9th Arkansas Infantry, Battle of Shiloh, Siege of Corinth

1861-65: Letters of George Washington Brummett and William Harrison Brummett, 9th Arkansas Infantry

October 21, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

These letters were written by George “Washington” Brummett, Jr. (1836-1864) and his brother William (“Bill”) Harrison Brummett (1845-1926). They initially enlisted in Co. I (the “McCulloch Guards”), 9th Arkansas Infantry (CSA) in November 1861 at Memphis, Tennessee. However, due to heavy losses at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862, Co. I was disbanded and they were transferred to Co. A.

I could not find an image of either Washington or Will Brummett but here is one of Abraham C. Armstrong who served in Co. F, 9th Arkansas Infantry. He was wounded in October 1862 during the attack on Corinth. (Ancestry.com)

Washington was captured in Jefferson County, Arkansas on 1 February 1864 and sent to the military prison at Rock Island Barracks in Illinois in May 1864 where he died on 20 September 1864 from erysipelas. He is buried in the post cemetery, grave #1516. He had married Martha Jane Brantley (1843-1912) in February 1861 and they had one child, Billy, born in March 1862.

Washington and Will were the sons of George Washington Brummett, Sr. (1809-18xx) and Malinda Cage (1809-1861) of White Sulfur Spring, Jefferson county, Arkansas. They occasionally wrote to their younger brother Pleasant (“Pleasy”) Brummett (1849-1896) or younger sister Mary Brummett (1842-1874). We learn from the boys’ letters that their father was a farmer but the 1860 US Census also informs us that he was a Methodist Minister.

Note: There are seven letters by members of the Brummett family housed at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock, See BC.MSS.10.22.

Letter 1

Memphis, Tennessee
August 29th 1861

Dear Sister,

I once more take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well and hope these few lines may find you the same. We had a very disagreeable tramp of it on the account of the hot weather. We are camped about two miles of Memphis. Dear sister, I would be glad to see you all once more but I reckon it will be some time before I see you all again for we are received and turned over to the Southern Confederacy and as soon as we get well drilled, we will go right in for fighting.

Give my best respects to all the girls. Tell them God bless all their pretty souls. Tell them to think of me in my hours of distress for a soldier’s life is a hard one. They have many of troubles to go through with—more than I thought of when I went into it. But I am in for it now and I expect to stick to it the tighter.

You must write to me as soon as you get this letter. Give me a detail of all the news, how all the folks are getting along. Give my best respects to all enquiring friends and save a portion for yourself. So no more at present—only remains your affectionate brother until death, — William H. Brummett

Direct your letters to Memphis, Tennessee, Ninth Regiment, In care of Capt. J. M. Hawley

Letter 2

Camp Beauregard, Kentucky
December 23rd [1861]

Dear Father,

I take my pen in hand to write you a few lines to inform you that I am in reasonable health at the present time, hoping these lines will find you all well. I have nothing of interest to write to you. We are still preparing for winter quarters & in a few days we will be in our house which will be nothing extra when we do get in them. They are built 12 by 14 and covered one way camp fashion and chimney on the eave side and no floor in them. We have got no straw for beds and I expect we will have rather cool comfort this winter but I guess we will not freeze. Times is sorter gloomy at this time.

There is some sickness in camps at this time and some pretty serious cases and there is one thing here that I will have to relate which pains me very much and that is the death of Jesse Smithee. He died tonight about 10 o’clock of pneumonia. He died very unexpectedly. He did not talk anything about death or the future or anything else. There is one thing certain—life is uncertain and death is sure. But what is death? It is nothing if we are prepared. But when a man comes to the dying hour far away from his home and family, no friends to cheer him through the vale of death and without the least ray of hope in the future, it is awful to think about. I do hope and pray that it will never be my lot to leave this world under such circumstances. I have been very wicked and bad but I am going to turn a new leaf in regard to my soul’s eternal welfare. I want you all to remember us in your prayers for we are in an awful place. Many are the snares to draw a person away from the right tracks. Even men that I thought did have some firmness and religion about them are cursing and swearing. I think our Colonel ¹ has pretty well lost all of his religion from what I can gather. He is now under arrest. What for, I am not hardly able to tell. I think that it is charges brought up by the regiment. He had several of the captains arrested—that is, their swords taken away from them. They kept working along with it until they got his sword taken away from him.

