About This Archive

The Letters

This collection contains 41 letters written during the American Civil War, primarily by brothers George Overpack and Mathew Overpack to their mother Sarah A. Wise in Ohio. The letters span from October 1862, shortly after the brothers enlisted, to June 1865, when George was mustered out and headed home.

The letters are presented exactly as they were written — with original spelling, grammar, and punctuation preserved. The brothers' phonetic spelling and colloquial language give a vivid, unfiltered view of life as Union soldiers.

The Transcriber

These letters were typewritten from the original handwritten pages by Betty McCullough (born Stout), the great-granddaughter of George Overpack. Betty carefully preserved every misspelling, every run-on sentence, every "nomore at present but remane yours un till death" exactly as the brothers wrote it.

The Family

The 110th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry

George and Mathew enlisted in Company I of the 110th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry in August 1862. The regiment served in the Eastern Theater and saw action at many engagements including the Battle of Winchester (June 1863), the Wilderness Campaign, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and the Shenandoah Valley campaigns under General Sheridan.

• Matthew Overpack — Private, age 21, entered service Aug. 9, 1862, 3 yrs. Captured June 15, 1863, at battle of Winchester, Va.; wounded June 5, 1864, in action; appointed from Corporal July 1, 1864; died April 5, 1865, of wounds received April 2, 1865, in action near Petersburg, Va.
• George W. Overpack — Private, age 22, entered service Aug. 8, 1862, 3 yrs. Wounded June 15, 1863, in battle of Winchester, Va.; mustered out with company June 25, 1865.

Archival Documents

Mathew's Death

Mathew Overpack was wounded in action near Petersburg, Virginia on April 2, 1865 — the very day Petersburg fell and just one week before Lee's surrender at Appomattox. He was brought to the 6th Corps Hospital at City Point, where George was stationed.

In his final letter (Letter 40, April 29, 1865), George describes Mathew's last hours in heartbreaking detail:

"the last words that he sed I had give him a drink and I ast him how he felt and he sed that he did not feale eney worse he sed that he was tierd a alaying and that he wshed that he cold go to sleep he sed that he beleved that he cold eat a big brechfast… He turned over on his left side and he lay very quiet and I thot that he was a sleepe and I let him lay a bout five or ten minets and then I got up and went to him he died toe easest of eny won that I eve seen dey"

Mathew died on April 5, 1865, at age 24 years and 11 days. The cost of sending his body home was $45. George's letter closes: "dont get eny tumestone for Mathew till I come home."

Alonzo

Alonzo Howard McCollough (March 12, 1852 – March 10, 1933) grew up living with the Eli Arbogast family in Clark County, Ohio. He attended Grammar School in Moorefield Township, was a member of the Junior OUAM Lodge and the Methodist Protestant Church.

His mother, Anna Belle McCollough (1832–1911), lived in Cincinnati, working as a housekeeper and for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The letters are a son writing to his distant mother about church, school, farming, neighbors, courtship, marriage, and children.

Alonzo married Rebecca Ellen Morris (October 23, 1850 – April 15, 1883) on December 17, 1873. After the marriage, Ellie's voice joins the letters — writing about hawks, chickens, tomatoes, apple butter, and pot pie.

Ellie

Rebecca Ellen Morris — known as Ellie — appears first through Alonzo's letters and then in her own hand after their 1873 marriage. Her letters are vivid with domestic life: worrying about sick chickens, putting up apple butter, describing the neighbors.

Heart disease is first mentioned in January 1876. Ellie died on April 15, 1883, at age 33.

The Family

Archival Documents