with these television companies support c-span 2 as a public service. >> now it is my distinct pleasure to introduce this book and it's editors, tom inland. the wall to his family letters are here at the national postal museum at the heart of this book and one of the wonderful things about the way they have organized this book is that the letters really pull you in period 160 years ago and help you understand the sensuality of the great -- when families were frequently separated for the first times. they have provided the information you need to not win the understand the family networks by community networks, postal network, what is happening geopolitically in the united states during the civil war. really looking forward to this talk. lynn is a curator at the smithsonian national postal museum. she specializes in the use of the u.s. history postal service. -- as well as my fellow soldiers, letters from world war i from which you can see at the smithsonian secretaries research prize in 28 1918. thomas pay own creates a lighter than air collection with balloons, lamps and air ships at the smithsonian national air and space museum's research focuses on -- in the civil war as well as the u.s. air ships and blimps in america. he's the co-author of milestones of flight, the epic of aviation the national air and space museum. >> in december 1863, lauren walters sat down to write a letter from her home in northwestern indiana. she opened up -- -- she wrote, quote, kind and affectionate companion i want to again try to draw with silent language upon. >> four months later, her sister dolly wrote him and used very similar versions shot david as well to meet up with the family connections. she wrote, in -- dear brother, after shameful silence i want to get dressed to with the silence of a pan. although rachel and phoebe say that their language is silent, -- to the collection we're talking about tonight that their words come alive and their expressions and they share with the family, their thoughts, and their perspective. in particular, during moments of national strife and certainly for this family and individuals within it. the phrases that rachel and phoebe and others used about the silent language of the pan are really embody in what people were trying to do with the mail and keep up that communication. those kind of phrases work and back conventions of the time, used to a certain etiquette of letter writing and it was very widespread. it was common to run into such phrases as these. they were commonly taught at school for reading and writing purposes and it was a time when more and more people were writing letters in the mid 19th century where americans were becoming accustomed to using the male and had become far more affordable with the reforms of the post office in the 19th century making the postage more affordable and using innovations like the posted stamp which made it far easier to access. in that time the americans had become used to a reliable mail service, a certain timely-ness of those letters, and they talk to each other through that language of those letters about this, always making notes of when they had received the letter and apologizing if things were delayed. those kind of delays came far more emotionally compounded in times of war. like the full walters family experience. cutting into those phases that phoebe and -- uses a way to get used to writing and seeing what everybody is used to. -- as easily slide before. the post office department and military made every effort to keep personal letters flowing through the lines, the home front, and now on the front. keep -- posted, informed of the reasons why they were fighting touch with each other's these can fight the four letters that -- a national postal museum came to us intwo installments from the walter's family of indiana they donated the smithsonian and one of the first few items i came t 1964, -- the grandson of rachel walters. his grandson luna walters traded that for the collection of letters in 1991. >> previous with amelia walkers, wheeler being the son of rachel walters. it is through these lines that we have this to share with you and the public -- this -- become clear on your 80 years of use envelope that shows the way the male traveled, the cost of that mail when the address had to change to find somebody who had relocated and the work put office viewing the process male and we have -- piece of mail a year so items, d a few pieces of hammer that familiesinclude trying to communicate with each other. inuding lineup in the middle here which a special order th issued 1863 and that david chose to enclose in this enveloh his letter that featured -- to secure peace in the area, particularly the special order declaring martial law in the counties so that the state election could go along peacefully. this is one of those items that he chose to share with his wife to let her now the kind of experiences that he was having. then these passed through the family and into the collection. so, we are fortunate to have not only their letters and their words but also these kind of momentum that they shared in small souvenirs but also some of the pension document that the family worked with and worked in the aftermath of the war. the entire collection actually spans from the beginning of the war, prewar tate and 59, a few letters with rachel getting the relationship -- just before they were married. a close with her letters in 1868. >> through this wonderful collection we were really able to pull out the details, not only during the -- eight because the use of the family members, each of these -- had. we started by completing an accurate transcription of the letters and then place them in conjugal order and what we did that they were no longer just 180 pieces of individual pieces of mail and envelopes, but there is a story, a narrative that unfolds. we really able to see conversations start to develop these families write a member -- it really gave them a life that they, you can realize before that time. you really start to see connections for for them in the family of what a writers think help with going on and understand what experience each of them was having. the, althoh there are several writers -- like from phoebe asou mentioned -- these the main writers. the heart and soul of e collection. first you have rael jane ward as mentioned, she married steven walters on october 16th 1960. rachel walters. she becomes the nexus of this communication hub. she's one of the most literate of all of the writers and, in fact, works as a schoolteacher later. she really is the one that her brother-in-law and husband are writing to her and she is disseminate that information back to the other brothers. she also is including messages from what is going on at home in their county and individual houses and anything that will help them stay connected to their home. so she becomes a critical element of this group of letters. next we have david walters, her husband, who i mentioned joined the 50th indiana calgary. he is innocent to the middle area of the country. isaac walters, who is one of the brothers showing up. he serves the anaconda's infantry. -- mostly in virginia he joins the 46th in the infantry and the fish and, at the time, the mississippi river. these three these three brothers, the corners of the war, are as geographically suffered as they can be. it only makes like that recognition even more important. finally i'm john -- he is in david's company and eventually becomes the commanding officer of david's company but, there is letters, we were able to decipher that some of the ones early years were mostly dictated by david but written by john letter back to send messages home. as we follow these letters through the conflict, you really start to feel the individual personality struck out through. -- forexample -- usesa blue ink -- right. this is a way to tell that it's one of rachel's letters. that's the only one that she illustrated, this -- of a flag. he gives it a personal touch. it is so important to see who these people were as they were writing these letters. it is, they really become these individuals instead of just random pieces of -- although we have numerous letters in the collection, we've selected a few to present to you tonight. to show you who this family was and who these people were. -- first you have -- to describe is being five -- and ten inches. he just finished 29th birthday he's first of the walter brothers to join the union army, he joined 2018 indiana he factually -- in our 1961 >> the first you -- sent home between october and december 17th 1861. in a time he is training in indiana and his unit shifted to the east coast. he actually find himself in the eastern theater of war along some of the silent of north carolina -- >> the union mix naturally in the war to capture the island he was involved in very early campaigns, when first things he specifically mentioned is news he received, mostly from rachel in previous letter he said, quote, i was little surprised to hear that you -- so soon, but i hope you will live and well. they will have someone less on the -- for him. i fancies name very much. i believe that the name i would've given him myself. he's responded to his high today but rachel have a son, willard, and they obviously just informed isaac of his birth. so, again, you are already starting to see this network for the importance of these letters as they are sharing information back and forth. isaac goes on to give some detail about what he has experienced with his family, describing his experience in north carolina and he writes that there is nearly half of the regiment taking medicine, still more taking sick. this is a very sickly hole. that is not how most people describe -- nowadays, but at the time this is what he was experienced. -- so, this is sort of ugly him pain phony indiana -- fired him a fierce battle of the civil war and that -- this beginning stage of the war -- to more serious combat later -- >> after the letter by as a two of his brothers join up. -- -- the 20th indiana. their third brother in line, david walters joins in the summer of 1862 with the 15 and a calgary cavalry. he reports to camp joe reynolds, in indiana indianapolis,. -- from the records, we know a little bit about the water alter. -- here we find about a bit but his passable take as well, he was a farmer. he's 23 years of age when you volunteered, but like his brother isaac he was also had a dark complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes. so, those are the only ways that we have to picture david other than his letters. we do know that once he reached indianapolis he was soon put through the pieces of drilling. he writes to his wife about this. this would prepare him within the indiana cavalry and the duties that they would soon have to the middle of the country and, soon in the war, campaigning the georgia. at the time he writes this f october 1st, he writes to his wife about some of the excitement that he is having with the new events and have him join and be a soldier