Chapter 11 Summary

In December 1863, the family receives a long awaited letter from John. Three months after the disastrous defeat at Chicamaugua Creek in Tennessee, John writes of the account. His letter transports us to the mountains around Chatanooga and Sherman's march. Jethro rewrites John's letter and sends his copy to Jenny and Shad.

People begin to talk about peace and the inevitable end to the war. Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address the month before in November and offers amnesty to Confederate soldiers a month later, causing public outrage. Jethro, feeling a personal connection with Lincoln, is angered by what is said as the papers denounce the President's actions as treason.

Shadrach writes that he and Jenny have seen President Lincoln, describing everything to Jethro. The letter tells of his chiseled looks being twenty years older than the pictures they studied together when the war began...