About Dory & Morty Longwood

These letters were written by Pvt. Theodore (“Dory”) Longwood (1843-1877) and Sgt. Mortimer (“Morty”) Scott Longwood (1838-1913), the two youngest sons of Milo Longwood (1802-1883) and Rebecca Scott (1803-1882) of Aberdeen, Ohio County, Indiana. Indiana marriage records indicate that Milo married Rebecca Scott in May 1829 though it should be noted that death certificates of…

1862

The 7th Indiana was reorganized as a three years unit in the fall of 1861 and was mustered in 13 September. The regiment left the state at once for Western Virginia, and joined Gen. Reynolds’ command at Cheat mountain. It was engaged in the Battle of Green Brier, and then moved to camp near Green…

1863

During 1863, the 7th Indiana Regiment was engaged at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, losing slightly in both battles. It was also in the battle of Mine Run in November and went into camp at Culpeper where it spent the winter of 1863-64. Most of these letters were penned by Dory, first from the vicinity of Fairfax,…

1864

The 7th Indiana Regiment moved with the Army of the Potomac in the spring of 1864, being engaged at the battles of the Wilderness, Laurel hill, Spottsylvania, Po river, North Anna river, Bethesda Church and Cold Harbor, being under fire for eighteen days during these engagements and losing heavily. On June 16, it moved to…

1865

These letters were written by Dory to his family from Camp Chase, west of Columbus, Ohio. The camp was created during the Civil War initially as a place to gather, organize, and drill Ohio troops. It later housed a sizable Confederate prisoner population. Near the end and after the war, it was used to house…