A Guide to the Katherine Couse Civil War Letter, May 4-22, 1864 Couse, Katherine Civil War Letter 10441

A Guide to the Katherine Couse Civil War Letter, May 4-22, 1864

A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 10441

Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
URL: http://small.library.virginia.edu/

Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: Special Collections Department

Repository

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Accession number

10441

Title

Katherine Couse Civil War Letter, May 4-22, 1864

Physical Characteristics

This collection consists of a twelve-page letter.

Language

English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Katherine Couse Civil War Letter, Accession #10441 , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Couse letter was given to the Library by James Holsaert of Tucson, Arizona, on January 26, 1981.

Scope and Content Information

This twelve-page letter was written in diary form by Katherine Couse to unidentified friends, May 4-22, 1864. She was a Union sympathizer from New Jersey who had moved with her family to "Laurel Hill," Spotsylvania Co., Virginia, before the Civil War. Her letter describes her life during the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania which were fought near her home. She writes regarding her family's day-to-day existence, mentioning tea with doctors, staff officers, and Edwin Forbes, Frank Leslie's war correspondent, looting of their home by soldiers in both armies, caring for local refugees, the Federal hospitals on their property and the desolation of the countryside after the armies left. Couse briefly mentions Confederate generals Richard Ewell, James A. Longstreet, Thomas L. Rosser, and Union generals Ambrose Burnside, Ulysses S. Grant, and George Meade, among others.

With the letter is a leaf bearing quotes in her handwriting from two of Shakespeare's plays, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Julius Caesar .