19th Century Maritime Shipping

1861: William Stone, Jr. to Benjamin Stone

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These business letters were written by William Stone, Jr. from Salem, Massachusetts. The first letter was penned just prior to the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861 although there is no hint that an impending storm was brewing in the country. The second letter, dated 29 April 1861, briefly mentions the defensive armament of one of their vessels to ward off privateers.

In researching the author, we learn that William and his brother Benjamin W. Stone withdrew from the shipping firm of Stone Silsbee and Pickman in 1860 to join their brother, Joseph W. Stone in establishing their own shipping business, Benjamin W. Stone and Brothers. The brothers retained ownership of the ships Malay, Sumatra, and Shirley. Although a Salem based firm, their ships were involved in San Francisco and East India trade, and sailed in and out of New York. Gradually the focus of their business interests shifted from shipping ventures to investments in banking and railroading stocks. In 1886, the Highlander, their last ship, carried her final cargo. Thereafter, until the death of the principals, the interest of the firm revolved around their investments and those of family members. [See Benjamin W. Stone & Brothers Records, 1833-1895, Peabody Essex Museum]

William’s first letter speaks of the merchant ship Shirley which was one of their best vessels. It is pictured in the header of this post.

Letter 1

Salem, [Massachusetts]
April 5th, 1861

Dear Benjamin.

The Derby was insured when she came in $20,000 at American & $10,000 at Salem Office, Harbour Policy, but I handed your letter to Mr. Silsbee yesterday.

I wrote you yesterday J. H. W. had deposited $4886.09 on account Malay with Ward & Co., and sent me Ward & Co. receipt for the same, which I handed George Allen & he will give the credit for the same.

Also W. Brown, Jr. of Shirley had sent me a sight draft for $750 on Forest River Lead Co. I have presented and it was paid today.

I met Capt. Frank Brown this morning & he told me (your friends) Messers. Grinnell, Minturn & Co. (that you spoke a day or two ago as asking about Salem captains & you mentioned Capt. Mathews) he said engaged Capt. Wm. Potter & was going to let him take his wife with him. Capt. Potter had engaged a house in Salem. He gave it all up & went on expecting to go to sea for some reason or other he would not have him & they employed Endicott Peabody to send on Capt. Pike (who I believe is not going). They also sent for Capt. Kennedy & was willing he should take his wife to be gone 5 years but I believe Capt. Kennedy would not go, and I understood Capt. Potter [to say] they knew Kinsman was engaged by us and got Capt. Kennedy to write to Capt. Kinsman at Baltimore to see if he would go for them last Thursday. If this is so, I think it was mean business.

I would not say anything about this but I would ask Kinsman if he had a letter from Kennedy on G & M with an offer to go Master. I think the ship is the Sea Serpent. I should think this could not be so, but it came from goo d source, and Capt. Kennedy told him I would not say to anyone how I heard this but I would like to know if it was true.

Capt. B[rown] of the Shirley has discharged his cook, steward & carpenter, and settled up with them to the 14th of March, deducting half pay orders to that time. I told George Allen not to pay anymore on carpenter half pay order, and wrote Tenney & Co., Boston, yesterday not to pay any more to steard’s wife. I left $14 for him when I was in Boston, April 2nd, but I think it is not taken up yet, & my letter will stop it.

I understand the Derby will will not be ready to discharge until next week & I do not think the Silsbee will go on before next Monday.

I should not want Mr. Henderson or anyone else to give bonds for the return of the Register in case the ship is sold, and if the captain’s name will answer instead, I think I would alter it as I would not want to be under obligations to a stranger.

They were staves that were short in the Malay (I think I wrote it stoves yesterday). Claims for that delivery $258.40 of which $209 were for staves. Of the 2400 staves, 834 fell short (probably put on board some other ship. We probably shall recover this from Mr. Grimes or in Boston.

One of the Salem boys writes all have left ship except two Salem boys & Captain. That the 1st Mate had been arrested & 2nd & 3rd Mate had left. The 2nd Mate had some trouble with one of the men and the 2nd Mate Mereden assisted the 2nd Mate and the 1st Mate, struck the man with a belaying pin. 1 All had been discharged except 1st Mate. That is all I know about it. 2nd Mate & 1st Ord & 1 boy left Boston Wednesday morning & should be in Baltimore Saturday morning. Nothing new in Salem. Snow melting fast. Yours truly, W. S. Jr.

I got to Boston this morning.

1 A belaying pin was a heavy, removable piece of hardware used to secure rigging ropes.

Letter 2

Salem, [Massachusetts]
April 29th, 1861

Dear Benjamin,

I received your letter of 27th inst. from New York also enclosing certificate of Hannah, Central Park Stock. With this you will find Hannah order for dividend of the same.

Enclosed you will find an exact copuy of a letter from S. G. Warrd which I received Sunday. You will notice it is addressed to no one (but the envelope it came in was directed to you). Therefore, I suppose he must have sent one to all his correspondents, I would not say anything to Mr. Silsbee or anyone else about this & I should like to see you before you see Mr. Ward. Would it not be as ewll to leave Mr. Silsbee by himself after Mr. J. Gayton leaves New York & he will get tired of being in New York and will soon get the ship to sea & get the Bill of Sail made out. I think it as well to close all up with the old man as soon as we can. But I do not think it advisable to sell any pepper, sugar, or tea at present.

By newpapers (US Shipping List) I see Manila at 21 [?], Hemp quoted $4.12 or $4.18. [ ] expect it will go to $4. I understand there are no bank dividends due i New York for any of us. I collected 4% dividend for you at Gaaley Marine Office, 4% $40.00 dividend at Nanking Bank. + 45.00 which is entered on your Div. Book. Part of it I have use for your accounts [ ]. Nothing new in Salem.

Yours truly, — W. S, Jun.

I would not get any rifle cannon for the Sumatra. They will be expensive and be of no value. I do not think there is much danger from privateers. If she has not two guns, perhaps it might do to get two iron 6-pounderrs and 6 or 8 muskets.

