The following letters were transcribed to the internet by myself, Tim Witting of Weaverville, California. I have no family connection with the Van Raalte's but let me tell you how I was inspired to do this by the Great Great Granddaughter of Benjamin Van Raalte.

I belong to a group called the "Reenactors of the American Civil War" (RACW) and we reenact Civil War battles and perform "Living History" scenarios in our camps all over far northern California.
In August of 1999 we were invited to do an event at the Downriver Blackberry Festival in Big Bar California. During this event a lady named (waiting for her permission to use her name) brought copies of the letters you are about to read. She brought medals and other items that belonged to her Great Great Grandfather Benjamin Van Raalte to show to the members of our group. She and I talked and she offered to make copies of the letters for the company I belong to, the 72nd New York Volunteer Infantry Company C. A few weeks later she made good on her promise and called me to say the copies were ready for me.
I wanted as many as possible to be able to read these historical letters so I began to type them to the internet.

Read, enjoy, and think about the men who served during a difficult time in our history.
Click here for a roster of the men and officers of the Van Raalte's regiment, the 25th Michigan Infantry, Company I. You can match names referred to in the letters with names on the roster and gain even more insight as to things Benjamin and Dirk tell their family about.
Click here for a little background on the Van Raalte family that I put together from research on the WEB

Comments by C. L. Jalving:

The following letters were written by Benjamin Van Raalte while serving in the Western Union Army. He was born at Ommen, Netherlands May 8, 1840 and died at Holland Michigan August 14, 1917. The old homestead still stands at E. 16th Street, Holland, Michigan.

These letters were translated from the Dutch by C. L. Jalving, Holland Michigan in 1952 at the request of his daughter Julia Christine Reimold. Upon her death in late 1952 they passed on to her son, Orlando S. Reimold II who in 1967 graciously permitted them to be used by the Western Michigan Historical Committee as they saw fit. Four additional letters were found and these were translated in 1967. All have been arranged in chronological order and numbered and corresponding numbers on the translations.

Six letters were located by Mr. Reimold in 1968 and have been indexed

Benjamin Van Raalte

INDEX
Written from:

1. Camp Jewett
2A. Camp Jewett discovered in 1968
2. Camp Jewett
3. Louisville KY.
4. Bowling Green KY.
5. Bowling Green Ky.
6. Bowling Green Ky.
7. Bowling Green Ky.
8. Louisville Ky.
9. Newcastle Ky.
10. Camp near Jericho
11.Eminence, Ky.
12.Shelby County, Ky.
13. Camp Finley, Eminence, Henry Co. Ky
14. Camp near Lebanon, Ky
15. London, Tenn.