What happens when love letters meet a battlefield? Today, we’re talking about Henry and Cimbaline Fike, a young couple whose devotion endured even as their world fell apart during the American Civil War.

A trove of the couple’s love letters were found by Dr. Jeremy Neely, an associate professor of history at Missouri State University. In his new book, “A Union Tested,” Neely unpacks the heartfelt correspondence between the Missouri couple across three years and 400 letters, taking us inside a Civil War-era romance tested by distance, danger and divided loyalties.

“A Union Tested,” is available to purchase from the University of Georgia Press and on Amazon.

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