Charming archive of six letters exchanged between wartime sweethearts Lieutenant Simon Spencer Bohannon (1835-1910), Co. I, North Carolina 28th Infantry, and Dianah Jane "Jennie" Jenkins (1841-1922). Various places, February 1863 - May 1864. 21 pages, 8vo and smaller, with seven postally used associated covers addressed to "Miss Jennie Jenkins" affixed variably with one 10-cent or two 5-cent stamps.

Though lacking in robust battle content, these letters demonstrate the evocative power of correspondence. The 28th North Carolina was heavily engaged at Hanover Court House, Gaines Mill, Frazier's Farm, Malvern Hill, and Cedar Mountain, and Bohannon himself was wounded at Gettysburg, the tone is largely hopeful, flirtatious, and reverent, at times. On February 13, 1863, from Camp Griegg, Virginia, Bohannon sends Jennie "two Confederate rings of your humble servant's make...the large one has a house and a tree on the face, the initials of your name and heart on one side...the small one has a diamond and heart on the face."

On 13 December 1863, encamped at Liberty Mills, Virginia, Bohannon teases that if he should be furloughed, he "would like to see somebody else also. I expect you would like to know who that is. I will not tell...[but] you can guess it is a young lady that lives near the South Bank...I shall be very certain to pay her at least one visit if she is not married...You are mistaken about me having so many sweethearts. You are the only Lady correspondent I have."

Later, on Valentine's Day in 1864, Bohannon reports that he has sent Jennie two Valentines via "Lt. 'Gould' [?]" saying that while they "are not very nice but they are the best that we can get in camp." At camp, the men apparently "had a lively time...[with] a regular Valentine Drawing but unfortunately [there were] no Ladies to partake of [the] fun."

The sole letter written by Jenkins to Bohannon was penned during the Battle of Wilderness, on 7 May 1864. She expresses her "delight" at having heard from him before the fight, but fears that her letter will not reach him before the battle commences. Still, she assures him that he will fight valiantly in his continued service of the Confederate cause: "I am confident you will meet your fate like a man, nobly contending for the rights of your country, then why do you ask your friends not to grieve. If not for one so noble, for whom should we grieve?"

The following week, Bohannon was taken prisoner at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and confined at Fort Delaware until the war's end. Upon his return to North Carolina, he was reunited with Jennie, and the couple wed on 14 September 1865 in Yadkin County.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate]  [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]