No matter who we are or what we do, eventually all that’s left behind are memories. Once people pass on, only their legacy remains. This might be one of the reasons why so many museums exist, in order to preserve the history of humanity. Furthermore, perhaps museums exist so that we will always remember where we came from, what happened ages ago, and in some cases so that history won’t repeat itself. Unfortunately, certain moments end up lost to time, never remembered. However, every now and again, a previously undiscovered historical item pops up, giving us new insight. And sometimes, these items turn up in the most unexpected and unusual ways.
No one could have predicted what happened in a simple Michigan post office in 2015. A mystery letter arrived at the post office that no one could explain. Soon, investigators, higher-ups at the United States Postal service, and even the Smithsonian all worked together to solve the case of the mystery letter. Read on to reveal this amazing story from our past!
1. The Past Resurfaces In A Michigan Post Office
On April 24, 2015, Lori Boes, the Postmaster in Newaygo, Michigan, began her day regularly: by sorting through her mail. In the stack, she found a mystery letter addressed only to “Postmaster, Newaygo, Michigan 49337.” After thinking for a moment, she decided to open it. The sender addressed it to the postmaster, after all.
Boes could not help but feel intrigued. She could not remember ever receiving a letter addressed to just the postmaster, without her name on it. She opened the envelope and what she found would make her embark on a trip through history…over 150 years into the past!
2. Lori Boes Finds A Doorway To The Past
Lori Boes opened the letter without taking much care of how she did. After all, it was a regular envelope with a legal stamp. It did not have a return address, which she did find strange; however, this is not uncommon in a post office.
Boes proceeded to open the envelope and what she found confused her at first. Later, she would realize that she should’ve been more careful in the process. But how could she have guessed what lay inside the ordinary envelope? Thankfully, the mystery letter inside remained intact. However, it certainly taught Boes that sometimes, you can discover the most unexpected and fragile things in the regular mail…
3. A Glimpse Into American History
Inside the ordinary envelope, Boes discovered another, far older envelope inside. Unfortunately, she had torn a piece off while opening the mystery letter! Had she known, she would’ve taken the utmost care, she knew how delicate old paper could be.
As Boes studied the mystery letter, she saw the envelope featured an image of what looked like a battle on it. Furthermore, the words “The War for the Union” remained clearly readable on the envelope. Upon closer inspection, Boes realized it must be a Civil War letter! She felt bad for how hastily she opened the envelope; after all, she valued the efforts made everywhere to preserve American history and this item could be an important part of it!
4. A Letter Sent More Than A Century Ago
The second envelope had no stamp or return address. However, it did have a stamp revealing the letter’s origin: Norfolk, Virginia. Lori Boes saw that the addressee could also still be read: ‘Orrin W. Shephard,’ from Newaygo County, Michigan. That seemed to shed some light on why the letter had arrived at her post office.
But how had a mystery letter, one postmarked in 1862, found its way to modern mail? Without the return address, there was little Boes could do to find out. She realized she needed more information so she proceeded to open the envelope, now with more care and a touch of anxiety about what she would find…
5. More Than One Mystery Letter!
Indeed, as Loris Boes suspected, the mystery letter was a Civil War letter! In fact, the envelope contained multiple letters! From a cursory glance, Boes guessed that a young soldier had sent them to his folks back home. She read his updates to his mother and father about his experiences during the Civil War.
While fascinating, this still didn’t answer the question of why the letters would turn up now. After all, it seemed quite absurd to think that the mystery letter had simply been lost in the mail for 150 years! Boes did know one thing for sure: she needed to find out more about the mystery letter. It could be a piece of American history, a message from a humble soldier trying to ease his family’s minds.
6. Asking For A Little More Help
Once Boes realized what she held in her hands, she continued carefully. Although she felt tempted to maybe tape the damaged edges of the mystery letter, she stopped herself. After all, this could very well be a true American artifact, more valuable than gold.
As Boes laid the pages out, the letters took form; the soldier addressed his mother, his father, and his little brother. She now had a better grasp of what the mystery letter continued and realized that she would need extra help to solve this mystery. With her curiosity piqued, she wanted to dig deeper but she couldn’t do it on her own…
7. The Case Continues Up The Food Chain
Surprisingly, the messages inside the mystery letter remained pretty well preserved. Boes could actually read most of it! The mystery letter actually contained a rather heart-warming story.
The letters came from a lonely soldier, updating his family on his condition and also expressing how much he missed them. He was young and facing cruel horrors. After all, the American Civil War is still the bloodiest conflict in the history of the US. Through his letters, this young man conveyed part of that experience. They were a testament to those effects of the war was the PTSD suffered by most soldiers when the war was over. Realizing the mystery letter’s importance, Lori Boes decided to call her boss.
