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Joseph M. Maitland

Explains his delay in writing to him because of the comment in his last letter home that "you thought no one with a spank of loyalty in them could support General McClellan..." Responds "I think as much of my country as anyone." Reports the crops...

GLC03523.10.141

to Joseph M. Maitland

Writes she is recovering from a cold and still has a cough. Gives updates on various neighbors and relatives. Says they sent him new boots last week. Comments on the [1864 Presidential] Election results and hopes the war will soon end. Reports the...

GLC03523.10.144

to Joseph M. Maitland

Informs him he has been husking corn. Says he is hurt John Petty did not stop by to see him while on his furlough. Mentions he intends to go to school for two or three years after the war is over and asks his opinion. Thanks him for the money for a...

GLC03523.10.145

to Joseph M. Maitland

Writes to his cousin from camp near Louisville. Expects to go down the Tennessee River very soon but has been detained due to ice in the river. Informs him that six companies left yesterday. Comments his brother Joseph "has a great deal to say about...

GLC03523.10.157

to J. M. Maitland and family

Reports his nephew was also a candidate for clerk of the county. Expresses dismay at the outcome of the election; "...the only drinking gambling whoring man got it..." Mentions the poor health of one of the horses, "...I think at the next moon she...

GLC03523.10.198

to Joseph M. Maitland

Mentions the recent Republican defeat; "Our democratic friends here have been jollifying noisily enough, yet not offensively, and rebel sentiment has not shown itself as far as I have seen or heard." Refers to the election of Confederate General John...

GLC03523.10.199

to Joseph M. Maitland

Letter addressed "Dear Cousin." Informs he has been transferred to the "South Kansas Conference." Inquires about the cost of a train ticket. Says wife and children will not move with him initially, but may follow later. Asks about people's health...

GLC03523.10.205

to unknown [incomplete]

Discusses his disappointment at the defeat of the Maine Law in his state. Says he will return home at the end of the school session. Letter is incoherent due to missing pages.

GLC03523.10.248

to [Elhanan Mast]

Reports on many children dying of dysentery. Says the weather has been dry all summer an the corn crop will be short. Comments the political situation is unsettled, with much name-calling and disagreement about the war. Gives him an objective...

GLC03523.10.254

to Mary M. Bogart

Writes to his wife telling her he wished she wrote more often as he is lonely and in a "godforsaken plase for we are hemed in here on an island where we can see nor hear nothing but death and distruction on every side..." He reports to her that their...

GLC03523.11.11

to John Damuth

Writes to let his family know that he arrived safely in Helena, Arkansas, and that the army has crossed the Mississippi River. Gives detailed description of setting up camp, pitching tents and preparing for guard duty along the river. Damuth is in...

GLC03523.14.02

to Maria Damuth

Worried that his sister is sick with diphtheria. Many of the men in camp are sick, and the first man in Damuth's company has died. Damuth's friend Jesse has been vaccinated for small pox and complains of feeling unwell. Comments on a black servant...

GLC03523.14.12

to Maria Damuth

Discusses the hurt feelings of a friend and Democrat from back home. Mentions that there is not "much drunkenness down here" since "Gen Prentiss is a temperance man." Asks for packages with items like dried fruit, silk handkerchiefs and cayenne...

GLC03523.14.19

to Maria Damuth

Writes to thanks his sister for a package she has sent him, "I think more of the handkerchief than any thing." Describes the evening before when, on picket, "we could here the rebels sing Methodist hyms I think they are all like devils very pious...

GLC03523.14.28

to Maria Damuth

Complains of boils all over his legs. Firing on Rebel lines continues and "yesterday our men blew up another of thear Forts." Rails against Democrats as traitors and tells his sister not to spend any money at stores owned by Wisconsin Democrats....

GLC03523.14.30

to Maria Damuth

Writes from the same campground where he wrote his last letter. Damuth thinks they will be there for some time. They are very isolated, "for all I know peace may be declaired now we are so far from any whear." The men have noticed a "great...

GLC03523.14.39

to Maria Damuth

The men have turned around and he thinks they may be heading back to New Orleans. On their return path, they meet some mounted Rebel soldiers and engage in a skirmish until the Rebels are driven back. Eagerly anticipates voting for the Union ticket...

GLC03523.14.40

to John and Joan Damuth

Describes a battle in which the Union men chased the Rebel cavalry to Opelousas. After the battle, the Union forces camped in Barron's Landing, Louisiana, for eight days. The men believe that any expedition to Texas has been forgotten. They...

GLC03523.14.41

to Maria Damuth

Writes to his sister about a skirmish between Union cavalry and Rebel mounted infantry a few days earlier, "we heard the canon very plain but it was 4 mils away from here." Mentions rumors that many infantry regiments have been transformed into...

GLC03523.14.43

to Maria Damuth

Writes to his sister to tell her that "the next time you hear from me I shall be in Texas." Wonders when the war will end and says some people in Louisiana think that as long as Lincoln is president, the country will continue to be at war....

GLC03523.14.47

to Maria Damuth

Writes that the men are waiting to fight. A battle is going to take place at Pleasant Hill, thirty-five miles from their campsite. Tells a story about some men out on picket the day before who were captured by a plantation owner who "mad his negros...

GLC03523.14.52

to Maria Damuth

Writes that the men have marching orders, possibly to go to Grand Gulph. Damuth may have the opportunity to become a lieutenant. Writes about Lincoln's reelection and the "copperheads and disappointed politicians" who are against him. Damuth...

GLC03523.14.67

to Maria Damuth

Writes to his sister that he has been taking quinine to keep away "the ague." Thinks that the change of water has made the regiment sick, "when we were here a year a go last winter the water made a great many of the boys sick." The men are building...

GLC03523.14.70

to unknown

Writes about an election held by the 21st Iowa Regiment. The votes are overwhelmingly in favor of Lincoln, and they are "for fun, or to show the Peace Sneaks, and Copperheads how men of sense vote." The 47th Indiana Regiment has also held a mock...

GLC03523.14.71

to Mr. Curtis

Writes to Curtis. Damuth is reading the paper, which is full of good news for the Union forces. Reminds Curtis to vote. Knows the soldiers will vote for Lincoln, because "you cant Stuff Copperheadism down the Soldiers." Writes about the...

GLC03523.14.72