Up for auction is a wonderful collection of Civil War letters and diaries circa 1861-1865. In total is approx 48 letters plus extra ephemera. Twenty letters were written during the war 1861-1864. All the material is authored by civilians who resided in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I read most of the letters dated 1861-1864 and discovered one in particular that mentions the draft with other details concerning the war. In addition is several interesting entries regarding a relative moving to California around 1858-1859.
One letter also mentions a curious entry about a member of the family” seeking justice “ Another letter is a great poem with a folk art real hair memento from a young woman attached to the letter ( see photo). Keep in mind there is a good amount of additional ephemera approx twenty items.I skimmed through the reminder of the letters from the late 1860s to the turn of the century. As for the diaries both were written in the state of Ohio. Neither diary has any identification that being said I believe they are from the same family.
The diaries are not full the 1865 diary is blank for Nov & Dec. That being said I estimate approx 60 double sided pages of handwritten entries for the 1862 diary and approx 40 double sided pages in the 1865 diary. I am not positive but I believe the authors of both diaries may have been Quakers. The content of the diaries cover domestic life during the war one diary is written by a women the other by a gentleman. many entries are written in pencil and appear faint.
Only one diary (1865) has a brief mention of Lincoln’s death and family attending an event in town to mourn his assassination. At least that was all I found while skimming through the entries. The bulk of this diary concerns baking, sewing, weaving a rug, taking care of children, attending funerals.
This diary does have a few entries that stand out one mentions visiting a medicine man and traveling to Cleveland (see my photo) I transcribed a very poignant paragraph that mentions the war below plus brief sections from the 1858-1859 letter about traveling to California. I am sure there is much more to discover. As always any questions feel free to ask.
Aug 17, 1862
We are having real war times here now their is two recruiting officers here in town now there is a good deal of excitement the don’t like to enlist very well they say they are going to draft the first day of Sept. I don’t know what they are going to do in Mass, but I cannot bear the thought of you going into the army Ive dreamed about it several times I wish you would write me about it son as you get this.
Sept 5,1858
Harry he was gone to Warner to see about going to California he said there was a company a going from there and he was going with them and they were going right away. I don’t know the truth of the story you have it the same as I have we have been looking for him sometime.
Aug 10,1859
You spoke of visiting the land of god I will not attempt to advise you either way, but would ask have you counted the cost precisely I suppose in those large cities is very bad and I suppose you know the climate does not agree with scarcely one of our northern people. To be sure I have know some instances were they have returned improved in health.
On May-12-24 at 12:12:46 PDT, seller added the following information:Just a quick correction regarding translation of the diary entries from the 1865 diary. I made reference to an entry mentioning a visit to a" medicine man". In fact that entry should read" sewing machine man "