Transcribed below are more than 40 letters concerning more than a dozen Confederate soldiers who died at Gettysburg. Written between the soldiers’ families and Gettysburg physician J.W.C. O’Neal, the correspondence documents O’Neal’s efforts to help families locate, identify, exhume, and return the remains of their loved ones to the South.

Recently donated by descendants of Dr. O’Neal, these letters are now preserved in the collection of the Adams County Historical Society, a division of Gettysburg History.

To learn more about this collection and many other Gettysburg stories please join our email list, and visit Beyond the Battle Museum where several of the letters will be displayed in the near future. You can also learn more on our blog.

Reproduction of any of the materials found below is prohibited without the express permission of Gettysburg History.