A Writer's Journey: Finding the Letters T.W. Harvey

A Writer’s Journey: Finding the Letters

By T.W. Harvey

…continued from A Writer’s Journey #2 here

After my 12 mile run yesterday morning and some lunch, I took off to the family cottage in Rock Creek, Ohio, some 50 miles east of Cleveland Heights, with the crates sitting safely in the back seat of my dark green 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass. It always took an hour to get to the cottage, and it was a perfect early fall day with the sun shining brightly, the temperature about 70, and the Ohio State – Washington game on the radio. I’ve been a Buckeye fan for as long as I can remember, recalling that my Dad listened to the games back in the 1970s and, ever since, Saturday afternoons in the fall have meant listening/watching the Scarlet and Gray.

I arrived at the cottage a little after 2 and took the crates into the great room where I put them on the floor under the table we use for setting out the buffet we usually had on Saturday nights during the summer and at our annual clambake in October. Since it was such a great day weather-wise, I decided that the crates could wait and walked down the steps to the dock where I uncovered the boat, a 21 footer with a 150 HP Mercury

engine, and headed out to the lake. It was a beautiful day out there, not too many other boats and no chop in the water at all. Once out of the cove where the cottage was, I pushed the throttle down and let the engine scream as I sped south toward the dam about five miles south at the end of the lake.

After about half an hour, I pulled back into the cove and drove slowly toward the dock in front of the cottage. Securing the boat, I put the cover back on and walked up the path back into the cottage and poured a glass of ice tea. Now, it was time to see what was in the crates. First, though, I had to get the Ohio State game on the TV. Whew, they were ahead.

Sliding one of the crates out from under the table, I pried the lid loose from where Norm Fassbender had replaced it and opened the old box. Now, I knew there were some letters in the crates, but I didn’t know how many or what story they might tell. Gingerly, I lifted a handful of the documents out of the crate and placed them on the table, thinking that I should have archivists’ gloves on. You see, these documents had not see the light of day for 129 years, and I didn’t know how they would react to being touched or by sunlight. But, I decided to chance it, pulling the curtains closed and picking each one up with a tissue.

I had planned to spend the night as I did from time-to-time now that my folks were living at Judson Manor. That was a good thing on this day as I was transfixed by the letters and the minutes turned to hours. So, here’s what I found. By my count, there were 249 handwritten letters with their envelopes, all posted in the mid-1800s from places like Norwich, Ohio; Camp Zanesville; Fort Donelson, Kentucky; Shiloh, Tennessee; Winchester, Virginia; and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Many were addressed to Miss Francis Porter of Hopewell, Ohio and, later, of Clinton, Illinois and some to Mr. Jacob G. Armstrong of Norwich, Ohio. As I looked them over, I saw that they were written by Sergeant Thomas S. Armstrong and Sergeant George Porter whoever they were. But, in reading the letters, I figured out that Jacob Armstrong was Tom’s brother and that Francis Porter was George’s sister.

So, then I was getting really curious. I knew a little about the War of the Rebellion, the Civil War, if you will, and it occurred to me that maybe these fellows were actually in the war and were sending letters home about their experiences. But, who could tell me, for sure? And, why were they in the basement at my parents’ house in the first place? However, the one thing that was becoming clear was that there could be a connection between Thomas Armstrong and my father, Robert Armstrong Harvey.

What a day. I had found 249 letters from my relatives which I am now thinking might tell a story about the Civil War that had never been told before, and Ohio State won, 21 – 12 over Washington. It was getting dark, time to cook up a burger on the grill on the deck and have a cold one. There was another game on ABC, so it was time to put my feet up, have supper, and relax.

This morning, after a shorter run and breakfast, I drove straight to Judson Manor in Cleveland’s University Circle to ask my parents about the letters. Over lunch in the main dining room, neither one of them had any knowledge of the crates or their contents. Actually, they were quite surprised at the whole thing, but my Dad did give me some information that I hadn’t known. Sipping his coffee, he told me that Thomas S. Armstrong was his grandfather and also that he had never met him. His grandad had died in 1909, four years before he was born. He went on to say that his mother, Mae Armstrong Harvey, was one of four children of Thomas and Francis Armstrong.

Francis Armstrong??? Had Francis P. Porter married Tom Armstrong? Did that mean that George Porter was his brother-in-law?

Now, I am really interested in the story of my family in the Civil War, but my banking client, the Savings Bank of Utica, kept calling.

To see the Paula B. And Thomas W. Collection of Civil War Letters at Ohio Wesleyan Unversity's online archive, click here!

About Dr. Harvey

Dr. T.W. Harvey is a retired Associate Professor of Finance at Ashland (Ohio) University. He has published two books, Quality Value Banking: Effective Management Systems that Increase Earnings, Lower Costs, and Provide Competitive Customer Service, with Janet L. Gray, and The Banking Revolution: Positioning Your Bank in The New Financial Services Marketplace. Further, he had articles published in both practitioner and academic journals.

Dr. Harvey has always been fascinated by the history of the United States and was grateful to have the opportunity to study it in detail while researching and writing Seeing the Elephant: One Man’s Return to the Horrors of the Civil War.

He was born and raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He graduated from Hillsdale College with a BA in English, from Case Western Reserve University with an MBA in Finance, from Cleveland State University with a doctorate in management and strategy. He and his wife, Paula, reside in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

https://twharvey.net/