16th Maine Infantry

1862-64: Civil War Letters of David Hathaway Hinds, Co. C, 16th Maine Infantry

Leave a comment

The following letters were penned by David Hathaway Hinds (1844-1864) of East Livermore, Androscoggin county, Maine—a small, tight-knit and deeply patriotic rural community. Though historically and yet largely agricultural, the arrival of the Androscoggin Railroad a decade before the Civil War was opening new markets and industrializing the economy. Because so many young men like David enlisted to fight in the Civil War, many farms faced a severe labor shortage, forcing women, children and even elderly grandparents to pick up the workload. Unlike many families in the 19th Century, David’s parents—Elkanah Leonard Hinds (1811-1888) and Mary Hathaway (1816-1887)—did not have many children. The 1860 US Census that they had only five. They were in birth order: Revillo or “Vill” (b. 1841), Abigail or “Abbie” (b. 1842), David (b. 1844), Frank (b. 1848), and John (b. 1858).

When David reached the age of 18, he enlisted on 14 August 1862 in Company C of the 16th Maine Infantry. He sustained wounds during the Battle of Gettysburg, where the 298 members of his regiment received the perilous order to maintain their position on Oak Ridge at all costs to facilitate the retreat of the Union’s 1st Corps—an order executed with unwavering commitment, resulting in near annihilation for the regiment. The surviving soldiers, David among them, continued to fight in the Overland Campaign, remaining with his regiment until 19 August 1864, when he was captured in the 2nd Battle of the Weldon Railroad. Tragically, he succumbed to death three months later while imprisoned in Salisbury, North Carolina. No memoir, no biography recounts the life of this young man; only a collection of letters, cherished and preserved by his family, tells of his valor and sacrifice. Thus, David stands as the solitary voice articulating his personal narrative of loyalty and service to his country in the 16th Maine.

Letter 1

Fort Tillinghast, Virginia
Sunday, August 24, 1862

Dear Mother,

I have just got to a stopping place. The regiment arrived at Camp Casey Friday where we stopped until today when we was ordered to strike tents and pack knapsacks and marched about a mile and have pitched our tents and have had dinner. The place we left was called Arlington Heights. It is situated just across the Potomac about a half mile from Long Bridge on the road they retreated from Bull Run from. The weather was warm yesterday but not so warm as i have seen in Maine. The inhabitants here say it is growing cooler every day. There is a great many peddlers round here selling melons, peaches, apples, &c. They sell watermelons as big as pumpkins for 12 or 15 cents and give some away.

There is a great many government teams around here—all mules. We see 50 or 100 teams every day, four or six mules to a team. The drivers are part colored people and drive by sitting on the near hind one’s back and only have one rein to the near head one. The mules are a very interesting set of animals. they make horrid noises neighing. There is eight or ten teams here with our baggage. There is some large ones here. Tell father I saw one 16 hands high and not 4 years old. There is a great many of them larger than Black Betsy. You must have the stable put up right and hire somebody to do the work. I sent home a hundred dollars that will pay some. I shall send home some more in two months. Tell Frank he is father’s man now and he must do his best. I shall come home as soon as he wants to enlist.

I saw a private in the 7th Maine in E. P. Hinds’ company. He said he was a first rate fellow [and] liked very much by the company. I like the country here better than I expected. Have been well all the time. Was just weighed and my weight was 160 pounds so I think I am growing fat. The living is good enough. I had baked beans for breakfast and as good as you ever baked. But I don’t see any pies nor cakes excepting doughnuts occasionally.

I saw Uncle Albert in Augusta the day we left. I did not see Vill nor Lin [?] in Boston. You tell Vill where to direct when you write. Tell my little sister I will send her a bill to buy her a dress with if she can pass it. It is counter[feit] secesh money. You can buy it round here for 5 cents a bill so I thought I would get some for curiosity sake.

Tell Dixie that Da [David] is coming home as soon as he shoots a rebel. Direct to Washington, D. C., Co. C, 16th Regt., Maine Volunteers. If the regiment moves a hundred miles from here, the letter will come to me. I must close now for I am going to write to Hoss [?]. Yours son, — D. H. Hinds

Letter 2

Camp Whipple
Arlington, Virginia
August 30th 1862

Dear Mother,

I have to do something to pass away the time so I write a letter every day to somebody. I wrote a letter to Abbie the other day and one to William Henry yesterday.

I find this place as healthy a place as can be. There is not many in the regiment sick. They are tough and growing fat, I think. I gain in flesh fast. We live as well here as we did in Augusta. Can find tomatoes enough by going out of camp. They grow wild round here. We can get watermelons enough for 25 cents a piece and [paper torn]…There is peaches enough here at the sutlers so you see I can get fruit better here than I can in Maine. This regiment will be put into forts around here—one or two in a fort and what is in the forts now will go into service. I suppose there is a battle going on now near Centreville though you get the news probably before I do. I don’t like the country very well. It’s awfully dusty. Have not seen any rain but once and that was Thursday about 5 o’clock p.m. It rained very hard for about a half an hour, then it cleared away and dried off so the dust flew [paper torn] day as well as ever.

I seen some military punishment yesterday. They put a fellow’s knapsack full of bricks and made him lug it most all the afternoon. The offense was he got to fighting with another private and the Officer of the Day ordered him to stop and he spoke bad language to him and the Colonel arrested him. He was under guard a day or two before he received his sentence. There has not been one of our company in the guard tent yet and I don’t think there will be any.

I like all our officers well. Our 1st Lieutenant is Harry Austin from the Aroostook. Our 2nd [Lieutenant] is Marshall Smith of East Livermore. I suppose you know him. Our Orderly Sergeant is George D. Bisbee of Caxton. Our regiment was praised very much a coming. It was said that the regiment made the least noise and [paper torn] on its way than any other one that has been through. It was spoken of as the best appearing one that ever marched through the City of Washington.

We received orders the next day after our arrival to join Gen. Pope’s Army but they went and told them that his regiment was not drilled at all. They said they thought by the way it marched through the city it was as good a drilled regiment as was in the service.

I will write another sheet full when I get one from home. — David H. Hinds

Letter 3

Camp near Sharpsburg [Maryland]
September 25th 1862

Dear Sister,

As I have plenty of time, I will write you a few words to let you know that I am as tough as ever. I received a letter from you and Lizzie a while ago and have written an answer. I also wrote to mother Saturday.

The regiment is now in Rickett’s Division and in Hartsuff’s Brigade. It is in the same place as it was when I wrote to mother. We are camped in the woods. At night when the campfires are all burning, it looks like a camp meeting in East Livermore, only I don’t see any girls nor policemen. Our chaplain preached a good sermon last Saturday afternoon. He is a better minister than “brother Libby” or “brother Hatch.” He is a Baptist. There is prayer meetings every evening here somewhere on the ground. Your friend Stephen Morrill is one of the grand leaders.

There is a balloon about a mile from here. It goes up a little ways once in a while. the rebels are so still now that they don’t send it up to look at them but I suppose they are going to.

The corn is about ripe here and the orchards are most all gathered. As the soldiers have been here some time, it is ruleable here for the soldiers to “detail” (as we call it) all that comes handy if we need it. The apples here are as good as they are in Maine—if anything, a little better. I have made a great deal of apple sauce. We draw sugar once a day so I can get sweetening as much as I want. The beef that we get here is fresh. It is killed in the morning and brought in before noon and is all are before night so you see I don’t get any stinking beef nor salt junk. We draw as much bread as we like, and coffee. It is all ground and I don’t know what it is made of. It is not all good. W. I. [West Indies] coffee I guess.

I can buy cakes, cheese, raisons, and such like if I want to here at the sutlers’ but their prices don’t agree with me. Little cakes not much bigger than a silver dollar, they sell three for five cents, and raisons they sell some times at thirty cents a pound. and from that all the way to forty, and cheese is from 25 cents to 30. They don’t sell it here less than 30 cents but at Arlington they sold it for 25. That don’t sound much like hauling it to Pittston in the winter and selling it for 9 cents. I guess folks in East Livermore would grow rich fast if they could sell their cheese for 30 cents a pound or half as much. It don’t taste nor look much like mother’s cheese. It is all full of holes and tastes as though the roof of your mouth would come next. [rest of letter is missing]

Letter 4

Camp near Sharpsburg, Maryland
Tuesday, October 14th 1862

Dear Mother,

I received your letter containing a sheet from Lizzie today. I received that one that you and the children wrote a fortnight ago and I answered it and have written one to Revill and one to you since. I got one from Lydia Hinkley and Will Sawtell today also.

