The following letters were written by Pvt. Benjamin Franklin (“Frank”) Cook (1841-1924) of Co. A, 25th Illinois Volunteers. His muster records inform us that he was a single, 20 year-old farmer with dark hair and blue eyes from Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois and that he towered over his comrades at 6 foot 3 inches tall. He entered the service on 1 June 1861 and remained with them until 19 August 1863 when he transferred into the 1st USCT at Winchester, Tennessee.
Frank’s parents were Enos Cook and Malinda Harris of Vermilion county, Illinois. He wrote the letter to his cousin, Josephine Cook (1847-1924), the daughter of Henderson Cook and Lucinda Trout of Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois.
Frank’s second letter mentions briefly the Battle of Pea Ridge that was fought on 7-8 March 1862 near Elkhorn Tavern in Arkansas. “Many of our bravest men fell, ” he told his cousin, adding, “I saw the noble-hearted soldiers laying upon the battlefield with their heads and arms shot off, weltering in their blood. Upon the Rebel side the slaughter was tremendous.”
The first four letters in this collection were written while Frank served in the 25th Illinois Infantry; the last four letters were written after he had transferred out of the regiment to accept a commission as a lieutenant in Co. E, 12th United Stated Colored Troops (USCT).
[Note : These letters are from the Sic Parvis Magna, Gratias Jesu Collection and remain in private hands. They were made available expressly for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared.]
Letter 1
St. Louis [Missouri]
August 16th 1861
Dear Cousin,
I had not forgotten your folks but I cannot write to all my friends at once, nor very often. I happened to have a little leisure [time] this evening and I thought you would like to hear from us so I take my seat on the ground under my tent and using a little box for a table, I proceed to write you a few lines in a great hurry to tell you how we are getting along here in this land of slaves.
We are now encamped at the Arsenal Park, St. Louis. We live in tents made out of muslin. They are about 8 feet long and 7 feet wide and run up to a sharp top. We have to stoop down to get into them. There is seven of us occupying one tent. Some of them have 10 men crowded into them so that you can guess that we haven’t much room for kitchen or parlor.
I saw a letter just now that you wrote to Edgar [Jackson] in which you stated that you heard that we had to eat sea crackers and water. That is not so. We did have to live on sea crackers one night but we have plenty to eat now. Some of the boys grumble at what they have to eat or rather the quantity which they have to do on. The reason of that is they have lost their appetites and found a dogs in place of their own. We have a negro hired to cook for us all. He charges 70 cents per month for each man. We have first rate beds to sleep on. They are made out of our blankets spread down on the soft side of a plank or the ground with a little straw sprinkled over it. We feel first rate of a morning when we get up off of our beds.
Uncle Sam gave us a nice blue blanket apiece and a pair of new shoes, a splendid gun, and numerous other little presents. We got the guns last night. We have to drill three hours each day and stand on guard once in a while. I was on guard last night. Sylvester [Cook] is on today. This is the hardest work that we have to do. Maybe you would like to know what we do when we are not on duty? Well we can’t do much of anything the most of the time for there is so much noise all around us. Some of the boys are playing cards. Others are singing, some doing one thing and one another. Sometimes they have prayer meeting. Sometimes a dance. There are plenty of fiddlers in the regiment. Of Sundays we have preaching. But I can’t tell you anymore at present.
