Battle of Shiloh, Ohio Homefront

1862: Rachel Lovisa Underwood to J. Calvin Streator

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This letter was written by Rachel Lovisa Underwood (1841-1925), the daughter of Dr. Willin Underwood (1800-1872) and his second wife, Lovisa Rawson (1819-1844) of New Baltimore, Stark county, Ohio. Lovisa’s mother died when Lovisa was less than three years old but her father took Maria Bender (1815-1899) as his third wife. Three of Lovisa’s siblings are mentioned in the letter—Nellie Underwood (1842-1921), Eberle Benton Underwood (1839-1925), and William Howard Underwood (1849-1861).

In the 1860 US Census, 18 year-old Lovisa was enumerated in her parent’s home in New Baltimore, employed as a teacher in the common schools; her older brother employed as a painter. Lovisa was married in December 1865 to Charles H. Bard (1838-1931) and settled down with him in Clinton county, Michigan. The “Charlie” she received a letter from in paragraph four was her future husband who served as a private on Co. F, 7th Ohio Vol. Infantry. He was discharged for disability from the regiment on 21 November 1862 after a year and a half of service.

Lovisa directed the letter to her cousin, J. Calvin Streator (1837-1863), the son of Marius O. Streator (1813-1888) and Laura Ann Rawson (1817-1902) of Randolph, Portage county, Ohio.

Lovisa’s letter refers to the “last battle” which I presume was the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee where many Ohio soldiers had their first taste of gunpowder.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Directed to J. C. Streator, Corry, Erie county, Pennsylvania

New Baltimore [Ohio]
April 15, 1862

My dear Cousin.

It is now Tuesday eve and I am at Cynthia’s. Came up today to attend a Soldier’s Aid Society. Am going to stay a day or two and thought I must sit down and answer your kind letter which I received last Thursday, but have not had time to answer it until now. I don’t want you to inspect this writing for I can’t find a pen fit to write with. Cousin Nellie & I are all at it, and have a great deal of fun about our pains.

I found Sarah at the Depot at Ravenna when I got there, stayed there all night, came to Randolph the next day, went to Father’s in the evening. Our folks were all very much surprised to see me. Found them all well but it is very lonely without my dear little brother. 1 If he was only here, it would seem quite natural at home, but I must not complain for it is wrong. Surely God would not have called him home had it not been for the best.

We are all very much excited about the last battle. How awful it is to think of the many poor souls who have fallen. And yet this wicked rebellion will still continue. Oh! how many homes are now desolate by the loss of some dear member of the household, and I fear many more must meet with the same fate ere we shall have conquered. A number of our Baltimore and Randolph boys were engaged in the fight, but we have not heard whether or no they have escaped. I presume some of them have fallen.

[Sister] Nellie and I went to Marlboro last Saturday and stayed all night. Had a very good time. Came home Sunday eve and found a letter from Charlie. He has got better and gone to Winchester to his regiment. Says the Rebels are shelling upon them all the time. They expect another hard battle there soon.

I have not heard from our folks since I came home. Am so anxious to hear how our Ma is. Do hope she has got well. Don’t you wish we could step in and see them this morning? Oh, I forgot to tell you I did not finish this last night for I got so tired of writing with such a pen—cannot better it this morn, and am in such a hurry to get it to the [post] office before the mail goes out that I have no time to go to the store after one.

Oh, I wish you could see our little Frankie. He is so pretty and good.

I am going to attend a funeral today—Chancey Harmon’s of this town. He died in a fit of apoplexy. Was taken Monday while setting out fruit trees. Lived about seven hours afterwards. 2

We are working very faithfully here for the good of the soldiers. There was about 80 at the society yesterday. We have two boxes of goods, two barrels of eggs and one barrel of beef ready to send. Sent from Baltimore Monday two boxes and one barrel of eggs. Eberle has just stopped here. Is going out collecting for Father. Has not commenced painting yet. Expects to soon.

Dear cousin, I must close. I am so ashamed to send this but must not put it off longer. If you will excuse this, I will try and do better next time. Please write soon. I am anxious to hear how you are prospering—whether you have received those instruments yet or not. Goodbye. Thy sister, — Lovisa

1 William Howard Underwood (1849-1861) died on 12 October 1861. He is buried in the New Baltimore Cemetery in Stark county, Ohio.

2 Chauncey Harmon of Randolph, Portage county, Ohio, was born in 1795 and died on 15 April 1862. He was married to Comfort Dickinson (1803-1877) and had at least eleven children.

1st Battalion Mississippi State Troops Cavalry

1864: Robert DeKalb Lanier to Charles Clark, Gov. of Mississippi

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The following letter was composed by Robert DeKalb Lanier (1830-1873), who enlisted in the 1st Battalion Mississippi State Cavalry in August of 1864 and was subsequently elected captain of Company C. In this correspondence, he details his company’s movements during a raid ordered by the Governor, aimed at dismantling a “nest of Jayhawkers” that threatened the loyal citizens of the Confederacy in the Gulf coast counties. Unfortunately, the raid did not unfold as Capt. Lanier had anticipated, and he unequivocally attributes the failure in execution to the battalion commander, Col. [James H.] Wingfield, 3rd Louisiana Cavalry. He ultimately concludes the letter by requesting commissions for himself and his fellow officers, particularly emphasizing the need for an independent command reporting directly to the Governor.