I have not been in any battle yet and don’t think that I shall very soon as the Brigade is a reserve corps and will not be called unless there is a battle near here and it is called upon as reinforcement. There is not much drilling done now. There was a brigade drill yesterday and today there was general inspection. The new general inspected us. Gen. Hartsuff was wounded in battle and now it is Gen. Taylor. There is quite a lot of pickets sent out every day and there is a great many of the regiment sick so that we shall not have to drill enough to hurt us. I guess that there is not over six hundred of the regiment fit for duty now. There has been quite a lot discharged and there is a great many in the hospitals. Some was left at Washington and some at Frederick City. And there is some over two hundred here that is not fit for duty. I stand it well yet. Have grown fat. I weigh one hundred and sixty-one. That is good heft for a little 18 year-old boy.

The boys from East Livermore are all as well as common. James Ridley is some sick and Calvin Beals has been sick for a week or so but is much better now. Dorill Hobbs is as well as ever. His folks are kind of worried about him and when I write, I will just state his case (be it painful or easy) and he will do the same for me when he writes.

In my last letter I wrote about getting somethings ready to send to me. I know nothing more now about where our winter quarters shall be than I did then. I don’t feel the want of any more clothes now much but I suppose I shall by next month if we stay in this place.

Tell Revillo and Abbie that they must write often and a good deal at a time. Tell Lizzie that I will write to her another time as I can’t write any more for it is growing dark and the mail goes out early in the morning.

Your son, — David H. Hinds
Co. C, 16th Maine Regt.
Washington D. C.

Letter 5

October 17th 1862

Dear Sister,

Yours was gladly received last evening and now I will endeavor to answer it. I received a letter from mother last Tuesday and answered it the same day. It was written since yours. I got a letter from Hoss last night. He says that the sick “woman” was a little too sick to go to the levee so he did not go. Poor boy. I pity him. I know what it is to [ ] with sick women and sleepy ones.

I have written a letter to Lydia this morning and have got two or three more on hand to answer so shall not write much this time. I wish you much joy in keeping school this [fall] as I believe it is in the neighborhood of the Goden’s. I hope that won’t be too hasty in taking care of the 100 cows that Lizzie wrote about. Give my love to all the galls in school (school marm and all). Tell Dixie that he must keep the boys at work as well as he can till I get home. I would like to know if you ride a horseback much. You must make Vill saddle Julia for you and when you get on to her, make her dance and rear as I used to. Write soon and a good deal to your brother. — Dave

Letter 6

On picket 3 miles from Warrenton [Virginia]
Saturday, November 8th [1862]

Dear Sister,

The last letter I got was one from Mother dated the 30th. I have written an answer to it. I suppose I shall find one in camp from you when I get there.

I am on picket here in the woods 3 miles from camp. Came out last night.
Are having a good time. Have eaten as much as a peck of shagbarks. They
grow here in all quantities and descriptions and a great lot of other nuts. I
helped catch two hogs last night and we have had plenty of fresh pork for
breakfast and diner and have some in my haversack to carry to camp. Since we have been marching in Virginia, the poultry yards suffer a little occasionally by the loss of chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese and many the poor sheep that loses its life by the knives of the soldiers. Sometimes a bee hive happens to come into camp and you would see the boys with a hard bread and a hunk of honey as big as your fist. I believe the best honey is that stolen from the secesh.

I don’t think that I am very far south yet for it snowed all day yesterday. At night there was an inch on the ground. But I can’t see any now as it is the warmest day that we have had for a week. There was a frost every night. Some mornings I have seen ice as thick as window glass.

I don’t know how long the regiment will stop at Warrenton. I guess not more than a week. When we start, I suppose we start towards Richmond. I am well. I find I can stand the exposure and marches as well as any of them. I saw Levi Garcelon at Berlin [now Brunswick]. The Maine 10th is there now. He said that [Eben] Cory Whittemore was at Washington in the hospital has a flesh wound in his side that he received in the battle of Antietam. Tell Lucy that Calvin [Beals?] is in the 2nd Maine Battery [and] has the privilege of riding a horse. He thought he could do more for his country there I suppose.

Orrel Brown has been some sick but is now with the regiment. He is getting smart. James Ridley is quite sick now [and] is in the hospital. For all he was so tough at home, he don’t stand any better than some weaker ones. Darill is well. He is as tough as ever. I will finish this letter when I get one from you if I don’t have to wait too long.

Thursday Nov 13—Not having a chance to send this and not receiving one from you, I shall finish her up and send it with mother’s. I left Warrenton the day I wrote the above. I hope you will have a pleasant school this winter. Write often to your brother, — Dave

Letter 7

Camp near Rappahannock Station, Va.
Wednesday, November 12th 1862

Dear Mother,

I received your letter dated the 2nd last night and was very glad indeed to get it. The last one I got before this was dated the 20th. I have answered it. I commenced one to Abbie the other day but could not finish it so I will send it now.

We are away down by the Rappahannock now in real rebeldom. We arrived here last Saturday night about midnight. We marched all the way from Warrenton that night after 4 o’clock. the distance we went was 18 or 20 miles. the rebels are on one side of the river here and we the other. there is some skirmishing carried on here between the pickets so when I go on picket, I have a lively time of it. There is not much inhabitants close round here—only one in a while a family of secesh who consist most all of negroes.

We have some good times once in a while here now as it is a practice to detail all you want from secesh. Pork is about as cheap here I guess as it is in Maine. We can get it by just catching and dressing. We don’t mind if it comes out of a pen or where, and sheep are here in all quantities so we get all the fresh mutton that we want. All the trouble with it is it is so fat that it is all tallow when it is cooked. Last night there was a good fat sheep brought in to our captain and it was divided around the company. The cavalry boys got it. They make quite a business getting sheep as they catch them better than we can.

Our knapsacks and tents were left at Arlington Heights but we took our woolen and rubber blankets but left everything else though I was lucky enough to take an extra pair of stockings so I am not so bad off as some of them. We did not get tents till after we left Sharpsburg. 1

I di not know how long we shall stay here. We are liable to move any time, I suppose. I don’t know when we shall get into winter quarters. I guess not very soon though it is not very cold here yet so I don’t need any clothes yet. When I wash my shirt, I wait till it is dry. My pants begin to wear out some. There is a big patch on one knee and the other is growing thin. I shall do that the same sometime. You need not worry about sending anything yet awhile.

Tell father that I was very much disappointed in not receiving a letter from him. I think the regiment will get paid off in the course of a fortnight. The boys from East Livermore are all well but James Ridley. He is not with us. He is in the hospital somewhere.

Tell Vill when he writes enough worth answering, I will write to him.

Brother Vill—I am quite surprised at your going to California. Think it will be very romantic if you do. If you want the revolver to take with you and think it will be ant protection to your brains, you may take it. I will make you a present of it. If you go to that place to dwell with the uncivilized people, you will want some protection. I am as well as ever. Dorill has got to be a corporal [and] is getting into the line of promotion. He was made corporal in place of James N. Brown, a deserter. The captain has not returned yet. Has been reported as missing. Today it is snowing. A night or two we had quite a thunder shower. Their weather here in Virginia is invariable. Please write again before you make your departure. Your brother, — David

1 David’s letter speaks on the regiment having only their blankets and no tents. They marched and camped through much of the wet autumn weather in 1862 without tents, overcoats, or proper gear, and were forced to wrapt themselves in blankets to sleep at night. This situation was so striking that other regiments sometimes mocked them and called them the “Blanket Brigade.”

127th Illinois Infantry, Illinois Homefront

1862: Caroline Elizabeth Tenney to George Anthony Beck

Leave a comment

This unsigned letter was clearly written by a female from Plano, Illinois, who signed herself as a “friend” to George Anthony Beck (1838-1889), then serving in Co. H, 13th Illinois Cavalry, and encamped near Pilot Knob, Missouri. George’s father, Benjamin J. Beck, died on 20 August 1862 at the age of 48. With two of his younger brothers serving in the Civil War at the time, George may have wanted to return home after his father’s death and it’s noted that George was somehow able to be discharged on 31 August, 1862.

Since this is the only letter written by this woman, I can’t compare her handwriting to other correspondence of known origin but my hunch is that it was written by Caroline Elizabeth Tenney (1842-1920) of Plano who became George’s wife on 31 December 1863.

The letter speaks of the President’s call for volunteers in the fall of 1862 which resulted in the raising of a regiment in and around Plano that organized and mustered into service as Co. F, 127th Illinois Infantry, commanded by Capt. Charles Schryver of Big Rock. The names of several volunteers in this company are given.

