HANCOCK COUNTY — A collection of letters written by Civil War soldiers from Hancock County were recently featured in the “Indiana Genealogist,” an online publication of the Indiana Genealogy Society.
The letters were researched and published by local historian Brigette Cook Jones, who set about transcribing them in 2007, after she was elected president of the Hancock County Historical Society that same year.
The Greenfield woman would spend countless hours poring over the collection of 21 letters, transcribing them in order to share the first-person glimpse into the past.
Many of the letters were written to or by Pvt. Adam Wilson, a local soldier who enlisted in the Indiana Infantry of Union Volunteers when he was 24 years old.
The war-time correspondence was passed down through Wilson’s family until 2007, when his great-grandson — longtime Mohawk resident Flaugher Wilson — donated them to the Hancock County Historical Society before moving out of state.
The letters are dated from October 1861 to December 1864, just months before Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered, thereby ending the Civil War.
Written in flowing cursive, in a formal tone that was commonplace at the time, the correspondence reveals first-hand accounts of soldiers’ lives during the war.
“Dear Cousin, it is with reverence that I seat myself to inform you that I am well and hearty…,” wrote one soldier to another.
Cook Jones is thankful the Civil War letters were preserved, so they can share a real glimpse of local history with future generations.
”These letters are important because this history is not recorded in the history books,” she said.
“This is the stuff that normally doesn’t survive, because people throw away old letters and other correspondence. So not only are these items rare, but since they are also from Hancock County, it makes it important to reflect on how this watershed event affected local people,” said Cook Jones, a lifetime county resident.
She hadn’t looked back at her research for years until Michael Kester, president of the Hancock County Historical Society, and a member of the Indiana Genealogy Society editorial board, suggested she publish her findings in an upcoming edition of the “Indiana Genealogist.”
“He knew that the theme for this publication was going to be the Civil War, and he thought that my research would be a perfect fit for it,” said Cook Jones, who serves as director of the Hancock County Tourism & Visitor Center.
She gladly accepted and took the project one step further by researching the military service of those who wrote and received the letters, fleshing out their interconnected genealogy and family relationships.
“This article wasn’t just about transcribing the letters, but most importantly who these people were, and what happened to them after the war. Some survived, some survived with permanent disabilities, and some didn’t come home,” said Cook Jones.
She fondly remembers the task of transcribing the letters 14 years ago, sifting through the smudges and faded cursive to bring the 150-year-old letters to life.
“They were written during the Civil War and from nine different writers. Some of them were from Adam Wilson to his father James Wilson. There are also letters from Adam’s brother Henry. In most cases, the writers of the letters are some relative to Adam Wilson,” she said.
Wilson likely read the leaders while recovering at home from the measles, a malady that sent him home from the front lines of the war.
The 19th-century Hancock County man, and those who wrote to him, are brought back to life whenever Cook Jones shares her findings with a group of school children or history buffs.
Borrowing a teaching method she learned from a traveling exhibit on the Titanic, Cook Jones invites audience members to take on the role of the letter writers when sharing her research with various groups.
Just as visitors to the Titanic exhibit would learn the fate of the person they played, so do those who listened to Cook Jones’ story of Wilson and his fellow Civil War soldiers who called Hancock County home.
“I focused on the seven soldiers. I found out who they were, where they lived, how they were related to Adam Wilson, how old they were, when they enlisted, and the unit where they served,” said Cook Jones, who has handed out large cards with a soldier’s name written on each one to those who hear her presentation.
She’s enlisted the help of Civil war reenactor Ron Wilkins to explain what life was like for the typical Civil War soldier. At the end of his presentation, Cook Jones calls up all the “soldiers” holding cards as she shares the fate of each one.
“I read what happened to each one — if they survived the war, did they marry, did they have children, how old were they when they died and where are they buried,” said Cook Jones.
“The commentary was most intriguing — what they ate, what they were doing, what they were hearing, and their thoughts on what was going on or going to happen,” said Cook Jones, who found the formal tone of the letters fascinating, especially in contrast to the fast-pace style of communication used today.
“In some cases, they used very formal language,” Cook Jones explained, citing a few examples. “Dear Sir, I now take the present opportunity (to say) I am well at this present, and hope these few lines may find you the same,” began one letter.
The letters used no punctuation, which added to the challenge of transcribing them.
The history buff said the hard work was all worth it, to preserve a glimpse into the lives of Civil War soldiers who called Hancock County home.
All the soldiers who made it through the war stayed in Hancock County and are buried here, she said. Only one of the three who died in the war is buried locally. The other two were buried in the cities where they died — one in Vicksburg, Mississippi and one in Nashville, Tennessee.
Now that their letters are published, Kester hopes that any local relatives of those who wrote them will reach out to the Hancock County Historical Society with more information. Finding our more details would add even more pieces to the puzzle, he said.
“Those artifacts tell a story in the words of people who lived in that time period,” said Kester. “By preserving and sharing them, we can show that those were real people with families, just like the people who live here today.”
