20th Massachusetts Infantry, Battle of Fredericksburg, Siege of Yorktown

1862: Horace Augustus Derry to Mary (Wright) Derry

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When the 2nd letter transcribed below was written by Horace Augustus Derry of Co. D, 20th Massachusetts Infantry in late November 1862, the Army of the Potomac was under the new command of Ambrose Burnside who pledged to take the army directly to Richmond, come hell or high water — or so it seemed. But a series of unfortunate circumstances and bad weather caused delays in Burnside’s plans, resulting in an ill-advised crossing of the Rappahannock River and assault on the Confederate rifle-pits above the town of Fredericksburg. For Horace, now a sergeant, it would be his last battle. He took a gunshot wound to the leg on that day and was returned to a Washington hospital where his leg was eventually amputated. He survived the wound but was discharged from the service in 1863. In recognition of his bravery, newspaper accounts state that he was promoted to 2d Lieutenant, but I could find no military record of this change in rank.

The Thomas Balch Library at Leesburg, Virginia has a letter that Horace wrote his mother on 7 January 1863 from Stanton Hospital in Washington D.C. where he was recovering from the gunshot wound he received at Fredericksburg. He describes the placement and severity of the wound, as well as the treatment he received in camp and in the hospital. He also told his mother that many men were dying of their wounds after losing limbs.

Another letter written by Horace to his mother, dated 24 January 1863 at Stanton Hospital, reads in part:

“My dear kind and loving mother, I received your kind and welcome letter of the 20th and was glad to hear that you were all alive and kicking. I am well but I cannot kick much yet with only one leg. The Doctor has thought to put a poultice on to draw it after being here over a month. Well, [it is] as much as any one can expect from one of these Doctors out here. I have not got my money yet and I don’t know as I ever shall but they have going to pay off some of the regts. And I expect ours will get paid… I do not know whether Alden [H. Holbrook]’s is any more than a flesh wound or not. If you know, I wish you would tell me. What does [brother] Charley think of Burnside? Our Division had a review the other day and Burnside come around and Gen. [O. O.] Howard, commander of our division, took his hat off and sung out,  “Now boys, three cheers for Burnside,” but not one man cheered him. Rather hard don’t you think so? …You say that you suppose you must direct your letter to Lieutenant Derry… I think our first sergt. had ought to of had it before me. I do not call it any honor to be promoted in this army any way. It is a disgrace for a man to be in it anyway for we are all fighting for niggers. I think but then if I am Lieut. I shall try and do my duty the best I know how…” [Source: Derry letter sold on internet in 2008; transcribed text posted with letter]

Within a year of returning from the war, Horace married Stella M. Mabury of Boston. He found employment initially as a grocery clerk and later as the owner/operator of his own stables in East Boston. Boston newspapers reported him among the sleigh-owners who used to parade their rigs through city streets upon the first big snowfall each year in Boston. One article in 1898 called out his “natty sleigh” in particular that Horace drove in company with his wife and daughter Lillian (1864-1954). In January 1900, Hiram sold his stables and adjoining property at the corner of Meridian and Eutaw Streets and relocated to Sharon, and later Medford, Massachusetts. He died in 1925.

Horace was not the only member of his family to serve in the Civil War. Two older brothers also received wounds and survived the war. Barton Bass Derry (1830-1909) served as a first sergeant in Co. D, 39th Massachusetts. He was wounded on 8 May 1864 at Laurel Hill, Virginia. George Reed Derry (1831-1906) served in Co. G, 42nd Masachussetts. He was wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Galveston in January 1863.

Letter 1

[Editor’s Note: My thanks to Abbey Weber Jones for the first transcription of this letter.]

Addressed to Charles W. Mabury, South City Yard, Boston, Mass.

Camp near Yorktown [Virginia]
April the 13th, 1862

Dear Mother, 

I received your kind letter yesterday and was glad to hear that you were well. The papers that you sent me came in a good time, for I wanted something to read. I paid 10 cents for the New York Herald the same day that I received them. I have wrote two letters to Mother and have not had any answer yet. I should like to know the reason of it, and one to Charles and William and have not received an answer from either one of them. I hope that you will hear from Henry by the time you get this so that you can tell me where he is and how he likes [it]. If you get a letter from him, you let me know where he is and how to direct it and I will write to him. I hope that we shall see each other in a little while and then we will not have to write to each other.

You tell George Willett not to make a fool of himself by enlisting and coming out here for he will soon get sick of it. You say when you go down town you will carry your H.A.D. [head?] down and see if it does not look better than my other Mother’s. I am afraid it will not look so well. I am sorry that I did not have that one taken for increase, but it was my neglect. You know that I am forgetful. Don’t you know that night that I went out to Quincy and forgot to come back—don’t you? But you did not know where I slept, did you. 

You say that you hope that you will not have anymore parties until Henry and me gets home. I hope that will be in a very short time for I like parties better than I do fighting. Don’t you?  They say they had a hard fight at Island Number 10 and there was a great many lives lost on both sides; and I think there will be at Yorktown before it is taken but I hope not. I gave your love to Alden but Mrs. Talcott was not there so I could not give it to him but I heard that he was coming back before he got his discharge to see the boys and then I will give it to him. That will do for this time. You tell Stell my back has got well and I got rid of the boots. Give my love to Father and bub and sis.

From your son, — H. A. Derry

Letter 2

November 22nd 1862
Camp near Falmouth, Va.

Dear Mother,

I will now try and answer your kind letter of the 1st. We are paddling around in the mud now up to our knees. It has been raining for 3 or 4 days but it is a little pleasanter today and we are drying our things.

