While researching her biography of Susan Dickinson and Martha Dickinson
Bianchi, Martha Nell Smith came across this most intriguing short essay by
one of Emily Dickinson's second (or third) cousins, written in memory of
Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Since this pertains to Edward Dickinson's
youngest brother (i.e., Emily's uncle), and since it is clear that his
Amherst relatives knew of these activities, this information may have
important relevance to the Dickinsons' supposed silence regarding the
Civil War. Austin Dickinson paid $500 to send a substitute to fight for him
in the Union Army. His Uncle Sam took quite a different path.
Emily Dickinson's Confederate Uncle