6Civil War letters and life of Colonel John A. Bross, a Chicago lawyer, married with a child, who volunteered in 1862 as an officer in the Army of the Cumberland, fought at the battles of Perryville, Stones River, and Chickamauga, then raised the only African-American regiment from Illinois and was killed leading his troops at the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864. His letters describe daily life in the army as well as scenes of battle, and glow with love for his wife Belle and his little boy Mason. The biography describes life in the rapidly growing Chicago of the 1850s and gives details of Lincoln's election campaigns of 1858 and 1860, in which John and his brother William (an owner of the Chicago Tribune) played a prominent role. The biography also provides a narrative of the military campaigns in which he was engaged.