Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.

Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to research.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Henry Howland Letter, Ms1991-016, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Source of Acquisition

The Henry Howland Letter was purchased by Special Collections in 1991, under the title "Mississippi River Letter." With new information regarding the author's identity, the item was renamed the Henry Howland Letter at the time of processing.

Processing Information

The processing and description of the Henry Howland Letter commenced and was completed in August 2008.

Biographical Note

Henry Howland, the son of William Avery and Hannah Morton Howland, was born in Conway, Massachusetts, on March 20, 1827. A carpenter, Howland moved to Chicago in 1854 and worked in the lumber industry. He married Jane Elizabeth "Eliza" Gray in 1856; the couple would eventually have three children: Allen, Grace and George.

During the American Civil War, Howland joined the 51st Illinois in September 1861 and was commissioned the regiment's quartermaster. He left Chicago with the regiment on February 14, 1862. By the end of the war, Howland was a captain, serving as quartermaster for the Union Army's Department of Kentucky. His military service ended on January 19, 1867.

Howland returned to the lumber industry, then engaged in a short-lived mining operation in Leadville, Colorado. Howland apparently left Leadville around 1881 and fell into what his obituary described as "unsettled habits." He seems to have moved frequently, occasionally working for various Chicago businesses while his wife returned to live with her parents. In April 1883, Howland traveled from Buffalo to Rochester, New York on business for the National Blue Book of the shoe and leather trade of Chicago. Howland drowned in a canal there on May 6. He was buried in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery.

Sources:

"Col. Henry Howland" Chicago Daily Tribune , May 8, 1883.

Fitch, John, Annals of the Army of the Cumberland (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1864).

Scope and Content

This collection contains a letter written by Henry Howland, quartermaster for the 51st Illinois Infantry while aboard the the steamer D. G. Taylor on the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. Writing on April 17, 1862 to his mother in Chicago, Howland makes general comments about his health, then notes that his division had captured 5,000 Confederates near Tiptonville, Tennessee. He then describes General Paine as "a most excellent man and a very fine officer," notes his division's position, and describes the fleet on which the troops embarked to journey southward on the Mississippi from New Madrid, Missouri. The army, Howland writes, is under orders to "proceed up the Tennessee to aid our troops at Pittsburg." He anticipates a journey of three to four days, followed by "one of the hardest fought battles that has yet been fought," and expresses his readiness to die in battle. He then relates a few anecdotes about his young son, including one in which the boy prayed, "Please God send some big Bears to eat the Rebels up." Howland concludes by stating the hopelessness of receiving a furlough and the likelihood of a lengthy war.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Civil War
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865

Rights Statement for Archival Description

The guide to the Henry Howland Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).