Robert Lanier was the son of John H. Lanier (1797-1866) and Sally Ross Moseley (1804-1836). At the time of the Civil War, he was married to Isadore D. Johnston (1836-1865), had two young children, and was living with his father on a farm near Monticello, Lawrence county, Mississippi.

The original letter is preserved in the Mississippi Dept. of Archives & History loose papers, Box 311, Series 390, 1st Battalion State Troops (McNair’s) Cavalry Co. C. A copy of the letter was sent to me with a request for its transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by Clark Avera, a descendant of Capt. Lanier. A transcript of the letter was included with the copy but it has not previously been made available on the internet and, since it had numerous errors in it, I concluded to transcribe the letter myself.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Monticello, Lawrence county, Mississippi
November 1st 1864

His Excellency, Charles Clark, Governor

Dear sir, I as one of your Captains desire to lay before your Excellency the condition of my company. If your Excellency remembers rightly, you detailed three companies while you were at Brandon to make a raid in the counties of Harrison & Jackson, &c. to break up a nest of Jayhawkers who were robbing & burning up the loyal citizens of the lower counties bordering on the Gulf. I am captain of one of those companies (Co. C., 1st Battalion Mississippi State Cavalry). My company went to Columbia—the place appointed by the Sen[ior] Capt. commanding for us to rendezvous. No one came to the place until after two days, a courier reached us [and ordered] for us to report on Bony [Bouie], one of the tributaries of Leaf river 42 miles west of Columbia. We had no ammunition nor was any sent to us. Still we went to the place designated expecting to find the rest of the battalion. Bony was in the very heart of the enemy’s country. We arrived safely, but still we could not hear from the battalion.

After staying there one day, a courier came from Col. Wingfield to the officer commanding the battalion ordering us to report to Summit immediately to repel an expected raid of the Yankees. I did not know where the battalion was & of course could not send the courier on, but promised the courier to send the dispatches on as soon as I could hear from the battalion. That night a courier arrived from Capt Lee, commanding battery, for me to guard the road and suffer none to pass without proper papers. I sent the dispatches from Colonel Wingfield forward and removed to Mt. Carmel to wait for the battalion.

The next day an order arrived from Capt. Lee ordering me to report to Monticello on Thursday. I reported as ordered on Thursday where I for the first time came up with the battalion, and Capt. Lee’s excuse was for not furnishing me with ammunition was “that he forgot to send it to me.” At Monticello, a courier was sent to Col. Wingfield notifying him of our whereabouts and of our readiness to aid him in any manner he wanted. He sent by return courier that our services was not then needed but appointing my company to guard the Pontoon Bridge across Pearl River at Monticello which we have been doing ever since.

Your Excellency will see by this that Company C has been in active service ever since we left Brandon. I have a few questions to ask your Excellency which I hope you will please answer at your earliest convenience. First, has Col. Wingfield the authority to make my company guard the bridge? Second, if your Excellency will give the officers their commissions. Third, if you will give us authority to act as county police to arrest all deserters and suspicious persons. I hope your Excellency will see the reasonableness of these questions. If the Officers has not their commissions it will be impossible for us to compel the attendance of the men at drill, and if you will give us authority to take up deserters, it will relieve the Confederate troops from that duty and put a company in the field from every county. If you grant us this, it will be necessary for us to have ammunition which we are willing to be responsible to the State for.

We would like very much to be detached from McNair’s Battalion and let us be an independent company to be attached to any command we please in case of a raid & we promise your Excellency that we will never shirk our duty, but will always be ready & willing to turn and at your proclamation at a moment’s warning. We  desire to impress upon your Excellency the necessity of having our commissions.

Your Excellency’s most obedient servant,
Robert D. Lanier, Capt, Co C. McNair’s Battalion Miss. State Calvary

The Officers are

Robert D Lanier, Capt
James E. Harper, 1st Lt
James L. Lynes, 2nd Lt
James M. Butler, 3rd Lt

Antislavery Movement, Causes of War---Slavery, Iowa Homefont

1861: Oliver Woolcott Whitney to Silas Dagget Whitney

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The following letter was written by Oliver Woolcott Whitney (1817-1864) while serving as the proprietor of the Collins House in Des Moines, Iowa. He wrote the letter in early June 1861, before any serious blood was spilled in the American Civil War. He wrote the letter to his younger brother, Silas Daggett Whitney (1820-1903) of Pittsfield, Ohio. From the letter we learn that the two brothers held differing views on the war—one apparently more supportive of the Abolitionists and the other blaming them entirely for agitating the question of slavery to the point where nothing short of war would settle it.

