Autograph letter signed by J. O.[?] Baker as Prisoner of War. Johnson's Island, Ohio, 15 February 1865. 1 page, 8vo. With postally used envelope addressed to "Mr. Samuel Brown" of Plainview, Illinois, with Sandusky cancel, red 3-cent stamp, and handstamp reading "Prisoners Letter / Examined / FY / Johnsons Island O." 

Penned while "fenced up here in Johnson's Isle," Baker laments to Brown, his cousin, that he misses family and regrets his inability to be home in Tennessee to help with household chores and projects. He also mentions their cousin James McCallum, a recent correspondent, whose letter came from Richmond, Virginia, announcing that "he is now a member of the Confederate Congress."

James McCallum (1806-1889), the aforementioned cousin, was a prominent lawyer and politician from Giles County, Tennessee. He served in the Tennessee legislature from 1861 to 1863 and was a member of the Second Confederate Congress for one term, representing Tennessee from 1864 until 1865. He was also a Grand Master of the Tennessee Masons. 

The McCallum (MacCallum), Baker, and Brown names appear frequently together in American genealogical records, particularly within North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio. These families are frequently linked by marriage and proximity in early settlement records, such as in Robeson County, North Carolina, and Giles County, Tennessee. Cousins Samuel Brown, James McCallum, and Newell H. Brown, also mentioned in the letter, are confirmed within the genealogical record, but efforts to identify the letter writer with a corresponding military service record remain inconclusive. 

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

Overtall toning to sheet. Creasing throughout, with archival repair at upper left corner and small tear along crease at upper right.