‘IF THIS REBELLION SUCCEEDS THE NATION IS RUINED’
Eighteen-year-old Robert Bradbury Jr. thought deeply about the fate of the United States in the summer of 1862. Bradbury was of legal age to serve in the military, and his devotion to the American Republic compelled him to enlist in Battery D, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery in late August 1862. Service with Battery D, a unit that had been organized for more than one year by the time of Bradbury’s enlistment, carried Bradbury to the most contested battlefields in Maryland and Virginia until he mustered out in June 1865. Although Bradbury came through the conflict physically unscathed, his wartime experience changed him. ¶ Decades after the conflict, Bradbury’s niece, Harriet, reflected on a conversation she had with her mother, Alice (Bradbury’s sister), about how the Civil War changed the artilleryman. Harriet recalled that “Robert…was a perfectly healthy boy and full of fun until he came back from the army. The life and food there affected his health. It was dreadful as you no doubt know.” Terms used on Bradbury’s Declaration for Invalid Pension in November 1890, “general debility, weakness, and nervousness,” coupled with the observations from family, indicate that Bradbury may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. ¶ Although adversely altered by the conflict, Bradbury carved out a postwar life. Four years after the Civil War, Bradbury married Margaretta Clinton Hart. The couple had two children, Robert Hart (born in 1870) and Mary (born in 1876). Bradbury supported his family in various ways after the Civil War. In addition to working as a clerk at John Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia and serving as a truancy officer, Bradbury earned additional income pursuing his life’s passion, writing.
In 1876 Bradbury worked as a correspondent for , a Boston newspaper, covering the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. He also served on the editorial staff. Among the pieces Bradbury contributed to the was a short story titled “A Dream,” which appeared in the May 1886 issue. The story, based on one of Bradbury’s haunting dreams, centered around a torturous experience where “thorns pierced…flesh” of human beings and Bradbury’s character “felt an irresistible impulse to join the other ghosts and wander like them.” Although difficult to interpret a dream, something certainly haunted Bradbury, perhaps the memory of his experiences as a soldier. ¶ Seven months before publication of “A Dream,” Bradbury joined Philadelphia’s E.D. Baker Post No. 8, Grand Army of the Republic. In addition to being active in the Baker Post, Bradbury enjoyed membership in the Pennsylvania Reserve Association. ¶ Bradbury died on September 30, 1909, after falling “from one of the top stories” of the North American Real Estate Trust Building in Philadelphia. As Bradbury plummeted to the ground, his body struck various obstacles. By the time Bradbury’s body reached the ground, it had been badly dismembered. One newspaper correspondent described the grisly scene: “In his shot like descent his body was torn apart…. The trunk was found hanging on the iron picket [fence] while the head and arms fell into South Watts Street…the remains were gathered up and carried to the morgue.” ¶ Investigators initially believed Bradbury committed suicide; however, interviews with family and coworkers cast some doubt. Bradbury’s son, Robert, 39 years old at the time, believed it accidental. Colleagues at the concurred when they informed investigators that Bradbury “had been reaching for a ledger on a high shelf and that the step ladder on which he stood had given way suddenly, throwing him headlong through the wide open window.” ¶ In the spring of 2019, Harriet Johnston, a Bradbury descendant donated dozens of letters, photographs, and other items related to Bradbury’s life to the care of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute. Twenty-nine wartime letters, all of which appear in the recently released comprise the collection’s core. The letters excerpted here—eight of which focus on the conflict in the Shenandoah Valley—represent only a small portion of the collection’s rich content. The only non-Valley letter included is Bradbury’s first wartime letter, wherein he explains his deep commitment to the Union war effort.
