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Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society

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Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society presents materials held by the New-York Historical Society that document the lives of ordinary citizens from both sides who were involved in the Civil War. Included are photographs and drawings that document the war's impact, recruiting posters used in New York, letters from Civil War Nurse Sarah Blunt and the first and only issue of The Prison Times handwritten by Confederate prisoners in Fort Delaware.

You may go directly to the collection, Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society, in American Memory.

special presentations

These online exhibits provide context and additional information about this collection.

Before, During, and After the Civil War

historical eras

These historical era(s) are best represented in the collection, although they may not be all-encompassing.

The Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877

related collections and exhibits

These collections and exhibits contain thematically-related primary and secondary sources. Browse the Collection Finder for more related material on the American Memory Web site.

Band Music from the Civil War Era
Civil War Maps
First Person Narratives of the American South, 1860-1920
The Gettysburg Address
Selected Civil War Photographs

other resources

Recommended additional sources of information.

Read More About It! - a bibliography
Related Resources

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Specific guidance for searching this collection.

Search the collection using the keyword search, or browse the Subject, Name or Archival Collections indexes. For help with search words, go to the Synonym List. For help with search strategies, see Finding Items in American Memory.

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For help with viewers and players, go to American Memory Viewer Information.

Civil War Treasures is drawn from archival collections housed at the New-York Historical Society. The materials in this collection include Civil War enlistment and recruitment posters, etchings and sketches, envelopes embossed with decorations related to events or portraits of prominent personalities, photographs, and stereographs. The collection also contains a copy of the Prison Times, a newspaper produced by Confederate prisoners of war at a federal prison camp in Delaware; several of Walt Whitman’s letters written from hospital visits to wounded servicemen; a series of letters from Sarah Blunt, a nurse in hospitals at Point Lookout, Maryland, and Harper's Ferry, West Virginia; and manuscripts relating to the work of William Oland Bourne, a New York social reformer, editor, and author. Background on the types of materials included can be found at Archival Collections from which the Civil War Treasures Are Drawn.

The Special Presentation: Before, During, and After the Civil War provides a brief overview of the events of the Civil War, illustrated with graphics from the Civil War Treasures collection. This presentation could be used to introduce students to the collection.

The digitized images and documents in the collection provide access to mid-19th century archival manuscripts and popular graphics that contain a wealth of information on the political and social history of this pivotal era in American history. However, some of the materials in this collection contain language or negative stereotypes that may be offensive to some readers. Students should be prepared for encounters with such historic materials before they begin working with the collection.

Election of 1860

At its national convention in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1860, the Democratic Party was split by sectional conflicts over slavery. Stephen Douglas, a senator from Illinois and the leading candidate for the nomination, advocated a policy of popular sovereignty; this policy had angered Southern firebrands, who wanted the party’s platform to ensure the right of a minority in the Western territories to hold slave property despite the wishes of the majority. Delegates from eight Southern states withdrew from the convention and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky as their candidate for president. Stephen Douglas and Herschel Johnson (a former governor of Georgia) were nominated for president and vice president by a reconvened Democratic convention in Baltimore. The Republican National Convention meeting in Chicago nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois and Hannibal Hamlin, a senator from Maine. The Republicans opposed expansion of slavery into the territories. Former Whigs and Know Nothings, calling themselves the Constitutional Union Party, nominated John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of Massachusetts as their candidates. The Constitutional Union Party’s platform was rather vague.

The split in the Democratic Party opened the way for Lincoln, who ran on a platform of non-extension of slavery, to win the election with just 39.9 percent of the popular vote. Douglas received 29.5 percent of the popular vote, Breckinridge 18.1 percent, and Bell 12.5 percent. The Republicans won the electoral votes of the Western and most of the Northern states, while Breckinridge won most of the South. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia; Douglas won only New Jersey and Missouri.

Examine the envelopes shown above. Use the envelopes and your knowledge of the election of 1860 to answer the following questions:

• What does the Douglas quotation on the envelope mean? How does it convey his position on slavery and the Union? What symbols were used on the envelope? What were they intended to convey?
• What does the Lincoln quotation on the envelope mean? How does it convey his position on issues important in the election of 1860? What symbols were used on the envelope? What were they intended to convey?
• What do the results of the election suggest about the divisions in the United States in 1860? What do you think would have happened if the Democratic Party had not split? Would the outcome of the election have been different? Justify your position.

