Acton, Edward A. Letters to his wife, Mary Woodnut Acton Edward Acton was an officer with the 4th New Jersey Volunteers who wrote to his wife, Mary Woodnut Acton, in Salem, New Jersey, during the war. They mention several of the letters she sent to him while he was fighting. She apparently sent him many goods at his request, including food and shirts, while other female friends of the family also sent him items such as catsup and grapes. There are no letters from Mary Acton to her husband in the collection. He noted the long time it took her letters to get to him and commented on some of the things she wrote in them, including home and how people in Salem were dealing with the war. Several times he asked her in his letters to tell him more about the goings on at home and the daily occurrences she seemed to leave out in her letters. There were a few letters in which he noted that the information that she gave him about the army was unknown to him, including the reported location of the Confederates from the newspapers. Subsequent letters at the end of the collection were addressed to Mary describing her husband’s death at the Second Battle of Bull Run fought August 29-30, 1862. Kelley, Caroline Bonsall. Letters The correspondence in this collection (1837-1903) is between William D. Kelley, a leader in the abolition movement, and his wife Caroline Bonsall Kelley. William Kelley, born in 1814 in Philadelphia, was a Republican congressman from the fourth district of the city. He was elected in 1861 and served for 29 years until his death in 1890. His aunt was Sarah Pugh, president of the Philadelphia Female Abolition Society (see under Organizations). The Kelleys had three children. The many letters from Caroline (Box 1, Folder 18) began in 1862 and continue through 1888. She remained at their home in Philadelphia while her husband was away in Washington. Letters during the war years noted much of her daily life, such as the well being of the children, visits with friends, and daily chores. She wrote of the many funerals she attended while he was gone, including one for the fourteen-year-old son of friends Thomas and Lizzie Cavender, who had gone swimming and died two weeks later of an infection. Caroline also traveled to the New Jersey beaches and wrote of her time at places such as Brigantine. On February 29, 1862, she wrote that on her way to Willow Glen she encountered a lieutenant and a newly enlisted private at the train station heading towards Hestonville, PA, where their regiment was stationed. “I enquired whether any of the men needed mittens, saying I had half a dozen pairs. ‘Many hundred would be acceptable, Madam’ was their reply. I will do all I can but I fear it will seem so little among so many.” She often sewed and tried to help with the war effort in any way she could. Mrs. Kelley wrote little of war news from the papers or rumors abounding in the city, but rather focused on her personal efforts to help as well as her daily life experiences. Cox, Emily. Letters 1861-1866 This collection consists of letters between Emily Cox and her fiancé, Alexander Hensley. Alexander joined the 1st Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry. When he first left for war, Emily was unmarried and living with her family at 1515 Walnut Street. In 1863, on leave from the army, Alexander Hensley and Emily Cox married and she moved to 2017 Pine Street. Hensley was engaged in several major battles of the war, including Gettysburg. There were several letters from Alexander to Emily but only two letters by Emily to Alexander in the collection. Her letters were written soon after the marriage and are dated June 19 and June 23, 1863. She worried about him returning to battle and feared for his life. "I took two or three good cries since you left yesterday. What is fun to you is death to me." In the second of these two letters, she wrote that she was going to stay in Haverford with her widowed mother while Alexander was gone. The women would be close to friends and neither would be alone, and the rent for the apartment was "only eight dollars a month." Writing about the move, Emily observed, "I would rather stay in town, except on Mother's account, but I believe I shall be able there to get all the news as soon as in town." Dade, Laura Henderson and Helen Henderson. Letters Box 7 of this large collection pertains to women and the Civil War. The majority of the letters in this box were written between two sisters, Laura and Helen Henderson. There are also other notes included that relate to their family. The first item in this collection is a telegraph dated October 15, 1862, allowing Mrs. Samuel Dade (Laura Henderson) to accompany her husband, a surgeon in the Federal Army, to Hilton Head, S.C. She wrote much of her experiences in the southern hospital to her sister Helen. Much of her daily routine was discussed, as was the house she lived in. Dade noted how the city was destroyed by soldiers before they got there and how she pitied the people that were forced out of their houses to accommodate Federal surgeons and other war personnel. Dade wrote in detail of the goings on at the hospital and the war in general. She did not participate much at the hospital until it