German Yankee

GERMAN YANKEE is based on the lives of Karens paternal great grandparents John and Elizabeth Westerhoff. John Westerhoff left Hamburg Germany in 1858 to avoid further service in the Prussian cavalry. He arrived in the predominately German settlement of Warsaw Illinois just as civil unrest was raging across the United States particularly across the Mississippi River in Missouri. Because of the states strategic importance along the much-traveled Mississippi River it was of great importance and would come to be known as the Western Front of the Civil War. Warfare in Missouri mirrored the major military campaigns of the Civil War---North against South. Submitting to his conscience John makes the decision to join Merrills Horse of the 2nd Missouri Union Cavalry. He is a farrier by trade and a valued member of the cavalry---without horses the men become infantry! During an average day in the Civil War over 600 were killed; over 618000 men died by the end of the war. A Civil war soldiers chance of survival was 1 in 4. After serving three years and 4 months in the Great War of the Republic (Civil War) John returns to his farm and marries young Elizabeth. They struggle to find peace from the residual resentments and horrors of the war. After several years John and Elizabeth decide to leave the unrest in Illinois behind as they travel by covered wagon with their 3 children to homestead in the wilds of the rolling hills of Nebraska north of Seward. Here they are baptized by the promise of peace hope and quiet of the vast land. The other side of their decision is filled with a daily struggle with grasshoppers drought disease death brutal blizzards and much more. From page one we again experience Schuttes ability to draw the reader into the rhythm and drama of the story; we find ourselves pulled head-first into the gripping reality of the life saga of the Westerhoffs.