August 20, 1888
John Abbott wrote today’s letter to Isaac Mark Abbott. As mentioned in the previous post, John became an attorney following the war and has set up a practice in Lebanon, Indiana. This is what the majority of the letter talks about. John seems fairly excited at the fact that Lebanon is growing and flourishing. I looked up some information about Lebanon because I had definitely never heard of it! The city was founded on April 30, 1830, so it actually was still in its early stages when John lived there. It was founded by two men from Indianapolis, General James Perry Drake and Colonel George L. Kinnard. According to the city’s official website, they were both “progressive community builders” and “shrewd developers and speculators.” I found this relevant to John’s letter because he talks about new projects that have recently been undertaken by Lebanon. I think they show that this spirit of growth continued to thrive even after the founding years. In 1888, John proudly states that Lebanon is home to a “fine central school building,” consisting of ten rooms, along with a library. It also has four large churches, thirteen saloons, and five drug stores. However, John is most excited by the rapid development of gravel roads. The county had at this time over 280 miles of “free pike” (which seems to be similar to toll roads/pikeways today) and he believes more will quickly be built since taxes on the existing roads will help finance new roadways. He really does seem to like gravel roads: “Then the advantages of gravel roads have become so apparent the Supervisors put in the entire road labor and road tax in graveling the other roads.” John asserts that it won’t be too long before all the roads in the area will be graveled, stating, “As it is now, we can go almost anywhere in the county, at any time of year, in a buggy…” This is in comparison to dirt roads, which became unusable in inclement weather. I think that paved roads are something we take for granted. I certainly don’t frequently think about what I would do if I couldn’t drive somewhere because rains had turned the road to mud. Such exciting developments prompted John to say that Lebanon is “a splendid place of residence.” Today, the city’s website describes its “solid education system which excels in both academics and sports.” Just think, John was excited about a ten-room schoolhouse in 1888 and now, nearly 150 years later, it seems the school district is doing quite well. Additionally, the website talks about “new growth opportunities” and how important they are to the city’s future. Clearly, building and improving the city has always been a priority! I personally feel like it’s a neat opportunity to be able to read a Lebanon’s citizen’s account of the city in 1888 and then compare it to today’s descriptions. John seems to have loved living there, judging by his approval of its continued improvements and Lebanon definitely appears to still be doing well today! Works Cited: City of Lebanon. “Lebanon Indiana, The Friendly City.” http://www.cityoflebanon.org/index.cfm (accessed March 10, 2014).
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August 19, 1888 In today’s letter, we have jumped ahead another three years. The letter was written by I.M. Abbott’s brother John to Mark. At this point, John is an attorney and seems to have opened a law practice with a fellow attorney, Samuel M. Ralston. Just for kicks, I decided to look Ralston up. It turns out he later would become a United States Senator! In the letter, John tells Mark that is partner is “running for joint Senator, and can give but little attention to business till after the election,” meaning he has to shoulder many of the practice’s cases. Ralston doesn’t actually win his bid to become an Indiana state senator this year but down the road would enjoy a few major successes. He was governor of Indiana from 1913-1917 and became a Democratic United States Senator from March 1923- October 1925. Also, according to RaIston’s page on the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, he was admitted to the Indiana bar association in 1886 and then opened his practice with John A. Abbott, in Lebanon, IN. I personally find it pretty neat that one of the people I’ve been reading about in this collection ended up knowing and working with a future senator. It’s not really something I expected since the Abbott’s aren’t a well-known family in terms of Civil War history. Therefore, it’s cool that they are connected to someone that did gain national recognition. The rest of the letter focuses on John relating what has been going on personally as of late. He touches on the health of various family members as well as how busy his work life is. One interesting bit is when he launches into a fairly in-depth account of his feelings towards politics. He believes that he is essentially a “political orphan.” I took this to mean that he didn’t feel any strong connection to either party. He seems pretty disenchanted with politics in general. I think this type