Capt. Frederick Dreher—a “Dutchman”—took temporary command of the 20th Mass. in November 1862. He was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Yesterday in the afternoon, I was ordered to go and get 24 men and go on guard over to Gen. [Darius] Couch’s Headquarters and over we went through the mud. We stopped there until dark and then there was 24 more came and I went and found out there was some mistake about it and they told me I might take my men and go back to camp and back we went through the mud again and that is about the way things are done all of the time. I shall be lad when we get some of our old officers back that knows something. Captain [Ferdinand] Dreher ¹ has got command of the regiment now. He is a Dutchman. You know we have been on the march the most of the time since I came back.

One day they marched us 20 miles and all we have on the march to eat is raw pork and hard bread. The boys find a great deal of fault and say they do not have enough of that.

We are close to Falmouth and on the other side of the [Rappahannock] River we can see the rebels on picket and we expect to cross in a few days. The pickets are near enough to talk to each other. We do not get many letters now for the mail does not go nor come regular now and I do not think it will until we get into winter quarters and I don’t know when that will be. I do not see much signs of it now and for my part, I do not want to go into winter quarters. I want to fight it out and come home.

Has [brother] Hen[ry] got home yet? You know you said he would be at home in two weeks but I guess he did not come.

We have not been paid off yet and I don’t think we shall for some time. I suppose you know George Willitt is sick at Washington and I think he is better off there than he would be in the army for I do not think he is well enough to stand it this winter out here. If we don’t go into winter quarters, I think a great many of is will be sick for half of the time we lie on the damp ground with nothing under us but one blanket.

I am sorry to hear that Stell [Stella A. Mabury] has been sick but I hope she is well now. She thought I had forgot the place where you lived and so she told me but I did not forget. You tell her I wrote a letter to her today and when I get time, I will write another one. Give my love to Hen[ry] and tell him I will write a letter to him as soon as I get time.

I must close now. Give my love to all of the folks over to South Boston, Emme, and all of the rest of the folks, and to Stell.

From your son, — H. A. Derry

¹ Capt. Ferdinand Dreher of Co. C, 20th Massachusetts, was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

3rd Wisconsin Cavalry

1862: Walworth Delavan Porter to Samuel Nay Porter

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The following letter was written by Walworth Delavan Porter (1839-1924) of Co. F, 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry. His obituary, found in the Baraboo New Republic on 29 October 1924, informs us that he was born in LaGrange, Walworth county, Wisconsin on 11 January 1839. His parents were Horatio Nelson Porter (1811-1852) and Harriet Newell Nay. His father purchased land in Lagrange in 1831 and farmed there until 1848 when the family moved to Baraboo in Sauk County. Muster rolls reveal that Walworth enlisted on 1 March 1862. He was taken prisoner on 15 September 1862 and mustered out of the service after three years on 3 March 1865.

A trooper of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry in Fort Scott during the Civil War (Kansas Memory)

[Editor’s Note: My thanks to Abbey Weber Jones for preparing the first draft of this transcription.]

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

Addressed to Mr. Samuel N. Porter, Baraboo, Sauk county, Wisconsin, Per politeness of Lieut. Asa Wood

Camp Benton, St. Louis, Missouri
May 5, 1862

Brother Sam,

Having an opportunity to send a few lines by Lieut. Asa Wood I thought I would do so by improving a brief space of time previous to going on dress parade. I wrote to you a few days ago and I think stated about leaving soon. Well, we have not gone as yet, but will probably get off by tomorrow forenoon. We have had some unpleasant weather since coming here. Also many of the boys have been sick on account of the miserable water that is used. I have had a severe cold of late and am now nearly laid out but am bound to stand the storm if possible. Asa is going down after the body of Charlie Brier 1 who has recently died from a wound at [the] Pittsburg [Landing] fight. I am afraid Lieut. Wood thinks of leaving us by appearances. I think a great deal of him and would be sorry to have him leave.

I think there will be some trouble in our company among the officers before long. You may have heard of [brother] Charlie’s being promoted to Second Lieut.

There is but one Reg. on the ground at the present—that is the Second Wisconsin Cavalry. It is astonishing how many troops has left here within the past month, most of which were going to Pittsburg. What has become of Geo. Van? Tell him he must not expect to hear from this chicken again until he answers my letter.

One of Armstrong’s Co. who has been sick here in the Hospital rec’d a letter from Al yesterday. Al’s health has been miserable since landing at Pittsburg because of the water. Al states of [there] being two hundred troops now at that place.

Should we be sent out on the plains, I think our chance for staying three years is good. It is likely we may stay considerable time at Leavenworth. It is supposed there will be no use for us should there be another fight like the one which came off at Pittsburg.

When you write, give me the particulars in general. What do you [do] with those livestock when you have to abide by the law of not letting cattle and hogs run the streets; which I think a good law. As the bugle is blowing for parade, I will close. Give my respects to all friends and oblige

Your brother, W. D. P

1 Private Charles Augustus Brier of the 14th Wisconsin reached Mound City with a severe gunshot wound to the knee. Pneumonia soon followed, killing the 18-year-old from Webster’s Prairie on April 26. “[W]e look around and behold a lovely family circle broken — a father in tears, a mother in anguish, brother and sisters bowed in sorrow and sadness,” William Thompson, a Baraboo, Wisconsin, businessman, wrote about Brier in a letter published in the local paper. Reflecting on the private’s death, Thomson added: “Who then shall be held responsible for the sacrifice of the thousands of our young men, who have gone forth in the hour of our country’s peril, to save us and our posterity from the otherwise fearful doom which awaits us? But the record has been made! Thus fell Charles Brier, of Baraboo, Wis., at the battle of Shiloh, in the 19th year of his age; and died at the Mound City Hospital, April 26, 1862.” [Source: A Flood of Memories: How rising water imperiled Shiloh wounded.]

