About the way that they have organized this book is that the letters really pull you in to a period 160 years ago and help you understand the centrality of the written word, particularly at a time when families are frequently separated for the first time and they have provided the information that you need to not only understand the family networks, but the Community Networks and the Postal Network and whats happening geopolitically in the United States during the civil war. So really looking forward to this talk. Lynn heidelberg is a curator here at the Smithsonian National postal museum. Shes specializes in the history of u. S. Postal service and has published essays and created several exhibits, specifically in this case on military mail, including mail call, which you can visit out in the gallery floor as well as my fellow soldiers letters from world war one, for which she received the smithson sheehan secretarys Research Prize in 2018. Thomas halon curates the lighter than air collections, including balloons, lamps and airships at the Smithsonian National air and space museum. His research focuses on ballooning in the civil war, as well as the use of airships and blimps in america. He is the coauthor of milestones of flight the epic of aviation with the national air and space museum. So in december 1863, rachel ward walters sat down to write a letter from her home in northwestern indiana, and she opened it in a phrase to her husband, who was miles away serving in the fifth indiana calvary. And she wrote, quote, kind and affectionate companion once more. I attempt to address you by the silent language of the pen. Four months later, her sister, phoebe ward duncan, used very similar words when she wrote to david as well in keeping up these family connections. And she wrote in april 1864, my dear brother, after a shameful silence, which i beg to pardon you, i once again address you by the silent language of the pen. And although rachel and phoebe say that their language is silence, were hoping that that through their letters in the collection, that we will talk about tonight, that their words come alive and their expressions that they share with their family, their thoughts and their perspective, in particular during a moment of national strife, and certainly for this family and the individuals within it and the phrases that rachel and phoebe and others used about the silent language of the pen are really embody what people were trying to do with the mail. And to keep up that communication. Those kind of phrases were the conventions of the time. They were used to a certain etiquette of letter writing, and it was very widespread. So it was common to to run into such phrases as these. They were commonly taught when at school for reading and writing purposes. And it was a time where more and more people were writing letters. In the mid 19th century, more americans were becoming accustomed to using the mail. It had become far more affordable, all with the reforms of the post office in the mid 19th century, making the postage more affordable and using innovations like the postage stamp which make it far more easy to access. And in that time, the americans had become used to a reliable mail service, that they had become used to a certain timeliness of those letters and they talked to each other through that language of those letters about the timeliness and always making note of when they had received a letter and apologizing if they were delayed. And of course, those kind of delays became far more emotionally compounded when times of war, like the walters, a family experienced. And so turning to those kind of stop phrases that rachel and phoebe used was a way to sort of get yourself writing and being able to to use some of those customs that everybody was was used to at a time where some of the mail was not flowing as easily as it had before. But the post Office Department and the military made every effort to keep the personal letters flowing, particularly through the lines of the homefront. And and there was on the front keeping both informed of the reasons why they were fighting and and keeping them in touch with each other. Its these kind of letters that were sharing through this collection tonight thats here at the National Postal museum. And it came to us in to installments from the Walters Family of of indiana. They donated it to the smithsonian in the first few items that came to the smithsonian in 1964, donated by arthur walters, the grandson of david and chel walters, and his daughter, june walters. Leonard donat the bulk of the collection of the letters in 1991. The picture here is of willard and amelia. Walters this willard being the son of david and rachel walters. So its through their family line that we have these letters to share with you and share with American Public in this donation. It becomes clear why the Walters Family valued these letters. Theres 180 letters and papers, mostly of the use of envelopes that show the way tt the mail travel, the cost of that mail. When the address had to chan, to find somebody who had relocated and t postmarks of the work that the post office was doing to to proce those mail. We have about 100 of those envelopes and about 80 or so letters and a few items of ephemera that the family enclosed while trying to communicate with each other, including the item in the middle here, which is a special order that was issued in 1863, and that david had chosen to enclose in this velope with his letter thats pictured. And thiswas serving in kentuckya border state, and working with the fih indiana calvaryo secure a peace in the area. In particular, this special der declared martial law in the counties so that the state election could go along peacefully. So this is one of the kind of items that he chose to share with his wife, to let her know the kind of experiences that he was having. And then these passed through the family and into the collection. So were fortunate