Contributed by Maine Historical Society
Description
Eunice D. Sewall (1837-1918) wrote from Choctaw County, Alabama, where she was teaching school, to her father, Kiah B. Sewall in Mobile about her concerns for him and the rest of her family because of the tightened Union blockade of Mobile Bay and shortages of food and other supplies.
Kiah and Lucretia Day Sewall, both natives of Maine, moved to Mobile in 1839 where Kiah Sewall set up a law practice. Nine of their 10 children were born there. Most of the family were Union supporters during the Civil War.
Eunice Sewall wrote of the uncertainties in Choctaw County, with "rascally fellows" commandeering horses and mules and fears about what Union forces would do. She also commented that any food she tried to get to her family in Mobile probably would be seized by the Confederate government of the state.
She had sent her family money she had saved from her teaching wages and expressed hope the letter had reached them. Wartime disruptions also affected mail delivery, she noted.
Transcription
About This Item
- Title: Eunice Sewall on wartime shortages, Chocktaw County, Alabama, 1864
- Creator: Eunice Day Sewall
- Creation Date: 1864-02-23
- Subject Date: 1864-02-23
- Location: Choctaw County, AL
- Media: Ink on paper
- Dimensions: 18.7 cm x 12.2 cm
- Local Code: Coll. 105, Box 3/2
- Collection: Sewall family papers
- Object Type: Text
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Scarcity--Alabama
- Sewall family
- Sewall, Kiah Bayley, 1807-1865--Correspondence
- Sewall, Lucretia Day
- Sisters
- Students--Alabama
- Teachers--Alabama
- United States--History--Civil War, 1862-1865--Personal narratives
People
Other Keywords
For more information about this item, contact:
Maine Historical Society485 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
(207) 774-1822 x230
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