SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 – Joining in this year’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, the Society for the Preservation of West Calaveras History has acquired two mid-1860s letters written by a Calaveras Co. captain who recruited soldiers here for the Union. Willard Kittredge resided at Rich Gulch near Mokelumne Hill before being commissioned a lieutenant in the 3rd California Infantry. Serving primarily in the Salt Lake City area of the Utah Territory, he fought against the Shoshone Indians and was promoted to captain in 1864. Both letters were written to Judge William Carter in the Wyoming Territory; the first in 1865 while Kittredge was still in uniform and the second in 1867 after he was mustered out: “I am here working for wages, which is rather a slow way for a man to make a raise and support a wife.” The Kittredges, including daughter Charmian, later moved to Petaluma near San Francisco. Charmian would marry famed author Jack London. SPWCH founder Sal Manna, the county’s expert on Calaveras in the Civil War, will present a program on Civil War California for the West Side Pioneer Association in Tracy on Wednesday, November 16. The SPWCH may be accessed via its Facebook page and westcalaverashistory.org.