Once the Civil War began, Breckinridge, the Southern Democratic candidate, and Bell, the Constitutional Union Party candidate, were considered traitors by Northerners. Edward Everett, Bell’s running mate, remained loyal to the Union. Browse the Name Index to find illustrated envelopes featuring these three men. How did the artists convey their support or disdain for the former candidates?

Secession

President James Buchanan, in his last State of the Union message to Congress (December 3, 1860), denounced the movement toward secession. When Lincoln’s victory in the presidential election was confirmed, South Carolina called for a state convention and by unanimous vote seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. By February 1, 1861, six states in the lower South—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—followed South Carolina, leaving the Union in rapid succession. Buchanan took no overt action as these states seceded. Some of his advisors were sympathetic to the South. Secretary of War John Floyd resigned his office after being implicated in a plot to defraud the government. Before leaving office and returning to his native Virginia, Floyd transferred war materials from Pittsburgh to arsenals in Mississippi and Texas. The Confederacy seized firearms and ammunition held in federal arsenals in their respective states.

Before Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi had been elected and inaugurated president of the Confederate States of America. Davis called on other slave- holding states to join the CSA. Maryland and Virginia, the states that surrounded the nation’s capital, were pressured to secede, but neither had joined the Confederacy by March 1861.

The president-elect traveled by train to Washington in February, making public appearances along the route until he reached Maryland. Warned of an assassination plot in Baltimore, Lincoln traveled the last leg of his trip in secret, boarding a special train at night.

Examine the two illustrations above and answer the following questions:

• What two events in the period between the election of 1860 and Lincoln’s inauguration do these illustrations depict?
• How are the two illustrations similar? How are the two different?
• Summarize each artist’s position in one sentence.

A month after his inauguration, Lincoln considered a plan to supply Fort Sumter. South Carolina had stopped all supplies from reaching the fort, which was strategically situated on an island in the middle of Charleston’s harbor. South Carolina called upon Major Anderson, commander of the fort, to surrender. When he refused, the shore batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, beginning the Civil War. After heavy bombardment, the fort surrendered the following day.

News of the attack on the Union garrison at Fort Sumter aroused patriotic fervor in many Northern communities. William Kachline of Boylestown, Pennsylvania, had broadsides printed announcing the sale of his personal property as he proclaimed his intention to go to Charleston to fight traitors. Examine the broadside. Do you believe Kachline might have had another purpose for printing the broadside, other than announcing a sale? If so, what do you think that purpose was?

Within a week, Virginia seceded from the Union. In turn, the western counties of the state organized a pro-Union government that was admitted to the Union as the state of West Virginia in 1863. Many Northerners believed that Virginia had been coerced to secede by “fire-eaters” who had begun to clamor for secession a decade earlier. Former Governor John Wise, who had sent the state militia to Harpers Ferry during the John Brown raid in 1859, was one of the vocal advocates of secession. Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina followed Virginia and joined the Confederacy by May 1861.

What does this envelope tell you about Northern views of Virginia’s secession?

The Union and Confederacy both used the memory of George Washington as a rallying point for their cause. Examine a Union and a Confederate pictorial envelope invoking the memory of Washington. Why do you think both sides invoked the memory of George Washington? Can you think of a leader opposing sides in a current debate on an important issue might invoke? What characteristics make some leaders icons for people with widely varying views?

War

After the fall of Fort Sumter, Union and Confederate forces mobilized for what each side assumed would be a short war. General Winfield Scott, commander of the Union Army at the beginning of the war, hesitated to put untrained troops into battle. Public pressure demanded action, however. When the opposing armies met at Bull Run (Manassas Junction, Virginia) in July 1861, Union troops were forced into a hasty retreat and hopes for a quick victory were dashed.

Despite the defeat at Bull Run, in the first months of the war Union popular graphics depicted the struggle as one-sided. For example, examine "The Hercules of 1861." Why does the artist use the myth of Hercules slaying the Hydra? According to the graphic artist, what hope does the Confederacy have of winning the war?

Less than six months after the fall of Fort Sumter, 75-year-old General Scott retired, and Lincoln appointed General George McClellan as general in chief. McClellan and Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard faced off in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., for nearly six months before engaging in battle. This situation was depicted in the sketch “24 Weeks on the Potomac.”

• How were the two generals portrayed on the pictorial envelope?
• How were the two opposing armies passing time?
• What was the artist implying in the sketch “24 Weeks on the Potomac”?