was very busy and they needed all the people they could find to help. When Rebels fired on a gunboat in the harbor at Charleston, for example, she had to assist in the amputation of a leg. She seemed to be rather lonely and often wrote of missing her family. She tried to get a pass for her mother to come and visit her, but it was denied because, as the telegraph worded, any visitations could be a "threat to Union lines". After the war Dade came back to Philadelphia and stayed there until her death in 1922. Davis, Elizabeth M. to Lydia Brown. Letters 1861-1865 William Morris Davis, by trade a sugar refiner, was an ardent abolitionist who served in Congress between 1861 and 1863. He and his wife, Elizabeth, lived in Philadelphia. Throughout 1861 his wife remained in their house with their two children while Davis was in Washington. He often traveled back and forth between the two places to see his family. These letters are from Mrs. Davis to her close friend Lydia Brown, who resided in New York. Lydia’s husband was a sculptor also working in Washington during these years. The correspondence consisted of her daily routines and current events. Mathew Brady, a famous photographer at the time, took pictures of her children, Helen and Harry, and she wrote of this experience. Some news of the war was included, mostly news Elizabeth received from her husband and then relayed to Lydia. "I don't know anything except newspapers and congressional news and I want more heart warming news" she wrote on March 31, 1862. Elizabeth expressed a desire for Brown to write her with happy news of her life in New York. As the war dragged on, Elizabeth did not want to be alone. "The awful war, can any amount of national glory and prosperity end this. I think nothing but the emancipation of the slave can end this terrible and bloody war." In 1862 she decided to take the children and join her husband in Washington, though she knew the move would upset them. She wanted to help in some way in Washington: "I know there must be something for me to do in this time of suffering." There were no letters, however, describing her efforts to help in any way. Also included are many notes from William Morris Davis expressing his opinions about the war and President Lincoln. Thus these letters reflect the abolitionist beliefs of both Lydia and William Davis. Fisher, Elizabeth Ingersoll. Letters See also Elizabeth Ingersoll Fisher under Diaries Elizabeth Ingersoll Fisher (1815-1872), lived in Philadelphia at Forest Hill and wrote several letters to her husband Sidney George Fisher (1809-1871), an author and diarist, while he was away in New York in 1864. He went to take “21 baths” from certain springs, perhaps to better his health, as he was suffering from gout at the time. Fisher wrote about her daily life in the city, which included having her photograph taken and trying to manage the household while her husband was gone. “You had better send a little something to keep the family going,” she told him in September, though she never used days of the month in addressing her letters. She noted the rising prices of certain products and his need to send her money because times were getting tougher for her. On September 3, 1864, she wrote, “Do not bring me anything from New York, the times are too hard for that.” Fisher, was very interested in current events and politics and included in several letters newspaper clippings of the latest war and political news. One of the subjects in much of the correspondence was McClellan’s race for the Presidency in 1864. When Mr. Thomas, a friend of the family, was visiting, he told her, “Peace was certain within a short time, no matter who was elected, and gave one reason that Grant’s campaign in Virginia has been a failure.” Fisher, Letitia Ellicott. Letters This collection includes the letters Letitia Ellicott Fisher wrote to her family members, primarily to her nieces (Box 2, Folder 10) in 1864. Letitia Fisher was married to Thomas Rodman Fisher on November 27, 1829 and had six children. Harvey Fisher, her youngest son, fought in the Civil War with the 150th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, known as the “Bucktails.” Many of her letters note his involvement in the war as well as national war news circulating in Philadelphia at the time. Fisher worried about the welfare of her son and the country. On May 11, 1864, in a letter addressed to her nieces, she wrote of the Battle of Spotsylvania (fought May 8-19), and called it a “terrific battle which is to decide this protracted contest.” The Sanitary Commission’s Great Fair, held in 1864, was mentioned in several letters. “The Great Sanitary Fair is the all absorbing topic with all the ladies both in town and country, with old and young. Fannie and Ellen Parrish were showing me some beautiful articles of their own manufacture, that I have no doubt will sell well. Mrs. Carpenter has allowed her house to be used for amateur performances. They are today having a stage erected in one of her parlors.” Fisher, like many mothers with sons in the war, felt the need to help in such fundraisers as the Fair. “To think after all those dreadful battles the poor soldiers will need all the aid that they can bestow upon