SakshiMany Letters
It is difficult to say whether Cramlit husband’s traded the letters with the Shepherd family or got it from somewhere else. Well, as the man ad died in 1978, there was no one who could answer this question. After his death, Cramlit sifted through all his possessions and papers. She ended up finding many letters in the collection and decided upon returning to his family while the rest she kept with herself.
Overwhelmed
37 years had passed and in 2015 Cramlit did the arduous task of looking back at her late husband’s possessions. There were many letters in his collection that were addressed to people she did not know about. And while sifting through them her hand got on these set of letters. The woman read it and got very emotional. The woman took a decision on the spur of the moment. She decided to send it back to where it actually belonged. Thereafter, the letter sat on her desk for six more months. She did not confide in anyone about these letters not even to her daughter and son. It was on April 23, 2015, she slid them inside a new envelope and mailed it to the Newaygo, Michigan Post Master only after putting the stamp on it.
Intentional Act
She did it purposefully. In small towns usually, it is the Post Master who knows everything and everyone living in the town. Cramlit thought that the postmaster of the town would successfully find out the person. And that postmaster turned out to be Lori Boes. Boes did the best she could. And it is because of her efforts that these letters of historical importance are out in public domain for people to see and learn about that misfortune event of past.
Died At 21
Unfortunately, Shepherd could no escape the misfortunes that war unleashed. He found himself in Salisbury prison in October of 1864 as a prisoner, that was overcrowded with people. There is no detail about his family ever learned that their son had gotten captured by the rivals. As for Shepherd, the man was cramped inside a jail that was supposed to hold 2,500 people was keeping 10,000 instead. Due to overpopulation and lack of sanitation Shepherd died of starvation and disease at the age of 21 just like many other prisoners. However, his story is still alive.