Exceptional archive of 18 handwritten letters related to Edward F. Tubbs, a soldier in Company I of the 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry (159th Volunteers), dated between July 2, 1863 and December 13, 1864. The collection totals to 46 pages, with 16 of the letters written by Tubbs and addressed to his mother Irene Tubbs of Albion, Erie County, Pennsylvania. The content of the archive consists of Tubbs’s plans to visit home, new clothes and items he purchased, reports on his health, hospital stays, and camp life, his disdain for the war and his desire to see it through to the end. Highlighted sections from Tubbs’s letters are as follows:
July 2, 1863, from Frederick City, Maryland: “I thought I would write a line to let you know where I was Harpers Ferry is Evacuated and we are on the march I suppose to reinforce Gen’l Mead I expect we will annihilate the whole Rebel army…they say our army is marching on to Richmond we have about 20 thousand men here it makes quite a show there is cavalry artillery & infantry all together.”
September 25, 1863, from Beverly, West Virginia: “It is now over one year since I left home you know I said when I left home I did not think the war would last a year if I had had known that the war was going to last so long as it has I would never have enlisted I would have waited for the draft & stood my chance with the rest I never enlisted to stay over a year.”
October 16, 1863, also from Beverly, WV: “I have plenty to eat drink & wear but yet I am not at home there is talk of the rebels coming but we have got so used to hearing it that we do not believe anything until we see it with our own eyes I have not much news our men have had a little skirmishing with the rebels at a place called Bulltown about 50 miles from here…patience and perseverance a strong heart & a strong mind are all that keeps the soldier alive.”
October 31, 1863, from Camp Montgomery in Pittsburgh: “We left Erie on Wednesday and got into Pittsburgh the next morning…then we marched two miles to Camp Montgomery…When I got to Cleveland I saw a lot of squaws and almost all kinds of animals…I have seen the wonderful city of Pittsburgh…it is a large place but most dreadfully nasty it is the smokiest place I ever saw.” Includes an undated letter from Tubbs, presumably to his mother and written on the same day as the above letter, noting that he sent his clothes home and requesting that she forward all news to his friends.
March 20, 1864, from Martinsburg, WV: “I found a rebel officer who had just come into our lines a deserter from Lee’s army he says he thinks the rebels are going to fight as long as they can but does not think that will be a great while longer he is going to take the Oath of Allegiance and live under the Old flag again…they say we are going to have a chance to reenlist this month or next but I guess I will wait until Old Abe reenlists before I do.”
June 9, 1864, from Staunton, Virginia, relaying news of the Union’s victory at Piedmont, in part: “We had our fight on Sunday of June 5th we whipped the rebels and captured about 1000 of them, 52 rebel officers besides. I captured a rebel captain in our first charge. I could tell a big story but stories don’t fight Battles. Stanton has fallen & is holding a great many Yanks.”
The archive features seven letters written by Tubbs during his stay at the state hospital in Gallipolis, Ohio, dating between July and September, 1864. Highlighted sections include:
July 18, 1864: “I was at Charleston & in very good health but I was taken sick at that place and was brought down here so you see I’m in Ohio…there is about 100 sick & wounded soldiers here my disease is the fever.”
July 30, 1864: “I am gaining quite fast I am in hopes to be able to join the Reg’t in a couple of weeks I do not know where our Regiment is but I expect they are in the vicinity of Martinsburg we had reports that Gen’l Averill was killed but the papers today say it is not so.”
A particularly fiery letter from Gallipolis, dated August 9, 1864: "I walked down to the City of Gallipolis today…there is 3 [racial epithet] to one white person…if I had known that this [racial epithet] war was going to continue so long I never would have left home…I see this war as it is now it is nothing but a curse to be a United States Soldier men are less thought of than the black [racial epithet] this war is a speculation the way it is going on now but if God spares my life a short time I shall be out of it I will do my duty as long as my time lasts which I have sworn to do and then I shall bid them goodbye…I will own that I prefer peace to war but we want it right but I don’t fear them I have fought them in close contact when we were not over 20 feet apart the rebel lead whistled close but yankey lead and yankey steel makes them run…I have lain in front of their fortifications in plain open field when they had all man could wish to protect them while we had nothing to protect us but the great God of Battle.”
September 13, 1864: “I now take my pen to inform you that the time has arrived for me to quit this bed of sickness which I have been impatiently waiting for I shall probably leave here soon.”
On October 9, 1864, not long after his release, Tubbs writes from Martinsburg, WV: “I was very much disappointed in coming back I wanted to go to my company but I shall try and content myself here for a while…I see you have heard of Genl. Averill’s removal from this Command and it is very much regretted by all under his Command I don’t know who will command our Division after this the men say they won’t fight under any other General…I have no news today everything is progressing finely in the Valley & around Richmond.”
Tubbs’s final letter, written from a “Camp Near Winchester Va” on December 12 and 13th, 1864, in part: “I am not I sorry to say well at present the weather is very cold at present about 6 inches of Snow on the ground and it is getting dark & w ill have to stop writing as I have no candle.” The following day: “After a hard ride of 25 miles in a very cold day & in about 5 hours time I will try to finish my letter we went on a Scout this morning but saw nothing the weather is very cold we are on about half rations now I had a cracker for my breakfast with coffee yesterday I had 2 now.” Tubbs passed only four days later on December 17, 1864, a little over two years after mustering into service; although the manner of Tubbs’s death remains unknown, the grim atmosphere of the above letter suggests that he likely succumbed to sickness, starvation, or the elements.
The archive also includes two letters written by officers and addressed to Irene Tubbs: the first, written from Camp Blakely, a letter from W. W. Miles, Company I captain of the 14th Pa. Cav., dated April 14, 1863, who notes that her son, once “very sick with Typhoid fever,” has “very much improved [and]…in a very few days be able to report for duty"; and the second, written from Grafton, addressed by an officer named Edgar Peirce, dated November 25, 1863, affirming that “Edward is safe and sound, the regt are at New Creek about 100 miles from here on the R Road towards Harpers Ferry.” In overall very good to fine condition. Accompanied by several original mailing envelopes.
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