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

Plano, Illinois
August 17th 1862

Dear Friend,

Your kind and interesting letter of the 6th came to hand the 21th inst. and I assure you, it was welcomely received as it had been six weeks since I received your last and you can hardly imagine how highly I prize such welcomed letters. You are perfectly excusable for your tardiness for I know you have been very busy. I heard from you by the way of Maria’s letter. You were very thoughtful to remember me in her letter and your compliments were kindly received. I heard some three weeks ago that your company had gone on to join [Gen.] Curtis but it seems that only part of your company that were at Reeves Station have gone on and that you are nearer home than before.

The war business looks rather discouraging at present but you know the old saying, it is always darkest just before day. It is true our side has lost ground lately, but I think it will all prove to be for the best at last, and I believe that if our army before Richmond had gone on and taken that place, the President would not have issued an order to confiscate the property of the rebels and employ the negroes to do the hard work that our poor soldiers have been obliged to do, while they [the negroes] have been ready and willing to do it if they could only have the privileges. And I believe this war will never come to an end until slavery is done away with.

The call for 600,000 more men must rejoice the hearts of you that are already in the field. I do not think there will be much need of drafting as there are a great many enlisting all through the North. However, I do not think all of the states will fill their quotas. If they do not, I hope they will draft for I do not think the President has called for any too many. I think the more that go at once, the quicker this war will be over and the easier it will be for all. It would not pay to send a few at a time and have them killed off. And I think the quicker they can get 600,000 more in the field, the better. As you said, if they wait until you are all cut to pieces, they will not have you to help them and they will have the same ground to go over alone. The rebels will improve every moment until you are reinforced and for this reason I think what is done ought to be done quickly. And I trust it will be.

Charles Scriber [Schryver] has got up a company [Co. F, 127th Illinois Infantry] in and around Plano. There are a great many of our neighbors going. I will name some of them. Mr. Andrews, Mr. Ludington, John and Amasa Steward [Stuart], Alfred Darnell, Ed[ward] Welch, Ben[jamin K.] Favor, John Rowley, Henry Gies, I[chabod] Gurney, and a great many others that I will not attempt to mention. I attended a war meeting one week ago Saturday. It was held in the meeting house which was crowded full. We had some good speeches, I tell you. There were several that enlisted that evening. Ben[jamin Kimball] Favor and Cornelia Doil [Doyle] were married last Thursday [14 August 1862]. I was rather surprised to hear such news as Ben is going to war so soon but everyone to their notions.

Sarah and George were here the other Sunday and so was Maria. She comes here with John Petit. He appears a real good, steady fellow. He is going to war too. Maria is at work over to Mrs. James Culver’s. I went over there one evening to see her on horse back. I had a good visit with her but it was rather short as I did not get off my horse.

I am glad you are having such good fare. You said you had melons. You have got the start of us a little. Ours are not near ripe for I tried one the other day. We have some apples that are quite good for making pies but they are not very good to eat raw. Some of our trees hang so full that we are afraid they will break down. We will have a great many more than we had last year. There are a great many that will be good next winter. It makes this winter evenings pass off so pleasantly to have some apples that I look forward expecting to have good times eating them.

You wished I could have some of your apples that you have there which I should like very much. I shall wish you could have some of ours for we have some that I think are real good when they are ripe. You stated that you had orders to go on another scouting expedition to be gone a week…[rest of letter is missing]

Illinois Homefront

1862: Joel E. Beck to George Anthony Beck

Leave a comment

The following letter was written by Joel E. Beck (b. 1842), the son of Benjamin J. Beck (1814-1862) and Mary Ann Walrath (1814-1881) of Plano, Kendall county, Illinois. He wrote the letter to his older brother, Sgt. George Anthony Beck (1838-1889) who was serving at the time in Co. H, 13th Illinois Cavalry, having enlisted on 31 December 1861. He mentions his brother DeWitt Clinton Beck (1840-1898) a couple of times in the letter.

Joel’s letter reveals that he was assisting someone named Thomas, likely his brother-in-law, with wheat farming on his land. The letter is dated from Lane, but the state isn’t specified. It is believed to refer to Lane in DeWitt County, Illinois, located about halfway between Springfield and Champaign, nearly 150 miles from Plano. This region, known as the Grand Prairie, features vast areas of deep-rooted prairie grasses in a rolling landscape with wetlands. Due to its poor drainage, many early settlers avoided it, deeming it too swampy and unhealthy. Farming there would have been quite muddy in springtime, earning it the labels of “wilderness” or “ill begotten country.”

“We have made out to get 20 acres of wheat sown and finished dragging today at noon and now it is raining again at the rate of ten knots an hour….If it don’t stop before long, we will have to give up farming this year.”

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

Lane
April 21st 1862

Brother George,

I will endeavor once more to answer your generous letter which was written April 5th, 1862 which I received the 18th. I was very glad to hear from you once more and exceedingly glad to hear that you are enjoying good health down there among traitors. I should have written soon if I had been at home so I could. I came away rather unexpectedly. DeWitt came home two weeks ago last night with two of his toes badly cut. He done it sharpening posts and nothing would do but I must come out here and help Tom put in his grain.

I arrived here to T. Prowley’s two weeks ago tonight after a very severe ride all day in the rain. We have made out to get 20 acres of wheat sown and finished dragging today 1 at noon and now it is raining again at the rate of ten knots an hour. I have worked two days since I have been here. It has rained all the rest of the time. The roads are worse than I ever saw them. The mud is about four feet deep on the level. Teams get stuck most every day with the empty wagons. If it don’t stop before long, we will have to give up farming this year.

I got a letter from home a few days ago in which they sent me yours. They were all as well as usual except DeWitt’s toes was not getting along very fast. I wish he was well so I could go home and see to the work there. Money would not have hired me to left on any other circumstances. I am tired of this wilderness until we have better weather than it is at present.

I received a letter from you a few days before I came out here which was written the 30th of March if I remember rightly. DeWitt said he would answer it for me. I don’t [know] whether he did or not. I expect some of them have before this time. I suppose you hear all the war news as soon as we do. I should think that secesh would think it was about time to pull in their horns. It seems to me that they are getting the worst end of the bargain. I hope that this rebellion will soon close and suppose that you would as soon be at home as to be down there among strangers and in such an ill begotten country as it is down there. I hope we never will be obliged to live in such a place as that. This is bad enough. This is almost out of the world.

I don’t know as I can think of anything new to write. It is the same old story and nothing new. My health never was better than it is at present. I am able to take my regular rations. I have not seen a girl since I have been out here except the school marm and she is most awful homesick to get home. the rest of the folks are all well as usual. Write as often as you can and I will try and answer them most punctual when I get home again. Directto Plano. Give my best respects to all enquiring friends. Reserve a share for yourself. Excuse these scratches. from your brother, — E. J. Beck

1 Dragging the field after sowing crops was required to cover the seed and was accomplished typically with a harrow but in resource-constrained locations, farmers may have used repurposed items like heavy wooden logs or chains. It must have been extremely difficult to accomplish this in muddy fields.

3rd Independent Battery, Iowa Light Artillery, Action at Whitney's Lane, Battle of Sugar Creek, Causes of War---Slavery, Dubuque Battery, Jayhawkers

1861-62: Hiland Homer Weaver to Hattie (Johnson) Weaver

Leave a comment
Sgt. Hiland H. Weaver, 3rd Indep. Iowa Battery

The following letters were written by Hiland Homer Weaver (1833-1915), who lost his parents Hiram Vanarden Weaver (1809-1841) and Minerva Doud (1811-1844) at an early age. From his younger brother Orland’s obituary we learn that their father was killed by the caving in of a well; their mother by disease. They lived with the Samuel Orr family in Hillsdale county, Michigan, until Hiram married Harriet (“Hattie”) Arlie Johnson (1831-1907) in 1854 and settled in Beaver, Butler, Iowa, prior to the Civil War.

During the Civil War, Weaver enlisted in the 3rd Independent Iowa Battery (the “Dubuque” battery) on August 28, 1861. The Battery remained in the western theater of the war until it was disbanded and its members discharged on October 23, 1865. One source says he entered the service as a sergeant and left the service as a 1st Sergeant. Another source says he was commissioned a Lieutenant prior to leaving the service. Though he entertained thoughts of remaining in the army, Weaver left for Michigan, where Hattie lived during the war, and settled in Reading. Weaver worked as a carpenter following his military service, and died on January 23, 1915. He and Hattie had at least three children: Hiram (b. 1857), Jay (b. 1860), and Jennie (b. 1866).

