Concerning your Civil (war between the states) letters and your WW1 postcards, these are the perview of an archivist, not the casual reader of the antiques and collectibles forum. There are also dealers that specialize in this type material

This is all so very interesting! While I cant help you with the value of the letters, if they were mine, I would protect them in some way; perhaps consult a book dealer for the right products. I love Civil War history and have many books and artifacts on the war. If you ever want to read a superb account of Gettysburg, read Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. It is the book that inspired Ken Burns to do his documentary. The one thing that caught my eye in your posting was the first date of the letters: Aug. 3, 1861...exactly 100 years to the date of my birthdate! What a treasure you have. I would hang on to them. They would also be an excellent source to share with students studying this period.

These letter are valuable to anyone doing genealogical research on this John and Joseph Thompson and their relatives. This is stuff that genealogists dream of! These would also be of good interest to the genealogy library of Ironton, Iron Co., MO and surrounding counties.

I have an interest in these because I discovered that my great grandfather Marlow was living in Iron Co. during the Civil War. He was located south of Ironton, on a farm ouside Des Arc, MO. He struggled to hold his family and friends together.

What you have is a first hand account of the great battle fought at Fredericktown, Madison Co., MO. - Priceless!

Just before the Civil War (ca 1857), Iron Co. was organized out of Madison Co. Iron county was named for its iron deposits and the mines there. Some distance north of Ironton is the lead mining district. Both lead and iron deposits were critical to the war effort. Madison Co. also has mineral mines. These ore deposits made this part of MO worthy of fighting for. The war effort was compounded in southern MO because both northern and southern sympathizers were present even though Mo had been amitted to the Union as a "Free" state. Residents left at home did not know from one day to the next which side they should favor. Bands from both sides raided and killed residents if they deemed the residents may have favored the opposite side. For example, the miller and owner of the Bollinger Mill was executed by the Rebels because they decided that he had milled some flour that was used by the opposing side.

One of the difficulties in transcribing/reading letters from that period is the style of writing and forming characters. Handwritting style was changing in that period. The old style was common up to 1830 and by 1870, the style became very similar to present day handwritting. One of the most common confusion that I have found is the double "ss" as in Tennessee. When a single "s" appeared, it was formed much like we do today. However, when a double "ss" appeared, the first "s" appears more like an "f" followed by the second s shaped as currently. However, upon close examination, you will find that the top loop of the first "s" is reversed to that of an "f". These two characters are sometimes confused for a "p" and often followed by a transcriber's question mark because the letter "p" did not make sense.

Try writing a double "ss" with the first "s" shaped as one loop above the line and a second loop below the line followed by the second "s", and you will find that the motion "flows" well.

The character, capital M, may be formed with sharp points on top instead of a rounded tops. These curious features, I believe, came about because of writing with quill/pen and ink; the sharp point of the inking instrument tended to dig into the paper on the upstroke. This affected a person's handwriting. (I learned to write with dip pen and ink.) Modern ink pens have rounded nibs that smooth the upstroke of the pen. Think of a pen digging into the paper and then the character shapes will begin to make sense.

During the Civil War, if a note was not in ink, it would have been written by pencil and often had a crude point. The standard procedure was to sharpen your pencil with a pocket knife or hunting knife.

crasha, I'm doing research on Camp Butler. I am very interested in the 3 letters that John sent from Camp Butler. Would you contact me, so I can ask you some questions? Thanks.

I missed this post the first time around. Thanks for sharing the text, it was fascinating reading! Wouldn't mind reading a few more! ;-)

If I had these letters, I would transcribe them and sell them on LuLu.com as a book, with some Scanned images of the letters.