John T. Cuddy papers

John T. Cuddy (1844-1864) was the son of John and Agnes Cuddy of Carlisle. Not much is known about his early childhood. At the age of 16 he enlisted in a local Pennsylvania regiment as a drummer boy and thus entered the Civil War. The collection consists of correspondence between Cuddy and family back in Carlisle; there are 82 letters or letter fragments in the collection. There are very few gaps in the flow of the correspondence. The last letter is from Cuddy to his parents, dated May 1, 1864, in which he expresses his earnest desire to come home. He would not return home, however; Cuddy was captured by rebel troops at the Battle of Wilderness on May 5, 1864, and subsequently died as a prisoner of war at Florence, South Carolina, on September 29, 1864. Also included are two tintype portraits of Cuddy in uniform.