These letters were once part of a very large collection of Weaver’s letters, sold at auction by Raynor’s Historical Collectible Auctions. Other quotes from Hiland Weaver’s letters found on line include one written at Little Rock, Arkansas on 10 January 1864 which reads: “…There was a fleet started for here some time ago to come up the Arkansas River and it is over due but the ice I presume has kept it back. I hope it will get here soon if it does not we will lose the most of our horses, they are dying almost daily for want of proper food…think of a horse going five months with only one feed of hay and a good deal of the time but very little grain…I wrote to you about the catching of a spy at this place, he was tried and sentenced to be hanged until he was dead and sentence was executed on Friday…there was a large crowd of soldiers and citizens present, I among the rest, he was hung at three o.c. p.m. in front of the St. John’s College. He was about twenty years of age, smart and good looking, he had some relatives living here at this place, he had been raised here and had attended college several terms in the building in front of which he was executed. Little did he think when attending school that he would be hung on that beautiful ground where he had seen so many pleasant hours but such is the fate of spies when caught. He seemed to be perfectly reconciled to his fate, he died like a man should and for which I respect him. Hattie I can see in an enemy his good qualities as well as in a friend, although sometimes it is rather hard to acknowledge it…I will give you his name it is David O. Dodd…I think I wrote in my last that there was a rumor in camp that Old Price was coming to make us a visit. If it were true I think this cold had whipped him and saved us the trouble and as far as I am concerned I would as soon cold weather would whip him as to have to use powder and lead, and as far as his coming here if I do not see another battle until the rebs come here to fight I do not think I shall ever see another…”

Also: [Camp Union, Sept. 25, 1861]…we have got an order to…march…for St. Louis…the boys are…in a hurry to have a fight…[Camp Heron, Dec. 5, 1861]…we have great times drilling…we have got our guns…[and] are making great progress in drilling…as soon as the rebels find out that the Dubuque Battery is ready for the field there will not be any sesesh in Missouri…[Camp Heron, Dec. 14, 1861 on “Not a star shall fall” patriotic stationery]…there will be a large battle fought near here before long…most of the boys are anxious to have a hand in it…there has been several thousand soldiers through here in the last week. The Iowa 11 and 18 regiment have past here…[Dec. 27, 61 on Washington patriotic stationery]…there is…twenty seven men on the sick list…we have loaded our guns on the cars…we are going to Rolly [Rolla, Misouri?]…about 80 miles from here south west…[n. p., March 14, 1862 on battle of Pea Ridge, eight pages but partial]…the country is all hills… the grass is getting green…it will not come to soon for inhabitants around here where our army has been…it is hard to see the destruction…when an army passes through a country. The houses are torn down for fire wood and the fences are all burnt up…where the hardest of the battle was there was a splendid orchard and the trees were all shot to pieces. There was a large house and barn…and there was not a building…several [had] cannon shots through them. There was a family in the cellar during the two days…the house was filled with dead and wounded…we had to get up and scadadle from Camp Halleck at Cross Hollows…we were enjoying ourselves as well as soldiers could…about nine o’c. at night…the men were in bed when orders came for us to be ready…there was some confusion but we got ready…and we left just in time…[or] we would have been taken…those that showed the white flag in the morning were very much ashamed after the battle…after the battle…our cavalry were running them off. We went into camp on the battlefield…I had a chance to look over the battlefield and…it was too heartrending…there was men with their heads shot off and some shot all to pieces, some [?], some asking for quarters…one of the rebel Lieut. Col. lay on the field with all of his head shot off by a cannon ball. There was…four dead rebels to one of our men…for miles around was filled with dead rebels…it is the hardest thing…to see women and children crying for us not to take the last bit of corn that they have…I cannot see a woman crying and stay around a great while…if our army stays in one place forty eight hours we clean out the country…I this last battle…the Iowa 9 reg. and the Iowa 4 reg and the Iowa 3 reg of cavalry…was very badly cut to pieces…the federal loss in killed wounded and taken will come very near fifteen hundred…[Little Rock, Oct. 16, 1864]…I am tired of running around the country and if Old Abe is reelected…we will have this war brought to a close in less than six months [the war ended almost six months to the day of this letter!]…Old Price is up in Mo. doing his best…we have a large force after him…they will take him…[Little Rock, Oct. 26]…three cheers for Old Abe…[Little Rock, Dec. 11, 1864]…it gives me sad thoughts to know you are in need of money…I never saw a time but once [where] I could not get fifty dollars in our company…I have got forty cents and…tht is far above average…[on rare printed stationery, reading, “Ordnance Office, 1st Division, 7th Army Corps, and post of Little Rock, Little Rock, Ark,” June 5, 1865]…I am shure the war is over…I have been thinking…of going into the regular service but I have not been before the board yet…Gen. Solomon is President of board…[on rare printed stationery, reading, “Ordnance Office, 1st Division, 7th Army Corps, and post of Little Rock, Little Rock, Ark,” June 27, 1865]…now about my going with the Regular Service I do not think I shall…there is too many chances for me to be sent where I could not take my family with me…[Willoughby, Iowa, Nov. 3, 1865]…I thought I would write you a few lines so you would know that I am not dead…and shall start for home in the morning…”

Some of Weaver’s letters have ended up in the archives at the University of Michigan (see Hiland H. Weaver papers, 1861, 1864-65), and some at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at Little Rock (see Hiland H. Weaver Collection MSS.08055.)

Letter 1

Camp Herron [Davenport, Iowa] 
November 20, 1861

Dear Hattie and little ones,

As I do not get any letters, I thought I would give you a benefit as I am not able to do duty so I can write. Hattie, you can see that I am getting better by my writing. I never saw any one gain so fast as I have since I came out of the hospital. I think I shall be able for duty in a few days if I do not get my setback. There is about half of our company have had the measles and I guess the rest of them will have them. We have had one man die in our company. He was a sergeant. That is all the deaths we have had in our company. 

Hattie, I will have my likeness taken as soon as I get so as to look like myself. you would not want to see me as poor as I am now. Hattie, when I was taken sick, I weighed 162 and last week I weighed only 121 pounds. So you can see that I lost some flesh in four weeks. But I think I shall be as tough as a bear now.

Hattie, you must not worry about me for I have good care when I am sick and when I am well, I can hold my row with any of them. Hattie, the next letter that I write, I will send you a photograph of Camp Benton. I would have written on one of them this time if I had thought of it before I commenced my letter. Hattie, I wish you would send me some Hillsdale papers once in a while. They would come kind a good in camp. Some of the boys got papers a most every mail. Hattie, I have not been sorry yet that I enlisted. I have full confidence that I shall come home to see you all and I do not think it will be over in six months before this war will be settled. Hattie, I did not think I could think of anything to write when I commenced but I guess I shall get this sheet about full. I wrote to Sam Ketters yesterday and today I have written to Captain Fowler this afternoon.

Hattie, as this sheet is about filled, do goodbye for this time. Write soon. Kiss the children for me and give my love to all enquiring friends, from [ ] H. H. Weaver

Letter 2

Entered according to act of Congress, by John G. Wells, cor. of Park Row & Beekman Street, New York, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court, or the Southern District of New York.

Camp Halleck
Cross Hollows
Benton county, Arkansas
February 26, 1862

Dear Hattie and little ones,

How do you do this afternoon? I wish I could be with you today instead of sitting here on the ground writing to you over a thousand miles away. We have camped here to recruit. I do not know how long we may stay here—not over ten days I hope for I want to be on the move so as to get home as soon as possible for it is getting to be hot weather here. It is as warm here now as June in Iowa. I wrote to you a few days ago but I do not think you will ever get it for I understand that our train was taken by the rebels and the mail was with it. But I hope it is not so.

Hattie, I wrote in my last letter to you something about the battle our company was in. It is called the Battle of Sugar Creek. 1 Since my last, the General—that is, General [Samuel R.] Curtis—has reported that we killed one hundred and fifteen and wounded sixty-eight of the rebels. They—that is, the rebels—had fifteen thousand men on the battle ground and twelve pieces of artillery and we did not have but four pieces that done any firing. There was two companies of our cavalry that made the charge on them but we had one regiment of cavalry and two regiments of infantry to support our battery. But they did not discharge a round. Our battery done all the firing. After the cavalry made the charge, we were very fortunate indeed not to get a man hurt in our company but stop. I am a little too fast for there was man that wanted to have an excuse to get behind a tree so he put his foot under the wheel of the gun and let the wheel run over it. But thank fortune he was not in my detachment. I have not a man that did not show himself to be a man.

