To The Letter

We’ve come to the end of Season 2! We’re wrapping up with a little bit more about John’s life in service and what he did after the war.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

The letter featured in Episode 13 is available below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, June 13, 1865

Additional research for this episode:

• “I Hope To Do My Country Service”

Thank you so much for listening! Interested in more seasons? Let us know!

It takes a long time for the Civil War to be officially over in every state and territory. In this episode we take a look at how the end of the war actually came about.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in Episode 12 are available in full below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, March 15, 1865

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, April 9, 1865

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, April 17, 1865

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, April 6, 1865

Additional research for this episode:

• Ending the Bloodshed: The Last Surrenders of the Civil War
• The Gentleman’s Agreement that Ended the Civil War
• Why the Civil War Actually Ended 16 Months After Lee Surrendered

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

Once again we’re talking about medical needs during the Civil War. This time, we investigate what the U.S. Sanitary Commission was all about.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in Episode 11 are available in full below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, July 30, 1864

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, March 12, 1865

Additional research for this episode:

• Olmsted and the Civil War
• Rules for preserving the health of the soldier

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

In this episode we’re talking about the roles of Black men and women in the military during the Civil War.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in this episode are available below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, Apr. 12, 1864

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, February 25, 1865

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, March 3, 1865

Additional research for this episode:

• Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military During the Civil War
• African-American Soldiers During the Civil War
• Black Civil War Soldiers
• African-Americans in the Civil War
• African Americans in the Civil War
• The United States Colored Troops
• Black Dispatches: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence during the Civil War

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

Episode 9 is all about the election of 1864, in which only 25 states participated!

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

The letter featured in Episode 9 is available below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, Dec. 27, 1863

Additional research for this episode:

• The Election of 1864
• A Different Kind of Election
• Lincoln reelected

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

We couldn’t resist talking about how the mail system worked! While delays in communication were a common theme in Season 1, John hasn’t talked too much about the mail yet. In Episode 8, we take a look at how letters were delivered, especially as troops moved into enemy territory.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in Episode 8 are available below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, Nov. 8th, 1863

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, Dec. 3, 1863

(Notice in the December letter that John wrote in both directions to conserve paper!)

Additional research for this episode:

• Mail Service and the Civil War
• Joseph Briggs and the Free City Delivery
• The United States Post Office Domestic Postal Money Order System in the 19th Century
• Civil War Letters
• Railway Mail Service
• Neither snow nor rain nor secession? Mail delivery and the experience of disunion in 1861
• Postal Service during the Civil War

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

This episode explains “Bushwhackers” and “Jayhawks”. Bushwhackers was the term given to pro-Confederate secessionist guerillas of Missouri, in particular, but was also applied to other guerilla fighters in Kentucky, Tennessee, northern Virginia, and even California. Jayhawks, in contrast, were pro-Union guerilla fighters.

Several famous outlaws in the West got their start as bushwhackers, including Frank and Jesse James.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in the episode are available below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, July 21, 1863

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, Oct. 27, 1863

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, March 3, 1864

Additional research for this episode:

• 6 Civil War Guerilla Leaders
• Bushwhackers and Jayhawks
• Bushwhackers

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

In this episode we delve into the aftermath of Civil War medicine. What happened to soldiers wounded in action?

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in this episode are available in full below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, July 5, 1863

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, May 19, 1863

Additional research for this episode:

• Minie Ball
• The Wounded
• Invalid Corps
• From “Invalid Corps” to full active duty: America’s disabled soldiers return to war
• Veterans Reserve Corps

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

In today’s episode we discuss the capture of the 19th Michigan Infantry by Confederate troops near Brentwood, Tennessee and how prisoners of war were treated during the Civil War.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them. John Bennitt is voiced by Matt Ruen, Scholarly Communications Outreach Coordinator at University Libraries.

Letters featured in Episode 5 are available in full below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, April 26, 1863

Additional research for this episode:

• Civil War Fact: The Prison Camps Were Total Hell
• Andersonville Prison
• History of the Andersonville Prison
• Union Civil War Prison Camp an All-but-Forgotten Relic of Brutality
• Civil War Prison Camps
• Inside Andersonville Prison, The Civil War’s Most Brutal POW Camp
• ‘We did this to ourselves’: Death and despair at Civil War prisons

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

In Episode 4, we continue to talk about medical treatment during the Civil War – particularly the role that women in religious organizations played. The Sisters of Charity, Daughters of Charity, Sisters of the Holy Cross, and Sisters of St. Joseph all provided volunteer nurses.

To the Letter is a podcast brought to you in collaboration with University Libraries and the eLearning and Emerging Technologies Department’s Digital Studio at GVSU. On this podcast, we bring correspondence from GVSU’s Special Collections alive. In each episode you will hear (in their own words!) letters written by the people who lived through history and the stories behind them.

The letter featured in Episode 4 is available below:

Letter from John Bennitt to his wife Lottie, January 17, 1863

Additional research for this episode came from:

• Women in the Civil War
• The Sisters of Charity: The ‘Battlefield Angels’ of the Civil War
• Sisters of Charity: Nuns, Medicine, and the Civil War

Questions? Comments? Let us know!