A naval blockade was one of the most effective Union strategies of the war. The U.S.S. Wabash operated off the Sea Islands of the Carolinas and Georgia to stop the flow of supplies to the Confederacy and prevent the South from exporting agricultural products to Europe. Search Wabash for photographs of the flagship of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Analyze the pictorial envelopes “I wonder if the coast is clear?” and “Running the blockade.”

• What is the point conveyed in the "I wonder if the coast is clear?" envelope? Why did the illustrator use cats and mice in the illustration?
• What is the point conveyed in the "Running the blockade" envelope? Why did the artist depict an alligator in the illustration?
• According to the illustrators of the pictorial envelopes, how effective was the blockade? Explain.

The Civil War was extensively photographed. Search the collection using names of battles such as Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg for photographs taken on the field shortly after the battle. A number of photographs show the bodies of dead Union and Confederate soldiers, such as Timothy O'Sullivan's "Union Dead at Gettysburg" and Alexander Gardner's "He Sleeps His Last Sleep." For photographs of Union officers, search using individual names such as McClellan, Burnside, Meade, Grant, or Sherman.

• What aspects of war do the photographic images convey well? What aspects of war are not conveyed by the photographic images?
• Some images were given evocative titles such as “He Sleeps His Last Sleep” or “All Over Now,” but many had more straightforward titles such as “C.S. Soldier Killed in the Trenches.” Retitle one of the latter with a more heart-wrenching title. Do you think the impact of the image is heightened by the new title? Why or why not?
• Choose a topic that you think is covered well in the photographs and stereographs. What idea about this topic would you like to convey to 21st century Americans? Select ten images for a museum display on the topic. Arrange the images in an interesting and logical way. Give the display a title that evokes the idea you want to convey.

African Americans in the Civil War

From the beginning of the war, slaves began an exodus from the South, seeking refuge at Union army positions. General Benjamin Butler at Fortress Monroe in Virginia refused to return run-away slaves to a Confederate colonel who, under a flag of truce, demanded their return, citing the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Butler argued that, since Virginia considered itself out of the Union, the Fugitive Slave Act did not require him to return escaped slaves. Butler considered the slaves who had escaped as “contraband of war” and put them to work digging trenches and generally providing support for the army.

A number of abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass and Horace Greeley, urged the government to permit African Americans to enlist in the armed services. The majority of whites in the North, however, were reluctant to support such enlistments. With the following language, the Emancipation Proclamation opened the way for blacks to serve in the military:

…And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service….

From The Emancipation Proclamation

Many in the Union continued to oppose the establishment of combat regiments comprising African Americans. Others, however, sought to take advantage of the availability of black men to serve in the military by buying “substitutes” to fill their places.

Examine the documents listed below. What does your analysis suggest about the attitudes of many Northern whites? How would you summarize the contributions of African Americans to the Union cause?

• One of the F. F. V.'s after his Contraband.
• Slave escaping at Fort Monroe.
• The latest contraband of war.
• Contraband of war
• Colored pickets on duty near Dutch Gap.
• Guard challenging prisoner.
• 200 Substitutes Wanted!

Recruitment and Conscription

As the war lengthened, recruiting troops became a challenge. In 1863, Congress passed and President Lincoln signed into law the Enrollment Act of Conscription. The Act made all single men between the ages of 20 and 45 and married men between the ages of 20 and 35 subject to a draft, unless they could afford to pay for a substitute. Draftees were to be chosen through a lottery. In New York City, on July 12, 1863, the day after the first draftees were drawn, citizens rioted. Many of the rioters were Irish and German immigrants who were struggling to survive in low-paying jobs. Angry at the rich, who could buy their way out of service, and African Americans, with whom they competed for jobs, the rioters roamed the city, looting stores, attacking blacks, and burning a black church and orphanage. A number of people were killed in the rioting, and federal troops were called in to quell the riots.

Investigate conscription and the draft riots of 1863 by conducting an Internet search. Also examine documents in the Civil War Treasures collection, including the Volck etching “Buying a Substitute in the North During the War” and Union enlistment posters offering bounties for substitutes, such as “Wanted! Wanted! Wanted! 1000 Substitutes!”

If you were a farmer in Indiana or an Irish immigrant in New York, how would you react to the practice of buying substitutes? Write an editorial about the practice, explaining why the practice was established and your opinion on the fairness and effectiveness of the practice.

