Jesse Gwynn Civil War letters

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: 6963

Scope and content

Letters from Jesse Gwynn stationed in various camps with the Union Army to his father John Gwynn back home in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania. There are a few letters from 1862 and 1863, but most of the letters date from 1864 and 1865, beginning in Georgia in August and September; moving to Chattanooga, October-December, to Greenville in April, 1865; and to Nashville in May and June, 1865. The letters comment on the process of war, the 1864 election, the assassination of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and the prospects for Jefferson Davis. There are also a few letters from Jesse in Pittsburg in 1867; a family letter from A. Gwynne (?) in Eureka, Illinois to John Gwynn about his draft status and farm conditions in Illinois, August 15, 1864; a letter from Vincent Gwynn and Hannah Gwynn, in Eureka, November 22, 1865, with family news; and one letter from M. J. Gwynn, a young woman (possibly Mary Gwynn, Jesse's sister), Tories Lane, March 6, 1863 to "Miss Ellen."

Dates

1862-1865.

Creator

Gwynn, Jesse F., 1843-1921. (Person)

Language of Material

In English.

Biographical / Historical

Jesse Franklin Gwynn lived in Carmicheals, Greene County, Pennsylvania. He joined Company L, Pennsylvania 15th Cavalry Regiment on October 30, 1862 as a bugler. On October 22, 1863 he transferred to the Signal Corps. The regiment was recruited from July to October 1862, with mustering in at Carlisle. It was first assigned to the Army of the Potomac for the 1862 Maryland Campaign and participated in the Battle of Antietam. It was then reassigned to the Army of the Cumberland in Tennessee.