8 June 1864

Smith, Melancton, 1810-1893

Manuscript document signed

Title: [General order to be read aloud by the commanding officer of the U.S.S. Miami]

General order to read letter from Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy. A transcription of Welles' letter, a response to Smith's report of the action at the Battle of Albermarle is attached. Welles "congratulates all of the Officers and Men of the U.S. Navy who participated in this remarkable contest between wooden gun boats and a formidable armored vessel -- in which the latter was forced to retreat to prevent capture."

GLC02254.20

25 December 1861

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Recounts a battle where Cook's regiment lost 5 soldiers, including their commander. Describes the bullets whistling by his head. Has sent money home and promises to send more once he is promoted. News about local Fort Bend boys in camp.

GLC02570.11

January 25, 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Takes offense at the charge (by Susan, his wife's sister?) that he doesn't write as often as he could. Defends himself by saying he is very busy and does not have an abundance of materials with which to write, unlike the people at home who can write, but don't. Complains that he has received "less than 6 letters" since he left home (probably September 1861) but he writes once a week. He writes, "There is something wrong in the mails, not in the correspondents." Puts Eliza's mind at ease over whether Cook loved her. He writes, "You have sometimes laughingly intimated that I did not love…

GLC02570.14

16 March 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Short note reporting Cook's chronic dysentery. Feels compelled to come home to visit but has an obligation to the army and "if a battle is fought here I must see it or I can never be satisfied."

GLC02570.22

30 July 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Includes camp news. Cook promises to write friends and family once he has the chance. Wants Eliza to visit a good dentist "to plug any decayed teeth you have and file apart the two front ones…Pretty teeth you know are a great attraction and by having yours worked on a little they will be beautiful. Do it for my sake now darling and I expect to hear soon that you have done as I desire. Be sure to have the two front ones separated for they are decaying and need to be plugged badly. I shall send you plenty of money…" Is concerned about his two brothers. He writes, "I have not…

GLC02570.26

13 August 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Cook went to visit family and "I found the whole country in mourning for relations and friends killed at the battles of Seven Pines and Richmond." Includes news about Girard and adds that Walter has been very sick but is improving slowly. He includes a story about Cornelius Sadler who was wounded at Shiloh, began recovering, and fell ill again with a pain in his side. "Dr. Burney of Montgomery examined the locality of the wound and opened a place from which he took a fragment of a shell weighing three and a half ounces. It was under the ribs." He includes new directions for sending him…

GLC02570.27

27 October 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Discusses camp news and recent campaigns. Includes a graphic description of the aftermath of the battle of Perryville: "Such slaughter I never dreamed of. Any where on the field you could stand still and count from one to two hundred dead men in a hundred yards. Everywhere they lay in great heaps and whole lines lay dead side by side as they stood in line of battle. We slept on the field and no where could one lie down without almost touching the mangled corpses of the dead invaders." Discusses money matters, "Take nothing from the county." Asks Eliza to pay back whatever she has…

GLC02570.30

10 December 1862

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Writes how the ink is freezing in his pen's point and it is visible in the letter. Reports on possible campaigns. Is frustrated with the mail which he calls "uncertain" and he "must learn to endure although I am inpatient when I do not get letters from my little wife. My own sweet one must think of me often, as I am very jealous of her love. I dream of you often darling Lizzie and oh! how sweet are my dreams. I see you, fold you to my heart of hearts and you look into my eyes with love and confidence." Cook is unsure of his wife's intentions and wonders if she dreams about him, thinks…

GLC02570.36

January 13, 1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Gustave has been wounded and his letter is written by the chaplain. His horse was shot and subsequently fell probably during the Battle of Stone's River. Says the fall "caused the blood to gush from my mouth and nose and made me a little [more foolish] than common for a few minutes but I was on my feet again directly." Campaign and camp news.

GLC02570.37

January 18,1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Long letter discusses camp news, campaigns. Written near Shelbyville, Tennessee.

GLC02570.38

6 July 1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Writes that his brother Walter has been killed near Chancellorsville, Virginia. Comforts his wife over the loss of their daughter Nellie by saying she is with God and "God has done best. We will cherish her memory." Eliza thinks Cook blames her for Nellie's death. Cook writes a page reassuring her that she is good and able. Offers to have Eliza come to Tennessee to recover. Shares his desire for success in the law once he is through with the war, but would forget it all if his wife needed him. Encourages Eliza to be strong and hopeful for those that are still alive.

GLC02570.45

6 August 1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Rejoices that his wife's health has improved. Tells her to keep in mind her health for everyone's sake so she will be healthy when he returns. Reports that his brother Girard was shot through the thigh at the Battle of Gettysburg. He writes, "Were he to die I should feel as one lost forever. He is my only and darling brother and beside myself, our dear mother's only child living." Promises Eliza she will be repaid for all her suffering and sacrifice when the war is over. Writes that his horses and uniforms take up much of his wages. He states, "The expenses of my position will more…

GLC02570.48

24 October 1863

Cook, Gustave, 1835-1897

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Eliza Cook

Opens with, "Do not be frightened at my new handwriting as it is done with my left hand." Describes his wounds.