The firing lasted one hour and twenty minutes. During this time the cannon balls were flying through our ranks like hail stones but they were very large hail stones and they came a little faster than I like to see them. Hattie, I did not want to come home until I had been in one battle. Now I have been in one and I would like to come home and see you and our darling little boys. But when that will be, I cannot tell. But I have hope it will be before many months. Our battle was on the 17th of this month. I forgot to tell you before, Hattie, I would send you some money in this letter but there is no certainty of letters going to their destination for there is no regular mail out from here to Rolla—a distance of over two hundred miles. But the first opportunity I have that will be safe, I will send you twenty or twenty-five dollars. If you are in want of money very bad, borrow some and as sure as I live or we not taken prisoner, I will send it to you at the earliest possible time. I think some of our officers will be going to Rolla before long. If they do, I will send it by them. We have no use for money here for there is but very little to be got and that we go and take.

Hsattie, I have not written to you how near I came of being taken prisoner by the rebels. There was six of us went out to find some forage the next day after the battle. We were about five miles from camp at a house where there was corn and hay and the first thing we knew, there came a volley of shots and the balls flew on every side and the next thing there came some thirty mounted men on full run. We fired our revolvers at them and put spur to our horses and away we went as fast as our horses could carry us. We made camp about dark. There was two of the company taken prisoner at the time. We have not been out since without a company large enough to not be run in by any party of forty or fifty men.

Hattie, it is almost dark and our section was out on picket guard last night and we are somewhat tired and sleepy so I will close for this time. Hattie, I will send you five dollars and two dollars of rebel money—some that I confiscated so you can see what kind of money they have. I do not know what the boys are a going to do for postage stamps for there is not any chance to get them here for there is not any to be had. Hattie, I will bid you good night with a kiss to you and the little ones at home. Direct to Rolla, Mo. and put on the 9th Iowa Regiment, Dubuque Battery. — H. H. W.

1 The Battle of Sugar Grove, fought on 17 February 1862, was also called the Battle of Dunagin’s Farm—an early skirmish in the Pea Ridge Campaign.

Letter 3

Camp on Red River at Searcy
White county, Arkansas
May 22, 1862

Dear Hattie and little ones,

As it is raining today, I thought I could not pass off this afternoon to any better service than writing to you. I have not had a letter from anyone since I left West Plain, Missouri, and that was from you. We do not get much mail since we have got so far into the wilderness for we move about as fast as the train does that brings our mail. I understand that there is a great quantity of mail at Springfield for our army but when it gets to us, no one can tell.

Hattie, it is very wet weather here. It is almost impossible for an army to move but we are moving slowly to the south. We are but fifty-five miles from Little Rock. I think we will have another battle there but I do not know how it will be. I am not over anxious to get into another Pea Ridge battle but if they want to fight, they will not find me running until I am shipped for I came here to fight for my country and if need be, to die for it. But Hattie, I have full hope that I shall live to come home to my dear family again and God hasten the time. It is almost nine months since I left home to serve my country and I hope it will not need my services as a soldier but a short time longer. A great many think they will be at home to spend the 4th of July this year but I am afraid they will be disappointed.

Gen. Carr said last night that the war would not last but a short time longer. We are so far from any railroad or steamboat communication that we do not know what the other divisions of the armies are doing but I hope and trust they are doing well. I know they were at last accounts.

We had a small skirmish with some Jayhawkers a few days ago in which there was sixteen of our men killed and twenty wounded. They [our men] belonged to the Missouri 17th Regiment. Our men were out foraging and had their arms stacked when the Jayhawkers came on them. Our men asked for quarters and they said they did not take any prisoners and fired on our men. There was one lieutenant, he went up to the leader and gave him his revolver. He took it and shot him with it. About that time there was a squad of our men came up and fired on them, driving them from the field, killing seventeen on the spot and they do not know how many they wounded. I wish they had killed the last one of them. There will not be any mercy shown to them hereafter. Our men will not take any more of them prisoners. There was two of them up toward our men and wanted to give themselves up as prisoners but our men shot them down as they would a viper and that is the only way to deal with these outlaws. They go through the country just ahead of our army to harass our men and plunder from the people but I think they will get thinned out before long. 1

The health of our army is very good at present. I find there is not near as many sick when we are on the march as when we are in camp so I am quite willing to be on the march. General Curtis has just come through from Batesville. I expect he has brought some late news. I hope so for I am anxious to hear from the East. I expect there will be a forward movement made now on to Little Rock or some other point. There is no bottom to the roads here and it yet rains. The streams are so high that we cannot cross until we build bridges but that is a short job where there is so many hands. You know the old negro said many hands makes light work.

Hattie, I never was more healthy in my life than I have been for a long time—as long as I can get half rations, I am alright. But that looks rather scaly just now in the condition the roads are in.

Hattie, I will have to close for the cooks are calling me to supper and if I do not go, I will have to go without for they will not stop eating as long as there is anything to eat. Give my love to all. Kiss the little ones for me and have them kiss you for me also. I hope I shall get a letter from you soon. If you hear from [brother] Orland [in 4th Michigan infantry], let me know for I am very anxious to hear from him. I think he must have been in a battle before this time as that part of the army in which he is in has been in several battles since I have heard from him. Goodbye for this time. Yours forever, — H. H. Weaver

1 The incident that Sgt. Weaver refers to was called the Battle of Whitney’s Lane (also known as the action at Searcy Landing) in Arkansas on May 19, 1862, when a foraging party by members of the 17th Missouri (Union) Infantry was ambushed by a force of bushwhackers under Confederate Colonel Emory Rogers. The foraging party lost 22 killed, 33 wounded, and two missing. Weaver’s account of “no quarter” is confirmed by other accounts. The foraging parties became a necessity due to the bad roads which limited Curtis’s supply lines. This was one of the primary reasons he shifted his objective from Little Rock to Helena, Arkansas. Weaver refers to the bushwackers as “jayhawkers” though this was a name generally only applied to pro-Union marauders.

Letter 4

Camp of Dubuque Battery and 9th Iowa
Camped six miles west from Helena
August 29th 1862

Dear Hattie and little ones,

How do you do this morning? It will be one year tomorrow since I last saw you and to you it must have been a long year. But to me it has been very short for I have been on the move almost all the time, seeing new things and a soldier’s life is a life of excitement the most of the time which causes the time to pass by very quick. And another thing, there is no Sundays in the army—especially when we are on a march. When we are in camp, we sometimes know when Sunday comes [but] if it were not for my writing, I should not know what day of the week it was one time in ten. But I write so much that i keep the day of the month and consequently I do not lose the day of the week very often. The great reason that it is so hard to tell when Sunday comes is on account of our duty being the same every day. It is like a woman’s work—the same day after day.

I hope we will have a change before long for I am getting tired of this laying in camp so long and I think we will start on a march before long because it has not been our lot to have it so easy. But they say it is a long road that has no turn and perhaps our time has come at last. But I would like to have the thing pushed through so what there is left can go home to their homes and wives and little ones, no more to go forth to fight the battle of their country.

Hattie, I look forward to the closing up of this war in the next six months. I think that there will be an order passed declaring all slaves free before the 15th of next month. It is necessary that there should be something of that sort done to save the government and that is the least thing I can see that is the only thing that will effectively put a stop to foreign intervention. As soon as our government disowns slavery, no foreign powers dare help the South for as soon as any government joins with the South, they must recognize slavery and they dare not do it for that is the great thing that has caused this trouble in our country. If there had not been any slavery, there would have been no rebellion. And the only way to close the trouble, is to remove the cause. And until that is done, there will be no peace.

Hattie, I wish you would make me a sedicule [probably a “housewife”?] and send it to me for they are a very nice thing for a soldier to have for we have to do our own mending. You know how they are made for there is not anything that is made with a needle and thread that you do not know how to make. Put in a few needles about middle size and some pins for it hard to get such things here and the clothes that we get are all made by machines and we have to make them all over.

Hattie, I have written to Jim Daniels and to Hiram Weaver this morning. Hiram and Uncle Lanzes’ [?] boy. He is in the army. I received a letter from him yesterday. He is in the Wisconsin 13th Regiment. He is a drummer. He says he likes the army very well. Hattie, tell me what company Coluno is in and what regiment. Hattie, I will close for this time. Answer soon. No more this time. Kiss the little ones for me. I remain yours as ever, — H. H. Weaver

Portrait from Find-A-Grave
85th Pennsylvania Infantry, Gilmore's Congratulatory Order, Jamaica Ginger

1863: John Barr Bell to Robert Boyd Bell

Leave a comment
John Barr Bell (1837-1930) in later years

The following letter was written by John Barr Bell (1837-1930) who served as the Commissary Sergeant for the 85th Pennsylvania Infantry from mid-May 1863 through December 1863. He had been acting in that capacity since Mid-May 1863. Prior to having been promoted to this staff position, John was a private in Co. A. John was the son of Robert Bell (1801-1890) and Susanna D. Tidball (1809-1881) of Thompsonville, Washington county, Pennsylvania. He wrote the letter to his younger brother, Robert Boyd Bell (1840-1918).