of apathy is kind of similar to what many Americans today feel regarding political goings-on. It’s fascinating to see how history does have certain trends that stay present all throughout the course of history. Works Cited/Photo Credit: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. “Ralston, Samuel Moffett, (1857-1925).” Dictionary of American Biography. http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000020 (accessed February 14, 2014). July 23, 1863 Today’s letter introduces us to John Abbott, someone we’ve only read about thus far. Isaac Mark Abbott, who had been trying to contact his other brother for the past few months finally receives a response. John writes a lengthy letter to his brother and we learn that he too had been waiting for a response from Mark and was becoming increasingly worried as more and more time passed with no word. It’s interesting that both of them were trying to contact one another and had been anxiously checking the mail in the hopes of hearing from the other. John is at Camp Bowers Hill, Virginia in quite a different part of the war than his brothers. He makes references to the Army of the Potomac whereas Mark and Roe really only talk about the Army of the Tennessee. The postal service was a bit spotty during the war. Sending and receiving mail between soldier and family/friends was easy enough when a regiment was camped out in one spot for awhile. It was another matter entirely when the regiment began to move around at a greater frequency. Perhaps this is why the letters between Mark and John weren’t reaching each other. We know that Mark had been sending letters to John and not receiving answers but we also know that his company moved around a number of times over the course of a few months. But the lack of communication was worrying. Indeed, John remarks towards the end of the letter that though he is well aware that very few men from one regiment are actually wounded or killed in a battle, he worries because “the certainty that you [Mark] stood as good a chance to be hurt as anyone” was a most concerning thought. John also comments on an event he calls, “Morgan’s Raid,” and how well the citizens of Indiana had responded to it. It turns out that this raid was actually fairly significant thought it is not something that I personally have ever learned about. While not a major battle, it is definitely an interesting event. In July 1863, General Braxton Bragg, leader of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, ordered that a raid be sent through Indiana and Ohio “to draw Union cavalry north into Kentucky.” In fact, Morgan’s cavalry raid was “the largest military campaign conducted in Indiana” during the war. I thought that this was significant since the Abbotts hail from Indiana. John tells Mark how he heard that the people of Indiana joined together. A Confederate spy, Thomas Hines, had been sent ahead of the raiders to see whether any Indiana citizens were Confederate sympathizers and discovered that most were not. Something John says also indicates that no matter what party they belonged to, the people of Indiana banded together to fend off the raiders: “Butternuts and Radicals forgot their color, Democrats and Republicans forgot all their creed except the ‘Union’ and all joined in driving the invaders from the best state in the U.S…”. This just seemed to be a pretty interesting bit of the Civil War that many might not know about and it’s cool that John Abbott mentions it in his letter. The image included is that of a broadside sent to Indiana citizens from Indiana governor Oliver P. Morton. He informs the men of the state that there has been an enemy invasion and implores them to leave their normal occupations for a time being to defend the state. I think it's interesting to include because it helps highlight what John is talking about when he infers how patriotic Indiana citizens are. The full-sized image can be seen here. Works Cited: Burke, Kathryn. National Postal Museum. “Letter Writing in America.” Accessed December 4, 2013. http://postalmuseum.si.edu/letterwriting/lw04.html Geib, George W (Butler University). Indiana Historical Bureau. “Morgan’s Raid.” Last Modified August 2, 2010. Accessed December 4, 2013. www.in.gov/history/3993.htm (morgan’s raid) Balewski, Zuzanna and Maya Fraser. Indiana Public Media. “The Invasion of Indiana: Morgan’s Raid and the Battle of Corydon.” Accessed December 4, 2013. http://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/invasion-indiana-morgans-raid-battle-corydon/ Photo Credit: Indiana Historical Bureau. "Morgan's Raid." Accessed December 13, 2013. http://www.in.gov/history/3993.htm. |
AuthorTessa Wakefield, student intern at the Concordia College Archives, assembled these blog entries in 2013-2014 for the Isaac Mark Abbott Civil War Letters Collection. The posts summarize the content of the letters, interpret Abbott's experiences and place them in the larger context of the Civil War. Archives
March 2014
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