Roving Bill Aspinwall

Ladies’ man. Child soldier. War hero. Egotist. Tramp. Drunkard. Published author. Each of these descriptions captures some part of William ‘Roving Bill’ Aspinwall’s life, and yet none does him justice. Born one of 23 siblings, married 5 times, wounded fighting for the Union in one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, kicked out of numerous jobs and solders’ homes for drunkenness, and having spent decades wandering as penniless vagabond, Bill also kept up a 24-year correspondence w