Civil War letters written by Lewis Stafford of Grasshopper Falls, Kansas, to his girlfriend Kate Newland, also of Grasshopper Falls and later Lecompton and Topeka. Stafford served in Company E of the 1st Kansas Infantry as a Lieutenant and then a Captain. The regiment was formed at Fort Leavenworth. The headings on the letters are from various locations and give a sense of where his regiment was stationed. The locations include Fort Leavenworth, KS; Chillicothe, MO; Tipton, MO; Lawrence, KS; Fort Scott, KS; Fort Riley, KS; Trenton, TN; Corinth, MS; Grand Junction, TN; and on the Mississippi River. Almost all of the letters include expressions of his feelings for Miss Newland and he conveys his emotions about her quite eloquently. Many of the letters describe the movement of the regiment from this place to that, the social life (including mentions of drunkenness) in the Kansas towns where they are staying--particularly after pay was received, and rumors about where they would be sent. Others include his impressions of the areas through which they were traveling and details of his day-to-day military activities. Stafford died in a logging accident on January 31, 1863, at Young's Point, Louisiana.
![]()
