This letter was written after Roxana visited her family in Chicopee, MA. She writes to let Emily know that the piano has been delivered; how excited her children are waiting for the ""box"" of goodies from the north to arrive
Roxana writes of her recent trip north to Chicopee, MA; her husband's favorable impression of the north, especially ladies who work; return home; visiting Waverly, MS; complains of their sister Lucy Chapin not helping with household work enough;...
Secession; Homefront; Cobb, Thomas Read Rootes, 1823-1862; Gerdine, Thomas Cobb; Southern States -- Identity; Railroads; Communication;
Roxana writes of talk of secession; their step-mother Sarah Chapin; T.R.R. Cobb; Tom Cobb Gerdine; the feelings of southerners via the north; her desire to obtain reliable northern news; talks of the new railroad through West Point; and writes of...
Health; Secession; Homefront; Gerdine, Thomas Cobb; Cobb, Thomas Read Rootes, 1823-1862; Newspapers; Communication;
Roxana writes of the improvement in Lucy's health since her coming to Mississippi; talk of secession in surrounding areas; calling her son Tom Cobb ""a little black Republican"" the secession of Mississippi; her desire to read northern newspapers;...
Homefront; Communication; Gossip; Man-woman relationships; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Social aspects;
In this letter Lucy writes about her desire to know more of Chicopee, MA gossip; explains the lack of eligible men in the area due to the outbreak of the Civil War; and the effects of the Civil War in general upon Mississippi
Southern States -- Identity; Homefront; Confederate States of America; Hanging; Executions and executioners; Travel;
Roxana writes about the differences between northern and southern newspapers; explains what her family is doing on behalf of the Confederacy; the possibility of making Mr. Gerdine a Colonel; departure of Miss Eaton for Ohio; the dangers of travel,...
Roxana writes about the sickness of their sister Lucy [Lucy would die on March 21, 1862]; writes about the ban on the communication of war news north; says she is limited to only one page; tells her sister to direct her letters via Fort Monroe;...
Roxana writes about her worries over what to do with the remains of their sister Lucy who died on March 21, 1862 of tuberculosis and is then buried at the Gerdine plantation. Lucy's remains would not be returned to Chicopee, MA until after the...
Homefront; Cobb, Thomas Read Rootes, 1823-1862; Death; Travel; Families;
Roxana writes of the death of her good family friend Gen. Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb at the Battle of Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862); talks about her family and her worries over their father; talks about a possible trip north despite the war;...
Roxana writes about her extreme sadness over the death of her three year old daughter,""Pet,)(Emma Sarah Chapin Gerdine); mentions not receiving any mail from the family; and the difficulty of getting greenbacks
Roxana writes of wanting the image Emily has of ""Pet"" her daughter who died in on October 17, 1863; this letter was possibly written after the death of their father Titus Chapin in 1865 as Roxana speaks about division of assets; Roxana is clear...
Homefront; Crops; Legislation; Selma (Ala.); Confederate States of America. Army -- Social conditions;
Roxana writes about the ""Fall of Selma, [AL]"" [April 2, 1865]; talks of sons in service; describes how it was almost impossible to send mail through the lines now; her tiredness in feeding so many Confederate soldiers; a law passed by the...
Roxana writes in detail about what is happening in post-Civil-War Mississippi; freedmen; death of (daughter-in-law) Maddie (married to Joe Gerdine) and their baby; death of a freewoman's baby that morning; the sending of a former slave ""Aunt...
Roxana mentions that she is not so enthusiastic about travel as she gets older; they have rented out the plantation to freedmen; mentions the trend of plantation owners to rent out their plantations to freedmen; they pay with cotton for their rent;...
Confederate States of America. Army -- Social conditions; Health; Diseases; Confederate States of America. Army -- Recruiting and enlistment; Troop movements;
Thomas describing the health of the men, primarily Jonathan's illness and the frequency of disease amongst the troops, and the movement of the Company, divided between Jackson, TN & Columbus, TN. Finally, mentions the idea of reenlistment after his...
Travel; Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877); Gerdine, William Louis Crawford, d. 1878;
Joe writes to Roxana while she was visiting family in Chicopee, MA. He discusses the Mississippi gossip and mentions seeing quite a number of Confederate veterans recently (Col. Chalmers, Col. Sims, Col. Young). Joe also write about ""Pa"" in some...
Birth; Gerdine, Chapin McKinstry; Sykes, Robert Emmett;
Roxana writes of the birth of Chapin McKinstry Gerdine (August 7, 1870); also writes of the birth of Robert Emmett Sykes, son of Roxana's step-daughter Lizzie Gerdine Sykes
Roxana writes of the business surrounding her school. The letter is after 1870 because she mentions her niece (Emily's daughter) Carra Chapin, who was born that year. Roxana also writes in detail about several suicides of neighbors in the area
Crops; Pregnancy; Death; Sykes, Robert Emmett; Cholera;
Roxana is possibly pregnant with her fourth child, Lynn Van Horn Gerdine (b. 1873). She writes about the death of her step-daughter Lizzie Gerdine Sykes' son Emmett and she notes her son Chapin's reaction to the death. She writes of cholera...