In 1863, the regiment moved to Folly Island, South Carolina, to participate in the Union siege operations targeting Fort Wagner, Fort Sumter, and the defenses of Charleston Harbor. As such, they were a part of Gen. Gilmore’s command and received his congratulatory orders for the taking of Morris Island.

Two more of John’s letter may be found in the Auburn University Digital Library (See John B. Bell letters (1862-63). Apparently John kept a diary during the war which was referenced heavily when Luther S. Dickey was compiling the History of the 85th Pennsylvania.

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

Folly Island, South Carolina
29 November 1863

Robert,

I have not had time to finish the letter I commenced the 31st day of October for we have moved down to near the same place where we were camped before. We moved to Morris Island last July. We have been very busy for a few days and I had to try and get rations for the regiment and I only succeeded in getting them today after the regiment had been three days without & I expected to hear plenty of complaining but they did not complain any.

I got a letter from Sarah yesterday dated 22nd ult.

There was a man in Co. G died yesterday from the effect of drinking so much Jamaica Ginger. 1 He drunk about 20 bottles in a few days. It is not the first man in the 85th [Pennsylvania Infantry] that was killed by using Jamaica Ginger. It is worse than whiskey for if men get to using it, they soon get that they cannot quit. I have saw men drink a bottle down without putting any water with it. 2

I will stop for tonight. I will send you a copy of Gen. Gilmore’s congratulatory order. We are now in the 3rd Brigade of Gen. [Alexander] Schimmelfennig’s Division. — John

1 I was unable to locate any member of Co. G that “died” or was “discharged” in November 1863.

2 I believe that the “Jamaica Ginger” John refers to was actually “Essence of Jamaica Ginger” which was commonly called “Jake.” It consisted of a certain type of ginger, known as white ginger, and was sold as a medicine. Advertisements by Frederick Brown, a druggist and chemist of Philadelphia who manufactured the article, highly recommended it for the soldier heading off to war: “In ordinary diarrhea, incipient cholera, and in all cases of prostration of the digestive organs, the medicine has been found a sovereign remedy, and we therefore feel it to be a humane suggestion to the multitudes who are now about exchanging the comforts of home for the exposure of the camp, to recommend them to supply themselves with this invaluable medicine. Let all our readers interest themselves in carrying out this suggestion, by seeing that every soldier who leaves our city is provided with this simple, but effectual safeguard against sickness and suffering.” Brown recommended a dose of one teaspoonful for a grown person, half a teaspoonful for a child 10-12, and 15 to 20 drops for a child 2 to 5 years old. However, because of its extremely high alcohol content (88%), it was frequently abused by alcoholics.

15th North Carolina Infantry, Battle of Hanover Court House

1862: Dixon Greene Conn to Mary Eliza Conn

Leave a comment

The following letters were written by Dixon Greene Conn (1840-1921) who enlisted first in the 5th North Carolina Infantry but when the regiment was reorganized in early May 1862 as the 15th North Carolina Infantry, they elected a new slate of officers and sent the old ones home. The reorganization took place near Yorktown and the regiment was one of the last to leave that stronghold before abandoning it to the Yankees. They served as the rear guard on the march to Williamsburg but were then sent to Kent Court House without engaging in the fight. “After several days of slow and tedious marching through rain and mud, occasional marches and skirmishes, with little to eat but parched corn, the regiment crossed to the south side of the Chickahominy River and encamped on the turnpike to Mechanicsville. As the Union army extended its lines to the right a portion of the regiment on picket duty at Ellyson’s Mill, and had a small engagement, capturing a few prisoners, with no loss to the regiment. On the 30th and 31st of May the regiment marched and counter-marched almost constantly between Mechanicsville and Seven Pines, and on Sunday morning, June 1st, was formed in line of battle to the right, near Fair Oaks, to reinforce and renew the attack at that point. Before advancing the order was countermanded and the.regiment took position on the Nine Mile Road above Fair Oaks, where it remained under daily fire from the enemy’s batteries” until the start of the Seven Days Battles. [Source: North Carolina in the American Civil War]

Dixon Greene Conn’s obituary informs us that he was born in Franklin county, North Carolina, on 13 March 1840 and was educated in a private academy in Louisburg in which he also served as an instructor.At the outbreak of the Civil War. he enlisted in Co. L, 5th N. C. Vols., which was the first company that went out of Franklin county. He reenlisted in Co. L. 15th N. C. Troops and next in Co. K, 32nd N. C. Regiment. He was wounded seven times in the war, five times at Malvern Hill. On account of his wounds, Dixon was discharged from the Confederate Army early in 1863 at Richmond; but before completing his convalescence, being refused active combatant service, he volunteered in the Confederate Navy and served on the Indian Chief, on which he was master at arms. From this ship he later transferred to the Pee Dee at Cheraw, South Carolina. He was taken prisoner on 6 April 1865 and confined on Craney Island for several months.

Dixon wrote the letters to his older sister, Mary Eliza Conn (1833-1914) who never married and was residing in Galloways, Franklin county, North Carolina at the time of the 1860 US Census.

Over the years I have transcribed several letters by members of the 15th North Carolina. They include:
George W. Mock, Co. F, 15th North Carolina (CSA 1 Letter)
Leander Mock, Co. F, 15th North Carolina (CSA 1 Letter)
Theophilus Thomas Spaugh, Co. F, 15th North Carolina (CSA 1 Letter)
Solomon Tesh, Co. H, 15th North Carolina (CSA 1 Letter)
Daniel Wilson, Co. H, 15th North Carolina (CSA 1 Letter)
Daniel Wilson, Co. H, 15th North Carolina (CSA 2 Letters)
William H. H. Tyson, Co. M, 15th North Carolina (CSA 1 Letter)
William H. H. Tyson, Co. M, 15th North Carolina (CSA 1 Letter)

Letter 1

My regiment has reorganized for two years longer. I will give you a list of my staff and company officers.

15th Regt. North Carolina TRoops

Staff—-
H[enry] A. Dowd, Colonel
Jas. McCrae, Lieut. Col.
W[illiam] H. Yarborough, Major
W. H. Ballard, Adjutant
Company Officers—-
J[ames] I. Foster, Capt.
W[illiam] R. Young, 1st Lieutenant
R[obert] E. Ballard, 2nd Lieutenant
D. G. Conn, 1st Sergeant
J. H. Howard, 2nd Sergeant
P. H. Winston, 3rd Sergeant
H. N. Jasper, 4th Sergeant
J. W. Whiliss [?], 5th Sergeant
R. C. Martin, 1st Corporal
B[enjamin] C. Arrington, 2nd Corporal
T. H. Leigh, 3rd Corporal
J. S. Tuthill [?], 4th Corporal

Our old officers were not reelected; consequently they were sent home.

When you write, direct to D. G. Conn. Co. L, 15th N. C. Troops, Richmond, Va.

Tell me whether you know anything of Joe May—whether he is in camp at Raleigh. Again my respects to all. — D. G. Conn


Letter 2

Richmond, Virginia
May the 28th, 1862

Affectionate sister,

Although I wrote you yesterday, I think it necessary on account of a certain circumstance to write a few words again today. I want you to let me know immediately whether you received a letter from me written about the 18th April. I gave it to Algernon Strother to be mailed on the way as he was going home. He says the marks rubbed off (it being backed with a pencil) and he directed it to Louisburg to you, and sent it I suppose out to Pa’s. In it I gave you permission to try to have me discharged. I am very sorry it was miscarried. By all means, do not try it now. I would not have you try it now for no amount. But I would be glad if you could get that letter. But I think it doubtful as I suppose Pa has it. Nothing more. Write immediately. — D. G. Conn

Yesterday evening there was a fight about three and a half hours to our left about three miles distant. 1 I have not learned the result yet. I could hear it very distinctly. All calm this morning. My best love to all, — D. G. Conn

1 This may be a reference to the Battle of Hanover Court House who took place during the afternoon of May 27, 1862.

Confederate Munitions

1861: John Geary to a Friend

Leave a comment

The following letter was written by 47 year-old John Geary (1814-1889) of Page county, Virginia, who at one time was a partner in the Shenandoah Iron Works with Daniel & Henry Forrer, wealthy industrialists and landowners in Page county. At the onset of the war in 1861, local ironworks across Virginia were pressured or contracted by the Confederate government to shift from domestic iron production (like stove plates and farming tools) to wartime ordnance (cannonballs, shells, and gun tubes). The labor force performing this difficult work consisted of a mix of local white mechanics, free Black workers, and conscripted or hired enslaved laborers.

