Enclosed is a copy of one of my
most cherished keepsakes – a Civil War letter. George Wineman wrote it to his
little sister Margaret (later my mother) when he was a Union soldier during the
Civil War. George made the supreme sacrifice July 2, 1863, during the Battle of
Gettysburg.
At the top of the Union
stationery, on which the letter is written, is an appropriate illustration in
colors: in the left background, the sky is dark and ominous over tempestuous
waters; fierce barbs of lightning pierce a sinking Confederate ship, flying a
pitifully tattered flag. In the right background is a Union ship sailing
smoothly in tranquil waters under a clear, calm sky. In the center foreground are
the Stars and Stripes and a dauntless eagle firmly established on a firm, huge
rock.
I have typed the letter just as it was written, with
misspelled words, no paragraphing and very little punctuation.
Camp near Warrington
July the 10th, 1862
Dear Sister,
I take this favourable
opertunity of informing you that I am well, and hope these few lines may find
you enjoying the same and all the rest. I was looking for a letter for three or
four days, for it is a good while since I wrote Dave and Paps, but I received
your letter today with the thread and neadles and a good bit of writing. You
want to know what them hooks are for, well, for my part I never saw any use
made of them, but I think if you look right you will see a couple of eyes on
the front of the coat tail and them hooks can be hooked into them and made a
kind of shad belly of it, or whatever you may call it. Well, I know nothing
about Harrison Wetherow, yet you say the cherrys are getting ripe. Well, they
are about done here. I eat a great many cherrys and a wonderful lot of
blackberrys, that is the low ones, it beatz all for fruit in Virginia. You ought to see the peaches, the
trees just hanging full, and pears and apples are plenty. Butter is cheap in
our valley, I must say if you had it here you could make money. It was 30 cents
a pound when I bought. mine and I heard it was 50 cents now. We are a good
piece in Virginia
now and we are under martching order. We may martch tomorrow. We need not buy
that funy kind of supe, we get meat three times a day. Today we got pork salt
beef and good fresh beef and got sugar and molasses. I bought com bread today
for only 10 cents – worth it, it was a good bit and it is good. I bought a good
big thick peach pie one day for 25 cents. We will be paid soon and then I am
going to send by expres forty dollars for old dad to make use of. I’ll trust
him, I don’t care how long. Well if I get a chance to get my likeness taken I
will, but I am too far away from Washington
to go there. What is the reason that unkle samuel did not get his letter? I
don’t know for I wrote it before yours. I must bring my letter to a close, no
more at present but remain your loving Brother, G. B. Wineman. Direct the same
as before (we gained great victorys at Richmond).
Mrs. J.F. Neaderhiser
Longford, Kansas
went out from the editors of the then CAPPER’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of
letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in
their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell.
So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and
in 1956, the first My Folks title – My
Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the
shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true
tales from CAPPER’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available
to our growing online community.
