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], Civil War Union Soldier's Letters, Ms1988-081, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Union Civil War Union Solder's Letters were purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in 1988.
The processing and description of the Civil War Union Soldier's Letters commenced and was completed in April, 2021.
The letters are accompanied by typed transcripts.
This collection contains four letters, dated 1862-1863, from a Union soldier identified only as "Isaac," written to his parents. In the first letter, dated from Fairfax Court House on October 30, 1862, Isaac writes of gathering chestnuts and selling them, looking forward to gathering persimmons after the frost, and of his other activities in camp. His second letter, written from Dumfries, Virginia, on January 4, 1863, likewise focuses on personal matters and camp activities. In an undated letter, apparently written soon after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Isaac disputes reports of the roles played by the XI and XII Corps in the recent battle. (From his defense of the XI Corps, and particularly the artillery, we might infer that Isaac was a member of an artillery battery within the XI Corps.) He also writes of Confederate soldiers crossing to the Union lines under a flag of truce after the battle to request medical supplies for Union soldiers that had been taken prisoner. In a final, undated letter written from Brook Station, Isaac again provides some camp description and notes that the local farmers are beginning to plant, but the prospects of a good crop are not bright.
The guide to the Civil War Union Soldier's Letters by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).