A COLLECTION OF CIVIL WAR LETTERS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS. A fantastic cache of 304 letters primarily covering the period of 1840's-1860's against the backdrop of Louisville and Lexington Kentucky. Letters are presently contained in archival envelopes and two acid free boxes and are for the most part in good to very good condition. Read chronologically these letters unfold in a manner of a novel. The letters tell the story of the long, drawn out courtship of Miss Castleman and her fiancé‚ A.Z. Boyer. The setting for the story is Kentucky in the 1840s, 1850s, 1860s and 1870s. The key to the story is the one character who has no voice, Martha Peyton Castleman. She proves to be a fascinating woman who is revealed to the reader through the words of the people who care for her. The earliest letters are to her fiancé's mother, Zerelda Boyer, which give a unique insight to Kentucky in the 1840s. The woman is often lonely with her husband off on one project after another. There are also letters from her mother and father when young Martha left home for school. There is also one letter from her schoolmaster to her father in which he expresses gratitude for the opportunity of having her as a student. The majority of the letters, however, are from her fiancé, A.Z. Boyer. The two were childhood sweethearts, cousins in Kentucky, who become unofficially engaged in 1857 but do not wed immediately. Martha will not marry a poor man, and does seem to enjoy the attention of many potential suitors. A.Z. Boyer is a hard working store clerk, drummer and bookkeeper who also enjoys the company of the young ladies in Kentucky, especially those who attend the school run by Col. Hodges. Their courtship continues for years but it is not until he returns from service in the Civil War that they actually marry. Martha also receives letters from a Mr. R. Oliver, a friend of A.Z. Boyer. Oliver is a well read, well educated man who fills his letters with literary references and poetry. He claims to be but a friend but his letters show a romantic side as well. She also receives letters from her brother, Bushrod "Bush" Castleman, a passionate young man with an eye for the ladies. Martha's story is set within the surroundings of Kentucky in the years before, and during the Civil War. Kentucky was a border state, a divided state. Martha and her parents sided with the Union but young brother, Bush, was a Confederate from the start. A.Z. Boyer was a Union man until President Lincoln called for the troops to subdue the Southern rebellion and then Boyer goes with the South. Mr. Oliver was present at the Democratic Convention of 1860 that broke the party in two rival factions. Students of the war will find interesting insights on the importance of slavery as a primary reason for the conflict. A.Z. Boyer, Bushrod and Oliver all agree that "nigger thieves and abolitionists" are the greatest danger to the South and must be resisted. April 21, 1861 "...but of one thing I am perfectly certain, never will one of those contemptible wooden nutmeg Yankees march over our soil against the South if my feeble arm can prevent him." "What do you think about the Dutch and Irish joining the North to shoot down native born citizens. I am in the hopes that every planter will train his niggers to shoot down the invaders. " Louisville April 22, 1861, "The people of Baltimore ought not to have left the soldiers pass though their town they ought to have shot them from the windows of their houses. What right have nigger thieves to our soil. " Louisville Friday evening May 24, 1861, "...Col Ellsworth of the N.Y. Fire Zouaves was killed after taking the Southern flag from the staff at Alexandria by a man by the name of Jackson who was immediately riddled with bullets. Everything signals the open of hostilities immediately in earnest, when it will end God only knows! The South will stand her ground to the bitter end." The letters to Martha written during the war (approx. 40) are worthwhile. Brother Bush was captured at the Battle of Fort Donelson in the winter of 1862, and A.Z. Boyer was captured as a member of John Hunt Morgan's raiders. Both serve time in Union prisons and still send letters to Martha while in prison. Boyer's stay is a bit longer than others because it is not clear if he is held as a political prisoner or a military prisoner. He has to appeal for assistance to prove that he was a serving officer in John Hunt Morgan's command. Military prison Sept. 24, 1863, "Oh this miserable place, I believe I will go mad think this is the best place to conquer a man that I have ever seen." The overall strength of this collection lies in the collection itself, over 300 letters (the majority with the original envelope), often two or more a month, that describes life in Kentucky; the importance of family, social occasions, politics, war, courtship patterns, and the day to day struggles of ordinary people. Reading the letters in the order which they were written allows the reader to be there with these people as they come of age in a rugged, war torn land.