The following letter was written by Levi Fletcher (1842-1898), the son of Nathan Fletcher (1798-1863) and Louise [ ] of Monticello, Wright county, Minnesota—formerly of Maine. In 1860, Levi was enumerated in his parent’s household in Monticello, identified as a 17 year-old mail carrier. When the Civil War began, Levi enlisted in May 1861 as a private in Co. B, 1st Minnesota Infantry. Fighting at the First Battle of Bull Run on Henry House Hill while supporting Rickett’s Battery, the 1st Minnesota suffered severe casualties with 49 killed, 107 wounded, and 34 missing. Levi was one of the wounded severely enough to warrant a discharge for disability, granted in October 1861. He filed for a pension as an invalid in 1863.
The year of this October 11th letter is not given but it had to be either 1863 or 1864; after the fall of Vicksburg and before the end of the war. Unfortunately, nothing in the letter gives us a clue as to which year it might have been. We learn that Levi has opened a store in Vicksburg where he believed there was “a great chance to make money.” But he found the town people hard to deal with. “They would not hesitate in taking a man’s life for a dollar. That is the kind of men that we have to deal with down here,” he told his cousin. Apparently this was not just so much hyperbole as there was a notice in the Vicksburg Daily Times of 28 November 1871 referring to the examination of Frank Newman “for the alleged shooting of Levi Fletcher.”
Levi lived out his days in Vicksburg and died there in 1898.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Vicksburg, Mississippi October 11 [1863]
Dear Cousin,
I have been so busy ever since I have been here that I could not have time to write to you until now and I have not time to write you but a few lines now. And I hope you will excuse me for not writing sooner. I think this is the meanest country that ever white man ever got into but this is a great chance to make money here. But everyone is trying to get rich in one day and that they cannot do. But if a man hangs on, he will make money here.
I like [being] in the store very well but I have some of the hardest men to deal with that I ever saw. They would not hesitate in taking a man’s life for a dollar. That is the kind of men that we have to deal with down here. I have to keep hopping around from night until morn and from morn until night and what time so I get to sleep? Why I sleep in the corner of the store while the customers are looking at the goods.
I should like to be up in the State of Minnesota for a short time. One feels as dull as if he had been sick all of the time. I do not feel as lively as I did when I was up there. There is something in the atmosphere that makes me feel very dull.
I had a very pleasant time in coming down here. There were a great many ladies on the boat and we had a very good time. We would dance in the evening and the day times. I would lie to them ladies and make them think that I and the whole of Minnesota and part of Wisconsin and a part of Illinois and they thought that I was one of the great. I am of the northwest. I made them think that I was coming down here to take charge of the Southern Confederacy and then they thought I was one of the southern spies and then some of them detectives and then I was a Yankey soldier. But before the boat landed, they come to the conclusion that I was a gambler and they were right.
Please answer as soon as convenient. From your ever true friend, — Levi Fletcher
I could not find an image of Wellington but here is a pen and watercolor rendering of Sgt. William T. Lambert who served in the same company.
The following letters were written by Wellington S. Cates (1836-1863), the son of Mark L. Cates (1797-1844) and Mary Palmer (1799-1861) of Washington county, Maine. Wellington was residing in St. Cloud, Minnesota when he enlisted in Co. D, 4th Minnesota Infantry. He did not survive the war, however. He was killed in the massive Union assault on the Confederate works at Vicksburg on 22 May 1863. There were 12 killed and 42 wounded in the 4th Minnesota during that assault which failed, though the regiment pressed right up to and on the enemy’s works.
Wellington wrote the letters to his sister, Sarah E. Cates (1834-1897). He often refers to his brothers, Calvin, Mark, and William Cates. Calvin served in Co. K, 1st Maine Heavy Artillery. Mark was married and living in Kingston, Meeker county, Minnesota at the time of the 1860 US Census. William (1841-1901) served in Co. H, 28th Maine Infantry, enlisting in October 1862.
There are 12 letters posted here that were written by Wellington; a 13th letter is included that was written by a comrade, William Henry Hall (1841-1932), announcing the death of Wellington. He was a native of Buckfield, Oxford county, Maine.
Letter 1
Ft. Abercrombie January 4, 1862
Dear Sister,
I am once again seated to write you a few lines thinking you would like to hear how I am getting along. I am well and have been the most of the time this winter. I like a soldier’s life first rate. It is a lazy life. We are drilling now every day for we expect to go south in the spring and we want to be good soldiers.
This Fort Abercrombie is in Dakota Territory on the west bank of Red River three hundred miles northwest of St. Paul. It is a fine country up here. The prairie is very level. You can look for miles and not see as much as one bush.
I have written you two letters—one from Kingston and one from Ft. Snelling, and I have got no answer from either of them yet. I have not heard from home for a long time. I should think some of you might write once more.
We have meetings here every Sunday and I go as a general thing. Our captain is a preacher and I think a very fine man. There is two companies here at this post. I was down to Georgetown last week. Went down with a six mule team to carry provision for the soldiers. Captain Lewig [?] and fifty soldiers went down to protect the settlers for the Indians is quite troublesome down that way. But there is no Indians about here.
I had a letter from Mark a few days ago. His family was all well. They have got another boy and he weighed twelve lbs. when he was born. Well, Sarah, I can’t think of anything more to write this time. Don’t forget to answer this. Write all of the news. Give my love to all of my folks. From W. S. Cater
Write Abercrombie, Dakota, Territory
Letter 2
Fort Snelling April 19, 1862
My Dear Sister,
I received your letter this morning & also one from William and a likeness from both of you. I need not tell you how glad I was to hear from you & also glad to hear you received my letter and present. You may judge for yourself about the Ambrotype. I was very much pleased with them. I have been up & had them put in cases. I shall take them wit me down to Dixie.
Well, Sarah, you may be some surprised to have a letter from me dated Fort Snelling. I arrived here eight days ago and will probably leave on Monday morning for St. Louis. I went into Kingsley as I came down. Mark and family was well. They have three boys now. Mark said he wrote to you and wanted you to send a make for his last boy. I should not have known William—he has changed so much since I left home. He is a fine looking fellow.
Sarah, I sent you my likeness in case. It put it in the office this morning. I hope you will get it. I wish Rufus & Adeline would send me that likeness together. I received a letter from Adeline some three weeks ago and will answer it soon. I don’t have a very good chance to write.
My health is very good at present & has been most of the time this winter. I like a soldier’s life very well. They are all in good spirits and willing to go south or anywhere we are called. You must not fret about me for I think I shall come out all right and come home when the war is all over. I can’t think of anything to write this time. I will try and do better next time.
