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to his family

He has turned in his gun and reported to the doctor. He rode in an ambulance to Culpeper. He mentions the capture of two guerrillas and adds that "woman & children & negroes packed up & left for parts unknown."

GLC04189.55

to mother

Does not think his family needs to worry about an outbreak of small pox near their house. He thinks his vaccination kept him from getting the disease, even though he was in the company of small pox victims on several occasions. He has been delayed...

GLC04662.118

to Louise Walbridge

"Gen'l Hunter issued an order yesterday which says that all able bodied Negroes between the ages of eighteen and fifty one, not regularly employed in the Quartermaster and Commissary Departments, or as Officer's servants, shall be drafted, and...

GLC04663.15

to his son

Describes the attack on Fort Wagner. A page dated 7/20, lists missing and wounded officers. "Shortly after dark our troops advanced to the assault. The 54th Mass. (colored regiment) in the lead... [T]his regiment which went into the charge with...

GLC04663.22

to Louise Walbridge

Siege of Charleston. Four regiments of Negroes who are better at fatigue work than white soldiers. "The consequence is that fifty Negroes are equal to a hundred white soldiers, for ordinary work." Closes with the expectation that bombardment of...

GLC04663.23

to Louise Walbridge

Embarrassed by the news that several ladies inspected a uniform he sent home, worries about the recently discovered Canada Conspiracy, and pay of a black regiment. "The North Carolina regiment (colored), are to be paid off to morrow, it seems all...

GLC04663.27

to Louise Walbridge

Appointed Inspector of the Quartermaster Department for the Department of North Carolina. Reports that there are 3,500 contrabands colonized on the island, and describes a large seminary at Raleigh.

GLC04663.62

to Louise Walbridge

Acknowledges a letter he received since venturing south on a speculation scheme. Describes the trouble of trying to travel by rail in South Carolina. The land ladies speak against Yankees during meals at boarding houses. States that South...

GLC04663.69

to Louise Walbridge

Writes that he is still selling his stock. "[W]ent within ten miles of the Savannah river. I found the country almost a desert, and all the people as poor as rats. Some who formerly had splendid dwellings surrounded by every luxury, are now living...

GLC04663.71

"Negro Group on Aikins [Aiken's] Farm, The Residue of 65 Slaves. Farm 3000 acres."

Group of twelve African Americans (including men, women, and children), and three white soldiers: one on horseback behind the group, and two visible to the left. Written near Petersburg, Virginia.

GLC03029.41

"Negro Camp of 27th Ohio, USCV [U.S. Colored, Volunteers], Near Fort Burpee."

Image shows a cleared area in front of a winter camp, with a handful of men barely visible amongst the trees.

GLC03029.45

to: Drazilla Churchill.

Two men, Jonathan Snook and O.B. Boughton have been sent to Michigan to recruit soldiers for the company. Churchill is well and "as fat as a stuffed chicken." The Cavalry took 26 "cotton burners or guerillas," all of whom will presumably be...

GLC03859.04

to Drazilla Churchill

Reassures his mother of his safety by confirming that his division has been successful in the area of Corinth, Mississippi. Discussing Confederate General Sterling Price, writes "Wee have give Genrel Prise Hell in Mississippi and tenn He was...

GLC03859.08

to: Drazilla Churchill.

Churchill complains of the sheer number of African Americans in the South, and shows reservations about allowing them to become free: "[I]f the nigers are free…then you will see how them Black Devils will flock for the north and I am sure we don't...

GLC03859.11

to: Drazilla Churchill.

There is news of an upcoming draft, which Churchill hopes will draw largely on Democrats and Abolitionists. Churchill also reacts to the arming of African American in South Carolina: "…I wished it was the Negroes that was slain instid of our white...

GLC03859.12

to Sam Chapman

Scathing response to reunion speeches, especially one minimizing slavery's role in the war. Includes brief account of the Southern defense of slavery prior to the war, noting that he did not approve of slavery; rather, it was inherited as an...

GLC03921.21

to Sam Chapman

article about Lincoln in Cosmopolitan: "It is the best thing I have seen about Lincoln & confirms what I wrote you that Lincoln offered to the South compensation of their slaves when the Confederacy was in its last gasp & even then we rejected it."

GLC03921.25

to Hiram P. Crozier, New York

Defends the Resolutions of the Church of Peterboro, which Crozier criticized. Chastises Crozier for running a store that sells liquor, declaring "iniquity, permitted in one of the branches of the store, stamps the whole store with iniquity."...

GLC04717.52

A letter from the Hon. Gerrit Smith, to the Cuban Anti-Slavery Committee, New York.

Smith writes, "As I view it, our Government should, long ago, have conceded belligerent rights to the Cubans struggling for freedom from the yoke of Spain and from the yoke of Slavery... The world is too far advanced in a rational civilization and in...

GLC04717.62

Let crushed Cuba arise! Substance of the speech of Gerrit Smith, in Syracuse, July 4th 1873.

Smith writes, "In our Fourth of July celebrations there are two events, which, far above all other events, we come together to celebrate. One of these is the deliverance of our country, nearly a century ago, from political despotism, and the other...

GLC04717.63

to Nancy E. Jones [incomplete]

Move to Jeffersonville aboard extremely crowded train; march across the Ohio River into Kentucky, with enthusiastic reception; rumors of 60,000 Confederates within 10 miles of Louisville; saw "over one thousand negroes" as they passed through town.

GLC02739.009

to Nancy E. Jones

Lack of arms in "rebel country;" Confederate guerrillas; African Americans in camp ("…it is very wicked the way that the soldiers dos abuse them…"); behavior of fellow soldiers in camp; plans to send a picture after he is outfitted with gun and...

GLC02739.011

"Savage Barbarity."

He saw a wagon master whipping a black man who had trouble driving his team of mules across a river. He has seen many similar cases; "Soldiers hate The negros as a general Thing and would rather Kill them than to do them a favor."

GLC02739.035

to: sister.

Details the breakup of the regiment, and states how he loves the experience of the war. However, he describes his dislike of officers who hold their black servants in higher regard than they do the white soldiers.

GLC07164.30

to Theodore Parker

Senator Wilson thanks Reverend Parker for Parker's recent criticism of Wilson's speech on the topic of slavery and states' rights. Defends himself, stating "I deny the right of any state or nation to hold men in slavery, but I maintain the right of...

GLC08889