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Norman C. Oelaney, a former social studies teacher at a Presbyterian Mission School in Sitka, Alaska, received his M.A. degree from Boston University and his doctorate from Duke. Whäe at Boston, he edited the letters of Private Charles Chase, printed below. Letters Of a Maine Soldier Boy NORMAN C. DELANEY Most soldiers of the Civil War wrote numerous letters home which revealed their feelings and opinions on daily or weekly happenings. Those letters which have been preserved help to give an intimate view of a portion of the war's activities. Even though many letters of both Northern and Southern soldiers have been preserved and published, each new set adds to our knowledge of the war and of its soldiers, since each collection reflects the individualism of the writer. Charles Chase, although only a private in the Union Army, was an intelligent youth who wrote lengthy and descriptive accounts of his experiences while separated from his family. He wrote good-naturedly about such occurrences as the worm-infested bread with which the soldiers were too often provided; his refinement was manifested by his disdain for incompetent officers, ignorant Negroes, and North Carolina womanhood. Charles's army career covered a two-year period (August, 1862, to June, 1864) and took him up and down the Carolinas before his participation in the Virginia Campaign of 1864 and his death at Cold Harbor. Here, excerpts of Charles's letters are printed as they were written almost a century ago. The majority of his letters still in existence are those he wrote to a brother, Roscoe, and a sister, Abbie, who were only a few years older than Charles and hence closest to him. The collection of Chase letters includes three letters written by Charles Chase between 1860 and 1864, one letter from Roscoe to Abbie (December, 1862), another from Abbie to Roscoe (August, 1862), and four from men associated with Charles during his lifetime, but written after his death. 45 46N OHM AN C. DEL ANE Y The last-named include the official death notice, written by Lieutenant Walter Keith of Company D, 23d Regiment, and condolences to the Chasefamily by Charles's minister (Alonzo Miner), his former employer (Hezekiah Chase), and his best friend (Sylvanius Small). The Chase story had its origins many miles from the Virginia battlefield where it ended for Charles. He was born July 18, 1841, in the peaceful little community of Buckfield, Maine, son of Thomas and Esther (Daggett) Chase. Thomas Chase, Charles's father (born in Buckfield, June 6, 1808), was a sixth-generation descendant of Aquila Chase, an early Maine explorer and settler, and the son of Rev. Nathaniel Chase, an early Buckfield settler.1 The land pioneered by Nathaniel Chase became the family homestead , where Charles Chase and his eight brothers and sisters were all born andraised. The early yearsspent on thefarm lefta great impression upon Charles, as is evident from the nostalgia he felt later while away from Buckfield. It was here that the corn huskings, apple bees, and hay rides interrupted the not unhappy routine of school and farm chores. Buckfield was (and is) an isohted community far from the tensions of North-South rehtionsand the burningslavery issue of the 1850"S. Of Charles's early years, what is now known can be gathered only from inferences in later letters. His father's leadership in the newly formed Republican party undoubtedly had an effect on Charles's strong Unionistsentiments. In 1855 Thomas Chase became thefirst Republican representative in the legislature from Buckfield. (Thomas was also elected several times to the Board of Selectmen, officiating as chairman in 1861, as well as to other town offices.) In 1860 Charles was a clerk at a wholesale boot, shoe, and leather concern in Boston—Chase, McKinney and Moors (20-22 Pearl Street)2— for he had decided that an ambitious young man should not remain on the farm. This was a big step for a boy still in his teens to have made. Others in the family, aside from the farmers, were engaging in the tree business, and Charles must have done a great deal of speculation as to the direction his future should...

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