I have nothing of much importance to write to you about the war. There is some such talk as peace being made before long but I don’t know how true it is. I hope it will be the case and we will get to come home before long. The boys are all well at this time and has been ever since I got here with the exception of colds. So I will have to close my letter for it is getting late. I want you to write to us pretty often and let us know how you are all getting along. I want you to go down and see Martha and see how she is getting along, whether she is needing anything or not, and if she is, write to me and I will send her some money. I would like to see you all very bad but I don’t know whether I will get the chance to come home or not before my time is out so I will close for the present farewell. – G. W. Brummett

P. S. Tell Nancy [that] John is stout and hearty, and that [he] wants to see her very bad. He is going to come home some time this winter if he can get a furlough. Tell her to write to him as soon as she gets this. — G. W. B.

¹ The Colonel of the 9th Arkansas Infantry at the time was John Milton Bradley, a lawyer and a Methodist Minister.

Letter 3

[Editor’s Note: This letter was originally transcribed in December 2014 and published on Spared & Shared 9. I have reposted it here to be included with the other letters by Washington and Will Brummett]

Bowling Green, Kentucky
January the 22nd [1862]

Dear Brother P.

I seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know how we are all doing. Well sir, we are all enjoying reasonable health and how when these lines come safely to your hands they will find you enjoying good health. I guess when you read these lines it will sorter surprise you for I know you won’t be expecting one from me. I just happened to think about writing you a letter to see how it would work, and what sort of an answer you would write me and if you don’t answer it, I won’t write you anymore — that’s so.

Well, Pless, I would like to see you very much and go a possum hunting with you for I have not been a possum hunting since I have been out. I want you to have my pup well trained by the time I get back so we can rake in a few of the fattest of them. You must write how he performs and if he don’t perform right, kill him dead for I don’t like mean dogs. There is some of the prettiest little Bull pups here I ever saw. If I could, I would send you one but I can’t do it.

Well Plesy, we have not had the chance to fight the Yankees yet, nor I don’t think we will for they are afraid of us. I hear some talk of peace before long. I guess you would not much care, would you? I don’t recon we will come home before our time is out unless peace is made, and if peace is made, then we will come raring and pitching, saying hurrah for the sunny South!

Bill, Bob, and John is all fat and saucy. We have a little hole dug out in our tent and we are all sitting around it while I am writing to you. Bill and Bob says they would give anything almost to be with you tonight so they could take a big hunt and catch a rabbit. Pleassy, I guess you would like to take a small hunt with us, wouldn’t you? But it may be that some of us has taken our last hunt with you. That is not for us to know. I hope though that we will all live to get back and see you once more.

We are still here at Bowling Green, Kentucky, and I expect we will stay here till next spring and then we will pitch in to the Yankees rough shod if they don’t give it up before then.

We are going to making chimneys to our tents and then how warm we will sleep of a night. We have had no cold weather here much yet and I hope we won’t for if we do we will suffer in the fat, but we have straw now to put in our tents for the first, only what we get ourselves.

Pleasy, I want you to write to me as soon as you get this and write everything common, what you are all working at, and what your neighbors are all doing. Tell daddy that they would not have my old shot gun in the company — we had plenty of guns. I expect I will lose her.¹

We have elected Capt. [Isaac L.] Dunlop [as] Colonel of our regiment. We all like him very well so far. So I will have to close for this time. Tell all the family howdy for me and tell yourself “howdy do” for me. And tell them all to write and don’t forget to write yourself. So farewell, dear brother, for the present. Direct to Bowling Green.

— G. W. Brummett

^¹ We learn from this letter that George enlisted in the service carrying his own shotgun which was common among many of the Arkansas regiments early in the war. A regimental history tells us that the 9th Arkansas was one of the regiments eventually receiving flintlock Hall’s rifles that had been confiscated from the Federal Armory at Little Rock in February 1861.

Letter 4

Murfreesboro, Tennessee
February the 23rd [1862]

Dear Sister,

I seat myself to drop you a few lines to inform you that I am well. The boys is all well as far as I know. John was left at the hospital. He had the mumps. He was getting [better] the last account. I hope when these few [lines] come to hand, they may find you all well.

