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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC00686.20 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of the Van Valkenburgh family |
| Title | Franklin Butler van Valkenburgh to his wife describing a visit to Arkansas |
| Date | 11 June 1865 |
| Author | Van Valkenburgh, Franklin Butler (1835-1924) |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Written part in pen, part in pencil. Reports on conditions in the South after the Civil War. Frank was travelling to Arkansas to help his twin brother Gerrit who was in trouble with the law. Says he knows he wrote recently, but since he is stuck in "this God forsaken hole" he is going to write another. Mentions meeting a Confederate soldier who thought he was his twin brother Gerrit. The former soldier was released from prison the week before and Frank relates his story. Reports that many people know his twin brother Gerrit. Says "they say Warren [Arkansas] never saw so exciting a time as was the Evening of Ger's arrival there, & that if I say I am his brother at Pine Bluff it will secure for me Every attention." People told him that Gerrit has lost everything and looks pale and wan. Says "Confed soldiers are thick as mush, some of the officers, whose acquaintance I have made are gentlemanly & intelligent - They all say 'we are whipped, & it only remains now for us to do the best we can & try and make ourselves good Citzens'" Mentions that "the niggers Just Kill me ... The little nigs are almost as thick as the Mosquitoes." Says he helped four black children get passage to Illinois to find their father and brother, who joined the army, at the Illinois central depot. Says they were very grateful and that one yelled from the boat "that If Ever I needed assistance he would come if it was 20 miles to help me." Says the river flooded the land 40 miles around it and that many houses still show evidence of the damage. |
| Subjects | Reconstruction Civil War Children and Family Law Prisoner of War Military History Confederate States of America African American History African American Troops Contrabands Immigration and Migration Disaster Travel |
| People | Van Valkenburgh, Gerrit |
| Place written | Mouth of White River, Arkansas |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Women in American History; Children & Family; Health & Medicine; African Americans; Reconstruction; Law |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Additional Information | Gerrit was the only one of the five Van Valkenburgh brothers who eventually sided with the Confederacy. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |