Uncle Tom's Cabin II

This playbill advertises a performance of Uncle Tom's Cabin in Elmira, New York, during the Civil War. 

At right: Kate Denin, Lessee...Third Week of the Denin Troupe. The Great Hit! A Perfect Ovation! Was accorded to the First Representation of the Great Moral Drama of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Playbill for the Theatre Concert Hall. Elmira, NY: Advertiser Steam Power Press Print, [1861].

Of interest is the stream-of-consciousness letter, handwritten in pencil on the verso from J. H. Parker, of the 85th Regiment N.Y.V., to William Parker, Jr., his brother, dated November 10, 1861. 

I sent this so you know what the play is tomorrow night well bill you may go and see all of the girls for all of me for I have not spoke to one since I left home and I can't think that I will get of the notion of talking to them we drill about 5 hours a day and I have got read of drill for the last week and I think that I shall have to drill this week you may think that I have a great deal of fun and you are not mistaken but to be shut up here and have to obey orders is no fun such as being compelled to go to meeting the day capt says that we have got to go to meeting and I guess I will go as it is in our dining room well Bill you can get me some apples and eat them for me and you can eat a good pie or to for me such as a pot pie when you write write how all the folks is that I know and write if you have got a school teacher hired and Who it is write how your school meeting got a long and who you elected for trustee write how they get along with their ____ my school report ____ ____ I want to write two or three letters more and I think that I will finish this sheet and then I will stop well Bill you must write whether you have got your threshing done and the particulars if you write how you get along with your work our shanty is like a barn and I think I shall creep out of one of the cracks and come home in about a week and then I will show you how a soldier manages to sleep I have slept several times on a board with nothing but my blanket and I slept as sound as if on a feather bed no more at present write soon and I will answer you.

From the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature.

Playbill for a Boston performance of the H. J. Conway adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Continued Success! Crowded Every Night! Fifth Week of the New and Intensely Play, "Uncle Tom's Cabin! Or: Life among the Lowly." Playbill for the Boston Museum. Boston: Hooten's Press, [1852].