Henry Thweatt Owen fought the War of 1861-1865 on many fronts. As a commander of Company C, 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia, Confederate States of America, he fought against the Union Army. He also fought on a second front in frequent battles concerning the welfare of his men with the commander of the 18th, Colonel Robert Enoch Withers. As a husband, he fought to keep his wife’s spirits up while she endured the many hardships of running a homestead during the war. After the war he fought many battles against political corruption in Virginia. He corresponded with many survivors of the war, including Gen. James Longstreet and Major Charles Pickett, before writing several newspaper articles. Henry T. Owen’s story is told predominantly in his own words, but his experiences were common to thousands of men-both Confederate and Union-who held high standards of conduct and principles in their lives. This book is not intended to be a tribute solely to Henry T. Owen. It
is a tribute to both Confederate and Union soldiers and sailors, and to the wives, children and other loved ones they left behind. Following the war, thousands of young men, like Henry T. Owen, returned to their homes to try and put together the broken pieces of their lives and to heal the nation’s wounds. It was not an easy task. Many of the letters, documents, and other material published in this book are transcribed from the Henry T. Owen Papers, 1822-1929 archived at the Library of Virginia. Additional material was transcribed from Henry Owen’s scrapbook now owned by one of the authors. A chronological list of names in letters, and an alphabetical list of names in letters augment this work.