American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Martin Van Buren Lewis entered the United States Military Academy in 1855 and graduated in 1860. He was assigned to the US 8th Infantry (as a 2nd Lieut., as usual). The Civil War erupted just months later. Several of these letters are from recruiting assignments in northern Ohio. His letters to Mary Frances Green begin in July 1857. Some are while he is at the Academy, others while he was on summer break. Mary Green is also a scholar. At this time she was attending the Lake Erie Female Seminary at Painesville, Ohio. 

Warren, Oh. July 17th, 1857. Martin to Mary, as he just returned home on break and encountered the local beauties. “I squeezed along by ‘em hoping, from the bottom of my heart, that ‘crinoline’ would fall 50 per cent and not be digging me on the shins every minute or two…. But this is an age of progressiveness and great improvement, so I suppose us ‘poor fellows’ have got to grin and bear it and admire the ‘model haystacks’ as they go nipping through the streets & do nothing but pray for larger sidewalks and shin plaster.”

A few months later he is back in West Point. Military Academy, West Point, Nov. 4, 1857. Martin to Mary about a new letter scheme they have arranged. Apparently they are sending letters from multiple people together. “I have already written to Edward and his letter lies on my table ready to be mailed as soon as I have finished yours. The more I think of our new way of getting letters to one another the better I like it as I see no possible way for the gossiping community to find out anything about it, for I am certain that friend Ed will say nothing about it.” A few weeks later [West Point, NY, Nov. 22, 1857] he expresses concern about the inexperienced teachers at Mary’s academy. Later in the winter [West Point, NY, Mar. 14, 1858] he tells her he has written some editorials for publication and she should think about a bit of “writing on the side,” as it were after she seems to have won a school writing contest.

Spring finds him in a different situation. Cadet Hospital, West Point, NY, April 17, 1858. MVB Lewis to Mary Green. “Here I am laid up in the hospital and what is the matter?... Three or four days ago I got hurt while riding and in this wise: -- I had a very miserable substitute for a horse and as we were practicing jumping over a pile of poles arranged for this purpose my horse became quite important or though himself so at least and took it into his head that it was below his dignity to jump a pile of poles for my amusement and accordingly commenced to prance and rear up in a frightful manner…. [to get rid of me] he thought it best to rear up once more …but, alas, instead of going down upon his feet again as he expected no doubt to do he went entirely over and came down upon his back, or upon me I should have said, but we both arose to our feet quickly….” Most of the damage was swelling in his hands. Nothing broken. 

The following autumn a couple of his letters seem to concern all the rules they both live under. In his letter of Sept. 24, 1859, Martin outlines the similarities in their lives, living in institutions, being away from home, counting the days until graduation, etc.  Then a month later [Oct. 24, 1959] he mentions a lot of rules that make no rational sense. At this point he has been made captain of his cadet group.

In his letter of Nov. 20, 1859 he tells Mary: ““…I shall probably go by the way of the Forest City, Cleveland, as I have some friends there who wish me to call on them if I ever visited the city – General Crowell is one of them. Perhaps you have heard of him – he is a great lawyer that I became acquainted with while on furlough, and who seemed to take quite a fancy to me. “

In December [3d] he is back on the subject of rules, apparently stemming from one that was instituted at the seminary. In a letter to her mother [Painesville, Oct. 9, 1858], Mary goes through a long list of new rules for the ladies, such as no talking in the halls, no standing in the halls, go to prayer meeting every day, no letter writing on Sunday (unless it is pious), and many more. She opens the letter with some of this. ”There was a rule made last night that we should not write letters on Sunday unless the[y] were strictly religious. Now Mother I want you to consider this letter strictly religious.” She apparently wrote the same information to Martin, who questions what is too much? Is it too much to write to a gentleman on Sunday? How about another lady? He notes many other restrictions they both have, many relating to parties, going out alone with the opposite sex, etc. 

As graduation nears, Martin requests a picture of Mary. [Military Academy, West Point, NY, Dec. 22, 1859.] “Your description of yourself is amusing, but never mind your looks, I will think just as much of the picture as if you were perfect as a model of beauty. I am afraid you would not have a very good opinion of me if you thought I liked my friends for their good looks. I shall wait patiently for those ‘black ringlets’ of yours to attain the proper length.”  

Cadet Barracks, West Point, NY, Feb. 16, 1860. “Time is flying at present with me, for I am so busily engaged in my studies that I can scarcely think of anything else. We are now studying strategy and grand tactics and plans of campaigns and have a great many maps of battles to draw and plans of campaigns to copy which is quite a task, but at the same time very interesting and instructive. The battles are those which have taken place in both ancient and modern times and between the greatest military chieftains of those epochs. For example, I might name a few of the greatest and most distinguished. For instance, Epaminondas, Hannibal, Caesar, Pompey, Prince Eugene of savoy, Marlborough or Napoleon, &c.”

Lewis graduated from USMA in July 1860 and was assigned to the 8th Infantry. The couple married in September 1860 before he had to ship too far away. The 8th was in Texas when war broke out early in 1861, and they were all captured while traveling through the South to get to Union territory. They were release/exchanged shortly and returned to the East to defend Washington for a time.

By November he was in northeast Ohio recruiting. Early in the month Martin writes to his wife to come visit on the weekend. He will check the morning train to see if she is on it. A few weeks later Mary writes to her mother [Warren, Oho, Dec. 8, 1861]: “We did not stay in Cleveland very long after all the fuss. Mart did not have very good success there so wrote for orders to come here. We are boarding at a Mr. Bartlett’s on High Street and a very pleasant place indeed….On the whole I am glad we came down here for we are so near home that I can see you all very often..” Shortly after this Martin received a letter from another recruiter, signed only “Baldwin.”

Mary received two letters from Martin in May 1862, both written at Ashtabula, Ohio. The letter of May 8 Martin describes his rooms where he is boarding and tries to arrange to pick her up to come there as soon as she is well enough (nothing specific is mentioned about her illness). He also mentions a letter he received from Albert, which he will send along to her. ”You will see from his letter that Uncle Thomas has not written to secretary Stanton yet. I shall not try to get away from my regiment any more. If they want me they will know where to find me….”

Then a letter dated May 19 would be one of his last. Most of the content is personal. He does give her the mail schedule (to know when he will mail letters to her). Unfortunately, just six weeks later [June 29, 1862], Martin Van Buren Lewis would be dead from an unspecified disease far from home in Winchester, VA. In her letter to her mother written from the seminary June 19, 1863, Mary asks: “How are the trees by Martin’s grave getting along and how does everything look there.” Martin did write a short note on June 2 telling her he had paid for a subscription to the “Herald,” and had gotten his picture taken, which he would send in a day or two. 

There are numerous other letters to her mother, at least 5 in early 1863. There are a couple of letters to Martin from other guys associated with the military (one a fellow West Point student). His school buddy wrote that he made a stop at Niagara Falls on his way home from New York after visiting cousins: “…I went to Niagara Falls to visit a female cousin there. I saw Blondin go over the Falls on his rope and it was the most daring feat I ever witnessed.”