We have just landed here a few days ago. We marched about a hundred miles. I hain’t got a letter since [Capt.] Hawley come. I feel lonesome [without] hearing from you. Mary, this is my last letter I [will] write to you until you take to writing more to me. Washington gets a letter from his wife every mail. He says he has wrote his last letter. I can’t here from you all more than what I do. You don’t know how much good it does me to hear from you all.

The Yankees is a p[l]aying smash with our boys up here. They have taken two forts [Donelson & Henry]. We have run from Bowling Green and them after us but we burned the town into ashes before we left it. We have not been in any fight yet. We are looking for them here every day. We will stand here and fight them and whip them too. They think that [they] have got us about whipped but they are fooled in their hand. They’ve taken some of our boys at Bowling Green. They’ve taken one out of our company. They made our boys tremble at Fort Donelson. They’ve taken everything they had but we will get them yet.

So I will have to come to a close. Tell Father howdy for me. Give my best respects to all enquiring friends. Give all the young men hankies. Tell them that they are cowards to the core. Give me all the news if you ever write to me anymore. Tell Father to write soon for this is my last letter until I get more than what I have been the [ ] of. So I remain as I was, — William H. Brummett

To Miss Mary Brummett

and the last one.

Letter 5

Corinth, Mississippi
April 9th 1862

Dear Father and sister,

I [take] the present opportunity of writing you a few lines to let you all know that I am yet in the land of the living. We are all well at this time and in good spirits.

We have just landed here this morning from off the battleground. I thought I had seen something when I saw the battle at Columbus [Battle of Belmont] but it was not approaching to the one we have had here. We have been marching ever since the last of March and [we are] very much fatigued. We was in the fight here. This regiment was very badly cut up but I did not get hurt. All the boys that you know came out safely. This regiment fought like heroes. General [John S.] Bowen ¹ says that the 9th & 10th [Arkansas] made a charge that no other two regiments would have done. I was in the fight from the beginning to ending. We routed them completely. This is some of the paper that I [had] taken from them.

We have fell back here to rest two or three weeks [when] I think that we will give them a turn again. So I will have to close or I can’t send my letter by hand. Write soon as you get this. — William H. Brummet

¹ Brig. Gen. John S. Bowen commanded the 9th & 10th Arkansas as well as unites from Missouri and Mississippi in the Battle of Shiloh. They saw heavy fighting at the Peach Orchard and other parts of the field. The 9th Arkansas had about 132 men killed, wounded or captured of the 338 men that entered the fight.

Letter 6

Corinth, Mississippi
April 13th 1862

Dear Sister,

I seat myself to write you a few lines to inform you that we are all alive after fighting one of the hardest battles that was ever fought on this continent. It makes my heart ache to think of it and to think of it, it looks like a Providential affair that we come out as many of us did. Surely I never want to experience another such a fight. Men was shot down all around us, bomb shells bursting, cannon balls flying amongst us, taking off the tops of trees. It was enough to make the stoutest heart quake. God forbid that I shall ever have to experience the like again. But from what I can gather, we will have to go into another fight again before long and if we do, many will be the poor soldier that will pass from this world to another. I think we have gained the victory so far. We repulsed the enemy every charge we made, drove the enemy out of their camps, and took [ ] possession.

My dear sister, I hope these lines will find you all well. You don’t know how bad we wanted to see you. I haven’t heard from you since we came here. I have not heard from Martha since she was taken down and I don’t know whether she is dead or alive, but I do hope she is well.

Jim Shelby told us that father was sick and looked worse than he ever saw him. I do hope he is well. Do write to me and let me know whether you are all alive or not. I do hope kind Providence will spare all of us to see each other again. Mary, write to me how all the connection is doing and how Martha is getting along. We are getting along as well as might be expected. Me and Bob & Bill are still together. I have not heard from John Keene’s in a long time. I don’t know what has become of him. I am afraid he is dead or taken prisoner. I want you to write to me if you have heard anything of him or not.

I expect we will see hard times before our time is out but I don’t care how hard [just] so our lives is spared to get back home. I reckon you see hard times back there as well as we do. I don’t see what the women and children will do for [ ] on another year but [ ] way will be provided for them.

