Papers (1852-1864) including correspondence, letters, description of trip, commentaries, price of gold, personal illness, etc.
This collection contains portions of letters, July 5-August 25, 1864, written as diary entries by Cardee or Caudee Dana from London and Tenterden, England, to her husband stationed in occupied New Bern, NC.
Mrs. Dana's letters describe life in England and sightseeing trips where she and her father were visiting relatives. She makes references to having been with her husband in New Bern, NC., and her desire for him to meet her in New York upon her return from England.
Commentaries in the letters pertain to the price of gold, personal illness, weight loss and recovery, and the pleasantness of the weather in Tenterden. She also reports on newspaper accounts of intense heat in New Bern, droughts in Virginia, and attacks by the Confederates on Washington and Baltimore. She further speculates on the desperation of Southerners and Union General U. S. Grant's progress at Petersburg and Richmond. Other commentaries pertain to the explosion of a Confederate fort at Petersburg in which a whole regiment of ca. 1,000 men perished.
Names of Union officers in New Bern mentioned in connection with George Dana include Gen. Peck, Capt. Wheeler, Capt. Bradley, Lt. Duncan Hillis, Chaplain Jarvis, Maj. Jenney, and Col. Ames. One letter mentions the possibility of Dana being appointed to the Judge Advocate or Provost Marshall.
Three non-related photocopies of letters (1852-1861) relate to slavery. The first (September 1852) is from a white supremacist living in a southern state writing possibly to Fayetteville, NC, in defense of the enslavement of humans. The second (May 15, 1855) is from an enslaver to a town merchant concerning a problem with one of the people that he has enslaved. The third (July 21, 1861) is between Confederate soldiers and friends describing the battle of Manassas and possible plans to move on Washington and rout President Abraham Lincoln.
Gift of Malcolm Blue Historical Society
Processed by V. Leary; M. Elmore, September 1987
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.