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Louisville, Kentucky, was a major stronghold of Union forces during the Civil War, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting and transportation for numerous campaigns in the Western Theater.
Offering three letters nine pages total, from L.F. DILLOWAY, two on Head Quarters District of Western Kentucky, Louisville, stationary, to his wife.
On Jan. 20th, 1863, Dilloway writes an excellent letter to his wife describing the conditions in Louisville and the actions of the military government to reduce secessionist activities, recruit spies and his attending a “colored” church.
“…The snow is going off rapidly with a drizzling rain, causing the river to rise very fast. If the snow storm has been general at the river’s sources, & is disappearing as it is here, there will be another flood. Last Sunday I was at Mr. Hoyt’s church, 1st Presbyterian. Hoyt was a Secessionist and expelled from the city by military authorities. [He] went to Canada & afterwards supposed he could come back, got as far as Cincinnati & was informed he could not come to Louisville. So, he went to New York, where he is now living, his family living here & his church paying him his salary& supporting him besides a preacher that is not an open rebel…to preach in Hoyt’s absence…
“The church is so in sympathy with treason that it will support a traitor that even Kentucky Military authority would not tolerate. Latent treason abounds everywhere & to such an extent…that I really sometimes fear that the integrity of our government will not soon be restored…
“At the north, we are accustomed to reckon our success in suppressing the rebellion by whatever advanced position our armies may at any time have in rebellion without regarding the treason & traits in the rear of the army & which are almost if not quite as effective as the traitors in arms. The rebels have their spies free of cost & our government pays soundly for all the information it gets and the information in in an inverse ratio to its cost…
“Sunday evening I went to a colored church. No other white person in the house. The church is neat & clean, carpeted, built & finished in good style at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. Their regular preacher to whom they pay a salary of seven or eight hundred dollars & who is a free man was not present so the services were conducted by our Deacons, the church being Baptist. The singing good, the prayer fervent & intelligent and the remarks founded upon a chapter read showed a good knowledge of the New Testament…
“The pro-slavers’ feeling in the south & the prejudice against them in the north, constituting a power of opposition to any honest effort to change or better their conditions that will be hard to overcome. They are a poor degraded people & as situated in this country a mutual curse to themselves & the whites. God alone can solve the problem of the unfortunate connection & bring peace…”
The March 13, 1863, letter contains mostly family related content. The April 14, 1863, letter, concludes with some nice Civil War content. “…Gen. Burnside means business & it is to be hoped that he & Gen. Rosecrans & Hooker will do something before long. We have not accomplished much evidently at Charleston or Vicksburg but of course we cannot have uninterrupted success in the…course of events…”
Folds, light toning. A couple of short edge splits reinforced with archival tape.
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