Billy, I wrote you a few lines [ ] but [ ] not have time to write much for the [ ] he sent it by [ ] him. Write to me whether anyone is tending my place or not and how all my stuff is doing. I don’t know what on earth I will do for something to live on when I get back—if I am so fortunate as to get back. Give all the folks my best love and respects. Tell them I want to see them all very bad. So I will close for I have told you all that I can think of at this time. Write how father is getting along with his crop. I know he has a hard time of it and has a great deal on his mind and much trouble and anxiety, but I hope it will all work out for the better. Give father and Pless and Nancy my best love and reserve a portion for yourself. So farewell. — Geo. W. Brummett, Jr.

Bob K [or R?] says to tell all his friends that the [ ] ball went through his hat [ ] and scratched the back of his head. He says his head was too hard for that ball.

Letter 7

Corinth, Mississippi
April 22nd 1862

Dear Father,

It is with much thankfulness to kind Providence that I am permitted to write you a few lines to inform you how we are all getting along. We are all well except Bob. He had something like the cholera morbus but is better. I hope when these lines comes to hand, they will find you all well. I am very anxious to hear from you all for I have not received a letter since Col. Ingram came back, and you don’t know how uneasy we are about you all.

We are all getting along as well as might be expected under the circumstances for we have went through seas rough battles. How it is that we are not all dead I will leave for you to say for of all the battles that ever was fought, I reckon we have fought the hardest. Our officers acted very gallantly. Col. Dunlap & Major Wallace needs a great deal of praise. The Major was wounded in the heat of the battle on Sunday morning, He can be set down amongst the brave. Also Col. Millsap [?] acted bravely until he got wounded and had to retire from the field. Our company officers all got wounded on Sunday—the first day of the engagement. They all behaved themselves greatly to their edification. Col. Ingram can’t be beat. He also got wounded and had to fall back. ¹I had no idea the Colonel would hold out so long as he did for he was very weak & feeble. He is coming home in a day or two on the account of his health. He says he is not able to serve his government. The company don’t want to give him up for he is the only officer that has the entire confidence of his men.

You will see perhaps a piece in the Pine Bluff paper showing the regard the company has for him. Capt. Hawley was not in the battle so I shall say nothing about him for I expect you will hear enough. He has lost the good will of his company.

I don’t think we will have a fight here soon though our skirmishers has a brush every once in a while. It is rumored that Gen. Marshall has possession of Nashville but how true it is, I can’t tell. There is about 30 thousand Yankees scattered between here and there, and perhaps there will be another fight somewhere in that direction before long. I suppose our Congress has passed a law to hold all the twelve months troops for two years longer or the war, and it has created a right smart of dissatisfaction amongst the troops. I think it is a bad thing for they are determined to go home anyhow when their times is out. They say they won’t fight if they are pressed but if they will let them alone, they will go home and stay a while and then reenlist again.

We have not received any pay yet but I suppose they are making preparations to pay us for two months in a few days. If they do, me and Billy will send ours home if we have a chance for we have no use for it here. I want you to write to me how you are all getting along and how Martha is getting along. I suppose there is no man person on the place to do one thing and I am afraid she will suffer. I do hope that I will be permitted to come home when my time is out and see you all. If I could hear from you all occasionally, I would be much better satisfied. But it looks like we can’t get any letter here. From what cause, I can’t tell. I want you to write to me and write often. Perhaps some of the letters will come to hand. I have written Mary one letter since the battle but whether she will ever get it or not is uncertain. When you write, give us all the news in general. I expect you get plenty of venison to eat since we all left. I hope so at least. All Bill thinks of is the good milk and butter at home that he has been so used to having this time of the year. He says he intends to make it squat when he gets back.

Tell Nancy I have not heard of John yet and what has become of him, I can’t tell. Write to me if you have heard from him lately or not. So I will have to close for this time. Give my best love to all my connections. I wrote one letter to Jack Gentry. Write to me whether he ever got it or not. Farewell. — G. W. Brummett

Direct your letters to Corinth, Mississippi

¹ Washington calls him Col. Ingram but I believe he is referring to 45 year-old Lieut. Benjamin F. Ingram (1817-1862) of Pine Bluff. He was seriously wounded in the Battle of Shiloh and his wounds would prove fatal.

Letter 8

Corinth, Mississippi
May 26th [1862]

Dear Sisters,

I seat myself to write you a few lines in answer to yours which is received on yesterday. It was dated the 24th of April. Bob Nethery brought one of a later date, May 1st, I believe. I was truly glad to hear that you were all well and doing well. We are all well at this time and I hope when this comes to hand, it will find you all well.

