American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Archive of 16 letters spanning October 1862 - June 1865, with Atlanta campaign content. Condition generally good with expected toning and folds, most letters with original covers.

Initial letters track the young private after his enlistment, with the earliest letter written to Humiston's father from Cairo, Illinois, while on his way to Corinth (17 Oct 1862). Humiston is eager to be a good soldier and embraces the drill and duty that are part of a soldier's life. He tells his sister on 17 February 1863, "...everyday when it is good wether we are on drill & prepeiring our selves so that if we are called upon to goin to battle that we will not be like a lot of greenhorns & nonothings." Duty is relatively quiet at Corinth, and Humiston takes the time in his letter of 25 October 1863 to draw for his mother a sketch of his living quarters captioned "My little Home in the Army of the Tennessee way down in Pocohontas."

Humiston's letters are at their best as he describes his regiment's participation in the Atlanta Campaign. Writing to his parents on 22 May 1864 from 'Head Quarters In the field Kingston, Ga," he states: "We have had some pretty hard fighting to do in the few past weeks. Our Brigade had a sharp fight at Croosher ferry on the 14th of this month, in which our regiment lost 17 killed & wounded....We are driveing the rebs like wild geece tords Atlanta...." Then on 3 June 1864 he writes from "Head Quarters in the field near Dallas Georgia," saying "I am beginning to feel pretty well worn out; this being the 37th day since leaving the mill...since I last wrote you at Kingston...have been one fight since but being behind earthworks never got a man hurt althogh the rebbels made three charges on us & ware driven back every time with heavy loss it was on Sunday night of the 29th." He enters the hospital at Kingston in late June 1864 and writes two letters to his family, with the last letter in the archive dating to July 1865.

HDS indicates that Aubert E. Humiston (1843-1928) enlisted on 8/31/1862 as a private and mustered into Co. K, Ohio 81st Infantry, originally known as "Morton's Independent Rifle Regiment." He was mustered out on 7/13/1865. The 81st was extensively engaged in the Western Theater during the war, including at the Battle of Shiloh, Resaca, Dallas, Kennesaw Mountain, and during Sherman's March to the Sea. Following the war, Humiston returned to Ohio and married. The 1870 US Federal Census identifies him as working at a saw mill, and records indicate he was a member of the Keller GAR Post in Crawford County, Ohio.