8. The Letters Reach The Boss
Boes called her boss and, after informing him of her findings, decided to personally head to his office. She got in her own car and drove the 45 minutes needed to reach him in Grand Rapids. Although she worked as a postal employee, she didn’t want to risk sending the precious cargo through the mail. The mystery letter had survived this long, and now she needed to take special care.
When Lori Boes arrived in Grand Rapids her boss, Chuck Howe, excitedly waited for her. Can you blame him? After all, if she was right, they had a very interesting piece of history on their hands!
9. They Looked Real…But Were They?
When Boes brought the mystery letter to Chuck Howe, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. However, despite his excitement, he realized that a find of this magnitude needed professional verification. After all, although they were post office experts, they didn’t have the specialized knowledge of a historian who went to college and spent his entire life studying American history.
Therefore, Howe decided that the next step would be to authenticate the letters to see if they truly originated during the Civil War. Due to the details of the mystery letter, they were both pretty certain it was the real deal.
10. In Need Of A Historian? The Post Office Has One!
Surprisingly, the Postal Office retains its very own historians! That’s right! So Boes and Howe sought the help of Jenny Lynch, the United States Postal Service official historian. After more than 20 years of training for her current role and being the official USPS historian since 2011, Lynch had plenty of experience with historical letters.
However, after receiving the photos Howe took with his camera, Lynch decided they needed a Civil War experts. They would also likely needed to look into aging the letters. After all, certain tests might be needed in order to authenticate the letters. Thankfully, one of the biggest museums in the world would happily help with the mystery letter…
11. Civil War Letters In The Smithsonian
The Smithsonian museum is the world’s largest museum. Since its foundation in 1846, it continues to tirelessly preserve history as well as display it, making it accessible to everyone. Lynch knew that there, she would find the experts that she needed to help determine the authenticity of the letters.
The Smithsonian even operates the National Postal Museum, where they have postal experts on staff. After all, before the internet and phones, letters were the only way to communicate and update one another. These postal experts had the information the group needed, as they had authenticated plenty of precious historical letters before. Thankfully, the Smithsonian agreed to help. So what did the experts find?
12. And The Verdict Is…
Authentic! Lori Boes and Chuck Howe were right! Dan Piazza, the chief curator at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, authenticated the letters. A graduate of Syracuse University, Dan studied postal history extensively. After analyzing the marks left by the stamps as well as the type of ink and the handwriting of the soldier, he determined the letters to be authentic. An expert in philately – the study of postage stamps – also certified the mystery letter. No doubt: the mystery letter came from the Civil War era.
The news got everyone excited. However, many questions remained. Who sent the mystery letter to Michigan? More importantly: why?
13. USPS Continues To Research
Now that they had authenticated these Civil War letters, they needed to know more about the story of the soldier, Nelson Shephard. After confirming the letters’ authenticity, the USPS felt more comfortable with the team continuing their investigation. Now, everyone wanted to tell Nelson Shephard’s story.
However, researching Shepard would require different, specialized research. Thankfully, Howe knew exactly who to call. After all, as we’ve already seen, the USPS retained different specialists that looked after more than just mail delivery. And within their ranks, they had someone who could help with further research. Who was the next person who would embark on this journey to the past?
14. A New Investigator Joins The Team
Steve Kochersperger is a USPS research analyst and he soon joined the mystery letter team, digging for more information about the soldier, Nelson Shephard.
Kochersperger has an interesting past, or maybe we should say family history. As it turns out, one of his ancestors fought in the Civil War and even fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, as second in command of the Union soldiers! His relationship with the mystery letter didn’t end there. Surprisingly, Kochersperger’s ancestor ran his own mail service in Philadelphia, which dared to actually compete against the USPS! You could say that being involved with the mail is in Kochersperger’s DNA!
15. Anything Left After 150 Years?
It is fairly common to read about families trying to find about more about their past or their ancestors. However, in this case, the search started in reverse, with the letters triggering the need for a search, instead of a family member interested in the Civil War several decades later.
Kochersperger, who used some Internet provider services as his main tool instead of relying solely on manual examination, had his work cut out for him. He would have to invest a lot of time in the project to get a better idea of who Nelson Shephard was, where he had been, and what had become of him.
16. Piecing Together Nelson Shephard’s Story
Steve Kochersperger started with the basics that he managed to transcribe the letters. Once he had this part figure out, he was able to build a better timeline. However, this research was still an immense task to do. After all, during the Civil War, with no phone or computer, manual storage of information was the norm. That means the information Kochersperger needed could be spread across vast distances, some public and some private.