to have not only their letters and their words, but also these kind of mementos that they shared, even some small souvenirs, but also some of the pension documents that the family worked with to to work in the aftermath of the war. The entire collection actually spans from the beginning of the war, and it just prewar of 1859, with a few letters with rachel beginning the relationship with david just before they were married. And it closes with her letters. In 1868. Through this wonderful collection. We were able to really start to pull out the details, not only about the experience during the war, but but also the experience that each of these different family members, each of these different writers had. And we started by completing an accurate transcription of the letters. And then we placed them in chronological order. And once we did that, they were no longer just 180 pieces of individual pieces of mail and envelopes. But there was a story. There was a narrative that that evolved from that. We were really able to see conversations start to develop the these family members would write a letter and someone would respond to questions that were were sent in that. And it really, again, gave them a life that they they you didnt realize before that time. You really start to see connections form this network thats created in this family of letter writers so that they could keep up with what was going on and understand what experience each of them is having. The although there are several writers in the collection that only have a few mentions like phoebe, as lynn mentioned, the collection really consists of these five main writers. Theyre the ones that really are the the heart and soul of the collection. First, we have rachel jane ward as lynn mentioned, she marries David Walters on december 16th, 1860, becoming rachel walters. She becomes this nexus of this communication hub. She is one of the most literate of all the writers and in fact, works as a schoolteacher a year later. And she really is the one that the brothers and brother, her brothers in law and her husband are writing to her. And then shes disseminating that information back to the other brothers and also including messages from whats going on at home, you know, in their county or in their individual houses and anything that will help them stay connected to their home. So she becomes a critical element of this. This group of of letters. Next, we have David Walters, her husband, who, as lynn mentioned, joined the fifth indiana calvary. He serves generally in the central area of the country. We have isaac walters, who is one of the first of the brothers to join up. He joins the 20th indiana infantry. He serves along the east coast in the Eastern Theater of the war, mostly in virginia. We have john wesley walters, the youngest of the brothers. He joins the 46th indiana infantry and hes stationed in, at the time, the western theater, which is actually the mississippi river. And these three brothers are literally sent to the Three Corners of the war. Theyre as geographically separate as they can be. And it only makes that network of communication even more important. And then finally, we have John Louderback. Hes in davids company. He eventually becomes the Commanding Officer of davids company. But through his letters, we were able to decipher that some of davids early letters are most likely written by him. So most likely dictated by david. But written by John Louderback to send messages home and the as we follow these letters through the conflicts, you really start to see the individual personalities come through. You see different penmanship, different grammar, different phrases that are used by the writers. For example, this is one of rachels letters. She uses a blue ink almost exclusively through the war. Theres a few that are not. But. But shes really this is this is one of the ways you could quickly tell that it was one of rachels letters. And here she draws a picture of a a u. S. Flag with the words Union Forever on it. This is the only one that she illustrated. But again, it it gives it such a personal touch. It its so important to to see who these people were, what, you know, why were they writing these letters and its it again, they really become these individuals instead of just, you know, kind of random pieces of paper. So although we have numerous letters in the collection, weve selected a few highlights, too, to present to you tonight to show you again who who this family was, who, who these people were. So the first one we have here is from isaac walters. He is described as being five foot ten inches with dark hair and gray eyes, a very basic description at the time. When he joins up, hes unmarried. Hes just shy of his 29th birthday. Hes the first of the walters brothers to join the union army. He joins company f of the 20th indiana. As we mentioned, he officially musters in on july 22nd, 1861. And this is the first letter that we have in the collection. The first one that he sent home, dated october 17th, 1861. So between that time, he is in Training Camp in indiana before his unit is again shipped out to the east coast. And he actually finds himself in the Eastern Theater of war along some of the coastal islands of north carolina. The union makes an effort early in the war to capture some of those islands, to protect naval assets that were going to be going up and down the coast. And he is involved in some of these very early campaigns. And he he also so in this letter, one of the first things he specifically mentions is news that he had received most likely from rachel in a previous letter, which is not in the collection. And he writes about he mentions news from home and says, quote, i was a little surprised to hear that you had an air so soon, but i hope you will live and do well in order that dave will have somebody to set up corn for him. I fancy his name very much. I believe it is the very name that i would have given him myself. So