Baylor University has announced that a small archive of Civil War letters has been digitized and is now available at the Baylor University Library Digital Collections site. The collection consists of thirty-two letters, mostly between a soldier and his sweetheart.
The letters have been both digitized and transcribed; from the front page of the collection you can browse the letters in chronological order. The next-to-last item is the burial receipt for John Coleman, who wrote most of the letters (he died in 1880) and the last item — a really nice touch — is a chronological transcription of all the letters, presented in a PDF file.
Click on a letter and you’ll get a good-sized picture; a lot of them are tough to read however (especially the ones written on blue paper.) On the left nav you’ll have the option to view the document description (the letter itself), the page description, or the page and text. Choose the page and text option; you’ll get a good copy of the letter to browse but also a transcription in a popup window. The transcriptions aren’t perfect, but they’re very good.
John Coleman is an interesting man. Melancholy, frustrated, worried about his girlfriend and family, occasionally bored, he mixes home and war news equally. His girlfriend writes back patiently, their letters often missing each other. The good transcriptions and the focus on two people make this a fascinating read. Well done Baylor.
Moultrie Creek on 24 Nov 08March 13, 1998 Letters to the Editor St. Augustine.com Soldiers are honored Editor: As a member of the General W.W. Loring Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, I would like to thank Mr. G.L. Wilson for his kind comments concerning our recent black heritage ceremony in which we honored black soldiers, both Union and Confederate from St. Augustine. To set the record straight as to who was honored, I would like to state that at our ceremony we honored two black Confederate and seven black Union soldiers who are buried in San Lorenzo Cemetery. There are other black Union soldiers buried at various sites around the county. We placed a rose and the appropriate flag, Confederate or United States, on each soldiers grave. Those present found it to be quite a moving ceremony. Union soldiers honored were: # Pvt. Josua Hagerman, 34th U.S. Colored Infantry # Sgt. Richard Hernandez, 8th U.S. Colored Infantry # Pvt. Toby Mongen, 21st U.S. Colored Infantry # Cpl. David Twine, 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry # Cpl. William Vandyke, 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry # Musician John William Welters, 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry # Cpl. Thomas William, 21st U.S. Colored Infantry Confederate soldiers honored were: # Musicians Emanuel Osburn and Anthony T. Welters, 3rd Florida Infantry There are two other known black Confederates from St. Johns County, however we have been unable to locate their graves. These men are: Pvt. Issac Papino, 3rd Florida Infantry Pvt. Tony Fontane, 3rd Florida Infantry If anyone knows the location of the graves of these two men, I would appreciate hearing from you so that we can properly mark their graves and honor these soldiers of the South. William D. Chisolm Heritage Officer General W.W. Loring Camp 1316 Sons of Confederate Veterans St. Augustine
