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.
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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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