Type: Exhibition caption

Detail: Joseph Lufbery Haines of Rahway was an early volunteer, joining Company Z, of the Second Fire Zouaves (Seventy-third New York Regiment). Influenced by French colonial troops in North Africa, Zouave regiments were known for their unusual dress and drill style. Drawn from the ranks of the city's many volunteer fire companies, the unit was known alternately as the Second Fire Zouaves. In this letter written shortly after his arrival in Washington, D.C., Haines thanks his mother for her gift of a Bible, and asks her to send him a blanket, soda and acid to make soda water, and tobacco, and sends his regards to his fellow firemen.

Type: Exhibition case

Name: Outbreak of War

Detail: When Abraham Lincoln issued a call for troops in April 1861, young men in New Jersey rushed to join up. Recruiters were overwhelmed with volunteers, some of whom turned to regiments in New York and Pennsylvania. By the first week in May, 3,200 New Jersey militiamen became the first full brigade to arrive in Washington, D.C.