Civil War Letters of
Thomas Leander LaRue


The following are the civil war letters of Thomas Leander LaRue of Metz, Indiana.  "T.L." was the son of John LaRue and Lydia (Hoose) LaRue.   They settled in the area of Metz and Fish Creek in 1840.  They madetheir way from Cayuga County, New York in 1837 and lived in Lenawee County,Michigan from 1838 until moving to Steuben County in 1840.

Thomas was John and Lydia's youngest son and the only son left at home at the time of the civil war.  Thomas' older brother, John William,fought in Company A of the 29th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers earlierin the war.

Thomas was born at Metz in 1845 and joined Company A of the 44th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers on March 18, 1864 in Indianapolis.  After spending his entire military career in Chattanooga, Tennessee hedied of pneumonia on March 10, 1865 and is buried in the military cemeteryat Chattanooga.

The letters reside in the pension files located in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and were retained in connection with the pension applications of Thomas' parents.

Please excuse Thomas' spelling, punctuation, and syntax.  I havecorrected a few details but generally left things as written.  Dashed lines represent indistinct text or handwriting too difficult to decipher. 

April 8, 1864
May 16, 1864
June 15, 1864
August 10, 1864
September 15, 1864
September 21, 1864
October 20, 1864
December 25, 1864
January 9, 1865
February 17, 1865


Submitted By: Barry LaRue
blarue@umich.edu