ABSTRACT
The W. H. Lancashire letters are introduced in Volume 3. The three in this volume are all written by William Henry Lancashire, the brother of Matthew Herbert Lancashire, who wrote the letter in the previous volume. By June 1862 William was serving the Union Army in the Civil War as a second lieutenant (apparently in Company B of an unspecified division; see note below). The first letter in this volume, dated 22 June 1862, is addressed to ‘My Very Dear Brother Herbert’ – presumably Matthew Herbert. William finds himself in a position of battlefield leadership after his first lieutenant was arrested for insulting a general. Writing from ‘Camp Tait, Near Middleton’, he describes the battles in fascinating detail and conveys the emotions of an English immigrant in the thick of combat. His letters of 3 September 1862 (written to his parents) and 28 March 1865 (written to his brother, presumably Herbert) are also fascinating. They include details of his battle wounds and refer to a photograph he apparently sent with his letter. He also mentions that he saw President Lincoln and was so close to him as he walked by that he accidentally struck the president’s toe with his sword. These letters are also remarkable for Lancashire’s attempt to justify and make sense of the terrible war, and for expressing his loyalty to his new country – even going so far as to say that Canada should become part of the United States. In his final letter Lancashire refers to the assassination of Lincoln, that he saw the body lying in state, and that he thinks Andrew Johnson will make a good president. In his own words: ‘it is a great pity that Booth was not taken alive it would have been a great satisfaction to have the Govimant put an end to him. I saw the body of President twice before it leftthe city but did not see the funeral at all … like a great many others, I think Andy Johnson will be all right.’ Some gaps in the letters indicate where the original manuscript is illegible. According to the Pennsylvania Civil War Project ‘Pennsylvanians in the Civil War’, at Penn State University, there was a W. H. Lancashire in the 183rd Regiment, Company B as a Second Lieutenant, who was wounded at Cold Harbor, Virginia, on 3 June 1864, commissioned as a first lieutenant on 20 July of that year, and then discharged on 20 June 1866. In his 1855 letter Lancashire refers to having ‘some thoughts of going to Pittsburg’, and in his letter of 28 March 1865 he refers to being wounded on 8 May 1864, in the Wilderness, which places him near Cold Harbor.