My dear sisters, I have nothing that would interest you much. I don’t think we are going to have a fight here. I think we are going to leave this place and go further down in Mississippi. From what I can gather, Tennessee has gone back in the Union. If she has, we are in a critical condition for Arkansas will be bound to go back. I heard Governor Rector of Arkansas had left Arkansas and gone North with all the State Treasury. ¹ Write to me if there is any talk of Arkansas going back to the Union.

I heard just now that we are going to attack the Yankees’ right away and drive them out of Tennessee. Our generals has stopped all the papers and can’t tell what is going on and I think it is a hard war anyway. But God works all things for the best. We can only trust in God for His protection.

I have not much time to write. The boys is all well. Write if you have any chance to send the letter & give my best love to all my friends. Farewell. — G. W. Brummett

¹ As Union General Samuel Curtis moved from Missouri into Arkansas in the spring of 1862, it was assumed that he intended to capture Little Rock (he later turned to capture Helena). As a precaution, Gov. Rector had the State Archives & Treasury moved from Little Rock to Hot Springs (not “North”) in May 1862. My g-g-grandmother’s younger brother, Ralph L. Goodrich, was working for the Oliver Basham (State Treasurer) when this move was made. He wrote of it in his diary. See: July 1862.

13th Illinois Cavalry, Camp Douglas, Chicago

1861: Jerry K. Bullock to George A. Beck

October 20, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

This letter was written by Jerry Kingsbury Bullock (1838-1920) of Plano, Kendall county, Illinois to his friend, George A. Beck. Jerry was the son of Ephraim Allen Bullock (1806-1852) and Julia Ann Barber (1812-1874) of Oneida county, New York. Bullock’s letter was written from Camp Douglas, Illinois, in December 1861 where the 13th Illinois Cavalry was being organized. Jerry mustered into Co. H. as a sergeant but a little over a year later was commissioned as 1st Lieutenant of the company. He wrote the letter to George A. Beck who also served in the same company but was sick (or playing sick) at his home in Plano. George was discharged for disability in August 1862. Other people in the company mentioned include Peter Dahl who was discharged for disability less than three months after his muster; and Edward E. Avery (or Averly).

*Two captains from the 13th Illinois Cavalry. (Al Niemiec Collection)*

The 13th Illinois Cavalry regiment were sometimes called the “German Guides: because a large number of their members were of German descent. They had the distinction of being the very first Union unit to enter Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1863.

Bullock’s letters speaks of the mutiny carried out by the Mechanics Fusileers who were employed to build the camp’s barracks. After completing the job on 18 December 1861, Gov. Yates attempted to press the Fusileers into service as infantrymen and did not pay them what they were led to believe they had been promised for their work. They rioted and burned part of the fencing they had erected. Bullock’s letter also refers to the Washburne Lead Mine Regiment (45th Illinois Infantry) that was quartered at Camp Douglas and experienced the primitive camp infrastructure as the camp was being built. They were happy to ship out to Cairo some three weeks later.

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

*Addressed to Mr. G. A. Beck, Plano, Kendall county, Illinois*

Camp Douglas

December 20th 1861

I feel very very well now that I have things as they should be. But to tell the whole story from the time of starting from Plano. I found [those] men at the cars with those boys that came out with us, Peter Dahl & one recruit—a young man—very good too. Peter was tolerable drunk when we got to Aurora. He was bound to run off. The Lieutenant caught him & with the assistance of the rest, got or rather put him back with the pleasure of holding him on all the way, but more sport than I have had for a good while for the conductor came in [and] sat down by Pete & called for his whiskey. They passed it to him in a bottle. He passed it to Pete’s face & [threw it] out the window. I wish you had of heard the laughing. They told him it was a fine joke. He did not enjoy it as well as the rest.

After we got into camp, things looked rather bad. The Orderly was so he could not perform his business & I had to take his place. The men were growling about the living [food]. I acted till yesterday, then he took the place. By this time, they had all got satisfied tolerable well in our camp but the Lead Mine Regiment had directed a spree, tore down the fence, told Old Tucker he might kiss their foot, and so on. It was on the account of passes. And after they got through, the Fusileers took it into their head they must have a time & so they tore the fence down—10 rods [of it] and burned it up. They also raised up seven flags on their barracks & they still wave. Theirs was on the account of pay. You know what they thought of getting & could only get 13 per month with 40 cents per day when they worked. All of their regimental officers have resigned. I think the whole regiment will bust up.

