The collection is open to research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Asa Baldwin Correspondence, Ms1988-079, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Asa Baldwin Correspondence was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in 1988.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Asa Baldwin Correspondence commenced and was completed in 1988. Additional description was completed in 1998, 2010, and 2021.
Asahel T. (Asa) Baldwin, son of William H. and Pamela Baldwin, was born in Ohio on September 17, 1834. Following the death of his first wife, Hannah Susannah Barr Baldwin (1835-1857), Baldwin married Lucinda A. Castleman (1840-1912). By 1860, the Baldwins were living in Blanchester (Clinton County), Ohio, where Asa Baldwin worked as a farm laborer. Also recorded in the Badwin's home by the census that year was Baldwin's mother-in-law, Lucinda Castleman. Baldwin served as a private in Company F, 82nd Ohio Infantry from 1864 through the end of American Civil War, then returned to Clinton County. The Baldwins continue to be listed as Clinton County residents through 1900. Asahel T. Baldwin died November 21, 1902, and was buried in the IOOF Cemetery, Blanchester, Ohio.
This collection contains six letters from Asahel (Asa) Baldwin, a private in Company F, 82nd Ohio Infantry during the American Civil War, from camps in Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee, to his wife in Blanchester, Ohio. Also included is one letter from Baldwin's half-sister, R. (Rebecca) F. Baldwin, written from Blanchester.
Baldwin's first letter, written from Columbus, Ohio, on October 5, 1864, notes that he and others will soon be traveling south to join the 82nd Ohio Infantry. Over the next two letters, he describes the journey from Columbus to Chattanooga, Tennessee, via Indianapolis and Louisville, noting along the way the political views of his company ("The majority of our hundred men are for McCleland [sic], their [sic] is only 8 or 10 out of the 100, for Abe ...") On October 23, Baldwin writes that he has fallen ill, and he describes the hopital at Chattanooga. He instructs his wife on what to buy and how to manage the household and its debts. By December 20, 1864, Baldwin was in the hospital in Madison, Indiana, and his next two letters relate almost entirely to personal matters--the prospects for a furlough or of being sent to the front and news from home. Baldwin's final letter is written from Camp Denison, Ohio, on April 3, 1865, and relates to the possibility of Baldwin's discharge and muster out.
Accompanying Asa Baldwin's letters is a single letter written to him by his half-sister, Rebecca. Writing from Blanchester on February 10, 1865, Rebecca informs Asa that his half-brother, Thomas Benton Baldwin is being held a prisoner-of-war at "Chahoba" (Cahaba), Alabama. She briefly describes the prison and the rations issued to the prisoners and provides Asa with instructions on how to address a letter to the prison.
The collection is arranged chronologically.
The guide to the Asa Baldwin Correspondence by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).