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About this collection

This collection contains about 350 letters, mostly written by William Peck between 1850 and 1870. The letters are in the possession of Jane Leeson, of Portland, Oregon, who in 2011 gave the university academic rights to these letters in exchange for digitalizing them in order to preserve them for the future. Restricted for UP use only.

William Peck attended medical school and was a doctor in eastern and central Pennsylvania before the Civil War. Several years before the war broke out he decided to become a lawyer. When the war began, he joined a Pennsylvania Volunteer regiment as a Regimental Surgeon. He also served at times as Brigade Surgeon. He was in the Virginia Peninsula Campaign under General McClellan in the spring and summer of 1862 before resigning his commission. Peck married Jennie Tracy in the late fall of 1862. Peck had two brothers. One was an officer, who became a prominent judge after the war. The other was badly wounded (but survived) at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. Peck tried to re-enlist after Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1863, but could not be re-instated in his own position because of his earlier resignation. Peck provided medical supplies for the army in the later half of the war. Peck died in 1870. He and Jennie had no children. Jennie apparently did not remarry.

The bulk of the collection are William’s letters to Jennie. There are also a series of letters from Jennie to William, mostly in 1862. Following William’s experiences in 1863, there are a number of letters from various family relations.