The Many Social Selves of an Indiana Soldier David W. Voyles, M.D

Abstract

Archivist and Civil War historian Stephen E. Towne introduces the edited letters of Dr. David W. Voyles, Assistant Surgeon for the 66th Indiana Infantry Regiment, to his wife Susan. Voyles wrote the letters from early in his enlistment in fall 1862 until his mustering out for health reasons in early 1864. Towne examines the social selves that Voyles exhibits in his letters, among them the spouse, father, soldier, moralist, and patriot. Towne also considers Voyles’s letters written before and after his military service, held in the National Archives and the Indiana State Archives, which show Voyles as an ambitious and proud professional, and as a politically motivated government informant, seeking to expose Democratic conspiracies on the home front.