Author Randee Fieselmann will discuss the First Iowa Infantry at English Valleys History Center

The diaries of George Burmeister and Eugene Ware and the newspaper reports of Franc Wilkie tell the experiences of the first Civil War enlistees in the First Iowa Infantry.

Author Randee Fieselmann explores their stories of hardship under brutal conditions and asks, what motivated these men to remain committed to the Union cause and how did soldiers in the Iowa regiment weave the bonds of community needed to endure adversity and follow Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon into the Battle of Wilson’s Creek?

Fieselmann will speak at the English Valleys History Center Sunday, March 29 at 2 p.m. in North English. The event is free, but donations will be accepted.

Fieselmann holds a PhD in sociology with a focus on the sociology of knowledge, and has a long-standing interest in biographical studies. She taught at the University of Iowa and at Coe College as a visiting assistant professor. Her book, “The Union First,” will interest historians as well as first-time readers of Civil War history.

Fieselmann studied the history of how the confrontation over the St. Louis Arsenal became Civil War in Missouri and how young Iowa soldiers marched through Missouri and fought in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. “The Union First: Community and Commitment in the First Iowa Infantry” tells the story of the first young men from Iowa to enlist in the Civil War and of their commitments to reunite the Union.