When you leave New York, do not forget Illinois Stock. If you have not sold it, I suppose it will be as well to keep it. If you cannot get what it is worth, have the white pepper set on to Salem and the damaged tea divident up. Yours truly, — W. S. Jr.

Peninsula Campaign, Southern Poetry

1862: “On to Richmond” — a Southern Poem

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The following poem was written sometime after McClellan’s failed 1862 Peninsula campaign. Variations of the poem can be found on-line but this is the only version I’ve found with what I believe is closer to the original version of the poem. It is clearly written on period paper.

The title of the poem is On To Richmond and it was intended to be sung to a musical air called Gay and Happy which I believe was composed by Anne Rush about 1860. [Source: Broadside Ballads]

I located several references to the poem online, but the only source in which I found it fully transcribed and published was in the Ozark Folk Song Collection at the University of Arkansas, where it appears with several notable word variations under the title, “We have the Navy.” One notable example is the line, “McGruder turned about and gave the Yankees gass,” whereas the Ozark version reads, “And Old Magruder was about to give the Yankees grass,” which, in my view, is semantically incoherent. It is possible that the 1951 transcription in the Ozark Collection was executed inaccurately, but I consider it more likely to be an instance of linguistic alteration that occurred as the song was transmitted from one singer to another. In any event, it’s not surprising that this poem did not get widespread publication in Northern newspapers. I couldn’t even find it in the Southern press though I feel certain it appeared there somewhere.

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

1

We have the Navy, we have the men

We are bound to Richmond

To storm the Rebel den.

chorus

On to Richmond early in the morning

On to Richmond, I heard the Yankees say.

2

We’11 storm them on the North

We’ll storm them on the South

We’11 storm in the center, and run the rebels out.

On to Richmond, &c., &c.

3

But Lee was in the center

Jackson in the rear

On the right and left did noble Hill appear.

On to Richmond, &c.

4

Longstreet they had to travel

Branch they had to cross

McGruder turned about and gave the Yankees gass.

On to Richmond, &c.

5

T’was in the month of June the battle began to fly

The Yankees wheeled about

And changed the battle cry.

chorus

Off from Richmond early in the morning

Driven to your gunboats, Run boys run.

6

The Palmetto rebels are on our trail

The South Carolina devils

will ride us on a rail.

Off from Richmond, &c.

7

Florida is hunting all through the bush

The rebels are in earnest

Push boys, push.

Off from Richmond, &c.

8

Louisiana Tigers, Butler is their cry

Texan bloody rangers

Fly boys, fly.

Off from Richmond, &c.

9

Never mind your knapsack

Never mind your gun

Fighting with the rebels is anything but fun.

Off from Richmond, &c.

10

A farm is the promise

and each man a slave

We better had skedaddle or we’ll all find a grave.

Off from Richmond, &c.

11

Lincoln is a humbug

McClellan is a fool

Seward is a scholar of the Horace Greeley School.

Off from Richmond, &c.

Baltimore, Maryland, Flag of Truce Letter

1864: Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor of Baltimore to her Sons in Rebel Army

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The following partial Flag of Truce letter was found on Fold 3, suggesting that it may have been intercepted and not allowed to pass through enemy lines from its author, Mrs. Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor (1820-1885) of Baltimore, Maryland, to her twin sons serving in the Rebel army in Virginia. The sons were Rollin John Bestor (1842-1899) and John Rollin Bestor, Jr. (1842-1891)—yes, those names are correct. Mrs. Bestor and her husband, John Rollin Bestor, Sr. (1813-1867) resided at 166 North High Street on the near east side of Philadelphia near the Fayette Street Phoenix Shot Tower.

Her boys were only 19 years old in 1861 when they left their home in Baltimore to join the Rebel army. Throughout the war Mrs. Bestor attempted to communicate with her sons, either directly or by corresponding with citizens or soldiers whom she believed may have some knowledge of their activities. When she could not provide aid to her sons, she made every effort to give it to Confederate prisoners of war at Fort Delaware, Point Lookout, Elmira, &c.—particularly officers who might have some influence in the welfare of her sons in Virginia.

This is the only letter I have found written by Mrs. Bestor and it reveals much about her politics and sentiments in general.

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

[partial letter, page 5]

[Written in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1864]

….It is reported that every man in Maryland will be compelled to take the oath and vote at the next election. The negroes are also to vote. 1 They are the only free people in my once loved state and it makes me sick to see such people as Jim and John Moulton and others of your acquaintance walking the streets “dressed to death”—the cowards—who pretend to be southern. They are so beneath contempt. I never speak to them. 2 Oh why am I not a man that I could be by your side and suffer with you? I do not read the paper. If I did, it would drive me crazy to read of the suffering of my people. We now have negro guards in our streets who are as impudent and insulting as they can be to white ladies.

My dear sons, I am so glad you are not here to see all we suffer and you are where [illegible] your gun with your own free will. [illegible] your own death before ever again a union with the Yankees. I would prefer the Austrian flag wave over us than ever to be in [the] Union again with the Yankees. 3 I must stop this subject. I am so excited at Aunty’s account of her trip to the country.

I hope you will write to R. T. for money and clothes whenever you need it. You must want for nothing that money can purchase to make you comfortable.

Pa sends love and all your friends send love. Aunty says God bless and be with you and protect you. I must close as this is to leave tonight. I will write again soon. Do write again by Flag of Truce.

1 These statements about mandatory Oaths of Allegiance and of Negro Suffrage are patently false. Whether Mrs. Bestor didn’t know better or purposely wished to disseminate falsehoods to her sons in Virginia in uncertain. It may be the reason this letter was intercepted as Flag of Truce letters were required to avoid talking politics.