Oliver was the son of Milton Watrous Whitney (1786-1839) and Lydia Cleveland (1786-1869), early-day settlers of Pittsfield, Ohio. He was married to Esther Rising (1820-1871). Little else could be found regarding his life.

Des Moines in the 1860s

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Des Moines, [Iowa]
June 2, 1861

Dear Brother,

I have been very busy for a few weeks past which is the reason I have not written you. I suppose Frank Wadsworth & Milton are at home and you have seen them & learned what we are doing out here. We moved last week to the “Collins House.” Before we were running two houses for a few weeks. I have been in the war business some—that is, I boarded the soldiers & got paid for it.

Alice is quite unwell with a swelling on the right side of her face. The doctor thinks it will not injure her materially. Esther has worked too hard & is not very well now. I have travelled around & stood up so much my legs will come off or give out I am afraid.

We have had an extra session of our Legislature of two weeks past and we had 12 board with us at $5 per week & could have had more if we had not had the soldiers. Well they have all left & I hope we shall get some rest.

You think I am differing with you in the war matter. Now I am in favor of sustaining the government at all hazards, but if the Abolitionists & Nigger Stealers in Ohio & elsewhere had not existed, then there would not have been any war now in my opinion. I suppose you think the U. S. Government in this war intend to liberate the slaves as the Oberlinites have preached for years. But the Republicans here say they will do no such things. Some say here it is nothing but a Nigger Squabble.

I have foreseen trouble coming for a long time & when such Abolitionists as Josh Giddings & [Horace] Greeley take the course they have, no wonder there is war. They have wanted to destroy this government for years past. But I believe there are conservative men enough left to preserve it yet. I suppose you won’t agree with me in this matter so I may as well drop it.

I wish you would come & see us. What does Frank & Milton say? I had not time to go around with them as I wished. Still I hope they will come & see us again. I was glad to see them.

What are you doing now? Tell Milton & Frank they promised to write to me & send me some papers. I received two from Asa today. Why don’t you send me some? Lt us hear from you soon. Our love to you and Electa and your children. and to Mother. Yours ever, — O. W. Whitney

To S. D. Whitney, Esq., Pittsfield, Ohio

36th Iowa Infantry

1862: Creed H. Amos to his Parents

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Creed H. Amos (Ancestry.com)

This letter was written by 19 year-old Creed H. Amos (1843-1863), the son of Gilbert Bird Amos (1819-1901) and Caroline S. Knapp (1823-1900) of Monroe County, Iowa. Amos enlisted on 13 August 1862 to serve three years in Co. K, 36th Iowa Infantry, but he died of typhoid fever on 19 February 1863 at the regimental hospital at Helena, Arkansas.

Creed wrote his letter from Camp Lincoln at Keokuk, Iowa, in mid-October—a little over a week after they were mustered into the service. The men were first issued old Austrian and Belgian smoothbore muskets with “sword” bayonets, but these antiques were eventually replaced with more effective .58 caliber Springfield rifled muskets. Following four weeks of basic training at Camp Lincoln, the regiment departed Keokuk on 1 November 1862 aboard two steamboats for St. Louis to await corps and division assignment and to continue training.

This letter was found in the pension records at NARA by Brian Rhinehart. It was submitted by his mother Caroline as proof that Creed sent money home to his family while in the service which they depended on. Brian forwarded it to me for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared.

T R A N S C R I P T I ON

Camp Lincoln
Sunday, October 12, 1862

Dear mother,

I seat myself down this beautiful Sabbath morning to let you know that I received your kind letter dated October the 4th which found me well and gave me great satisfaction to hear from you and that all was well. I am well now. I have had the sore eyes but they are getting better now. I hope this may find you all well and doing well. I have a great interest in knowing how you are getting along for nothing is so dear to me as home.

I have placed myself in a hard life to live. Our situation is new to the most of us, if not all the American people. We have changed the peaceful walks of life and are in the army where we are shut down to narrow limits by the military law. We have given ourselves up to the officers to be controlled by them.

The weather has been very wet here and we have had heavy frosts. Our barracks are very cold and open. They are made of pine plank and the roofs are open & leaky. We received $40 from the government last evening & have got our blankets & shoes but no clothing yet, and how soon [we will], I know not. I will bring these few lines to a close. I will write a few lines to father so no more but remain your son, — C. H. Amos

Dear father,

I will drop you a few lines this morning to let you know how I am getting along. I am well at present, hoping this may find you well. I would like to be with you this fall helping you do your work. I have got $40 from the government & will send $30 to you. If I don’t come home, the Captain is coming home about Wednesday & I will send it by him. I got all US money in $10 bills. I don’t know yet whether I will get to come home or not. Some of this company is going to home tomorrow. If you want me to come back and stay a few days, I will try and get a pass and come home for a short time. They won’t allow us to stay long.

There is a few sick in our company. Little John Potts is sick at present but I think will get well soon. All the balance are well.