Give my love to all the folks. You must write often. you have a better chance to write than i do. Well, I must now close. So goodbye Sarah. From Wellington
N. B. Write W. S. Cates, Ft. Snelling, 4th Regt. Co. D, Minnesota Vols., Care of Capt. Inman
Letter 3
Gen. Pope’s Division Near Corinth, Mississippi June 26, 1862
My dear sister Sarah,
I received your kind and interesting letter of the 10th instant adn was very glad to hear you was well but very sorry to think you should fret about me for I am getting along very well. I am enjoying good health. I have not been sick since I left Minnesota but there is a great many in our regiment that are very sick. There has been three soldiers died out of our company and four more not expected to live. It is very sickly here now. Our regiment are about half sick.
Sarah, I can’t think of much to write this time. I wrote you a letter three weeks ago and wrote all the news. I have not received that letter you sent to St. Louis. One letter is all I have received from my old home in Maine. I was very much pleased with your letter which I received yesterday.
We have not been in any battle yet and I do not think there is prospects of us having a battle very soon so you must not fret on that account. We made the rebels leave Corinth and I think they were badly frightened by the looks of things they left behind them. We followed them a ways as far as Booneville and have returned and shall stop here until further orders.
Dear sister, I wish you would write as often as possible for you don’t know how it pleases me to get a letter from home. If I leave here, I will write and let you know where I am, Excuse my bad spelling for I have a very hard chance to write. Don’t forget to write often. I will say goodbye. From your most affectionate brother, — Wellington
N. B. Give my love to all of my folks and tell them all to write. Goodbye.
Letter 4
Jacinto, Mississippi August 25, 1862
My dear sister,
I received your kind and interesting letter of the 11th and was very glad to hear from you. It is very strange that you do not get my letters for I see you have not received my last. I was much surprised to hear that Calvin had volunteered. I am very sorry that Rufus and Cal should be separated for it would benefit much pleasanter for them to be together. I think they will [find it is] no fun to be a soldier. I do hope they will get in a healthy climate. It has been very sickly here. A great many of our regiment has died. There has been nine men died from our company and a great many sick. I must confess that I am not very well now myself but think I shall be better soon.
You wished to know what I do with my money. I sent fifty dollars from St, Louis by Express to Minnesota. Mark for safe keeping. And I have 25 with me now. Get another payment the first of September. Then I shall have 50 dollars. Sarah, I am quite saving. I do not spend my money foolishly. Sarah, I can’t think of much more to write this time so goodbye.
From your absent brother, — W. S. Cates
P. S. My best respects to all of the folks. Goodbye, — W. S. C.
Letter 5
In Camp near Jacinto. Mississippi September 13, 1862
Dear Sister,
I am now seated to answer your kind letter which I received last evening. I need not tell you of my joy on receiving your very welcome letter. I was sorry to hear of William going to the war. I was in hopes he would stay to home with you for I know you need him with you. It is a very bad place for a boy in the army for he is with all kind of men—good and bad.
I received a letter from you ten days ago and answered it and also one from John & Hannah and I have not much news to write this time.
You wanted to know if I heard from Mark. Yes, I have heard that the Kingston folks were all alive. I haven’t received any letter from Mark since the Indian troubles broke out and I have written to him several times. I think he has forgotten us all. I don’t know what will become of us. We have war all around and on all sides.
There has been some two or three hundred soldiers sent from Ft. Snelling up to Kingston & Forest City so I think there will be no more trouble there so you must not fret about Mark for I thin khe is safe. I am expecting a letter from him daily.
We are now camped near Jacinto. We marched out to Iuka and [had a] great fight with Old Price & drove him & [his] forces from Iuka & took possession ourselves. Our troops occupy the town. Our Brigade was ordered back here. We are expecting another battle with Price daily. I wrote you all of the particulars of our late battle in my last letter.
You [should] direct your letter to W. S. Cates, Co. D, 4th Regiment Minnesota Vols., Gen. Buford’s Brigade, Army of Mississippi.
P. S. Sarah, you must not fret about us boys for we may all live to get home yet. If you want some money, you write to Mark and he will send it to you for me. I have sent 50 dollars to Mark from St. Louis and if you need money and I think you do, I want you to say so & you shall have it. So goodbye from your brother.
Letter 6
Corinth, Mississippi October 12th 1862
Dear Sister,
I am now seated to answer your kind letter which I received this morning. I was very glad to hear from you. The last time I wrote to you I was at Jacinto.
We have had a very bloody time here to Corinth since I last wrote to you. Old Price made an attack on our forces here and got badly licked. We fought him one day and a half & the Rebels all left & [we] chased hem four days. We took some prisoners. We had a very hard battle. The Rebels’ loss is two or three thousand killed & wounded. Our loss is not so great—I think about nine hundred killed & wounded. The field was covered with dead and wounded men. We had one man killed out of our company. I have been in three battles & have not got as much as a scratch yet so you see we do not all get killed—that is, in battle.
Sarah, you say you want me to lend you some money. I am very glad you let me know it for I shall send you ten dollars today & if you need more, I will [send] it out of my next payment. I have four month’s pay coming to me now. I have sent fifty dollars to Minnesota.
I am sorry you are obliged to leave home. You say you have a good friend that is going with you. I am very glad you have someone. I will send you money any time you want it.
Sarah I have not got time to write much today for we are a going to march in a few moments. So goodbye from your brother, — W. S. Cates
Letter 7
Oxford, Mississippi December 9, 1862
Dear Sister,
It is with pleasure I acknowledge the reception of your kind letter which I received two days ago. I was very glad to hear from you. I am now stopping in Oxford, Mississippi. We have seen some very hard marching since we left Corinth. We left that place about one month ago. We have been in Tennessee part of the time. It is one hundred miles from here to Corinth. We expected a fight with Price’s forces at Holly Springs but we were disappointed. He found that we was a coming and he made up his mind the best thing he could do was to leave & has done so. We have followed him as far as this place. I don’t know as we shall go any further at present. I hope we shall stop here a while for we all need rest.
The weather is very pleasant & war, here. It is as warm as summer. I am now seated on the ground under a tree & the boys are cooking our supper. We are all well and good spirits & all very anxious for the war to close for I [assure] you, a soldier has a pretty hard time of it.
You must excuse my bad writing for I am in a great hurry. I received a letter from William a few days ago. He was then to New York. I think he is not very well pleased with a soldier’s life. I hope he will have his health. I must now close, so goodbye. From Wellington
P. S. Give my respects to all. I will write again soon, so good night. — W. S. Cates
Letter 8
White’s Station, Tennessee January 22, 1863
My dear sister,
It is with pleasure I acknowledged the receipt of your kind & much esteemed letter of the 6th instant which I received two days ago—it being the first letter I had received from you since you left home. I was very glad to hear from you but sorry that you got disappointed. It was quite of an undertaking for you two girls to start off alone among strangers & I do hope you will get a chance in a shop in the spring. You say that a girl that works out in not thought much of. Were you or anyone that knew anything would not the least of girls that works. I know that some folks do. I wish I had plenty of money so I could help you, If I had, you shiould not hire to do house work for nobody.
