Biographical Note

In the decade following the Civil War, the Umbarger family moved from Jonesville in Lee County, Virginia to Cass County, Indiana. Lee County, VA, was founded in 1793 and named after former Virginia Governor “Light Horse Harry,” who was the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee; the Umbargers left this county because of the lack of work opportunities.

The letters of Martha or “Mattie” Umbarger to her brother represent a large portion of this collection. She was born in 1857 in Tennessee. At the time of the 1880 US Census, she was 22 years old and resided in Deer Creek in Cass County, Indiana. One of her hobbies was writing poetry.

Martha’s father, Jonas Umbarger, was born in 1822 in Virginia. He was a farmer and married to a native of Tennessee. Despite his southern origins, he was a Union supporter during the Civil War, but disliked both Negroes and abolitionists.

John D. Umbarger was a 2nd Sergeant in Company G of Virginia’s 64th Mounted Infantry; later, he was a prisoner of war. John enlisted in the Confederate army on August 3rd, 1862. He became briefly ill in June of 1863 and was given his sergeant status on May 16th, 1863. On September 9th, 1863, he was taken as a prisoner of war at Cumberland Gap. On the 24th, he was transferred to Camp Douglas, where he stayed until he took the oath on June 15th, 1865.

Camp Douglas, where John was incarcerated by the Union army, was located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1861, it originally was a training camp for Union soldiers, but was hastily adapted into a Confederate prison in 1862. Conditions were poor in terms of sanitation, camp construction, and weather. By the end of the war, about 26,060 total rebels were imprisoned, 4,000 of which perished.

1880 United States Census, Deer Creek, Cass County, Indiana; p.469A, Umbarger; familysearch.org; 1254268.

Karamanski, Theodore J. "Camp Douglas." Encyclopedia of Chicago. Web. 06 Oct. 2010. /www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/207.html>.

Weaver, Jeffrey C. 64th Virginia Infantry. The Virginia Regimental Histories Series. Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard, 1992. Print.

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