1 50 1 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/566690e5aec4a8ccffdd0ab8379bc66b.jpg bf9c1e7d92a2ce76f6239133ce04a9f3 PDF Text Text Camp near Washington June 27 Dear Mother, I got your last letter to night with the 50 cts bill + two stamps. I think the Express on them things to much. There is two boys going home out of my tent and if they dont take their blankets I can get them and will make up another bundle and send. Coolie has not come back yet I have seen thousands of better Blankets then the one I sent, thrown away + bumt up. Overcoats with them on a march. I will try and get two or three to send home. will make up a bundle of something Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-27 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/e6cbb9683e554edbf2fe1447c181836f.jpg a894b97e27fd6aca220b1cd4b208c22d PDF Text Text <table><tr><th>Left Page</th> <th>Right Page</th> </tr><tr><td>I was almost tempted to apply for a furlow to day then I thought I should be home before many months and it will cost considerable then again if any of you should be very sick, I should want to come and could not if I had, had a furlow lately. I am very much obliged to you for the money. can get some stamps now. I will finish this to morrow, so good night. I am so sorry Fathers health is so poor, dont let him work hard. Wednesday. One of the Boys that goes home gave me a rasor, strap, Brush, Portfolio, Pocket book, two shirts, +c. +c. and if he dont take his blanket he will give me that. He think </td><td>the world of me. one of the boys gave me a good knife. so you see I have some friends here. I got that letter you spoak about of Abbies. And I got a Picture of Mary J. Holmes at Burkesville [Burkeville, VA]. I am pretty shure I told you about it in one of my letters. If I send home a bundle I will write you, I may and I may not just as I can make a raise of Blankets If I can get enough to pay shall send one. I wish our Regt. was going out on this call. I would feel good. The Fly’s here pester us to death. they wont let you sleep in the day time. bite like a bee </td> </tr></table> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-27 1865-06-28 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/94c45806bc68834ab76a864a9684398a.jpg 12ae2676ccc8772abcd48afb4dfb37e1 PDF Text Text sting. if you take any thing in your had to eat you have to fight them off with the other. They make the Horses half crazy. : O’h that I was home again out of this Country of Secession. Thursday. I hear there is to be a lot more Regiments disch- arged as soon as this last batch gets away. I hope it will take our Regt. this time. There are Regiments starting for home every day now. I am as poor as a snail this warm weather dont look much as I did last Winter. One thing if I stop out here through the hot weather + dont have to work much + get pay for it it is better than to have to work hard in the hot sun. I am in hopes Pa will get better. he must not work hard. Give my love to all Friends. dont beleive you can read this. From Willie. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-28 1865-06-29 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/57340a6b09a7ad326dd753b586d5838f.jpg 07109b4bf49d4588ec593566cc5e9d87 PDF Text Text Friday I guess you will think this letter is long enough in getting started but I was buisy yesterday went to Washin [Washington] + from there to Fort baker. and I have just come from Washington to day. I hear good news to day they sat as quick as this batch gets away the Rest of us are Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-30 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/4ae3ec613ffbed5e3e7269f6dcbde69b.jpg a4016328b0b8b2eab3c8ca659ca45c05 PDF Text Text going. One of the Boys see in the paper to day that all of the Army of the Potomac was going to be discharged I dont know whether I will sent a bundle or not I have only got two Blankets and I would have to keep one. I could send one blankets and some shirts + trinkets. I will see what I can do from Willie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-30 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/220b3be6a48be1e8870a594aa2cb6f61.jpg d357f92a0e9b74e692a8ad86189ee40a PDF Text Text To Mother Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-27 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/3eb7139e2936fa7475fed4fe5a26ea47.jpg 3678af9a1d8881d785511b89ab23f93a PDF Text Text Dear Mother, I send this note in Abbies Letter. Have got a bundle all ready to send may get a chance to day. have been into Washington four days running now. so you see they keep us buisy. There is an order to muster out more troops. Some say it takes my Regt and some say it dont we are all in a flurry about it. hope we will go. love to all write soon. From Willie Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-27 https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/files/original/bb9668bb2bce96874b274d46e88e9ed3.jpg 704b37550e15a455b03e7ef404cf2104 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource William A. Leonard Papers, 1864-1865 (Ms2011-106) Subject The topic of the resource Petersburg (Va.)--History--Siege, 1864-1865 United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Diaries. United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Civil War Petersburg (Va.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865. Description An account of the resource The collection includes William A. Leonard's letters home from February-July 1865, as well as his diary from August 1864-April 1865. Leonard served as an ambulance driver in and around the siege at Petersburg, which is the focus of his short diary entries. His early letters focus on war news and rumors, daily life, and news from home. Letters following Lee's surrender emphasize Leonard's experiences while stationed around Washington, DC, daily life (including the growing frustrations of soldiers wanting to get home) and his complaint's about the rumors and delays of his regiment's discharge and payment. All the letters in this collection were written home to Leonard's parents, usually his mother. He continually reassures her not to worry about him, requests various things from home (especially stamps), and talks about his daily life. He frequently writes about plans for when he gets home. Leonard's religious sentiments also recur throughout his correspondence. He also includes war news and