Thankfully, many collectors and colleges have uploaded these old archives to the web. Kochersperger had the entire Internet at his disposition to start making sense of the events described in the letters. This is the only way that he could find out more about Nelson Shephard’s story.
17. Survivors Of History
Kochersperger’s motivation to dig into the past was also personal. After reading the letters, he couldn’t help identifying with the solider. Nelson Shephard sounded like a young man who was seeing the world for the first time and Kochersperger could remember that feeling from his youth.
Furthermore, Kochersperger could identify with Shephard’s parents as he is a father himself. He could only imagine the uncertainty of the times and how difficult it must have been to get the mail delivered during the Civil War. Shephard’s letters were moving, and Kochersperger wanted to know more about him and his life, so he dug deeper.
18. So Many Unanswered Questions
Steve Kochersperger’s research had a dual purpose. First, he wanted to find out more about young Shephard’s life. Second, he wanted to get to the bottom of the biggest mystery, like how the letters found their way to the Michigan post office.
Since there was no return address, he would have to work his way from the past to the present. Hopefully, he could find someone who had perhaps received these letters as part of an inheritance. After all, this wouldn’t be an uncommon way for relics of the past to make their way to the present. Kochersperger had to work with what he had and every detail counted.
19. From The Paper To The Handwriting
As Kochersperger studied the mystery letters and transcribed them, he noticed three distinct sets of handwriting. While this might seem odd nowadays, during the Civil War it was fairly common.
Most soldiers who participated in the Civil War had some degree of education and could read and write. However, they would often ask a friend to write their letters, making sure the letters were written by someone with better handwriting. After all, letters were one of those most precious things, especially considering the time it took for them to be delivered and the limited time the soldiers had to write them.
20. Piece By Piece The Mystery Unravels
Through his research, Kochersperger discovered that Shephard actually had an interesting past before serving during the war. Before the war, he actually served time for burglary! Apparently, there was more to Shepard’s story than what met the eye!
As Kochersperger managed to uncover, Shephard served his allotted time at Jackson State Prison in Michigan. This information began to help form a timeline. The prison opened in 1839, while Kochersperger estimated, based on his findings, Shepard’s birthday occurred in either 1843 or 1844. Shepard likely did time during his teenage years, before the war started, while his family lived in Grass Lake, Michigan.
21. The War Begins
After doing time and before the war started, Shephard lived with his family. During this time, the family moved to White River and a mill hired Shephard as a mill hand. He began making honest money, apparently having learned his lesson.
When the war started in 1861, Shephard didn’t enlist as the armies began calling for volunteers. Maybe his family asked him not to go, or maybe he wasn’t ready. The war wasn’t happening in Michigan and in fact, it never reached the state. However, soon Steve Kochersperger found out that, later, Shephard would change his mind.
22. Shephard Makes A Decision
As Steve Kocherspeger kept gathering data, more information came to light. However, it was a long and arduous process that at times brought Kocherspeger anxiety. However, he knew that he could not give up. Again, without a family to talk to and provide information, Kocherspeger’s work got harder and harder as time went on.
Kocherspeger carried on and finally, he received a breakthrough. Shephard enlisted in 1862 and he became a part of the 26th Michigan Volunteer Regiment. Kocherspeger wasn’t able to find out what had made Shephard decide to volunteer, but he had solid information to keep going. Soon, in the summer of 1862, Shephard’s life would change, forever.
23. Shephard Joins The Union Army
As a testament to Shephard’s enthusiasm and optimism, he joined the Union Army upon entering the Civil War. At the time, when he enlisted, the Union had lost not one but two battles in Bull Run as they attempted to overrun the Confederate capital. It did not bode well for the Union, but there’s little doubt its what many felt was the right thing to do.
Co. Judson S. Farrar commanded Shepard’s regiment during the war. Shephard put on his military clothes and together with his regiment started his trip heading to the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. Approximately 90,000 men from Michigan fought during the Civil War. Nelson Shephard would be one of them.
24. Before War, A Visit To The Capital
As Shephard would write down on his letter, they first had to do the road trip to Washington D.C. It was Shephard’s first time in the capital and, thankfully, they were given two days to get to know the city. According to his letters, Shephard could not believe what he saw.
Steve Kocherspeger even managed to find out that on December 18, 1862, Shephard’s regiment got to Washington D.C. The newly opened National Mall only had one completed building at the time…the Smithsonian! Shephard probably got to see the place where 150 years later his letters would be authenticated. Talk about coming full circle!
