Adjutant’s copy of a document detailing Mary Lynch’s permission for her teenage son, Thomas, to enlist in the 47th Massachusetts Infantry. A sobering relic of one mother’s decision and the difficult sacrifices made during wartime.

Worcester, [Massachusetts], 16 October 1862. 1 page. Reading in full: "I, Miss Mary Lynch, do hereby give permission to my son Thomas Lynch to enter the Army in the service of his country for the term of one year. Your humble servant, (signed) Mrs Mary Lynch.”

Thomas was 18-years-old when his mother gave him permission to join the Union Army. Apparently, the young soldier was not ready for army life, as he deserted from regimental headquarters at Camp Stanton in Boxford about a month later. Two years later, Thomas would try again- this time enlisting in the 56th Massachusetts Infantry. During his service, Thomas was wounded and captured during the Battle of the Crater in Petersburg, Virginia. He would die roughly six months later, succumbing to disease while in a Confederate prison.

Thomas was 20 years old.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Letters, Ephemera, Documents, Manuscripts]