Chronological Thinking: Interpreting Timelines

The Special Presentation: Before, During and After the Civil War is a chronological overview of the Civil War, illustrated with photographs, stereographs, and pictorial envelopes from the Civil War Treasures collection. Like all timelines, this one is selective; that is, the person who created the timeline chose certain events to include and others to leave out. Examine each piece of the timeline—before, during, and after—and use your knowledge of the Civil War to add an event you think should be included. Search the Civil War Treasures collection to find an illustration related to the event you have chosen. If you cannot find an illustration in the collection, draw one using a style you have observed in the illustrated envelopes in the collection.

Chronological Thinking: Establishing Temporal Order

One of the artists creating illustrated envelopes designed a series of five “Champion Prize Envelopes” depicting the Civil War as a prizefight between pugilists Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Conduct a Keyword search using the term champion prize envelopes to locate the five drawings.

• Create a “timeline” of the events shown in the five drawings. Do you think these drawings were created early in the war (1861) or later (1865)? What evidence supports your answer?
• If you were going to represent the Civil War as a prizefight, how many rounds would the fight have? What events would be depicted in these rounds?

Historical Comprehension: Using Visual Data

Pictorial envelopes are among the most exceptional features of the Civil War Treasures collection. Conduct a Keyword search using the terms secession and envelopes to find envelopes representing conflicting perspectives of secession. Use the Gallery View to select some examples from each side to analyze. Some possibilities are:

• Secessionists leaving the Union
• An eminent Southern clergyman.
• Secession! non est.
• Don’t tread on us.

Analyze the effect of these visual images in building support for or against secession.

• How did the Union envelopes depict secession? How did the Confederate envelopes depict secession?
• What symbols were used to convey support for or opposition to secession?
• How effective were the graphic depictions on the envelopes as propaganda?
  

Examine the pictorial envelopes "A Southern Gorrilla, (Guerilla)" and "Cotton Is King." Analyze the verses on the envelopes and interpret the perspectives of the pictorial envelopes.

• How does “A Southern Gorrilla, (Guerilla)”denote the cruelty of slavery?
• Why do you believe derogatory language is used on this envelope?
• Why does the Confederate envelope deride Horace Greeley, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and “Yankee” schoolteachers?
• What is the irony expressed in the “Cotton Is King” envelope?
• How is John Bull portrayed in the illustration?
• Would an abolitionist be likely to use either of these envelopes? Explain why or why not.

Illustrated envelopes originated in 1840 in England and were popular in the United States throughout the second half of the 19th century. Why do you think these envelopes became a popular way to express political views? Why might they have lost popularity in the 20th century? (Think about something that might have replaced them as a method for conveying ideas via the mail.)

Historical Analysis and Interpretation: Considering Multiple Perspectives

The Civil War Treasures collection includes numerous posters designed to attract military recruits. Scan the complete list of posters or conduct a Keyword search using the terms poster and recruitment. Use the Gallery View to select posters directed to different groups and using different arguments for enlisting. You will find posters directed at Germans, Irish, other European immigrants, and African Americans. Analyze posters that called for enlistment to avoid conscription, appealed for substitutes, and promised bounties for enlistment.

• How did recruitment posters appeal to different groups of people?
• How did posters use patriotic imagery to attract recruits?
• What do the varying appeals used tell you about the perspectives of different groups of Americans during the Civil War era?
• From the recruitment posters, what can you discern about the effectiveness of the Union’s conscription policy during the Civil War?

Historical Issue Analysis and Decision-Making: Identifying and Evaluating Decisions Made in Running a Prison Camp

Point Lookout in Maryland was the largest Union prison camp. The first Confederate prisoners were brought to the camp after the Battle of Gettysburg. Read General Order 25 from the Head Quarters St. Mary's District, May 24, 1864, that instructed Union sentinels at Point Lookout to be vigilant about guarding prisoners.

…If the prisoner violently resists the Sentinel he will use his Arms in such way as may be necessary to overcome him, and if the prisoner attempts to run away, the Sentinel will fire upon him, always being careful, if possible, not to shoot in the direction of other prisoners. If the prisoner escapes by mingling with other prisoners, one of them will be taken to bear the punishment unless the offender be esposed [sic]….

From General Order No. 25

Use the Name Index to find John Jacob Omenhausser. Examine Omenhausser’s watercolors illustrating prison life at Point Lookout, Maryland.