Address your letter to name, Keokuk, Iowa, Co. K, 36th Regt. Iowa Vols., Care of Capt. is sufficient.

You go into Albia about Thursday or Friday and see the Captain. So no more but write often as you can & do the best you can. I will write more about camp life some other time. C. H. Amos to G. B. Amos

100th Pennsylvania Infantry, Fort Stedman

1865: William Adams to Henry Shrader

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The following letter was written by William Adams (1837-1904), the son of Solomon Adams (1814-1896) and Anna Shrader (1817-1906) of Bedford county, Pennsylvania. In November 1864, 27 year-old William was employed as a carpenter and residing in New Paris with his first wife, the former Mary Catherine Repp (18xx-1865), and their daughter, Sarah (b. 1860). When William failed to report for duty, he was arrested, mustered into service, and assigned to Co. M, 100th Pennsylvania Regiment (sometime called the “Roundheads”). He was then sent to his regiment in Virginia to participate in the ongoing Petersburg campaign. He was mustered out of service by general order on June 25, 1865, after having spent several weeks in the hospital. He spent the next several weeks at home in poor health.

“In 1883, William applied for an invalid pension from the federal government for disability received in service due to injury and disease. According to his declaration, in the service and in the line of his duty at Petersburg, VA, on or about the 22nd day of March 1865, William received “ruptures of varicose veins from throwing sand-bags upon the breastworks. Also, while engaged in guard duty along the canal near Washington, [William] received a malarial fever (so called by the Dr.).” He was treated in the regimental hospital in the month of June 1865 and sent to the general hospital at Washington, D. C. William described himself as at least one-half disabled from earning his living as a carpenter. To support his application, he obtained written testimony from Joseph Anders, George W. Darr, and his father, Solomon. William’s claim that he contracted malarial poisoning in service was approved, but his claim that he contracted varicose veins of the leg in service was rejected. The Arrears Act of 1879 stipulated that his pension was retroactive to the date of his discharge from service (1865) and that he was entitled to receive a lump-sum payment. 

In 1894, William applied for a re-examination of his rejected claim for varicose veins in service because his cousin, Anna O. Gephart, discovered the previously discussed March 27, 1865 letter by William to her father. In support of his claim, William submitted the letter along with a deposition from Anna. A special examiner sent the claim to the Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, DC, with a note. “The letter written by the claimant in the service to his uncle Henry Shrader is valuable evidence and corroborates the claimant’s allegations as to the incurrence of varicose veins…. I took the deposition of Anna O. Gephart. She is of good reputation and testified in a perfectly straightforward manner. I am satisfied that she found the letter amongst her father’s papers, as she states… I believe the claim for varicose veins of left leg to be meritorious.” William’s claim, which had been re-submitted several times before, was eventually approved and his pension was increased.” [Source: Craig Adams]

A photocopy of this letter in William’s pension file was made available to me for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by Craig Adams, a descendant of William’s brother, George Adams.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

[Before Petersburg, Va.]
March 27, 1865

Uncle,

I take my pen in hand to let you know that I am still among the living. We had right smart of a brush on the 25th of this month with the Johnnies. They broke in here and we had a right smart fight with them. I got off right well though I got my ear burnt and gun shot out of my hand and the stock somewhat disfigured. That was close enough, I thought. 1

And a few days ago I was throwing sand bags on the breastworks and trained my leg at the knee and ankle and [now] that leg won’t track right. There is blue spots on the leg [that] a man says is bursted veins.

The weather here is fine and warm and up there you say is cold and snow on the ground. I think the [Johnnies] can’t stand it much longer on account of being starved out right soon. Direct as before. — Wm. Adams

To Henry Shrader

1 The “right smart fight” that William refers to in this letter was the pre-dawn assault on Fort Stedman where the 100th Pennsylvania Infantry was posted with other 9th Corps regiments.

16th Illinois Infantry, 88th Illinois Infantry, Battle of Missionary Ridge

1863-64: James Wesley Cassingham to Salina (Cassingham) Wyatt

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These letters were written by James Wesley Cassingham (1840-1921), the son of English emigrant James Cassingham (1811-1882) and Virginia-native Martha Oden (1810-1844). James was born in Jackson, Muskingham county, Ohio, and was living in LaHarpe, Hancock county, Illinois when he enlisted on 24 May 1861 to serve as a private in Co. F of the 16th Illinois Infantry. He reenlisted as a veteran in the regiment on 28 December 1863, for which he received a bounty and a 30 day furlough in February 1864. He mustered out of the regiment on 8 July 1865 as a corporal.

In his letters, James mentions his cousin, Thomas Alexander (“Alex”) Cassingham (1844-1863) who served in Co. F of the 88th Illinois Infantry. Alex was killed in the Battle of Missionary Ridge in November 1863, as described in Letter 2 below. The recipient of all three of these letters was a third cousin, Salina (Cassingham) Wyatt, who lived in Dresden, Muskingum Co., Ohio at the time. Her husband, Frank Wyatt, served as a private in Co. F, 62nd Ohio Infantry.