he writes, quote, are dealing about a strong as we are can. yesterday there was out 00 drilled at one time. . today we hadbout the same number of ldiers we had the ba times today than we haven't i've been there -- he goes on to tom's wife the reasons why he volunteered. i in a moment he writes, quote, i'm sorry they are protesting was trouble with are things. it can't be helped now. i feel i'm doing my duty to help and maintain the loss of our country and put down -- rebellion. is one of the few times in the series of about 18 letters that we have in the collectiothat he discusses the reason why he has joined up in a way, -- kind of echoes what he said in the letter with the patriotic symbols that has won at the center of it is an american eagle a symbol of the u.s., around a 34 penance, and abbreviations for 34 states including all of the states that had recently succeeded during the war. just a few days time, his wife was writing a letter. back home, a 20 year old and raising the one year old, willie she was writing about her experience of -- closures move her other family members. she discusses going to her church. and as tom pointed out using her blooming very common. the smugglers feel-able to seen about cover gallery and shows that you side page. -- likely to be re-read. i fully ripped david about what was going on trend at the quote willie, he's not very tall and he's -- his teeth. but he's very clever and i hope designs are reaching the theory you well. i am one from you, the status lasted a evening and -- it was really mailed when went on a star city. like -- her head to the -- she closer to saying, well, i must close and wait and take the letter to the office. belize crying for me to take. it splits right soon as you got us. that pleading for more letters is a common thread throughout the walter family. >> several months later, rachael receives a letter from john wesley. he is described as somewhat isaac. he shouldn't five face six. he's joining the 46th indiana. he mustered up service october. -- before, before moving -- up an animosity river. he is actively engaged in several of the early battles from that the other, including battle ford island number 10 which was fortified island that the confederate army had built up to try to prevent any ships from going by. they failed to open up the way. this specific letter was written in june 10th 1863 and a detailed on top campaigning that john lindsey had experience with his unit. he uses this letter to inform the family of a wound he received. he writes, we found them, referring to the confederate army, at a place called the champions hill. there is where i got wounded. basketball struck me in my right side just above the hip. we listen to three weeks. this help dispel amash median that he had been killed -- the -- evolution of hounds who newest a relief -- not explain that to me start in the battlefield for so long he eventually moved to lower hospital okay. he also really saw rachel how glad he was to receive a letter from her and receive -- from back home. >> and that you spoke to david, if he gets it, please let me know what he thought of it. >> another sample of how important network is to the brothers. not only are they receiving us from home, but one quick is wait for them to receive news from one of the other brother sister receive it from rachel. they are literally using her as a kind of middle to get that information back and forth. >> his unit goes on to participate in the siege of -- which i mentioned. you have heard is not, it takes some time to recover from the wound he has. -- as he recovers from last. he continues to write to either throughout the service. i guess will he in the field. so this letter that we selected is about a year after that one it's may -- 1964 and her life ishectic on the cold front. health of the nehbs. he's trying much of a focus on herself. there many thin tt she is doing. i want her progress for self. >> a high schoolmanage from 20 to 58 this week, a bit more encouraging. this saturday, -- about four noon, iexpect to help this afternoon as well. he has funny teenagers planted and i don't know how much she's going to plan. really as well. he is well pleased to see me come home. he always runs to me at expects that his mom a boy and bob's boy and put this pause down and takes the fighting that most. i asked him what he taught thought about -- and what would pop fetch him when he comes home. he said >> >> i'm ready to go to the field, so i must lift finish this little while later. >> she does. she continues the letter in the next day on may 15th. let's time, telling them about visiting his sister. she asked about receiving a letter from -- we do have husbands from both statues in the collection. >> -- closing that she uses may tip scenes letter and timeline. she writes, quote, i will close hoping i -- i'm afraid you might not get them -- as we looked at the website there were things that were prescient in the interviews. at the time when she is writing a 14 to 15, david is engaged at the battle of osaka northern georgia. -- it's pretty evenly matched battle between the union and confederate forces. it is actually an inconclusive battle, but his regiment and company have several number of casualties including the capture of david, which we believe happened on may 14th. it is not until later in may that does rachel received word about divots capture. >> this is all to the osmosis of his commanding officer, john louder back who was taken himself to write a letter for himself is captured