I received a letter from Adaline Davis a few days ago. She writes a very good letter. The folks were all well when she wrote.
It has been five weeks since I received a letter from William. I think he is getting tired of a soldier’s life. I know that I have seen all the war that I care about seeing. I hope he will not have to go into battle.
I am on picket guard today and have got a very poor chance to write. We have a good deal of guard duty to do this winter. We are on guard every other day. We are in camp on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad. We have to guard the road. We camp nine miles from Memphis. We are having very pleasant weather here this winter—much warmer than I am used of seeing in the winter. My health is very good. The soldiers are all in good health here now.
Sarah, I wish this war would come to a close for I tell you, a soldier has a hard time of it. We have received a small payment of two months pay and have got five months more pay due us. i think Uncle Sam is getting pretty poor when he cannot pay us poor soldiers. What do you think about it?
I am a going to send you a five dollar bill for a New Year’s present & any time you need money, let me know it & if I have it, I will send it to you. I must now close by saying goodbye. From your brother, – W. S. Cates
P. S. Please give my love and respects to Mary J. & tell her I would like to receive a letter from her very much & will answer. So good night.
Letter 9
White’s Station, Tennessee January 27, 1863
Dear Sister,
I take the present opportunity to answer your kind letter of the 13th December which I received three days ago. I also received one dated 6 January and answered it before. I was very much pleased to hear from you. I wrote to you the 22nd of January and sent you a five dollar bill for a New Year’s present. I was some surprised when I received your first letter dated Hallowell for I thought you had given up going. I hope you will like the people where you are stopping & you must not work too hard. If the work is so hard, I think you had not better stop long where you are. I am very sorry to think that you are obliged to work for a living. I think a good deal about you & if I had the money to help you more, you should not work for anyone.
I am on picket guard again today so you see I am well. I never had better health than I am having this winter & when this reaches you, I hope you will be enjoying the same great blessing.
Sarah, I have not much news to write this time for I wrote a few days ago.
Dear sister, you wished for me to tell you how I feel in regard to religion. I think it is a blessed thing to be a Christian & I wish that I could say to you that I was one. I know it would be a dreadful thing to die unprepared. I am like a great many others—think I will put it off until a more convenient time. Dear sister, it is a very hard place in the army. It is the hardest place I ever see. I hope that William will not learn any bad tricks. I think he is trying to be a Christian by his last letter. He tells me that he finds it a pretty hard place in the army.
I have not heard from Calvin nor Rufus since they left home. We are expecting to leave here soon and I expect we are a going to Vicksburg. That seems to be the talk. If we go there, I expect some to see William. I understand thatGen. Banks’ expedition landed in the Mississippi river below Vicksburg. I cannot think of anything more this time. So I will close by saying goodbye from your brother, — Wellington
Please direct to W. S. Cates, Co. D, 4th Regt. Minn. Vols., Gen. Quinby’s Division, ARmy of West Tennessee
My respects to Mary J., Goodbye, — W. S. C.
Letter 10
Tallahatchie River, Mississippi March 28th 1863
Dear Sister,
I am now seated to answer your kind letter which I received yesterday morning. I need not tell you of my great joy on the receipt of your letter. I also received one from William & one from Mark. I got them all by one mail. William was a hospital near New Orleans. He says he has got quite smart again and will join his regiment soon. Mark and family are well. They have got another baby. It is a girl. I think they are doing prett well in the baby line.
Our Division left Memphis the first of March. We went aboard of transports & went down the Mississippi River about two hundred miles & landed on the Arkansas side of the river & stopped there a day or two and we was ordered back to Helena & went aboard of smaller boats & come down the Yazoo Pass into Cold Water River and down the Cold Water into Tallahatchie River. And down the Tallahatchie to here. We have got some rebels to clean out before we can go any farther. The rebels are below here about ten miles at the mouth of the Tallahatchie. They have blockaded the river and have got the batteries planted on the shores & we have them to clean out before we can go any farther. I expect we are on our way to Vicksburg.
It is very warm here. The trees are all leafed out & the woods look green. The peach trees has been in bloom a month or more. I picked some peach blossoms from a tree in Arkansas. I am a going to send them to you in this letter.
It is getting sickly here. A great many of the boys are getting sick. My health is good and has been the most of the time. I have not heard from Calvin nor Rufus yet. I cannot see why they don’t write to me. I would write to them but I don’t know where to direct a letter to them.
I am real glad to hear that you have got a better place to live. If I should live to get home again, I want you and William to go to Minnesota with me & we will all settle on a farm and go a farming. I think I would like living in Minnesota. I cannot think of anything more to write this [time]. I will write again soon. I shall write as often as I can and you must do the same.
From your affectionate brother, — W. S. Cates
P. S. Direct to Co. D, 4th Regt. [Minn.], Quimby’s Division, Army of Tennessee
Letter 11
Tallahatchie, Mississippi April 4, 1863
Dear sister,
As I had a few spare moments today, I thought I would improve them by writing you a few lines to let you know how I am getting along. In the first place, I will tell you about my health which is good at present and I hope these few lines will find you enjoying the same great blessing.
It is very warm here today & it is getting very sickly here. A great many of our boys are sick. The country is very flat about here and badly overflowed with water & it cannot help being very unhealthy.
I received a letter from you about a week ago & answered it the same day. I wrote you all of the news so I haven’t much to write this time. We are still camping on the Tallahatchie RIver & have not taken the rebel’s fort yet. We have been expecting to attack them every day for more than a week but have not done it yet. I wish that I had it in my power to stop this war for I tell you, I am getting sick of the way it is carried on. I cannot see much prospects of it ending.
You must excuse the shortness of this letter for a I was on picket guard last night and I am pretty sleepy today. Please write as often as you can. I will do the same. From your affectionate brother, — W. S. Cates
To Sarah
P. S. The directions will be the same as before. So goodbye, — W. S. Cates
Letter 12
Big Black River, Mississippi May 8, 1863
Dear Sister,
It is with pleasure I take this opportunity to answer your kind letter which I received yesterday. It had been some time since I had heard from you and you know I was very glad to hear from you.
We have been having pretty hard times of late. We have crossed the Mississippi River and are now on Black River and about 20 miles from Vicksburg. We have found plenty of rebels on this side of the river and there was a battle fought near Port Gibson about ten miles from here and the rebels got the greatest whipping they ever got. Our Division did not get along quite soon enough to have a hand in the fight. We marched over the battlefield as we came along & I tell you, there was plenty of dead men laying all over the field. It is a horrid sight to behold. The rebels have retreated back towards Vicksburg & we have been chasing them up. We have taken about two thousand prisoners.