95th Ohio Infantry

1863: Jeremiah Hampton Squires to Jetur White

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I could not find an image of Hamp but here is a watercolor of Oscar Kelton who also served in Congress. A, 95th OVI. He was promoted from Orderly Sergeant to 1st Lieutenant before he was killed at the Battle of Brice’s Cross Roads in June 1864.

he only signed the letter “Hamp” but I feel confident that this letter was written by Jeremiah Hampton Squires (1842-Aft1918) while serving in Co. A, 95th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI). A biographical sketch was found on-line which informs us that Hamp was born “at Southampton, on Long Island, New York, September 11, 1842, and is the only survivor of the four children of Jeremiah and Phebe (Jagger) Squires, who were farming people. Mr. Squires resided on the home farm on Long Island until reaching the age of seventeen years, and during this time acquired his education by attending the public schools and Southampton Academy. In the spring of 1860 he went to Columbus, Ohio, and, with the exception of the time he was a soldier in the Civil war, remained in the employ of one man at carpentering, as an apprentice, journeyman, foreman and partner, for nearly twenty years. Mr. Squires enlisted July 22, 1862, as a private in Company A, Ninety-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and within two weeks of the time he was enlisted was engaged in his first battle, at Richmond, Kentucky. In this engagement twenty-seven men of his company were killed or wounded, and here he received his first and only wound during the war which consisted of a bullet in the left hand. He, with 600 others of his regiment, was here captured and paroled for ninety days.

He was then declared exchanged and rejoined his regiment, going into active service at Milliken’s Bend, in April, 1863, and being subsequently set to work digging a canal north of Vicksburg. Next he went to Grand Gulf, later to Jackson, and then to Vicksburg, where for six weeks he participated in the siege of that city, which finally fell into the hands of the North. His regiment then took part in the chase of Johnston’s army, which it met in the battle of Jackson, where it was ordered to uncover a masked battery. In so doing, Mr. Squires, then a sergeant, saw two officers of the enemy beating a retreat, followed them, and, on discovering them in a tent, covered them with his gun and took them as prisoners to the Union lines single-handed. While on the way from Vicksburg to Jackson, he was ordered to select four men and make a reconnoissance in the neighborhood of Black River, where the enemy were supposed to be occupying a fort on the river bank. Here they were surprised by about twenty-five of the enemy who were in the fort and were fired upon. The handful of Union men responded with a charge on the twenty-five Confederates, who retreated and crossed the river in boats, leaving the unguarded fort to be captured by a force of about one-fourth their own strength, one of the plucky Northerns having been dispatched to the Union commander with information regarding conditions. Later in the day, the commander of the Federal troops relieved the four men and they went on to Jackson as previously related. After Jackson the regiment went back to within about six miles of Vicksburg, where the men went into camp. Mr. Squires was then assigned to the duty of going to Columbus, Ohio, to secure drafted men to fill up the depleted ranks of the regiment, but, as there were none there, he was ordered to recruit.

He was relieved in the early spring and rejoined his regiment at Memphis, Tennessee, June 1, 1864, and was then in the expedition sent out to check the advance of the Confederate leader, General Forrest. At Brice’s Cross Roads, Mississippi, the Union forces, numbering about 6,000 were defeated by the Southerners, who numbered some 10,000, and 136 men of Mr. Squires’ regiment were captured by the enemy, he being among the number. He was started to Andersonville Prison and for several days the only food obtained by the prisoners consisted of corn which they picked up from around the places where the animals had been fed. Finally, they reached the line of the railroad and were packed into box cars and sent to Andersonville stockade, where they arrived June 19, 1864.

Mr. Squires experienced all the hardships, sufferings and tortures which incarceration in that awful prison meant, and from the weight of 175 pounds when he went in wasted away to eighty pounds, his weight when finally released. On November 24, 1864, with 10,000 other prisoners he was paroled and returned to Camp Chase, Ohio, to endeavor to regain his shattered energies. While at Andersonville, he had in some miraculous manner succeeded in secreting 60 cents from the search of his guards, and with this he bought writing paper and stamps and sent a letter to his sister, who was then living at Columbus, Ohio. Six months after the letter has been written it was handed to him at Columbus. In the spring of 1865 Mr. Squires rejoined his regiment at Mobile, Alabama, but the war being virtually over, he was stationed at Enterprise, Mississippi, doing guard duty for the rest of his service. He was finally ordered North and discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, August 18, 1865, at which time he held the rank of orderly sergeant.

At Columbus, Ohio, July 27, 1867, the brave young soldier was married to Virginia Elizabeth Schimp. He continued to be engaged at carpentering and contracting in Ohio until 1879, when he came to Kansas and purchased 240 acres of raw land in Pottawatomie County, six miles northwest of Waumega. In the fall of that year his family joined him and he continued to be engaged in farming for six years, since which time he has resided at Topeka.” 

Hamp wrote this letter to his brother-in-law, Jetur White (1829-1898) of Southampton, Suffolk county, New York. Jetur was married to Mary Sophronia Squires (1830-1911) about 1860.

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

Addressed to Mr. Jetur White, Southampton, Suffolk county, Long Island, New York

Camp Smith, three miles from Helena, Arkansas
March 20th 1863

Dear friends,

I am very lazy but as I have nothing to do just now, I thought that I would write you a few lines to let you know how I am getting along and where we are. We left Memphis the 15th on the Champion bound for Vicksburg but our boat was too large to go down the Yazoo Pass so we had to stop and wait for small boats. We are on the opposite side of the river from the pass. Our camp is on a sand bank and the river is so high that the water is all around us. The sand reminds me of Old Long Island but it is not quite so nice and white.

