My friend John Banks sent me the following message recently and asked if I would be willing to share it on Spared & Shared.
“I recently received from a family member a remarkable cache of photos and letters pertaining to Lt. Col. Henry Burton Stone (1827-1863) of the 5th Connecticut who suffered a severe thigh wound at Cedar Mountain on Aug. 9, 1862, and died months later in captivity in Charlottesville, Va. Stone was initially buried there and then removed for final burial in Culpeper National Cemetery, presumably after the war.
In addition to a letter from Stone to his wife while he lay in captivity, there are two remarkable letters from Confederate surgeon John S. Davis to friends of Stone back in Connecticut. They detail the care for Stone, his final days, etc.—heartrending stuff. I wrote a short story on Stone in my second book, but to my knowledge the letters have never appeared anywhere in their entirety. I also wrote a short article on Lt. Col. Henry B. Stone on my Civil War Blog entitled, “Wounded at Cedar Mountain, officer ‘sleeps on the enemy’s soil.'”
The small collection includes a sixth-plate ruby ambrotype of Stone in uniform, a pre-war image of Stone; two images of his sons, Melville and Theodore; two letters from the Confederate surgeon, John S. Davis, who treated him while in captivity until his death; and a letter from Stone to wife while he lay in captivity. There is also a family image that is poor.”
Letter 1
In Hospital at Charlottesville, Va.
September 16, 1862
My Dear Wife,
As I have an opportunity to send a line by a man that starts for home in the morning, I thought I would scribble you a few lines with a pencil and send along by him, trusting you may receive it.
I am still laying here on my back suffering continual pain waiting patiently for my wound to heal. I suppose if everything gets along as well as usual, I shall have to lay here in this position about 4 weeks longer when they will take it out of the splint and allow me to move about more in bed. I hope in two or three months to be able to hobble about on crutches if no other disease takes hold of me.
How anxious I am to hear from some of you and about the regiment. How many were killed and wounded? I know nothing about it—only what I saw before I was shot. I am anxious to know if my horses and trunk and baggage were saved and sent home. The loss of them would be the loss of 6 or 7 hundred dollars or more. Doct. Bennett promised to look after them if occasion should require, and probably did, if not killed or wounded.
How anxious I am to get able to be paroled (if they parole officers now). But I must wait patiently and so must you. I wish you would get. Mr. Montgomery or Doct. Brown to write a letter and try and send it through by Flag of Truce. I know there are some come that way and it would do me so much good to receive news from home.
My kind regards to all my friends. Tell them I am gaining slowly and send my dear wife and children love and a thousand kisses for you all. Your husband, — H. B. Stone
Letter 2
wounded 5th Connecticut officer Henry Stone.
(Special Collections, University of Virginia Library)
General Hospital
Charlottesville [Virginia]
January 21st 1863
Wm. A. Montgomery, Esq.,
Sir, I am sorry to inform you that Lieut. Colonel Henry B. Stone of the 5th Connecticut is dead. He expired day before yesterday (the 19th) retaining entire possession of his reason to the last, &, for the closing week of his life, entirely free from pain. He had been sustained under the profuse discharge from the wound, by nutritious food, & when his appetite failed, he could no longer support it. You probably know that his right thigh bone was shattered near the middle by a minié ball & that the broken ends persistently refused to unite.
Forty-eight hours before his death, he sent for me & dictated a message to you which I wrote down in pencil at the time and now copy.
“Tell him that I am running down very fast and probably will not last many day. Let him break the news to my wife as gently as possible. As he has attended to my business altogether, I wish him to see to it now, & to my pay being drawn. Also to the settling up my business & the management of my affairs for the best interests of my wife and family. I have written previously as to the disposition of my estate, and at various times to my wife. It would have been a great consolation to have heard from home since I have been here. I wish my wife to do the best she can under the circumstances. I had hoped to return home & bring up my family, the children being at that age now when they need a father’s care and attention, but there is a merciful Father in Heaven who has always watched over us and in Him I now put my trust, knowing that He can do far better by them than I can. I have been well treated by everyone since I have been here.”
I remarked to him that apart from the claim of humanity, the testimony of the families who had been left beyond our lines, that his conduct to them had been in honorable contrast with that of other Federal officers, never forgetting the obligations of a Christian gentleman toward those who were helpless & in his power had stimulated our attention to his comfort & our efforts to save him. He left $45.10 in Confederate money which will be held subject to your order, as also a plain gold ring inscribed “F. W.” which I removed from his finger after his death. His grave has been marked so that his remains can be removed at the close of the war.
Your obedient servant, — J. S. Davis, Confederate Surgeon
The difficulty & uncertainty of transmitting letters by Flag of Truce us such (not one having ever reached Colonel Stone during his long confinement) and I deem it so desirable that this one should reach its destination that I have determined to entrust it to a private hand and Mrs. Jeff [smudged], the wife of a Maryland gentleman who had manifested and interest in the Colonel, being about to visit her parents and child in Baltimore, having kindly offered to take charge of it. I hope you will receive it safely.
Letter 3
General Hospital
Charlottesville [Virginia]
February 21, 1863
Dr. E. A. Brown,
Dear sir, your letter of the 4th inst., inquiring the condition of Lieut. Col. Stone, has just reached me. I am sorry to inform you that he died here on the 20th of January. Immediately after, I wrote at some length to Mr. Montgomery of Danburg, communicating such facts as I thought might interest the friends of the deceased & conveying certain messages which he entrusted to me when he saw that his death was approaching. Feeling more than usual anxiety that the letter should reach its destination, & having learned by experience that the “Flag of Truce” is uncertain, I gave it to a Maryland lady whose husband had been very kind to the Colonel, and who, having been long separated from her child in Baltimore, was about to attempt her return. She promised to mail it as soon as she passed the Federal lines, & but for her detention it would long since have been received. I am hopeful that it may arrive soon.
Overwhelmed with business, I fear that my memory will not enable me to reproduce its contents. I recollect he requested “Mr. Montgomery” to settle up his affairs, to draw his arrears of pay from the government, and to manage his estate for the benefit of his widow and children. He expressed entire resignation to his fate, & cheerfully entrusted to the covenant care of his God the interests of those whom he left in sorrow. Throughout his long confinement he had received the same care and attention that we bestow on Confederate soldiers and strenuous efforts were made to stimulate the failing appetite which hastened, if it did not occasion, the fatal result.
As winter approached, I replenished his scanty wardrobe with woolen garments left by the late Major Savage of the 2nd Massachusetts.
As regards his wound, the right thigh bone was broken near its middle (and the upper fragment split) by a minié ball which passed entirely through. As soon as he arrived from the field, the limb was adjusted in Smith’s Anterior Wire Splint (two weeks having already elapsed since the battle & the swelling & inflammation having subsided) and this apparatus was employed to the last—but although it rendered him comfortable & kept the fragments immovable, they refused to unite. Examination after death revealed the reason of this failure in the presence of small fragments of led embedded in the broken bone.
His grave has been marked. The money in Confederate notes found on his person was deposited in bank for his family & a plain gold ring which I removed from his finger before he was placed in the coffin is preserved by me until an opportunity presents itself of returning it to his wife.
As my previous letter may never reach Danbury, I will repeat an observation contained therein—that Col. Stone was treated by us while he lived & his memory is respected now as an officer who protected from wanton insult and oppression the helpless families we were compelled to leave within the lines of the enemy.
Requesting that you will transmit to “Dr. Wm. C. Bennett” such portions of this communication as you think will interest him, I am, Sir, yours &c. — J. S. Davis, Surgeon in the Confederate Army
Spared & Shared 23 