In this installment of the Missouri Historical Review Author Series, Missouri Civil War historian and retired SHSMO associate director John Bradbury leads a conversation with Jeremy Neely, assistant professor of history at Missouri State University, and recent MSU graduate Trevor Martin. Neely and Martin discuss their article from the January 2021 Missouri Historical Review about the correspondence between Henry Fike, a quartermaster in the Union army, and his wife, Cimbaline, who wrote from the home front in Mascoutah, Illinois, southeast of St. Louis.
The Fikes provide vivid accounts of the hardships of wartime separation as well as Henry’s experiences in Missouri, particularly during Price’s Raid in 1864. Using the Fikes as a starting point, Neely, Martin, and Bradbury discuss the Civil War in Missouri and the rewards and challenges of working with the state’s historical records of the conflict.
Neely and Martin's article is titled “The Terrors and Trials of War”: The Civil War Papers of Henry and Cimbaline Fike and it is published in the Missouri Historical Review, Vol. 115, No. 2 (January 2021).
Learn more about Henry Fike’s diaries which are preserved in the State Historical Society of Missouri’s collections.
Receiving the Missouri Historical Review is a benefit of SHSMO membership. Support programs like these and receive your own copy of the Review by becoming a member. Past issues of the Review are available for purchase from the SHSMO Richard Bookstore.
Hear more from Jeremy Neely in Our Missouri Podcast Episode 35: "The Border Between Them"
Hear more from John Bradbury in Our Missouri Podcast Episode 24: William Monks and "A History of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas"
Music from Phil and Vivian Williams Collection (CA6217) which is held at the State Historical Society of Missouri.