Guide to the Francis Sabine Family Correspondence, 1859-1908

Francis Wallingford Sabine was born in Bangor, Maine and was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1859 and went on to study law. In November 1861 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into Co. E. 11th Maine Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at the Second Battle of Deep Bottom in Petersburg, Virginia, and died less than a month later on September 15, 1864.

Ten Civil War-dated letters from Francis W. Sabine to his sister Mary L. Sabine of Bangor, Maine. The collection also includes four letters from and to Mary L. Sabine relating to the death of her brother. A letter of condolence to his father, Colonel Francis M. Sabine, on Adjutant General's Office letterhead is also included.

Francis Sabine's letters to his sister primarily discuss family matters and Maine news conveyed by his sister and other family members. Two of Sabine's letters, written from Deep Bottom, Virginia, where his regiment was participating in the Union siege of Petersburg, mention his contentment with the quiet routine of camp life, despite the threat from Confederate troops in the vicinity. Severely wounded during battle, Sabine was transferred to the Chesapeake Military Hospital in Fort Monroe, where he wrote his last leetter to Mary on August 28, 1864. He died on September 17, 1864.