American Historical Ephemera & Photography

22 war-date letters, most 4pp+, spanning 1861-1863, comprising: 15 letters from Corporal Benjamin F. Boatman, Co. F, 35th Ohio Infantry; 4 letters from Private Isaac W. Boatman, Co. G, 83rd Ohio Infantry; 1 letter from Private Jeremiah "Jery" W. Boatman, Co. C, 35th Ohio Infantry; and 2 homefront letters. Condition generally good, with expected toning, light soil, folds, and wear, one letter appears to be incomplete.

Benjamin F. Boatman (1832-1863) enlisted on 9/5/1861 as a Corporal and mustered into Co. F, 35th Ohio Infantry. He was wounded 9/20/1863 Chickamauga, GA and died of wounds on 10/30/1863 at Nashville, TN. The majority of letters in the archive were written by Benjamin, and all are addressed to his wife Martha Jane Boatman (1838-1865). Isaac and Jeremiah Boatman, Benjamin's younger brothers, also direct most correspondence to Martha. Isaac W. Boatman (1843-1916) enlisted on 8/21/1862 as a private and mustered into Co. G, 83rd Ohio Infantry. He was mustered out on 7/24/1865 at Galveston, TX. Jeremiah W. Boatman (1840-1926) enlisted on 8/20/1861 as a private and mustered into Co. C, Ohio 35th Infantry. He was mustered out on 9/8/1864 at Chattanooga, TN.

Though containing much that is standard for soldiers' letters - descriptions of weather, longing for home, discussion of troop movements - Benjamin's letters in particular contain description and small details which bring his surroundings and experiences to life. Describing the boat trip and his arrival into Nashville in March 1862, Boatman discusses in part seeing the "best farm houses [that] have a white flag flying over them," secesh and Federal gunboats on the river, and the unusually high river level. In an 8pp written from camp near Nashville on 7 March 1862, Boatman describes the city saying "there is plenty of men here that expresses their opinion in favor of southern Confed & we are not allowed to sawcce them if we do they will Buck & gag us [.] our officers has ther hands full to keep the Boys out of hen Roosts, or from killing hogs & sheep we are not allowed to Burn a rail or stake & no shooting is allowed...." Boatman continues with a dicussion of a visit to an abandoned Confederate foundry and the large amount of artillery they have captured since the fall of Fort Donelson. He was most impressed, however, by the statehouse which "stands on a high hill & come in town on any rode or up or down the River & this house is the first house you see." A pencil drawing of the statehouse drawn by Benjamin is included on the undated letter.

A 6pp letter written from Mississippi on May 23, 1862, contains a lengthy description of the Siege of Corinth, and includes an anecdote of how Benjamin Boatman fired on a Confederate without realizing they were under a flag of truce.  His later letters describe the difficulty of crossing the Cumberland Mountains when laden with heavy equipment, receipt of a new Springfield Rifles, and in his final letter on July 26, 1863, Boatman describes being "plased in circumstances at present that I never witnessed Before we have not had any rations for Three Dayes & we have no Idie when they will come...." In this same letter he describes the  men shot and killed while looking for food, and the emptiness that surrounds them: "the country we have pased over is literally desolate we camped on all the plantations that we could & fed every horse of the hole Army on wheat & green corn there is not citizen left behind this time for they go south as fast as we do the women that is left is in A Distresed Condision in Talahoma there is But three persons & they are Women...."

Isaac Boatman writes on 25 July 1863 from Vicksburg discussing the Battle of Jackson, "the Division has come back from Jackson old Johnson skedaddled for other quarters we captured some of his pieces burnt every house in Jackson & left & Gen Sherman pursued him taking prisoners all the time...there was but one Big gun captured at Jackson...Jackson was well fortified better than Vicks Burg...." This letter included a manuscript piece of sheet music. One letter is written from Camp Cherokee on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, 29 June 1862, and is written on paper retrieved from a railroad office. Isaac, left behind to guard the railroad, describes his travel to the current location and discusses plantations with enslaved men and women working the cotton fields. 

Jeremiah's sole letter in the collection is written from Cynthiana, Kentucky, 27 September 1861. The remaining two letters are from Mark Mills Boatman, the father of the soldiers, and another brother who remained at home. An interesting archive from a family bearing an unusually high burden of sacrifice during the war.