at the next battle that the cavalry is engaged in and it sent to the anderson phil prison. >> this letter from -- he is obviously learned the information about capturing rachel. condolences that they would been captured. as we fall's through the -- to the others. this one in particular quite heartbreaking. isaac's town shift magically at this point. you could really start to see how, -- with the news that from you can see that the news may on him but the news what's happened to his family, his brother, suing on a more and more. the condolences that he offers are such, quhat i feel very sorry f you that you can't hear from david. suspense and feel very lonely.t you muston the bright side of the e and hope for the best. >> i think he will turn up all right sometime. if the -- don't termed yet -- i think david has a right eye predictive constitution i will get through all right if he is only alive. >> again, just a small portion of the letter staircases, again, the suffering that -- and being so far from home and how he's doing is the one where we know -- suffering isaac i think i was better we have that -- even austin close aces and risk of us -- i'll close soon eye -- to hear from you. this sullen attitude most likely come from the fact that his unit hadn't been engaged almost continuously in the siege of petersburg. a city in richmond, which the army was attempting to capture than capture richmond virginia, the capital of the confederacy. so, he even writes that he is located in the camp during the siege at times. the war is, again, weighing heavily on isaac and his own family as that continues, as the suffering coinues for the family. >> this lter, written about a year later by john loudeback and rachel walters is represents the type of letter that no one received during the war but so many did. -- he's right rachel to inform her of the death of her husband. there is no formal way for people to informed. -- if we often republican local newspaper or it was up to commanding officer to ite home with such details. let our backs are still under not buried otroubled, traditional board for use able to comfort. continues i ham safe in saying that your husband, to tell you why put this down february. hewasn't able unable to help himself. i waited on him and give him as much comfort as i couldn't tell if he can get myself. he often spoke of you with a great deal of respect and seem to be waiting with a great evening guy for the president doors to be open to return to the phones at home alas, the small amount -- was not sufficient for him. i did not seem thomas off but i've been told by competent persons that he died in day -- camps allowed back goes on to provide some basic details to rachel as to how she could start the process to apply for pensions as a widow. she would be entitled to one. although she was entitled to one, that process would become a years long time consuming pursuit for. >> in part because today is like captain log back to -- himself. it is not a formal situation where there is documentation for it, as you said, a lot of backs letter he is not completing mastering are papers, not completing all of the paper for 44 david. this one letter, front to bk that -- caused phantom of their -- daughter she had sent in washington, d.c. -- a few correcting seven missing soldiers office established in 1865 by clara barton soon after she finished her medical sistance work with the union army and, seeing that this kind of lack of information in a formalized system of telling families about this soldier status, missing an action, killed in action, returning from p.o.w. camps. it spurs her to start a office that deals with the correspondence with veterans and their families. they devise way to publicize the by soliciting names from the family to be put into local newspapers it's the same response from veterans trying a information they may have about their comrades. rachel uses listen away that is very, -- some who are looking for their husbands like rachel or looking for fathers knuckles, she was looking for that information that she already knew. she already knew the outcome for david. what he needed was to have a witness, to be able to put this on paper so that she can receive the money to support herself and the toddler son lily. in writing, she wrote to my sincere older's office to make sure that david's name was spelled correctly. they had written to her to say that david w walters would be included on one of these roles where you go to the local newspaper. she corrected them for david and they flip the paper over the office and returned to her with assurances that, yes, david will be listed at a zoo member of the fifth indiana cavalry. signed for clear pardon in her name with the office workers. the missing soldiers office operated for three years d, during that time, they connected over 22,000 americans with formation about missing ldrs. this took abt 100,000 letters that were ciulated by the missing soldiers office of inquirieth they were sending out and personal letters that they were sending to rachael. including their office which went so they we the hopes of correspondentsin the south really they're taking a name of the veteran john brown and sharing that with rachel. that genre has associated -- in south carolina. these are the kind of information that rachel needed to see to see her pension -- despite those at the national archives, we know it wasn't john brown's in this testimony or the other soldiers, to the missing soldiers office. that highly secured the pension. a