The Longfellow Family in the Civil War

The Civil War deeply affected the Longfellow family. Three close relatives fought for the Union during the conflict: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s son Charles, nephew Stephen Longfellow, and his wife’s half-brother Nathan Appleton Jr. All three were wounded in action.

The war impacted the home front as well. Longfellow’s daughters supported the war effort by making socks and bandages for soldiers and collecting patriotic souvenirs. Family correspondence exhibited a constant state of worry about events on the battlefields and in Washington. And the war fueled Longfellow’s poetry, acting as the impetus for poems with themes covering national unity, bravery, sacrifice, and tragedy.

For the Longfellows all this took place against the backdrop of intimate personal loss: Henry’s wife Fanny tragically died from an accident at home in July 1861, just three months after the war’s first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.

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1st MA Cavalry

Lt. Charles Longfellow

Explore Charles Longfellow's Civil War service, from running away to enlist through his discharge.

5th MA Battery

Nathan Appleton

Appleton joined veteran's organizations following the war, and was active in the Grand Army of the Republic for the rest of his life.

40th USCT

Pvt. Allick Thaxton

In 1865, Henry Longfellow funded a “representative recruit,” named on a donation certificate as Allick Thaxton.

Cachet Scrapbook

Browse Alice Longfellow's scrapbook of patriotic envelopes in our Digital Archive Portal.

Tags: longfellow house washington's headquarters national historic site, civil war, henry wadsworth longfellow, charles longfellow, museum collections, museum exhibit, poetry, civilian experience, grand army of the republic, history