The following letter was written by Charles Henry Taylor (1846-1921) of Co. F, 38th Massachusetts Infantry who was wounded in the 14 June 1863 (2nd) assault on Port Hudson. In that assault, the 38th was brigaded with the 31st and 53rd Massachusetts, as well as the 156th New York under the command of Col. Oliver P. Gooding in Brig. Gen. Halbert Paine’s 3rd Division of the 19th Army Corps.

The regimental history of the 38th informs us that the regiment along with the 53rd, were exposed “to a severe fire” in the assault on Port Hudson and the men fell “thick and fast…the nature of the ground rendered it impossible to keep a line and the four advance regiments (which included the 8th Wisconsin and the 8th New Hampshire) soon became completely mixed up.” Hand-grenades that had been distributed to some of the men to throw into the enemies works proved “a complete failure and had been thrown back by the enemy to make sad havoc” in [the Union] ranks. “More than one third of the 38th and one quarter of the 53rd lay wounded and dying on the hills and ravines” pinned down until darkness when the scattered survivors finally withdrew from the field.

From this letter we learn that Charles was among the wounded of the 38th Massachusetts and we also learn the details of the death of a private named George Armstrong, a 19 year-old private from Gardiner, Ulster county, New York, who served as a private in Co. E, 156th New York Infantry. The company roster records George as having been wounded in the assault on Port Hudson on 14 June 1863 but attributes his death on 18 September 1863 to “disease” rather than due to his battle wound—a shell fragment to the forehead. The letter to George’s mother, in response to one received asking for the particulars of her son’s death, was penned by Charles from his home in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he was recovering from his wound and awaiting a discharge from the service.

Charles was born in Boston in 1846 and was employed as a compositor on the Boston Traveler when he enlisted in the 38th Massachusetts. After his discharge, he studied shorthand and became a reporter for the same newspaper. He later became secretary to Gov. Claflin and a member of the Massachusetts legislature. In 1873 he became the editor of the Boston Globe and was the first Vice President of the Associated Press in 1905.

George (1846-1863) was the son of Joshua Armstrong (1811-1895) and Eliza Dingee (1826-1916) of Gardiner, Ulster county, New York. It should be noted that George’s father, Joshua, served with him in the same company and survived the war. In the following letter, Charles indicates that he gave to Joshua the bible that George carried with him. No doubt it was Joshua who informed his wife that more particulars of their son’s death might be obtained by writing to Charles.

[Note: For a good article on battle, see “Assault on Port Hudson, a Terrible Fight for Duxbury Soldiers.”]

Transcription

Charlestown [Massachusetts]
December 15, 1863, Tuesday evening

Dear Madam,

I have just received your letter this evening. You supposed I was in New Orleans. I was lucky enough to get a furlough and I have been at home now nearly two months. I have just got my old letters that were directed to the regiment. I suppose you have been wondering why I did not answer your letter. I can sympathize with you as I can realize how my mother would feel under the same circumstances. I readily excuse the liberty you took in writing to mem and I will try and answer your questions with regard to your son’s death.

I got acquainted with George last June in the hospital. We were wounded on the same day and sent to the same hospital. Although not in the same regiment, we were in the same brigade. I think that George was fully worthy of the esteem in which he was held by his friends at home. No mother need feel ashamed of George Armstrong as far as I have known him. He was always very conscientious and was in my belief fully prepared to die. I hope and trust that when I come to die, I shall be as well prepared as I think your son was.

We all thought as you did with regard to his getting well of his wound. I thought it strange that his head never ached. He appeared well up to within twenty-eight hours of his death. He wound was right on his forehead, not under his hair, but on the right hand side of his head. It was not any larger than a five-cent piece and he never complained of his head until the night preceding his death. We were playing cards merely for pleasure to pass away time (I never played for money in my life) and George was sitting on my bed and he said he would go to bed as his head ached (this was at about eight). At ten he was taken with fits up to the time he died. I do not think he was conscious of anything happening around him. He seemed to be in a sort of stupor and once on about six hours he has a sort of a fit. His brain was affected inside of his wound. It was called by the doctor an abscess on the brain.

You wanted to know if he died in a fit. He did not. He passed away as sweetly and calmly as though he had been sleeping. We hardly knew when he was dead—he looked so peaceful and sweet. We did not know it in fact until we found his limbs cold and stiffening. He was the sweetest and best-looking corpse I ever beheld and I have seen a great many. I was about the same age that he was and that made us think more of each other. He seemed quite pleased at the prospect of a furlough or a discharge and I know he would have been glad to have come home. His discharge had been applied for. He never said much to me on the subject of Christianity. I think he was a true and devoted Christian. He was constantly reading his Bible and showed by his speech and behavior that he had been with the Savior. There were many good men (many of them ministers) that came in to talk to us and we had quite a number of good books to read. George had some which I gave to his father with his Bible. The last words that I heard George speak rationally were the words, “I am tired, my head aches tonight and I guess I will go to bed,” The next day while in that sort of stupor I spoke of, he wanted to look in the glass and the nurse let him.

The reason I was in the hospital was because I was wounded in the right shoulder by a musket ball. It went down into my side, partially paralyzing my right arm and I expect to get discharged on it here at home, the ball being still in me. It was a piece of a shell that struck your son. I am thankful I gave my heart to Christ before I was called into such scenes as it has been my lot to pass through. ¹

I believe I have written an answer to all your questions. I would that I could better satisfy your heart, but I feel that I cannot. If you see fit to answer this and wish to know of anything more, I will cheerfully answer you to the extent of my ability. I trust that God will give you strength to bear your affliction with Christian fortitude. Receive this from your sincere friend and well wisher, — Charles H. Taylor, Charlestown, Mass.

Directions 66 Ferrin Street.

¹ Lewis Josselyn also served in the 38th Massachusetts and wrote the following in a letter addressed to his parents the day after the June 14th assault on Port Hudson. “The ground that lay between us was all hills and gullies or ravines as we call them , and trees were fell in all directions over the whole space, excepting in one place where there was a kind of road, the road we afterwards learned the rebels had got a cannon mounted so as to rake it, so up the road we went at the double quick the rebs pouring a perfect torrent of bullets upon us. They saw it was no use for us to go up, for every one of us would be killed so they ordered us to lay down, it was here that our Colonel was killed as you probably have heard, he had just got an order from the General when he was shot and died almost instantly. There were many others killed but it was a wonder that there was not more, for there was bullets flying by the bushel, we got in the best place we could until dark and then retreated…” See: Civil War Talk 7 August 2018.