To read letters written by other members of the 16th Illinois Infantry made available by Spared & Shared, see:
Noble Lovely Prentis, Co. D, 16th Illinois (1 Letter)
Francis James Russell, Co. D, 16th Illinois (6 Letters)
Matthew Davis, Co. G, 16th Illinois (3 Letters)

These Cassingham letters were kept by Salina and passed down to a descendant, Melvin Ernest Wyatt, who gifted them to Paul Jacque Cassingham. Wishing to preserve the history in them, he in turn provided me with scans for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared.

Camp of the 16th Illinois Infantry across the Cumberland River from Nashville, TN.

Letter 1

Addressed to Mrs. Salina Wyatt, Dresden, Muskingham county, Ohio

Kelly’s Ferry, Tennessee 1
November 3rd, 1863

Dear Cousin,

I received your letter in due season and I hasten to answer it. Since I last wrote to you we have moved three ties and every time it was on Sunday. Gor the last four Sunday’s we have been on the go. A week ago today last Sunday we arrived on the opposite side of the river from this and at that time there was plenty of rebs here on this ground that we are camped on and there is some yet but they are prisoners of war.

On last Wednesday night we was waked up by heavy firing and it continued for some time. The cause of it was by a movement of Hooker and the rebs made a night attack on him and they got repulsed handsomely. The rebs is in pretty close quarters now and it is hoped that they will all be captured and if we should meet with such a victory, this war will soon be to an end and I won’t be sorry for this is no pleasnt work. But I won’t grumble for I am a faring first rate to what some of the troops front of us is they they are not getting full rations and for a long time they have not got half rations. But they are getting plentier now for the river is open to this point and the boats is a running to this point and from this point to Chattanooga it is but ten miles and good roads.

Alex got through the fight safe and sound. If you see either of them uncles of [yours], you can tell them I am all right and if they want to hear from me, for them to answer the letter that I wrote to them.

Well, Salina, I [have] but little news to write this time so I will close for this time. This leaves me well and hoping it may find you the same. I bid you goodbye for the present. I remain your cousin as ever, — J. W. Cassingham

1 Kelly’s Ferry on the Tennessee River in Lookout Valley, Tennessee, was a highly strategic point during the Civil War. It served as the crucial river terminus for the “Cracker Line,” a vital supply route that saved starving Union forces during the Confederate siege of Chattanooga in late 1863. Union victories in October 1863—including the amphibious assault at Brown’s Ferry and the Battle of Wauhatchie—secured the surrounding valley roads and guaranteed that provisions, ammunition, and reinforcements flowing through Kelly’s Ferry could safely reach Chattanooga.

Letter 2

Kelly’s Ferry, Tennessee
December 7, 1863

Dear Cousin,

I received yours of the 29th ult. and I was truly glad to hear from you and to hear that you was well as this [leaves] me well. I hope these few short lines may find you the same.

The news is rather sad. On the 24th ult. Cousin Alexander Cassingham fell mortally wounded on Missionary Ridge. He fell in a charge on the rebel works. He was a brave boy and he was well liked by all of his comrades. I was not in the fight. We layed here and heard it as long as they was in our hearing and that was not long for our men was not long in putting them to flight. The victory is complete and the breaking up on Bragg’s army. We have taken a large number of prisoners and any amount of cannon and small arms. Well, it is the most complete victory that ever was achieved in this department.

Our loss is small in the last battle. All of the rebs wounded fell into our hands. Bad luck to the men that took Lisie [Alex] away.

Well, my time will be out in 5 months and 17 days and perhaps sooner for there is strong talk of us a getting our furlough time and if we get that, we will be out in February and I will be as good as my word—that is, if I get out safe. And I hope I will for one. And I may find a wife but it is hard telling.

As for my likeness, I would gladly send it to you if I had one to send or if I could [get] one taken but I can’t do that for there is no chance here. But as soon as I can get one, I will send it to you. And you said that it was a snowing there when you wrote to me and that it what it has not done here yet this winter. And I hope it won’t thought it has been pretty cold.

Well, I must close for it is about dinner time and I am cook so no more at present. I remain your cousin, — Jas. W. Cassingham

Give my love to Aunt.

Letter 3

Nashville, Tennessee
February 26th 1864

Dear Cousin,

I seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know that I am still alive and among the living. We left Illinois on last Saturday and we got to this place the night of the 23rd and here we are yet. But how long we will stay here, I cannot tell but I hope it won’t be long for this is not the kind of soldiering I like to do. It is as bad as Libby Prison for we are kept about as close anymore than we can get out.

You must excuse me for not coming to see you for at the time I wrote to you, I had the promise of sixty days furlough but when my 30 days was out, I had to come to Dixie. Well, here I am and I suppose I must stay for a short time. I had a fine time while I was at home. Well, it was a free pitch in and no questions was asked so you may bet I had my own times of it.

