Edmund H. Downs at the age of fifteen enlisted from Richland County, Wisconsin on May 10, 1861, as drummer in Co. H, 5th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. In this collection are seven letters from him in the period from October, 1861 to April, 1862 when he was stationed in camps in Virginia. Although his correspondence was brief and often filled with family trivialities, it contains occasional noteworthy glimpses of army life, such as descriptions of the construction of the tents, a plea for socks from home to replace the ones of poor quality issued by the government, the soldiers' constant eagerness for mail, the fatigue from marching through rain and mud while he carried both a heavy pack and a drum. He frequently mentioned illness among the troops, and finally he himself became a victim of disease, from which he died in July, 1862, at Harrison's Landing, Virginia.
William Harrison Downs (father of Edmund), enlisted from Richland Center on July 23, 1862, as Quartermaster in the 25th Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Because of poor health he resigned September 17, 1864. When he entered service, he left his wife as postmistress in Richland Center, and his letters show constant concern for her welfare and that of their five daughters.
From September 24 to November 24, 1862, his letters were written from Minnesota, where the 25th Regiment was sent following the Sioux Indian outbreak of the preceding summer. Late in November, the Regiment received orders to go to Cairo, Illinois. As there are no letters for almost two months, the details of this journey are lacking, but Downs was separated temporarily from his group by business. Early in March, 1863, he rejoined them at Columbus, Kentucky, where they spent the next three months with the exception of a brief interlude near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In June, the troops were moved south towards Vicksburg, then under siege, and in August, they were transferred to Helena, Arkansas. Downs was in such poor health that his participation in the campaigns was slight, and he did not accompany his regiment into Alabama and Georgia in the summer of 1864. He rejoined the group in September for three days of combat, but decided to resign when he was again put on the sick list.
Because of the recurrent periods of illness suffered by W. H. Downs, and perhaps partly because of the family nature of the letters, there are comparatively few comments on prominent figures or events. Some exceptions include his opinion of Pope's strategy in sending troops to Minnesota, personal observations of Vicksburg after its capture by Union troops, accounts of the fortification and destruction in Decatur, Alabama, and remarks on General Sherman's campaign and the fall of Atlanta. As quartermaster, Downs had considerable interest in army supplies, and he frequently described to his wife his meals, his clothing, his living quarters, and his hopes of personal profit, first from his position as purchaser of cattle and other provisions, and later from cotton speculation as a sideline in the South. The letters contain ample testimony of the prevalence of disease--smallpox, measles, cholera, and other ailments--among the soldiers, and interesting information on prevailing treatments. Other social aspects of camp life are also mentioned, and there are occasional scattered references to other Wisconsin men whom he and his family knew in service or at home. As a whole, this entire collection of letters contributes more of value and interest for a study of social conditions in the Union Army during the Civil War than for military or political history.