what hes responding to is the fact that david and rachel had had a son, willard, who youd seen in that previous picture. And they had obviously just informed isaac of his birth. So, again, youre already starting to see this network forming the the importance of these letters as theyre sharing information back and forth. Isaac goes on to give some detail about what hes experienced back to the family, describing his experiences in north carolina. He writes, there was nearly half of the regiment taking medicine at the present time, and there is still more taking sick. This is a very sickly whole. So thats not how most people would describe hatteras nowadays. But at the time this was what he experienced. There was great sickness there and his regiment really suffered. Why they were there. So this really is a the start of a Grueling Campaign for the 20th indiana. They end up fighting in some of the fiercest battles of the civil war. And isaac takes part in many of them. So this kind of beginning stage of the war for him, definitely leads to to more serious combat later. Almost a year after the letter by isaac. Two of his brothers join up. They both fall into, including the oldest brother of the walters eli walters, who joins with isaac in the 20 at the indiana. Their Third Brother in line wine. David walters joins in september of 1862 with the fifth indiana calvary. And its shortly thereafter that he reports to camp joe reynolds in indianapolis over 100 miles from his home, leaving his wife and his infant son. From the records, we know a little bit about David Walters and his time with the fifth indiana calvary. We find a little bit about his past in the military records as well, that he was a farmer, that he was 23 years of three years of age when he volunteered that like his brother isaac, he was also five foot ten, had a dark complexion and 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 paces of drilling. And he writes this to his wife about this. This would prepare him with the fifth indiana calvary and the duties that they would soon have through the middle of the country. And later in the war, preparing for the campaign through georgia at the time that he writes this in october. First, he writes to his wife about some of the excitement of his having with these new events and having joined and becoming a soldier. He writes, quote, we are drilling about as strong as ever we can. And yesterday, there was about 6000 on drill. At one time. And today we had about the same number of soldiers and about 30 to 40000 spectators. We had the biggest time today that we had since ive been here. We had a regular sham battle and fired about 25 rounds apiece. And there was infantry and calvary and two cannon. And the engagement. And there was also a general two of you and the governor. And he goes on to tell his wife the reasons why he had volunteered and the moment he writes, i quote, im sorry that your put so much trouble with our things. It cant be help now. And i feel im doing my duty to help and maintain the laws of our country and put down the wicked rebellion. Its one of the few times in the series of about 18 letters we have in the collection that he discusses the reason why he has joined up and in a way, the void that he enclosed this kind of echoes what he is saying in the letter with the patriotic symbols that it has on it. At the center of it is a American Eagle and the seal of the u. S. Around it are 34 pennants with abbreviations for 34 states, including all of the states that had recently seceded during the war. And just a few days time, his wife was writing a letter at home and 20 year old and raising their one year old willie. She was writing about her new experience of moving from Royals Center in their home that she had shared with david to star city closer to some of her other family members. She discusses going to church and the things about farming. And again, as tom pointed out, using her blue ink, that was very common. This is one of the letters that is available to see in the gallery this evening and shows this side of the page of a two sided page. Well worn and likely to have been re read as she wrote to david about what was going on at home. She wrote, i quote, william, hes not very well and hes cutting his teeth, which makes him very fretful, but hes getting better. So he can go down and play a little. And i hope these lines reach you and that you find you will. I received two letters today and one from you lately was last thursday evening and one on monday evening. That was the one that you sent that was directed to royal center and then was re mailed when it was sent on to star city. And like many conventions of the time, she does keep recounting about the way the mail was moving and her kind of duty and being a good letter writer. And she closes with saying, quote, i must close. Is there waiting to take the letter to the office. And willie is crying for me to take him. So please write soon as you get this. And that pleading for more letters is a Common Thread throughout the Walters Family. Several months later, rachel receives a letter from john wesley. He is described as similar to isaac, though hes shorter at five foot six. Hes the youngest of the brothers. Hes only 20 years old. When he joins the regiment. During the 46 indiana, he mustered into Union Service in october of 1861 and receives training in indiana before again joining the union army, moving down the mississippi river. He is he and his unit are actively engaged in several of the early battles in that that theater, including a battle for Island Number ten, which was a fortified island. The Confederate Army had built up to try to prevent any ships from going by that they fight to to take to open up the way the this specific letter written june 10th, 1863. Details some of the nonstop campaigning that john wesley had experienced with his unit. And he uses this letter to inform the family of wound he had received. He w