DEAD LETTERS
nteresting article about dead letters and photos. I had 14 relatives including four great-great-grandfathers who served the Union. I have a photo for two of them, but in old age. I have service records for 13. One was an 18-year-old nephew of my great-great-grandfather, George Blakesley. In his file was a blunt letter from his mother telling him to come home as his father was dying and there was no one to take care of the estate. It was sent from Potter, Yates Co., N.Y., on December 16, 1864. Her son wrote a letter from his hospital in Alexandria, Va, to the adjutant general in Washington, D.C., December 24, 1864, asking for a leave based
