Civil War letters

1862

H. Lansdale Boardman served as a private in Company G, 22nd Regiment New York Volunteers, during the Civil War. The collection consists of letters written by Private Boardman to his mother while he was serving in the commissary department of Company G, 22nd Regiment New York Volunteers at Fort Monore, Virginia, and at "Fort Aspinwall" (named after the regiment's commander, Lt.-Col. Lloyd Aspinwall) near Harper's Ferry, and Bolivar, Virginia. The letters describe the rountine of camp life, guard duty, picket duty, military parades and drills, the devastated condition of the town of Harpers Ferry, deserted by its inhabitants, the military diet, the feeding of the troops in the commissary tent, supplies of fresh foods received from local vendors, visitors at camp, and the arrival of 87th Ohio Volunteers, the 111th N.Y. Volunteers, and the 15th Indiana Battery. Mention is also made of the arrival of one of [Matthew] "Brady's men" who took pictures of the regiment for sale at "infernally high" prices. Included is a carte-de-visite photograph of Boardman in militrary tunic, and a contemporary press clipping captioned "Western Virginia / The Twenty-Second New York Regiment at Bolivar".