This collection contains the letters of John C. Forbes, a Civil War veteran and native of Rome Township, Bradford County, PA. Forbes served successively with the 50th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers and 15th New York Engineers from September 9, 1861 until his second discharge in June 1865. A veteran of both the Siege of Fort Pulaski and the Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam, Forbes’ service mainly involved the construction of fortifications, earthworks, or infrastructure projects.

While professionally trained as a carpenter, Forbes also contributed to the running of a family farm located in Rome, Pennsylvania. Following the Civil War, Forbes moved to Michigan (1873) in order to look for work, which he appears to have found in Fife Lake Township, Grand Traverse County, MI. Forbes would spent the next eight years in Michigan, before returning to Pennsylvania and his family in 1881. Many of the correspondences with his wife, Lydia J. Forbes, depict a relationship in which John Forbes’ lengthy absences from home left his wife in sole charge of the daily operation of the farm and running of the household.

A number of journals and account books detail Forbes’ wartime and farm experiences, respectively, and provide a reflection of how Civil War veterans adjusted to the post-War economy and society.