James Cummins Bookseller

[Autograph letter signed, from a woman in Baltimore to her aunt in West Chester, New York, recounting the heroics of Arabella Barlow during the Battle of Gettysburg].

(Civil War).

Baltimore, Maryland: July 26, 1863.

Price: $2,500.00

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About the item

8 pages, plus a 2-page postscript on a smaller slip. With the original mailing envelope. Usual folds.

Item #375761

A revealing letter by a young woman named Anna to her aunt (Mrs. Isaiah Mankin) in the midst of the Civil War and only a few weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg. The letter begins with family news, including that her son has sent word from the "far west" relating gruesome stories of Indian attacks in Dakota Territory, before turning to news closer to home of relatives, a family wedding, her health and the like.

Written just weeks after the nearby Battle of Gettysburg, Anna writes of the horrific loss of life: "So many of our friends are in affliction. So many have lost either husband, brother or son in the late battles. Poor Mrs. Daniel Cushing is now mourning for her eldest son & second during the last year. His father was days with a friend searching up at Gettysburg for his body but could not find it. My heard aches for his friends. Mr. William Lemmon's son Robert was also killed & his mother has been quite deranged. They have found his body & brought it home, which makes her feel rather better I hear. Each day we hear of some trouble amongst our friends ..."

She continues by writing of the role of women from her community and recounts the story of Civil War nurse Arabella Griffith Barlow (1824-1864), wife of Union General Francis Channing Barlow (1834-1896): "Our ladies here many of them have acted nobly indeed. We hear constantly of many acts of individual heroism where people seem inspired to perform deeds that seem almost incredible. I now want to tell you of a noble woman who is here nursing her husband. She heard that he was wounded & immediately procured a horse & waving a white flag rode over the battle field during the thickest of the fireing, her horse was shot. She mounted another & continued her search. She was told at last that he was a prisoner. She rode over to Gen Lee or Early (I don't know which) & asked permission to search for her husband's body in their lines & remove it dead or alive. He told her he so much admired her devotion & bravery, that he would release him unconditionally if still living. She found him and had him carried off the field & nursed him in the neighborhood until he could be moved, when she brought him to Baltimore on a burthen car. The Hopkins on Franklin St. took them in ... As he is a General it is thought very magnanimous of the Confederates to give him up without parole. So much for having a brave & devoted wife."

She closes the letter telling another story of a nurse caring for a young wounded soldier until he passed and of the funeral procession for Bishop Kenrick.

The story of General Francis Barlow and his wife Arabella at Gettysburg has been an enduring one, both for the documented affection the couple had for one another and the circulation of various versions of the wounding and rescue of the General. Arabella Wharton Griffith married Francis Barlow in 1861 after Barlow's enlistment. Wishing to stay near her husband, Arabella proceeded to serve as a Civil War nurse before contracting typhus and dying while in the service of her country in 1864.