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Collection

John S. Corliss papers, 1861-1863

17 items

The Corliss papers contain the correspondence of a middle-aged Union soldier serving primarily on light duty in South Carolina and Florida. Corliss' letters express his views, including his dislike of African Americans and his lack of support for the Union cause.

All of Corliss' 17 letters are addressed to his daughter, Mary, and son-in-law, John Hastings in North Grantham, N.H. The letter's content offers a limited description and has frequent grammar and spelling errors.

In one of the best letters in the collection (11 August 1862), Corliss, who by that point had been off duty with diarrhea for 52 days, rails against the idea of his son-in-law enlisting, arguing that if he could earn 50 cents a day at home, he should stay. Corliss maintains that northerners were being deceived into enlisting, that the war was not being fought to save the union, but to save the "Negro." He adds that slaves are better treated in South Carolina than the soldier, and that he works so that "every offersor ha[s] a neger wench hung far to his ass if I may be loud to use such words to express myself."

A racist and strong Democrat, probably a peace Democrat who had converted from the Republican Party, Corliss later (1863 February 21) writes that Union officers favor the black man over the white and "as long as the north stand on that ground the south will fight and we are not a goin to fight to save black rascals[. W]hen theu get redy to fight fore the unon then we are redy to fight and not til then this fightin fore black laisy raskels and son of black biches..."

Several of Corliss' letters from Saint Augustine are steeped in religion and discussions of missing his family. While they are fairly formulaic, making for less interesting reading, they do suggest the effect that religious evangelism had on the mind of some soldiers.

Collection

Otis family papers, 1861-1862

40 items

The Otis family papers contain letters home from four members of the 57th Pennsylvania Infantry, describing camp life, the battles of Williamsburg and Fair Oaks, and the hardships of war.

The Otis family papers consist of 39 letters written home by several Civil War soldiers between November 30, 1861, and December 2, 1862. Louisa Otis and her parents are the most frequent recipients. Louisa's brothers, Ferdinand and Israel, wrote the majority of letters in the collection; her cousins, Dudley Otis and Mortimer S. Roberts, also contributed several letters each. The brothers sometimes collaborated in their letters, each writing a portion, thereby giving two perspectives on events.

Early letters repeatedly reference pay, health, and camp life. On January 3, 1862, Ferdinand wrote to his parents concerning the rapid spread of mumps through the camp and reported that he had been vaccinated, likely against smallpox, and was very sore. Both brothers frequently anticipated upcoming paydays and how much they would send home, and requested items such as mittens. On February 2, 1862, Ferdinand provided a detailed description of how soldiers laundered their clothes.

By mid-1862, the correspondence had become more focused on battles, injured and dead comrades, and the hardships of war. A letter from Israel, Ferdinand, and Otis gives a description of the Battle of Williamsburg, which Israel called a "long and bloody struggle," which lasted into the evening. He also recalled the Union band's performance of "Dixie," and the cheers of the soldiers, which "must have sounded anything but pleasant" to the Confederates (May 12, 1862). Another letter, dated June 7, 1862, references the Battle of Fair Oaks, in which the 57th Pennsylvania Infantry lost several officers, including Major Jeremiah Culp. Ferdinand described the morale of the soldiers, noted "we have got only our field officer left," and gave an account of the stench of rotting corpses in the woods. Israel noted that a bullet went through Ferdinand's coat and that his haversack was shot open, scattering his belongings. Other correspondence documents receiving family photographs (August 30, 1862), finding Southern cows to milk (November 28, 1862), and desiring more letters from home.