Tell John to be a good boy. Tell Uncle Thomas’s folks that I wish them all well but can’t write to them at present. I remain your affectionate cousin, — B. F. Cook
Write
Dear Uncle, I thought perhaps that in addition to what ideas you might gather from Josephine’s letter I would give you a few from yesterday’s proceedings which might be interesting to you. Yesterday morning St, Louis was put under martial law. Last night we expected a muss. Consequently our regiment was armed and the guards were doubled. I was on guard at the arsenal on the south wall next to the river. During the day there was 7,000 troops passed up the rive to St. Louis where they took the cars as we supposed for Springfield in the state. There was three prisoners brought ito the Arsenal yesterday. You must excuse this horrible writing for therer are two boys waiting for the paper that I write with. Tell father that I received his letter and was very grateful for the change and will answer as soon as I can. Yours, — B. F. Cook
Letter 2
Camp Welfrey, Arkansas
March 16th 1862
Dear Cousin Josephine,
As I have not written to you for a long time, I thought that I would write you a short letter and tell you how we are getting along. Well we have seen some pretty hard times since we left Rolla in Missouri. We have marched about three hundred miles over all kinds of road and all kinds of weather. We have marched from morning till night over frozen ground while the snow was falling thick and fast upon us, and at night have no bed except our blankets spread down upon the cold, damp ground. And again we have marched all day through mud and rain, and at night had to cut brush or gather up cornstalks to keep our blankets out of the mud.
We have always had plenty to eat so far when we have had time to cook. When Uncle Sam can’t get provisions to us, we have to take it from the inhabitants, but when they are at home we always leave them enough to do them a while. A great many of them have left their homes and gone south leaving almost everything they possessed. When this is the case, we don’t leave them much.
A few days ago we fought a great battle and won a great victory. Many of our bravest men fell. I saw the noble-hearted soldiers laying upon the battlefield with their heads and arms shot off, weltering in their blood. Upon the Rebel side the slaughter was tremendous. But I have not time to tell you much about the battle. If you will go to our house, you can read a letter which I wrote to father in which I described the battle more fully.
Well, Josephine, I suppose that you are going to school. If you are, my advice to you is to learn all you can for you can hardly appreciate the value of an education now but when you are your own woman, you will then see its value. How I wish that I could be at school now instead of being out here in Arkansas.
Tell John that I said for him to be a good boy and go to school and make a man of himself in spite of the world. And tell Katy that she must be a good girl and when I come home, I will bring her and Emma some nice presents. Give my love to your mother and father and tell them to write to me. And write to me yourself.
I remain your affectionate cousin, — B. F. Cook
P. S. You must forgive me for not paying postage for we can’t get stamps out here. Direct your letters to St. Louis in care of Captain Clark of the 25th Illinois Volunteers.
Letter 3
Nashville, Tennessee
November 17th 1862
Dear Cousin Josephine,
As I have a little time this evening, I will try to write you a letter, but you must not think strange if it does not amount to much for I cannot find very much to write about at this time. Our present camp is situated on the northern bank of the Cumberland river, just opposite the City of Nashville. We received our tents a few days ago and are now pretty well fixed for living in regular soldier style and you may guess that the 25th Illinois boys know about as well how to make themselves comfortable when they have a half chance as the most of soldiers.
It is supposed by the General Commanding our Division (Gen. Jeff C. Davis) that we will hold this post all winter. If this be so, we will have a good time this fall putting up our winter quarters. I am in hopes, however, that the tarnel war will end before Christmas for I want to come home and take dinner at your house on that day. I often wish that I could be at your mother’s table and eat of her good cookeries when we are scarce of hard bread and pork. I will tell you what we had for dinner today which was a little extra. We had cornbread and meat and stewed pumpkins. Coffee bean. Was not that a splendid dinner?
Josephine, you must not think that I am grumbling at the fare for I am as hearty as a bear. I weighed the other day one hundred and eighty pounds. Don’t you think I am a “big boy” for certain? If we stay here till after we get our pay, I intend to get my picture taken and send it home so that you can all see me for I am afraid I will not get to come home very soon.
Elwood Hadden was here just now. He belongs to McNutt’s Company in the 73rd Illinois. He says that Marquis Hawes is very sick and is expecting his father to see him. I suppose that George Baker, James Hall, and Clark Brant are at home by this time as they started some time ago. Those fellows in the new regiments are not very well satisfied. They are nearly all homesick. They have not learned how to take a joke cooly like the old soldiers. If the 25th Illinois boys can get plenty to eat and wear, and plenty of fighting to do, they never grumble.
