The following letter was written by William Henry Koch (1836-1915) of Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio, while serving in Co. G, 16th Regiment Ohio (3 months, 1861). He served as a corporal in the company from 22 April 1861 to 18 August 1861.
William wrote the letter to Howard Battin (1826-1882), a railroad conductor, who also kept a boarding house in Millersburg, Holmes county, Ohio. William was the son of John E. Koch (1801-1881) and Maria S. Neely (1807-1896).
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Philippi [Virginia]
2nd July 1861
Mr. H. Battin,
Dear Sir, I have thought for some time of writing you but have failed to do it until now and shall try and let you know about how we look and feel. We are, as you will see, still at Philipi. Have been here almost four weeks. We look rather rough for Boys not being used to this kind of life, and fare about the same—not so well as at home. But this we cannot expect in the life we are now leading. Our commissary department being rather badly conducted, we very often fall short of provisions. Then you may see the Boys making for the country on the hunt of something to eat pretty generally returning loaded. If you had seen Chapman Wiggins and myself coming into camp last Saturday with chickens, milk, pies and a little of everthing good to eat, I think you would have smiled.
We are camped with Co. E of Springfield and K of Dresden as guard over the bridge crossing Valley RIver. The balance of the force here, amounting to about six thousand strong, are camped on the hill above the town on the road leading from Grafton to this place and are well fixed for the enemy but we have no fear of the enemy disturbing us until we do them—and then but little, as they have proven themselves to be better trained to fast running than we are—at least do so at the time of the attack here. 1
We were ordered to prepare to march over a eek ago but the order being countermanded did not get to move. The Boys felt as though they were going to have some fun, all thinking we were going to attack a party of secessionists located at or near Laurel Hill about twelve miles from this place.
The balance of our regiment are at Cheat River on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad about 22 miles from Grafton and about 15 from this place. We have been in hopes we would soon be united but have now given up all hopes of seeing the other until we get ready to leave for home which we think will be about four weeks if not sooner.
As this is one of the days we are short provision, I with some others are going to the country to lay in some provision for our mess and expect rather a rough time as we were last night blessed with quite a heavy rain which will leave the road in rather bad condition for walking. I shall have to close with regards to Mrs. Battin. Hoping to hear from you soon, I remain, yours obediently, — W. H. Koch
1 William refers to the battle (skirmish) that took place in and around Philippi, Virginia (now West Virginia) on June 3, 1861, which resulted in a Union victory and marked a significant moment in the early stages of McClellan’s military career. The largely untrained Confederate forces skedaddled from the battlefield with minimal opposition, and the Union forces mockingly dubbed the conflict the “Philippi Races.“
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