Geary’s letter describes the disappointment of the laborers who had failed to manufacture cannon balls for the Confederacy. The cupola referred to was a vertical foundry furnace used to re-melt pig iron into special molds. The “flasks” were the wood frames that hold sand molds for the casting of cannon balls. The failure was due primarily because they could not find the “stone coal” (anthracite) which was required to generate sufficient heat to cast the cannon balls. Eventually the Confederacy was able to manufacture cannon balls and other munitions at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond using Page county’s raw pig iron.

John Geary’s 1889 obituary states that he was “at one time engaged with Messrs. Forrer in the iron business, but after selling the furnace in Page county to Mr. Wm. Milnes, he retired from business and lived on his farm where he died.” He died unmarried and left the bulk of his property to Bishop Keane of the Catholic Church. It isn’t clear from the content of this letter who Geary was writing to and there is no surviving envelope.

A pre-war image of Oscar Garland Cosby when he served in the Richmond Grays Militia. He was married to the daughter of Daniel Forrer, Geary’s business partner.

There is a reference to Mary Catherine Forrer’s husband, Oscar Garland Cosby (1832-1878). Oscar was the son of Peter G. Cosby and Frances W. Rison. Oscar worked with his father on several business ventures in Richmond, VA, primarily as a tobacconist. He also represented his father-in-law, Daniel Forrer as an agent to transact business with the Confederate government for iron during the Civil War. Despite wearing a pre-war militia uniform of the Richmond Grays, I could find no evidence that Oscar ever served the Confederacy in the military. In fact, Geary suggests in his letter that Oscar Cosby and the other “six or eight hands from Richmond” had come to Luray to attempt manufacturing cannon balls simply to avoid military service.

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

Near Luray [Page County,Virginia]
September 17, 1861

My dear sir,

Yours of the 9th inst. is to hand which I now proceed to answer. I have nothing of importance to write about as to comment on the war & its disaster would be useless as all information concerning it is known (unfortunately as it is, all our land). Grayson & others got home from the [Manassas] Junction Saturday night & state that another bloody engagement may take place at any moment.

There is not much business doing here. Tommy Almond returned from Richmond Saturday night, purchased a few goods, as he states, at very high prices. Purchased no groceries nor shoes owing to the prices. Goods of all kinds are very scarce in this vicinity & no groceries at any price.

I just returned from the Furnace Saturday night. Found there Daniel Forrer’s daughter Mary Catherine & her husband [Oscar Garland Cosby] & some six or eight hands from Richmond who were engaged in the manufacture of the cannon ball which up to the present has proven an entire failure and I fear will under the circumstances they are placed. They went to considerable expense in building a cupola making flask &c. &c. at the old place & when all was done, could find or get no stone coal to answer. They also tried it at the Furnace [possibly Catherine Furnace] which is out of blast, and then it also proved a failure. The hands and Daniel’s son-in-law is considerably dissatisfied from all I can see & learn from Daniel’s boys son-in-law & his wife especially there is considerable dissatisfaction as to the entire course of the acting proprietor there who started to Richmond on Saturday last. Mary Catherine wrote to her father same day to come down and enjoined as a duty (privately) on me to meet him (her Father) there on Friday night next or when he came, the object being chiefly—as I could learn from the Party—being to get the McKiernan Furnace to go to moulding the cannon ball, more, I think, for the purpose of keeping all the boys & all [who are] subject to military duty from serving in the army by reason of the Government contract than anything else.

I got a decree at our Circuit Court last week to rent out the McKiernan property for 12 months (am commissioned myself for that purpose) unless a compromise is effected between the parties conveying back the property to D & H Forrer which is now in course of negotiation & I think will be consummated, McKiernan expects to learn in a few days. Mr. Henry Forrer is opposed to joining them to mold whilst the others are all in favor of it. I fear there will be a storm between the parties. Mary Catherine also states (privately) that her father intended endeavoring to get me to go back to the old place to take charge of matters. I said very little either way. I very much fear that matters are becoming squally. I must act very cautious. Will tell you all about matters when you come down as you say you will by 1st of next month which I hope you can as I am very anxious to see you.

I showed your account & explained the nature of it to both William & Madison Grave, both of who are administers of the old man’s estate. They both seem to think that the account settled with the old man in his life time is the same they now claim, but finding such on his books they had to do something towards collecting it. They promised to examine into it and arrange it.

I apprehend a great deal of trouble amongst other misfortunes with our party here. They now refuse to pay any more Iron on the contract for the property. Also deny Fottz’s] right to coerce it so there is yet about 33 to 34 tons Iron due on the property which for which it is bound & is therefore safe. Fottz wants to dissolve the partnership & relies on me to manage the whole affair. The parties are very histile to each other which makes it the more deplorable for parties espectally, also unpleasant. I expect to have to commence legal proceedings in the matter ere long & fear I shall have to contend with a great many difficulties all of which we can talk about when you come down which I hope you will write me before coming. I would gladly go up but cannot leave with safety as there is some wholesale grabbing & swindling going on here now. Your friend, — Jno. Geary

16th Massachusetts Infantry, Camp Hamilton, USS Monitor

1862: Charles Robinson Johnson to his wife Nellie

Leave a comment

The following letters of mid-March 1862 were written just before and after the Naval Battle between the CSS Merrimack and the USS Monitor in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The second letter also refers to the 500 seat theater erected out of timber constructed by the 1st Delaware Regiment at Camp Hamilton where they had been posted since the previous October.

I was at a loss as to the author’s signature but I was pretty certain he must have been an officer in one of the many Union regiments gathering around Fort Hamilton (near Fortress Monroe) in March 1862 in readiness for McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign. I asked Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify a Union officer who had a relative named Austin and a correspondent he termed “Dear Nellie” who would have been posted at Camp Hamilton in March 1862? Within seconds, I was told that it was written by Capt. Charles Robinson Johnson of Co. F, 16th Massachusetts Infantry (nicknamed “The Iron Sixteenth”). It also told me, “His collection of wartime correspondence includes a series of letters addressed to his sister, whom he affectionately called “Dear Nellie (Ellen Johnson). In March 1862, the 16th Massachusetts was stationed at Camp Hamilton, a massive Union staging ground located near Fortress Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. His younger brother was Austin Irving Johnson (1847–1920), whom he frequently mentioned in his updates back home.”

I thought this was incredible so I went to check it out. Turns out the wartime correspondence AI referred to was the collection I transcribed and published seven years ago. See—1861-63: Charles Robinson Johnson to Nellie. Charles R. Johnson (1836-1863) was a 25 year-old Boston merchant when he received his commission in July 1861. He was wounded at Chancellorsville on 3 May 1863 and again on 2 July 1863 at Gettysburg. He died due to wound complications on 17 July 1863 at Lexington, Massachusetts. The only thing AI had wrong was Nellie’s identity—calling her his sister. It was actually Charles’ wife, Ellen (“Nellie”) Shepard Albree (1838-1906)—the mother of his young boy, Charles Berkley (“Berk”) Johnson (1859-1925) who is mentioned occasionally in the letters.

These letters may have been previously published in their entirely in a book published in 2015 under the title, “If I am alive next Summer’: The Civil War Letters of Captain Charles Robinson Johnson of the 16th Massachusetts Infantry,” edited by Albert C. Eisenberg and Michael Hammerson. ISBN-13: 9780788456497

Letter 1

Camp Hamilton, Virginia
March 5, 1862

Dear Nellie,

It is half past seven o’clock in the morning and in 3/4 of an hour I start for picket. By this time father has arrived home. I wonder if he noticed that as the steamer Constitution was on her way to Newport News the rebel [guns] from Sewall’s Point fired three shells at her. Monday evening there were eight heavy guns fired by the rebels at Craney Island, the purpose of which I don’t know. Rumor stated that it might be the successful launch of the [CSS] Merrimack.

We have had one beautiful day since father left, but it was cool. Monday night for a half hour the rain came down with as much violence as I ever remember of seeing it, starting some small leaks in my tent. I went out of my tent with the impression that it was a violent hail storm but found myself mistaken. I forgot to mention that the guns on Craney Island are so powerful that at the distance that we are from them, Mr. Rogers state that the concussion jarred the crockery.

