Autograph letter signed by Sgt. John M. Brubaker, Co. E, 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, to his friend Samuel N. Hamilton, Co. L, 3rd Indiana Cavalry and Col. A, 8th Indiana Cavalry. Headquarters, Halifax, Pennsylvania, 22 January 1865. 2 pages, folio, 7 3/8 x 11 7/8 in. With original envelope and red 3-cent postage stamp.

A fascinating letter from the home front written by recently discharged cavalryman, John M. Brubaker, to a friend who was still serving in the army. Brubaker was a teacher from Dauphin County, PA, and enlisted on 3 September 1861 as a sergeant into Company E of the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Now home after his discharge from service on 24 December 1864, he laments no longer receiving his army pay: "When I came home I drew one hundred & sixty-nine dollars from Uncle Samuel's Treasury and by golly it is all gone. So if you want to live cheap stay in the army."

In explicit detail, Brubaker then shares his experience with women since returning home from war: "There is one thing certain friend of mine, Love is a great institution here in the north. Every little Miss who has fairly entered her teens considers herself pretty able to understand the nature of the passion and as a matter of course bear its fruits. To cut a long story short, fucking is the order of the day now for nearly every woman is a soldier's widow and consequently her husband being shot or dies in Hospital. She is privileged to use her personal property as she pleases and [cunt] being of that order every one must find food for it. But Sam such language maybe does not suit your taste. If so excuse me for I know not what else to remark on besides the increasing depravity of the human heart. Mine expands under the influence of Love like the tiny rose bud into the splendid flower under the fiery beams of the Summer Sun."

An additional fascinating feature of this letter is a poem is written on the verso of the envelope, playfully suggesting that women should kiss one another instead of men: "Men scorn to Kiss among themselves / And scarce would Kiss a brother. / But women want to Kiss so bad, They Kiss and Kiss each other. / A lady wrote: / Men do not Kiss among themselves / And it's well that they refrain. / The bitter dose would vex them so, / They would never Kiss again. / As sometimes on poor woman's lips / Applied the nauseous lotion, / We have to Kiss among ourselves / As a counteracting potion."

Letters discussing sex and sexuality in such a frank manner are exceedingly scarce.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Sex History, Queer History, LBTQ+, Gay History, Lesbian History, Letters, Manuscripts, Ephemera]