2 Mrs. Bestor may be referring to John DuHamel Moulton (1837-1884) and his younger brother, James Francis Moulton, Jr. (1838-1923) of Baltimore. They were the sons of James F. Moulton, Sr. and Araminta Maria DuHamel and lived in Baltimore’s 19th Ward.

3 At the time of the American Civil War, the Austrian Empire was one of Europe’s most notorious monarchies. By saying she would rather live under their flag, she is claiming that the Union government had become more oppressive than the worst autocratic empire of Europe.

20th Virginia Cavalry, Fort Delaware, Prisoner of War

1865: James William Andrew Ford to John Rollin Bestor

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James William Andrew Ford (1843-1900), a watercolor painting based on CdV in LOC.

These two letters were written by James William Andrew Ford (1843-1900) who served the Confederacy as a Lieutenant in Co. G, 20th Virginia Cavalry. This regiment was raised in northwest Virginia (present day West Virginia) in August 1863 and operated frequently in the Shenandoah Valley. Ford was captured by Union forces near Washington D. C. on 13 July 1864 during the Battle of Fort Stevens. He was confined at Fort Delaware until after the war ended.

Prior to joining the 20th Virginia Cavalry, Ford served in Co. C, 12th Virginia Cavalry. His home was in Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, West Virginia. He was the son of David Jefferson Ford (1807-1881) and Mary Ann Byrd (1818-1860).

These letters were sent to the Bestor family of Baltimore, Maryland, and were found among the Bestor family archive of letters, privately held. See—1861-65: The Bestor Brothers of Baltimore.

Letter 1

Directed to John Rollin Bestor, Baltimore, Maryland

Officers’ Barracks, Division 37, Fort Delaware
May 24th, 1865

Friend Bestor

Your letter of the 21st inst. reached me yesterday. I was very glad to hear from you. Pleasant reminiscences of the past were recalled to mind and not soon to be forgotten. I pray the day will soon hasten when our prison doors will be opened & permitted to step forth once more a free & independent man. I am not one of the very small minority at this place who have refused to take the Oath of Allegiance. It was offered twice–before & after Johnston’s surrender. The 1st time I emphatically refused as I could not conscientiously take it so long as a vestige of our Army remained East of the Mississippi. But the last time I yielded, being convinced that the cause I so much loved had become, beyond a doubt, hopeless. There are a few here that still refuse & are waiting to hear what Uncle Kirby thinks of the “times.” They are mostly from the Trans–Mississippi Department.

You spoke of getting your friends to use their influence to get Capt. A. & myself out of this hateful place if I could tell you how to proceed. My God, it fills my soul with very joy to think of it. How grateful I would be. I could never repay the kindness. [But] I am at a loss to tell you how to proceed. A few are leaving here nearly every day whose friends succeed in procuring an order for their release from the Pres. or Secretary of War at Washington. Mrs. Rhodes of your city came here in person on the 14th inst. with an order for the release of Lt. [James Edward] Cobb of Texas 1 & Lt. Finley of Va. She went to Washington & had an interview with Gen. Grant with whom she was acquainted. I think the best plan would be to procure the influence of some friend in Washington, to see the President & arrange the matter. Write very soon & let me know what can be done. Remain in Baltimore & go home with me. Love to John. Your Friend Truly, — J. W. A. Ford, 20th Va Cavalry

As regards the “charges” I know of none whatever against me.

I will be compelled to stop 2 or 3 days in Baltimore & will be glad to call on you.

1 Lt. James Edward Cobb (1835-1903) served in Co. F, 5th Texas Infantry. He was wounded and captured in the attack on Little Round Top at Gettysburg. He was then confined at Fort McHenry, Johnson’s Island, Point Lookout, and Fort Delaware. He was with Ford as one one of the Immortal 600 and then returned to Fort Delaware where he was finally paroled in May 1865.

Letter 2

Officers’ Barracks, Division 37, Fort Delaware
May 31st, 1865

Dear Bestor,

Yours of the 29th, Monday Morning, reached me yesterday. Would have answered last night but thought I would wait for the promised one, which came this evening. As you directed, Jack & myself have written the letter to President Johnson & directed to your Ma, which you will find enclosed with this. I think it covers all necessary legal points. I will send by Capt. J. Hinagan [?] of S. C. who has promised to deliver promptly if he goes to Baltimore. If not, he will mail in Philadelphia. He leaves in the morning at 5 o’clock. The order for his release came this evening.

This morning 50 odd left, representing all the States South, but mostly from Missouri. They having signed a petition in a body & sent to Gen. [Ethan Allen] Hitchcock in Washington who procured an order for their release which arrived yesterday. 1 I had the pleasure of sending a letter home by a gentleman who will pass through Lewisburg. Have you heard from Western Virginia since your arrival in Baltimore? I mean in that portion which our Brigade figured? If so, through what channel? I am exceedingly anxious to know, as I have not been able to get a line since my return from Ft. Pulaski. You can imagine my anxiety.

You wish to know who represents our Brigade–Lt. Col. [Joseph R.] Kessler, Capts. Lerty & Jack, Lieuts. Lawrence (of Lerty’s Battery), Sifalls (McUcal’s Co.), [William W.] Boggs, [Wilson] Queen & myself of the 20th. Have you ever heard where the Brigade capitulated? I am crazy to get all the news. I feel as if I was buried alive here in this miserable place. The only paper we see is the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Taps will beat in a few minutes. I must soon close but before [I do] let me thank you kindly for the zeal & energy displayed in trying to effect my release. I shall ever be indebted & hope I may soon have an opportunity of reciprocating the kindness & expressing my gratitude in propria persona. Capt. A, & myself thought it unnecessary to write separate letters to Mr. Johnson. Don’t you think it will answer jointly? Please keep me posted as regards the application & answer this scrawl immediately. Remember me kindly to [your brother] John. Your friend truly, — Ford

I am very much obliged for the stamps. Capt. A. wishes to be remembered to all.

1 Gen. Ethan Allen Hitchcock was the Commissioner of Prisoner of War Exchange in Washington D. C. from November 1862 through November 1865.