Nellie, notwithstanding the rumors of a large reinforcement soon to arrive, we now have here at Camp Hamilton less troops by one regiment than we have had all winter and consequently our turn to go on picket comes oftener. It is now once in ten days. I intended to have written you a long letter last evening but had an invitation to play a game of Whist with Drs. [Charles C.] Jewett & [Edward Andem] Whiston, accepted it, got interested [and] did not retire until late. Give my regard to all friends. Yours affectionately, — Charles

Letter 2

Camp Hamilton, Virginia
March 16, 1862

Dear Nellie,

I have received your letters of March 11th & 13th. Since I last wrote there has been no changes and quietness has prevailed as far as action or combat is concerned. But the camp has been flooded with rumor and we have been under marching orders about half the time, the men keeping their equipments on and officers going to bed with clothes and boots on.

From The Evening Post, New York, 5 February 1862

I meant to have mentioned the pleasant evening I spent at the Delaware regiment and their theatre, but the naval battle [between the Monitor and Merrimack] was so much more interesting that I deferred it. The theatre is a large log house, the seats for the audience rising one above the other, a regular stage with scenery of which I believe they have four sets, orchestra consisting of the regimental band. The ladies parts are taken by the actors. The acting was good and the whole passed off very pleasantly. I send you one of the programmes which was reduced to the present state by being in my vest pocket while marching to Newport News.

All the ladies have left and every person here without business are also obliged to leave. I hope that before the Merrimack again makes her appearance, the Monitor will have some other battery to assist her as the Merrimack has four guns to her one. You can send on the sash as it is if the difference in color is not too great. I have received Austin’s letter. Give my regard to all. Yours affectionately, — Chas.

U.S.S. Ozark

1864: Calvin Marshall Bragg to Robert Roberts

Leave a comment

This letter was written by Calvin Marshall Bragg (1836-1924) who served aboard the USS Michigan as a private in the Marines beginning in 1858. He later served aboard the USS Sabine, the USS St. Louis, the USS Rhode Island, and then back on the USS Michigan again. Apparently when the USS Ozark was commissioned in 1864, he was afforded the opportunity to transfer to the Navy and given the rank of Acting Ensign. The Ozark was a unique, wooden hull, ironclad river monitor with a single turret added to the Mississippi River Squadron under Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter in time for the Red River Campaign.

Calvin’s service record before and during the Civil War. (Pension File)

A pension record was found for Bragg that provided us with some biostatistics. He was born in 1836 in Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio. He stood 5′ 6″ tall, had blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was married once in 1883 to Ellen Vanduzen in Boston, Massachusetts, but later divorced her (date not stated). They had no children. He served many years in the Navy after the Civil War, finishing out his career as Chief Master-at-arms. When he retired, he settled in Jefferson, Ashtabula, Ohio. His death in Cleveland, Ohio, on 15 July 1924 was reported to the Pension Bureau by his niece, Mrs. Jennie S. Dodge.

A family tree in Ancestry.com informs us that Calvin’s parents were Solon Bragg (1803-1860) and Sarah Rose (1806-1901) of Ashtabula, Ohio. He had a younger brother names Charles P. Bragg (1838-1921) who he refers to in the letter. Another brother, Albert C. Bragg (1840-1863) served in the 2nd Independent Battery, Ohio Vol. Infantry, was wounded in the Battle of Port Gibson on 1 May 1863, and died two weeks later in Grand Gulf, Mississippi.

Calvin’s letter describes the death and burial of his shipmate, Acting Ensign Thomas W. Roberts who signed on with the USS Ozark on 25 June 1864 and died on 17 August 1864. He was originally buried on Acklin’s Plantation in Louisiana, but his body was later removed to the Natchez National Cemetery. He directed the letter to Robert Roberts, a brother of the deceased, whom I believe was a former shipmate aboard the USS Michigan. I have not been able to learn anymore about the Roberts family.

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

Off Red River
U. S. S. Ozark
August 18th 1864

Mr. Robert Roberts,

Dear sir. It becomes my painful duty to write to you at this time to inform you of the death of your brother who departed this life yesterday at about three quarters of an hour after four o’clock in the morning. Your brother had been sick about three weeks altogether. None of us thought him dangerous till about one week before his death. I hardly know what to term his disease. The doctor said that it was more the trouble of the mind than the body. From the first he seemed to give up easily. When spoken to about how he was getting along, he would always answer that he was doing well and seemed to think he would get well.

Mr. Roberts was buried yesterday. He had a decent burial, having a very good coffin and burial case besides having a head and foot board with his name, rank, and age carved on the head board. The funeral was attended by nearly all the officers of this vessel. He was buried on the left bank of the Mississippi River looking toward New Orleans or down the river.

I understand that your brother leaves a wife and some small children. His death will be felt very severely by them as well as yourself. To them and to you I offer my kindest sympathies for the death to them of a husband and father. Also you of a dear brother. There are a trunk and some clothes here belonging to him which I suppose our paymaster will send to his wife together with what money that is coming to him. Enclosed I send you a small lock if your brother’s hair which I had clipped off a short time after his death knowing how much you would prize such a memorial of your late brother.

When you get this, please answer that I may know that you got my letter. I have been out here over a year. Charley, I suppose you have heard ere this, was taken prisoner up Red River. My health is good and I am doing well. The next time you see Capt. [John C.] Carter [of the USS Michigan], please remember me kindly to him. It was through this kind, good old gentleman that I owe my present position in the Navy. 1

The weather here is pretty warm some of the time. This week the thermometer stood 108 degrees in the shade. Remember me to the [USS] Michigan Boys when you see them. But I will close. Direct to Acting Ensign, — C. M. Bragg

U.S.S. Ozark, Mississippi Squadron.

Another view of the USS Ozark on the Mississippi River in 1864

1 The USS Michigan was the Union’s only warship on the Great Lakes during the Civil War. It was tasked with patrolling Lake ERie and guarding the Confederate Prisoner-of-war camp on Johnson’s Island.

Mississippi Marine Brigade

1864: George Homer McIntyre to Rebecca A. Farris

Leave a comment
I could not find an image of George but here is one of William Peters, Co. D, 1st Battalion Cavalry, MMB wearing the uniform of the MMB (Lawrence T. Jones III Collection)

The following letter was written by George Homer McIntyre (1841-1924) of Co. C, Mississippi Marine Brigade (MMB) Cavalry. George began his military service in Co. C, 32nd Wisconsin Infantry but then volunteered to take a transfer to the MMB Cavalry early in 1863.

George’s obituary is posted below. It reads in part: “Mr. McIntyre enlisted in August, 1862, at Markesan, with Co. C. 32d Wis. Infantry. Later he was transferred to the First Mississippi Marine brigade, acting as a scout to police the great river against the Confederate Guerillas. He served at the siege and fall of Vicksburgh, under Gen. Grant. His war record was a brave and unblemished one, but malaria and ‘swamp ague” got the best of him physically, and left him with nervous debility from which he had suffered bravely for 50 years.”

For the best description of the Mississippi Marine Brigade and its activities, see The Civil War Diaries of Almon Joel Pierce—an archive that I transcribed in May 2024.

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

Addressed to Miss Rebecca A. Ferris, Pilot Mound, Filmore county, Minnesota

Vicksburg, Mississippi
January 21st 1864

Dear Rebecca,

I received your kind letter and was glad to hear that you was well. It found me well and happy for we had just received orders for to turn over our arms and everything we had that belonged to the U. S. and get ready to be mustered out of the U. S. service. There has been seven companies got their discharges out of the regiment and gone home and there is only three more left and mine is one of the three. We will get out in two or three days if nothing happens and when I get my discharge, I will take the first boat up the river for I have got enough of the Sunny South to mast me for a while, If the Lord lets me live and nothing happens more than I know, I will be at home by the time you get this letter. So when you answer this, you can direct to Princeton, Wisconsin.

Dear Rebecca, this is a little better than I expected—for me to get out of the service so soon. But it does not hurt my feelings a bit. The reason of our getting out so soon is this. When they took our boats away from us and put us on land, we did not like it for we did not enlist to do land service but marine service. So we sent in a petition to the Secretary of War to see if they could make Marines do land service and when he looked at it, he issued an order to muster us out of service for her did not think that it was right for us to do land service. So the commander here at Vicksburg had to obey his orders.

Well, Rebecca, it is getting pretty late and I must close. Give my love to all of your folks and to Mon = folks and tell them to write to me and direct to Princeton for I think that will be my headquarters as soon as I get out of this. It will be for a while at least. This from your true friend and well wisher. — Geirge H. McIntyre

To Rebecca A. Farris

The Portage Daily Register, 17 January 1924