The Letters of Joseph Cooper Babb

Gratiot Street Prison Image Courtsey of UNC Chapel Hill

The following letters, transcriptions, and sketches are taken from Dear Father and Mother, The Civil War Letters of Joseph Cooper Babb as published by the Walters-Boone Country Historical Museum in connection with the Boone Country Historical Society.

These letters and sketches are the work of Boone Country resident and confederate solider Joseph Cooper Babb while hospitalized as a prisoner of war in the St. Louis area.

The dates of the letters range from December 13, 1862 when Babb first informs his parents of his hospitalization at the Gratiot Street prison, through his transfer to Johnson's Island Smallpox Hospital, outside of St. Louis, and culminating in Martin C. Flynt's April 4, 1863 letter informing Babb's parents of his death.