them.” She donated her time in these fundraisers in an effort to help those fighting, including her own son. Gilson, Helen L. Letters Helen Gilson, an orphan from Boston born in 1835, became involved in the war effort through the Sanitary Commission. When the war broke out, she had applied to be a nurse, but was rejected and subsequently joined the Sanitary Commission. During her service in 1863 and 1864, she wrote several letters to Thomas Kimber, a friend living in Philadelphia at the time, noting her activities and requesting him to send certain items for use at the hospital where she was stationed. Gilson first spent time in Washington before being moved elsewhere with the army. "I can always find enough to occupy my time in the immediate vicinity of Washington, tho' I would prefer my work in the field for there is the most suffering," Gilson wrote on March 24, 1863. Soon after, she was stationed at the hospital of the 2nd Division, 3rd Corps on the Potomac Creek "until there is an engagement" and wrote Kimber of her duties. She made custard for the sickest and supplied the smaller regimental hospitals with milk, punch, and eggnog. She sent money to Kimber and asked him to get these items for her in Philadelphia. On April 21, she wrote, "Today for the first time I conducted a funeral service. I could not see a fellow soldier laid away without some service." That same day the chaplain had been called away for some other duty and she led the needed prayers. On April 20, Kimber received a letter from Horace Howard Furness, an associate member of the Sanitary Commission, thanking him for his efforts in helping Gilson by sending the items she requested. By this time, Gilson had already been to battlefields and had assisted wounded soldiers. "As a general rule, the battlefield is not the place for women. In the General Hospitals is their sphere of usefulness. But no one who has ever seen Miss Gilson in the Field Hospitals can for a moment doubt but that in her case is the great, almost solitary exception to the rule." After the Battle of Fredericksburg, she "had a cheery, peaceful word for each of the poor sufferers." Furness went on to note that a soldier in the hospital, wounded during that fight, said to him that "If God ever made an angel, she's one."In May, Gilson wrote again describing her work with the wounded at Fredericksburg. "I was shelled at Fredericksburg yesterday while attending wounded. We have thousands of wounded and I am working night and day - cooking, feeding, dressing wounds, taking messages of dying, and praying with them," Gilson noted on May 5. On May 10, she wrote, "No one can ever appreciate the spirit of patriotism until he stands by the deathbed and hears the last testimony of many a patriot." The letters continue through the remainder of the year and for part of the next. Later that summer she was at Gettysburg: "Never have I seen so much suffering mortality and destruction." She traveled with the Division hospital to Virginia, South Carolina, New York, and other places throughout her service. Gilson was an exception to the assumption that only women who had close friends and family members fighting in the war actually participated themselves to a great degree. An orphan, she had no family members fighting, yet she felt the need to help because of her religious beliefs and her concern for the soldiers. Because she was young and unattached, she was able to move without any ties holding her in one place. Harris, E. H. Letters In 1862, E.H. Harris, the secretary of the Ladies Aid Society of Philadelphia, left her home at 1106 Pine Street to volunteer at hospitals with the wounded soldiers of the war because "how many thousands have died for want of prompt and efficient help." She wrote letters to the organization and members subsequently copied her letters into this small pamphlet titled “Anecdotes of Our Wounded and Dying Soldiers in the Rebellion.” The letters were addressed to Mrs. Joel Jones, of 625 Walnut Street, the president of the Aid Society. Her letters noted many personal stories of wounded soldiers and the terrors of death she encountered daily. One boy, Harris wrote, no older than 18 years of age, had been wounded and she comforted him. "Let me be your mother and try to comfort you," she wrote of telling him. "He implored me to write to his mother a very long letter, sending a piece of his hair." She wrote further that she "could fill page after page with just such histories, and many more touching." From May 31 to June 5, 1862, Harris was aboard the transport ship Louisiana just after the Battle of Seven Pines in Virginia. "There the whole day had been spent operating. Many will die, all had undergone mutilation in some part of their member!" When she left the boat she was "obliged to wash my skirts as they actually smelt offensively from being drabbled in the mingled blood of Federal and Confederate soldiers, which covered many parts of the floor. This is war, war in all its fearful horrors!" Harris' tasks while serving as a nurse included washing and feeding the sick, assisting in operations and amputations, and visiting with the wounded. She wrote that the men had to deal with terrible conditions such as starvation, lack