Letters Home

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, in response to a call to arms by President Lincoln, Ohio raised 23 volunteer infantry regiments for three months' service, 10 more regiments than the state's quota. When it became evident that the war would not end quickly, Ohio began raising regiments for three-year terms of enlistment. At first the majority were stocked with eager volunteers and recruits. Two of these volunteers were the Rieley brothers from Cleveland. I can’t remember when I first heard about the Civil War, or even when I found out that my father’s grandfather and his brother were in the war. But I can remember when I first became aware of the fact that my family was in possession of the actual letters that the two brothers had written home during their time in service. Before my father passed away in 1974, I had seen copies of some of these letters and eventually received copies of my own. For years I kept the letters to pass along to my sons at some point, but several years ago, I was talking to a friend in London and told him about the letters. He inspired me to share the letters in a book format. The Rieley family came from Ireland, with the father Hugh Rieley coming from County Cavan, and his wife Margaret Owen coming from Monaghan County. After immigrating to the United States in the early 1800’s, they eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Mary Ann Rieley, the eldest of the siblings, was born in 1839. John Rieley was born in 1840; Frank in 1842; William in 1847; Hugh in 1850; Thomas in 1853; and Edwin (Sylvester) in 1855. The letters contained in this book were written by John and Frank, with most of them being sent to their Mother and Sister.