Civil War Letters: From Home, Camp and Battlefield

by Bob Blaisdell (Editor)

This fascinating anthology commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with heartfelt letters by Union and Confederate sympathizers and soldiers of all ranks. Authentic illustrations accompany insightful missives by Lincoln, several generals (including Grant, Lee, Butler, Jackson, and Sherman), Walt Whitman, Jefferson Davis, and many of their contemporaries.

Genres: History, American History, Civil War, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 2012

About the author

Bob Blaisdell is a published adapter, author, editor, and an illustrator of children's books and young adult books. He teaches English in Brooklyn at Kingsborough Community College. He is a reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor and the editor of more than three dozen anthologies for Dover Publications. Email him at Robert.Blaisdell@Kingsborough.edu

Reviews

[Jessaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend of mine, who is a teacher, began talking about having read civil war letters. She felt that people back then knew how to read and write, unlike today. I was curious; I bought this book.

I really didn't know what I was getting into in some ways. The letters that these men wrote back home were really unsettling. Did their families really want details of the war that many gave?

One letter stood out from all the rest. It was from Sullivan Ballou. I cried as I read it, and I thought that this would be the kind of letter that I would have wanted to receive. I offer it here as it has become famous. It was to his wife Sarah, and if this is the only letter you read from this book, in a way, you have read them all.

My very dear Sarah,

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure - and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine 0 God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing - perfectly willing - to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows - when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children - is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?

I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.

I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles have often advocated before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death" have called upon me, and I have obeyed.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me - perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar -- that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours - always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God's blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children.

Sullivan


Sullivan and Sarah Ballou

"Sullivan Ballou was mortally wounded along with 93 of his men just 7 days later at the First Battle of Bull Run and died shortly thereafter at the age of 32 with his wife being 24. The letter was found in his trunk and delivered to his wife by Governor William Sprague, who had traveled to Virginia to retrieve the remains of the fallen Rhode Island soldiers." http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband watches a lot of the History Channel and anything to do with war. We're planning a trip to see some of the major Civil War sites so I thought this book would be interesting. It was. It is amazing to me that the soldiers had the time to write, had paper, had pencils, since they spent so much time moving from one place to another and in the worst weather conditions. There is something eloquent in these letters - maybe it's the old style of talking and the words they used. Very descriptive and emotional, especially when describing how much letters meant to them and telling about the friends they lost in the war. It is even more amazing that so much of the mail went through. And, then, it was terribly sad, when after reading a wonderful letter, to find out the soldier died shortly thereafter. War is awful! We need to learn to get along without it!

[Richmond Vernon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Primary sources like this could not be more important, especially with historical events like the Civil War which are now so inextricably, if understandably, colored by both contemporary politics and our narrative of events since the war.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read; dense.