The McClelland Civil War Letters: A Pittsburgh Family from 1861 to 1865 by Betty Bettencourt Dodds

Abstract

Betty Bettencourt Dodds's The McClelland Civil War Letters: A Pittsburgh Family from 1861 to 1865 is a fascinating account of the personal experiences ofa Civil War-era family from our city. The two oldest sons in the McClelland family-22-year-old Tom, who traveled west to the future territory ofAriwna with the Sonora Exploring and Mining Company in early 1861, and 19-year-old John, who enlisted in the Union Army as a private with the Hampton Battery F Independent Pennsylvania Light Artillery-are the two main letter-writers. Dodds includes a few letters written by their parents, James (an Irish immigrant and business owner) and Elizabeth Black McClelland. Most of the topics of discussion, however, have to be gleaned from the young men's correspondence with their parents or younger siblings at their home in Pittsburgh's Lower Hill District