25. An Impressive Sight
In his letters to home, you can feel Shephard’s excitement. He describes the Capitol and all the things he was able to see. At the time, city planners worked to build the city into what it would eventually become. Shephard could almost see the metropolis Washington D.C. would be. Wood had been replaced by more durable materials and Shephard described it all, especially in his letter to his little brother. He tried to convey that everything was fine with him and that he was safe and in good health.
From D.C., Shephard’s regiment proceeded to Alexandria, Virginia where he was on guard duty the majority of the time, according to his writings. Those first days of his enlistment were the highlights from Shephard’s letters. However, a bigger questioned remained: who sent the mystery letter to Lori Boes in 2015?
26. The Smithsonian Takes Charge
As Steve Kochersperger continued to piece together Shephard’s past, he did not know who sent the mystery letter to Michigan. Worse still, clues to the sender remained elusive. He continued on his research about Nelson Shephard’s life, making great advances there. However, time after time he continued to hit a dead end in regards to the origin of the Civil War Letters.
Thankfully, Kochersperger was not a one-man team and his colleagues provided hope. As he continued his research, the Smithsonian took charge of finding the mystery letter’s origin. In the end, they decided to reach out and make things more public.
27. Teamwork Is The Way To Go
Steve Kochersperger and the Smithsonian museum worked together to publish the letters. In November 2016, the letters came out to the public via the Smithsonian’s website and magazine. With the Smithsonian’s widespread subscribers, they wanted this long shot would pay off. Between the magazines and the website’s six million visitors every year, they hoped someone would remember the letters or who sent them.
They published the whole story, including the contents of the letters, in order to make them more recognizable. Hopefully, someone would read it and happen to know something about the mystery letter that started this whole adventure…
28. The Mystery Letter Hits The Internet
Many found it fascinating that the Smithsonian used the internet to find the origins of the mystery letter. After all, no one from the Civil War could ever have even fathomed the internet! How would Nelson Shephard react if he could find out that thousands would read his letter 150-years after he penned them?
We’ll never know how Shepard would react, but modern-day Americans loved the letters. After publication, the letters became quite popular, with thousands sharing them across various social media platforms. Maybe it wouldn’t take very long before someone related to the mystery letter would step up and shed some light on its source…
29. Will The Sender Appear?
At the urging of the Smithsonian curator Nancy Pope, the article kept running in the Smithsonian magazine. Pope stated that how the letters arrived in Lori Boes’ possession is part of their incredible history. They still had so many questions! Why did the sender mail them and, perhaps more importantly, how did they manage to keep them so well-preserved?
The Smithsonian continued to post information about Shephard’s letters on social media and their website. Days and days passed with no new information. Maybe it wouldn’t work, they thought. However, soon they received the break they had been looking for. The mystery letter’s sender came forward…
30. Against All Odds
Although the team didn’t have the biggest of hopes of getting a response, the article reached a certain degree of popularity among the readers. Only one week after its publication, someone from Texas reached out with information about the origin of the letters. Apparently, an old lady in retirement had sent the letters!
As Courtney Cresta explained, her 78-year-old grandma was the one that put the letters on the post. This only made the USPS-Smithsonian team want to know more. What had caused her to send the letters? How had she received them? Was she a descendant of Nelson Shephard? Soon, they would have the answers they desired…
31. Family Heirlooms, Of Sorts
As it turned out, the letters actually were a kind of inheritance! But not from the Shephard family. Nancy Cramlit – Courtney’s grandmother – found them after her husband passed away. Apparently, one of their hobbies was collecting and he, specifically, found antiques and historical artifacts interesting.
When Nancy’s husband passed away in 1978, she received almost all of his belongings and kept most of them untouched for decades. After all, it remained painful to face the death of her husband and deal with all the things he acquired throughout the years. For a very long time, the letters stayed stashed away and forgotten.
32. 37 Years Later, The Mystery Letter Sees The World
Little by little, as Nancy accepted the loss of her husband, she started to look through his belongings. It wasn’t until 37 years after he passed away that she would get around to discovering these letters. At first, she believed the letters belonged to a group of letters her husband had written in the past. However, as she read them, she understood that these were different.
Over the years, Nancy had donated some items to charity, something like this wouldn’t serve any purpose there. She didn’t know what to do with them, so she left them alone. After six months, Nancy finally decided. She wanted to take a chance and hope that the letters would make it back to the Shephard family.