Now I’ll tell you about my health which is good. I never enjoyed better health than I do now. I hope it will continue to be so while I am in the army. I cannot think of much to write today so you will please excuse this short letter & I will do a better one next time.
So you think it is most time that you and I were thinking about getting married. I think we are almost old enough anyway. You wished to know if I had anyone in view. No, I have not. So I have answered your question & want you to tell me have you anyone in view? I hope you will make a wise choice when you do get married. Oh! I wish you would get a nice little girl for a wife if you can find [me] one. I think a good deal of the eastern girls. I am very sorry that Calvin didn’t get a better woman for a wife. I think he could done a great deal better than he did.
I must now close. So goodbye from your affectionate brother, — Wellington S. Cates
Letter 13
Rear of Vicksburg, Mississippi May 24th, 1863
Miss Sarah E. Cates,
It is with great plain that I have to announce to you the death of your brother Wellington. He was killed while nobly doing his duty in a charge on a rebel fort on the eve of the 22nd at 5 o’clock.
It was his wish if he met with any disaster that I should write you. After a daily acquaintance with him of nearly 3 years, he seemed to me more like brother than anything else. He was kind, affectionate, a true and noble soldier and a good man. May God comfort you all in your sad bereavement. From, — William H. Hall
P. S. Wellington had a few miniatures and a pocket bible which I shall take care of and send to Maine. I will write no more for it is needless for me to tell you how we charged the rebel works and was repulsed. We lost one third of the 4th Minnesota Regt. and 8,000 in all. I will say Wellington has been in six battles since we crossed the Mississippi.
I could not find any image of LaMotte but here is a pen & watercolor of Co. James Duncan (1811-1849) in his military uniform of the period. He was also a graduate of West Point and roughly the same age as LaMotte.
I can safely attribute the following letter to Major Joseph Hatch LaMotte (1807-1888), an 1827 graduate of the US Military Academy, Mexican War Veteran and career infantry officer. Joseph was married to Ellen M. Chambers (1818-1911) in May 1842 and his two oldest children, Francis Xavier LaMotte (1843-1868) and Charles Chambers LaMotte (1846-1896) are mentioned in this letter. An infant and unnamed daughter is also mentioned. She was Catherine Mullanphy LaMotte (1848-1852); she died in 1852 and was buried in St. Louis. A sister, Louisa, is also mentioned which would have been Louisa LaMotte (1826-1897).
Joseph’s presence at Fort Brown is confirmed by an article published in the New York Herald on 4 December 1848 stating that “The following officers are attached to the First Regiment of Infantry, five companies of which arrived at Fort Brown on the 21st inst.—Col. H. Wilson, Major J. H. LaMotte, Capt. R. S. Granger, Capt. F. S. Mumford…”
Joseph filled various frontier posts, rising to the rank of captain in the War with Mexico. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Monterey in September 1846 for which he was recognized for gallant and meritorious conduct, and was later reassigned as the acting Inspector General of Brig. General Kearny’s Division at Mexico City. After a brief stint at East Pascagoula, Mississippi, he was transferred to frontier duty in Texas. He retired to his farm near St. Louis in the 1850s where he died at the age of 81. His Italianate style home, called “Wildwood,” built in 1857 in Ferguson, still stands.
Fort Brown, originally called Fort Texas, was begun in April 1846 by Zachary Taylor. It was built near Brownsville on the Rio Grande river to establish the river as the southern boundary of Texas—the boundary between the United States and Mexico being the principal matter of dispute between the two countries. The earthen fort had a perimeter of 800 yards, with six bastions, and walls that were 9 feet high and a parapet 15 feet wide. It was surrounded by a ditch 15 feet deep and 20 wide. It was when the fort was being outfitted that a Mexican force intercepted the supply train and triggered the Mexican War. In 1848, after the war ended, the US garrison constructed quarters for officers and enlisted men at a permanent site a quarter mile north of the fort. The post was abandoned by US troops in 1861 though it was used for various purposes well into the 20th Century.
Diagram of Fort Brown
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Fort Brown, Texas 24 January 1849
My dear wife,
Since my last dated, I believe, the 8th inst., I have not had a line from you. No mail, however, has arrived during this period and I am therefore—per force—as the Mexicans say, contento. The Quartermaster [Major. W. W. Chapman] it seems is disposed to send a steamer here every ten days and the growing wants of the country about us will probably induce the department to run a mail regularly for the benefit of the citizens. I hope therefore ere the lapse of many months, to be in direct communication with New Orleans (especially) as it takes but three days to run over.
The Mexican troops are directly opposite to us—1,000 in number. The music of their fine bands & the trumpet & bugle calls we hear day and night. The most friendly feelings appear to govern them. Gen. [Francisco] Ávalos, the commander, came over the other day and insisted upon our naming the time when we could dine with him. we went over as agreed and were treated very handsomely—so well indeed that we did not get back till 11 p.m. At the table we fixed upon the night for a Grand Biler [Ballare] as they call it, or as we would say—a Big Ball. It comes off this evening. Tomorrow at 9 our mail starts. If I have time and space after the labor is ended, I may attempt a short account. But you are aware that when I come to Ladie’s dresses, my genius loses all of the graphic, which in a fit of vanity, I might occasionally aspire to.
Two companies of Dragoons start for Camp Ringgold 1 tomorrow. That garrison will upon the arrival of this reinforcement number 5 companies. Some of them, however, will soon be on the way to Laredo and when I go up the river again, it will probably be towards that point. The Rio Grande Station will soon be passable though the access must always be more or less unpleasant. Notwithstanding the abuse that has on this account been heaped upon the country—in spite of appearance and prejudices—the region of the Rio Grande is even now very healthy and what was once considered a great drawback in this respect is now regarded as the greatest blessing. I mean the compulsory use of the river water. This becomes perfectly sweet and beautifully clear when settled, but when just taken from the river in time of high water, is is so turbid that the Missouri even would pale beside it.
Everything here seems quiet though we are busy in the erection of quarters and the town near us [Brownsville, TX] expands as rapidly as the mushroom does.
I commenced this letter in the full belief that ere this point was attained, I should have heard from you, but the mail has arrived without bringing me a letter. As this rarely happens, however, you are pardonable. Besides, there was an interval of five days only between the departure of the last two boats from New Orleans. Learn philosophy from this!
I have had, however, the satisfaction to receive a duplex epistle from Capt. Smith & his wife, & am pleased to hear that you and Frank & Charley and the little one continue in good health. Be assured it gives me joy to learn that the infant bids fair to equal, perhaps even to surpass, her brothers—those dear little fellows that I once fondly imagined would not so soon be eclipsed. Upon this point, however, I must have better proof than woman’s base assertion for in the philanthropy of her sex, she is bound to favor the weaker party. I am grieved to hear of Louisa’s ill health & sincerely hope she may soon recover. Our Mother will be much distressed when she hears of Louisa’s arrival in Saint Louis in such a state. I am exceedingly sorry to hear that the Judge is still an inmate of the Hospital.
