This letterbook includes approximately 62 letters sent and received by Minne Voorhees, a commissary with the Continental Army medical department during the American Revolution.
Much of the correspondence is between Voorhees and his peers, other young men, physicians/surgeons working with the army hospitals, family, and acquaintances at home. He described army camps and hospital work at Valley Forge (1777-78), White Plains (1778), the Battle of Rhode Island (1778), Pennsylvania and New Jersey (1778-1779), and various sites in New York, including West Point (1779).
Of note are pointed letters between male peers about women, written at times in a joking manner--on courtship, marriage, and avoiding "vile Jades" (prostitutes). He reflected on military service and its discomforts, setting up hospitals and tending to the sick, fighting boredom in camp, and trying to remain solvent while performing his duties. As a young man of marriageable age, he was also concerned about his social circle, homesickness, flirtations with women, and marriage prospects.
Several entries relate to the death of his cousin, Peter Voorhees, who was taken prisoner and killed by the Queen's Rangers in 1779 while on leave in New Jersey. Letters indicate the commotion this caused in the region and the grief it engendered in the family, including Peter's fiancée.
On the front pastedown of the letterbook is an inscription by David Bishop (1824-1876), great-great-nephew of Minne Voorhees. Several pages at the end of the letterbook contain biographical details on Minne Voorhees, his correspondents, and his sister Elizabeth Voorhees's descendants.
