Archive of 3 autograph letters signed by Charles T. Simpers, 6th Maryland Infantry, to his wife, including: Harpers Ferry, Virginia, 20 February 1863. 4 pages, 4to, 7 ¾ x 9 ¾ in. (first page of bifolium h. 6 7/8 in.) -- Camp Keys, near Romney, Virginia, 15 May 1863. 2 pages, 4to, 7 ¾ x 9 ¾ in. Handwritten heading reading "Report of the Sick and Wounded of the 6th Md. Vols" upside down on letter verso, suggesting Simpers reused an unneeded medical document. -- Headquarters 6th Maryland Volunteer Infantry, 16 February 1864. 2 pages, 4to, 7 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.

Charles Simpers (also written ‘Sempers') of North East, Maryland enlisted as an assistant surgeon on 21 August 1862 and was commissioned into the 6th Maryland Infantry the same day. After this letter, he was captured at the Second Battle of Winchester while attending to the wounded on 15 June 1863. He was held as a prisoner of war at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia where he suffered from dysentery before his eventual release in November 1863. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to surgeon on 22 December 1863. It is somewhat ironic given his future as a POW, that in his letter of 15 May 1863 Simpers reassures his wife's fears: "The alarm manifested from not hearing from me is quite natural, but here after you may feel more easy when I apprise you of the fact that surgeons are seldom exposed and are required to keep themselves in places of safety, on account of the responsibilities devolving upon them." He continues his letter continues with a gruesome story of a mail carrier shot down by Confederate snipers and a lengthy tale of a skirmish redolent with admiration for his comrades' bravery.

In his 20 February 1863 letter, he writes to his wife with observations of a little girl in camp, who he apparently had considered previously to send to his family perhaps as a servant or companion. Here, however, he reconsiders: "In relation to the little girl I wrote to you about I think it will be better not to take her to North East, but for you to get Foreacre's daughter, as she appears to be well recommended. This little girl has been for some 16 months following the army, and of course has been exposed to all the vices incident to camp life, which are not a few, since writing to you I saw her in a pitched battle with a drummer boy and heard her use language such as I am particularly anxious none of our children should have used…I noticed she could swear like a trooper, and in addition could fight pretty well. I told the child's mother to day that you had suited yourself with a little girl, and the matter here will rest."

In his last letter, Simpers writes regarding the hiring of contrabands, providing details of the government's treatment of them: "The inquiry Father makes relative to getting servants from the Contrabands or escaped slaves, I will endeavor to give such information as will enable him to procure one or as many as he may want. The contrabands are taken to Washington, or near there: I think to the Arlington Farm across the Potomac River, where they are provided for by the Government, have rations and clothing issued to them: that would be the proper place to get them, as a selection can be made from all ages, classes, and conditions of the tribe. It is very seldom they come through this part of our lines, and when they do they are sent on to Washington before it is generally known. There are no negroes along our lines of the class referred to." He closes his letter informing his wife that he has made an application for a leave of absence and expressing his hope that it will be approved soon.

[Civil War, African Americana, African American History, Slavery, Abolition, Contrabands, Enslavement, Reconstruction, Union, Confederate, POW, Prisoner of War, Medical History, Manuscripts, Letters, Documents, Ephemera]