CIVIL WAR LETTER: A SOLDIER'S TAKE ON THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

Autograph letter signed by William Tittle, Co. H, 55th Ohio. Hopewell, Virginia, 16 November 1862. 3 pages, 8vo. With original cover with red three-cent stamp and Washington, D.C., cancel. 

A letter from Private William Tittle to a family member. In the letter, he talks about the reception of his fellow soldiers regarding President Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which the president issued in September 1862. Tittle writes the following: "some of the soldiers likes the presidents proclamation emancipation and some dont they like it better than they did at first for a good Many didnt know what it was intended for but I think it is a good thing. some dont like it a bout McMellan being releaved [sic] of his Command Burnside is very well liked But they think it is useing [sic] McMellan rather bad but I hope it is all for the best." 

He also discusses his conditions in his regiment's camp, writing that he hardly ever hears any news but he has heard cannonading nearly every night for the past two weeks. He additionally describes his regiment's march from Gainesville to Hopewell and how "there is nothing here except a few old buildings... there has never been any soldiers camped here till we came." 

Tittle was born in March 1836 in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania. At some point during his childhood or adolescence, he moved to Seneca County, Ohio, where he lived for the rest of his life. He enlisted in the 55th Ohio on 30 December 1861 as a private, receiving a promotion to corporal on 3 October 1862 and to sergeant on 1 August 1863. As part of the 55th, Tittle would have witnessed several significant events prior to his mustering out on 29 December 1864 — he participated in the Second Battle of Bull Run, then the Battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, finishing with the Atlanta Campaign. 

Following the Civil War, Tittle married Emma Johnson, with whom he had two daughters. According to Census records, Tittle worked as a farmer for the last decades of his life before passing away on 10 October 1919. 

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