"I was looking at a copy of your book. I opened it and almost immediately turned to a page mentioning my Great Grandfather. Walter A. Cheney joined at the ripe old age of 13. He tried to join when he was 12. After being refused twice, he added an extra "E" to his last name and was accepted as a Drummer for the 125th OVI.

I never knew much about him until recently. The 125th's website was the first information I found. Well, you can imagine my excitement when I found his name in your book. I never knew the details of his wounding. I purchase the book as fast as I could. I just wanted to send you this short note to Thank You as much as I possibly could.

Walter A. Cheney's very proud Great-Grandson,
Dale T. Cheney"

County native featured in book

By Phylis Miller

Those attending Dennis Keesee's Memorial weekend presentation based on the book, "Too Young To Die" learned that a Morrow County native, David Wood, is one of the Civil War boy soldiers whose stories are related in the book.

According to history, Samuel Wood moved his family from the Quaker community south of Mt. Gilead to Kansas in 1854 to aid the "Free Staters" in keeping slavery out of the territory. Samuel's activities earned him the nickname, "The fighting Quaker." When he bacame a lieutenant colonel of the 6th Missouri cavalry in 1861, his ten year-old son, david, begged to accompany the troopers on their forays into Missouri and Arkansas. David was always denied permission until one day as Colonel Wood was leading his troops on a long march from their headquarters at Rolla. While investigating a commotion at the rear of the column, Colonel Wood found his son riding a pony amid the soldiers who were trying to conceal him. From then on David accompanied his father until he was regularly enlisted and served his father as an orderly carrying dispatches.

Two of Wood's descendants, Roger Wood and Charles Mosher, attended the program held Saturday, May 24 on the third floor of the Mount Gilead Public Library. It was jointly sponsored by the Morrow County Genealogical and Historical Societies.

Keesee stated that, except for religion, more books have been written on the Civil War than any other topic. His book grew out of his 20 year collection of photos of young Civil war soldiers which led him to research their lives.

He found that some of the boys accompanied their fathers, as did David Wood. Others went for the adventure. Boys could enlist as non-combatants at the age of 12, but many lied about their ages and were actually only 10 or 11. His research revealed one boy was only 6-1/2. Often their uniforms were made by their mothers. The boys served as drummers, carried water and were stretcher bearers. Most became the pets of their units. Most survived the war, but some lost their lives or limbs in battle and some were taken prisoner. Regimental histories record about 1300 boys who enlisted from Ohio.

Keesee accompanied his talk with a display of enlarged photos from his book, one of which was lif sized.

A restaurateur, Keesee currently lives with his son Corey in New Albany, but he will be getting married on July 4. the ceremony will take place on the battlefield at Gettysburg.

The Morrow County Sentinel, Mount Gilead, Ohio, June 4, 2003