One word of ourselves. We have moved down in the Douglas Quarters. We had to either go in infantry or leave that regiment so we chose the latter. We now are in Bell’s Cavalry—all but some three or four. They will go into the infantry. It is not much trouble now to move, We have got use to it.

And now I will tell you the reason I feel better than a man. I now am writing on a desk that is made as I wanted to fix it. Before I had no place. It’s built as it should be.

Edward Avery [Averly] came in with me & now sleeps with me. But I write what I started this letter for—that you should be sick till after New Years if possible. This is providing you are well or are likely soon to be which I hope is so. Now stay as before anyway. Should the Lieutenant come out, be so sick that you cannot get back.

So praise my good writing & let me hear of you soon. My well wishes to all. Yours as ever, — J. K. Bullock

Washington is all straight [?] but mean as ever.

18th South Carolina Infantry, Siege of Petersburg

1864: William B. Elrod & Drury Edward King to Samuel Elrod & family

October 19, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

The author of this letter was William B. Elrod (1825-Aft1873), the son of Samuel Elrod (1797-1885) and Mildred (“Milly”) Gurthey (1799-1888) of Mountain Springs, Anderson County, South Carolina. William enlisted in Co. D, 18th South Carolina Infantry late in 1861. In signing the letter, William added the name of Drury “Edward” King (1839-1915), a comrade in Co. D who served as his 2nd Lt. and came from the same vicinity in Anderson county. Samuel’s Last Will & Testament (Ancestry.com), signed in 1873 by his mark, confirms that both William B. and Benjamin (“Ben”) Douthit Elrod (1831-1879) were his sons and Drury Edward King was his son-in-law. Drury married Nellie Caroline (“Carrie”) Elrod (1839-1917) in 1866. A letter written by Edward King to his aunt, Elizabeth Barkley is housed at the Atlanta History Center. It speaks of the hardships endured by the soldiers towards the end of the war.

*A postwar rendering of Drury Edward King and his wife, Carrie (Elrod) King*

The 18th South Carolina was part of Elliott’s South Carolina Brigade Brigade which belonged to Brig. Gen. Bushrod Johnson’s Division. The content of this letter pertains to the movements of the regiment as Confederate troops were shifted south towards Petersburg from the Howlett line to confront Grant’s flank movement across the James River at Weyanoke Point on 14 June 1864. Some six weeks later the 18th South Carolina, alongside the 22nd South Carolina, would find themselves holding Elliott’s Salient in the Petersburg defenses when the Union Army detonated the mine beneath their works, disabling more than 200 of its men and killing 108 from the 18th South Carolina alone. [See Co. D Roster]

I have previously transcribed one other letter by a member of this same company. See—1862: Martin Van Buren Barkley to Josiah M. Barkley.

I wish to thank my friend Brett Schulte of The Siege of Petersburg Facebook page for assistance in nailing down the regiment and the identities of the two soldiers who signed their names to this letter. He tells me that he used the new Google Gemini Argon as his research tool for this task.

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

Petersburg, Virginia
June 21st 1864

Dear Father, Mother, Sisters & Friends,

We take the present chance of writing you a few lines which may inform you that through the mercies of a kind Providence we are still alive and tolerably well and hope these lines may reach and find you all in good health. You may think this a strange way of writing, but our condition is such we have to do the best we can and feel thankful we are even as well off as we are. We got your letter of the 7th and was truly glad to hear from you. At the time we received your letter, we were in the trenches some 6 miles north of Petersburg and remained till last Thursday morning [16 June] when we were ordered to Petersburg.

We left the trenches just before day and came to Petersburg and was put in line of battle about 10 o’clock in rear of the main line as reserves and so remained all day. In the evening they began fighting and fought for a long time very hard but our men repulsed them. That night we moved back about a mile and worked all night on breastworks and just before dat we started back to our position.