Antebellum Illinois, Antebellum Travel, Erie Canal

1846: G. M. Wood to Jeremy C. Howe

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This letter was signed by G. M. Wood but I have not been able to identify him further though he informs us that his father was living in Aurora, Kane county, Illinois, and laboring as a tanner in 1846. The family appears to have migrated to Illinois from Vermont. I searched Ancestry.com records for any residents of Aurora hailing from Vermont who may have been a tanner, or in the leather goods business, and could not find anyone by the name of Wood, or any other name that seemed to fit the profile of this family.

The letter was addressed to Jeremy C. Howe (1814-1879), a farmer residing in Tunbridge, Orange county, Vermont. Jeremy was married to Betsey T. Thompson (1819-1880). The author of this letter is apparently a nephew of Jeremy Howe, but I have not yet been able to identify the particulars of that relationship. If I would conjecture, I suspect that George’s father was previously married to Jeremy’s sister, but remarried after her premature death.

In 1846, Aurora was not yet a unified city. There were two different villages, East and West Aurora, on opposite sides of the Fox River. When they finally united as one village, the civic center was built on Stolp Island in the middle of the river. The local economy of Aurora was driven by water-powered industrial milling. The town expanded rapidly with the arrival of the railroad in 1849.

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

Aurora, Kane County, Illinois
October 11, 1846

Dear friends,

It is some time since I left Vermont. I have been in this place ever since the 18th of July & as you requested me to write to you as soon as I found out what kind of a country this was to live in, I will endeavor to do so now. In the first place, I will tell you how I got here.

I left Vermont the 5th of July and came to Whitehall in company with a Mr. Randall which cost me one dollar. Then I took passage on a packet boat for a place (which I forget the name of now) within 12 miles of Troy which cost $1 more. Then I had to take the cars to Troy, the fare being 50 cents. When I arrived at Troy, I found that I could get carried to Schenectady for 50 cents, the distance being twenty miles, where I arrived on Monday evening, half past 7 o’clock. Then I took passage on a line boat 1 for Buffalo, the fare being one cent a mile & board yourself or 1.5 cents and be boarded. I thought I would board myself and did so as far as Utica. I found that it was going to cost me more than it would to pay the 1.5 cents & have three meals a day. I felt most miserable the morning we were in Utica, not having eat a regular meal for two or three days. Therefore I boarded on the boat the rest of the way. It cost me $4.63 from Schenectady to Buffalo where I arrived the next Monday morning about three o’clock.

As soon as there was anyone stirring, I went to the wharf to find a steamboat that was going to Chicago. I found one called the Illinois 2 that was going to start that evening at 7 o’clock. It being to all appearance a fine boat, I payed them $6 and took a deck ticket. I could have had a cabin ticket by paying $12 but I thought I should get along as fast one way as the other. On Tuesday we had quite a heavy sea—so much so that it caused some vomiting. I was quite sick one day. We stopped at all of the principal ports, Cleveland, Ohio, being the first, Detroit 2nd, Mackenaw 3rd, excepting some one or two small places where we took on wood (I was astonished at the quantity of wood burnt on the boat, being all of 300 cords.)

Milwaukee was the next port. We left about one hundred Dutch [Germans] here which lightened our boat considerable. 3 Southport was the next which is a handsome place but does not begin [to compare] with Racine which was our next port. We arrived at Chicago on Saturday about one o’clock in the morning. About 9 o’clock I found a two-horse team that was going within nine miles of Aurora. I rode as far as it went. It being 7 o’clock in the evening when we arrived at Naperville—the place where the teams stopped—I did not find any team that was going to Aurora but I was determined to see Father that night so on I went on foot and alone. But it was as dark as Egypt before ten o’clock, the time I arrived here. I found the folks all in bed. Father did not know me till I told him my name. I found them all well & in good spirits.

John H. Lathrop (1799-1882) of Aurora, Illinois. He married Polly Marshall (1798-1861) in 1824 in Chelsea, Orange county, Vt.

Uncle John [H. Lathrop] lives here. He owns a farm of 160 acres about one mile from the village. Orvis [C. Lathrop] lives with him and always has. Aunt Polly [(Marshall) Lathrop] wanted $5 if she gave him up. Ada, Charlotte & Orvis sends their love to you & little Edward. I found a number of persons here from old Vermont—some that I used to know in Waterbury & some from Reading, a town joining Woodstock. And one family from the town of Franklin. You have no idea of the quantity and splendor of this country when compared with the mountainous country you are in. Its boundless prairies cannot be compared with anything in magnitude except the Lakes Michigan & Erie.

Wheat, corn & oats are raised in abundance. Wheat has been as low as 40 cents per bushel, and corn 12.5 cents. Oats 10 cents. But the late news from England of the scarcity of provisions has raised the price of wheat to 50 and 55. Father bought one acre of corn standing in the field for 6.25 per bushel. Do you think you could raise corn for that Uncle Howe?

Sowing winter wheat by horseback in a standing cornfield

The way they plant a great deal of their corn is to drop it into every third furrow when they break up their ground. They call it sod corn. 4 They do not shuck corn. They sow winter wheat mostly. They sow it among corn on horseback. Then they plow it in. There is every year any quantity of raspberries, blackberries, plums, crab apples (not many tame ones), hazelnuts. hickory nuts. and black walnuts.

It has been very sickly this year all over the state. It is the chill fever mostly—some ague and bilious fever, not much of the latter. I had a short pull at the chill fever, or the chill fever had a short pull at me rather. I was taken two weeks ago tonight. In the first place, I was very chilly & in about 15 miles had a very high fever. It seemed as though my face would burn up. Then maybe in half an hour, I would have a chill. I took some quinine & some fever powders. I was not able to sit up. I kept about. I have not heard of any deaths caused by chill fever where they understood how to treat it. I think it has been uncommonly sickly all over the country this year.