GLC02570.50

circa 1861-1865

Brady, Mathew B., 1823-1896

Photograph

Title: Genl. Lee's Head Quarters

Image of stone house that served as Lee's Head Quarters at Gettysburg and surrounding grounds.

GLC03029.04

24 April 1776

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Lucy Knox

Writes that he curses "the man who first brought on this war only because it separates me from my Love." Mentions that he has received instructions from George Washington to inspect and fortify the local harbor in order to make it safe for Continental troops and the American navy (see GLC02437.00274). Comments on his meeting with Admiral Esek Hopkins and his son, John B. Hopkins, who was recently injured in a naval engagement with the British ship Glasgow. Gives a favorable impression of both, comparing Esek to the Dutch Admiral Van Tromp and proclaiming that John will become a "formidable…

GLC02437.00276

26 July 1862

Churchill, Byron, 1846-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to: Drazilla Churchill.

Churchill learned in his mother's last letter that his brother is missing, and now offers encouragement that he will be found alive. He reveals that "disease is making sad havoc with us at present….[i]n fact I am more afraid of disease than I am of rebil bulits." He explains that only ten men in the company are fit for duty.

GLC03859.02

21 September 1862

Churchill, Byron, 1846-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: 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 advancing on Corinth with 40,000 strong and Genrel Grant send out troops to Repulse him we drove them into a corner whare thare lay Now with a large swamp on too sides of them and our Forses ar belting the led." Reports that his brigade is guarding a railroad, thus have not yet taken part in combat. States that his captain is very ill in a Corinth…

GLC03859.08

17 June 1863

Churchill, Byron, 1846-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to: Drazilla Churchill.

Churchill's regiment is now stationed at Snyder's Bluff, where "the hole armey is bysly [busily] in Gaiged [engaged] in diging intrenchments and Bilding foarts…" From their vantage point above Vicksburg, they are "bombarding the sity With our Hevy Seage guns," though the Confederates only occasionally return fire. Churchill reports that the Confederates have tried to break through their lines on several occasions, only to be driven back each time. Churchill also reports good spirits among the soldiers, despite the fact that his company has no tents.

GLC03859.18

30 July 1864

Churchill, Byron, 1846-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to: Drazilla Churchill.

Churchill reports that he was involved in heavy fighting on both the 22nd and 28th, but fortunately escaped unhurt. The surgeon believes that there were 33 men wounded, one killed, and one who died of his wounds. There appears to be some sort of dispute involving money developing between Churchill and some people in his hometown: "…I will be at home after while my self then I will settle with some of them my self."

GLC03859.22

03 August 1864

Churchill, Byron, 1846-?

Autograph letter signed

Title: to: Drazilla Churchill.

Brief note enclosing his certificate of reenlistment.

GLC03859.23

6 July 1775

Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Lucy Knox

Describes meeting generals George Washington and Charles Lee, who begged him to return to Roxbury and expressed great pleasure in the fortifications Knox had supervised the construction of. Tells a story about how General Lee tried to get a letter to General John Burgoyne during the battle of Bunker Hill (17 June 1775), to ask him to use his "influence and endeavor to Heal this unnatural break." Criticizes and offers corrections to a widely published account of Bunker Hill by British General Thomas Gage that claimed only 170 redcoats were killed. The Revolutionary War…

GLC02437.00196

26 May 1863

Flow, J.S., fl. 1863

Autograph letter signed

Title: to A.M. Flinn

Billie [J. W. Flinn] has been wounded, captured and taken to Fort Delaware. Lieut. Col. Luse just returned from Fort Delaware and said Flinn was doing well. (Flinn was captured at the battle of Marye's Heights or Second Fredricksburg, May 3, 1863).

GLC04573.03

9 August 1863

Flinn, John William, fl. 1863-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to A.M. Flinn

Spent three weeks as a prisoner at Fort Delaware. Has not heard from his family since he returned to camp. While at Fort Delaware, his father had come to camp to visit and went home without knowing the fate of his son. He discusses the losses from Battle of Gettysburg, " the hardest battle that has ever been fought on this continent," and lists a page and a half of friends and comrades who lost their lives in Pennsylvania. Flinn was ill during the battle. Written along the Rapidan River

GLC04573.04

January 10, 1864

Flinn, John William, fl. 1863-1893

Autograph letter signed

Title: to A.M. Flinn [incomplete]

His regiment suffered heavy casualties in the battle. They were caught in the crossfire of several Yankee infantry units and within the sights of an artillery battery. He also speculates on whether Yankees in Virginia or Tennessee fight harder. The end of this letter is missing. Docketed on the top of page one, " Jany 10th 1864."

GLC04573.05

23 circa November 1862

Dederer, N. A., fl. 1862-1863

Letter

Title: to Peter B. Rathbone

Continued on 24 November and 25 November. Written on board Transport Thames near Fortress Monroe. The ship carried General Emory's Brigade. Provides instructions for dispensing money he sent home. Describes attending "Divine Worship" on the ship (which was more solemn than any service he ever attended), and discusses food available. Notes that he went to Fortress Monroe to "liberate" some of his men who were arrested for shooting a duck outside the fort. Sailing near "Severe Point" a rebel battery that had been destroyed by the guns of Fortress Monroe from a distance of five miles, and…

GLC04703.02