Ransom W. Towle Letters

We have "discovered" the Ransom W. Towle letters at the Vermont Historical Society in Barre, and though we aren't the first to discover them, it is new for us, and will be new for the VHS, since we are transcribing them for their online Civil War letter collection. 

In the meantime, the White River Valley Players are considering making these letters the center of their fall, 2010 production, and Dick and Dorothy Robson, Mindy Brandstetter, Kathryn Schenkman, Ethan Bowen, and yours truly have had our first collaborative meeting to make sure it is the meaningful discovery that it is.

Why are these letters so meaningful? Kathryn says, "we need a hero, and this man is one. He had a love of family, of fellow man and soldier, and there are a lot of parallels to draw from his Civil War experience." 

There are about thirty letters, and an additional few from Thomas Flanders, E. & A. Washburn, Emma Smith, and "George."

We need your help. There are gaps. We'd like to know more information, if you have any. We have been working on this project for the past three months, and are very familiar with these and other Civil War letters. But what about letters back home? The letters sent to soldiers? We're guessing not that many survived the rainy tents of Northern Virginia, but there must be some! If you have any, or any source ideas, please share them.