Michigan in the Civil War
Campbell Family (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
The papers of this Ann Arbor family include Civil War letters from four soldiers, three of them from Pittsfield Township, Mich.:
George Briggs. The one letter tells of the chase after General Stuart's Rebels. Briggs was in Company F, 6th Michigan Cavalry, October, 1862-October 23, 1864, when he was killed in action at Cedar Creek, Va.
John S. Farnill. Three letters written to his parents while he was serving in Company F, 6th Michigan Cavalry, as corporal September 1862-July 1863. On picket duty, they never took the saddles off their horses for four days. When on the march, he thinks of home. June 24, 1863, the men had been on a four-day raid, and he had gone across the Bull Run battlefield-"sights not nice." On July 4, 1863, he was taken prisoner, and died at Annapolis,Md., December 27.
William Franklin of Port Huron, Mich. A letter written January 18, 1865from Remount Camp in Pleasant Valley, Md., tells of having horses shot from under him and of being taken prisoner twice but escaping each time. He says "Poor George Briggs is dead," and he comments on the type of soldier George was. Franklin was in Company H, 5th Michigan Cavalry (1862-1865); was wounded in the right knee; and mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.,June 19, 1865.
William P. Lovejoy. One letter written from a camp near Vicksburg, July4, 1863, to Mary Farnill. He tells about the fruits growing in the area, especially blackberries, and also oranges, lemons, figs and dates. But he doesn't want to live there. He enlisted in Company D, 20th Michigan Infantry August 7, 1862, and was killed in the trenches near Petersburg,Va., June 30, 1864.
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