of sanitation, and unclean water. "It is no wonder many die, the wonder is that any live under these adverse influences." On June 19, 1862, Harris wrote at Dudley Farm, Virginia, of her experiences attempting to get candles for the hospital because they had run out that evening. "On my way for them a volley of musketry disclosed my proximity to the battleground, and [I] could hear the yells and shrieks which follow a bayonet charge. After great labor and fatigue, [I] succeeded in procuring a few candles, not half that we required." Kirk, Eliza Marcella. Letters Box 2 of this collection contains letters written by Eliza Kirk of Sterling, Illinois. Her husband, Edward Kirk, was in command of the 34th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and she traveled with him throughout his service. Her two children were left with family members during the years of his enlistment. Kirk’s letters were from various places throughout the South and were written to her mother. There was one other woman (unnamed) who traveled with the 34th Illinois, and became a friend of Kirk's. Kirk was pleased that the men "always treat us with the greatest kindness and consideration." One letter noted that the two women "often laugh and wonder what the folks at home would say if they could see us" with their hands dirty and living as they were. She was pleased to be away and the war seemed an adventure to her. All this gaiety in the letters stopped, though, when her husband was wounded on December 31, 1862. By this time, he had been promoted to brigadier general. The letter to her mother, written in Louisville, described the injuries her husband had received in the arm and leg. Both limbs were infected and had developed abscesses. He seemed to be improving and letters were hopeful for his complete recovery. In a letter dated July 18, 1863, Eliza wrote that his condition was worsening and feared for his life. He died a few days later. After wartime, Eliza moved to Philadelphia with her children where she began teaching and became active in the Episcopal Church. She remained in the city until her own death in 1897. McCall, Elizabeth McCurtie and Archibald. Letters This collection consists of correspondence between Archibald McCall and his wife Elizabeth McCurtie McCall. George was born in 1802 in Philadelphia and died in 1868 in West Chester. He was a professional soldier, involved in both the Mexican and Seminole Wars before his service in the Civil War. In May 1861, he was the major general of the Pennsylvania Volunteers and later that same month was appointed to brigadier general of Volunteers and commanded the Pennsylvania Reserves (3rd Division, 5th Corps). During the war years his wife lived in Belair, PA, with their three children, Archy, Emmy, and Bessie. George McCall’s letters to his wife (Box 3) began May 16, 1861 from Harrisburg, where he was located for much of that year. In the first letters he wrote her that he was to be appointed Major General. Many of his experiences in the war were relayed to his wife through these letters. On August 3, 1861, he wrote, “the day before yesterday I rode out with McClellan on the left bank of the Potomac to examine the countryside.” Locations he wrote from throughout the war included such places as Washington, Alexandria, and Fredericksburg. McCall was captured June 30, 1862 at the Seven Day’s Battle in Glendale, VA. He wrote his wife from Richmond where he was held a prisoner of war. “Yesterday my division was attacked and the battle raged with violence until after dark. You will, no doubt, be quite as much surprised as I was myself to learn I am here a prisoner of war.” He was freed two months later through a prisoner exchange. In each letter he wrote how he enjoyed his wife’s letters. On March 28, 1862 he wrote, “It makes one feel as if you were with me and telling me all your thoughts and wishes. It makes me for the brief period, happy.” The letters from Elizabeth McCall to her husband (Box 5) address the daily occurrences of her country life in Belair. She continued to run their family farm in his absence. On July 10, 1861 she wrote him that “all the hay was cut yesterday and taken in today” with the assistance of several paid workers. She traveled to Philadelphia, Chestnut Hill, and West Chester for items such as strawberry plants, barrels of oil, and harnesses for horses. Some of the daily chores she noted included making butter, cleaning both the house and cottage (which was later rented out on February 8, 1861 for $11.50), selling cattle for $8.50 each, and sewing. Some war news from the papers was mentioned but she wrote in February 1862 that “I know it is not much to be relied upon” because of exaggerations. On July 2, 1862, just a few days after her husband’s capture, she noted, “We procured a copy of the Bulletin which gave more definitely than anything we have yet seen the account of this dreadful battle in which you have been engaged. It made us realize the terrors of war.” There are no letters written by Elizabeth in the collection during the time her husband was a prisoner of war. The letters began again in October and continued with much of the same daily news about chores and the children. One of Elizabeth’s hobbies was collecting photographs of the Federal generals. She wrote asking her husband to obtain “the photographs of General Reynolds and Ord? I have all the dignitaries except those two.” General Reynolds, killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, was a Federal general and Corps commander. General Ord, also a Federal general, was associated with the 117th New York Volunteer Infantry and participated primarily in the Western theatre of the war. These letters are very well organized. Each letter was numbered and the following letters referred to preceding letters by number: “Today I received your letter 79 in the mail,” etc. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has the complete run of over one hundred letters. Mifflin, Elizabeth. Letters This collection consists of a scrapbook of many letters received by Mifflin, most dated 1864, from bishops and clergymen. The apparent goal of this endeavor was to gather the autographs of these prominent religious persons in one book, which would then be donated to the U.S. Sanitary Commission to raise money for Federal soldiers at their 1864 Central Fair held in Philadelphia. One of the letters included in the volume describes this task she had undertaken and thanked her for her “efforts to help the suffering soldiers.” The book does not have much writing in it and some pages contain only the signatures of various bishops. There are some letters thanking Mifflin for her efforts and others from bishops refusing her invitation of donating their signed names for her scrapbook. Ironically, many of these bishops signed their letters of refusal and helped Mifflin inadvertently as she also included these in the scrapbook. Some bishops wrote that they did not agree with her efforts and could not lend a hand while others wrote that due to their position in the church they could not voice an opinion in the war effort. Possibly the latter did support her efforts and knowingly signed the letters that ostensibly refused to support her cause. Payne, Mary Clendenin. Letters This collection consists of correspondence between Sarah Miller Payne and her cousin, Mary Payne, who lived in Philadelphia and later in Cecil County, Maryland. Sarah Miller Payne had been living in Virginia during the time of the Civil War and did not know her cousin very well, as they had only met a few times before the war began. The first of this series of letters was written on September 30, 1865. Only the first letter discussed to the Civil War. Sarah Miller Payne noted in this lengthy letter that northern cities such as Philadelphia must not have felt many repercussions from the war and she thought northerners could not imagine the conditions of people in the South, where the bulk of the fighting had taken place. "I often wondered," she said, if “Cousin Mary felt any sympathy for us away down South, or if she, like many others, thought we were terrible sinners.” Sarah noted how she would love to meet Mary again for a visit. Unfortunately, though, Sarah's “dear old state presents anything but a pleasing appearance at this time." In the South, she wrote, the society had changed drastically because of the war. They were “deprived of property” and left without money because of the heavy taxes of financing the war. They had lost their servants and were now surrounded by “indolent sets of persons” that were freed and thought they could “live without work." Of Sarah's four boys who went to fight for secession, two did not come home: Sam (killed at Seven Pines) and John (killed at Gettysburg). Their regiments were not mentioned. Overall, a total of five of her twelve children had passed away when this letter was written. The remainder of the collection is letters written to Mary describing how Sarah and her family began to reestablish themselves after the war. Porter, Ruth Cook. Letters Ruth Cook Porter, of Hackettstown, New Jersey, wrote many letters during the years 1858 to 1866 to her husband of 1863, James Madison Porter, a lawyer from Easton, Pennsylvania. The letters, many only dated with the year, describe daily life in Hackettstown and include such highlights as having “a likeness” taken and embarking on railroad trips. Her health and the health of her husband were major preoccupations in her letters as both were often ill. There were some letters reflecting war news, yet her preoccupation with health was a constant concern. “You will think me a Patriot,” she wrote, “when I tell you I attended one of those delightful sewing societies last evening but I did not injure my eyesight sewing. I did not care to go, but had such an urgent invitation. I was glad to get home again afterward.” Many of her letters were unenthusiastic about the war effort and she did not appear to have a desire to help. In another letter, Porter wrote that she went to a war meeting at the local church where “many men came marching in with a number of young persons from the Heath House. After the exercise had commenced, they carried the stars and stripes and sang ‘John Brown’ all together.” She noted that the only reason for such a gathering was to build excitement in the town for enlistment purposes. “Perhaps they may succeed after holding another such meeting.” Quite