The following letter appears to have been written by Henry, or Harry, Anders but I have not been able to identify him in census records. It seems that he was probably a college student and writing to a former classmate. His letter refers to the preliminary measures being taken by Frederick county, Maryland, to prepare draft lists of suitable young men fit for service in advance of the draft that was anticipated in 1863. He pokes fun of those currently being examined by surgeons with the hope that they would be declared exempt them from the draft.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Home
September 3, 1862
Dear Frank,
I thought I would talk a little while with you about times agone. How reluctantly does fond memory relinquish hold upon the scenes of the past. Though there is much of that past, that we would wish to forget, yet how pleasantly it is for us at times to take a swift review and live again the part of life that’s gone & enjoy, in our minds, the society of those we love.
How I should like to be with you at lectures, Frank, and of course more than all, at recreation. But it seems that fate has decreed a temporary separation for us & we have to abide by the old thing’s decision.
The exemption is going on again at Frederick. Humbug No. 2 being conducted by several Army Surgeons assisted by the invincible Commissioner [William] Mahoney. 1 I’ve not been up yet, but I suppose I’ll have to go or else J. M. Wachber & myself will be the only two left for the draft to fasten on. Gracious! I wish I was in Canada or had been born under an Absolute Despotism so I could breathe as free as when I first tumbled on to this little round hill of ours. (Hold! thou inspired enthusiasm—Like IV.3)
Frank, you had better come home and get exempt for it would be hard for you to have to spend the money for ticket, then lose it if drafted. You can see all kinds going up. Our atmosphere is filled with grave yard ejaculations, dyspeptic belches, and belly-ache grunts. Tomorrow is an extra day. The surgeons have to pay the applicants an admission fee, it being the day to witness the contortions of the hemorrhoidal men’s asses, the blinking of the blind, and the shampooning of barefooted heads. Old men accompany their boys and young wives go with their matorrheal husbands to swear they are not men.
Salry, he went up and told them he did not know what was the matter with him, but wanted the surgeons to tell him, as everybody else went up and got examined. Didn’t get through & got very much intoxicated thereupon.
Present my regards to your Uncle & Aunt when you see them & little Katie O’Neal. For the present, I must close, hoping you are well and that I may receive a speedy reply. I subscribe myself, — Harry Anders
Write very soon.
1 “Records of the Union draft as it affected Frederick County might have given helpful information but they are not available. “David Agnew was the local draft officer for Emmitsburg under the President’s call for troops in 1862” and probably had records of Emmitsburg men in service. However, William Mahoney, Commissioner of Enrollment and Draft for this county, was arrested by the Confederates [during the Antietam campaign in Sept. 18621 and the enrollment books destroyed.” Under that 1862 call the county was asked for 259 more men to add to the total of 1019 it had already provided. Presumably, therefore, the records of at least 1,278 (and possibly their places of residence) became Confederate possessions and were later lost if not immediately destroyed. This was not actually a draft but a call for more volunteers. The first actual mandatory draft was riot instituted until July of 1863.” [Source: Emmitsburg Area in the Civil War]
Spared & Shared 23 