Dear All,
I am working on a project the aim of which is to compare (grammar-wise) the language of Civil War soldiers from Tidewater Virginia with the dialect of the Union soldiers from New England. I am looking for "vernacular" and informal letters, namely the ones produced by semi-literate privates, soldiers with little formal education, etc. I am familiar with a number of published collections, however, their content is often edited or contains the material with higher degree of formality - in the majority of cases written by better educated officers.
Are you familiar with any collections (available via the Internet) or websites where I could find letters written by Virginians?
Thanks in advance,
Rad