creightons receive their first letter from Tom. Hoping the war would be over as quickly as it started, Tom's accounting of the fighting at Fort Donelson makes it clear that the battles were hard fought. Lured into a false sense of security by the hot weather, soldiers threw away their warm clothing to lighten their loads. When at the Fort, the weather turned and many either froze to death or died in battle.
Ellen, feeling the weight of Tom's letter, sends Jethro to Shadrach's to insulate him from his parent's grief. It is February 1862 and the weather is cold. Making his first overnight trip alone to take the letter to the schoolmaster, his mother and sister.....
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