Lizzie A. Shultz letters, 1862-1865
25 items
This collection is made up of 25 letters that Lizzie A. Shultz wrote to her husband, Captain Joseph Shultz of the 111th Illinois Infantry Regiment, Company K, during the Civil War. Most letters are 4 pages long, revolving around Lizzie's daily activities and the growth of the couple's two young daughters, Lottie and Eliza, in Salem, Illinois; many pertain to the difficulties of raising children and running a household in her husband's absence. Lizzie often mentioned the war, expressing her desire for Joseph's safe return. She commented on his movements with the army. In one letter, she reported an altercation between soldiers and Copperhead sympathizers in Salem (October 4, 1863). Additional letters concern the deaths of large numbers of foreign and African American soldiers at Memphis and "Island No. 10" (January 6, 1864), the Fort Pillow massacre (April 17, 1864), the presidential election of 1864, and the possibility of moving to the South after the war.