The University of Washington offers a great collection of Civil War letters that provide interesting accounts on a wide range of topics. The collection contains correspondence from both Union and Confederate soldiers, including a description of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender. “It all seems like a dream,” as M. Adelaide Smith explained to his “dear friends” back in Michigan. Another interesting letter is one General Lee’s wife wrote to Union General Sanford in late May 1861, in which she complained about the conduct of northern troops who occupied her home in northern Virginia. An overview of all the material in this collection is available.
6
Sep
09
Civil War Letters – University of Washington
Posted by sailerd Published in Civil War (1861-1865), Letters & Diaries Themes: Battles & Soldiers
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i love learning about the civil war when i was at school, can wait to check it out in person! twitter(at)locspoc
[…] Blog Divided links to other great resource banks. Today, the top entry describes a collection of Civil War Letters maintained by the University of Washington. […]
I agree with Adelaide.
The Civil War was one of my favorite subjects in school and I still find amusement studying it in my later years =)
-Tyler
VertFreak101
Reading letters from that period is great. As part of my research for my second novel, I read letters between a Confederate soldier and his wife. In a letter to her husband, the lady complained about his failure to get leave by writing,”Maybe you’re not that smart.” I nearly fell out of my chair. You get a sense of people’s humanity at that time by reading the letters.
I was always fascinated about these old pieces of history. It’s a shame that about 90% of them were lost during time.
The civil war is one of my favorite subjects, and is an important part or american history.
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