The guide to the Massachusetts Civil War Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).

This item had been donated, accessioned, and originally cataloged as the "Civil War Homefront Letter." An examination of the contents suggested that "Massachusetts Civil War Letter" would be a more appropriate title for the item. The writer mentions Camp Stevens at Groton Junction, a locale in Massachusetts. Elsewhere, the writer indirectly mentions people that would be associated specifically with Lancaster, Massachusetts. She notes the activities of a "Mr. Symmes" and "Eddie," both associated with a local bank. According to the obituary of Edmund C. Whitney (1837-1897) of Lexington, Massachusetts, Whitney served as assistant cashier in the Lancaster Bank, working under cashier C. T. Symmes. Elsewhere, the letter hints that the name of "Eddie's" wife was "Nellie," who had a connection to Nashua [New Hampshire]. Edmund C. Whitney was married to Cornelia Sheppard, whose family lived in Nashua.

Both this letter and the letter in Ms1989-088 (Lancaster, Massachusetts Civil War Letter) seem likely to have been written to Cyrus Henry Merrick (1829-1914), brother of Spencer R. Merrick. The letters were acquired from the same source on the same day. The writer twice mentions the name "Spencer" and seems to refer to the intended recipient at one point as "Mr. M."