James Cornell Biddle (1835-1898) was born in Philadelphia, PA, the son of James Cornell Biddle Sr. and Sarah Caldwell Biddle, née Keppele. James entered the Faires Classical Institute in 1845 and then graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1853 with a career in civil engineering. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, James enlisted in the 17th Pennsylvania Volunteers for three-months service. Upon his discharge, he was appointed First Lieutenant in the 27th Pennsylvania Infantry, assigned to General Thomas Williams’ staff. In this role he was assigned to Fort Hatteras and by late 1862, he had received promotion to Major and was involved in the first Federal attacks on Vicksburg, Mississippi by Admiral David Farragut, where he was captured for a short period and exchanged.

By September of 1862, he was an aide to General James B. Ricketts’ division. On December 27, 1862, James married his long-time fiancee Gertrude Gouvernuer Meredith (1839-1905), daughter of William M. Meredith. In May 1863, he was assigned as an aide-de-camp to General George G. Meade, and would remain on his staff through the end of the war, participating in all the subsequent major campaigns till 1865. On August 1, 1864 he was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel and on April 9, 1865 was brevetted colonel for continuous service with Meade and the Army of the Potomac. With Gertrude, they had two daughters: Catherine Meredith Biddle (1865-1931) and Sarah Caldwell Biddle (1866-1930).

Unfortunately, we know less of Gertrude Biddle from the collection and other sources. She was the daughter of William Meredith, a prominent Philadelphia lawyer who served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Zachary Taylor and later as Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1861-1867. From her letters, she lives a generally comfortable, upper-class lifestyle that would be expected of someone from her social class. A large portion of the correspondence during the summer of 1862 is written from Atlantic City, New Jersey; this was likely a summer retreat away from the heat and diseases in urban Philadelphia. Gertrude is extremely well informed about the progress of the war, and often shares information she learns from larger newspapers with James. She has a sister Catherine Meredith, who sent her letters from Trenton, New Jersey.

External sources:

“From Yesterday’s Evening Edition,” The Daily Delta (New Orleans, LA), August 22, 1862, p. 1.

Charles J. Cohen, Memoir of Rev. John Wiley Faires, A. M., D. D., Founder and Principal of the Classical Institute, Philadelphia (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1926). pp. 83-85.