In July of this year, ewolfs' Online Book Auction presented the first installment of a collection of Civil War letters written by two Pennsylvania brothers to their sister. The older brother, D.O. Kelley, was a sergeant in the Union Army stationed primarily in the northern Virginia/West Virginia area for the entire term of the war. His letters detail nearly every campaign and incident in this arena including the Confederate destruction of the B&O Railroad and the destruction of the Shenandoah Valley. As the war continues, D.O. Kelley's letters reflect the soldier's life - the frustrations and the pleasures.

The six letters presented in ewolfs' November Book Auction include a letter from Kelley's cousin who works in a hospital in Camp Keys. There is much discussion of horses, recent battles and tending to the sick. The cousin's mood is light in that he made it through the winter without illness commenting naively that "summer is the nice time for soldiering." As an interesting sidebar, Kelley's sister kept a May 1861 letter from him written before he became a soldier. He was working in Oil Creek, Pennsylvania drilling for oil--not far from Titusville where E.L. Drake had discovered oil and was raking in the bucks. By December of 1862, Kelley had left the oilfields for the Army but left out of the fighting. He writes a great letter about the leisure time of a soldier. When not engaged in active battle, many soldiers were granted furloughs to go home, attend to crops, travel a bit, or have friends visit them in camp. During his free time, Kelley visited the famous Hot Springs (some of which were actual "spas") in Virginia and West Virginia. In early 1863, Kelley was stationed in Winchester, West Virginia and experiences the sickness and hardships associated with winter tent camping. He writes of his love of horses and the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley. Soon thereafter, the war escalates and Kelley pens a stirring six-page letter detailing troop movements and various campaigns including General Lee's presence at Front Royal. The last letter details the on-going problem the Union Army had with "bushwhackers" and how, in many respects, they were more feared than the regular "rebbels." Kelley's writing is descriptive and personal. Even when conditions are tough for him, he is surrounded by the love of his family. The force of his personality shines through in each of these letters.

In addition to the Pennsylvania letters, ewolfs has also assembled the Civil War letters of a Cleveland, Ohio physician who served in the Union Army. Stationed in the South, Dr. John C. Gill served as medical doctor for several different regiments. After the war, Gill continued to serve as a physician in "occupied" Texas--not only for Union troops but also for refugees. For six weeks, Dr. Gill was a Confederate prisoner in Texas and his letters reflect that experience. His letters are very different from the Kelley brothers' letters. First, Gill's letters detail the soldier's experience in the Deep South and Southwest during and after the War, and second, they describe fighting on the water and in steamboats versus in the fields and on railroads.

The bulk of this collection covers the year 1864, and Gill's letters vividly convey his desperate need for clothes, pay and a way to support his mother and younger sisters while he is away from home. In addition to his duties as doctor to wounded and sick soldiers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama and Texas, Gill is faced with the complicated task of arranging for the sale of property in Ohio. As an officer and doctor, Gill's life is probably more privileged than the average soldier's. Even he, however, struggles with debt, strange and undiagnosed illnesses, worry about the future, loneliness, and self-pity as his contacts with the old folks at home become fewer and fewer as the war drags on.

The six letters presented here (more to come in future online auctions) include a letter from 1860 regarding Dr. Gill's application for a medical position in the office of a Dr. Wood of New York. It appears that Gill was hired by Wood and may have moved from Cleveland to New York before being drafted (or volunteering) for service. As with many documents of this period, there is considerable discussion of horseflesh.

By May of 1862, Gill is in the thick of things travelling into great battles and writing his mother farewell notes if he fails to return. The senior surgeon will stay behind with the wounded, but Gill goes into battle with the troops. His spirits are high, and his health is good as he proclaims to his mother that he is a child of "Father Abraham" and will do his bidding.

At some time during the end of 1862 to the beginning of 1863, Gill moves to Decatur, Alabama. He receives a letter from a hospital steward who wants to keep in touch detailing the whereabouts and promotions of their comrades-in-arms and fellow medical personnel. The letter is full of friendly gossip including the description of one of the new surgeon's assistants as a "consummate jackass."

In the Spring of 1864, Gill travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana by way of Cincinnati, so it is possible that he had a furlough north for a brief time. He writes to his mother of his terrible journey to Baton Rouge, his stay in Cairo, Kentucky where his luggage was stolen probably by the hotel proprietor. He is rescued by the local sheriff and a Colonel Spiegel whom Gill highly regards. When he meets up with his regiment in Baton Rouge, he is very busy with many sick soldiers. He appears to enjoy himself and appreciates the exotic locale--certainly much different from the natural environment of the Western Reserve.

During the Red River Campaign (March 10-May 22, 1864) the Union Army suffered huge losses and an embarrassing naval defeat. Gill was a part of this expedition. Sometime in late April, Texas Confederates capture Gill for six weeks before he is exchanged for a Confederate soldier. He calls his captors "Texians," and in a June letter to his sister reports that the Col. Spiegel who rescued him in Cairo was mortally wounded on board a river steamboat on an expedition up the Red River. This disastrous campaign is mentioned in several letters with deep regret as many Union soldiers were either taken prisoner or perished. It is viewed as the last great Confederate victory of the war.

In August of 1864, Gill writes a long and consummately Victorian letter to his mother about his joy in receiving a letter from home. The letter details the soldier's ecstasy during mail call when a letter is received and alternately his dejection when the postmaster reports that the soldier has no word from home. Stationed in Morganzia, Louisiana, Gill gives detailed descriptions of the countryside and also further describes his emotional reaction to being a prisoner. News had apparently been circulated of his death, but in this letter Gill is very happy to be alive.

The remaining dozen letters chronicle the end of the war in the South, the Army's trouble in restoring the Union to southern states, about the Confederate-sympathizers who refuse to believe the cause is lost as well as about southern citizens who are cordial and hospitable. Gill also writes of the dangerous social conditions in the South and the fear some Southerners harbored of the recently freed slave population and the African-American troops.

All in all, these two collections juxtapose the experiences of two very different men with different Civil War experiences. The similarities in some of the letters truly capture the popular sentiment of the era and of their generation. Their differences flesh out the most devastating event in the history of the United States: The War Between the States.

by Kathleen Webber
ewolfs