Book excerpt: Ellen Johnson fans her children as they nap on a pallet in the dogtrot of their home in western Louisiana. Aaron, her husband fighting in the Civil War, writes to tell her his right leg was amputated just below the hip after being hit by a mini ball in the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana. He was sent to Shreveport where he stayed for 16 months to recover, then went by steamboat to Alexandria where he is paroled. He writes for someone to come to take him home.