This letter was one of a series of 6 letters that appeared in the Indianapolis Daily Journal by Reverand Sanford. I found them by going through back issues of the Indianapolis Daily Journal of the Civil War era on microfilm that I got on interlibrary loan.

Civil War newspaper research can be both tedious and rewarding. It is tedious because often I have to go through several newspapers to find an interesting letter. Also I limited myself to letters signed by a soldier because I wanted to do research on the background of the writer of the letter. There were many interesting letters that were signed with a psuedonym that I didn't include.

The best part about newspaper research it that it is a relatively untapped source of Civil War information. One author called it one of the most underutilized Civil War resources. There is information in newspaper accounts that won't be found anywhere else. I think what deters people from doing the research is the fact that most newspapers aren't indexed so to conduct a search takes considerable time.

I'm not sure if these letters have been published before except in the Indianapolis Daily Journal since I haven't done extensive research on the regiment. Glad to hear that you enjoy reading them.

Tony Meeks
Fairfax, VA