Father carried on the tanning business. He intends to have a steam engine to grind bark & steam his leather which will quicken the process of tanning a great deal. I have not wrote but one letter before this & that was to Uncle Thomas. I have not received any answer to that yet. I have not received as much as a paper from any of my friends in Vermont. I hope you will [write] as soon as you receive this. Write a long letter. Write what they are doing on the old railroad depot. Don’t you forget it. Now here is my respects to you all. — G. M. Wood

Excuse all mistakes.

1 A line boat on the Erie Canal was designed for both freight and passengers. They were drawn by two horses and traveled at a rate of two and a half or three miles per hour. The fare was cent per mile, and one and a half cent per mile if one took board as well. This was te cheapest way to travel on the canal.

2 Period newspapers name The Illinois as one of the many steamers operating on Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan in 1846. She was a side-wheel steamer, built in 1837. She could make the trip from Buffalo to Chicago in five days.

3 By the middle of the 19th Century, Milwaukee was known as the “German Athens of North America.” A very large number of German (called the “Dutch”) arrived and settled in Milwaukee, particularly after the revolutions of 1848.

4 Sod corn is a crop of corn planted directly into a newly broken field of prairie sod. The practice described of sowing winter wheat by horseback was employed because the wheat was planted in standing cornfields which made walking and planting by hand difficult. So farmers rode a horse between the rows of corn and scattered the wheat seed by hand from a sack slung over their shoulder. Later they would plow it in with a one-horse plow.

7th Georgia Infantry, Alabama Homefront, Battle of Bull Run

1861: Lewis Latham to Andrew Jackson Wagnon

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Received the following message from Jessica Mullican attaching a civil war era letter from her family’s personal collection and stating that it was not written by a soldier, but mentions the war, recent battles, injuries, and crop prices, which I always found interesting. The recipient, Andrew Jackson Wagnon, would die from illness contracted during service two years later in Louisiana.”

Nancy Jane (Fulton) Wagnon—the widow of Andrew Jackson Wagnon.

I found that the letter was written by James Lewis Latham Sr. (1817-1880), a native of North Carolina, who afterward served the Confederacy in Capt. Jefferson Falkner’s Company (Home Guard) Mounted Infantry. Lewis was the son of Enoch Henry Latham (1780-1838) and Nancy Jane Garner (1783-1843). He was married in 1852 to Elizabeth Fulton (1820-1866) and had numerous children by her and a former wife, many of whom are mentioned in this letter. In the 1860 US Census, this family was enumerated in Lineville, Southern Division, Randolph County. In 1850, his family was enumerated in Carroll County, Georgia. In this letter, Lewis gives his mailing directions as Blake’s Ferry Post office which was near the Big Tallapoosa River in the east central part of the state of Alabama.

Lewis wrote the letter to his brother-in-law, Andrew Jackson Wagnon (1825-1863) who was married in 1849 to Nancy Jane Fulton (1826-1912). They had been residents in Carroll county, Georgia, previously but were living in 1860 in Sugartown, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Andrew entered the Confederate service in 1862, serving in the 11th (Spaight’s) Battalion (Cavalry, Artillery & Infantry). He died on 15 July 1863 at Opelousas, St. Landry, Louisiana, leaving a wife and at least four children.

[Editor’s Note: The handwriting was extremely poor but I have done the best I could to make it readable.]

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

Alabama, Randolph County
August 4, 1861

Dear brother and sister,

I take my pen in hand to inform you that we are all well at this time, hoping that when these [lines] come to hand, they will find you all as well. I got a letter from you dated April 5, 1861 and was glad to hear from you all and to hear that you all was well. You wrote to me that you had wrote to Sam Avery and John Wales and you got no answer. Sam Avery is living at the same place where he lived when you left here. John Wales move to Hancock, Ala.

I have nothing strange to tell you. Jule Cook was at my house two nights ago and he said that Minien and her man was wed and Minien wanted to come down to my house and the old man would not let them come. They has no children and so sign for it. The old man Eson says that Jefy has got to stay there till he comes of age and Minien is getting is pretty mad a bout it.

Crops are generally good here. Wheat crops was very good off of the [Tallapoosa] river. On the river, they were not so good. Wheat is worth 1 dollar per bushel. Corn is worth 1.25 cents per bushel. Bacon 75¢ per pound. You wrote to me to tel you my boy’s name. I thought that I had told you that but I will tell you again. His name is James Latham and he will be 14 months old the 19th of this month and he is the prettiest Latham that you ever saw. There’s carpeting over the floor now and [he] gets in all the mischief that he can get in. All of the children has grown finely since I moved here and Betty looks better than you ever saw her.

You wrote me to tell you whether I ever expect to come there or not. I want to move and if I could sell my land, I would move to your country. But times is dull here about money.

I commenced this letter Sunday and on Monday the old man Fulton and Ben come down and the old man says that we all would move there if we could sell out, but there ain’t anything doing here—only fixing for the war and going to the war. Young men are scarce here now and old and young are going regularly from this country. They have had a big battle and some of the Carroll [county, Georgia] boys was in it. I hain’t heard of any of them been killed but one I heard had his knee cap shot off. That was Burke—a lawyer at Carrollton. 1

I would like to see you mightily and talk a day or two with you. John and Mary and Sally is going to school and has been going all the year. I want you to write to me when this comes to hand. So nothing more at present. I am your respectful [brother] until death, — Lewis Latham

[to] A J Wagnon and family

Listy says to write on this side. She say she wants you to write something about Scott and William. Well I will tell you something about catching a big fish about a month ago. I had a passel of hocks [traps?] set out in the river and a [paper crease makes word illegible] come and got hung on one of them. He weighed 33 pounds. He was a whopper, I tell you. Direct your letters to Blake’s Ferry PO, Randolph County, Alabama.