third letter came forward and gave away the testimony. to hear the -- in 1868. just a month later she died leaving their young son, willie, in the care of her parents samuel ward junior and her mother. it's through the pension filing that they were able to -- minors, in. it is kind of document that help us put together the story of this family in their experiences during the civil war. as rachel's many parts of this communication network between those brothers and sisters of our community -- watch puzzling ways how do we end up with, letters, and create, yo-yo change, it took the efforts of david, certainly, to save his letters from rachel. i meant that he carried this with him through all of the state that he traveled. there is no sign on any of the envelope's. we do have, one hint, -- one where he doesn't formulated staff. that david facts are at his own house, which will be back to the water by house -- over two things we have a reserves -- the words exchanged with each other. >> like the mystery of how >> we came across some other mysteries one was in fact vocation of david's death. although we had the other testimonies of his death at a preserved war camp, there is i had sound located in marietta national cemetery at section, eyesight for 73 now is david w all tours at 50 in indiana cavalry weaken. after you there were no other david w waters in the indiana fifth cavalry. the site lists the date of death as june 5th 1864, about three weeks after the date david is captured. so, in a time before dog tags and dni there was no way to really identify the dead after battle, except those who knew them hopefully being able around to do so. so, miss identifications to happen and it is fully possible that there's somebody else in that grave but it is still out to david. so that was something that we had to research and puzzle over. we are pretty certain that with the sheer amount of testimony that rachael herself gathered that his death did occur in a prisoner of war camp accustomed to consider that there were very georgia the other item that we could never locate was a photograph of the writer of these letters even though in multiple letters we have them asking for photographs and describing going get photographs taken sending photographs to each other than complementing each other's photographs. throughout the letters, we have all these comments about photographs of each other and there are none that we could find. there were none that were included with the donation. the family currently did not have any, they were able to provide a flat earlier photo of their son later in life. but nothing from the time period. and when we asked experts in civil war societies, the center for civil war photography and other places, they mentioned that many photographs were not labeled. these were often sent to family members, so, why would you label them? but as a result, as soon as those family members pass, that identity goes with them. so, it's not uncommon to have unidentified photographs from the era. and the u're looking at right now it was recently digitized by the library of congress, this is in their collection. it is simply labeled as an unidentified soldier of the fifth indiana cavalry. so, this is david unit. so, could that be david? possibly. but we just don't now. and although the members of the walter's family our faces to us now, their voice still lives, on their story still lives on through the letters they saved. enter the letters they wrote. they documented what it was like to live through this terrible time in american history. and their story represents what many families went through during this time. it was such a privilege for us to be able to really dig down into the story, to share it with you all. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> so, we're hoping to take a q&a. i know we have a microphone in the audience, because we are also on zoom online. so, the microphone will be going around the audience. and i know there is also potentially online questions as well. and we're hoping, as we are sharing this collection through the book, that many others will come to this collection and bring their own questions about it as tom and i have. any questions here? >> thank you. i have a two part question. first, off can you speak to digitizing in transcribing the set of letters versus some of the other collections you've worked with in the past? was this particularly challenging, or was pretty standard? were there any particular challenges with this collection versus others? >> this collection, because of the various letter writers, there was a sliding scale of difficulty. as we showed you with some of rachel's letters, she has very nice script. her grandmother tended to be higher than most. so, transcribing her letters ramy easier part of that scale. david, on the other hand, from his letters you can tell that he was not as proficient in his writing or grammar. those proved to be a little more difficult to parse out. but it did improve through the war. you could tell, that as he had, practice that he got better. with writing home. as we mentioned earlier, several of his letters, we think, were actually written by a different hand. either john ladder back or a different soldier in his unit. but he does write some. one aspect of this is they are almost all written in ink, which makes it easier. pencil has a tendency to mere, over the years it can be harder to read. but inc. helps stay, at this darker, it just allows you to read it easier. >> during the -- as