a number of fellows she knew had enlisted, much to her disappointment. She saw a “young boy of about sixteen enlist. He is too young to know what he is doing.” Porter was unsupportive and unenthusiastic about the war effort. She, though a young woman, did not feel a need to volunteer her time to sew items for soldiers or work with any organizations. There is no mention of any relative of hers fighting in the war, furthering the assumption that women who knew of loved ones fighting had a much greater likelihood of doing something themselves while women such as Porter had less cause. Rodgers, Kate. Letters This collection consists of letters written by Kate Rodgers Furness of 222 Washington Square, Philadelphia, to her cousin Caroline “Carrie” Fairman Warren of Brooklyn, NY. Also included are letters written by Horace Howard Furness, Kate Rodgers’ husband, an agent with the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Kate signed her letters with her maiden name Rodgers. The letters from Rodgers to Fairman reported on daily life, including weather, friends’ visits, and family affairs in Philadelphia during the war years. Rodgers had a baby named Walter in 1861, and much of the news throughout that year surrounded this event. Carrie Fairman was married in 1861, another event frequently discussed. Some of the accounts Rodgers wrote regarded marriages of friends in the city, gatherings with friends such as “musical Wednesdays with fried oysters and ale,” and strolls through town where it was “hard to realize that there were such dens of sin and misery within a five minutes walk of us.” In 1862, Fairman was pregnant with her first child and much of Rodgers’ letters relayed advice. “It is perfectly refreshing to hear anyone speak about it, in your true womanly way, instead of the miserable talk girls usually make about not being able to go into company and spoiling their figures,” wrote Rodgers in September, 1862. Fairman had a son the next year. In October, Rodgers wrote with the news that her husband was leaving with the Sanitary Commission. He was to travel to Washington for a few weeks and then return home. This did not happen, though, as he was greatly needed and shipped out right away. In a letter dated October 5, 1862, Rodgers wrote that when he went to Washington he “was immediately dispatched to Frederick in a large army wagon” where he tended the wounded from Antietam (fought September 17, 1862) and other battles. After this, for much of 1862 and 1863, Furness was in South Carolina with the Commission. She described the purpose of the Sanitary Commission as an organization that “supplies the wants of the wounded” and how she “felt better now that Horace is actually gone than I did just before, as he had been uneasy and anxious to do something.” Rodgers lived at her father’s house while her husband was away. “It is dreadfully hard, but I grin and bear it.” The letters from Furness to his wife, many written from the fields of battle or hospitals behind the lines, addressed the tasks of the Sanitary Commission and his responsibilities. At Sharpsburg, also known as Antietam, he wrote her, “It was ghastly and ghostly, although all the dead have been buried, every tree and branch proclaims a deadly struggle.” In his letters, he also noted the women present and helping with the Sanitary Commission. At Sharpsburg, he wrote that “a veritable Mrs. Harris is here, and it’s the very last place for a woman. In the rear in the large city hospitals she is indispensable, but here in the field she only worries both surgeons and patients.” At the hospitals there were many women visiting wounded husbands and sons. Mrs. Metzger, he wrote, visited her son Charles, who had been wounded in the leg with a minie ball. Other women volunteered with the Commission as well and on October 31, 1862, Furness “got the ladies organized this afternoon and hope their whole concern will be in good running by Monday.” Shippen, Anna. Letters This collection consists of letters written to Edward Shippen, of 154 Walnut Street, from his mother Anna Shippen, residing in Pottsville, Cressona (both in Schuylkill County, PA), and the Virgin Islands, where she went on an extended trip in 1863. Anna Shippen, a fervent supporter of the Federal cause, wrote often of news in the papers and the rumors abounding in Pottsville. In a letter dated September 2, 1861, Shippen wrote that the Battle of Bull Run disturbed her because "it is awful to think of such slaughter of human life." For most of 1863, Shippen was traveling through the Virgin Islands and wrote much of her ocean voyage. She noted these experiences and what little American news she found in the foreign newspapers. She often asked her son to either confirm or deny what she heard about the war. By 1864, Shippen had returned to Pottsville and in a letter dated August 25, 1864 she wrote of a Confederate deserter who approached her door. He "asked for bread and water. He seemed too much frightened to eat and drink much and with a quick step hurried to find employment." Shippen, Augusta Chaucey Twiggs. Letters This collection includes the 1861 correspondence between Edward Shippen and his wife Augusta Chaucey Twiggs Shippen (in her letters she