Van Raalte was a strong supporter of President Lincoln. He did not enter the army himself, but two of his sons, Ben and Dirk enlisted in the 25th Michigan. Both sons wrote letters home. In the following you can read some of these letters. They present us with scenes of the war and glimpses of the Van Raalte family.
 
The first letter is from Ben and is about camp life:

I am enjoying myself.The life of a soldier agrees with me, it is a healthful life if one is willing to take care of himself. ...Dirk has had fever a couple of times but could continue to work - he can take it. He is sturdy and very active. He has more time to write than I have. Sometimes he comes to my tent but then he is always so full of pep that he can't sit down.
We lack nothing. Our company had only five tents and at night we lay so close together that I didn't enjoy it much. So we changed things. Last Saturday I took a squad and got some planks and with them we fixed our tents so we now have a third more space. We banked dirt against the planks and it has been a great improvement. ...We bought a stove from the Indiana Regiment for fourteen shillings - about 10¢ apiece for our group. Now we can have a fire in the morning and evenings.
There is much sickness among the lazy soldiers. Whenever there is work to be done they complain of stomach cramps, etc. We rise at daybreak for roll call and after that it's sweeping the parade ground. Then at eight we mount guard and at nine drill till eleven. Then later battalion drill from two till four. After that dress parade. Other things are also done and so the days pass quickly. ...When we left camp last week it was very cold and snowing hard - about three inches in 24 hours. Ice hung from the trees but now it is much milder. ...The country looks devastated. Fences are rarely seen any more and we take whatever there is to take. So you can understandwhy the country looks desolate.