Civil War Family Ties
I attended the Civil War Family Ties event on March 23, 2025. It proved to be a very engaging dramatic reading of historical letters between Hiram area soldiers of the Union army and their family members. The correspondence was originally compiled by David Anderson and edited by Joanne Sawyer several years ago. The family names read like a who’s-who of 19th century Hiram: James and Lucretia Garfield, Almeda Booth, and the Allyn, Hinsdale, Mason, Monroe, Rudolph, Ryder and Norton families, among others. The original program was updated with striking visuals compiled by Hiram College Library Director Andria Morningstar-Gray which were projected on a large screen behind the readers. The letters were presented in chronological sequence which charted the course of the war through its conclusion in 1865. One of my initial reactions was not so much the content of the letters, but the eloquent literary style in which they were written. Letter writing was once a fine art that seems largely lost in today’s society where our communications are often reduced to the lowest common denominator in terms of abbreviations, slang, and emojis via text. The tone of the letters underscored the ever-increasing direness of the war as soldiers were killed and wounded, and a great many felled by illness. When the war was finally won, the celebration in the north was muted by the assassination of Lincoln. Very compelling to hear accounts of this era told by the actual participants in their own words. The event was presented by Denny Taylor who was one of the letter readers. He alternated with Andria-Morningstar-Gray, Grayson Smith, Morgan Clevenger, and Rick Hyde. The event was another collaboration between Hiram College and the Hiram Historical Society.
Written and photographed by Dave Dreimiller