• What discretionary power did General Order 25 give to sentinels at Point Lookout?
• Was the order reasonable? Explain.
• Based on the Omenhausser drawings, can you identify other decisions made by guards and other officials at Point Lookout?
• Based on the information you have gathered, did the commander of the Point Lookout prison make good decisions about running the camp? Why or why not?

Historical Issues-Analysis and Decision-Making: Identifying Problems and Solutions

At the end of the Civil War, William Oland Bourne, a New York social reformer, author, and editor, organized a “Left-hand Penmanship Contest.” Read the flyer calling for specimens of left-handed penmanship and the supporting letter from General O. O. Howard, who had his arm amputated at the battle of Fair Oaks. Other ranking military officers lent their support to Bourne’s philanthropy, including Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, who agreed to “pass judgment on the manuscripts.” Find and read some of the letters from veterans who submitted handwriting samples.

• According to Bourne, what were his reasons for sponsoring the Left-handed Penmanship Contest? What problem was he trying to solve?
• Why did General Howard decline to submit a specimen of his handwriting?
• How did Howard regard the contest?
• Do you think the contest was a good solution identified by William Oland Bourne? Why or why not?

Historical Research Capabilities: Obtaining Historical Data on Andersonville from a Variety of Sources

The Andersonville Prison in southwest Georgia was one of the Confederacy’s largest prison camps. Conduct a Keyword Search using the search term Andersonville and examine photographs depicting the conditions in Andersonville. Read accounts of the prison conditions from other sources. Use the information you have gathered to script and/or conduct a mock war crimes trial of Captain Henry Wirz, the camp commandant. Compare the mock trial with the 1865 trial of Wirz, the only Confederate officer convicted and executed for war crimes.

• Was Captain Wirz guilty of war crimes for his conduct and those of the prison guards at Andersonville?
• To what extent did the conditions at Andersonville differ from those in Union prisons for Confederate prisoners of war?
• Should Wirz have been charged with war crimes?
• What alternative course of action could have been taken?

Historical Research Capabilities: Formulating Historical Questions about the Copperheads

Two items in the Civil War Treasures collection deal with an individual named Clement Vallandigham:

• “Infernal Machine,” found at Washington
• American eagle on tree branch looking down at figures and snake with face (Vallandigham) representing Copperhead movement

Graphic Arts: Analyzing Symbols

A symbol is an image or object that represents something else. For example, on maps, an image of an airplane may be used to represent an airport. The airplane image is a simple, easily understood symbol. In a cartoon, an eagle may be used to represent the United States. The eagle is a more complex symbol; it was chosen to represent the United States because its strength, courage, and freedom were qualities early leaders hoped the new nation would have. As with the eagle, symbols are chosen to communicate a lot without using words.

Symbols can be seen in the work of Adalbert John Volck. Volck was a Baltimore dentist who sympathized with the Confederate cause. He created many cartoons or caricatures expressing his views on such topics as conscription, Northern treatment of African Americans, and the actions of both the Union and Confederate armies.

Analyze the Volck etching “Writing the Emancipation Proclamation." Look carefully at any symbols you can find in the picture, and answer the following questions:

• How did Volck portray Lincoln?
• What symbols did he use to show that Lincoln was under the influence of the devil?
• According to the Volck etching, what regard did Lincoln have for the Constitution of the United States?
• What was Volck’s purpose in having two pictures in the background of John Brown as “St. Osawatomie” and a slave uprising entitled St. Domingo?

According to information in the Civil War Treasures collection, Volck was trying to offset the success of Northern cartoonist Thomas Nast. Go to the list of Volck’s etchings and select several to examine in depth. Conduct an Internet search using Thomas Nast as your search term; analyze several of Nast’s Civil War era drawings (a number are available at http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/iht820129.html).  

• What similarities do you note in the work of Volck and Nast? Do they use any symbols that are similar?
• What differences do you note in the work of Volck and Nast? Do they use different symbols to represent the same thing?
• Had you been alive in the 1860s, whose work do you think would have had a greater impact on you? Why?

Photographs and Sketches: Portraying War in the 19th Century

At the time of the Civil War, photography was a relatively new art and technology. Because taking photos was a difficult and time-consuming process, most photographs were not the “action shots” that we see today. However, they did make people aware of the destructiveness of war in a way that had never happened before. When noted Civil War photographer Mathew Brady mounted an 1862 exhibit called “The Dead of Antietam,” The New York Times wrote that the exhibit brought “home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war.” Civil War Treasures includes photographs and stereographs, pairs of photos, that when seen through a special viewer create a three-dimensional effect.