Well, if I don’t stop soon, I’ll get to bragging a little and I never do. I have but little to write and nothing of interest so I will bring my short letter to a close. Hoping this may reach you and find you all well, I bid you goodbye for the present. Yours truly, — Jas. W. Cassingham

Co. F, 16th Illinois Infantry
Nashville, Tennessee

Direct as above.

129th New York Infantry, Fort Federal Hill

1862: William Bonnett to Abel Rice

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A watercolor of Pvt. James M. Warren who also served in Co. C, 129th New York Infantry

This letter was written by 22 year-old William Bonnett, a native of England, who was residing in the household of Abel Rice in Orleans County, New York, at the time of his enlistment in Co. C of the 129th New York Infantry in August 1862. This regiment was organized at Lockport, New York, and ordered to Fort Federal Hill in Baltimore, Maryland, where they had just arrived when William wrote this letter to Abel. William’s enlistment was for three years but he barely lived three months. He died of typhoid fever in the regimental hospital at Baltimore on 2 November 1862. A month later, the 129th New York Infantry was converted into an artillery unit and was renamed the 8th New York Heavy Artillery.

The original letter was kept by Abel Rice and eventually passed down to his descendants. Scans of the letter were made available for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by Aimee Albanese. She informed me that a Widow’s Pension record for William Bonnett’s service was filed by Mary Jane (nee loper) Bonnett. In the 22 page document, Mary Jane Loper and William Bonnett Jr were married in the Town of Barre, NY on 06/01/1861 by Reverend Mason (Methodist).  When widowed, she had no children.  In an affidavit, William Bonnett Jr’s parents, William Bonnett and Ann Mary (nee Clark) Bonnett testified to this marriage.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

[Fort Federal Hill]
August 31, 1862

A. Rice,

My friend, I now take my pen to write to you hoping to find you well as it leaves me at present. We got news that we got Stonewall Jackson and six thousand men—that is ten regiments—in here. We are in Baltimore, Maryland, on Federal Hill. It is a nice place here. I send my best respects to all the boys round there. I like it here. This is a very hilly country here.

I sent $87 home. There was 15 men went out of this regiment to Washington for prisoners. I got so that I can lay down and sleep. We fire good enough there. There’s six [Columbiads and] 40 [other] cannon here. There is one fort [Fort Marshall] east of us about four miles from us. We can see all of the City of Baltimore. There is a fire in the city most every night.

We was called up the other night and distributed ten rounds for we though that we would have to fight a little, but we hain’t had to yet. We sleep in bunks. There was about 50 of [us] boys on guard last night. We had all of our guns loaded. And we went out this morning and shot them to a mark and there was eight balls hit the mark. There was one of the boys got shot through the hip. I guess that he will get well. ‘Twas a boy out of Company K. 1

We have good arms. It is just as Milton said, a man will get used to eating grub [?]

Fort Federal Hill
Baltimore, Maryland

William Bonnett,

Co. C, [New York] Regiment [1]29

1 Typically, when guards carried loaded weapons over night, they would discharge their weapons the next morning by taking target practice.

52nd Ohio Infantry

1863: James Wallace to his Family

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The following letter was written by James Wallace (1845-Bef1898), the son of Hamilton Wallace, Sr. (b. 1807) and Kate Haney (b. 1808), of Salem township, Jefferson County, Ohio. James enlisted in Co. G, 52nd Ohio Infantry on 18 August 1862, along with his brothers, Hamilton W. Wallace, Jr. and James Wallace. He served until he was mustered out as a veteran on 30 December 1865.

In his letter, James describes the illness of his older brother, George Washington (“Wash”) Wallace who died from disease in a hospital at Nashville, Tennessee. George was not married. As mentioned in the letter, George’s remains were sent home in a zinc coffin sold to the family by the a Nashville undertaker named Cornelius who contracted with the U. S. government during the Civil War. George was buried in a private cemetery named Wallace, Potts, Keiser Cemetery, also known as Fairfield Cemetery (there is no grave marker).

At the time James wrote this letter, the 52nd Ohio Volunteers had seen at action at Richmond, Kentucky, at Perryville, Kentucky. They were encamped at Brentwood (near Nashville), Tennessee, in March 1863 and remained there until June when they returned to Murfreesboro.