I had a big time yesterday. Three of us started out to see if we could not get off of our island. The water was rather cold but we put on and came to where they were farming—a distance [of] about two miles. I guess we were not wet or nothing. The river is within fifteen feet of our tent and when I got back, I took a good swim.

It is very warm here in the day time and cool nights. The boys are in their shirt sleeves a most all the time. I don’t know how long we will stay here but I hope not very long. The boys have not much to do here and the most of them put their time in playing cards. Each sergeant has command of a squad of men and in my squad not one of them plays cards and but one of them that will use profane words and that not very often. I am getting along first rate and I don’t think I would be satisfied if I were out of the service if there was any war going on. To be sure, I want the war to stop—that is what I am fighting for. And the sooner it is over, the sooner I will get to Old Long Island. I think it must stop soon for the rebels have not anything to live on. Their army is worse than ours and every soldier knows that we have more to eat than we ought to have.

Jetur, I suppose you will be planting corn soon. If I do not look out, I will forget all about farming. I would like it first rate if I could come down there and help you this summer. I don’t know though whether I would be must help or not but I think not if there was any game there. There is plenty of ducks here but we cannot shoot them. We are in the 3rd Brigade, 8th Division, 16th Army Corps, Army of the Mississippi.

But our hard crackers are ready for us and I must get some of them soon if I want any dinner. When you write, direct as you have been doing and they will come to me. I have had my dinner. Did not have any chickens though. Don’t [ ] them drawn here but I had one hard cracker without any meat. Love to all. From your brother, — Hamp

37th Massachusetts Infantry

1863: William A. Bartlett to Alida (Fish) Bartlett

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This letter was written by Pvt. William A. Bartlett (1831-1897) who enlisted in Co. D, 37th Massachusetts Infantry during the American Civil War. William was the son of David Bartlett (1805-1836) and Cordelia Morey (1808-18xx). William married Alida Priscilla Fish (1829-1898) on 29 March 1854 in Westhampton, Massachusetts. Together they had at least five children: Clarence Alton Bartlett (1856-1929), Ida C. Bartlett (1857-1883), Mary A. Bartlett (1860-1915), Carrie M. Bartlett (1862-19xx), and Charles Watson Bartlett (1865-19xx).

In 2017, I published twelve letters from William, which were sent to me by a collector. At that time, it was widely recognized that numerous other letters from William had been sold to various collectors, and we have long anticipated the eventual emergence of additional correspondence. Recently, one such letter has surfaced, and it is presented below. The link to his other letters—Twelve Letters by William A. Bartlett

Bartlett was above the median age for enlistees in the American Civil War and his age and health seems to have limited his ability to perform the full duty he desired. He complained of pain in his arm which seems not to have been caused by his duties as a soldier but possibly an old complaint — rheumatism. If he served in battle with his comrades of the 37th Massachusetts, he did not speak of it in any of these twelve letters. When his regiment was ordered to New York City in July 1863 to restore order during the draft riots, he did not accompany them, preferring instead to remain on a special detail that afforded him light duty at the Corps headquarters.

From the letters we learn that he was sent to a hospital in Washington D. C. prior to the end of 1863 and in the spring of 1864 he was still awaiting his discharge from the Veteran Reserve Corps. His military records state that he was mustered out of the service on 15 April 1864.

At the time of his enlistment, he gave his occupation as a carpenter. In the 1870 U. S. Census, he also gave his occupation as a carpenter. In the 1880 U. S. Census, however, no occupation is given for the 48-year old veteran who seems to have been an invalid “at home.” William and his wife Alida made their home in Blandford, Hampden county, Massachusetts after the war.

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

General Sedgwick’s Headquarters
Camp near Fredericksburg, Va.
March 22, 1862

Dear Wife,

How do you do today? I suppose some of you are at church while I am out here in the Virginia woods trying to think of something to write to you. I am as well as usual & dong the same work. We have had about as hard weather for the last two weeks as we have had this winter. It has been snow in the mornings, rain at night for the last three days. The snow was about two inches deep last night but it is all gone this morning but the mud is deep enough to make up for all deficiency. My cows are doing well.

I received your letter write the 15th, Thursday. I should think you had rather of a small society & not a very expensive one. I am glad to hear that Mari is on the gain but it must be very hard for her to have her husband so helpless. I hope he will better soon. I am very sorry to hear that John is not at work. It seems as though he might find plenty to do as help is scarce. I think Horace and Abby are doing very well in the children line. The cultivators came last Friday.

I have a letter from Mary Ann Fairman the same day. She says that she has not seen you since I came away. Uncle Lewis sent word to me to come home and help him through haying. He thinks I have stayed down here long enough. He wishes I would come home.

I am going to ask you to send me a box. I would like to have you send me three pounds of fine cut tobacco, one half ream commercial note paper & four bunches of envelopes. Anna may write on two bunches and direct them to you if she has a mind to as it is not always that we can get ink out here. You wished to know if I would like a pair of stockings. I should if you wish to send them. Hooker’s wife may want to send a bundle in yours. You may send it in a bundle or box, just as you please.

