#187-CIVIL WAR SALE: A SOLDIER'S LETTER TO HIS "DEAR WIFE"

"I should just not feel that I was making you unhappy....What can have come between us?"

When we're searching for Civil War letters, the obvious goal is to find letters that discuss battles, the enemy and significant news about people people and things that are "headliners," letters with insightful and seldom seen observations.

But what about the typical soldier, the farmer or store clerk, who are just the ordinary guy carrying a gun, the majority of whom will be wounded....die in battle....or die to the biggest Cicil War killer, dysentery and disease.

This letter is painfully serious. The soldier is lost, he's far from home and he fears some emotional not just geographic distance has occurred. He doesn't make a whole lot of sense. He implores his wife to write, to remember he loves her...and in all, shows the personal side of a soldier, which we often don't see in histories of any war.

When I was looking for war date documents, letters home, draft information and payments made for soldiers to enlist I stumbled upon this letter, which I suspect would generally be ignored by most collectors.

If you are deeply interested in the war and significant letters, this one doesn't mention Grant or Lincoln or the story of some important person. But "Dear Wife" is very meaningful and through the pages you can see what soldiers had to battle besides Confederate troops.

Unusual and interesting.