documents tied up in a ribbon that hadn't been undone since the 1800s and said on the outside, william h. emery's regarding resignation from the army 1861. i blinked a few times and i handed it to my student. i said, jim, one thing you should know, it's not always this easy. so, to get back, harold, to your question, what was in there was the story of one of these ordinary americans trying to grapple with what was going on around him. and what struck me, and this doesn't often get covered in the history books, is the way it wasn't just an ideological decision, a moral decision, discussion about slavery, but emery was out in indian territory. many are probably familiar with his name. he became a rather successful commander in the war. but what emery was wrestling with, as became clear in the letters back to his wife and his brother in maryland, was not just these big questions but questions of individual loyalties. he was very close friends with jefferson davis. his son was actually living with the davis family at the time while he attended medical school. and he was thinking about family ties. he