Lewis Mason Foster (1846-1912) served with Co. C, 9th New York Heavy Artillery. He enlisted as a private in 1862. He became a corporal in November 1864. He mustered out with his regiment in July 1865. At the time of his enlistment, Foster was 18, suggesting he was born about 1844. Prior to the war, he lived in Conquest, NY. He was the son of Chandler and Amelia Pierce Foster.

The Special Collections and University Archives at Virginia Tech has one letter written by Foster in their collection to his mother in December 1864. Written near Petersburg, Virginia, Foster’s note describes his regiment’s travels from the Shenandoah Valley to the Petersburg area. He writes of the defenses of the nearby fort in detail, daily activities, and food and rations supplied to the troops. He also talks about living on the site of previous battles and building winter quarters there: “The boys have accidentally dug up dead Johnnies when they have been building their houses and there is lots of solid shot, shell and bullets and pieces of muskets laying around all over the ground.”

Over the years I’ve transcribed quite a number of letters by member of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery and published them on Spared & Shared:

Lawrence Johnson, Co. A, 9th New York H. A. (6 Letters)
Wesley Scott, Co. E, 9th New York H. A, (1 Letter)
Peter Baggerly, Co. G, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Walter Guppy Hole Duckett, Co. K, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
John B. Sayles, Co. H (later L), 9th New York H. A. (2 Letters)
Isaac Cordon, Co. I, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Jerome Gardner, Co. K, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Francis Alexander Sinclair, Co. L, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Francis Alexander Sinclair, Co. L, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Sheldon Smith, Co. L, 9th New York Heavy Artillery (1 Letter)
Cyrus B. Tanner, Co. L, 9th New York Heavy Artillery (1 Letter)

Letter 1

Fort Fisher [Virginia] ¹
March 27, [1865]

Dear Mother,

I received your welcome letter last night and I hasten to answer it. Will has gone to the hospital. Went about ten days ago. I don’t know where he is. He promised to write to me as soon as he got where he could get a letter back.

We have advanced our picket line in front of our fort. It took some hard fighting to do it. The line was advanced Saturday. Yesterday everything was quiet but this morning about four o’clock the Rebs tried to get our lines back, but they didn’t make it out. Our company went in the fight, but lay in the fort. The bullets and shells flew into the fort but didn’t hurt anyone ver bad. Co. L of our regiment worked a Battery of 30-pounder Parrott guns and made some of the best shots that were made on the whole line. They silenced two of the Johnnies’ forts. They fired one shot that went through an embrasure in one of the Reb’s forts and dismounted one of the Reb’s guns and blowed up their caissons of ammunition. It was a pretty hard fight for a picket line fight.

Our men got so close to the Reb’s camp that they killed some of the Johnnies right in camp. A solid shot struck in our fort, bounded, and went out again without hurting anyone. This morning a Minié bullet struck one of our boys on the back of the neck and knocked him down but he got up all right. The force of the ball was spent. I went out yesterday where the hardest fighting was. There was lots of dead Johnnies all shot through the head—one Colonel, one Lieutenant-Colonel, and one Captain.

Willard did not get any pay. His Descriptive List didn’t come, I don’t know what is the matter with him but I think it is the acclimating process. He is not used to the climate yet and everyone has to have their turn some time or another. I got a letter from Lute and Cornelia this morning. Rube escaped the draft. Send me a county paper if you can get one with the list of the drafted in Wayne county. According to all accounts, the water must be very high in York State. It has delayed the mail on account of the railroads being washed away.

It is a very fine day [here]. A bullet went through my house Saturday but there was no one in it. You will get notice when that money I sent gets to the Depot. I don’t know what Depot it will go to. They will send it to the nearest one. I sent the receipt. Did you get it? I had the money directed to you. The Chaplain took it to City Point for me. I wrote a letter to [ ] some time ago. Did he get it? Has he found a place yet?

The sharpshooters are popping away out in front but I must close. Give my best regard to Grandpa and John. Don’t be uneasy about Will. He may come out all right yet. Write soon. Your loving boy, — Lewis

¹ Fort Fisher was a major Union siege fort on the southwest side of the City of Petersburg at the intersection of present-day Church Road and Flank Road. It was built after the September 1864 Battle of Peeble’s Farm. It is now part of the Petersburg National Battlefield’s Western Front and is stop number 3 on their driving tour.

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Letter 2

Arlington Heights, Va.
June 6, [1865]

Dear Mother,

I received your welcome letter some time ago but have not had time to answer it until now. We lay within three and a half miles of Washington. We expect to be reviewed in a few days and to be sent to Albany and mustered out of the army. I think I will get home sometime in July. I woul like to get home by the 4th but don’t think I can. The weather has been very hot for the last few days but is cool this morning.

We had a hard march from Richmond.The weather was very warm with the exception of three days that it rained. We marched ten miles one day when it rained as hard as it could and the mud was knee deep. Had to ford one creek where the water was three feet deep. A great many died on the march from heat. I stood it as well as anyone and feel none the worse for the march. Willard has been transferred to Philadelphia to Satterlee Hospital. I think I will get my discharge nearly as soon as he does. His Descriptive List has not been sent to the hospital yet and he can’t get his discharge until it is sent. Our officers are all busy making out final statements and muster rolls preparatory to mustering us out.

Our Corps has got to be reviewed yet. That will be a hard day’s work but we will willingly do that. There is some talk that we are going to take our guns home with us. I hope so. We will be mustered out at Albany and I can go which way I am a mind to from there. I shall go to Clyde and take the stage. I shall go home the first place I go to (I have not got the itch but I have got now and then a greyback [lice] as the boys call them. I don’t know what you call the Camp Itch. I never read any of it. Do you think I had best to buy me a suit of clothes at Syracuse or wait until I get home?

We will get no pay until we get to Albany and get our discharges. Then we will get all that is due us. The men that enlisted in our regiment in 1863 have got to stay a while yet. Old soldiers whose times expire before the 1st of October will be discharged immediately. The rest will be kept. There is but 32 old boys left in our company of 100.

I spent half of a day looking around the City of Richmond. I visited Libby Prison, Castle Thunder, the Statehouse, and various noted places in the City. There has been millions of dollarsworth of property destroyed there. A great many nice houses destroyed and all the government buildings and four or five bridges across the James river.

Some of the boys that have got to stay after we are discharged are beginning to get homesick already. I don’t think I should get homesick if I had to stay my time out. Well, I must close as the company are drawing clothes and I want a new shirt and pair of pants. Write soon. Give my best respedcts to all enquiring friends. From your loving son, — Lewis M. Foster

P. S. Send me $5 in your next. Send it right away as we may leave here ibuprofen a couple of weeks. — Lewis