May God in His Mercy Spare our Lives, the Civil War Letters and Diary of Eseck G. Wilber, 120th NYSV, captures the Civil War exploits of Eseck G. Wilber, who was just 21 when he volunteered for the Union Army in August of 1862. He was full of youthful arrogance and pride which slowly eroded as disease, hunger and death surrounded him. Eseck was at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg before he was captured by the Rebels at James City, Va and sent to Libby Prison. Moved to Pemberton, then Belle Isle and finally Andersonville, GA, Eseck saw first hand the deprivations of his fellow soldiers. Eseck's 80 letters home and his diary tell the tale of his military exploits and his incarceration by the South.