never addressed herself using her married name Shippen, rather only Augusta Chaucey Twiggs.) Twiggs often spent winters and vacations with relatives in Georgia, indicating that she was probably from the South, a presumption reinforced by the opinions expressed in her letters. These letters were written to Edward Shippen, who owned his own law business in Philadelphia and later served several diplomatic posts from 1872 to 1898. Her letters reflect the position of a presumed southern woman married to a northern businessman. No doubt due to the news circulated in Georgia and the views of her southern friends and family, Twiggs sympathized with the South and its cause in the war: “Everyone I know and see is for disunion. There are in Augusta some few Union men but that party is the minority and very much despised by the secessionists, whom you can’t blame when you think of how injured the South has been.” “The feeling here continues to be strong for secession because the tone of the Northern press (which is received as the voice of the people) is so obstinate and so vulgarly abusive.” In another letter Twiggs wrote her husband, “The South will bear no more than she has borne. The North has pushed her to the end of the log and now tells her to move a little further, but her spirit is up and she will cling or die to the little they have left.” She questioned her husband for his Union views and asked him, “Is it possible you permit the mean contemptible bellows blowers of the Northern press to distress and disturb you? Can’t you see through their rascality? Don’t they glorify their own men one day and revile them the next?” Twiggs felt that slavery was not as bad as many northerners insisted it was. In regard to the death of her friend Sallie, she noted, “the servants all loved and mourn for her most sincerely. Indeed the more I see of the South and slavery as existing here the more ridiculous appears to me the course of the North – she cannot, she won’t, and never will understand the true relation between master and slave.” Shippen, Margaret. Letters This collection includes correspondence between Margaret Shippen and several of her family members. Shippen, 1799-1875, lived primarily in Philadelphia and a family summer retreat in Lancaster County. Most of the letters are those sent to Shippen at these two locations by various family members. Many of the letters consisted of daily news and family affairs. On June 25, 1861, for example, Mary Shippen, Margaret Shippen's niece, wrote of her Aunt Margo's accident in a buggy. "The horse took fright at something," she wrote, "and it took six hours to set her bones." Such family news pervades the majority of the letters. There are some letters concerning war news and family members involved in the war effort. On July 1, 1861, her niece Mary Shippen wrote, "our country is truly in a precarious state and we want true patriotic men to fight for their independence and rights. Their cause is noble and I hope they may be victorious." On July 6, 1863, Shippen's nephew Franklin Shippen wrote from Meadville, PA of the battle of Gettysburg. He had gone out to the battle site to help in any way that he could in the days after the battle was fought. He wrote of women helping in various ways, both as nurses and through donated contributions, and noted that "the patriotism of those who could not go was well shown by generous contributions to those who went." Later in the letter he wrote that "this morning came the call for nurses and at noon several persons went in answer to it." Joseph Shippen, another relative, wrote her of his work with the Christian Commission and the women he encountered while working for the organization. These women, he wrote, were excellent workers and he frequently praised their efforts. On June 6, 1864, he noted his work teaching both young men and women. "Under my influence a Soldier's Aid Society had been formed. Our young people have been inspired with a sympathy for the suffering and a love for the country which is beautiful to behold." Taylor, Margaretta H. Jones. Letters The few 1861 letters of Margaretta Taylor from Winchester, Virginia, to her brother are housed in this collection. Her father, Benjamin Jones, and her brother, Andrew Jones, were both merchants and land speculators in Philadelphia. Taylor described her daily life in these few letters. She was very involved in her garden and wrote of it often. There are a few references to the war in the letters. Taylor did not support the southern cause and felt the South was wrong, perhaps because she had been raised in Philadelphia. “This dreadful war makes my heart ache. We need chastisement for our many sins and we must bow in submission,” wrote Taylor of the southern states on November 1, 1861. In the same letter, she feared that there were “many secessionists in the neighborhood” and did not know what to expect from them. Wetherill, Anna Thorpe. Anti-slavery letters. Anna Thorpe Wetherill, an abolitionist from Philadelphia, created scrapbooks containing abolitionist correspondence written by herself, Edward Wetherill, the man she married in 1863, and other abolitionists in the area. The Wetherills were very active in assisting escaped slaves and