George, Some of the letters are in better condition than others that's for sure.

Originally as you know I posted some of the letters on Mr. Martins site prior to SHAPE's existence. I may have included the source "The Story of Camp Chase" by William H. Knauss in which a list of the letters are mentioned as well as some copies. The book can be read online using google books.

During my short stint as President of SHAPE I think we found a few of the descendants of the letters but I can't remember as its been awhile.

It sounds like SHAPE has paid for some of the copies of the letters from VHS and sent them to the descendants. If that is the case then job well done!

George, there are missing letters from Chase and then there are some missing Camp Chase letters and I agree it's confusing. The majority if not all of the letters in the book "The Story of Camp Chase" that were copied were not turned over to the VHS as far as I can determine.

Knauss printed his book in 1906 and Phillip Porter donated the letters to VHS in 1948.

Many of the letters were written by the Confederates at Chase during the 2nd to 3rd week of April 1862. When Lottie Moon Clark to the mailbag she had left them behind at an unknown location as she had been detected as who she really was.

The following is just my opinion as to what happened next. The undelivered letters were sent back to Camp Chase but the majority of Confederates who had written the letters were sent to Johnson's Island just days after writing the letters. By November of 1862 they had been paroled and exchanged per the Dix-Hill Cartel agreement. Not knowing what to do with the mailbag of letters they were put into a storage area at Camp Chase. Probably what we might consider today as a lost and found. When the war drew to a conclusion the mailbag was still in storage. Most of the paperwork associated with Camp Chase went to Dayton, Ohio. However the mailbag of letters appears to have been taken to the Statehouse and remained there in the basement until about 1904. When discovered again they were given to State library where Mr. Knauss obtained some of them for his book in 1906. Not all of the stories in Knauss' book were correct as they were just stories however the story about Lottie Moon Clark was accurate in my opinion. The copies of letters that Knauss had used in his book were in my opinion the "show case letters" Knauss had moved to Columbus, Ohio in the early 1890's and had a real estate business. There are two things important that Knauss did. He wrote his book allowing us to look as some early information and he started the Camp Chase Memorials which are still held to this day at the Chase Cemetery. However the list of dead that Mr. Knauss mentioned in his book were taken directly from Chaplain Tolford's work. Knauss never gave Chaplain Tolford credit perhaps because Tolford was a government employee when he did his work in 1867.

Phillip Porter had attended the Ohio State University about 1912 and entered the field of journalism. Knauss did not die until 1917.

About 1929 Mrs. Albert Sidney Porter the President of the Ohio UDC Chapter was given custody of the missing letters by the Ohio legislature.

The following came from the Confederate Veteran Magazine Volume 37 page 206:

"The letters were turned over to the Ohio State Library and were carefully indexed. The State Librarian, C.B. Galbraith, called the attention of the late Col. W.H. Knauss to the letters. It was Colonel Knauss, a veteran of the Union army, whose influence brought it about that the United States government took over the perpetual care of the Camp Chase Cemetery. In his book on Camp Chase, he copied many of the letters, with some photostats.

So many years had elapsed even since they had been found, and the possibility of getting the letters to those who might rightfully lay claim to them had never occurred to anybody until the President of the Ohio Division, Mrs. Albert Sidney Porter, said, ""Why not?"" and straightway set to work upon the problem. We have been nearly two years at work upon it, valiant, intrepid little Mrs. Porter encouraging and abetting her committee, and, after many delays, of expediency, etc. We now have the letters in our hands!

Words fail to express the gratitude of the Ohio Division toward Captain John M. Maynard, Clerk of the House of Representatives of Ohio. It was he who told us the proper procedure, who obtained the enthusiastic endorsement of the three G.A.R. men serving in the legislature, a gracious and most helpful touch, and it was through him that ""Joint Resolution No. 10"" was presented through the proper channels and voted on at once, instead of being side-tracked in a committee! It was all most impressive, and so very exciting as the long rolls of names were called, first in the House then the Senate, and the ""ayes,"" one after another, kept coming in, and then, finally, we knew the letters were ours!

Mrs. Porter has been tabulating a list of the letters to be published in the VETERAN and all Southern newspapers, so that it may reach as many as possible who might be interested. There are about one hundred and ninety letters, and if just one may reach the family of the loved one for whom it was intended, or, if the ""love and kisses"" may be delivered to the son or the grandson of that little boy who never received them, how we shall all fairly glow with happiness and how amply we shall feel rewarded! The letters of those whose families cannot be reached after a reasonable time, will be placed in the Confederate Museum at Richmond, Virginia."

Upon checking into Mrs. Albert Sidney Porter I found that Mr. Porter, the husband had worked for the State of Ohio and was brought up on more than 20 charges of misconduct but I do not know if he was ever found guilty.

In the meantime Phillip Porter would become the Editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper. Mr. Porter was a civil war collector and would be the one who donated to the letters to the VHS in 1948. But he did not as far as I know include the so called "show case letters" to the VHS. Perhaps he did not have possession of them, I don't know. In 1985 Mr. Porter and his wife were murdered at their home in Shaker Heights, Ohio from what appears to have been a burglary gone bad. A Mr. Soke was convicted of the crime and sent to prison where he died but always maintained his innocence. I spoke to Phillip Porter's daughter by phone and ask her if any of her fathers civil war collection had been recovered and she said no.

So the so called "show case letters" could be anywhere but I feel they are probably still in Ohio somewhere. I probably will never find the answer but I'm always on the lookout for something to turn up.