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The Civil War Writings of
Stephen N. & Lydia Brooks
Richards
January 1864 – October 1865
With Supplementary text from
the Report of the Adjutant General of Maine
and
the American Battlefield Protection Program
Transcribed by
Mark Richards and Os Osgood
These writings are compiled from sources discovered in August, 1998 in the Andover, Maine home that Stephen and Lydia moved their family to in 1872. The home that Stephen and Lydia kept in Upton no longer stands. I have added segments from the Maine Adjutants General’s Report of 1865 concerning the movements of the 30th Maine Volunteers. Also, battle summaries of the Red River Campaign were taken from the American Battlefield Preservation Program website. (http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/bycampgn.htm)
The documents transcribed consist of about one hundred letters that were exchanged between Stephen and Lydia. Although we seem to have most of Stephen’s letters, some of Lydia’s are missing. As indicated in one of Stephen’s early letters, some were stolen while the regiment was marching in the Red River Campaign. Stephen also kept a diary, which he began in the spring of 1865. Lydia’s diaries cover the entire tenure of Stephen’s service. The letters and Stephen’s diary are in the collection of the Maine State Museum. Lydia’s diaries are in the possession of Mark Richards.
This publication is intended for the Richards’ descendants so that they may share in the legacy of this remarkable couple.
My great thanks go to Os Osgood and his wife who transcribed many of the letters and filled some gaps in the copies that I had.
Mark Richards
Egg Harbor, WI
October, 2020