Most of the letters between John and Nelson and their sisters and friends concern their health, the weather, and news of family and friends both at home and in the service. John also wrote about picket duty (December 31, 1861); “killing niggers” (January 14, 1862); visiting girls (January 17, 1862, January 25, 1862); Jefferson Davis (February 17, 1862); George B. McClellan (April 23, 1862); and the Mechanicsville Battle (June 27, 1862).
Nelson wrote briefly and mostly that he was often ill and had the mumps and about Rebels fighting (both on April 16, 1863); the draft and the dead on battlefields (November 3, 1863, October 2, 1864); about Rebel POWs, some of whom joined the US Navy (“Navie”) (October 31, 1862, November 18, 1862, June 12, 1864, June 22, 1864, December 9, 1864); Copperheads and the 1864 convention (September 4, 1864, November 9, 1865). Letters about John’s death can be found from July 4 and 19, 1865.
There are also letters about Grant and Lee and fighting in Virginia, from Harrison to Nelson (1864?); about General Hooker, from Ferdon to Maggie (March 8, 1863); and about taking goods from Southern plantations (October 31, 1862).
John and Nelson both had bad penmanship and spelling skills. Several of the letters are badly faded and one is stained. One letter is only a fragment.
Biography:
Nelson W. (Nell) Bebee of Duplain (Clinton County, Michigan) enlisted in Company B, Michigan 4th Cavalry, at Ovid, Michigan, on August 4, 1862 at age 23. Nelson was mustered 24 days later. He was promoted to the rank of Corporal on December 20, 1862. On July 1, 1863, Nelson was transferred to the Invalid Corps. On July 15, 1865, he was discharged at Cairo, Illinois, from Company H, 15th Regiment, the Veteran Reserve Corps.
John Bebee, Nelson’s younger brother, enlisted at Fort Wayne, Indiana, on August 6, 1861 in Company H, Michigan 5th Infantry at age 19. He was mustered on August 28, 1861. On December 15, 1863, John Bebee re-enlisted at Brandy Station, Virginia. He was mustered on December 27, 1863. John Bebee was killed in action near Petersburg, Virginia, on June 16, 1864.
Friends of Bebee documented in the correspondence include John W. Bradner and Andrew E. Ferdon. No information is available on another brother, Z. H. Harrison; E. E. Wilcox; or the Bebee sisters: Nell(ie), Maggie, Franie, Elvira, Phoebe, brother George, or their parents. The Bebee family apparently made and sold wooden bowls.
John W. Bradner enlisted at Duplain (Clinton County, Michigan) in Company G, Michigan 4th Cavalry on July 28, 1862 at age 26. He mustered a month later. Bradner was promoted to Sergeant on March 1, 1865 and later 1st Sergeant. On July 1, 1865, John Bradner was mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee. He lived in St. Johns, Michigan, after the war.
Andrew E. Ferdon enlisted at Duplain (Clinton County, Michigan) in Company B, Michigan 4th Cavalry on July 28, 1862 at age 27. He was mustered a month later. Andrew was discharged for disability at Madison, Indiana, on November 5, 1863. (This information is from regimental histories.)
