On the front lawn of Towers Hall at Otterbein University stands a monument to approximately one hundred men who served in the Union forces during the American Civil War and who were associated with the college as students or faculty. This monument was the result of Otterbein alums and local Westerville residents wishing to pay tribute to (as they phrased it on the accompanying plaque) the "Patriotic Sons of Otterbein." The monument was placed on the Otterbein campus in 1915.

During winter 2001, undergraduate students in a Civil War course taught by Dr. Sarah Fatherly at Otterbein University began the work of reconstructing the personal lives and war records of the veterans memorialized on the monument.

Having documented about two dozen of the veterans - with varying degrees of ease - the students wrote short biographies and longer research papers about these soldiers. Each time the class is taught, a new set of short biographies will be added to the website and longer papers will become available at the University Archives.