During the American Civil War, newspapers in Wabash Indiana frequently printed letters from local men serving in the Union army. McSpadden has compiled the letters in A Leaf of Voices, giving fascinating insights into a bygone age. The letter writers are a remarkable cast of characters: young and old, soldiers, doctors, ministers, officers, enlisted men, newspaper men, and a 15-year-old drummer boy. These are not stories of generals or battle strategies. Rather, they are the stories of ordinary soldiers and their experiences of long marches, extreme weather, disease, and death.