Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

Brothers from Marion, Mich., Gus and June Smith both enlisted in the 22nd Michigan Infantry in August, 1862. Their letters depict their first year of service and provide useful descriptions of camp conditions, health, and morale in the regiment. The collection also contains four receipt rolls, returns, and other documents signed by Gus for material issued to his company.

The Smith brothers' collection is a slender, but significant one, documenting the combined Civil War service of two brothers from Marion, Mich. Seven letters are written by Gus, five by June, and one letter was written jointly. Gus' letters tend to be more descriptive, perhaps because he was an officer or because he was more enthusiastic about soldiering, or perhaps because June was so often plagued with ill health.

Their letters from the fall of 1862 through the summer of 1863, all written home to their family, depict their first year of service and provide useful descriptions of camp conditions, health, and morale in the regiment, and contain the expected inquiries about affairs at home. Because they are sporadic correspondents, a detailed sense of their family relations or military experiences does not clearly emerge, but individual letters rise well above the mundane. Perhaps the two most interesting are an undated letter from Gus, probably written in the fall, 1862, describing his tent and living conditions in Kentucky, and his letter from May, 1863, crowing over his promotion to captain. The collection also contains four receipt rolls, returns, and other documents signed by Gus for material issued to his company.

This Civil War collection contains 5 letters of William Smith to his family, three of which were written during the summer of 1861 when he was considering enlisting. In August 1861, he enlisted in the 26th Indiana Infantry. Two letters from his aunt, Jane Sterling, discussed her fears for her sons and William and described a vivid dream about the bleeding bodies of the boys. Both of her sons subsequently died in the service. There are two other letters in the collection, one from a relative, Nelson H. Smith, and the other, from a person named Dutton, of uncertain relationship to the collection.

The Smith papers contain 5 letters of William Smith to his family, three of which were written during the summer of 1861 when he was considering enlisting. Two letters from his aunt, Jane Sterling, discussed her fears for her sons and William and described a vivid dream about the bleeding bodies of the boys. Both of her sons subsequently died in the service. Sterling's husband enlisted in the 56th Indiana Infantry, which was intended as a "railroad regiment", to consist of railroad workers who were to be assigned to duty tending tracks and trains. There are two other letters in the collection, one from a relative, Nelson H. Smith, and the other, from a person named Dutton, of uncertain relationship to the collection.