As 2021 comes to a close I have great news for those that have been following along on the progress of the book. I was recently contacted by descendant of one of the 49th’s officers who had a massive trove of letters written during the war. He very kindly shared all of these with me and I have been working through the letters and transcribing portions of them that will prove useful in completing the book. In my March update I despaired of finding any further documentation relating to the 49th’s participation in the Mobile campaign and these letters will be a tremendous help in filling that gap.
I think that I now can feel good about finishing the book. Incorporating these letters into the existing manuscript will require some work, but I am thrilled to have to do it. I had completed the chapter on the Mobile campaign, but that will require significant revision. Work on the service of the 49th after Mobile until the regiments final muster out in August, 1865 had begun, but frankly, there is so little material that won’t take long to finish.
I have been in a bit of a quandary as to whether or not attempt to include a chapter that would basically discuss the post-war lives of the soldiers. Many did go on local and statewide prominence and I would say that Col. Dyer achieved some nationwide notoriety, but I question whether the paragraph or so that I might write about most of them would be of significant interest. So, that is yet to be decided.