One of the things I appreciate most about being an employee at the Missouri History Museum is the enjoyment I get from working with history buffs like myself. As museum professionals we take any opportunity to share our own enthusiasm for historical artifacts with our co-workers.

The other day Amy Berra, Exhibits Registrar, called me into a storeroom to read poetry written in the diary of George J. Mook. He was born on April 26, 1828, in Oxford, Ohio. During the Civil War he fought as a Confederate in the 4th Missouri Cavalry. While I don’t want to give away too much information about George Mook, as his story will be revealed throughout the Civil War in Missouri exhibition, I do want to take this opportunity to share with all of you the poem he wrote on the first page of his diary. 

 Perhaps some friends whose names are here
 From Earth have passed away
 And gone to that bright happy land
 Where pleasures ne’er decay

 A few more years and all whose names
 Upon these pages stand
 Will follow on to that bright shore
 Where waits the angel band

 And then these lines will be perused
 By those who know us not
 Who’ll idly wonder who we were
 And what was our lot
                        —George J. Mook

The last stanza of this poem sent chills down my spine and I will now forever wonder who George J. Mook was as a person. To learn more about his fate during the Civil War you will have to come and see the Civil War in Missouri exhibition at the Missouri History Museum! 

—Cailin Carter, Conversation Lab Technician