If you can, you had better send it to Springfield to save expense as it will have to come by Adams Express if you put it in the Express Office at Northampton. You will have to pay Tompson’s Express to carry it to Springfield extra but do as you think best about it. You will have to pay the Express in advance. Pay Master has not got along yet. We expect him every day. I will send you the directions for the box on a piece of paper enclosed in this. My love to you all. Yours truly, from your husband, — William A. Bartlett

P. S. Send me some postage stamps in your next letter and you will oblige. — W. A. B.

1st Maryland Cavalry (USA)

1862: Joseph H. Kerschner to Edward Kerschner

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The following letter was written by Joseph H. Kerschner (1843-1881), the son of Gustavus Kerschner (1801-1872) and Anna Maria Brewer (1804-1890) of Clear Spring, Washington county, Maryland.

At the outbreak of the war, it appears that Joseph was mustered into the service of the United States into the 2d Maryland Potomac Home Brigade Cavalry. He went into camp at Frederick, Md., for drill and preparation for active service in the field. He was called into action in West Virginia and Maryland to repel an invasion, and was in several engagements early in the war. Maryland, being a border state, did not raise many regiments for the Union during the war. As a result many of its pro-Union citizens joined regiments raised in other states. In Joseph’s case, it seems he was able to get a discharge from his regiment in order that he might get a commission in a Massachusetts regiment. However, I could not find any evidence that he was able to do so. By 1864, I found him enrolled in the Freshman Class of Franklin and Marshall College.

Edward Kerschner, USN

Joseph wrote the letter to his older brother, Dr. Edward Kershner, who joined the US Navy as an Assistant Surgeon in January 1862 and was assigned duty aboard the sloop-of-war Cumberland. He was aboard the vessel when she was sunk by the Confederate ironclad Virginia (Merrimac). When she went down, one third of the crew was entombed in her hull and drowned in nearly nine fathoms of water. Kershner went down with the ship and was, by some miracle, rescued in an unconscious condition by an unidentified marine. After service at the Washington Navy Yard he was assigned to the New Ironsides and was aboard in April 1863, during the attack on Charleston Harbor. Kershner served on several ships in the North Atlantic Squadron and after the war, in 1872, achieved the rank of surgeon and then medical inspector in 1890. 

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

Addressed to Dr. Edward Kerschner, US Ironclad Steamer New Ironsides, Hampton Roads, Va.

Clear Spring [Maryland]
October 6th 1862

Dear Bro. Edward,

I have received my discharge from the Secretary of War and am at home on my way to see the Governor at Annapolis. It reads thus: “The following enlisted men are honorably discharged [from] the service to enable them to accept commissions in Massachusetts regiments. Private Jos. K. Kerschner, 2nd Ma. P. H. B. [Potomac Home Brigade, Cavalry]” I have a certificate of character from Capt. William [F.] Firey and also one from Lieut. J. A. Metz. I have an introduction to [Maryland] Governor [Augustus Williamson] Bradford from Lewis P. Firey, Esq. 1 I will ask for a commission in the Quartermaster Department & if refused, I will ask for one in the cavalry service. To go in the infantry service is to do which I hope he will not ask me.

I did not know where your ship was for a long while & when at last I heard from it, you were on your way to Fortress Monroe. I left the company on 1st of October and arrived at home on the evening of the 3rd. I would be much pleased to know what you have done with the Governor’s letter. I ought to have it by all means. You said you sent it to Father, He has not received it. I have received your letter of September 28, and also one in care of Father’s. I did no duty while I was sick of the dropsy in September. I am now well.

The company is at Williamsport. My discharge was sent to the Colonel of our brigade by the war Department who sent it to the captain. My discharge is dated August 28th.

I had thought of starting for Annapolis on Wednesday from here but I may defer it a couple of days. Father has a No. 1 crop of wheat & plenty of apples & grapes & pears. If I get a commission, it will be more than a sergeant (Rivers of Balt.) could do in my [ ]. He went to Annapolis but could get no commission. I will not be surprised nor sorry if the same luck should befall me. I told the captain he must take me back to the company again if I did not get a commission.

Mother is not so well as she might be but we all send our love to you. I am glad to hear that [brother] Jacob is got well & better pleased with Germany. I hope I shall soon hear from you again. Your brother. Affectionately, — Jos. H. Kerschner

1 Lewis P. Firey (1825-1885) was a Southern Unionist who served in the Maryland State Convention, and the Maryland State Senate during the Civil War. He pushed the administration hard in 1862 for a compromise that would end the war. He was the originator of the project for the Antietam National Cemetery.

8th Maine Infantry, Beaufort, South Carolina

1862: Greenwood Norris to G. J. Wing

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The following letter was written by 18 year-old Greenwood Norris (1844-1862), the son of Greenwood B. Norris (1825-1844) and Harriet N. Hall (1820-1861) of Wayne, Kennebec county, Maine. After his father’s death, his mother remarried to William Wing, Jr. (1805-1888).

As his letterhead informs us, Greenwood Norris was a member of Co. C, 8th Maine Infantry. And while he writes on 8 July 1862 “I am well” and that Beaufort, South Carolina “is the healthiest island round here,” he died just three days later on 11 July 1863, according to Beaufort National Cemetery records. Another source claims he did not die until July 30th which seems more likely.

Beaufort, South Carolina in 1862. It shows the front & rear of several buildings lining Bay Street from what today is Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. Sam A. Cooley, Photographer.

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

8th Maine Regiment, Co. C
Beaufort, South Carolina
July 8, 1862

Dear Friend,

I received your letter the 7th [and] was glad to hear from you. I am well and hope you [are] the same. We moved from Hilton Head the 3rd and went up to Beaufort. We stopped in a meeting house two nights and over the 4th, we did not have a very good time. It was not a day of independence because we had to stay in the house and the niggers went where they pleased.

