1862 Civil War Letter Written From Historic Military College In Fulton, Illinois
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:95896 |
CIVIL WAR LETTER
This Civil War letter was written by William Edward Caton (1846-1905), the 15 year-old son of William Penn Caton (1815-1886) and Elizabeth Steele (1819-1893) of Plainfield, Will county, Illinois. William mentions his sister Hannah Elizabeth Caton (1851-1922) in his first letter which helped me to confirm his identity. After completing his education at Grinnell College, William Caton married Marion E. Shaw and began farming in Henry and Adair Counties, Iowa. In ...winter, he supplemented his income by running a small writing school. By 1872, he had decided to leave farming and, during the next 14 years, pursued a variety of endeavors. He worked as superintendent of public instruction in Adair County, as editor of the Adair County Register, as a salesman of safes for Diebold and Norris, and, following a move to the Dakota Territory, as a grain dealer and Indian trader with his partner C.W. Beggs. He also briefly served as the superintendent of public instruction for the entire Dakota Territory.Curiously, in 1880, William and his family were enumerated at Fort Bennett where William worked as a “Indian Trader” at the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in Dakota Territory (see Black Hawk).William wrote while attending the W*stern Union College and Military Academy at Fulton, Illinois. The school was established in September 1861 and William was one of its charter students. In March 1866, after the Civil War, the name of the school was changed to the Illinois Soldiers College where disabled veterans and their children, as well as orphans of Union soldiers, could receive an education.The Illinois Soldiers College in early 1870s, Fulton, Illinois
TRANSCRIPTIONW. U. C. C. C.
Fulton, [Illinois]
June 15th 1862Dear Father & Mother, I received your kind letter on Friday and you gave me so much encouragement for taking so much pains writing that I shall not scribble off my letter anymore. I don’t want to write but one a week.Oh! you don’t know how glad I was that you said that I could have a blue uniform and I will give you a practical reason. Last Friday eve., Capt. Andrews, my chum Otis Glover, and myself received an invitation to spent the eve at Mr. Conger’s and I wanted particularly to appear to some advantage of possible for there were to be there two young ladies from Lyons College and one from this town besides. Miss Conger and a cousin of hers—a Lieutenant in the “Grand Army, ” but the best I had was this “old gray” which looks as if it had been to the “wars” for the last year or so. But Glover and Andrews both had new uniforms so that made it worse for me. But I made up my mind to go so we got excused from Prof. Soule and went up there and had a first rate time. Both of the Lyon girls were good singers and so was Miss Conger so we had plenty of good music. But my uniform looked so bad that I did not enjoy myself as much as I might have done if I had had some better clothes.I don’t know whether you know that Mr. Tousley had started a Military School at Quincy this state or not but he has and Mr. Soule is going down there to teach after this term.Tell the girls that I shall try to be home on the Fourth of July so if there is anything going on, to get me a place. But I must close for it takes me an awful long time to write like this. So goodbye from your affectionate son, — EddieP. S. Send me the money as soon as possible. — W. E. C.TERMS$3.00 postage in the United States. We accept Paypal. Postage combined for multiple purchases. Please wait for me to send the invoice, otherwise will pay a much higher postage rate!For International buyers: We are now using eBay's Global Shipping Program. We had too many packages sent via the post office go missing. So we believe this program will be safer for us - and for you.We're members of the American Philatelic Society, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, the Confederate Stamp Alliance and the Illinois Postal History Society.We only sell genuine, original letters (no copies or reproductions). Some of our letters have been transcribed and nicely presented for future genealogists and history buffs on the Spared & Shared blog. We've been selling on eBay since 2001. BID WITH CONFIDENCE.
00079
This Civil War letter was written by William Edward Caton (1846-1905), the 15 year-old son of William Penn Caton (1815-1886) and Elizabeth Steele (1819-1893) of Plainfield, Will county, Illinois. William mentions his sister Hannah Elizabeth Caton (1851-1922) in his first letter which helped me to confirm his identity. After completing his education at Grinnell College, William Caton married Marion E. Shaw and began farming in Henry and Adair Counties, Iowa. In ...winter, he supplemented his income by running a small writing school. By 1872, he had decided to leave farming and, during the next 14 years, pursued a variety of endeavors. He worked as superintendent of public instruction in Adair County, as editor of the Adair County Register, as a salesman of safes for Diebold and Norris, and, following a move to the Dakota Territory, as a grain dealer and Indian trader with his partner C.W. Beggs. He also briefly served as the superintendent of public instruction for the entire Dakota Territory.Curiously, in 1880, William and his family were enumerated at Fort Bennett where William worked as a “Indian Trader” at the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in Dakota Territory (see Black Hawk).William wrote while attending the W*stern Union College and Military Academy at Fulton, Illinois. The school was established in September 1861 and William was one of its charter students. In March 1866, after the Civil War, the name of the school was changed to the Illinois Soldiers College where disabled veterans and their children, as well as orphans of Union soldiers, could receive an education.The Illinois Soldiers College in early 1870s, Fulton, Illinois
TRANSCRIPTIONW. U. C. C. C.
Fulton, [Illinois]
June 15th 1862Dear Father & Mother, I received your kind letter on Friday and you gave me so much encouragement for taking so much pains writing that I shall not scribble off my letter anymore. I don’t want to write but one a week.Oh! you don’t know how glad I was that you said that I could have a blue uniform and I will give you a practical reason. Last Friday eve., Capt. Andrews, my chum Otis Glover, and myself received an invitation to spent the eve at Mr. Conger’s and I wanted particularly to appear to some advantage of possible for there were to be there two young ladies from Lyons College and one from this town besides. Miss Conger and a cousin of hers—a Lieutenant in the “Grand Army, ” but the best I had was this “old gray” which looks as if it had been to the “wars” for the last year or so. But Glover and Andrews both had new uniforms so that made it worse for me. But I made up my mind to go so we got excused from Prof. Soule and went up there and had a first rate time. Both of the Lyon girls were good singers and so was Miss Conger so we had plenty of good music. But my uniform looked so bad that I did not enjoy myself as much as I might have done if I had had some better clothes.I don’t know whether you know that Mr. Tousley had started a Military School at Quincy this state or not but he has and Mr. Soule is going down there to teach after this term.Tell the girls that I shall try to be home on the Fourth of July so if there is anything going on, to get me a place. But I must close for it takes me an awful long time to write like this. So goodbye from your affectionate son, — EddieP. S. Send me the money as soon as possible. — W. E. C.TERMS$3.00 postage in the United States. We accept Paypal. Postage combined for multiple purchases. Please wait for me to send the invoice, otherwise will pay a much higher postage rate!For International buyers: We are now using eBay's Global Shipping Program. We had too many packages sent via the post office go missing. So we believe this program will be safer for us - and for you.We're members of the American Philatelic Society, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, the Confederate Stamp Alliance and the Illinois Postal History Society.We only sell genuine, original letters (no copies or reproductions). Some of our letters have been transcribed and nicely presented for future genealogists and history buffs on the Spared & Shared blog. We've been selling on eBay since 2001. BID WITH CONFIDENCE.
00079
