08/28/2026
A Time Traveler Explores Letters, Diaries, And Journals In Historic Red Hook’s Archives, Part One. "On July 28, 1863, Thomas Fraleigh of Red Hook wrote the following letter to his wife Hannah:
Dear Wife,
You must be very anxious by this time to here [sic] from me as to my welfare. We are now after a long series of marches in which we’ve passed through Maryland and Pennsylvania and are now in Virginia how different the soil is. Here everything wears a poverty stricken aspect farms——-(indecipherable) house built of logs and with large stone chimneys on the outside. The homes are small and most all of the houses have been burnt and riddled by the Rebels.
He went on to describe the illnesses of his regiment possibly due to “the last week we’ve had awful water muddy and scarce fit for a horse to drink.”
To continue reading this blog post by Nancy Bendiner, visit the HRH website:
https://www.historicredhook.org/blog/letters-diaries-journals-1
Nancy is a longtime member of Historic Red Hook and a dedicated volunteer with its Collections Committee. In this two-part article, she explores letters, diaries, and journals preserved in Historic Red Hook’s archives, using the words of past residents to illuminate wartime experiences, family life, work, community, and the changing ways people have communicated across generations.
