Leaving the Mud Behind: A Brother’s Long Journey Home

I have had a notion of going home Since Richmond has bin taken but whether I go or not I will Say Amen to the fall of that Rebel Hole.

Pull up a chair, friends, because I’ve got a real treasure to share with you today. It’s a letter written by a man named Breckenridge Gwinn back in April of 1865. When you look at this document, you can see the weight of history in the paper itself. It is a cream-colored, lined sheet, but time and the elements have been a bit heavy-handed with it. The brown ink has bled through from the back side, making the script look like it is dancing between the lines. It is folded and worn along the creases, much like the traveler who held it over a century ago.

Breckenridge was writing to his brother, Laban, to tell him that his family finally made it from Kokomo, Indiana, to their new home in Gallia County, Ohio. But goodness, it was not an easy trek! He describes a bridge being washed out in Richmond, leaving them stranded for eight long hours. They had to zig-zag through towns like Xenia and Hamilton just to find a boat heading up the river. By the time he paid for himself, his seven children, and all their belongings, he had spent over a hundred dollars. That was a king’s ransom in 1865! Yet, he did not mind the cost one bit. He had a famously sour opinion of Indiana, calling it a blue mud hole that was not fit for living. He was just plain glad to have his feet on Ohio soil, renting corn ground and looking forward to a fresh start.

What really gives me goosebumps is the timing of this letter. On April 11, 1865, the world was changing by the hour. Just two days before Breckenridge sat down to write, General Lee had surrendered at Appomattox. News traveled slowly back then, but the word was finally reaching him. He writes with a patriotic fire about the fall of Richmond and the reports of Jefferson Davis being captured. You can almost hear the exhaustion and the relief in his voice when he says Amen to the end of the conflict. He was a man starting a new life at the exact moment the nation was trying to do the same.

Reading these words today reminds us that history is made of more than just dates and battles; it is made of fathers trying to get their children to a better place and the grit it takes to move forward when the road is washed out. Breckenridge’s letter is a beautiful reminder of the persistence of family and the hope that stays tucked in our pockets, even when the journey is expensive and the path is covered in mud.

Original Transcription

[Page 1 – Right Column]
April the 11th 1865
Mr Laban Gwinn Dr Brother
I seat my self this morning
to let you know that we are
all well and has bin since
we left Indiana – Should these
few lines Reach you I hope
they will find you and family
Injoying the Same blessing
well Sir I will
now try to give you a history
of our trip you know we left
Kokomo March the 30 I took
a ticket to Cincinati which
would have cost us about 20
Dollars but on Reaching Rich
mond we found the Railroad
Bridg is washed away we there
Lay over 8 Hours then finding
we could not git on for
Several days we changed

[Page 2]
Cars and took the Road by the way of Xenia Hamilton
and Morrow town and landed at the Miami Depo on Satur
day Morning we then took a Boat and Started up the River
at Eleven Oclock and landed in Chambersberg on Sunday
night at Eleven It cost for my Self and 7 Children 82 80 cts
my boxes has came Safe they Cost me 9.50
my Boys landed here day before yesterday their cost 21 00
Whole cost 113.10
It is to us was a heavy cost but then I do not begrudge that
Or ten times as much to get out of that blue mud hole
Indiana for it is not fit for any man to live in
We are Staying with James Arthur but we expect to get in
a house of our own in a few days we have Rented as much
Corn Ground as we can manage we pay one third of the corn
Mr Arthurs family is all well except himself he has bin
verry poorly for a few days but is geting better
Mr Arthur and family sends there Love and Respe
to you and family I have had a notion of going home Since
Richmond has bin taken but whether I go or not I will
Say Amen to the fall of that Rebel Hole The Report
is that Lee and his army is captured also Jeff and his
cabinet so amen again

[Page 1 – Left Column]
Having nothing more of
Importance to write I
will now close give my Res
pects to J Milburn and
family and to any other inqu
iring friend so no more
but Remains your obedient
Friend and Brother
Breckenridge Gwinn
Write Soon
B Gwinn
Direct to Eureka
Gallia County
Ohio