1 This was undoubtedly Captain Archibald Turk Burke (1829-1882) who was a lawyer in Carrollton, Georgia, who led Co. F, 7th Georgia Infantry. He was wounded in the leg during the 1st Battle of Manassas in July 1861 and his wife went to Virginia to bring him home to Carroll county, Georgia.

Willard Hotel

1862: Mary Masters Wilbur to Sarah (Masters) Wilbur

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The following letter was written by Mary Masters Wilbur (1834-1917) to her mother, Sarah (Masters) Wilbur—the wife of Jeremiah Wilbur (1804-1876) of the New York City firm of Wilbur & Price, 50 Pine Street. The family made their home in Brooklyn. Jeremiah Wilbur was a sibling of Rachel Wilbur (b. 1903) who married Johnathan Harrison Lambdin (1798-1825). Their daughter Sarah (b. 1820) married Edmund Coffin about 1840 in Manhattan, N. Y. City, and resided in Greenburgh, New York.

Most of the aforementioned family information was gleaned from a biographical sketch of the family attached to the Masters-Taylor, Wilbur Papers, 1796-1857, housed at the University of Michigan. It reads, “Jeremiah Wilbur (born c.1805) and his sister Rachel Wilbur were both born in New Jersey. Jeremiah Wilbur, his wife Sarah Masters Wilbur, and their three children lived in New York City, where Jeremiah worked for his father-in-law’s firm of Masters & Markoe. Rachel Wilbur was married in 1818 to Jonathan Harrison Lambdin (1798-1825); they had three daughters. Both of Jonathan Lambdin’s business ventures in Pittsburg had failed by the time of his death in 1825, and his widow Rachel Lambdin and her young daughters returned to her family in New Jersey.”

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

Directed to Mrs. Wilbur, Care of J. Wilbur, Esq., 50 Pine Street, New York

Washington, [D. C.]
Thursday night, March 27th 1862

My darling Mother,

Here we are safe & sound, having arrived about six o’clock. We saw you wave as we passed our house & we also saw Lee driving up the road. Lee Stout did not come to the depot until just as the cars were running out. I saw him on his way for a paper but could not point him out to Coz. We reached Philadelphia about half past ten by the Kensington route & rode from one station to the other in horse cars. The Baltimore cars were very full so that from Philadelphia to this place we each of us sat in a different seat so we could not have much conversation.

There was nothing very remarkable in the look of the country through which we passed. We saw men plowing and the grass looks a little green as you get into Maryland. I saw pink flowers in bloom in a garden.

We passed through Baltimore! and saw a fort with its embankments on one side of the town. We crossed two inlets of the Chesapeake on tremendous long bridges & at Havre de Grace, they put the cars on a boat & took them over that way.

I was just now interrupted by a waiter bring up a note with “Edw S. Vails. I leave in the morning for it. B. Do you wish to send any message to your Father?” [written] on it. So Coz & I went down to see the little man. Mr. Coffin is talking to someone in another room. He saw my name on the books. It was very kind of him.

We saw tents, soldiers and encampments in plenty. This City is very imposing as well as we could judge for the dust which obscured everything over a half a block off. The dome of the Capitol is grand. We did not have a very near view as this hotel is way the other end of town. This is Willard’s Hotel. When we got here, they told us it was impossible for us to get a room, but somehow or other, the Mr. Coffin got two—one quite a parlor where Coz and I are to sleep, & Mr. Coffin opposite. Coz says to tell Joe it is the greatest shame in the world he is not here. There is to be a review tomorrow. 1 Think we shall see, I suppose. There is a regiment to leave tonight at 12 o’clock. No one knows their destination. 2

I must say good night. I am so tired. I told Sarah Coffin to send you her Mother’s letters as they are so much more interesting than mine. Love to all. Ever your own child, — Mary

1 General Irvin McDowell’s Corps (the Department of the Rappahannock) held a review just outside of Washington D. C. on 28 March 1862.

2 The regiment leaving Washington D. C. at midnight on March 27th 1862 might have been the 10th Massachusetts Infantry. They left by boat for Hampton Roads to participate in McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign.

1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics, Bridgeport, Alabama, Stevenson, Alabama

1864: Philo Newton Fox to Louisa Maria (Newton) Fox

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Philo “Newton” Fox (1847-1893)

The following letters were written by Philo Newton Fox (1847-1893), the oldest son of Perrin Veber Fox (1821-1910) and Louisa Maria Newton (1823-1901). He served with his father in the 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics, entering Co. D as a private in late December 1863 and transferring into the US Veteran Volunteer Engineers in mid-August 1864 as a sergeant major.

In 2024, I transcribed three letters by Newton’s father, Perrin Veber Fox. Those letters can be found here—1861-63: Perrin Veber Fox to his Wife.

Letter 1

1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics Headquarters
Bridgeport, Alabama, May 10th 1864

Dear Mother,

It is a rainy, dismal, disagreeable day and I will improve the time by writing to you. I really don’t know when I shall get my pay but it will [be] before long, I hope. The pay master has gone to Chattanooga to pay Co’s. B, C, D, & K and on his way back he will stop with the rolls and I will get mine. But the trouble is I want to go to Stevenson and if I do, he may come here and go again and I know nothing about it. I guess it will come out all right in the end and I guess I will go by the old adage, “Patient waiting is no loss.”

Just before payday, the sutler (C. F. Miller, the one who used to be adjutant) got forty boxes of whiskey and since pay day, many foolish men and boys give 3 & 4 dollars a bottle for it. Although the bottle has been many times offered to me, not a drop of the cursed stuff has passed my lips and already I have got the name of being temperate which is in the army more honorable than to have shoulder straps, my way of thinking.

