GREATLY Expanded Letters Section!

Dear Readers,

I wanted to drop you all a quick note to point out my GREATLY expanded Letters Page at the Siege of Petersburg Online. In the past, I’ve kept that page limited to just original letters transcribed by me or others, similar in process but not in scope or execution to what “Griff” Griffing is doing over at his awesome Spared and Shared sites.

I realized not too long ago that I have dozens and dozens of OTHER letters on my site, letters written by soldiers to their local papers. Once I realized this, I went through every single newspaper article currently on my site and used the tag “letter” for each and every soldier letter. As a result, you can now see on one page every single soldier letter on this entire site!

I have even BETTER news. I am committed to continuously publish new soldier letters each and every week from the likes of the New York Sunday Mercury, the Bedford PA Inquirer, the Augusta GA Daily Constitutionalist, and many more. So keep your eyes peeled and please do like and share these posts. I am looking to steadily build readership here as I continue to add content to the site.

And as always, if YOU are:

Interested in the Siege of Petersburg
Have the time to spare

I’d love for you to help us transcribe all of these wonderful letters for publication. Please CONTACT US if you are interested in transcribing newspaper accounts.

I’d like to take a moment here to thank Jackie Martin, Roy Gustrowsky, Brent Hutchinson, Dan Eyde, Jack Phend, Ted Linton, and past transcribers for all of the help they’ve given me over the years. This site would not be here without them.

Here’s a list of all of the soldier letters published in newspapers which are now on this site:

Soldier Letters in Newspapers:

Tagged as: letter, Petersburg Siege Newspapers

{ 7 comments… add one }

Lisa Fulton August 27, 2020, 3:46 pm

This an exciting expansion of your letters section. I can’t wait to explore it. I can think of an interesting example from my own collection. I found an article in an October 1861 edition of the Charleston Daily Courier, that began with the words “A friend has sent us a letter written by a member of the Beaufort District Troop, attached to Hampton’s Legion…” As I read the article I realized I had read the very same words before. The newspaper’s friend was obviously H. L. Jeffers, who had sent them a letter written by his son Thomas Jeffers, from Camp Fisher in Virginia – and I have that letter.

Not sure if you are looking only for np articles that refer to the Siege of Petersburg? If so, I’ll keep an eye out for that. If you are going to include the whole war time-frame, I’ll submit the matching 1861 article and letter to you.

Regards, Lisa Fulton

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Janet Chase August 28, 2020, 6:35 am

Thank you so much for offering this chance to maybe see for the first time my g-g-grandfather’s account of his experiences.
His name was Captain William W. Burke, Company C, 22nd USCT. Although I have an old picture album with his CdV, as well as others in his regiment, but none of his letters have survived the years.
As his last remaining ancestor, seeing and reading even one of his letters would be thrilling.
Again thank you for your hard work and dedication to this project.
Janet Chase
chasejan4@aol.com

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Brett Schulte August 28, 2020, 12:41 pm

Lisa,

Thanks as always for your comments. I think you’re our number 1 fan! 😉 To clarify, yes, I am only really looking to publish items written about or while at The Siege of Petersburg. Trust me, there is more than enough for me to ever finish in one lifetime. I appreciate you keeping an eye out. This goes for everyone, but I am really looking for people to send me postwar reminiscences and other items from newspapers. My main focus for now is on items sent during the war. So if anyone want to get me a head start by sending in items from the postwar, so much the better.

Brett

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Brett Schulte August 28, 2020, 12:43 pm

Janet,

You’re welcome. In what area(s) did the 22nd USCTs recruit? I can probably do a quick search for you to see if any letters exist from the 22nd over my June 1864-April 1865 time frame.

Brett

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Janet Chase August 29, 2020, 5:26 pm

Thanks for responding. He was recruited in Philadelphia, and served in the Army of the James. The 22nd USCT was at Petersburg during the siege, then went into Richmond.
And I have to apologize . I am not his last ancestor, but I am his last descendant.
. Janet Chase

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Brett Schulte September 1, 2020, 10:26 am

Janet,

I did not find anything based on a quick search of the papers at Genealogybank and Newspapers.com. Do you have subscriptions to either of those sites? You could try browsing through the Philadelphia area papers to see if you can find letters from the 22nd USCT.

Brett

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Janet Chase September 1, 2020, 11:28 am

Thanks for checking Brett. I plan to follow your suggested resources.
Janet

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GREATLY Expanded Letters Section!

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