The following letter was written by Alice Corbet Flynn (1836-1909), the daughter of Paul Flynn (1792-1860) and Olivia Smith (1794-1878). Alice married Caleb Dwinell Randall (1831-1903) in 1865 and they had at least three children between 1866 and 1872.

Alice wrote the letter to her cousin, Dudley Chase Smith (1833-1920), the only son of Addison Smith (1784-1846) and Nancy Fitzgerald Hicks (1801-1855) of Shelbyville, Illinois. Dudley raised a company on men in Mattoon, Illinois, and mustered in as 1st Lieutenant, later Captain of Co. B, 14th Illinois Infantry. He served from June 1861 to September 1864. Dudley did not marry until 1885 when he took Mary Bernardine Orme (1856-1931) as his wife and together they had at least seven children.

Transcription

Coldwater, Michigan
December 16, 1861

My dear Dudley,

Your very welcome letter was received some time since & I should have written before had I known exactly where to direct but since your regimental paper ¹ came to me, I have concluded you will be stationed at Tipton for some length of time. The recital of your hardships, your long and wearisome marches, your exposures and your fatigues, really made my heart ache, & what is most aggravating of all—these trials endured so bravely are imposed upon the Western Army through the grossest mismanagement, & do not further the great object which has called so many from home.

I know I have no business to judge those who know so much more than I do, but in every instance in which our troops have been defeated or when the Rebel army have escaped so nicely as they have in Missouri, one can’t help exclaiming at the bad generalship displayed. Nothing but that has prevented the successful & happy termination of this dreadful war long ago. Now we have a long & tedious civil war to look forward to which will ruin & demoralize the whole country. But there is no need of repeating all this to a loyal soldier who knew it all long ago. I wish it were in my power, my dear coz, to do something to add to add to your comforts & alleviate your discomfort. But I know not what I can do for the “glorious cause” but stay at home & be a good girl. There is not even a “soldier’s aid society” in Coldwater in which we can knit & sow out our patriotism.

Coldwater at present exhibits anything but a dull & forsaken appearance. We are full of military uniforms. Several companies have been encamped here and the 14th Michigan Regiment will be as soon as it is raised. In addition to all the companies who have left this place, two more are on the point of going. Some of the celebrated Col. Rankin’s “lancers” are here recruiting. This robs our town of many of its best inhabitants & has made a great change in my pleasant circle of acquaintances.

I suppose you hear from our invalid friends in New York about as often as we do, which is certainly not very often. But we are thankful that every letter we do receive assures us of their improvement & we begin to hope that they may return home quite restored to health—in Jennie’s case at least. That is more than we have dared to expect for a long time. Mother is at coz Lou’s & our own house is closed. [Sister] Olivia [Safford] & [her 2 year-old daughter] Corinne are still here & may remain through the winter. Next summer it is our desire to have mother come here & keep house with Olivia & myself, but whether we can bring about such a change depends upon her own feelings. My sisters both wish me to remain here & as I prefer it myself at the same time. I suppose I shall call Coldwater my home.

I think I must have told in my last of the arrival of Lucia’s daughter. She is new a sweet laughing baby, quite a sunbeam in the house. I am not sure but I shall become as fond of her as you of your own nephew Dudley.

All send the warmest love & good wishes to you. I wish you could write oftener. News from you is received with great interest. Even the paper published in the 14th Illinois is eagerly read.

That you may be blessed with success in every undertaking & at last rejoice in the happy result of the cause in which you are laboring is the wish of your loving cousin, — Alice

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¹ The 14th Illinois Infantry published a newspaper early in the Civil War to keep the folks at home informed of their movements and ideas. It was edited by E. F. Chittenden of Co. B. The first surviving copy was published on 4 December 1861 at Tipton, Missouri, which may be the issue that Alice received. The name of the paper was changed from “The First Division Proclamation” to the “War Eagle And Camp Journal of the Army of the West” in January 1862.