Sylvestor [Cook] is well and considers himself as good as the best of them. Alonzo and Edgar [Jackson] is learning to play on a bugle. I believe that all of our boys are well except John Ryan. He I believe is getting a discharge from the service.
Tell Katy that I often think of her and when I come home I intend to bring her and Emma a nice present. Tell John that he is big enough to write a letter and I would like to read one from him very much. Give my love to your mother and father and all the folks. Your cousin, — B. F. Cook
Letter 4
[Nashville, Tennessee]
[December 1862]
Sunday night
Well JOsephine, while I am here “away down in Tennessee” in my old smoky tent trying to write you a letter, where are you? Are you at church where the pretty girls always go? Are you at home with Pa, Ma, Katy and Johnny and little “Sigel” talking over the events of the day, cravking hickory nuts or reading some nice book? I am all alone except our colored [ ] Cane, the cook, and he is so sound asleep that he don’t know his head from a washtub. The horns are blowing and the drums are beating Tattoo which means for everybody to go to bed. But they may blow their brains out and beat their drum heads in. I am not going to bed till I finish this letter.
As you told me how you was getting along at school, I must tell you how I am getting along with the war. There are two fellows in my mess besies me and “Cane”—the quartermaster’s clerk, and Joseph Carson, my assistant. Wright is a first rate little fellow. So is Carson. But Cane—he is blacker than—well, I can’t think of anything as black as “Cane” unless it would be a stack of “black cats.” But Cane is not so bad as he is black. He can make very good bread and not get one bit of black into it for you see the black won’t rub off. But I’ll tell you what is so. He burned some of the black off of one of his hands one day and he was very proud of it, So much so that he kept it—the white spot—tied up in a rag for a long time. Our mess, you see, is very small. Consequently we get along finely. I will try to content myself with this mess until the war ends. Then I intend to start a new mess entirely. I won’t have but one person in it. If you see any right pretty and smart young lady, just tell her about me. She must be a good cook for I intend to turn Cane off when I start the new mess for I can’t afford to have more than two cooks in my mess after I leave Uncle Sam. I will be one cook; she the other.
Tell Katy I would like very much to see her “Little Sigel” and that I intend to bring her a present when I come home from the war. Tell your mother that as I can’t be at her Christmas feast this year, to invite the biggest eater in yours to eat my share for no common little man could fill the bill. Tell John to have all the fun he can on Christmas day but not make himself sick.
Write soon. From your cousin, — B. F. Cook
Letter 5
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
February 9th 1863
Dear cousin Josephine,
I have just finished reading your very interesting letter bearing date February 1st 1863 and have seated myself to answer it as well as I can. So,Josephine, while you are at home surrounded by your little brother, sister, Mother and Father, never think that I am traveling over any trouble whatever. I never voluntarily draw a damper over my feelings on any account. I have learned long since to make the best of everything. If the sun shines and everything seems bright and lovely, I try to make my feelings accord with nature. In other words, to appreciate God’s blessings. On the other hand, if clouds of darkness gather round me, and new troubles and difficulties place themselves in my path, I only summon all my courage and make one grand charge right over them but never despond. Gloominess only visits those who accept her company.
We had a grand ball here on New Years. It lasted several days and I assure you, we had a lively time of it—one that will not be soon forgotten as it carried sorrow to many a mother’s heart. Many, many have youths yielded up their lives to sutain our glorious cause and rescue from the grasp of traitors our Nation’s emblems.
Our company was very fortunate, it is true. Yet it was not unscathed. Poor George Brady received his death warrant here. Thomas Agnew is fearfully wounded. So is Mike Beckel. They—poor fellows—will never again respond to the bugle’s call. Other too were hurt but not so seriously as those I have mentioned.
