This brief letter was penned by Frederick Augustus Starring (1834-1904), the son of Sylvanus Seaman Starring (1807-1862) and Adeline Morton Williams (1809-1853) of Buffalo, New York. Fred came to Illinois in 1852 to work as an engineer on the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1856 he was living in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he served as the secretary of a railroad. He was still working in 1861 and witnessed first hand how “the secession fervor swept the South.” ¹

Using the political connections of friends and relatives, Fred obtained a commission as the Major of the 46th Illinois Infantry in September 1861. In August 1862, he was promoted to Colonel of the 72nd Illinois Infantry. His complete succinct biography can be found on Wikipedia here: Frederick Augustus Starring.

Fred wrote the letter to his younger sister, Sarah Anna Starring who was born in 1846.

[Note: This letter and accompanying images are from the personal collection of Phil Flickinger and offered for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent..]

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Columbus, Kentucky
July 14th 1862

My dear Sister Sarah,

I send you two cartes de visite. They are very poorly taken, but you can cut the one for you so it will fit in your locket. I will have some better ones shortly and will send each of my dear sisters one.

I hope you are learning to write fast for I anticipate great pleasure in receiving letters from you. I know you will write good letters when you are older for your description powers are good and perhaps you are more studious that your sisters. You must read your letter to sister Mary so it may answer for a letter to her too. Love to all. Hastily, brother Fred

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¹ “Bvt. Brig. Gen. F. A. Starring, Opportunist or Ideal Soldier?” by Richard K. Tibbals, Military Images, Jan-Feb 2000.