A photo of Chase.

It’s easy to think that people who lives 200 years ago – and who were involved in nation-altering events – were somehow different from you and me.

But the fact that we are is what makes studying history so fascinating to me.

In the wake of the Civil War, scholarship largely focused on the stories of the battles, generals on down to privates arguing in letters to the press – and each other – regarding battle logistics and troop placements and the ever-ending process hindsight and second-guessing.

Sure, those logistics are fascinating. They deserve to be studied.

But I am really starting to appreciate to a greater degree the words of those common men who served.

William Alexander. Sewell Martin. William Blodget. Theodore Chase.

It’s been a privilege to come across diaries and letters of these men from Warren County and use this space to share their stories, to tell of their sacrifices and to provide a narrative of world-altering events through the eyes of Warren County citizens like you and I.

Nothing reminds me more clearly that these men were like you and I than their surviving letters home.

The Chase Collection at the Warren County Historical Society contains five letters that Theodore Chase wrote home to his then-fiancee, Isabelle Melissa Penfield, who he would marry the same month he returned from his war service.

The first is dated Dec. 7, 1862 from near Bull Run.

After three paragraphs of the stories of camp life, his heart turns toward home.

“All right, I am always glad to hear from home, and especially to hear from the one I love so much,” he wrote, before launching into dialogue on who he has written to and who hasn’t responded.

“I just received from Frank Ames, from Mrs.. Matson, some sugar and tea. Tell her I will write to her in a few days. Tea is a treat in this very cold weather. The weather by the way is VERY cold. There is about two inches of snow on the ground…. I must stop and perform some duties. Please accept my love with these few lines. Give my respects to my friends. I will write again in a day or two. With love, Theodore.”

Evidently, Penfield was a teacher, and he writes to her about his prospects – and hers – in a lengthy post-script.

“I think it is very doubtful about our staying here a great while longer,” he wrote. “Yet there is always the possibility of staying all winter. You cannot expect me home this winter as far as I know. If something should happen that I could come I certainly would…. I am glad you are not going to teach where you thought of going. I shall feel all right about you now. Enjoy yourself and have pleasant dreams and sound repose.”

Two other surviving letters are dated June 9 and June 10 and were sent from the Georgetown hospital where Chase was admitted.

“In regard to coming home on a recovery furlough… I do not think the chances are favorable. In mid-winter, yes, with nothing much doing, but right now things are humming and there is a need for all of us who are able to help. That I hope right soon to be.

“I have taken, since I came, about 10 powders which have cleared up the dysentery, nausea, etc. Now I am taking three times a day a teaspoon full of quinine in a glass of water. That really does the work. If we had some in camp I might not be here at all. Tell anybody enlisting to get some quinine and take it with him.

“Get the idea of furlough out of your head – after all enlistment time is up on the 3rd of August for all of us.”

The following day, evidently in response to a letter from Penfield, Chase wrote “you speak of coming to the hospital to take care of me, Simmer down my girl. It would take some time to make arrangements, you could only see me afternoons and besides I would be out of here before you arrived. I am all right.

“Besides Belle, I want to stay with my company and do what I can.”

He reiterated that theme of duty in a June 14 letter.

“We just aren’t even thinking of trying to come home before the enlistment is up – so best forget it.”