I am pleased to hear that you have a good school and I exhort you, Josephine, to improve your opportunity to learn, for you can place no value upon an education. It is beyond price. It is no fault of your teacher that he requires you to write compositions for you can do nothing else so much calculated to improve your language and strengthen your mind. I also think that the teacher acts very judiciously in giving you the subject on which he wishes you to write as this enables you to set your mind immediately to work upon the subject instead of sending it out in search of some favorite theme. Besides, you by this means acquire a habit of writing upon the subject, or any subject, placed before your mind for consideration. Would to God that my opportunities for receiving an education had not been cut short so soon. I can conceive of nothing that would give me so much pleasure today as to be allowed the privilege of returning to school for the little learning which I had already acquired affords me more happiness than all other things. Besides, for htis reason, I lose as little time as I can even while I am in the army. I always find something to study in my leisure hours. At present, I am studying Abercrombie’s Mental Philosophy. I find it rather interesting but not as good a work as Upham’s which I studied before I left home.
Tell your mother that she was quite welcome to the picture or I would not have sent it, but if she exhibits it as you said and some of the fair ones should fall in love with it, I shall have to acknowledge myself under a thousand obligations for I have spent no little pains to induce someone to fall in love with the original, but all in vain. However, I shall feel more hopeful in the future as you think the girls are all determined to have soldiers for husbands. But I fear you underestimate the value of promising young lads at home. They may be worth more than you think for.
As to my mess, it has changed some since I wrote you before. Old Cane has left us. Our present cook is a young fellow with black hair, black eyes, and (I had like to have said rosy cheeks) fat cheeks—his face is as round as the full moon. We have plenty to eat and drink. Plenty of clothes and good beds to sleep on. In short, we have a huge old time. Excuse me, I forgot to mention our other boy. He is as black as any other nigger. We keep him to do chores and sing for us. He is a jolly Nig. I guess that considering all things, I can stand it the war out—especially as you promise to give me a pretty mess mate when I come home.
Tell Jane Smith that I will consider her case, but I had much rather here from her personally as I would be much better enabled to judge how smart she is by her correspondence. As to her qualities as a cook, I shall have to judge afterwards. Helen Yapp—bless her little picture. Tell her that she shall have a man and a soldier too if I have to search the whole army over to find one that will please her fairly. Tell her to write ,e another nice letter like the one that she and Sarah Thompson wrote me a long time ago and I will tell here about the bravest of the brave boys that fought at Murfreesboro.
Sylvester [Cook] is well as ever, and is out after the butternuts now. He was gone when your father’s letter came to camp so I opened and read it for him. Edgar [Jackson] is in camp. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Stones River and was paroled. Consequently he cannot go out against the Rebs until he is exchanged. Alonzo is out with the company. Wm. Hesler was here but did not get to see George as he was with the company also. He started home day before yesterday.
The weather is very warm here today. Spring will be here in a few more weeks. I hear this minute a bird singing his songs of spring. Dinner is ready and I have run short for ideas so that I will have to cease writing for the present. This leaves me well and hearty. Give my love to all enquiring friends. I remain your affectionate cousin, — B. F. Cook
Letter 6
Section 38, N & NW [Nashville & Northwestern] Railroad 1
December 12th 1863
Dear Cousin Josephine,
I received your letter of the eighth of November some time ago but have been to busy to answer until the present hour. You must not think hard of me for not writing in answer to yours sooner for it is owing to no indisposition on my part, but owing to circumstances which I am not able to govern. And I assure you that I am always glad to get a letter from you or any of my connections or friends.
I am glad to hear you have a good school and a good teacher. Let me advise you as I always have done before, to take the advantage held out to you for gaining an education. Waste no time while you are young, for you cannot always enjoy the privileges of youth. Tell John that it is very right for him to love the little girls, and be polite to them. But he must not think so much about them or talk so much about them as to neglect his books if he wishes to become a good and noble man and a blessing to the society he lives in.
