The following letter was written by 1Lt. Andrew Gillespie Henderson of Co. F, 31st Iowa Infantry of Maquoketa, Jackson county, Iowa. Andrew was appointed First Lieutenant shortly after he mustered into the regiment on 13 October 1862. He was wounded on 22 May 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He resigned 22 September 1864 at East Point, Georgia, after participating in the Atlanta Campaign.

A biographical sketch for Andrew informs us that he was “a native of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, was born January 4, 1823; When 11 years of age his parents came to Illinois and located at Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois, where he began to learn the printer’s trade; in 1838 he went to Springfield, Illinois, where he finished learning his trade and lived until the spring of 1843; then went to Ogle County, Illinois, and began publishing the Rock River Register; he afterwards sold out his interest and moved to Galena, Illinois; in January of 1846, he engaged in the mercantile business in Wisconsin. He married Miss Sarah Ann Barrow, a native of Madison County, Illinois, on October 6, 1846. In 1849 he started for California by boat to seek his fortune in the gold fields.  He returned in March of 1851 and moved to Maquoketa, Iowa. In 1853 he moved to Dubuque, Iowa, and bought a one-half interest in the Dubuque Tribune.” Mr. P. Moriarty, who in the mid 1850s a State Printer, determined, sometime in the latter part of 1855, to start a Republican paper in Maquoketa, the Republican party being then almost unknown in many parts of the West. Accordingly, January 1, 1856, Mr. A. G, Henderson, as agent for Mr. Moriarty, went to Chicago to purchase material for printing the Maquoketa Weekly Excelsior. It proved necessary to send to Philadelphia for the type, and the same becoming “snowed in” in Michigan on the way west; the first copy of the paper was not issued until March 1856. The growth of the paper was very rapid, and, on the 1st of the following August, it printed 54 quires, or 1,296 copies. A. G. Henderson was foreman, compositor and writer in. the office until the fall of 1859.”

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

Co. F, 31st Regt., Iowa Volunteer Infantry
Camp near Kingston, Georgia
May 19, 1864

My Dear Wife and Children,

For the first time during the month I find a chance to send you a letter. We started from Woodville, Alabama, on the morning of the 1st of May & as I had been Officer of the Guard the night before, I knew nothing of our orders to start until after 11 o’clock on the last night of April, so that I had no time to write to you.

My health is first rate, but my lame leg troubles me in marching. We had a 3 days battle at Resaca—a strongly fortified town a short distance below Dalton. Our regiment lost ten in killed and wounded, Lt. Col. Jenkins among the latter. A piece of a shell struck him on the arm and he is now back at the hospital.

Last Sunday I had 36 men out skirmishing and got one of the poor fellows killed. He was within 30 feet of me when he was killed. He belonged to Co. E of Jones’ Company. He was a German named Jacob Rider.

We are driving the Rebs right along before us, and I do not believe they will make any stand before reaching Atlanta. We are some 50 miles from Atlanta, pushing Johns[t]on all the time. Our [15th] Army Corps has stopped here, and the balance of the Army are pushing on. It is likely we will follow in a day or so. We have over 100,000 men in our Army and more coming every day.

When I started from Woodville I was very anxious to hear from you, as my last advises left my little Jimmy sick; consequently I left Woodville with a heavy heart. When I got to Chattanooga, I received a letter from you informing me that my little Jimmy had completely recovered. We were lying at the foot of Lookout Mountain when I got the letter. There was 50,000 men surrounding me. The dust was intolerable. I was dirty, tired, foot-sore and lame, but after reading your letter, when the bugles and fife and drum sounded “Onward,” I started with a light and happy heart for Dixie.

Last Sunday after I came from skirmishing—when Rider was killed—I got two letters from home. One [was] dated the 1st and the other the 6th of May. You can’t conceive how much good it done me.

I send this letter by Capt. Thomspon of Bellevue. The Government don’t allow any letters to go North by mail and it is only by smuggling that we can get a letter through at present. We get all letters from home, however. I have not had a clean shirt on since we left Woodville. Our trunks are back on the road some place. Perhaps we may get them at some future period. The Army has no tents—we sleep out in the open air. All the bed clothing I have along is my overcoat and a rubber blanket. The days are very warm and dusty, and the nights quite cool. Everything looks as though the Rebellion would get badly scorched this summer. God grant it may be so, for I want to get home to my dear ones again. Write as often as you can and don’t be uneasy because you don’t hear from me. We had to leave Allen Wood back at Dalton sick. I hope he will be with us again. There has been no Paymaster around yet and Government is now owing me some $500. I have had to borrow some $15 and I have enough to do me till some time next month. I find no trouble in borrowing.

God bless you my dear ones. Your affectionate husband and father, — A. G. Henderson