Civil War
Letters

Throughout the Civil War, many soldiers and their families kept in close touch by writing letters. The volume of wartime correspondence was immense, with ninety thousand letters a day processed in the Union alone. Letters from soldiers often described the boredom of encampments, the excitement or horrors of battle, and worries about their families back home (Document 13.7). Soldiers’ letters also expressed their views on the causes of the war and sometimes their changing understandings of the war’s meaning (Documents 13.6 and 13.10). Nurses provided another dramatic perspective on the war (Document 13.9), and letters from families revealed the experiences, as well as frustrations, of life on the home front. While many parents, spouses, and children of soldiers wrote letters to bolster the spirits of men at the front, they also expressed the heartbreak of separation and the problems experienced by families and local communities, including shortages of food and labor and spiraling inflation (Document 13.8). Regardless of the content, correspondence helped families maintain connections during soldiers’ lengthy tours of duty. For historians, these letters are a unique window into the everyday lives of soldiers and their families during the Civil War.

The letters reprinted here, from both Northerners and Southerners, represent an array of experiences, including those of soldiers and civilians, women and men, blacks and whites. Written between April 1861 (Document 13.6) and November 1864 (Document 13.8), they also help us trace transformations in the North and South over the course of the war. As you read them, think about the usefulness of letters as primary sources. What common themes emerge in these letters? How do the letter writers feel about the larger significance of the Civil War? How do their feelings about the war change over time? What can we learn about the war from these letters?