For my second post I will go into more detail about the collection of letters I am researching with. The letters are all written by John Watkins, a native Clevelander and private in the 19th Ohio O.V.A. The letters span from August of 1862, when the unit was commissioned, to April of 1865, when the war ended. The letters are all written to John's fiancee back home, Sarah ann.
By reading the letters its easy to tell that John was a very intelligent man. He has very good writing skills and articulates his thoughts well. Nearly every letter starts off with John saying "I hardly know what to write", and that he will attempt to write "a few lines". But he ends up writing really long letters about 2-3 times a week for years. The stuff in the letters really valuable to researches are the descriptions of troop movements, what unit is where and when, and any specific mentions of people, so that it is known where that person was on that specific day. These pieces of information are useful to paint a picture of where the unit is in relation to the rest of the army.
There is also other tidbits if information that are interesting, such as the description of conditions faced while marching or complaints about food prices. John also gives his thoughts about the American south, its people and cities. None of it is good, both the cities and the people are described as "dreary". So even though he says he has nothing to say, each letter says a lot. Coming up in the next post I'll write about some of the funny stories I have come across in the letters, many of which are about drunk soldiers doing stupid things.
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