About day break [17 June] the Yankees made a charge on our men and captured nearly a brigade of our men. ¹ Then we moved on to the front and we met men coming back and they said it would not be but a little while till we would be falling back too. So everyone thought we were going right into the hardest kind of a fight. But they marched us up and gave us our position now under fire of the enemy. They gave us some tools and we went to throwing up breastworks with all our might and it was not long till we had our works that would protect us very well. Each side kept cannonading and picket firing all day till near sun down. The Yankees made a charge on our line just to our left in sight of us and drove our men from their breastworks. We are now ordered to support them, or rather protect a battery. So we left our works amidst a storm of bomb shells and come minié balls. But we did not go far till we were ordered to lie down where we were not quite so much exposed except some sharpshooters balls that wounded some of our men

I will now say two of our boys were wounded about the time of our leaving our breastworks. I am sorry to say Noel is one of the wounded but I am glad to tell you from what I learn, his wound is slight—being a flesh wound just above the knee. Spencer Carter ² was wounded slightly in fingers. Those are all [the wounded] in our company. Some others in the regiment were killed.

But we did not stay in our exposed condition as above related but a short time when we were moved back to our works though they kept shelling of us rapidly. The hardest of the fighting was done to our left. It now became evident that Gen. Beauregard’s little army was fighting Grant’s and Butler’s combined [army] and they were too hard for us. So Friday night [17 June], about midnight, our army fell back about a mile to a new position.

Now we had no breastworks and it [was] nearly day [break on 18 June] and we didn’t know when Grant’s army would be on us. But they gave us tools—shovels, picks, and spades—and every fellow fell to work for life, tired and weak as we were for you may have some idea of our condition when I tell you we had been working night and day from the fight of the 20th. ³ Sometimes it would 4 and 5 nights a man wouldn’t get any sleep except a little nap. But by 10 o’clock we had thrown up pretty good breastworks. And after 12 o’clock the Yankees begun to come. They made a charge in front of our regiment but you may depend we sent them back in a hurry—those that were not killed and wounded. Later in the evening they made another charge to our left and they were sent back and a goodly number of them to eternity.

It is now late Saturday evening [and we are] getting good news as from a far country. Behold, here comes General Lee and his army—some 60,000—and they relieved us from the ditches that night and we have been resting since that time. How long we will stay here is unknown to us. The most of the boys are tolerably well. [Brother] Ben [Elrod] is well.

So will close our letter for this time as it is getting dark. Write soon and give us all the news. May the good Lord save and preserve us. No more but remain your son and friend till death. — W. B. Elrod & D. E. King

Remember us in your prayers. Excuse bad writing. I expect Noel will soon be at home.

¹ This is undoubtedly a reference to the dawn attack of June 17, 1864 in which Union troops under General James H. Potter (of the 9th Corps) broke through Confederate lines at Hickory Hill and captured roughly 600 individual Confederate prisoners, four cannons, and five flags.

² Thomas “Spencer” Carter (1832-1907) served as a private in Co. D, 18th South Carolina. He’s a little hard to track down because his name, apparently, was actually Thomas Spencer Cartee but frequently spelled in civil and military records as Carter. An image of Spencer (with all of his fingers) and his family can be found on Find-A-Grave. That site gives his parents as Caleb Wade Cartee (1790-1871) and Elizabeth Slaton (1800-1879).

³ Probably a reference to the fighting at Ware Bottom Church on May 20, 1864.

Camp Chase Prison

1862: Camp Chase–A Southern Poem

October 19, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

The author and date of this poem are unknown. It was found among the Bestor Family letters of Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor communicated with a number of Confederate Prisoners of War, offering them aid and comfort as she sought information about her twin sons who served the Confederacy in Stonewall Jackson’s army. The poem is not particularly eloquent.

*George Downs of the Moccasin Rangers, later serving as a Major in the 19th Virginia Cavalry*

In my opinion, the author of this poem was a member of Capt. George Downs’ Moccasin Rangers—a loose Confederate partisan organization operating in Calhoun, Braxton, Webster, and Roane counties. I can’t explain the reference to “Thompson’s Command” though he might have meant Trimble’s command. It was Major George C. Trimble commanding the 11th (West) Virginia Infantry that operated against Down’s Moccasin Rangers in 1862. George Downs was captured at Big Bend on 2 July 1862 along with Capt. William Harris, Seth Rogers, Newton Ratcliff, James Morgan, and Rev. Wayne Kennedy, among others. They were confined at Camp Chase and not exchanged until November 1862.

