1861-1865: The Civil War in Champaign County
As the Chapin-McNeil family letters continued to be written through the war years, their contents more deeply reflected the chaos and disorder facing the United States in the early 1860s. Their letters discuss the difficulties of the day, very often through the eyes of civilian women. Supply shortages were frequent, and letters would often arrive days or weeks later than intended. Though not directly on the front lines, the women left behind in the wake of the war faced many existential challenges.
Privation on the Home Front and the Front Lines
The lack of adequate nutrition was a widespread issue on both sides of the conflict while all available resources were diverted to the war effort. One Southern woman remarked that on the Confederate side, "To be rich during the War was considered a disgrace. Almost every person of note was suffering from poverty, and people were proud of it. Everyone gave freely to the cause" (Broidrick). The Confederacy was hit particularly hard by shortages, inflation, and the move to a largely bartering economy. The presence of the Union naval fleet on the East coast preventing the import of goods was an essential factor in securing the subsequent Union victory, as the majority of everyday goods used by civilians were imported internationally. This was due to the Confederacy's heavy focus on the production of cotton; it would eventually be their downfall.
For Mary (Chapin) Burt on the Union side, finding adequate food for everyone in her charge was of particular concern. Growing fresh produce played an enormous role in maintaining an economical and balanced diet to feed both her immediate family and the boarders on the homestead. Her letters discuss the state of the family garden, the lack of available help to maintain it and her property, and the difficulties of "[getting] any thing else green." Though it is doubtful Mary had a lot of knowledge about nutritional science, it is reassuring to learn that mothers of the day knew even then the importance of eating one's vegetables.
Enlisted men such as Oscar Chapin and E. Schwartze wrote home about the privations of military life, particularly in camp.
Lincoln in Illinois
President Abraham Lincoln gave his final speech in Illinois at the Tolono railroad station on February 11, 1861. The martyred president's comforting yet haunting words are today inscribed on a plaque at the site of his farewell address:
"I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, attended as you are aware with considerable difficulties. Let us believe as some poet has expressed it, 'Behind the cloud the sun is still shining.' I bid you an affectionate farewell."
The most startling era within the letters is the period following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as the Civil War drew to a bloody close. The family was profoundly affected by the sudden death of their president--as was much of the country at the time--and they even went so far as to mention Lincoln's death several times throughout their letters.
The End of the War and a Family Separated by Conflict
These letters are not the stories of officers who changed the course of the war by leading in battle, but the personal stories of a family fractured by the grim resolution of a centuries old conflict. There are, of course, tidbits of information about gruesome Civil War battles which are certainly interesting and relevant to the large-scale change that was in the works at the time. However, the participation of these historical figures in various Union regiments is not what makes this collection of letters remarkable or worth studying--the intrigue of the Chapin-McNeil letters lies within the evidently steadfast and persistent relationships that continue to remain despite a nationwide existential schism. Undoubtedly, there were other families with similarly strong connections that existed during the war; the Chapin-McNeils are just one example of this kind of persistence that had the fortune of being able to maintain correspondence that documented it.