Author and Writer
Daniel Lee
Author, Writer, Speaker
Current book project...
Noble Son: The Life and Death
of Private Willet Job Rathbun
When I was a boy, my grandparents in Northern New York showed me copies of Civil War letters written between 1862 and 1865. The letters were by and about my great-great-great-uncle Willet J. Rathbun, a Union soldier. Willet was a member of Company K of the 110th New York Infantry. In August 1862, with President Lincoln's call for volunteers and the lure of a cash bounty, he would leave his Oswego County, N.Y., home at 17. He would die of yellow fever at 19 in Key West, Fla.
Decades later, I returned to these letters and the stories they told. As my research intensified, I realized this was a coming-of-age journey within the conflict that defined America. Young Willet squared his sense of duty with the cruelties of war and suffering of disease.
On Dec. 1, 1862, five days after his 18th birthday, he'd write these words to his parents from Fortress Monroe in Virginia: "When I left home to go off, alone as you might say, without anyone to look after me or care for me, I left with a strong determination... to stand right up in all cases and do my duty and do the best I could, not only for my country but for you and myself too, and to shun all bad habits. I have kept up that determination-so that when I come home I can hold my head up and not be ashamed of what I have done." Days later, he’d depart for disease-stricken Louisiana and Key West.
Noble is not a word used much today. Yet it seems fitting here, for it is how Willet's commanding officer described him in the letter informing Willet's parents of their son's death. His brief life still speaks, not as a hero but as a boy soldier trying to be the person he believed he should be amid a fallen and tragic world.
Above is a the envelop from 1862 Willet sent to his parents from Maryland. The envelop features a patriotic drawing of Lady Liberty. His penmanship is excellent, and even today, highly legible.
About Daniel
Daniel Lee developed a love of writing as a teenager and has pursued that passion ever since. He spent more than 17 years in newspaper journalism, including positions as a business-technology reporter at the San Jose Mercury News and a business reporter and columnist at the Indianapolis Star. He also taught journalism and communication at Valparaiso University. His nonfiction book, “The Belgian Hammer: Forging Young Americans into Professional Cyclists,” was featured on NBC Sports Network’s live coverage of the 2012 Tour de France.
Driven by a journalist’s desire to learn, Daniel writes on a wide variety of topics, including a Friends Journal article on Quaker relief efforts in post-World War I Europe and a feature on the boxing website NY Fights on the restoration of Muhammad Ali’s rural Pennsylvania training camp, Fighter’s Heaven. Daniel has a deep interest in his Christian faith. From 2020 to 2024, he served as part-time pastor for West Union Friends Church in Monrovia, Ind. The country church, founded in 1832, has ties to the Underground Railroad, a subject he researched and presented in detail during his time at West Union. Daniel also helped lead the effort to have a mural of cycling legend Marshall "Major" Taylor in his hometown of Indianapolis. He also is the founder and organizer of the Anthony J. Bridgeman Lecture on Sports and Society at the Indiana State Museum in honor of his late friend.
An avid reader, Daniel’s favorite books include Homer’s Odyssey, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Jake by Alfred Slote, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amore. His favorite book is Ben Hur by Lew Wallace. Daniel also practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu and serves as a baseball umpire.
Daniel earned a bachelor's in magazine journalism and history and a master's in journalism from Ball State University. He and his wife, Jennifer, have been married more than 31 years and have three children.
Debut Book
May 2011
"The Belgian Hammer" is the story of what it takes for young Americans to make it in professional cycling. Rising stars such as Lawson Craddock of Texas, Benjamin King of Virginia, Taylor Phinney of Colorado, Daniel Holloway of California, and Tyler Farrar of Washington state are doing just that as they endure crashes, cold rain, cobblestones, crosswinds, and culture shock on their road to cycling stardom, which starts in Belgium.
This is the story of the next generation—of riders not yet tainted by drug scandals, of riders still bursting with hope and potential.
