From the North

An Unidentified Union Soldier (NOT Walter!)

Dear Mother
Your kind letter of the 24th inst. came to hand Thursday evening and was thankfully received. Letters from home are worth more to us than anything else and the cry of "the mail" will cause the boys to move a little more quickly than anything else perhaps excepting bullets....

By viewing photographs of Addie Tripp's diary, one can get a sense of what the country was like in 1864. The diary includes details such as a list of presidents, bills payable, and population as well as Addie's daily entries written in cursive.

After being badly wounded in a battle near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Henry Barden wrote a letter expressing his wish to see his father. Henry's father traveled from Wisconsin, down the Mississippi River, to Missouri to see his son. 

Col. John Hancock wrote letters at least once a week to his wife, Jennie, during the Civil War.  He described daily battlefield events, his own battlefield injuries, and the loss of his men in war.  After the war, he returned to his hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 

Saturday, Jan. 2, 1864
Another day of the new year has passed but a very busy one for me. It has been very cold all day. This afternoon I have been papering my hut so our quarters are quite comfortable now. The band has been out this evening and played some very pretty pieces, and I am thankful for it relieves the monotony of dull camp life. This evening Lieut. D. G. Hill and Captain Goodrich, the brigade Quartermaster, called; they were in fine spirits. It is bitter cold, but no wind as last night; have received no letters which of course is provoking...