American Civil War Letters - June 5, 1865 - Everyone Home But Abel. Is He Dead?
The report was circulated that you were dead! It was said a dispatch came to that effect. I made enquiries and found no such dispatch had come.
I love this letter especially for the raw longing and emotion it contains. To see so many soldiers come home and her husband not among them, and then to hear a report of his death - it must have been almost too much to bear.
It also contains a report of one Charles, whose wife "did not behave well." Adultery among soldiers' wives is a story as old as war, but it seems especially shocking to hear it described in Marcia's strait-laced language. And I can't imagine that the child of that illicit union had an easy life, poor thing.
Springfield June 5, 1865
My dear husband
It seems a long time to wait. Others have come, and it is hard when I want you so much. I have so long expected you and put off doing things that now I can not do them. I fear you will not think well of my management. The handle of my spade is broken. I thought you would come and put one in but can wait no longer. Plants must be set.
I have not any Winningstadt cabbage but have some nice ones of some kind which I found in the drawer.
I have had wonderful luck with my chickens. I set two hens and put the chicks all with one hen. One hen hatched 11, the other 17. All are smart and 1 month old.
My calf I have saved so as to have something to eat when you get home. It is eight weeks old and fat as a cub. How I shall get it killed I do not know. I want you. I just lost my calf last year by letting Taylor have it, and I won't let him kill this if I can get anyone else to do it. I shall keep it for my own use.
The grape vines are full of fruit buds. One Greening tree is full of fruit, and the Russell not a summer harvest. The pear trees are well filled with fruit and look nice. My corn has not come, some of it. Pale beans look well. Beets and onions are pretty good. Weeds plenty and good size flowers in blossom look better than they have, sometimes.
Tuesday morning we are all well. Aunt Betsey has got out again. School does not keep and the children are at home and they say it is to be training day. An old practice revived. I shall work in the garden. My tomato plants are gone. They wanted you to prepare the ground, and I want you.
Frank Bates has got home. A Whitcomb has come. All but you.
Cass has been here. Charles wrote to him that his wife did not behave well. He came home to see about it and is convinced that she is a bad character and has left. He told her he never would live with her again or send her any more money. He will support his little girl but the boy he does not own and will not support it.
Such trouble I have not. The way of the transgressor is hard and the ways of such transgressors are so very hard. It seems strange that anyone should walk in them.
F Griswold has got home. He says he does not know what has become of the money but makes no fuss, though it has been a public scandal.
We received a start last week. The report was circulated that you were dead. It was said a dispatch came to that effect. I made enquiries and found no such dispatch had come.
May God spare your life and soon return you to us with health restored, is the prayer of your wife.
M S Grennell
This is a transcription of a letter that my great-great-great grandmother sent to her husband during his service in the American Civil War. It was written with minimal punctuation, so I have made regular edits for readability while keeping the content of the letter as close to the source as possible.
You can click on the original letters to see a high resolution scan for comparison.
I have dozens of letters from Marcia Spencer Grinnell to her husband Abel from this period, and will continue to share them as time and interest permit. The letters make for fascinating reading, and provide an intimate look into domestic life at the time of this conflict.
CLICK HERE to read more letters from Marcia Spencer Grinnell and her family during the civil war.
Or CLICK HERE for a complete catalog of my work on Steemit, so far.
What a great look into history. She needs him more than she misses him. I can hear the worry in her writing. Worried for survival. Flowing.
She's really found her voice after 18 months of writing these letters, hasn't she? I wish she'd had a reason to keep writing once he came home.
I wish I could reference for you a civil war diary that was published from a mother trying to "tame" her wild son. Just days-and-days of documented physical abuse to get him to submit. She would often write to her lord and asking for guidance and forgiveness .... She was taming a wild horse so they could both survive in the harsh winters of Appalachia. Makes you think what we were like as "wildling."
Wow - that sounds both fascinating and dreadful. CPS would have a field day with her today.
A whole new take on "No Wire Hangers!"
Hah - my wife loves that movie!
I can't imagine how awful it would be to get either a dispatch or a 'heard it from the grapevine' notification. It's bad enough having a preacher and cop come to the door.
I think that what @jamestrue said is quite true in some ways:
These last couple letters seem to indicate it is definately on her mind but I have no doubt that she misses him too. She got along very well in a difficult position but she is getting very impatient.He was gone 3 years, right?
It was actually just a year and a half. He enlisted in December of 1863 and was home June 1865. It would have been three years if the war had gone on.
I think she needs and misses him both. There's a lot of emotion packed into these letters, and this was a time when people did not write all that they felt.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an account of when he stepped off the train and they saw each other for the first time after the war? Of course there's no reason for her to write a letter about that, and in any case she was probably eager to put the whole exercise of writing behind her!
I got the idea from a previous post that she wrote to her sister as well? It would be interesting to read the various letters that she received and sent to others during that time. I guess her husband was probably more likely to keep and cherish the letters that sustained him though the war though.
Yeah - I just lucked out to end up with the letters I had. They were all tied into a bundle with a ribbon. Obviously he treasured them very much!