sheltering them in their home at 911 Clinton Street. Incorporated into the scrapbook are newspaper clippings about the death of Harriet Tubman in 1913, a runaway slave who worked on the underground railroad, and photographs of such notable abolitionists as William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. There are newspaper clippings of southern slave auctions and others describing runaway slaves whose masters were advertising for their return. Wetherill participated in the United States Sanitary Fair and there were letters addressed to her concerning meetings and plans for the fair, which was held in 1864 in Logan Square. Thomas Garrett, who referred to Anna Wetherill as a “friend and fellow laborer” in assisting runaway slaves, wrote some of the other letters included in the scrapbook. Garrett, a Quaker from Wilmington, was an abolitionist and aided several hundred runaways, including Harriet Tubman, by providing a safe house for them on their journey north. Wetherill work as a suffragist in the 1890s is reflected in the later part of this collection. Wister, Sarah Butler. Letters This collection includes letters that Sarah Butler Wister, living in Germantown, wrote her mother, Fanny Kemble, who was living in England. Fanny Kemble, born in 1809, was a famous actress and accomplished writer of prose and verse. Sarah, born in 1835, was the first of her two children. Kemble, an abolitionist, was divorced from her husband, Pierce Butler, a large and wealthy slaveholder, and returned to England from the United States in the 1840s. In 1838, while staying on their Butler Island Georgia plantation with her family, she wrote her experiences in a series of letters she later published as The Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation. Her children, Sarah and Frances, remained in the states. Sarah married Owen Wister and they had several children, the eldest named Owen. Sarah Wister wrote a great deal about her daily routine and local news. She noted the news from the paper of the Peninsula Campaign and worried for her husband because he was stationed in that area. She volunteered at the local hospital in Nicetown, and during her first five months, 2500 patients were seen and only 15 died. Included within the hospital was a chapel and reading room, which she regarded as necessary for recovery. She worked at a Parish school near her house as well. Many of the letters are dated 1863. During this year, Sarah wrote of both local and national news. She noted the draft riots of New York and how other cities feared the same outcome. She traveled to a "Negro encampment" in 1863 and saw black federal soldiers. Wister was "in awe at how perfect they kept the ground and how well they looked in their uniforms." After the battle of Gettysburg, in July of that year, she noted that there were so many wounded soldiers that many were sent to the Nicetown hospital. "Our store rooms had to be used as a ward and we were forced to give up our work [cooking and cleaning]." She related a story of one woman at the time who was upset that her baked goods would spoil because of this. Sarah apparently told her that they would not go to waste because "all the soldiers will eat them - be assured." Such personal stories infuse her letters. Wister provides an example of a married woman whose responsibilities kept her home. She volunteered at her local hospital rather than travel as younger women with less dependants would be more likely to do. Wister, Sarah Logan. Letters This correspondence is between Sarah Logan Wister of Philadelphia and her half sister Mary R. Fox, wife of Samuel Mickle Fox. The Fox family of Foxburg, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, was related to Thomas Rodman and Letitia Ellicott Fisher (see Letitia Ellicott Fisher under Letters). These three letters are from the years 1862 and 1863. The first letter, dated November 9, 1862, noted Wister’s daily life with some mention of the war. Wister and Fox’s father, William Logan Wister, had died the previous September, and she wrote of the grieving process of both herself and her mother. Wister wrote of the war effort and what she was doing to help. She sent her cousin, Frank, who was away at war, “clothing which as the weather has set in so cold I am sure he greatly needs.” She wrote of the war news she had read in the papers in Philadelphia. “McClellan has been superceded by Burnside. No reason is given. No one knows what it means, his position has been no doubt a very difficult one to fill. Frank has always been enthusiastic for him.” The second letter, July 7, 1863, relayed some of the news of the battle of Gettysburg. “I know you are all anxious about the battle and our boys,” she wrote. “A number of wounded soldiers have come to the Germantown hospital,” where it appears she may have been volunteering. The letter goes on to mention some of the family friends who had come away from the battle either alive and well or wounded. One particular boy, Lang, had been shot in the neck and had injured his mouth very badly. The severity of his wounds was still uncertain. |
What fact of life was the greatest source of sorrow for plantation wives
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