who he has seen, though he reveals his priorities and lack of interest in being a soldier, saying in March 1865: "we have got a good man to steer the machine, that fellow they call U. S. Grant. Sheridan & Sherman are giving them fits. I have seen Grant & Mede a number of times this summer I had a great deal rather see you + Pa. I dont want to see Nora because she wanted me to go soldiering" Although battle descriptions are not necessarily the focus of Leonard's letters, his 1864 correspondence contains details of being fired upon a Petersburg, of picket duty, and later, of transporting injured men. In June 1865, he writes several letters detailing the sight of unburied dead men and horses and the sound of fighting from the front at Petersburg. In May 1865, he writes of the incompetence of the doctors: "The Doctors here dont have any thing fit to give any one and the bigest of them dont know how to doctor a hen anyway. They take the wounded men legs and arms off half the time. when there is no need of it, do it practice there has been a number of times I have heard of that...The Doct of the Regt was a clerk in an apothecary shop..." Leonard's diary begins in August 1864, apparently when he was appointed to drive an ambulance. His entries are short and refer mostly to his daily activities: who or what he was conveying to and from the hospital at City Point outside Petersburg; what letters he sent or received; war news; or when he attended religious meetings. Shortly before the diary ends in April 1865, he notes the firing of guns and cannons "for the death of abram Lincoln President of the U.S. who was shot by a man by the name of Booth." He refers to the death of Lincoln and its effect on the soldiers in several letters, as well. Leonard's own correspondence suggests he kept a previous diary--in August 1864, he inquires if his mother has received the one he sent home--but it is unknown if this diary still exists. William A. Leonard was born about 1843 to Joel A. (b.1817) and Sophia Leonard (1816-d. before 1880). His parents were both natives of Vermont who moved to Massachusetts. William and his two sisters, Leonora (b. abt. 1852; and who William calls "Nora" in his letters and is later listed as "Mary" in a least one set of census records) and Roselia (b. abt. 1859) were all born in Great Barrington, Berkshire County. It is unknown what line of work William Leonard was in prior to the war, though he was living at home with his family. He was drafted into service in July 1863 for a three year term with Company F, 16th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry. In mid-July 1864, the 16th Infantry mustered out. Existing veterans and recruits, Leonard included, were transferred to the 11th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry. From at least August of 1864 until Lee's surrender, Leonard served as an ambulance driver, transporting wounded from battlefield to hospital. His unit spent nearly a year in and around Petersburg. While stationed outside Washington, DC, waiting to muster out, Leonard also drove civilians in and around the city. He particularly makes mention of taking family members to hospitals to get news of soldiers. Leonard returned home to Great Barrington in July 1865. In 1880, he was living at home with his father, Leonora and her husband, and Leonora's brother-in-law. At the time, he was employed at a woolen mill. In 1894, he purchased a plumbing and steam fitting business from a former employer. Later census records suggest he was married to a woman named Hattie (probably Henrietta; b. abt. 1863), but it is unknown when. They had daughter, Nellie, in June 1897. Sources: Ancestry.com Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service. The Metal Worker, vol. XLI, January to June 1894. New York: David Williams, 1894. Via Google Books, November 2011. Abstract A summary of the resource. The collection includes William A. Leonard's letters home from February-July 1865, as well as his diary from August 1864-April 1865. Leonard served as an ambulance driver in and around the siege at Petersburg, which is the focus of his short diary entries. His early letters focus on war news and rumors, daily life, and news from home. Post-surrender letters emphasize Leonard's experiences while stationed around Washington, DC, daily life (including the growing frustrations of soldiers wanting to get home) and his complaint's about the rumors and delays of his regiment's discharge. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Leonard, William A., b. abt. 1843 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=vt/viblbv00953.xml">See the Finding Aid for the William A. Leonard Papers</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1864/1865 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://omeka.lib.vt.edu/files/thumbnails/spec_forms/PubPermission.doc">Permission to publish material from the William A. Leonard Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.</a> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Ms2011-106 Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: William A. Leonard Papers, Ms2011-106, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va. Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. <a href="http://spec.lib.vt.edu/">Special Collections, Virginia Tech</a> Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter, William Leonard to Mother, Camp Near Washington, June 27, 1865 (Ms2011-106) Subject The topic of the resource Petersburg (Va.)--History--Siege, 1864-1865 United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Civil War Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: William A. Leonard Papers, Ms2011-106, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=vt/viblbv00953.xml">See the Finding Aid for the William A. Leonard Papers</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865-06-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://omeka.lib.vt.edu/files/thumbnails/spec_forms/PubPermission.doc">Permission to publish material from the William A. Leonard Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Letters Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Leonard, William A., b. abt. 1843 Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. <a href="http://spec.lib.vt.edu/">Special Collections, Virginia Tech</a> Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Ms2011-106_LeonardWilliam_B1F3_Letter_1865_0627 archived