A Letter Through the Snow: Cousin Flanagan’s 1864 Dispatch

“I hope how soon this wicked war will end so what few people the are living could get home”

Pull up a chair, friends, because I’ve got something truly special to share with you today. It is a letter written way back on a snowy April morning in 1864 by a person named E. Flanagan, reaching out across the miles to their cousin, Laban Gwinn. When you look at this piece of history, you can almost feel the chill of that long-ago spring. The paper is a soft cream color, lined and worn, with brown ink that has faded just enough to remind us of all the years that have passed. There is a bit of staining along the left edge, and a tear in the corner where some of the words have been lost to time. Even the margins are busy, covered in little math scribbles that make you wonder if someone was trying to count up their last few pennies or bushels of grain.

The news in the letter is heavy, as life during the Civil War often was. Flanagan writes from Fayetteville about how times are hard and that starvation feels like it is drawing very nigh. Imagine a spring so cold and wet that nobody could get their crops in the ground; Flanagan says there had not been a clear day in a month, and the snow was coming down hard even as the letter was being penned. It wasn’t just the weather that was bleak, though. The letter talks about local men running away to join the 5th Virginia Regiment and the sad rumors drifting in from Richmond about Union prisoners starving to death. People were so tired of the fighting that desertion was becoming common, a sign of how much the war had worn down the spirit of the folks back home.

Looking at this letter today, we see a snapshot of a community held together by thin threads of hope. It tells us about the weariness felt by those left behind who just wanted their loved ones to come home. It is a powerful reminder that history isn’t just about big battles or famous generals; it is about ordinary folks in places like Lick Creek trying to survive a wicked war. This letter asks us to remember the strength it takes to keep writing, keep hoping, and keep looking for a clear day when the world feels buried in sorrow.

Original Transcription

Fayetteville Apr 17th 1864
Dear Cousin It is with
pleasure that I seat myself to write
you a few lines in answer to your
letter which came to hand this
morning & was glad to hear you were
all well. we are all well at present
your father was very unwell the last
time I heard from him. Times is
very hard here & getting worse it
looks like starvation is drawing very
nigh people are not putting out
any crops of any notice we are
not putting out any atall it ha
The has not been a clear day here
for near four weeks & I never
saw it Snow harder than it did here
this morning Livelys Sam & Leroy
ran away from home Sam h[tear]
Volunteered in the 5th Va Regt
Sinclair Birded is on Lick Creek
if it is the old man you had
refference to The is a deal great

[Page 2]
deal of desertion going on I think
they will all run away in course
of a year or two and I hope how
soon this wicked war will end
so what few people the are
living could get home I have
been told that the are lots of
the Union prisoners starved to
death in [crossed out: Rich] Richmond
Write soon Your Cousin
E Flanagan

[Address Panel]
Mr Laban Gwinn
Burlington
[tear] Co Ohio

[Math Calculations]
185
30
5550

190
30
5700