Sigrid Wilshinsky

My Life in America Before, During, and After the Civil War, written by Louis Hensel and translated by Sigrid Wilshinsky, brings to life the letters Louis Hensel wrote to his granddaughter about his travels throuout America in the late eighteen hundreds. Hensel depicts various adventures as he entered the Cavalry regiment in Brooklyn as an officer and Master of the Horse, but the story shares a true piece of history when Hensel describes sitting in a meeting with President Abraham Lincoln and the various representatives of the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapahoe, Comanche, Apache and Caddoe Tribes in the East Room of the White House. His letters tell an exciting and inspiring story about surviving in America before, during, and after the Civil War. Sam Roberts of The New York Times referred to Louis Hensel as “a poor man’s de Tocqueville” because of these descriptive letters now translated into English by Sigrid Wilshinsky. Read more.