Abraham Lincoln
When I saw Robin Richardson Gilbert reach into that beaten-up steamer trunk, it felt like she was opening an ancient family tomb. It contained the prized bequest she had received from her mother in 1993 – a tangible legacy that defined 180 years of family history. On the occasion of her son’s 4th grade show-and-tell she was persuaded to display a few choice items. Otherwise, she has kept its contents securely stored away in that old wooden trunk, patiently waiting to pass it on to the next generation.
But on that warm September afternoon in 2012 Robin was ready: it was high time for an airing out. With her husband providing humorous commentary, and their enthusiastic son helping his mother display the items on the dining room table, the venerable family pageant began. Her ancestors had emigrated to America in 1831 from County Tyrone during the Irish Diaspora, and they had put down deep roots as farmers in Salem Township, Knox County, Illinois. The oldest contents had come across the ocean with those hardy pioneers, and each succeeding generation had been sure to make their own unique contribution. It was jammed to the brim without a square to spare.
Out came the Victorian Era jackets, ancient scrapbooks, photographic tintypes, graduation robes, gold-rimmed glasses, property deeds, multiple diaries dating back to that first trip across the Atlantic, the worn family Bible, newspaper clippings of national triumphs and tragedies. The trunk seemed bottomless. And then I saw the letters.
When she brought forth the notebook containing the Civil War correspondence that her Great Uncle John H. Mathews (and his brother Thomas) had faithfully written to their younger brother William Watson Mathews (her great-grandfather), I was mightily impressed. Those carefully preserved letters began with Mathews’ first-hand account of the bloody Siege of Vicksburg, fought with the 77th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Her uncle John had been badly wounded during the assault on May 22, 1863, but he survived.
The letters traced the entirety of Mathews’ Civil War journey, from his long and difficult medical recovery to his service with the Volunteer Reserve Corps as a provost guard at the Point Lookout Prison in Maryland. The letters from Point Lookout include his powerful testimony about the difficult conditions at the notorious prison, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and his first-hand account of the subsequent search for John Wilkes Booth along the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. I asked Robin for her permission to post the letters here, and she agreed. Thank you, Robin.
— Clifford B. Davids (October 2012)
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The Navy Yard Bridge, looking towards the center of Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth used this bridge to escape by horseback after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865. (Photo ca. 1862)
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CONFESSIONS OF AN ORAL HISTORIAN 
I am part of the Galesburg, Illinois (Knox County) Civil War Round Table group that produces a weekly newspaper series on local soldiers for the Civil War sesquicentennial. I discovered the Mathews brothers’ letters on your website, and I want to ask permission to use all or part of the letters in an article. The stories run in the Sunday edition of the Galesburg Register-Mail.
Phil Reyburn
Permission granted! I look forward to reading your article.
Mr. Reyburn–I am so glad you found these letters written by my Great Uncle John H. Mathews. Cliff Davids has taken a collection of difficult to read, 150-year-old letters and coaxed out the amazing story of my uncle’s Civil War journey. His tale is no longer hidden away in an old wooden trunk, waiting to be told.
I hope your article finds a wide readership in the Galesburg area, and I hope that the letters here on the blog will be read and commented on by the descendents John H. Mathews.