true, verbatim to what we found in the letter s. that means a lot of things are not spelled to standard, modern english. and we actually kind of advised people to read them almost allowed, as many times as they would have been read aloud to share with other family members and share those kind of news. this is certainly a family that had gone to school but for different amounts of time. we looked at census records and saw that, over time, rachel ward and her siblings have gone to school for various amounts of time as well as the many siblings in the walter's family. , so it does explain the variations and their education level. and, so much more of there's letters is almost in an oral tradition, about how they are speaking to each other through these documents. but they're also combining them with the etiquette of letter writing, some of those phrases. so, those, we try to preserve. >> my second question is, so, you mentioned you had about 180 letters and a collection. could you hazard a guess as to how much is missing? >> we do know for a fact that there are missing letters. because several of them are referenced. rachel will say, in your letter of the state, which we don't have. i'd say we have definitively, about 15 or 20, that are specifically referenced that we don't have. we also don't have any letters that rachael sent to isaac or john wesley, the only letters of rachel's we have are the ones she sent to david. so, that kind, of her missives to them are missing. what she told the, that we could learn from their letters. back in your letter of the, state you mentioned this. so, we could get little puzzle pieces of what she had written to them, but not her full letters. >> and we have about 15 envelope's without contents. so we know we have the rappers but we don't have what was written. but it helped in ways where we use them to figure out where they were at certain times. and, so it did inform us about how they were traveling, where the brothers were at certain times, the number of letters that rachael was receiving as well. so, they did fill in some of those gaps even though we don't have the contents. >> behind you? >> it sounds like some of the importance of these letters are the envelope that they came in, the stamp that were on them. maybe mention this, but is that common, do you have insight as to why they kept the envelope? so not just the letters especially, trying to think about traveling with all these, letters just extra paper you have to bring with you. so, what are your thoughts on that? >> i think partly it's maybe a little bit of a let's have a rapper on the outside to protect these, letters as you are carrying them. it does also become part of the story and some families choose to just save the contents of the letters. and some museums and archives choose to save the letters and not the envelope's. and it's, case we have both. certainly when the family was donating, them the first items they donated to the smithsonian were seven of the envelope's. and then the letters came years later, when they were ready to donate those. i think that is partly just for them, and for what it does for us, it tells part of that story. of who is written on that address, that moved, having some of those dates where some of these letters don't include all the dates and places where they were. and maybe some of, that also, helped rachel know where people were, and why she saved some of those. >> we have a couple coming in online. so, i i have here is, thank you for the wonderful presentation. you mentioned that the letters themselves present the narrative of the family's wartime experiences. as editors, and how much work to do have to do to fill in the gaps between the letters? or are there no significant gaps in the collection? >> it's fairly robust, between 1861 through 1865. from the beginning and end of the war, and then through the aftermath. what tom and i really tried to do is not intervene too much. in the way that we approach the transcriptions, we tried to leave it as verbatim as possible. we used notes to help identify some places and peoples names that are maybe a little harder to read, some period terms. but it's the introductory essays we give that are about each of the years that, i think, fill in and put it into context of what is happening in the nation. what's happening in indiana, what's happening in the community and which rachel lived. and the walters brothers had lived. so, i think we feel they're not many of the gaps, it was pretty solid. >> most of the wartime experiences, as lin said, was representative the letters. we did occasionally have to look at records of the units where they may have been to confirm certain, things. especially when, when isaac wrote the 20th camp in indiana, that's not a good location. so being able to say okay, they're here. but, again the information is, there we knew there at the camp of the 20th and, indiana just had the part set out a little bit. most of the information we added would be things, kind of more of the background. things from census, records genealogical, records things like that. which was not necessarily in the records. it's not really where we added most, but again they did provide a wealth of information in the letters themselves that didn't require as to go too deep into that area. >> on at least one occasion, we did correct something too. we found that rachael had misstated one of hers in june of 1864. as many of us have, she wrote 1863, but none of the events that she's recording matched up. she talks about