This letter is archived in the Pension file of George Washington Wallace at the National Archives and was provided to me by Brian Rhinehart for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Nashville, Tennessee
March 17th 1863

Dear friends,

I once more take my pen in hand to let you know that we are well at present and hoping that these few lines may find you enjoying the same blessing. We started “Wash” home, I think it was the 12th and I had no money to telegraph and I don’t know whether the contractor Cornelius telegraphed or not, and Rothacker & Holmes and the company was out at Franklin and none of the boys that was left in camp had any money so I sent a letter as soon as I could get it started. We got him put in a zinc coffin. A metallic coffin cost about 25 or 30 dollars more than a zinc. We will send his Descriptive List as soon as possible and then you can get his money. There is an agent in Steubenville for to collect all such money. He was not discharged and you will get his 75 dollars bounty and will get about 140 or 145 dollars bounty and all [illegible]. Cornelius sent the bill to you. I guess [illegible]

About that piece of land for me and Hamilton will get four months pay if we paid now [illegible] don’t pay us till the 1st of May we will get six months pay but I think we will be paid off as soon as they get them paid off in front. Keep in good heart for Billy Ford will not push you for I talked to him the day that we left Richmond [Ohio]. The darkest time is always before day. I want you to write me a letter as soon as you get this one and tell me whether you got “Wash” and all about it. Isabelle writes me long letters.

Wash was as well taken care of as he could have been if he had been at home. Hamilton or I was with him every night and there were two good nurses with him, and there were no one in the room that was not able to take care of themselves and they all seemed that it done them good to do anything for him and he had what ever he wanted to eat or drink. If he had been at home, I don’t think that he would have lived long for he was consumptive before he came out. It was to be and we must all die sooner or later.

Charley Roberts is well and hearty. We will send two overcoats and shirts home as soon as get a chance. Tell Isaiah and Uncle [illegible] and Wm. Ellis that I will write as soon as I can, and Aunt Harriet too. We have as good officers as they are in the service. [Capt.] Rothacker can’t be beat,

Nothing more but remain your sons, — James & Hamilton Wallace,

Write as soon as you get this letter. It is pretty nice weather. Write and let us know how the wheat looks and things in general. I am in good health.

Isabella, you are learning to write fast. Keep at it. You will learn as fast as anybody. Frank Scott and Edd Wilson better look out for they will be punished.

105th Pennsylvania Infantry, Belle Island Prison, Peninsula Campaign

1862: John Hillard to Rachael (Reese) Hillard

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The following letter was written by John Hillard (1807-1862), of Glen Hope, Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, while serving as a 54 year-old private in Co. D, 105th Pennsylvania Infantry (a.k.a, the Wildcat Regiment”). He wrote the letter from Harrison’s Landing on the James River where McClellan’s Army of the Potomac had retreated following the Seven Days Battles in front of Richmond. We learn that he had been suffering from some disease and though his letter attempted to reassure his wife he was on the gain, he died of disease a little over a month later on 15 September 1862 at the Union Army Hospital at Point Lookout, Maryland.

John enlisted in 28 August 1861 and served with his regiment a little over a year until his death. He was married to Rachel Reese (1803-1895) and they had at least seven children. For those who are interested in the early record of the 105th Pennsylvania, see a diary I transcribed by Robert Increase Boyington, Co. I, 105th Pennsylvania.

This letter was provided to Spared & Shared for transcription and publication by Justin Houser who found it in Hillard’s pension file at the National Archives. John Hillard was his 4th great grandfather.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Camp near Harrison Landing, Virginia
Co. D, 105th Regt. Pennsylvania Vols.
August 8, 1862

Dear wife,

It is with pleasure that I again take advantage of this present opportunity to inform you that my health is improving very slow. I received a letter from you this morning bearing more cheering news. It brought me intelligence that you was well and also that you had received the money that I sent to you in the two letters. I was glad to hear that it had got home safe to you. I am not gaining much strength for the last two weeks and I feel very feeble. I am much reduced in flesh but I hope that these few lines will find you enjoying good health.

There is nothing of importance going on here now. We are still in camp but the weather is very warm here. Some days since some of our boys returned from Richmond that was taken prisoners on the retreat to the James river. They say that they got very hard usage. Lyman Higley says that they drove them on through Richmond and took them up the James river to Belle Island and took them on the island and put them in an old tobacco house and their rations was a half pound of bread a day and no salt and some old beef that was half rotten and maggoty. 1 Common government shoes such as we wear costs $8 per pair [in Richmond] and their common worth 1.80 cents per pair. Common Stogy boots costs fifteen dollars. I think by that that they must be hard up in Richmond for shoes and boots. They have no coffee nor sugar but our prisoners says that they have plenty of bread and meat.

Our Captain [William Kelly] returned to camp today and we was all very glad to see him coming back for now we can rely on having justice done by us. But the rebels is bent to fight. Their hearts and souls is bound together and they think that they are fighting for a just cause and to protect their homes. But we will show them what they have been fighting for.

William Smith died on Monday, the 30th day of June. He was taken prisoner on the 29th and taken to Richmond and died the next day after he landed in the Confederate Capitol.

I must close for the present. Nothing more but I remain your affectionate husband to death, — From John Hillard

To Rachael Hillard, his wife

I find there is no place like home. Farewell for a short time.

1 Since Hillard’s description of the facilities on Belle Island is based on hearsay, we should question his claim about a tobacco warehouse being there. Other detainees reported it as an “open air” camp with only tents for shelter. The prisoners might have spent a night or two in a tobacco warehouse in Richmond before arriving at Belle Island.