This is quite a large place. There is two meeting houses—one a Methodist and a Baptist. We are right side of the mainland. The rebels shell our pickets every day. One of our boys were shot and two taken prisoners.

I am glad that so many of the young folks are getting married. I suppose that the next thing that I hear, you will be married. I think that some of them had better wait a little longer before striking out. I think I should.

We have green corn and squash. I have not much news because we have just got settled here. I guess that it will puzzle the devil to read this letter.

I should like to have been at Wayne the 4th [of July]. I think I should [have] had a better time. I am afraid we shall have to stay longer than it is expected. This is the healthiest island round here.

I am afraid that Gen. McClellan’s army will fail to do as much as expected. We are quite discouraged down here. There is plenty of darky girls out here but I have not see a white girl yet. So goodbye. Yours truly, — Greenwood Norris

to G. J. Wing

Hartford, Connecticut, Peekskill Academy, Thanksgiving Celebration

1848: Noah Hobart Wells to Hiram Bell

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Rev. Hiram Bell

The following letter was written by Noah Hobart Wells (1804-1872) to his brother-in-law, Hiram Bell (1807-1872), the husband of Mary Elizabeth (Wells) Bell (1811-1897). Noah and his younger brother Albert Wells (1807-Aft1880) were two of four brothers who all graduated from college, all became “professional” men, and all solemnly pledged to abstinence from alcohol. When this letter was penned in 1848, Noah and Albert Wells were operating the Peekskill Academy at Peekskill-on-the Hudson. The Peekskill Academy opened its doors in 1833 as a coeducational institution but by 1841 it decided to only admit boys. In 1857, it became a “military” academy.

In his letter, Noah reflects on Zachary Taylor’s election, arguing that New York proved decisive and hoping that voters will focus more on principles and policies than campaign spectacles such as hickory poles and hard cider. He also comments on Thanksgiving observances and condemns drunkenness and violence after an election-day riot, warning that unchecked vice threatens the entire community.

My thanks to Abbey Weber Jones for providing a first draft of this transcription.

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

Stampless Letter Addressed to Rev. Hiram Bell. Marlboro, Connecticut

Peekskill, [New York]
November 25, 1848

Dear Brother,

You probably think it strange that you hear nothing from me after so long a time, but our laborious occupation since the term began may be some apology, though I did not intend to wait till now before writing. After leaving Marlboro, I remained in Hartford till Tuesday. On sabbath morning, I heard Dr. [Horace] Bushnell 1 in the afternoon; Mr. Clark, and Dr. [Joel] Hawes in the evening. On Monday, walked about the city visiting several places of interest in company with General Buell, and cousin David [Wells] Kilbourn. The latter came in from Boston on Saturday a few minutes after my arrival. His son George [Erskine Kilbourne] was there. We visited the Secretary’s office, Athenaeum, and Charter Oak, and I afterward visited a few friends in the city. On Tuesday morning at nine o’clock, I left in the car for New Haven, reached New York [City] early in the evening, and came home on Wednesday evening.

Taking my visit altogether, I was much pleased, as from the nature and confinement of our business here a season of leisure twice a year may be said to be indispensable to health and spirits both, and if we can secure both repose and a pleasant change of objects, the effect is happy in various ways. But this love of change pursues us, and in order to be beneficial must be held in due bounds, and if rest and diversion are needful at times, a return to serious occupation at the proper period is no less requisite. Our school has filled more punctually than usual I believe, this term; we have twenty boarders, and above thirty day scholars, and more are expected, but probably there will after this time, be no considerable accession unless the three additional boarders who have been expected, should come. We have one boarder from Portland, opposite Middletown in your state. His name is Sparks. 2

I have been reading in the [New York] Observer some results of the election. It seems that General Taylor has a majority just equal to the electoral vote of New York; the majority of the popular vote in the Union is thought to be one hundred and forty thousand, of which 100,000 are in this state. It seems then that neither party could have succeeded without the vote of New York, and that in this instance New York is more properly the key stone state. So far as military fame has an influence in our elections, I think it is to be deprecated, but in the present case, as the matter appears to me, this consideration has had but partial weight, and much care has been used to ascertain principles, and to find out what measures the President elect could pursue. I hope, therefore, no more will be heard about hickory poles, or ash poles, or hard cider, connected with the dignified business of electing a president for twenty millions of people.

The day appointed for public thanksgiving in this state, you may observe, has occurred this week. We had a discourse in the morning by Mr. [David Mead] Halliday, and one in the evening by Mr. M’Kee. The time has not come, it seems, for an entire agreement upon one day throughout the Union; such a coincidence would add interest to the occasion, and this interest would be greatly increased would the public give countenance of the occasion by laying aside all business and allowing the world to see that they do in fact recognize their obligations to gratitude, and join the christian community in expressing it. Till something like this is done, there seems to be less propriety in speaking of an entire people offering up their united thanksgiving.

On election day we had, in a furious riot down at the river, a display of the beauties of the license law. As no law for the prevention of drunkenness can stand long among us, we must be content to pay the heavy expenses which crime must cost the community, and if such bitter experience cannot open the eyes of the people, and make them wise, it seems their folly must remain without a cure. If you should see in your quiet place, one half the iniquity that reigns in this village, you and your people would think the enemy had indeed come in like a flood, and that Satan had taken to himself his great power.

Has Mary got almost ready to write me a letter? Or can I not expect one from her this winter. Let us hear from you in the same way before long, and as often as may be during the long cold season that is approaching. Albert says he would like to hear from you all, and know how you are getting along, I have not seen cousin Edward since my return, but Albert says he heard from him. I have written to him today, inviting him to give us a call. It is more than a year since I saw him. 