The poem also refers to the Confederate attack on Sutton on 29 December 1861 forcing the Union garrison of 100 troopers (Co. K, 1st Virginia Cavalry) to skedaddle, leaving their stores, much of which was subsequently burned. Among the Confederates attacking Sutton were George Downs and Capt. John Sprigg. I suspect this poem dates to the autumn of 1862, possibly as late as November given that the last two words of the poem are “full mouth” which may have been a play on the word “Falmouth.”

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

Camp Chase

500 poor Yankees of Thompson’s Command

Went down the Kanawha as far as the bend

Downs’ 27 line well concealed

We lost but one man, 14 we did kill.

Those Yanks at Sutton they talk very large

On the last of December them we did charge

We commenced them quite early, we give them warm play

They left all but their horses and they run away.

Was there ever so sad and so lonely a place

On this face of this earth as this horrible Camp Chase

While stay we here idle although we are bound

We have nothing to do but to scratch up the ground.

We could cut a pine plank in two in a minute

If someone only would begin it

And then skedaddle away from the place

Then bid farewell to the walls of Camp Chase.

We are wanting Old Jeff and Old Abe to arrange

Some plan to effect a general exchange

And if they do fail, then we’ll skedaddle

And then for Dixie’s Land we’ll all travel.

And as we go back, we’ll ask of Stone Jack

I think by these means we’ll stop this Curswill

The Yanks they will to nothing down drill

And when Old Abe finds he can’t whip the South

He’ll go straight home and shut up his full mouth.

19th Century Maritime Shipping

1861: William Stone, Jr. to Benjamin Stone

October 17, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

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

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

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

Letter 1

Salem, [Massachusetts]
April 5th, 1861

Dear Benjamin.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I got to Boston this morning.

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

Letter 2

Salem, [Massachusetts]
April 29th, 1861

Dear Benjamin,

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

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

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

Yours truly, — W. S, Jun.

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

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

Peninsula Campaign, Southern Poetry

1862: “On to Richmond” — a Southern Poem

October 16, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

We have the Navy, we have the men

We are bound to Richmond

To storm the Rebel den.

chorus

On to Richmond early in the morning

On to Richmond, I heard the Yankees say.

We’11 storm them on the North

We’ll storm them on the South

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

On to Richmond, &c., &c.

But Lee was in the center

Jackson in the rear

On the right and left did noble Hill appear.

On to Richmond, &c.

Longstreet they had to travel

Branch they had to cross

McGruder turned about and gave the Yankees gass.

On to Richmond, &c.

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

The Yankees wheeled about

And changed the battle cry.

chorus

Off from Richmond early in the morning

Driven to your gunboats, Run boys run.

The Palmetto rebels are on our trail

The South Carolina devils

will ride us on a rail.

Off from Richmond, &c.

Florida is hunting all through the bush

The rebels are in earnest

Push boys, push.

Off from Richmond, &c.

Louisiana Tigers, Butler is their cry

Texan bloody rangers

Fly boys, fly.

Off from Richmond, &c.

Never mind your knapsack

Never mind your gun

Fighting with the rebels is anything but fun.

Off from Richmond, &c.

A farm is the promise

and each man a slave

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

Off from Richmond, &c.

Lincoln is a humbug

McClellan is a fool

Seward is a scholar of the Horace Greeley School.

Off from Richmond, &c.

Baltimore, Maryland, Flag of Truce Letter

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

October 15, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

[partial letter, page 5]

[Written in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1864]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20th Virginia Cavalry, Fort Delaware, Prisoner of War

1865: James William Andrew Ford to John Rollin Bestor

October 15, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

Letter 1

*Directed to John Rollin Bestor, Baltimore, Maryla*nd

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

Friend Bestor

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

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

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

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

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

Letter 2

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

Dear Bestor,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Antebellum Illinois, Antebellum Travel, Erie Canal

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

October 14, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

Aurora, Kane County, Illinois
October 11, 1846

Dear friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Sowing winter wheat by horseback in a standing cornfield*

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

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

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

Excuse all mistakes.

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

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

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

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

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

1861: Lewis Latham to Andrew Jackson Wagnon

October 14, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alabama, Randolph County
August 4, 1861

Dear brother and sister,

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

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

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

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

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

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

[to] A J Wagnon and family

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

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