Long Journey Home: A Soldier's Story

Charles T. Kruse of St. Marys, Ohio began his Civil War journey walking the boards of the steamboat being built in Cincinnati, Ohio in the late summer of 1862. Both Charley and that ill-fated steamboat were launched into a series of events that would bring them back together at the war's end. Through heartbreak and humor, pathos and persistence, the tragedies of war saw Charley survive Andersonville only to die on the Sultana that fateful day April 27, 1865. Finally on his way home, his journey was cut short, but his story lives on through the hundreds of letters he wrote documenting first-hand his Civil War experiences as a soldier in Ohio's 50th Volunteer Infantry. Read not only his letters, but how Michael Hurwitz breathed life into those letters, putting Charley's story on stage as a dramatic reopening of St. Marys Grand Opera House/Theater. Charley had finally come home! Included in this book is the script for the one-act play as well as the story that led to writing the play and bringing this historic opera house back to life.