The Ball is over (9 a.m.). Mr. [Capt. Ferdinand S.] Mumford & [1st Lt. Stephen D.] Carpenter & Mrs. & Dr. [Eugéne Hilarian] Abadie were there from our side—nearly all the officers. It was very much crowded and the room consequently warm. Altogether it went off well. Give my love to all. Kiss the children & believe me forever yours, — L.
1 Camp Ringgold was located upriver from Brownsville and barracks were eventually built on a high bank of the Rio Grande within a half mile of Rio Grand City.Camp Crawford was established in March 1849 just outside the old Mexican village of Laredo, 120 miles further upriver. A fort was eventually built there called Fort McIntosh.
The following letter was written by Henry Blackstone Banning (1836-1881), the son of James Smith Banning (1800-1867) and Eliza A. Blackstone (1804-1878) of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. His Find-A-Grave biographical sketch reads as follows: “Civil War Union Brevet Major General, US Congressman. Born in Bannings Mills, Knox County, Ohio, he attended Kenyon College, studied law, and became a prominent lawyer in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He was also a supporter and member of the Douglas Democratic Party. When the Civil War began, he volunteered and enlisted in the 4th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a Private. He soon accepted an officer’s commission as Captain and was later assigned to organize the 87th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in June, 1862 for three months service. On September 15, 1862, nearly the entire regiment was captured by Confederate Major General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s forces at Harper’s Ferry and paroled five days later. After the regiment was mustered out of service, Banning re-enlisted, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and was assigned to the 125th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on January 1, 1863. Three months later, he was transferred to the 121st Ohio Volunteer Infantry and placed in command of the 2nd Brigade in the 2nd Division of the Army of the Cumberland during the Atlanta Campaign. He also participated at the Battles of Chickamauga and Nashville and was promoted to Colonel in November, 1863. He received two promotions to Brevet Brigadier General and to Brevet Major General of US Volunteers on March 13, 1865 for “gallant and meritorious services during the war.” He accepted an assignment to organize and command the 195th Ohio Volunteer Veteran Infantry for one year service. The regiment was used for garrison duties until December.”
After the war, he became a member of the Ohio Legislature in 1866 and 1867. He then moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to resume his law profession. Elected as a Liberal Republican to represent Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, he served from 1873 to 1879. While a member of Congress, Banning was the chairman on the Committee of Military Affairs. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1878 and again in 1880. He died at his residence in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1882.
Banning was married in 1868 to Julia Kirby (1846-1917) of Cincinnati, Ohio.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Headquarters 121st OVI In camp at Shelbyville, Tenn. August 4, 1863
Friend Mart,
Yours of the 26th received. You say you do not know which of us wrote last. I can tell you. You have owed me a letter for a bout two years. And if I thought you would be as long answering this one, I would not be in so much of a hurry about writing. But I hope you will follow this my good example and write me soon.
Nothing of moment has occurred in a military way since we occupied Shelbyville except a Grand Review of this Division on Monday by Gen. Rosecrans. His wife was with him. He is looking very well and in good spirits. Promised our Corps should take the advance on next move.
This is election day in Tennessee. Mr. [Edmund] Cooper of this place is a candidate for Governor. This is the best Union town I was ever in, either North or South. They are all united and have but one object—the restoration of the government.
There were over 1500 refugees from this county who have spent the last ten months with our army and come back to their families when our army came through. Hundreds of others have spent the winter in the woods. you would not believe it was I to write you the trials and hardships some of the patriots have suffered through. And now they are doing anything in their power to make our stay here pleasant. Men, women & children pay attention to nothing but the comfort of the soldiers. Dinner, tea, and breakfast parties are given out. Everything in their houses and on their plantations are free for the ease of the soldier. There are a number of very elegant young ladies here. Horseback riding is the order of the day. I have had some very pleasant rides.
On Thursday evening, our General ([Walter Chiles] Whitaker) gives us a dance. White vests and white gloves are at a premium. We expect a gay time. I am going to take a young lady 13 years old. 14 is a proper age to marry down here and 20 is an old maid. 35 to 40 [is considered] a proper age for a gentleman to marry. There is one delicate and refined custom among the ladies here that does not exactly meet my approval—Dipping—chewing tobacco [and] most of them use it. I often meet a very beautiful lady with a stick in her mouth. She has chewed one end of it until she has made a kind of a swab or brush of it. With this stick she swabs the snuff around among her teeth. They first commence taking it to improve their complexion and afterwards use it to satisfy the appetite. The custom is not so common over here as it was over at Franklin. In that town almost every lady uses it, old and young, and spit like old tobacco chewers. Accomplished ladies of fortune in Franklin came to me and asked me to have our sutler bring them snuff. I am told gentleman are not often very anxious to kiss them. You are mistaken about my being interested in the lady. Major Cooper took to the caves [?]. I lost my interest years ago, I think you are interested in the gentlemen that took the lady that went with Major Cooper.
I am well acquainted with Capt. [ ]. He is much of a gentleman. Rather unkind in you, Mart, to allude to his marriage to Miss Newman. I don’t believe my friends can much [know] how they would my feelings. But I will take your advice and try to bear up under it.
I have tried to do as you advise—fall in love down here. But every time I propose to a girl, she objects because I don’t chew tobacco and says as my social qualities are different from hers, she does not think she can live happy with me.
You say you never got the piece of music I sent you—“My Maryland.” I will send it to you certain & will send it again as soon as I can get it.
The weather is very warm down here now in the day time. A heavy coat is comfortable at night. I like the climate very much. A good cool night refreshed one so much, he is willing to bear with hte heat of the day in anticipation of the night again. I am going home in September next month if I can get a furlough. Capt. [Charles C.] Aleshire of the 18th Ohio Battery is going up with me, and two other friends. I have good hope of getting a leave.
How is Aleck. Does his term of office expire this fall? If it does, tell him I will vote for him and against Vallandigham.
Hoping to hear from you soon, with my kind regards & you people, I am most truly your friend, — Banning
The following letter appears to have been written by Henry, or Harry, Anders but I have not been able to identify him in census records. It seems that he was probably a college student and writing to a former classmate. His letter refers to the preliminary measures being taken by Frederick county, Maryland, to prepare draft lists of suitable young men fit for service in advance of the draft that was anticipated in 1863. He pokes fun of those currently being examined by surgeons with the hope that they would be declared exempt them from the draft.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Home September 3, 1862
Dear Frank,
I thought I would talk a little while with you about times agone. How reluctantly does fond memory relinquish hold upon the scenes of the past. Though there is much of that past, that we would wish to forget, yet how pleasantly it is for us at times to take a swift review and live again the part of life that’s gone & enjoy, in our minds, the society of those we love.