With love to all, — N. H. Wells

1 Dr. Horace Bushnell was a prominent Congregational minister and theologian who earned notoriety for challenging some traditional Calvinist doctrines, making him a somewhat controversial figure. When Wells heard him preach in November 1848, Bushnell was just entering one of the most controversial periods of his life as he experienced what he described as a profound spiritual illumination and soon delivered lectures that became the basis for “God in Christ,” a book that provoked accusations of heresy from conservative ministers.

2 Possibly Nathan Sparks, b. 1831; a resident of Portland, Middlesex county, Connecticut.

Vermont Brigade

1863: Calvin to his Mother

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Unfortunately I have not been able to identify the author of this letter but I am confident he was a member of either the 13th, 14th, 15th, or 16th Vermont Regiment—all nine-month’s regiments and all part of the 2nd Vermont Brigade. The brigade was stationed in the vicinity of Fairfax, Virginia, at the time of this letter in mid-January 1862. They had been assigned to picket duty and the defense of Fairfax Court House. The signature appears to read “Calvin” but there are too many soldiers by this name to narrow it down further without much more research.

Patriotic letterhead of letter with figure of George Washington

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

Camp near Fairfax, Virginia
January 12th 1863

Dear Mother,

I received your letter tonight and was glad to hear from you. I was much gratified and pleased to receive a few lines written by yourself and I hope now you have commenced to write you will write to me every time for you do not know how much good those few lines did me being written by you. I could read it all and should be happy to have had it been more.

I am well now, dear mother, and have been drilling today for the first time in two weeks. We have been having a good rain and I tell you it is pretty muddy drilling. I must tell you I received four letters tonight and I had been scolding about not getting any so they have come all together. Well they are calling us to fall in for roll call so I must go now and finish this when I can.

The roll is now called and so I must hurry to get this ready to send in the morning. I received one of my letters from Charles Russell and he said he had seen you a few days before and you was well and he said a great many things which pleased me much. Laura wrote some and she was well. The other was from Daniel and they are all well over there.

I found a pocket testament in the street in front of my tent yesterday and will try and send it to you if I can. I am happy in reading my bible and Saint’s Rest, and mother, you wrote that you hoped I would discharge my duty as a Christian. I will try to do so and my mother’s advice shall ever be borne in mind.

I was sorry to hear that Aunt was sick but I see she has got better for she has written some to me in the letter. I will write a few lines to her and Harvey if I get time tonight but this must go in the morning and as I write to them they must excuse me with a short letter to them for I am in a great hurry. Tell Ella I was glad to hear from her and will answer hers in a few days but she did not write an answer to the last one I wrote for a long time. I like to hear from all the children and when they write to me in their own way, I think it some like home. I wish I could see you a while now mother and then I could tell you many things which I cannot find time to write about now.

They have heard here that they are getting their men ready in Vermont to take our places by the time our time [9 months] is up. You spoke of sending me some stamps. I have got enough to stand me a while and $4 in money. Besides, I am getting so I eat again almost as well as ever and I shall go it now pretty well. I will send you a few leaves which I picked from a bush tonight and you may see what curious things we have here. If you can tell what it is, you will do better than I can. Well, as I wrote to you all I can think of, so I must close. Write next time all you can think of and when you can’t write anymore, get someone to write what they can. Your boy, Calvin

To his Mother

Uncategorized

Spared & Shared Podcast 5: Week ending June 19, 2026

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Pip: Spared and Shared 23 arrives with battlefield maps, artillery rosters, and enough letters home to fill a regimental mail sack — which, given the postal chaos described in several of them, would have been delayed by about six months anyway.

Mara: All of it comes from Griff, who has assembled a set of Civil War primary sources ranging from an artillery soldier's terse camp dispatch to a thirty-one-letter correspondence spanning nearly the entire war. Let's start with the battlefield maps and artillery.

Guns, Maps, and the Men Who Used Them

Pip: This segment is about what the war looked like on paper and in practice — how soldiers recorded where they stood, what happened to their batteries, and what a hand-drawn map can still reveal a century and a half later.

Mara: The anchor here is a letter written from Camp Chase in February 1863, signed only "Ol" — identified as Corp. Oliver P. Clark of Battery E, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, a battery that was overrun at Stones River on 31 December 1862. He writes: "He says that the battery suffered quite a loss of men killed and wounded. They went into the field with 140 men and came out with 80 that can be accounted for. The rest were either killed or taken prisoner and sent to Vicksburg."

Pip: Sixty men gone in a single morning — and the letter's other business is defending a lieutenant named Dorsey against newspaper accusations of cowardice, which Oliver dismisses flatly as a damned lie.

Mara: The second post pairs with that ground-level account. It presents a hand-drawn map believed created by David J. Dann of the 38th Wisconsin, showing the position of the 1st Brigade before Petersburg in early 1865. The map marks the precise spot where Confederate peace commissioners Stephens and Hunter crossed the Union picket line on January 29, 1865 — a detail that anchors it to the Hampton Roads Conference.

Pip: A soldier-artist marking peace negotiations on a siege map, with the word "Del" inscribed after his signature for reasons nobody can explain. The archive delivers.

Mara: Both posts together trace the arc from a battery destroyed at the war's midpoint to a mapmaker recording its diplomatic endgame — which brings us to the letters themselves.

What the Mail Carried

Pip: The bulk of this episode is letters home — and the question they collectively raise is what soldiers actually put on paper when they had a few minutes, a bad pen, and no certainty about when the letter would arrive, or whether they would.

