Letters

W L. Utley Letter

Collection MS 10-02 consists of a letter written by Confederate soldier W. L. Utley to Jennie Alexander, his aunt, on December 8, 1861 from Columbus, Kentucky. Within he describes the battle at Belmont, Missouri on November 7, witnessing the ironclad C.S.S. Manassas at Columbus, and mentions the increased number of sick men within his company.

16th Illinois Infantry Regiment Letter

MS10-03 includes a letter written by a soldier of the 16th Illinois Infantry Regiment to his wife from Bird’s Point, Missouri on March 12, 1862. The letter describes the writer’s time spent at Bird’s Point while he recuperated from a case of the mumps, a viral disease that causes fever, fatigue, and swelling of the salivary glands. He also mentions the build-up of Union forces near New Madrid and the Confederates fortifying and then evacuating Island No. 10 in the middle of the Mississippi River roughly five miles south of their position.