On April 11th, 1864 Union soldier Joseph Harris wrote a scathing assessment of some Northern newspapers to his friend or associate Cornelius Pervin. But not just an attack on the newspapers, but challenging his friend on his apparent “Copperhead” political disposition. The content is excellent as it addresses several political themes that are to this day debated about historians. How did the idea of the war transforming into what Harris…

Soldier letters of condolence are often very moving reads. This morning we entered into the archive one such letter that was worth highlighting. Here it is: Sir Enclosed please find $2 – a small amount advanced me by your brother when we came to this place. Henry also gave me his old blouse and overcoat. The former I wear at present, and both I shall take with me home. The…

[posted originally on my old blog4history site] Received my copy of William L. Shea’s Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign (Civil War America). Publish date: November, 2009. Hardcover: 392 pages Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press ISBN: 0807833150 From the publisher: “William Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, Arkansas, one of the great unsung battles of the Civil War that effectively ended Confederate…

Confederate letters do not come up as often as Union ones and for various reasons. So when one does come up as exceptional as this one I like to highlight it. The soldier is S. N. Duncan, there are 40 that came up in the Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System. Duncan speaks very passionately about the war, why he is fighting, about Abolitionism, and his fallen comrades. Truly an…

Private Miles K. Lewis was born in Sharon, Litchfield County, Connecticut. He left home at 15 and moved to Dutchess County, New York, the town of Amenia. He enlisted into the 150th Regiment of New York Volunteers (Infantry). He enlisted as a Private on September 11, 1862 in Company A and server over three years. In this letter he is 2 miles from the center of Atlanta, Monday, July 25th,…

Just recently published by Thomas Desjardin Joshua L. Chamberlain: The Life in Letters of a Great Leader of the American Civil War deals with 300 previously unknown letters from Chamberlain’s personal correspondence, which comprises letters sent by or to Chamberlain from his college years in 1852 to his death in 1914. From the Published: The first 100 letters shed light on Chamberlain’s formative years and his courtship with Fannie Adams,…