I am sorry to say that I have never been able to learn anything in relation to our cousin Alonzo. I fear he has found a grave in the land of traitors. But let us hope not. [– Frank]
1 Construction on the Nashville & Northwestern Railroad began in the fall of 1863, supervised by the 1st Michigan Engineers. Several thousand conscripted African Americans made up the bulk of the work force. Companies of the 12th and 13th United States Colored Infantries guarded the laborers from raids by Confederate troops and guerillas. Steamboats carried supplies up the Tennessee River to Johnsonville. The Nashville and Northwestern then carried the supplies to Nashville, where they were shipped to Gen. William T. Sherman’s army in Georgia.
Letter 7
Camp 12th US Colored Troops
Section 53 N&NW Railroad
February 4th 1864
Dear Cousin Josephine,
I have received your kind letter of the 26th of January. Am happy to know that you are all well and can say in return that I never enjoyed better health in my life than at the present time. And besides, am having a good share of fun. As I have not time to write much this time, I will just tell you about some new cousins I have found from the station with the train loaded with provisions a few days ago. I stopped at a house near the road in order to allow the wagons to get ahead as I could travel much faster on horseback than the train could move through the mud. I found the house to be occupied by some very fine people who by the way were not brought up in these parts. The family consists of three handsome young ladies, their father and step mother. Their name is Harris. I first tried to claim kin with the old man but he could not see that we were related as his parents had come from a different part of the world from that which my fore parents of that name emigrated. But the young ladies and myself agreed that we must at least be cousins or let it be as it would, we would play that we were cousins while I was in this place so that I would have a good excuse for visiting them often. My near cousins names are as follows—Sallie, Carrie, and Missouri. Sallie is the prettiest. Now our officers don’t know but what we really are cousins. The girls will ask them about “Cousin Frank” and look as honest as preachers. Carrie looks very much like you or at least like you use to.
You think me selfish for wishing to see but one? I didn’t mean to say that I did not care to see any of the others but that I had one favorite in the number. But I don’t like to tell who it is that I would rather see. Give my love to all, I remain your affectionate cousin, — Frank
Letter 8
Camp 12th U.S.C.T.
March 9th 1864
Dear cousin Josephine,
I have just received your letter written on the last day of February. It found me well and enjoying myself as usual. I was as usual very glad to get your letter and to hear that all are well at home. I am very sorry indeed to hear of such a sad accident as that which happened in Caroll Moore’s family. It must have been a severe trial for Mrs. Moore. I am pleased to know that Capt. Clark has made his escape from the rebels. I wish all the prisoners in Libby could be as successful. 1 I am sorry that Sylvester [Cook] has to go back to the regiment for he will not see as easy a time there as in the fort. I have not been back to see my new cousins since I wrote you last, but Sallie has been married lately to an officer in the 13th U. S. C. T.
You need not be alarmed about my falling in love with any of the girls in Tennessee for I am going to marry and Illinois girl when this cruel war is over. But I must tell you what some Tennessee ladies said about me—but you must not accuse me of egotism. I was out foraging last Saturday and Sunday. I stayed all night in Vernon, Tennessee and one of my men overheard some ladies when he was on guard talking about the Lieutenant. He says that they all agreed that he (the Lieutenant) was the best looking Yankee they had ever seen. I thought that was quite a compliment. Since I wrote you last, we have quite an addition to our family. The 2nd Lieutenant’s wife and baby have come down from Illinois to pay him a visit. I don’t know how long they will stay. Since their arrival, the Capt. and I have built us a new house, as you know it was no more than polite in us to give up our old one to the Lieutenant and his family. But we have not lost anything by the change (for we went to Williamsville and knocked the side off of an old store house and tore up the floor and built us a cozy little cottage with a nice little window and a fireplace with a mantle board over it.
You must excuse me for this time for I am so sleepy that I can hardly see what I am writing. Give my love to all. I remain yours truly, — Frank
1 I believe Frank is referring to Capt. Terrence Clark of the 79th Illinois Infantry who was captured at the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863 and taken to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. He arrived at Libby Prison on 29 September. By 25 October he and others had hatched a plan to tunnel out of Libby Prison. See Tunnel Escape.
Letter 9
Camp Section 18, N. N. W. R. Tennessee
September 4, 1864
My dear cousin.
