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Letters From The Civil War (1862: Mar 13; Oct 5 & 8; Dec 14)

by William Samuel Craig

Envelope: Mrs. Levica Craig; Leroy McLean Co., Ill – Postmark: Cheney’s Grove, Ill

March the 13, 1862

Louisiana Youngpoint Vicksburg

My dear beloved wife once more I am permitted to write to you again after reading your kind letter that I just received the 13 of this month. I am well, fat, and fine. My health is good. I believe better at this time then it has been in the last 5 years but, my dear, there was a time this winter that I thought my time had come to die. I gave up all hopes of meeting with you and my sweet baby but thanks be to God I am well now.

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Civil War Ancestors

by Joyce Kohl

Genealogy is one of the most rewarding hobbies. It was mine for 25 years. While researching for authentic information for my family tree, a living grandson of one of my paternal great-grandfathers, Jerry Craig, invited me to visit him.

When I arrived at his farm in Norborne, Missouri, he brought out a treasure chest of “genealogical gold” and laid it on the table in front of me. In the box were some very old and very yellowed letters, a small notebook, some other items. He also had in his possession an official church record book in which all the marriages, births and deaths were recorded for a number of years during the lifetime of his grandfather and my great-grandfather. The first date I noticed on one of the letters was one of the years during the time of the Civil War. Carefully opening it, I discovered it had been written by William Samuel Craig to his wife, Levica. I remember being awed and so delighted that I could barely speak. The letters were all written in a beautiful script. They were each dated and signed.

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