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            The nation had been divided for more than a year and the Civil War had begun to take its toll when the 137^th Regiment Infantry, New York Volunteers was formed in 1862.  The Union needed the manpower, and under the leadership of Col. David Ireland the 137^th would see action from Gettysburg to Atlanta and join General Sherman’s March to the Sea.  Their experiences were documented at the time with military precision and we also know biographical details about individual soldiers

            A century and a half later living history reenactors keep alive the history and traditions of the 137^th and David Cleutz of Binghamton is still deep into research.  He has now applied his knowledge to a fictional story that further illuminates the life and times of those who fought in the Civil War as well as the civilians who stayed behind or found themselves close to the battles.  War and Redemption is the story of the 137^th, for whom Cleutz has recruited some additional fictional characters.  The military action is recounted with step-by-step accuracy and, as with most historical novels, the fiction is built up around the edges of fact.

            In an end note to War and Redemption, Cleutz reintroduces his cast both real and fictional.  Colonel David Ireland was a Binghamtonian who organized the 137^th and was killed in the war.  He left a widow, Sara Phelps (the Phelps Mansion is one of the city’s beloved classic homes).  Several other characters are drawn from history.

                                          -- from War and Redemption

            But the plot of the novel is under the command of the fictional figures.  Luke Kellogg was a young man from Cayuga County who – like most of those who served in the Civil War – had never been far from home.  (His “uncle”, Judge Charles Kellogg, was real, the founder of New Hope Mills). The new recruits in Binghamton attract the interest of the young women of the city and Luke soon is enjoying the attention of Miss Julia Stow. Meanwhile, in Virginia, native New Yorker Jack Lewis is drawn into the conflict on the side of the Confederacy.  At a fatal moment, Jack and his fellow rebel Lathrop Emmons meet up with Luke along a creek in Maryland.  A fight ensues and Jack is killed.

            Jack had earlier killed a civilian who was carrying a stash of gold, which has been hidden.  A map of the hiding place is engraved on a locket Jack received from Sally Crum, a local woman with whom he’d had a passionate affair (War and Redemption contains several explicit scenes).  The locket is lost during the fight and with it any hope of finding the gold, which both Lathrop and Luke know about.

            Twenty years later, veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg return from both North and South for a reunion of reconciliation.  Against this historical background Cleutz resumes the drama of the two men seeking the locket and the gold.  Redemption has more than one meaning.

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            David Cleutz’s knowledge of the Civil War begins with personal connections.  He was born and raised in the Pennsylvania battlefield region that figures prominently in War and Redemption.  As a youth he frequently visited Gettysburg.  A few of the characters in his novel are based on his own ancestors.

            OFF THE PAGE has examined the local history of the Civil War era on several programs.  Guest authors include James M. Greiner, who wrote about the 121^st New York Volunteers in Subdued by the Sword, Michael Horigan, author of Death Camp of the North, about the Elmira prison camp and Eileen Patch, whose book This from George recounts the experiences of Sgt. George Englis of the Dickinson Guard.

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On Tuesday, March 20^th Janet Amalia Weinberg visits OFF THE PAGE to reverse some myths about women and aging.  Dr. Weinberg, a psychologist from Ithaca, is editor of and contributor to Still Going Strong a new anthology of more than forty “memoirs, stories and poems about great older women.”