Civil War Archive of Correspondence of Edgar R. Bell, Private, 149th Ohio Infantry. Archive consists of 17 letters from Bell to his wife, dating from May 5, 1864 to August 7, 1864. Also included in the archive are 9 letters from Mordecai Bell and 10 letters from Samantha Bell to her husband Edgar R. Bell. The letters are various sizes, though primarily 5" x 8", and are written from various locations. The letters are accompanied by 15 postal covers, 14 of which are canceled with stamps. Bell's earliest letter in the archive is to his wife Samantha, dated May 5, 1864, three days after he enlisted. It is written from Camp Denison, Ohio, where the 149th Ohio Infantry was organized. The 29-year-old Bell had arrived in camp that very day and was immediately "detailed to help clean up the barracks that we were to occupy; & a stinking job it was of dirt and rubbish of every character. It stunk so bad that it was enough to puke a dog." He had signed up for 100 days, which would not begin "until we are sworn and mustered into service." He served as a private in Company F. In his next letter to his wife from Camp Denison, dated May 8, Bell informs her that he was "mustered into the United States Service" that very day, and "was examined yesterday by two Surgeons & passed both. So you know they well understand their profession. They passed one man that could not near straiten himself & it looks like a piece of perfect imposition to send such spectacles into the field. Nothing much short of the breaking of both legs & the cutting off of one arm, the gouging out of both eyes & the breaking of the neck will exempt a man from duty." Bell became ill and was admitted to a hospital in Annapolis, Maryland. In a May 13 letter to his wife, he writes he "suffered so much distress in the Stomach & around the heart that I felt as if I should go into convulsions, but I have got considerably easier. I presume that the Doctor thinks there is nothing wrong with me....He did not do anything, until I asked him particularly, & then all he done was to give me quinine & whiskey, which I was compelled to desist the use of." Bell rejoined his regiment, which was garrisoned in Fort #1 around Baltimore, and was given less than heroic duties to perform. In a May 23 letter to his wife, he writes, "I presume you might guess a hundred times the duty I had to perform & you would miss it every time. But, for fear your anxiety might be raised to too high a pitch & cause you some uneasiness of mind, I will tell you. My business was to guard prisoners, from the prison house to the Shit house. Quite an honorable business, is it not?" Bell's regiment remained in Baltimore through June and his letters written during that time relay news of camp life, his health, the weather, his wish to be home, and rumors of marching orders that never come. On July 9, 1864, Confederate forces under General Jubal Early defeated Union forces under General Lew Wallace at the Battle of Monocacy, six miles from Frederick, Maryland. Bell refers to this is a July 10 letter to his wife. "Everything has been in great excitement here for several days for fear that the rebels will attempt a raid through the city [Baltimore]. The excitement has been growing more & more intense every day. The news this morning were that our forces under Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace had encountered an eight hours severe fight with the enemy at Monocacy, and were compelled to retreat in disorder. Maj. Wallace was then falling back onto Baltimore. The rebels were reported to be at least twenty thousand strong & advancing rapidly." By the end of July, Bell's regiment was camped outside the city of Washington, after marching for three days. Bell, who regularly was in poor health, survived. In a July 24 letter to his wife, he described what happens when a soldier cannot keep up with his fellow soldiers during a march. "When a man is in the army & gives out, he has to fall out by the way-side & his comrades pass by him, without hardly noticing him & leaves him to help himself as he can. If he lives it is all right & if he dies, it is only a man & if he falls into the hands of the enemy it is no difference." Soon Bell's regiment was camped at Harpers Ferry, where Bell was again in the hospital. He was later transferred to a hospital in Annapolis. Edgar R. Bell was born in Caroline County, Virginia and was a schoolteacher in Ohio before he joined the 149th Ohio National Guard or Infantry. He was discharged from the service at Camp Denison, Ohio, on August 30, 1864. The 149th Ohio Infantry was organized at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, Ohio, and mustered in as an Ohio National Guard unit for 100 days service on May 8, 1864, under the command of Colonel Allison L. Brown. Organized May 8 1864, for one hundred days service, as an Ohio National Guard unit, under Colonel Allison L. Brown. It at once proceeded to Baltimore where it garrisoned the Forts near that city. In July, the Regiment joined General Wallace's army on the Baltimore and Frederick Pike, and participated in the battle of Monocacy, losing over one hundred men in killed, wounded and prisoners. It took part in the marches in Maryland and Virginia with the 6th and 19th Corps. The Regiment returned to Ohio and was mustered out August 20, 1864. In addition to the letters, the archive includes the following: 1) AM, four pages, entitled "Memorial of Our Soldiers." 2) Manuscript copy of an affidavit in which Bell testifies on behalf of Sarah A. Ruly for a widow's pension 3) A certificate issued by the Board of School Examiners of Ross County, Ohio, dated January 25, 1862, for Edgar R. Bell. 4) A certificate issued for the Board of School Examiners of Ross County, Ohio, dated March 8, 1879 for Brice Bell [son of Edgar Bell]. 5) A certificate issued by the Board of School Examiners of Ross County, Ohio, dated May 22, 1880 for Morris Bell [also son of Bell?]. 6) Two Army discharge documents, dated August 30, 1864 and May 1, 1866, for Edgar R. Bell. Condition: The letters have the usual folds; overall in good condition. HID03101242017