How I should like to be with you at lectures, Frank, and of course more than all, at recreation. But it seems that fate has decreed a temporary separation for us & we have to abide by the old thing’s decision.
The exemption is going on again at Frederick. Humbug No. 2 being conducted by several Army Surgeons assisted by the invincible Commissioner [William] Mahoney. 1 I’ve not been up yet, but I suppose I’ll have to go or else J. M. Wachber & myself will be the only two left for the draft to fasten on. Gracious! I wish I was in Canada or had been born under an Absolute Despotism so I could breathe as free as when I first tumbled on to this little round hill of ours. (Hold! thou inspired enthusiasm—Like IV.3)
Frank, you had better come home and get exempt for it would be hard for you to have to spend the money for ticket, then lose it if drafted. You can see all kinds going up. Our atmosphere is filled with grave yard ejaculations, dyspeptic belches, and belly-ache grunts. Tomorrow is an extra day. The surgeons have to pay the applicants an admission fee, it being the day to witness the contortions of the hemorrhoidal men’s asses, the blinking of the blind, and the shampooning of barefooted heads. Old men accompany their boys and young wives go with their matorrheal husbands to swear they are not men.
Salry, he went up and told them he did not know what was the matter with him, but wanted the surgeons to tell him, as everybody else went up and got examined. Didn’t get through & got very much intoxicated thereupon.
Present my regards to your Uncle & Aunt when you see them & little Katie O’Neal. For the present, I must close, hoping you are well and that I may receive a speedy reply. I subscribe myself, — Harry Anders
Write very soon.
1 “Records of the Union draft as it affected Frederick County might have given helpful information but they are not available. “David Agnew was the local draft officer for Emmitsburg under the President’s call for troops in 1862” and probably had records of Emmitsburg men in service. However, William Mahoney, Commissioner of Enrollment and Draft for this county, was arrested by the Confederates [during the Antietam campaign in Sept. 18621 and the enrollment books destroyed.” Under that 1862 call the county was asked for 259 more men to add to the total of 1019 it had already provided. Presumably, therefore, the records of at least 1,278 (and possibly their places of residence) became Confederate possessions and were later lost if not immediately destroyed. This was not actually a draft but a call for more volunteers. The first actual mandatory draft was riot instituted until July of 1863.” [Source: Emmitsburg Area in the Civil War]
The following letter was written by Ephram Marsh (1842-1917) who served in Co. H, 104th Ohio Infantry. Ephram enlisted on 2 August 1862 and mustered out 17 June 1865. He was married in 1870 to Mary L. Wuchter (1850-1939) after the war.
Ephram may have been an orphan. He was enumerated in the 1850 US Census in the household of Daniel Waggoner of Franklin township, Summit county, Ohio. In the 1860 US Census, he was enumerated as a 16 year-old farm laborer/boarder with the Samuel Warner family in Green township, Summit county, Ohio. Neither the Waggoner’s nor the Warner’s appear to be relatives of Ephram’s.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Camp near Stanford, Kentucky July 16, 1863
Dear Friend,
It is with great pleasure that I take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at present and hope you [are] the same. We are in camp at Stanford, Kentucky. We left Somerset and started after John Morgan but we did not go after him very far till we got tired of it and left him go. I heard that he was paying the Ohio people a visit. I hope they know enough not to let him go very far till they catch him.
I have not much to write this time but will try and do better when I get home and that will not be long if things keep on as they have done this while.
I received that [letter] Oliver wrote. He did not say anything about that money which I sent home. I sent five dollars about two months ago and do not know whether you got it or not in the last letter that I received from home that F. McConnaughey wrote.
The boys are all well at present. No more at present. From Ephram Marsh to his friends, one and all. Direct your letters to Stanford, Kentucky, Company H, 104th [Ohio] Regiment in care of Captain Ford.
The following letter was written by James Lambert (b. 1822), the son of Virginia native, Ambrose Waveland Lambert (1796-1882) and Mary “Polly” Walker Adams (18xx-1867) of Parkeville, Parke county, Indiana. No regimental affiliation is identified in his letter and the content suggests that he was serving as a teamster or driver—possibly in a civilian capacity—in Gen. Crooks’ Headquarters in 1862 and 1863. He mentions being a part of “six regiments of the Kanawha Division” who were sent east to the aid of Gen. Pope just prior to the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. I believe these six included the 11th, 12th, 23rd, 28th, 30th and 36th Ohio Infantry regiments. I could not find a “James Lambert” in their rosters, however. The on-line ancestral tree for Ambrose Lambert, his father, to whom he addressed the letter, is also incomplete and seems to contain many errors so is of little help.
Be that as it may, the content of the letter is excellent, giving a description of the movements of these regiments sent East from West Virginia in August 1862 and of their participation in the battles at South Mountain and Antietam where Lambert served as an “eye witness” to both battles. He then describes their transfer to the Army of the Cumberland in January 1863 and of the journey up the Cumberland river to Carthage, Tennessee, where he wrote the letter. When Crook arrived in Carthage in 1863, he set up his headquarters in the Smith County courthouse and put his troops to work on the Battery Hill Earthworks.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Addressed to Ambrose Lambert, Bruins & Roads, Parke County, Indiana
General Crook’s Division Army of the Cumberland Carthage, Tennessee May 25th 1863
Dear parents, brothers & sisters,
I embrace the opportunity of dropping you a few lines to let you know that I am in reasonable health and I hope that this may find you all in the same condition when it comes to hand.
I have no apology to offer for not writing sooner as it has been only through my own neglect but I will try and write oftener in the future. I wrote to you from Flat Top Mountain, West Virginia, in July last to which I never received any answer but what is the reason, I know not.
In order to give you a short account of where I have been since I wrote to you from Flat Top Mountain, I will have to go back to near the date of my letter from that place. Two weeks after I wrote to you from Flat Top, General [Jacob D.] Cox with six regiments of the Kanawha Division was ordered to reinforce General Pope at Warrenton Junction in East Virginia. We had to go by way of Parkersburg and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. We immediately broke up our quarters at Flat Top and returned to the Kanawha Valley where the troops was embarked on steamboats ten miles above Charles Town & was taken to Parkersburg by water. The train was taken through by land. The distance from Flat Top was 190 miles which we made in six days with a train of near 300 wagons. At Parkersburg, the trains was shipped on the cars and after a weary ride of fifty-one hours on the heavy-loaded train, we reached Washington City. We crossed over immediately into Virginia and encamped at Munson Hill, six miles above the Capitol, where we lay at the time of the Battle of Bull Run, which for the second time was baptised in human blood. The terrible explosions of artillery was distinctly heard at the Capitol—a distance of thirty miles.
