Title: George Duncan Wells Letterbook

Identifier: 0241-b1-i1   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/7121)

Description: George Duncan Wells of Massachusetts enlisted in the Union army and was ordered to Boston Harbor on April 29, 1861. Wells was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel Commander of the First Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment on May 25, 1861. He became Colonel Commander of the Thirty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment on July 31, 1862. Wells was wounded and captured at Cedar Creek on October 12, 1864, and he died the following day. In his final promotion he was made Brevet Brigadier General on October 12, 1864. The letterbook consists of selections of letters written to family and friends from the various camps where he was stationed, including Fort Warren, Mass.; Camp Union; Camp Bank; Fort Segan; and Harpers Ferry, W. Va. Topics discussed include camp life, troop morale; 1st Battle of Bull Run; an expedition through Maryland to suppress secessionist tendencies; General Joseph Hooker; General George McClellan; Union blockade; Peninsular campaign in Virginia; General John Pope; recruitment of African American troops; the Bristoe Campaign; capture of Charleston, W. Va.; Wells's command of the 1st Massachusetts Brigade; General David Hunter's raid on Lynchburg; General Jubel Early's Washington raid; and General Philip Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign.