Frank McGregor was born in England and raised in Scotland before coming to Glendale, Ohio in 1851. With the onset of the Civil War he enlisted with the 83rd Ohio Infantry Regiment, serving from 1862-1865. While serving he wrote home to friends and family, but especially to Susan Brown, a schoolteacher in Lockland, Ohio. After the war Frank and Susan married and moved to Springfield, Ohio. In Springfield, Frank and his brother, David, opened the McGregor Brothers Greenhouses. The nurseries became known for their rose culture product during the height of Springfield's era as the "Rose City", due to them being the biggest exporters of roses. The greenhouses operated from 1875 to 1933. Frank and Susan spent their lives enriching Springfield and their war time letters from the beginning of their lifelong love story are now preserved in our Special Collections. Frank McGregor died in 1920 and is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Springfield, OH.
Wittenberg University received the letters from the John C. McGregor family of Springfield, Ohio in 1983. Along with the letters came a bound volume of transcriptions, done by Bertha McGregor in 1931. Not all of the letters have been transcribed, and those that are included are sometimes not transcribed word for word or whole sections may be left out.
Creator
Frank and Susan McGregor
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research. Contact Suzanne Smailes for more information
The McGregor Civil War Collection is mostly letters from, to, or between Frank or Susan McGregor. There are also family documents, cards, notes, some of Susan's teaching documents, and other miscellaneous papers. The letters span the years of Frank's time in the Civil War and a few years post the wars end, 1862-1867. Frank's regiment, the 83rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, were in the western theater of the Civil War. The letters were written surrounding some of the campaigns that they participated in such as; Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, the Red River campaign in Louisiana and the assault on Mobile. The letters have been researched previously for Frank's rich commentary on and viewpoint of war in the letters.
Extent: 9 Boxes and 1 oversize box
Dearest Susie: A Civil War Infantryman's Letters to His Sweetheart, Edited and with Introduction by Carl E. Hatch (1971), available through Thomas Library
History of the Eighty-Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry by T.B. Marshall (1912), available digitally through Hathi Trust
The Clark County Historical Society's McGregor Collection, https://heritage.center/mdocs-posts/mcgregor-collection/
Box 1: Related Materials
-Inventory and Finding Aid
-The transcription of the letters and two photocopies of it
-A paper written by Pat Knox using the transcription for a history independent study done in 1991. A letter concerning the collection from President Kinnison to John C. McGregor. A letter concerning the collection from the Department of the Army. A McGregor family history and photographs of Frank and Susan (one of each) with negatives.
Box 2: Packets A-D
Box 3: Packets E-J
Box 4: Packet K
Box 5: Packets L-S
Box 6: Packets T-Z
Box 7: Packets AA-BB
Box 8: Packets CC-DD
Box 9: Packets EE-GG
Oversize Box 10: Newspapers and Oversize Items
-Newspaper Copies
-The Cincinnati Commercial:
-July 29, 1868
-March 31, 1870
-October 7, 1871
-July 6, 1874
-July 4, 1876
-September 24, 1881
-The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette:
-November 25, 1886
-May 7, 1888
-Herald Presbyter:
-May 17, 1876
-News and Educator:
-October 13, 1866
-The Springfield Globe:
-March 16, 1883
-Young America:
-June 1857
Metadata for Gallery Above Completed by Megan Bobb in 2015:
1. K2 in Box 4
Title: My Own Susie
Author: Francis “Frank” McGregor
Recipient: Susan “Susie” Brown
Date Written: January 14, 1864
Location: Fort Jackson, Louisiana
Postmark: January 23
Language: English
Subject: Civil War; Lives of soldiers
Type: Epistolary
Size: 24.5 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Written on “Union Blue” paper in ink. Minimal discoloration to paper. First page embossed with U.S. stamp on top left corner.
Pagination: 2 sheets, 4 pages (joined)
Notes: Envelope, yellow, addressed to Miss Susie Brown at Springdale, Hamilton Co Ohio. Stamped from New York with Jan 23 in middle. Includes dried apple-geranium leaves according to shelf list, enclosed in Mylar sleeve.
Transcript: None.
2. A5 in Box 2
Title: Dear folks at home
Author: Francis “Frank” McGregor
Recipient: McGregor’s relatives, "Folks at Home"
Date Written: January 22, 1864
Location: Fort Jackson, Louisiana
Language: English
Subject: Civil War; Lives of soldiers
Type: Epistolary
Size: 20.5 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Written on red paper in ink.
Pagination: 2 sheets, 4 pages (joined)
Notes: No envelope.
Transcript: None.
3. R2 in Box 5
Title: Guten Morgen, mein theurer freund
Author: Susan “Susie” Brown
Recipient: Francis “Frank” McGregor
Date Written: March 28, 1865
Location: Wyoming, Ohio
Date Sent: [Mar.] 29
Language: English
Subject: Civil War; Lives of soldiers’ families
Type: Epistolary
Size: 20.5 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Written on lined paper in ink. Susan employed cross-writing (writing perpendicular to and over existing writing) on the first and last pages to finish this letter. Some ink fading.
Pagination: 2 sheets, 4 pages (joined)
Notes: Envelope, white, addressed to Frank McGregor (followed by his rank and regiment), via New Orleans La, “To follow the Reg.” Stamped from Lockland Station with [Mar.] 29 in middle in pencil.
Transcript: None.
4. A13 in Box 2
Title: Dear Bella
Author: Francis “Frank” McGregor
Recipient: “Bella” (Isabella McGregor, Frank’s sister)
Date Written: December 7, 1862
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Language: English
Subject: Civil War; Lives of soldiers
Type: Epistolary
Size: 24.5 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Written on lined paper in pencil. Sheets have a small embossed crest? on top corner: RC & Co. Minor discoloration, possibly rust, to pages.
Pagination: 3 sheets, 6 pages (2 sheets joined)
Notes: No envelope.
Transcript: None.
5. E5 in Box 3
Title: Do not be alarmed my Dear Susie
Author: Francis “Frank” McGregor
Recipient: Susan “Susie” Brown
Date Written: December 2, 1864
Location: White River Landing, Arkansas
Language: English
Subject: Civil War; Lives of soldiers
Type: Epistolary
Size: 31.5 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Written on ledger-sized paper. McGregor makes a joke about the legal paper he’s using in the first few lines of his letter. Minor soiling of last page.
Pagination: 2 sheets, 4 pages (joined)
Notes: No envelope. File includes an envelope that doesn’t belong to this letter?
Transcript: Page 233 of Bertha McGregor’s incomplete transcripts of Frank McGregor’s letters.
6. V1 in Box 6
Title: Paper Dolls
Recipient: Susan “Susie” Brown
Language: English
Type: Paper crafts
Size: 7 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: File contains two Mylar sleeves and an envelope. The sleeves hold a doll and several sets of clothes made from scraps of paper. Colors: red, orange, white, yellow, green, blue, and multi. Some with designs drawn onto paper dress.
Notes: Envelope, white, addressed to Miss Susie Brown, Lockland, Ohio. Some of address has been torn away in opening the envelope. Stamped from Dayton (Ohio?) with Oct [Date and Year Unreadable] in middle.
7. 1931 McGregor Transcripts in Box 1
Title: To Susie: The letters of a Civil War soldier to his beloved.
Transcriber: Bertha M. McGregor
Date: March 31, 1931
Language: English
Subject: Civil War; Lives of soldiers
Type: Transcribed correspondence
Size: 28 cm
Other Physical Descriptions: Hardback, bound in purple cloth, spine has been repaired with clear tape. Spine separating from front and back hinges. Includes five images: four portraits, two each of Susie and Frank (one of Frank in 1865), and one photo of cross-writing in one of Frank’s letters.
Pagination: 299 one-sided, typed pages: 1: title page; 2-3: foreword; 4-298: transcriptions of Frank’s letters; 299: Mustered out, home, home (transcriber’s epilogue)
Notes: Address book plate on front and back pastedowns, for Miss Bertha McGregor.
Contents: Foreword—Transcriptions—Mustered out, home, home