War Letters and Mail Call
(to be edited frequently for upcoming program)
(to be edited frequently for upcoming program)
Soldiers Aid Society theme for letters and Valentines. Materials needed:
parchment paper
doily ~ ribbon
pens, pencils, quill and ink
Green felt (as used in old courthouses).
Mail box (for guests letters to our troops)
Intro
Have you ever
missed someone very close and your communication was cut off? You don’t know if your loved one is even
well. I've seen posters for missing loved ones after a disaster just waiting for good or bad news. Today we have technology for immediate
communication and sometimes we go stir crazy when it’s cut off. Imagine what it was like during the Civil War
for women left behind on the home-front.
Feelings:
Initial separation from family sparked loneliness relieved slightly by correspondence through letter writing. Victorians were definitely poetic in their style of writing. As with past letters among families, they often started out with with thoughts of feelings but closed with news of their conditions.
Often the letters wanted to give a piece of one's self to include a scent of perfume familiar to a soldier or a lock of hair.
In 1861, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair cut off mail service to the rebellious Southern states. Confederate postage was not recognized by U.S. post offices, and postmasters were instructed to forward mail to the Confederacy to the Dead Letter Office, where it was to be returned to senders. (5) Although, mail was cut off, some mail made it thorough to the opposing side through what is known as a "flag of truce" exchange.
During the Civil War, mail volume boomed as literacy rates rose and postage rates became affordable.
Exerpts of Civil War letters:
We have moved so often that letters couldn't find us. Write often, and I will run the risk of getting the letters.
—Hermon Clarke, a Union soldier encamped at Bermuda Hundred in the South, to his father, June 23, 1864.
Mary Pringle wrote, “Write to me soon for I can hardly wait. It is all the pleasure I have to write and read your letters.”
She expresses desperation to hear from her husband. Receiving a letter is like his "last known" expression of living through the war.
Newspapers:
Many letters were shared with local newspapers because they contained information that even laterally related families wanted to know about what was going on. Newspaper publishers could rely on soldiers' letters for first person depictions of battles. They looked for subtle hints of the severity and length of the war. Most of all, the morale to see a resolve.
Mail Call:
The phrase, "Mail Call", has such an emotional tie to veterans that it is still a part of Honor Flights. Honor Flight gives WW2 veterans, Korean War veterans and Vietnam veterans a chance to see thier memorials in Washington DC before it's too late and come back to the belated welcome home that they may not have received.
Gene Autry wrote a song called "At Mail Call Today" which was loved
Soldiers Angles arose as a NFP organization by Patti Patton Bader. In 2003, Patti founded Soldiers' Angels when her oldest son, Staff Sergeant Brandon Varn, was deployed in Iraq. Her son made comments that he was one of the few soldiers receiving care packages so Patti gathered some friends and neighbors and they began sending packages to his whole platoon. Their motto: "Let no soldier go unloved"
Testimonial:
The most devastating letter known was the "Dear John" letter. This is the slang for a gal in the home-front who was calling their long distance relationship off. It almost always involved another lover. These types of letters were so devastating that they gave the recipient little reason to live for upon return. Locally we can send uplifting, anonymous letters to soldiers through Family Support groups.
Often the material cannot be sealed to ensure the contents encourages the troops and not offends them. The Post Office will NOT deliver anonymous mail for security reasons. Any chain mail that request mail sent to "any recovering soldier" at Walter Reed are still floating around and are false and deliverable.
Morale can make or break our will to win. This is evidenced by the rebel yell when they had little else in weaponry. Support on the home-front means a lot.
Conclusion:
--> The women of the Civil War performed a double duty of wife and male role on the home-front while their husbands were off fighting for what they believed in. Their loneliness and guilt over their situation went from self-centered pity to realizing the needs of the men. As the war progressed and their family grew smaller because of the losses, their resentment and anger grew from the added burdens. By doing “something” supportive, they were able to get stronger knowing that it was better than doing nothing. Letter writing was the selfish need for outreach and longing for contact.
References:
1. Family Civil War Letters: The Silent Voice of the Pen
http://civilwarplay.com/playwrights-blog/family-civil-war-letters/
2. CIVIL WAR LETTERS OF THE CHRISTIE FAMILY
http://www.mnhs.org/library/christie/intropage.php
3. Civil War Letters
http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/examples-of-historical-thinking/25048
4. Mail Call
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/mailcall/4.html
5. A Nation Divided
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/current/binding-the-nation/a-nation-divided/
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