33. No Family Left
Unfortunately, Nancy’s goal could not be achieved. After all this time, Lori Boes, who knew most of the families of the area, couldn’t find anyone related to Nelson Shephard. However, this did not mean everything was worthless. The letters would contribute to the efforts of the Smithsonian to save American history detail by detail. They could provide a unique insight into the thoughts of a young American soldier who one day decided to join the Union Army.
While now the mystery of the letters was somehow unraveled, they still needed to learn what became of the young and wide-eyed Shephard.
34. Nelson Shephard’s Story Continues
Steve Kochersperger continued to research Nelson Shephard’s story. Soon, they discovered what battles he fought in and where he might have ended up. History books had noted down plenty of details regarding the Civil War, and that was how Kochersperger had managed to re-trace Shephard’s steps and determine his fate.
Through everything, the letters remained essential. Not only did the letters provide a great story, but the details allowed Kochersperger to pinpoint exactly where Shephard ended up. Like putting together a puzzle, Kochersperger soon had a great picture of who Shephard was…
35. “My Dear Brother…”
From Shephard’s letter to his little brother, Kochersperger managed to determine that he missed two consecutive Christmases with the family. While this detail remained heartbreaking, it also helped tremendously. It helped shed some light about how much time he had been in the Army by the time he wrote that letter.
His letter to Albert, his brother, was dated in Christmas of 1863. However, despite its information, the letter hurt to read. Out of all the things that Shephard missed, it wasn’t the Christmas gifts that he missed the most, but to be able to build sleighs for his little brother. Meanwhile, he carried on with his duties, relying on faith to help him through, like most soldiers.
36. Shephard’s Experiences In Battle
Nelson Shephard’s letters also spoke of his experience in battle in 1862. Despite his young age, he had to face the bloodiness of war in Suffolk, Virginia. He and his unit served as reinforcement there, which gave him his first taste of all-out war.
For a young man like him, the battle was filled with adrenaline and excitement. Thankfully, he managed to get through it in good health and write home about it. That was how Steve Kochersperger kept retracing Shephard’s steps and knew of his involvement in the aforementioned battle, thanks to his letters. The letters continued to help Kochersperger piece together Shephard’s story, piece by piece. And they contained even more interesting anecdotes…
37. So Many Historical Anecdotes
Not all of the letters were about battles and Christmas, however. Although this wouldn’t prove as helpful for Kochersperger’s research, Shephard provided plenty of interesting, funny anecdotes in his civil war letters. As the Union Army made its way through the country, he met plenty of people!
Although most of the soldiers were literate, not everyone had access to higher education. Moreover, many people stayed in their hometown for their entire life! That is how Shephard met so many different people, including a girl that counted her age by the number of times she had planted corn! All this surprised Shephard quite a bit! He regaled these stories to his family, trying his best to convey his experiences through his letters.
38. The Scandals Of The Big City
The war didn’t just allow Shephard to meet new people, it also allowed him to experience new ways of life. For instance, the amount of alcohol consumed in big cities, like Manhattan, impressed Shephard. As he described to his family, both men and women would drink a lot and go about drunk! For a young man from a small town, this seemed quite scandalous.
This gave a little insight into how different things were back then in regards to social customs and the things that would be considered quite scandalous. Of course, even in the present day, public drunkenness is not exactly something we all condone. But it certainly isn’t as surprising as it proved to be for young Shephard!
39. Shephard Falls Into The Enemy’s Hands
All thanks to the discovery of Shephard’s regiment, Steve Kochersperger could continue the research to reveal Nelson Shephard’s story, even after he stopped writing letters. Unfortunately, the rest of the soldier’s story is one filled with the dark realities of war. Shephard did some serious fighting, participating in several battles such as Cold Harbor and the Battle of the Wilderness. These were dark and bloody days for the republic.
On August 25, 1864, things took a turn for the worse. The Confederate Army captured Shephard’s unit, arresting them all. Kochersperger kept digging, uncovering that the Confederates took Shephard and 14 other soldiers to a prison camp in Salisbury, North Carolina. This is why Shephard was unable to continue writing letters home. However, there was still more left to Shephard’s story…
40. Shephard’s Final Days
The North Carolina prison camp was meant for 2,500 people. When Shephard arrived, it held over 10,000 soldiers, meaning conditions were far from optimal. Disease ran rampant, resulting in a high number of deaths. With not enough sustenance, Shephard, like many others, was more susceptible to illnesses and eventually, his body couldn’t take it anymore.
Two weeks before his third Christmas in the Army, Nelson Shephard passed away at the tender age of 21. Although he didn’t leave any descendants, his story will now be remembered forever, thanks to the mystery letter that appeared one day, addressed to Lori Boes, an unsuspecting postmaster in a small town of Michigan.
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