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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Allen Shortledge Letter, Ms2021-007, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The collection was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in September 2019.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Allen Shortledge Letter completed July 2021.
Allen Shortledge (1820-1899) was born in 1820 in York, Pennsylvania. He married Mary Ann Plumy and had a daughter named Ruth. They lived in the New Garden Township of Chester County at least until 1852.
As the American Civil War loomed, Shortledge enlisted in the First Delaware Regiment in Wilmington, Delaware, April 1861 as a private. After regimental reorganization in August, he was promoted to captain of G company. The regiment was first assigned to Camp Hamilton near Fort Monroe, Virginia. After fighting with the regiment through several campaigns, Shortledge was wounded by gunfire during the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. In July 1863, he transferred to the Veterans Reserve Corps (Invalid Corps).
Following the war, he recieved a pension and stayed in veterans' homes throughout the late 1880s and 1890s. He and is buried in Rockwood, Tennessee.
External sources:
"Capt Allen Shortledge" entry, FindaGrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10622870/allen-shortledge
Seville, William P. "History of the First Regiment, Delware Volunteers", page 51, Historical Society of Delaware, 1884 https://books.google.com/books?id=RlgVAAAAYAAJ&dq=capt+allen+shortledge&source=gbs_navlinks_s
"Chester County Tax Exonerations 1850-1865" entry, Chester County, Pennsylvania, https://www.chesco.org/DocumentCenter/View/12215/Tax-Exonerations-1850-1865-Q-Z?bidId=
"Allen Shortlidge in the U.S., National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938" entry, Ancestry.com, https://www-ancestrylibrary-com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/discoveryui-content/view/485537:1200
This collection contains a letter written by Captain Allen Shortledge of the First Delaware Infantry during the American Civil War. Writing to a friend, Shortledge advises that he enlisted and reviews news from Wilmington. Attached is two uncolored illustrations, the top is an engraved depiction of "Fortress Monroe, Old Point Comfort and Hygeia Hotel, Va". and below is an engraving of a "Map of Fortress Monroe and Surroundings" publilshed by C. Born in Washington D.C.
The guide to the Allen Shortledge Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).