Mara: The clearest window into that comes from Lt. George W. Evans of the 14th Illinois Cavalry, writing from Pulaski, Tennessee in April 1865. He has just absorbed two enormous pieces of news in rapid succession, and he sets them side by side without ceremony: "The army has been cheered with glorious victories won by Grant over Lee and we all felt as if we should soon go home until the wires brought the melancholy intelligence of the death of President [Lincoln] which has not only cast a gloom over the army here but the entire community."

Pip: Grant's victory and Lincoln's assassination arriving in the same emotional breath — that compression is something no newspaper account quite captures.

Mara: The letter is addressed to his niece Mollie, and it shifts registers almost immediately — asking how she liked a pin cushion, sending love to the family, mentioning that high water has washed out railroad bridges and made the mail irregular. The ordinary and the historic sit right next to each other.

Pip: Which is the condition of all these letters, really.

Mara: Sgt. William Jasper Srofe of the 48th Ohio writes from Camp Smith in February 1862, describing the wounded from Fort Donelson — "a frightful looking sight" — and noting a Confederate general escaped a Union transport boat, then pivoting to ask his parents where his brother John is stationed. Ransom Wharton of the 2nd Maine writes from Camp Jameson that same month, reassuring his mother the rebellion cannot last, and that the boys in his company are "all like brothers." He was killed at Second Bull Run six months later.

Pip: That letter lands differently knowing what comes next.

Mara: William S. Leinbach of Battery C, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery writes in February 1865 about his brother Dan hauling hay past the Antietam battlefield and seeing soldiers' graves. Frank Pumphrey of the 80th Ohio writes from Paducah in March 1862, asking his sister to find out what the house they live in might cost — he hasn't spent a cent of his wages and plans to send money home as fast as he gets it. Simon Ewing of the 58th Indiana writes to a friend in California in October 1861, admitting he doesn't know if he can stand the physical demands of camp life, but the excitement has carried him along anyway.

Mara: And then there is William Blackmar of the 11th Connecticut, whose thirty-one letters to his brother Lemuel run from April 1862 through November 1865. They cover foraging after battle, a hand wound at Swift's Creek, months as a ward attendant at Knight General Hospital, the fall of Petersburg, and the slow bureaucratic business of recovering a dead nephew's effects and back pay. The letters are full of bounty checks, express packages, requests for newspapers, and the recurring phrase "write as soon as you get this."

Pip: Thirty-one letters is less a correspondence than a documentary record — the whole war in envelopes.

Mara: William Leonard Forster of the 13th New York State Militia rounds out the set, writing from Carroll Hill, Baltimore in June 1861 — a three-month man, sneaking away from camp to write on his tin pan for a desk, reporting that a thousand soldiers scattered in the rain at half past eleven and he got soaked. The war was eleven weeks old.

Pip: From a tin pan in Baltimore to Petersburg falling — the letters carry all of it.

Mara: What holds all of this together is the gap between what soldiers knew and what we know reading them now.

Pip: Ransom Wharton promising his mother he'd be home in a few months. Next episode, presumably, more dispatches from that same gap.

1865 Peace Negotiations, Siege of Petersburg

1865: Map showing the Position of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Corps Before Petersburg

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The accompanying map is believed to have been created by David J. Dann (1840-1902), whose signature is located in the lower right corner. David’s parents were English immigrants residing in Effingham, Illinois, during 1861 when David initially enlisted for a three-month term in Company G of the 11th Illinois Infantry. In 1864, he re-enlisted in Company I of the 38th Wisconsin Infantry. Muster rolls confirm that he enlisted on August 16, 1864, and was mustered out on June 2, 1865. At that juncture, he listed Janesville, Wisconsin, as his residence. David married Eliza Q. Holmes on November 30, 1863, although the marriage ultimately ended in divorce. In his later years, following his retirement, David referred to himself as a “Painter.”

Map shared by the courtesy of its owner, Jim Rivest

The map does not bear a date on its front, and if a date is present on the reverse, it remains inaccessible at this moment due to the map being contained within a frame. Nonetheless, it must have been created subsequent to the Flag of Truce on 29 January 1865, during which Alexander Stephens and Robert Hunter, serving as Peace Commissioners, were permitted to cross the Union siege lines at Petersburg. It is noteworthy that just above the center of the map, the point marked “where Stephens and R. Hunter crossed” is indicated immediately above the Union picket line.

In the History of the 38th Wisconsin, it was written: “Received Rebel Peace Commissioners Stephens, Hunter, Campbell and Hatch through lines under flag of truce January 29, 1865.”

“On January 29, a Confederate officer with a flag of truce interrupted the Siege of Petersburg to announce the passage of the three Confederate peace commissioners. Soldiers from both armies cheered. On February 1, Seward dropped off a copy of the new amendment in Annapolis, then departed with the River Queen for Fort Monroe.” Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Roads_Conference

Lincoln greets Peace Commissioners.

History records that Confederate peace commissioners Alexander Stephens and Robert M. T. Hunter, accompanied by John A. Campbell, crossed the Union picket lines in late January 1865 at Aiken’s Landing on the James River in Virginia. They traveled under a flag of truce to meet with Union General Ulysses S. Grant at his headquarters in City Point, Virginia. Subsequently, they proceeded to Hampton Roads to engage in the historic yet ultimately unproductive Hampton Roads Conference with President Abraham Lincoln aboard the steamboat River Queen on February 3, 1865.

MYSTERY

Following the signature of David J. Dann, the letters “Del” appear to have been inscribed; however, the rationale behind this inscription remains unclear unless it constitutes a fragment of a larger word. To the best of our knowledge, he had no affiliations with the State of Delaware.