Maine native Henry Mighels, 29, like many other soldiers in the Civil War, dreamt of the day he might see his love, 16-year-old Nellie Verrill, again and shared his thoughts with her through letters.
Their exchanges in written form against the backdrop of the war and Reconstruction captured private thoughts, sentiments and flirtations of a man, constantly teasing himself for seizing âstupidâ or harmless behaviors missing his loved one back home.
In March 1863, from the headquarters of the 2nd Division of the 9th Corps of rapidly developing rural town Newport News, Va., Mighels asked Verrill, writing to her regularly in Norway, Maine, to send a photograph of herself as a keepsake during wartime.