Frank L. Milward papers

The majority of the collection is made up of letters written by Frank L. Milward to his family back in New York from May to August of 1898, from the time he enlisted through the end of the war with Spain. His letters include vivid descriptions of his experiences training in Tampa, Florida, traveling to Cuba in the hold of a cramped and overheated ship, fighting and watching comrades die at the Battle of San Juan Hill, and recovering at a hospital on Bedloe's Island from malaria. The collection also includes Milward's letters that he wrote before the war, when he was employed at the famous model farms of the Hudson Valley: Ellerslie in Rhinecliff, owned by Levi P. Morton; and the Altamont farm in Millbrook. The post-war letters describe his life as a logger in Wisconsin and a stoker in St. Paul, Minnesota. Also included are letters written by Milward's mother Mary Jane Waterman Milward, sisters Georgia Milward Cairns and Robia Milward Bailey, and other family members in Delaware County, New York. Also included in the collection are several pieces of ephemera, Frank L. Milward's furlough from 1898, August 28 to September 16, a wedding invitation and a "coloring" recipe. There are also tintypes and cabinet cards of Frank L. Milward, Mary Jane Waterman Milward, Georgia Milward Cairns and other family members. Box 2 of the collection houses several medals awarded to Frank L. Milward including: Spanish War Service Medal, 1918; United States Army of Cuban Occupation Medal (1898-1902), 1915; Cuban Medal for Veterans of the Spanish-American War, 1934; and United States Spanish War Veterans Medal, after 1904.