I wrote a long letter to Eddie a day or two ago and enclosed a note to you and the day before I wrote you a letter so you are hearing from me quite often. There is no news to write. Father & I are well and please excuse brevity as I don’t feel like writing today. With much love to you and Eddie. I remain your son, — Newton P. Fix

to Mother

Letter 2

Headquarters 1st Michigan Engineers & Mechanics
Bridgeport, [Alabama] May 20th 1864

Dear Mother,

I wrote to you only a few days ago but I thought a letter would always be acceptable so I will write again. I have not had a letter from you for some time. I wish you would try and write as often as I do—two or three times a week. When I left off last I went to see a Brigade review of the 1st Brigade, 12th Army Corps. Some of the regiments were very small. One in particular I noticed did not have more than 200 men but their flag was covered with the names of the hardest fought battles of the war, both on the Potomac & out here. The little band of battle-scarred heroes looked as proud and as contented as the other regiments who had not lost so many. Who shall number the precious lives that have ben laid on our country’s altar and who shall mete out vengeance to the leaders who have led our southern states into the war?

Wallace has not succeeded as well as I had hoped he was as I feared too well dressed to the soldiers and when they found out that he was only a private, they made all kinds of fun of him in his short stay at this place. I do not know how he has succeeded at Chattanooga but I fear he does not take well.

My opinion is that Dr. Smith’s stay in Grand Rapids will be short. He is entirely too sensitive. There is no man who likes to see people from other denominations in our church more than he and he should not think it a slight if sometimes his own people go to other churches.

The quartermaster has not returned from Nashville yet and for two or three days I have been learning the manual of arms and also how to issue rations. Night before last at the same place where Capt. Sligh was hurt, the train was thrown off, robbed, set afire, and Lieutenants Williams & Broughton were robbed of everything they had—even to their hats, coats and boots, watches, jewelry, money and all fared the same. One of Co. D’s boys was badly wounded; also a man by the name of Pitts. There were a number of officers and men from other regiments on board and they fared the same. The band who did this were bushwhackers who came from the region of Lynchburg. The powers that be ought to take severe measures to stop this thing. If they don’t, they are surely much if the fault.

It is three months today since I was mustered into the service of Uncle Sam. One fourth of a year I have been a soldier. It has passed rapidly and so far happily & pleasantly to me. Father is quite well and so am I. It is very windy. The dust is flying and makes the paper dirty and unpleasant to write in. I received Eddie’s picture. It is quite good. Might be better. I would like to hug the original and his mother and give them a few good kisses. I must close. I remain truly yours, — Newton P. Fox

Co. D, 1st M. E&M, Bridgeport, Alabama

To Mother

Letter 3

Stevenson, Alabama
August 7, 1864

Dear Mother,

I have not received a letter from you for some time but as Sunday has again come round, I will write to you [even] if it is a short one.

Father went to Chattanooga this morning to see Capt. Merrill. I expect him back tonight. Then I guess he will know exactly what time he will leave here to go into the new regiment. The fortifications at this place, of which he is in charge, are progressing finely. A few weeks now will finish them. I suppose I will go into the new regiment but know nothing certain yet. Expect I shall when Father gets back.

I received a letter yesterday from Cassius. He was on the late raid by Gen. Rousseau and is now on the Chattahoochie River but expects soon to return to Nashville. He says they had a hard time—hard marching, hard fighting, and hard fare. It seems to me as if he went backward in writing, spelling and construction of his sentences. The letter I got was a perfect puzzle and some of it I could not possibly read.

Col. William Power Innes

Father is feeling and looking better than I have seen him for a long time. He is now in a position where he only has to fight the enemies of his country and not an unprincipled set of personal enemies who rank him and are jealous of his true sterling worth. If he would drink whiskey, get drunk, go with bad women, curse the administration, and be a traitor, he would be hale fellow well met with Col. [William Power] Innes and his click. This you must put where no one will see it for in military law, it would be a heinous crime to say what I have against my superior officers and trusting to your good sense you are the only one I have said anything about it to.

With much love to yourself and Eddie and all friends, I remain your son, — Newton Fox

Letter 4

Stevenson, Alabama
August 23, 1864

Dear Mother,

I was very glad to receive your letter of the 16th as it was the first one for two weeks at least and I was getting quite anxious about you for fear you were sick or some accident had befallen you or Eddie. But I am glad to know that you are both well and your healths are improving. Martha writes me that Eddie is getting to be quite a horseman and thinks he can ride Uncle Henry’s horses.

I am glad to know that Mr. Mason’s family are so well situated. I am glad they left Grand Rapids for it was with difficulty they made both ends meet. I know Mr. Mason was mortified many times when they had company because she had done nothing better to offer in eating and accommodations.

I am sorry that Hiram writes home as he does for it will make his Mother feel, ore than ever, afraid and uneasy after an engagement. He has been more than usually fortunate since he became a soldier in passing through the severest battles of the war and escaping without a scratch.

You speak of sending me some two-cent stamps. I never have received the. Have you sent me the three-cent stamps I asked for? I have been out for some time and under the necessity of borrowing.

We received Eddie’s Ambrotype and I thought I spoke about receiving it. I do not think you receive all my letters so I will commence to number them calling this No. 1.

Gaius W. Perkins wrote to me of Mr. Squire’s death. Tell Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry to write to me as nothing would afford me greater pleasure than to correspond with them. I wrote to Uncle Henry while at Bridgeport but he has never answered the letter. Capt. Merrill, Chief Engineer D. C. was here yesterday and he wanted to know of Father why he did not have me take a course at West Point. Through his influence and Gen. Thomas, I think I could get the appointment. How would this suit you? It would be a cheap and honorable way of getting an education that would be complete and practical and as soon as I graduated, would be a commissioned officer in the U. S. A.