I was very much pleased this evening to receive your good letter of the 29th of last month. You do me great injustice cousin by supposing that I don’t want to hear from you because you failed to get my last letter, or rather because you failed to get an answer to your last. There are none of my relatives whose letters are more welcome than are those of my cousin Josephine. You must remember that the mails are very uncertain at times, and also that a soldier cannot always do as he wishes. I have seen the time when I would have been glad of the privilege of writing letters to my friends when I could not. When I get a letter I always try to answer immediately but often I cannot, and having a great many things to think of, sometimes I forget to whom letters are due. So after this when you write to me and in due time do not get a reply, write again and again if necessary, but never get angry or suppose that I don’t care to hear from you for then you wrong yourself and your cousin. There is never any time lost in writing letters even if we never get answers to them.
We have had some excitement here within the last week. Forrest and Wheeler have been within twenty-five miles of us with between five and six thousand men. Our forces from Nashville had quite a fight with him at Lavergne and Franklin but they whipped him and started him on his way to “Dixie” with a heavy force at his heels. We were on the lookout for some of the raiders to give us a call and some of them did come within four miles of us. Our colored boys seem very much slighted. They are anxious to show their ability to fight rebels. You would have been pleased to have seen them and heard them talk during the excitement. As we had just received a fresh supply of ammunition and the detachment above us on the road was almost out, it became necessary for us to loan them a few boxes until their came up. When they were being carried from the fort and placed in the wagon, the boys gathered around and watched the transfer with as visible signs of sorrow depicteds on every feature of their rough and black, but honest faces as though they were witnessing the burial of their nearest and best friend. What a contrast between these sable defenders of the flag and the cursed Copperheads of the North and their brethren—the rebels of the South. These blacks are willing to throw their lives, if necessary, into the clutches of death to save a government from dissolution that has ever been anything but a blessing to them as a people, while the rebels, north and south, are anxious to see the destruction of the government that has always been a source of the greatest blessings ever enjoyed by any people.
You must excuse these blots for its in fault of my pen. Strange as it may seem, we haven’t a good pen in our shebang. We will have some soon, however. We have had very hot weather here for the last few days. Fruit is in great abundance here—peaches especially are splendid. I was astonished at the prices of articles with you. We buy all the articles you mentioned except dry goods fully as cheap as you do. We have bought potatoes at $1.50 per bushel. I can’t tell when I will come home. Don’t look for me till you see me coming. Tell Aunt Lucinda that I would like very much indeed to be at the barbecue of her pig but I don’t know whether I will have the privilege or not. Mrs. Lieut. D. G. Cooke has gone home. She concluded she could not make it convenient to go by Georgetown. The Lieutenant expects her back soon. I have nothing more of interest to write. I believe so I will close. Give my love to Pa, Ma, Johnny and Katy and the baby, and reserve a portion for yourself. Write often as convenient and I wil answer. Tell all the friends to write. I am your affectionate cousin, — B. F. Cook
Please don’t show this to anyone. It is so blotted I am ashamed of it. — Frank
No. 2
Well, Josephine, who told you that I had found a little Tennessee wife? If I have a wife in Tennessee, or any other state, I have never had the pleasure of making her acquaintance. If anyone will be so good as to tell me where I can find her, I will be under lasting obligations to them. I think it very doubtful whether I get home this winter or not. Don’t look for me until you see me coming. I would be very happy indeed could I be permitted to spend the Holidays at home this winter but I fear I shall not. I wish that I could have been at the party you spoke of in your letter. Not so much for the part as for the happiness it would give me to meet one of the persons spoke of in your letter. You may guess who that person was but I can’t tell you just now.
Give my love to your Ma and Pa, Katy, John and little Sigel. Remember me kindly to all my friends if I have any.
As I have lately been promoted to a 1st Lieutenancy, you will have to direct to Lt. B. F. Cook, Co. E, 12th USC Troops, N & N W Railroad, Tennessee
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