2nd Kentucky Cavalry (US), Emancipation Proclamation, Slavery

1862: Sam Lyon to Sallie (Harper) Lyon

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Capt. Sam Lyon, Co. H, 2nd Kentucky Cavalry (USA)

The following letter was written by Sam Lyon (1836-1899), Captain of Co. H, 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, USA. He wrote the letter from Tyree Springs, Tennessee, in the fall of 1862. At the time that he wrote this letter, he was a sergeant in Co. L; he did not receive his commission in Co. H until the fall of 1864. Sam was the son of Hamilton Shaw Lyon (1805-1887) and Frances Royse (1800-1843) of Newport KY, just across the river from Cincinnati OH. He wrote the letter to his sister-in-law, Sarah (“Sallie”) Harper Lyon (1833-1919) who was married to Sam’s older brother, Hamilton Shaw Lyon, II (1832-1883), a pattern-maker living in Cincinnati.

A photocopy of the original letter was shared with me by Douglas Lyon, a family descendant. He says the original letter passed down to a now-deceased cousin and is likely in the hands of one of her children. Doug has previously shared this letter on a public blog but since I found some errors in transcription and also because the blogs posts were not being archived (like those on Spared & Shared), I’ve made an exception to my general rule of not duplicating other people’s work.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Headquarters Second Kentucky Cavalry
In Camp at “Tyree Springs” Robinson Co., Tennessee
November 21st 1862

Dear Sister Sallie,

A few days ago I had the pleasure of receiving two letters from you—one bearing date of October 22nd enclosing a letter from [sister] Missouri, the other under date of November 1st. And did you know with what peculiar satisfaction such favors are received by us “Soger boys” in the field, isolated as we are from home, friends and all that we hold near and dear, and how grateful we feel toward our friends at home for these epistolary favors, it would be unnecessary for me to say I thank you for them.

You speak of my getting a furlough and coming home as though one could be had for the asking. But such is not the case. It is almost an impossibility now in our Department to get a furlough. In the first place it would have to be a matter of life & death for our Colonel to approve one for one of his men for he is one of the most rigid and exacting disciplinarians in the army. He is a “regular” from “West Point”—a classmate of Buell, Bragg, Barry, McDowell, Beauregard, &c., &c., and one of a class of soldiers that indulge neither themselves nor their men in furloughs or pleasures while in the field on an active campaign. So in the language of the old song, “until the wars are all over,” I never expect to see home of friends unless someone should lose their senses and be guilty of that inconceivable folly of coming to see me.

You ask when will this cruel war be over and peace be again restored. In my opinion then, when the sphere of action that the Almighty designed the negro to figure in shall be more generally understood. When a certain party in the North prompted by mistaken premises shall cease their endeavors to drag him from the sphere that wise Providence designed him to act in—as a laborer in the fields. And place him in positions of honor & trust, to the exclusion of the white man, whose superior intellect God gave him to fit him for such posts—wherein the feeble intellect of the negro would expose him to ridicule & contempt. When the North shall cease this and unite with one accord to establish the “Union as it was,” not as their sectional proclivities would have it for there is the rock upon which the hopes of this fair nation has been dashed [but] not, however let us trust, without hope of eventual reclamation. Then and not till then will it be done. 

Should we by one tremendous convulsion, such as the [Emancipation] Proclamation, perhaps eradicate slavery, then though we might have a union of lakes and of lands, that more desirable union of the happiness & well being of a people, “a union of hearts and union of hands” would be forever wanting. For so far as the influence of our arms extends, or wherever the slaves outnumbered their masters’ safety, such acts of rapine & lawlessness would be perpetrated as sickens the heart to contemplate. Such scenes of brutal excess of riot, of arson, of pillage, and of murder would be enacted as to cause the authors of it such remorse of conscience as no heart could endure and would impose such a barrier to a happy union as no time could surmount.

This view of the affair will give Hamp [Hamilton, his brother & husband of Sallie] great offense, I suppose, if he reads it. My views always used to, and when I used to vent them, he invariably made an inroad upon my loyalty. But as I now have shown my “faith by my works,” there is no farther room [for criticism].

I suppose Amelia & Alec [Amelia was his wife’s sister] have been married. To sum all manner of good up in one short word—I wish them well. For old acquaintance sake, give Miss Ely my regards. Tell her that in her next “affair de coeur,” I wish her better success. 

Tell Hamilton that I am much obliged to him for his half sheet, and will be further obliged when I receive his promised letter, and which obligation I will cancel by an answer. 

Since I have been here I have had quite a pleasant visit to Gallatin where I lived some time ago for about a year & a half. Gallatin is distant from here 16 miles. I was glad to find that all of my most particular friends were union. Well as it is getting late and I am growing quite chilly for as yet we have got no stoves here. I will close. Your affectionate brother,  —S. Lyon

Please write soon again. Let me hear from Missouri as soon as you hear from her, for I feel quite anxious about them.

[to] Hamilton Lyon