The first photograph did not appear in a newspaper until 1880. During the Civil War, if newspapers wanted illustrations of the war, they used drawings. Some of the drawings were made by professional artists, others were created by soldiers in the field. Civil War Treasures also includes a number of sketches created for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.

Examine several of the collection’s stereographs, as well as several sketches.You may scan the lists or do a keyword search using such terms as ruins, battlefields, or soldiers.

• What do the stereographs convey particularly well?
• What do the drawings convey particularly well?
• Choose one stereograph and one drawing. Imagine yourself in each scene; for each, write a brief journal entry as either a Union or Confederate soldier who was involved in the events that occurred at the scene. Which entry was easier to write? Why?
• Today, photography has advanced considerably. The technology now allows photographs to be taken in the midst of battle or other intense activity, at night, and in a range of other circumstances that would have been impossible at the time of the Civil War. Consequently, newspapers now generally use photographs to convey information to their readers except in cases where taking photographs is not allowed (e.g., some courtrooms). Based on your analysis of the Civil War stereographs and drawings, would you recommend that newspapers use more drawings than they currently do? Why or why not?

Journalism: Creating a Prison Camp Newspaper

Read Prison Times, a newspaper published by Confederate prisoners of war at Fort Delaware prison camp in April 1865.

• What kinds of services were advertised in the paper? Do you think these were real services available in the prison camp? Why or why not?
• What topics did the newspaper cover? Based on these topics, who do you think the audience for the newspaper was?
• Look for evidence of humor in the newspaper. Why might humor be important to prisoners of war?
• What can you learn about life in the prison camp from the newspaper?

Using Prison Times as a model, compose with your classmates a newspaper with similar types of articles from the perspective of Confederate or Union prisoners of war. You may also want to use the Point Lookout sketches to gather more information about life as a prisoner of war; some of these sketches could even be used to illustrate your newspaper.

Letters: Consoling Families of the Dead

The collection includes several letters Walt Whitman wrote when he journeyed to Washington in 1862 to look for his brother, who had been wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg. Disturbed by the suffering of soldiers in hospitals, Whitman committed himself to care for the wounded. At an army hospital in Washington, D.C., Whitman became familiar with Erastus Haskell, a musician in Company K of the 141st New York Volunteers. In a letter to Haskell’s parents dated August 10, 1863, Whitman described the young man’s last days before his death from typhoid fever:

I think you have reason to be proud of such a son, & all his relatives have cause to treasure his memory. ---I write to you this letter, because I would do something at least in his memory-- his fate was a hard one, to die so --He is one of the thousands of our unknown American young men in the ranks about whom there is no record or fame, no fuss made about their dying so unknown, but I find in them the real precious & royal ones of this land giving themselves up, aye even their young & precious lives, in their country's cause.

From Last days of Erastus Haskell, August 10, 1863

Read the entire letter and consider the following questions:

• What was the tone of Whitman’s letter?
• Experts on grief suggest that letters of consolation should be brief, express sympathy for the loss, note special characteristics of the person who has died and the bereaved person, share memories of the deceased, offer help, and end with a comforting statement. Which of these modern-day rules were reflected in Whitman’s letter? What aspects of his letter do you think were most consoling? What changes might you have made in the letter to ensure that Erastus’s parents were comforted?
• How did the letter arouse a spirit of patriotism?
• It has been said that through writing a letter of consolation, the writer is also comforting him/herself. Is there any evidence in the letter that writing it was a way for Whitman to comfort himself over the losses he was witnessing?

Analyzing Poetry

Read the poem “Back to the North! A Song of the Returned Volunteer” by William Oland Bourne.

• Who is the speaker in the poem? What is the speaker’s tone?
• What two places is the speaker describing in the poem? What languages and images are used to describe the two places?
• What words or phrases repeated? What is the effect of this repetition?
• What is the central idea Bourne is expressing through the poem? Is the poem effective in conveying that idea?

Research other poems written during the war, such as the poetry of Walt Whitman, Francis Miles Finch, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., John Greenleaf Whittier, and Catherine Warfield. How does “Back to the North!” compare with other poems of the period? Are any of the poems written from a similar perspective? Which poem is your favorite? Why?