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Collection of Ira Blanchard, H company, 20th regiment, Illinois, infantry [Decimalized .01-.26]

This collection consists chiefly of correspondence from Ira Blanchard, Lieutenant, Company H, 29th Illinois Infantry, to Mary (Wright) Kellogg. These letters document Blanchard's service at Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee; Vicksburg, Mississippi...

GLC03523.31

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Lyon. Discusses his holiday party and how he "...devoured his share of all the delicate dishes from the North." Complains of the hard crackers used as bread on marches. Informs there are two hundred...

GLC03523.31.01

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Goodell. Reports there are 1200 soldiers there. Complains of sleeping on the cold ground with no blanket for a few nights. Says they are divided into squads of eight men who share a tent. Mentions they do...

GLC03523.31.02

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Goodell. Expresses gratitude for her letter and says when the mail arrives, the soldiers "...flock to the office like sheep." Says once the letters are read the band plays "the girl I left behind." Reports...

GLC03523.31.03

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Goodell. Reflects on the possibility of being killed. Reports his regiment is now part of the U.S. Army under Union General George B. McClellan, and they will be moving to western Virginia. Letter is very...

GLC03523.31.04

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Pope. Discusses his loneliness for the female sex, "You know it is not nature to be thus alone." Mentions shaving his whiskers close to his face and getting a severe cold. Comments on the constant rain, damp...

GLC03523.31.05

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Pope. Discusses in great detail the Fourth of July celebration in the camp. "The entire Brigade took a solom oath never to return to there homes until the last vestage of rebelion is wiped out." Describes a...

GLC03523.31.06

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from camp outside St. Louis. Describes in great detail his trip down the Mississippi River aboard a government steamer "City of Alton." Mentions being applauded by Union people as they went down the river. Comments...

GLC03523.31.07

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Tremont outside St. Louis. Mentions cooking for the soldiers when he has nothing else to do even though there are five cooks for each company. Says they just received their uniforms and bayonets. Explains in...

GLC03523.31.08

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Tremont outside St. Louis. Thanks her for the magazine she sent him. Reports Confederate General Gideon J. Pillow has a strong army in the state. Says St. Louis is under martial law and a very dangerous place...

GLC03523.31.09

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from a hospital in Mound City, Illinois. Reports he has been sick with fever for six weeks. Says the hospital is three stories high and capable of treating 6000 patients. Comments that war "...tries men's souls."...

GLC03523.31.10

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Camp Lyon in Illinois. Apologizes for using the word "love" in his letters to her. Responds to her inquiry about the hospital in Cairo, Illinois. Expresses doubt that the rumors of poor treatment for the soldiers...

GLC03523.31.11

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Fort Henry, Tennessee. Mentions Union General Halbert E. Paine leaving with the sick soldiers and supplies. Reports on his trip to Cairo, Illinois by steamer on the Ohio River. Says the boat was so crowded they...

GLC03523.31.12

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Fort Donelson, Tennessee. Reports his troops are pushing forward to Nashville, Tennessee. Refers to the battle and capture of Fort Henry, the first important Union victory in the Western Theater. Informs that...

GLC03523.31.13

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from the General Hospital in Savannah. Reports on the Battle of Shiloh, "...a day never to be forgotten by me." Says the battlefield was littered with dead and wounded. Informs his right arm was wounded on the...

GLC03523.31.14

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Jackson, Tennessee, "...one of the most delightful cities I ever saw." Says the aristocracy of the south resides there. Mentions many slaves escaped to their lines and rewards of two-hundred dollars were being...

GLC03523.31.15

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from camp on the Hatchie River. Mentions the warm weather and his illness. Reports on the imminent arrival of 600,000 more troops. Anticipates the end of the rebellion soon. Comments on the Confiscation Act of 1862 and...

GLC03523.31.16

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Jackson, Tennessee. Says things look gloomy for the Union, especially in the East. Reports on the victorious battle of Britton's Lane led by Union Colonel Elias S. Dennis. Informs the intense heat caused soldiers...

GLC03523.31.17

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Jackson, Tennessee. Thanks her for the flowers she enclosed in her letter. Comments, " the flowers which grow here are very beautiful, I think their breath is not poisoned with the sentiment of treason..."...

GLC03523.31.18

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Carroll Station. Includes the words of a love song. Describes the "darkies" returning home from the cotton fields with baskets of cotton on their heads. Explains what a cotton gin does and says the cotton fields...

GLC03523.31.19

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from a camp in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee. Reports on the lovely weather. Expresses pleasure she is attending school. States Union General Ulysses S. Grant is amassing troops outside Vicksburg, Mississippi and...

GLC03523.31.20

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from a camp on Lake Providence. Refers to her letter of February fourteenth, and comments on the meaning of St. Valentines Day. Thanks her for the rose enclosed in the letter and says he "...will carry it on the bloody...

GLC03523.31.21

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from camp on the Mississippi River. Mentions the levee was cut and submerged the whole country around it, sweeping away many homes and forcing people to flee to higher ground. Reports visits from Union Generals Lorenzo...

GLC03523.31.22

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from Vicksburg. Discusses in detail the fall of Vicksburg and the long siege. Claims "...70,000 men had received the death blow and fell into the hands of the invincible troops of U. S. Grant..." Reports the stars and...

GLC03523.31.23

to Mary (Wright) Kellogg

Blanchard writes to Mary Wright from a camp in Vicksburg. Thanks her for copies of the newspaper "Independent." Reports they are not campaigning now and have much free time. Comments letters from the North are scarce and wonders if his friends have...

GLC03523.31.24