HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG0711.AM: Ralph Varney, 1875-1945
Correspondence: 1898-1899
Bennet, Lancaster County, Nebraska: Soldier
Size: Ten items
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Ralph Varney, son of Allen P. and Mildred Varney, was born in Bennet, Nebraska on November 26, 1875. He served in the Spanish-American War and during the Philippine Insurrection as a member of Company I, 1st Nebraska Infantry. After returning to Nebraska, Varney married Effie Peck. She died in 1906 and Varney married Ella L. Hill in 1912. This marriage produced five children.
In 1917 or 1918, the Varneys moved to a farm north of Culbertson, Nebraska. Ralph Varney lived there until his death on December 15, 1945.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists of ten letters dating from 1898-1899. This material relates to Ralph Varney’s military service in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection. In these letters, Varney, writing to his sister, Estella, describes his thirty-two days at sea during his voyage to the Philippines, several skirmishes with the Spanish, troop loses, living conditions of the soldiers, reactions by the natives, insurgent attacks, and the battle in which Col. John L. Stotsenburg was killed. These letters provide a detailed account of conditions faced by American soldiers involved in the Spanish-American War.
INVENTORY
Correspondence, 1898-1899
Subject headings:
Nebraska Infantry. 1st Regiment, 1898-1899
Philippines — History — Philippine American War, 1899-1902
Spanish American War, 1898
Varney, Ralph, 1875-1945
Veterans — Nebraska — History
Revised TMM 12-26-2006
