Letters to Lillie D. Umsted from soldier friends in the field, 1862 April 12-December 25, 58 pages. Contents include letters from her friend, George G. Hastings, a captain and major in Company H, 1st U.S. Sharpshooters (or Berdan’s Sharpshooters), one of which contains a detailed map of Yorktown. Also includes letters from her friend, John W. DeForest, a captain in the 12th Connecticut Infantry, which describe fighting in Louisiana, 1862 Apr-Dec

File — Box: 6, Folder: 9

Identifier: A0134-00129

Staff Only

Letter fragment of Captain John W. DeForest to Lillie Umsted, 1862-1863

Letter signed George [George Hastings], Yorktown, to Lillie [Lillie Umsted], April 12, 1862

Letter signed George [George Hastings], on board Steamer Metamora, Aquia Creek, Va., to Lillie [Lillie Umsted], May 5, [1862]

Letter signed George [George Hastings], 7 Wall St., N. York, to L. [Lillie Umsted], June 22, [1862]

Letter signed George [George Hastings], camp on the James River, to Lillie [Lillie Umsted], July 6, 1862

Letter signed Captain John W. Deforest, Carrollton, Louisiana, to Lillie [Lillie Umsted], August 7, 1862

Letter signed George Hastings, near Washington, to Lillie [Lillie Umsted], September 5, 1862

Letter signed Captain John W. DeForest, New Orleans, Louisiana, to Lillie [Lillie Umsted], October 2, 1862

Letter signed Captain John W. DeForest, New Orleans, Louisiana, to Lillie Devereux Blake, October 8, 1862

Letter signed George Hastings, Camp at White Plains, to Lillie Devereux Blake, November 7, 1862

Letter signed George Hastings, to Lillie [Lillie Umsted], December 25, 1862

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This collection consists largely of data used by Lillie Devereux Blake’s daughter Katherine Devereux Blake to write her biography, Champion of Women: The Life of Lillie Devereux Blake (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1943). Although the collection contains few of Lillie Devereux Blake’s letters, it does include several, though not all, of her original journals and diaries, ranging from 1847 to 1903; a complete transcription of her diaries as prepared by her daughter; her unfinished autobiography; notes and texts of many of her public addresses; correspondence received; scrapbooks and printed matter relating to her involvement in the woman’s suffrage campaign. The collection of correspondence received includes letters from Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Matilda Joslyn Gage. Although the correspondence files relate largely to women’s suffrage activities in New York, there is also material relating to women’s suffrage activities nationwide, especially in connection with the National Legislative League that Blake founded to lobby for reform in the state legislatures. The collection also contains a small body of Civil War letters that Blake received from men in service with whom she was acquainted.