MANLIUS — Author Sarah Tracy Burrows stopped by Manlius Library last month to speak about her great-great grandfather Col. Osgood Vose Tracy, a Syracuse-born abolitionist and Union officer in the American Civil War.
Serving as a lecture for the Manlius Informed Series, Burrows’ talk on Nov. 1 traced parts of her great-great grandfather’s life through the letters he wrote to his immediate and extended family members during the deadly conflict. Those letters appear in her book, “Yours Affectionately, Osgood,” which was edited with the help of Civil War historian Ryan W. Keating.
Burrows started the presentation with a nod to her maternal grandfather, crediting him as the person who first fostered her interest in history.
She said he would often lay out Osgood’s collection of 200 letters on a table along with other memorabilia from the Civil War like his bayonets, his rifle and a dried flower he picked up on a battlefield and sent home to his mother, also named Sarah.
“I thought his handwriting was the most beautiful I’d ever seen,” Burrows said. “I was drawn to the old paper and the idea that he had written in ink.”
While attending Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Burrows wrote her senior paper on those experiences with her grandfather. Wishing to one day publish the full collection of letters, she transcribed them onto her computer from the typewritten copies of the originals, and she depended upon historical associations, cemeteries and online research to answer further questions.
“I felt it was a sort of duty,” she said about her dream to publish the collection. “Sometimes it feels surreal honestly that it’s out there to educate others.”
Osgood enlisted in the 122nd New York State Volunteers in August 1862 and was appointed a sergeant major. He joined the war effort late out of concern for his widowed mother and the financial well-being of the rest of his family.
After training on what is now the New York State Fairgrounds, Osgood’s regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac’s Sixth Army Corps. He would go on to become a second lieutenant.
Through his three years of service, Osgood’s wartime letters mentioned the excitement of his sendoff in Fayetteville, his worry that his future wife Nellie would find another suitor, and his thoughts about his own great-grandfather, who had been the commissary of supplies for American troops during the Revolutionary War.
Osgood also wrote about the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, the extreme heat on the fields of Gettysburg, and his successful escape from a Virginia prison after being captured at gunpoint by a group of 20 Confederates.
“The letters Osgood wrote provide insight into day-to-day army life and the uncertainty men felt regarding their place as part of larger military campaigns,” Burrows said.
Osgood also had a younger brother, two cousins and an uncle who fought in the war. He later founded a coffee company that the Tracy family continued to run until about 1950.
For more information on where to purchase “Yours Affectionately, Osgood: Colonel Osgood Vose Tracy’s Letters Home from the Civil War, 1862-1865,” visit sarahtracyburrows.com.
Every installment of this fall’s Manlius Informed Series can be viewed on the Manlius Library YouTube channel.
