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A collection of letters sent by William Penn Oberlin to his wife, Anna Marie Stauffer Oberlin and his sister between August 27, 1862 and May 19, 1865. Oberlin served with the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. The letters were transcribed by his great, great grandson, Dr. Allen H. Ryen. No originals are available. Oberlin writes in vivid detail about camp life in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia; the hardships of long marches and the dangers of battles in Maryland and Virginia; foraging and plundering for food and horses; encountering whole families of escaped slaves along the road; capturing dispirited, poorly equipped Rebels; the Battle of Gettysburg and the battles in Maryland and Virginia in which Oberlin fought; Abraham Lincoln's visit to the troops; the hospital tent city in City Point, Virginia where he spent the last months of the war; his dreams about returning home and seeing "the old homestead" and his family again; the process of mustering out; and his reasons for fighting.
