Civil War Last Sentiments: Dead Letter Office

During the Civil War years, hundreds of thousands of soldiers wrote letters home, many containing card-sized photos of themself. By the end of the conflict, thousands of letters and images remained undelivered at the Dead Letter Office in Washington, D.C. For decades after the war, the employees of the Dead Letter Office went to extraordinary efforts to return these images to a rightful recipient. Melissa shares photos from her collection of Dead Letter Office images and tells the touching story of these interrupted sentiments and the noble efforts by many to send them home.

Melissa A. Winn is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.