This Old Letter Found Its Way Home After Being Lost For Over A Century

1778

30. The Shephard story ends

Salisbury prison was grossly overcrowded when Shephard arrived in October of 1864, as it was meant to hold 2,500 people and held 10,000. It’s unknown if his parents received word that their son was captured, but they must’ve known something was wrong when the letters stopped coming.

Unfortunately for Shephard, who would become victim to disease and starvation like so many at the Salisbury prison, he would not live to see the third Christmas in uniform. We don’t know how it happened, but on December 18, 1864, Nelson Shephard died at the tender age of 21. But thanks to a forgotten set of letters that somehow found their way to people who cared, he lives on through the story that he shared.