Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2020.027.003 |
Object Name |
Letter |
Description |
Four-page letter from Portia Gage to "My Dear Sister." Letter is written in black ink on one sheet of ivory-colored, lined stationery folded in half with an embossed seal upper left which reads, "Conn. Valley Mills" and includes a depiction of a building. The letter begins, "Beaufort [South Carolina?] Feb 4th 1876, "My Dear Sister." At the top of the page is a note written upside down, " Sat. morning no word from Asahel yesterday / All well" and in red ink, written over part of the heading, "Portia Gage / Beaufort / 4 Feb. 1876". Portia talks about visiting various women in the area, including a woman, Mrs. Gleeves and her mother who Portia says are shunned by the local Society "because of the drop of black blood...". She goes on to comment on other aspects of race relations and racism in the area. She also describes visiting with Mrs. Hale, a woman "that was here all through the war, was matron to all the hospitals owned the large house where she now lives, which was her own private hospital where the officers were sent." Portia also adds about Mrs. Hale, "... if any (white or black) are taken sick without home or freinds [sic] Mrs. Hale is applied to, and her answer is invariably,'bring them along I will do what I can for them,' and by her they are nursed and fed (and at her expense) and by her restored to life or decently buried. I visited yesterday a great many graves." So ends the letter, without signature, so perhaps the continuation of the letter is missing. In pencil at the top of page 4 is written, "Portia Beaufort / 1876". According to a note accompanying the three letters in this accession written in 1876, they were written when John, Portia, and their son Asahel made a trip to Florida. |
Date |
Feb. 4, 1876 |
Classification |
Civil War Health & Medicine Military Race |