Telegram to Rev. Joseph Glass Monfort
A Western Union telegram sent from Gettysburg to Rev. Joseph Glass Monfort reported that his son Elias had been severely wounded and urged the family to come immediately. The telegram preserves the urgent family aftermath of Gettysburg and connects directly with the surviving Monfort Civil War correspondence.
Telegram to Rev. J. G. Monfort from J. W. Monfort, July 6, 1863, Gettysburg. Hanover College Archives.
Why This Document Matters
The telegram turns the Monfort family's Civil War story from correspondence about military policy and service into an immediate family emergency. It belongs alongside Joseph Glass Monfort's June 3 letter to Elias and Elias's surviving wartime letters as part of a connected documentary sequence.
The sender signs the telegram "J. W. Monfort." The project is preserving that identification exactly as it appears while the sender's precise family relationship is still being verified.
Research Classification
Direct primary-source evidence: Civil War family communication, Gettysburg, Elias Riggs Monfort's wounding, Joseph Glass Monfort family network.
Evidence boundary: This is not Underground Railroad evidence. Its value to the Hamilton UGRR project is biographical, family-network, Civil War, and emancipation-era context.