The following letter was written by Sgt. William Henry Sipe (1844-1864) of Co. I, 188th Pennsylvania Infantry, formerly a member of Battery C, 3rd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery. He and David S. Myers (1839-Aft1900) were sergeants in Co. I. Both Sipe and Myers entered the service in October 1862 at Harrisburg. Myers survived the war but William Sipe was killed in the fighting at Chaffin’s Farm on 29 September 1864.

When he entered the service in October 1862, William was described as a 5′ 6″ tall, blue eyed, light-haired cooper from Cumberland county. He had learned the trade from his father, Peter Sipe (1798-1873). Though born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, Peter and his wife, Mary Ann Bowman—William’s mother—were residents of Augusta county in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War.

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

Camp near Petersburg, Virginia
August 14, 1864

Dear Mother,

I again this morning embrace the pleasure of answering your kind and welcome letter that came to hand about ten minutes ago. And I was glad to learn from it that you were all well as this leaves myself in the best of good health at present.

Mother, we are still at the same place in the front [rifle] pits before Petersburg. There isn’t much firing done now through the day time but in the evening and morning still the ball opens for a while & the shells flys pretty thick for a while. There was three of our boys got hurt a Friday with a shell. The Johnnies planted some of them right in our pits. Bully for them good boys.

We are now in camp but we are going out to the front this evening. Our brigade was all out front last night working. They are putting up another large fort. Mother, the report is now in camp that our regiment is going to leave here before long [and] that we are going on gunboats being we know a good bit about the heavy artillery. The boys all seem to be willing to go & for my part, I don’t care where they go. I can fight a little anyplace. Only I think this month is a little too hot to do much fighting.

Mother, you seem to think in your letter that I am wounded but I don’t know what makes you think so. I haven’t been touched yet so far more than got my dry goods cut a little. But they may cut them if they let me slip. Davy Mires [Myers?] is at Hampton Hospital. His head is pretty sore. I got a letter from him the other day.

Tell Pap he better look out or the Johnny’s will make a soldier out of him yet. And I am sure I wouldn’t like to see him among the gray backs & me firing at him. And you say Jerry has enlisted and you think his wife will go to. Bully for her. She will make a good soldier & if not a good soldier, why a bully bunk mate anyhow. I think Jerry is mad at me too for I haven’t got a letter from them since I left the fort [Fortress Monroe] for they wrote me a letter and it didn’t suit me quite so I answered it accordingly. And it just broke up our correspondence. Pity me.

Mother, I got a letter from Uncle Jake Wilson the other day. He is well and all right. Bully for him. Mother, we have plenty of fruit around here now. We go foraging every time we come in from the front. We can find plenty of watermelon, apples, and grapes. You can bet we make them suffer.

Well, I believe I’ll bring my scribbling to a close for I must wash my shimy today yet. I am a bully washer, you can bet. We all have to do our own washing. Mother, tell Pap I received the $1.50 he sent me.

I’ll close as there is nothing new [or] peculiar in camp. When I write again, maybe I can tell you whether we will get on the gunboats or not. No more but remain your ever true son, — W. H. Sipe

My love to you all. Good night. Write soon. — W. H. Sipe

Tell Mrs. Gillen of she can read my letters as well as I can hers, she is a good reader for I know it takes patience to read some of mine. I always like to read a letter she writes for it always comes from home and I can read them right off without spelling words. Give her my love and best wishes, — W. H. Sipe