This collection contains two 1862 letters from William H. McDowell to his wife, Sarah McDowell, and a February 1865 letter from Sarah to her husband. The letters from William to Sarah were written on October 1 and October 3, 1862, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, while serving in the American Civil War. He describes camp life and food, Confederate and Union pickets sharing news and whiskey, and impending troop movements. The letter from Sarah to her husband dates to February 1865 and contains news of the war, its destruction in Danville (such as fires and thefts), and her hope that the war will end soon.