Collection Description
"I this rainey Morning take My seat to answer A
few lines I saw in A letter yo rote to Billey I Was glad to think you
had Not forgotten Mee well I am Not verry well But I hope this will
find you All well well there has been A heap of sicness and it has Bin
verry fatel there has Bin A heap of Death I have Nothing of importence
to rite."
-- Letter 5 from P.D. Martin to Mrs. Lucinda Boren.
This digital collection is an assemblage of
handwritten letters, songsheets, and military orders. Spanning the
entire period of the American Civil War (1861-1865), these items
gathered together provide a unique and insightful glimpse into the
era.
The Letters:
The letters, composed
by both soldiers and civilians, detail battles, conditions, and news
from back home. The
majority of the letters also include envelopes decorated with brightly
colored and
highly detailed lithographs. The letters have been transcribed with the
original spelling intact. The transcriptions are keyword searchable.
The Military Orders:
The collection includes
two military orders, both a handwritten Special Order number 24 issued
in November 11, 1861 at a camp near the Union's capital; and a printed
General Order number 124, issued by the State of Illinois, August 2nd,
1861.
The Songsheets: The collection's
songsheets are broadsides lithographed and printed by Charles
Magnus. Charles Magnus was a print publisher, map dealer,
bookseller, and stationer working in New York from 1850 to 1899. Magnus issued over a thousand lettersheets, maps, songsheets,
envelopes, and separate prints. (From:
The Winterthur Library accessed April 1, 2009.)
About the Database: This digital collection was created by
Lovejoy Library in 2009. The project was made
possible by Dr. Richard L.
Millett, Emeritus Professor of History at Southern Illinois University
Edwardsville who donated the use of his collection to the Library. Cary
Harvengt scanned the materials and transcribed the letters. SIUE student Darrell Fisher Jr. created the digital collection under the supervision of the SIUE Catalog and Metadata Librarian.
