The Civil War letters of Albert Smith to his fiancée, Emma Cummings, provide a firsthand record of how romantic love was sustained during wartime. Preserved in the Shirley Brown Collection (2018.25), the correspondence documents Smith’s service with the 8th Massachusetts Light Artillery in 1862 and his ongoing relationship with Emma Cummings during that period.
Smith wrote to Emma frequently from camps in New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. His letters make clear that her correspondence played a central role in his ability to endure military life. Writing from Fairfax Seminary in July 1862, he explained:
“I never wrote letters with so much pleasure, as I have, to you, since I have been away. Now, I know, that what I write is appreciated. I hope I shall continue to receive such sweet, loving letters as I have, so far. They are the best medicine a soldier can take. They go to the right spot.”
Smith’s letters are often sentimental and emphasize the reassurance he drew from Emma’s correspondence during periods of danger, fatigue, and constant movement.
Smith kept Emma’s letters and her small tintype in the pocket of his jacket, rereading them during quiet moments and while standing night guard. After surviving a serious railroad accident in June 1862, in which he was thrown from a train into a canal, Smith wrote that his greatest distress came from believing these items had been lost:
“The jacket I care nothing about… but in the pocket were your letters and miniature. I would give the jacket away for the sake of them.”
When he later recovered them, his relief was immediate. Writing from Washington only days later, he told Emma:
“I had the good fortune to find my jacket, this morning, with your letters and picture. The letters were wet, but the miniature is just as good as ever, and looks ten times as pretty… You can’t think how I missed it.”
(Emma Cummings, tintype portrait, c. 1860s. Referenced in Albert Smith’s Civil War letters.
Shirley Brown Collection (2018.25.)
Throughout the correspondence, Smith repeatedly connected the hardships of military service to his attachment to Emma. Writing from Virginia in August 1862, he described nights spent on guard duty and the isolation of army life:
“Whenever I turn in before I go to sleep, I begin to think of home, and darling Emma. You are ever in my thoughts. I pity any young man in the service, who has not a sweetheart to correspond with. It is a great blessing. I could not feel content without it.”
Albert and Emma married in 1863 and settled in Natick, continuing the affection evident in their letters. Albert worked as a shoemaker and carpenter and built the family home at 9 Waban St. As their family grew, he later helped build a house for their son at 10 Pitts St., an adjacent lot, allowing family members to live in close proximity. Albert and Emma raised ten children and remained in Natick.
Readers can explore selected letters, photographs, and additional context from the Shirley Brown Collection on the Natick Historical Society’s website.
Albert Smith built my house at 37 High Street in Natick in 1886. He built the house for William C Maynard, a fellow Civil War Veteran. I confirmed this information from a Natick Bulliten article from October 1886. Joe Hladick