A few days after the bloody battle—which resulted in the defeat of Pope—we recrossed the Potomac with the combined armies of McClellan and Burnsides to head off the rebel raid into Maryland & Pennsylvania which resulted in the Battle of South Mountain & Antietam, in both of which the Kanawha Division bore an active part. In both of those battles, I might mention many interesting incidents but for want of time and space, must pass them by. I was an eye witness of both battles. At the Battle of Antietam, I was stationed with an ambulance at Gen. Cox’s Headquarters, about a mile in front of the enemy’s batteries but shielded from their fire by a slight elevation so their shot and shell passed harmlessly over us. I had only to walk a few yards to the top of the elevation to witness the terrible conflict raging between the two contending armies. The roar of artillery was almost incessant. About three hundred pieces was engaged.
Shortly after the Battle of Antietam, we was ordered to our old stomping ground in the mountain regions of West Virginia. So on the 8th of October, we broke up our camp at Antietam and commenced our march westward. We reached the Kanawha Valley about the middle of November. We went into winter quarters at Charles Town where we remained until the latter part of January when Gen. Crook with four regiments of infantry was ordered to this department.
We left Charles Town on the 26th of January with a fleet of eleven boats. We had a very rough time coming down the Ohio, the weather being cold and stormy. We stopped three days at Louisville where we was joined by the 21st Indiana Battery and two regiments of Kentuckians. At Smithland at the mouth of the Cumberland river, we was joined by a large fleet from Cairo. We commenced our ascent of the Cumberland on the same day that the rebels made their desperate attempt to recapture Fort Donelson and arrived at that place about 8 o’clock that night, just after the rebs had withdrawn from the fight where they had been terribly handled by the little garrison in command of the fort.
We lay one day at the fort and then steamed on up the Cumberland and reached Nashville on the 8th of February. On arriving at Nashville, our little fleet of eleven boats with which we came down the Kanawha had increased to 63—58 transports and 5 gunboats. We encamped at Nashville until 24th of February when we again started up the Cumberland and reached this place on the 27th.
Carthage is on the Cumberland river in Smith County, 150 miles from Nashville by the course of the river and about 60 by land. We are on one of the extreme outposts of the Army of the Cumberland on the left wing of Rosecrans’ Army and about 30 miles from Murfreesboro or the main bosy of the army. We have had one train of 18 wagons with 40 men captured since we have been here and three mails have been captured between here and Gallatin—a post 35 [miles] lower down the river. But I think when all are counted, we have captured as many prisoners from the rebs as they have from us. They are continually prowling about our lines and firing on the pickets and picking up those who venture beyond our lines alone.
A man by the name of Joseph Smith was hung here a few days ago who was condemned for being a spy and for other crimes against the laws of the United States for which the penalty is death.
How long we will stay here I cannot say. It is rumored through camp that we are ordered back to West Virginia but i think that is doubtful.
The rumor has just reached us that [Clement] Vallandigham of Ohio who was recently sentenced is sentenced to go beyond our lines during the war for violating General Burnsides’ Order No. 38 [and] will shortly pass through the Army of the Cumberland on his way to Dixie. Bully for Burnsides! say I. The sooner the country is rid of such sympathizers with traitors, the better.
I must soon bring my letter to a close but before doing so, there is one thing I would ask of you. I would like to know who all are in the army from that neighborhood and to what regiment and company they belong. As I often meet with Indiana regiments and might thereby find some with whom I am acquainted. Please write me all the news from those of us who are scattered abroad and don’t forget to mention friends and old acquaintances. Give my best respects to all. Nothing more at present but remain yours as ever, — James Lambert
Address: Headquarters Crooks’ Division, Carthage, Tennessee, in care of John R. Craig, Captain & Asst. Q. M.
The following letter was written by Thomas Elvanslow Kearns (1831-1903), the son of Isaac Kearns (1800-1886) and Polly Steed (1803-1883) of Randolph county, North Carolina. At the age of 33, Thomas enlisted in the Confederate army as a private on 19 August 1864 at Camp Holmes, North Carolina. He was assigned to serve in Co. H, 38th North Carolina Infantry. During the Union break-out of the Richmond-Petersburg siege, he was captured near Sutherland, Virginia, on 3 April, 1865. He was then transferred to City Point, Virginia on 6 April, 1865, where he was held until he was released in June 1865.
Thomas was married to Rebecca Kindley (1840-1911) in September 1860. His sister, the recipient of this letter, was Adline Norwood (Kearns) Adderton (1829-1918), the wife of George R. Adderton (1830-1893). George served the Confederacy as a member of Co. K, 5th North Carolina Cavalry from March 1823 until at least late October 1864.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Mrs. George Adderton, Hall’s Store, Randolph county, North Carolina
Petersburg, Va. October 23, 1864
Dear sister,
I will write a few lines to you this morning to let you know how I am a getting along. I am well as common and I hope these few lines will find you all well.
I have not got much news to write. All is quiet today. I wrote to my family to send me a box by a fellow [that] is going to bring boxes for our brigade but for fear they won’t get the letter in tie, I will write a few lines to you and send by Ive Johnson. I want you to see them and tell them to send me a box and to have it at High Point by the 7th day of November and mark it to me like a letter. And tell them to send me a good box and a tolerable large one for our rations are so short, we can’t make out without buying and everything is so high that we can’t buy much without we had more money. We can eat what we draw for two days in one easy, so tell them to send me a good box of all kinds of eatables. Be sure to have it at High Point by the 7th of November. He will start the 8th day back for the brigade. I think it will come safe.
I am trying to do the best I can. I hope the war won’t last long for it is a hard place. I want you to write me as soon as you get this. Your affectionate brother until death, — T. E. Kearns
The following letter was written by William Harris of Camden, New Jersey, who was among the first wave of settlers belonging to the “Western Farm & Village Association,” organized in NYC in 1852 for the settlement of farm land in the West. The leaders of this association settled on Minnesota Territory and let a party of farmers and mechanics with their families by rail and steamboat via Lake Erie, across Ohio from Cleveland to Cincinnati, then down the Ohio and up the Mississippi rivers to a place called Wahbasha’s Prairie, a landing on the upper Mississippi, 150 miles below St. Paul.
