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People living in the Midwest in the years 1916-1919 were experiencing rapid change: the first automobiles, the first airplanes, modern weaponry, and a massive, unified war movement that was nothing like their parents or grandparents had ever seen.A young Indiana National Guardsman, Jesse Covell, began to give glimpses of military life to family and friends in his letters: to one girl, Margaret Beck, in particular. They corresponded as troops were sent to the Mexican border and then to training camps to prepare to go overseas. Everything took more time then: growing their own food and crops, cooking, cleaning house, and going places. They all sat down and wrote what was happening where they were, which included poignant accounts of how Spanish Influenza was affecting almost everyone.