someone's death and someone's marriage, which we knew from some of the other letters had actually happened in 1864. so, we made an out of that. >> i have a couple more here to. so, as -- missing soldiers office in washington, d.c. even turned into a museum? >> it is, yes. it's a museum on seventh street, it's part of a complex with the national civil war medicine museum. and it is open. >> and then, another comment. thank you for the very interesting talk and brigades letter writers to life. were there any surprises in the letters, other than learning about the death? or intimate details that would not be expected for that time period? >> surprises. >> when going through these letters of first-time, especially kind of working on the transcripts and whatnot. the bluntness of isaac in his letter that we talked about, to rachel, about david's experience, that caught me off guard. i was a little surprised at how forward he was with that information, especially in a moment when he is trying to be consoling. so, i don't know if that was a surprise, but that did hit pretty hard. as did captain ladder back's letter. you're following along, you're almost rooting and then to get to that latter letter, it was a punch in the gut, if you would. to suddenly read that. you get invested in this, family you're seeing what they're doing, what they're seeing. rachel often writes about how much she misses david, he writes about how much he would like to go home. so, to get that point was, again, a surprise if you would. i can't think of any surprising details that were shared. >> yeah, i think the surprises, almost and reading them, when you read them for the first time, it almost puts her in the experience of being the recipient. and if this is all news. so, if it's the first time through reading them, it is as the story unfolds, as it happened to the recipient. but as many times as we've read, it that surprises are there but some of the poignant moments certainly do remain with you. >> and then, do any of the letters comment on the literacy or ability to write home of other soldiers in the various units? or of overcoming those challenges? >> yes, there is some, there is conventions of many letter writers. they'd often write about excuse me for might penmanship. very much rachel would do that, far more than, i would say, the brothers or david would do. and she's very conscious of it. once in a while, they will write about the sort of state of the material that you're using. so, sorry that the ink is not very strong this time. apologizing when they didn't have a stamp, we have a letter from john wesley where he didn't expect to have had a stamp to pay for it. so, rachel would've had to pay for it upon delivery. but we do have that envelope and know that he must have found a stamp at some point. there are moments where they talk about, of course, the sending and receiving of letters. but there's also moments where we do see them, particularly between david and rachel, start to use similar expressions and similar ways that they're doing their postscripts. talking to each other. so, there is certainly a consciousness and how they are writing to each other about the letters. >> and as we mentioned, some of the letters from david are clearly in a different handwriting. so, we don't know if he was unable to are if you itself conscious about his writing, it is obvious that at some point someone else was writing letters that he is dictating. but, then we do also have letters in his hand. so, we don't know if he just didn't have someone who could write for him or if he had finally been taking a chance. but when he finally starts copying some of rachel style, that it's in his hand. , so it's interesting to see him kind of learning from her letter writing technique in his own letters. >> and we have one more. can you talk about the mail delivery system during that time? >> yeah, for the union forces, it was pretty much business as usual except for the male had stopped being exchanged with the confederate states. so, for getting mailed to p.o.w.'s, to those who are trying to cross the line, many americans were using the express companies. and those could go through what were called flag of truce points. where there would be exchanges of goods, including mail. for the walters, their letter is pretty much where on that timely convention they were used to. of the male moving fairly rapidly with the strong railway system in the north. and through, up to the front, that was done through the post office department. working through what they called special agents who wear the intermediaries between the post office department and the military. and many, ways the military had assigned most of the male duties to privates and mail orderlies who were taken to and from the headquarters, and that moved fairly rapidly. sometimes some surprising moments, it would be delivered during combat. but we do know that there are times where the walters do, and other americans and civil war letters, do note about the changes in their mail system. but for the most, part they are fairly open in how they talk about the news of the day. there are not censored letters and anyway, this holders letters are not censored. so, anything they leave office what they have self censored. >> we have one more comment, it is that david and rachel are my great, great, great grandparents, and this has been a wonderful discussion to join. so, thank you, lynn and tom. >> that's wonderful. >> thank you. 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