William’s letter informs us that the organizers of the caravan of settlers led them to a site six miles overland to “a most beautiful opening of comparatively high table-land covered with oak” near a stream named Rolling Stone Creek, an Indian trail, and a couple of abandoned squatters cabins where they decided to establish their village plot. The association promised the settlers mutual assistance and protection in their efforts to find homes in the West where land could be purchased at government prices.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Addressed to Benjamin L. Woolston, Esq., Camden, New Jersey, United States
St. Louis [Missouri] September 16, 1852
To Mr. Benjamin L. Woolston
Dear Sir—I now take this opportunity of informing you of my journey to the West. I left New York on the 15th of April in company with a number of members of the Association. we first took passage on the New York and Erie Railroad to Erie, across the Lake to Cleveland. Next by railway to Cincinnati, next down the Ohio river by steamboat to St. Louis, and lastly from St. Louis to Minnesota—our intended homes—making the journey from New York to our destination in eighteen days. We arrived all well about 11 o’clock at night and found no accommodation there but one shanty 9 x 7 feet belonging to an earlier squatter. It was cheerfully given to the females and children. All the men with five women had to lie out of doors which seemed to me like a hard beginning but perhaps the ending will be something smoother.
Next day we erected a tent sufficiently large to accommodate all hands until something permanent could be built which everyone who intended stopping done as soon as possible. Some built log houses and some small frame buildings. Our place had a discouraging appearance when we landed—scarce of blade of grass or a bud on a tree to be seen. Quite a number of our members got discouraged at a western life and cleared out altogether. One great fault—our place has no landing nearer than six miles—a place called Wahbasha’s Prairie [now Winona county, Minn.]. Our place is above this landing within about one hundred and fifty miles of St. Paul—the Capitol of the Territory.
A sketch of the landing at Wahbasha’s Prairie by Seth Eastman in 1848.
When we went there, we were visited every day with a number of Indians and we had to give them four barrels of flour to please them but I suppose you are aware that the treaty is ratified since which puts an end to all trouble with them. I am one of the party who intends settling there. I built a house, planted a little, and when I left there, the crops looked extremely well considering the hurried way the planting was done and on the new sod.
We have had a number of deaths—especially children, and when I left fever and ague was very bad yet. I do not think it is unhealthy. We have no bottom that is likely to create disease. Exposure [is] the principal cause. It is a beautiful country and I like it very well. I intend working here this winter and go up in the spring better prepared for farming. The number of actual settlers when I left was about one hundred.
Through all these scenes, I have had good health and like a country life much better than the city. I believe I have given you the particulars of my journey and at present I have nothing more of importance. I hope Cunningham is in good health. I should like to hear from him. How is he getting along? I remain yours truly, — William Harris
The following letter was written by Ralph Ashley (1797-1852) to his eldest son, Rollin Mallory Asley (1827-1911). Father and son were partners in a general store in Port Republic, New Jersey under the name “R. and R. T. Ashley” until 1833, when the partnership was discontinued and Ralph carried on the business alone until about 1848. Ralph also ventured into ship building, the marketing of wood and charcoal to New York City. Ralph Ashley was married to Sarah Blackman (1803-1879) in 1826.
The nature of Ralph’s trip to the coastal port of Edenton, North Carolina, is not stated explicitly but seems to have been connected with the salvage or selling of a vessel and/or cargo, and perhaps a reconnoissance trip to look for timber to purchase and sell to the New York City market. Ralph’s impression of slavery is consistent with the views of most Northern businessmen who visited the Antebellum South.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Addressed to Rollin M. Ashley, Unionville, Post Republic Office, Atlantic county, New Jersey
Edenton, North Carolina Thursday evening, 20 minutes to 9 p.m., 12 November 1846
Having rested pretty well through day, saw and heard some new things and finding my nerves a little quieted this evening, the matter of our school teacher came fresh into my mind. I agree with you as to salary. You will therefore decide the matter accordingly. Then what course can be taken, am not prepared to say. Hope there will be some way to school to Leonard and David and Eliza too. 1 Can’t say now how it will be. We will keep trying.
Now today as I began about 3 o’clock this morning loafing about town, Jonathan-like, everyone looking and peeking for dear life to know who I was, directly it was published a Gent from York had arrived at Bond’s Hotel. Visitors appeared by scores to hear how the elections had gone and many invitations sent to call before leaving town. Now inasmuch as there is a time to rejoice the Noble Whigs of North Carolina and Edenton, on this evening together with peel after peel, and roar after roar from the brass-mounted field pieces ranging over the waters of Albemarle Sound, all qu again.
Now, about the discoveries I have made today about — the wreck is not much [ ]. Saw a gentleman at Portsmouth of the account I think I mentioned in my letter last evening. Have been nothing more today. Shall make arrangements soon to go down the Sound. I met Capt. Halsey last evening in the street soon after I got on shore today. He was taken down again with the pleurisy [and] is very bad. I am fearful I shall not be able to close the matter fully on account of his poor health. He taken the Alum. From your letter arriving in advance of me had [ ] and it in the office. Who [ ] I have noted found out on. Many any enquiry. Shall keep still till the alarm is over, &c.
I shall be compelled to cut my way from here soon as I am charged $1.50 per day for board. [ ] stand that any [ ]. I should want 4000 for my half week before Christmas at that rate. Do not see that I shall get away from here for some weeks yet. Have been asleep a bit. Cannot tell where I began or left off.
This is a fine place to live. I like the people much. A [more] pleasant situation cannot be desired anywhere yet but little business done of much account. [There are] no energetic business men here. Too much Negro labor done in this country. A white Carolinian would choke and starve to death before he would reach his hand to help himself to a drink of cold water or a mouthful of food if he had not a Black at his elbow to get it for him, to set the chair and take it away, put on his clothes and take them off, and so on. Every white man’s hands are more delicate than any Northern belle in any of the great cities. I have not the privilege of dressing or undressing without the aid of a Black boy. I stand with stick in hand as dark Romans and Mom bows to the Gent from the North. This would suit me and Gardner to a T.
Now if I should sell the wreck for 3 or 4 M, I am bound to Florida before I return. I shall keep you all posted up of my doings from day to day. Shall look for the same. I hope all hands will reap full enjoyment while the Old Man is gone. No one to scold and abuse you. Oh dear Mother and children, enjoy the precious moments as they flit away, never to return again. And when laying, standing, or kneeling, pray for the crazy old man. Here is good ways for hauling out vessels, though not much done. Edenton is beautifully situated with Sound extending marly all round it. A wide expanse of water, deep too, and high coast. Soil of the country rather light. Splendid timber. Intend if Capt. Job gets able to have a ride to see he country and ledges. — R. Ashley
I rode in the car from Petersburg to City Point with a Virginia Gent through a 300-acre [ ] of fine timber about 3 miles from James River. City Point with a good railroad and landing and wharf at City Point Landing owned by the same Gent. He is Hon. G. H. Phillips of Petersburg—the great Virginia temperance advocate. Offered to sell any part or the whole. Better timber for vessel building so far as the strait part is concerned. Need [ ] [ ] for said he would sell buy cheap. Saw [ ] of fine timber on Roanoke in the neighborhood of [ ].
Good evening all, — R. Ashley
1 Ralph’s youngest children were Ann Eliza Ashley (b. 1835), Leonard (b. 1837), and David (b. 1840).
Spared & Shared 23 