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William Furry

Born: 1953 in Springfield, Illinois
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Furry was born in and currently resides in Springfield, Illinois.

Biography: Furry is the Executive Director of the Illinois State Historical Society and editor of ''Illinois Heritage'' magazine. His book ''The Preacher's Tale: The Civil War Journal of Rev. Francis Springer, Chaplain, U.S. Army of the Frontier'' has been well received by Civil War enthusiasts.


Awards:

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: wfurry@historyillinois.org
William Furry on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=william+furry


Selected Titles

The preacher's tale :
ISBN: 1557287031 OCLC: 45500133

University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville : 2001.

In the fall of 1861, fifty-one-year-old Rev. Francis Springer enlisted in the Union army. The following spring, Reverend Springer, a friend of and one-time neighbor to Abraham Lincoln, rode away with the 10th Illinois Cavalry. A witness to the Battle of Prairie Grove (December 1862), Springer was later named post chaplain at Fort Smith, where, in addition to preaching and ministering to the troops, he was placed in charge of refugees - widows, orphans, and contrabands. During this period, Springer also wrote articles and columns in the Fort Smith New Era under the pseudonym "Thrifton". The Preacher's Tale includes several never-before-published photographs, and appendixes that contain accounts of six military executions that Springer participated in as a Union Army chaplain, the last letters home of two rebel soldiers condemned and executed at Fort Smith, as well as a eulogy written for Abraham Lincoln.

 

 

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