Archives at Cornell

Orson Earll, Stevensburg, Va., to Electa Earll, ALS:

Collection — manuscript box: 26 - folder 1

Identifier: 714

Scope and content

Letter to his sister "Lect" in which he describes his experiences with a Union cavalry regiment, encamped at the time near Stevensburg, Va, under the command of Generals Custer and Kilpatrick; he comments on poor diet, exposure, and other hardships of army life, and mentions that a rebel spy had been hanged the previous day and a Northern soldier shot for deserting; he describes the countryside in which there is nothing left save dead horses and men; and he recalls having visted the Gettysburg battlefield.