The letter is signed by “Wm J B…..” and dated “October the 5 : 18 and fast asleep.” The author tells us he’s writing from camp near the Rapidan River in Orange County, Virginia. The writer is most like William and in the correspondence he mentions a letter from his cousin John Lyons and gives Johns’ address in care of the 48th Mississippi Regiment, Poseys’ Brigade, Andersons’ Division (official records…

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,…

Just got a chance to read the June 2012 issue of the Civil War Times and in particular Dr. Gary Gallagher’s “Blue & Gray” column on Bloggers. I must admit I found his editorial to be self-righteous and self-serving. This was not a serious take on Civil War blogging. (I think the Civil War Times has done a more serious take on Civil War blogging before, or am I confusing…

Off and on for the last 6-7 years I have entertained the thought of writing an updated history of the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry. The reason being I am a descendent of Col. Charles H. Weygant who wrote the first and only book length history of the regiment and the regiment has an excellent history that needs updating. I never could wrap my head around the idea of doing…