With much love to you and Eddie, I remain your son, – Newton

To Mother

Fort McHenry, Lincoln Assassination, Maryland Homefront, Prisoner of War

1865: John Rollin Bestor, Sr. to his sons

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The following letter was written by John Rollin Bestor, Sr. (1813-1867), a Baltimore book-keeper, who was married to Jane Eliza Brown (1820-1885) in Baltimore in October 1835. In 1860, they resided at 97 South High Street—a dense, bustling, enclave that had been the heart of Baltimore’s German-Jewish community but was transitioning to a working class society of Irish and Italian emigrants. Their home was most likely a two or three-story row house on a gas-lit cobblestone street frequented by horse-drawn omnibuses that daily transported passengers to the inner city. A few blocks to the south, within walking distance, was the harbor basin, lined with wharves, packing houses, and tobacco warehouses. By 1863, the Bestor family had moved to 166 North High Street, an older established neighborhood almost in the shadow of the Fayette Street Phoenix Shot Tower. The boys’ father had a presence in Baltimore in the 1830’s; he left advertisements in the local papers offering flute lessons and for selling a one horse buggy.

John directed his letter to his two twin sons, Rollin John Bestor (1842-1899) and John Rollin Bestor, Jr. (1842-1891). When the Civil War began the boys turned their back on Baltimore and joined Co. B of the Maryland Guard. They quickly moved to Richmond where they drilled, mustered into service, and were eventually assigned to the 21st Virginia Infantry. After four years of separation, the two boys returned to Baltimore, not as free citizens, but as Prisoners of War. They were held at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor and could communicate by letter with their parents but were not allowed visitors. It was during this time, and after Lincoln’s assassination, that John wrote to his sons.

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

Baltimore, Maryland
April 21st 1865

My dear sons,

I write to let you know I have not forgotten you. I have deferred doing so because I have been too miserable to write to anyone and did not wish you to share my unhappiness. But as you seem anxious, I will write unreservedly as I wish you always to do.

For four days past I have been suffering so severely with neuralgia, I have hardly been able to leave my room & I am but little better today but must show myself at the office tomorrow even if unable to attend to duties.

The assassination of the President, whose funeral knell I now hear, is a sad calamity to this Nation and has sunk my mind into a gloom which seems insurmountable. I sincerely hope the perpetrator of so wicked an act may be brought to condign punishment. 1

I regret exceedingly that restrictions prevent my seeing you at present, and sincerely hope and trust that they may soon be removed. Although not with you in person, you are always present in my mind & I often see you in my dreams. Oh! how long must I endure this unnatural separation? Is not four years sufficient privation? As soon as I am able and have permission, I shall certainly visit you. Write to me often. If you realize my anxiety to hear from you, you will not wait for me. As you know, I am compelled to use my eyes all day and cannot tax them at night.

In the meantime, if I am too prosy, you know your cousin “Lou” can always fill up the interludes with something “light and airy.”

I think it hard that Rollin cannot occasionally drop me a line. Must John always be “Pa’s business man?” I am glad to hear you are both well and comfortable. Mat God be with you always. Ma send much love. Ever your devoted Father, — J. Rollin Bestor

1 Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train made its first major city stop in Baltimore on 21 April 1865. Lincoln’s remains were removed from the train and laid in state at the Merchant Exchange, under a great rotunda. An article in Time Magazine on 15 April 2015 states that “In the early morning of April 21, 1865, the soggy streets of downtown Baltimore were packed with swarms of people. By 8 o’clock, the roads surrounding the Camden station were impassable. Work stopped. Schools closed. Stores emptied. And, the people, waiting patiently for a train, wept. The train that chugged into the station at 10 o’clock contained the remains of Abraham Lincoln. He had died six days prior, on April 15, less than a week after…Appomattox. Inside the train, dubbed the Lincoln Special, the late President’s body was dressed in the same suit from his second inauguration just six weeks earlier.” The image in the header is the Library of Congress. It shows the crowd waiting at the Baltimore Train Depot for the arrival of Lincoln’s Funeral Train.

26th Virginia Cavalry, Fort Delaware, Prisoner of War

1864: James Randolph Apperson to Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor

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The following letter was written by Capt. James Randolph Apperson (1836-1903) while being held a prisoner at Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island, Delaware.

A biographical sketch of Apperson was found in the West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia which reads: J.R. Apperson was born in Hanover, Virginia June 24, 1836, son of William and Elizabeth J. (Harris) Apperson. His parents left his native county [Hanover county] in 1854, and came to Randolph county, (then) Virginia. In 1861 J.R. Apperson enlisted in the Confederate army, Co. F, 31st Virginia Infantry, and in 1863 he was commissioned captain of Co. D, 26th Virginia Cavalry.

On October 2, 1864, he was made prisoner, near Port Republic, and taken to Fort Delaware, and held until the close of the war. During his active service he was three time wounded; once struck with a sabre.

In Pocohontas county, February 27, 1868 he married Sarah M. Kee, and the children of their union are: Minnie M., born May 21, 1870; Charles R., November 28, 1875; Quintilla M., February 26, 1877. Sarah M., wife of Mr. Apperson, was born in Pocahontas county, December 5, 1843, daughter of William and Ruth D. (McCollam) Kee, natives of this county. J.R. Apperson has been a resident in Pocahontas county since 1870, is merchant and artist, and is at this time postmaster at Marlins Bottom, at which place he is erecting one of the finest residences in the county.

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

November 7th 1864

Mrs. J. Eliz Bestor,

Dear Madam, I have again made application for a permit that you might send me that book, but I was unsuccessful. I am very sorry that I have put you to so mutch trouble as I have. It was not my intention to do so. It can only come by mail. Consequently I cannot expect you to send it, since you have already had much trouble with it. I equally as much obliged to you as though I had have gotten it, though I would have glad to have had it, since prison live is very confining. Today is one of the dreary ones, as it is raining. Nothing to attract the mind. Consequently, a reflection upon times past & gone soon arrises which must make one feel sad. I never knew what discontentment was until since the 2nd of October. I have not gotten a Letter from any of my friends whom I were acquainted with yet. Please to excuse my half sheets of paper as stationary is scarce.

From your most Obt. Servt, — Capt. J. R. Apperson

Prisoner of War, Fort Delaware, Division 34

Write as often as convenient. I’m blessed to be favored with your letters. Yours, &c.