This letter was written by 22 year-old William Bonnett, a native of England, who was residing in the household of Abel Rice in Orleans County, New York, at the time of his enlistment in Co. C of the 129th New York Infantry in August 1862. This regiment was organized at Lockport, New York, and ordered to Fort Federal Hill in Baltimore, Maryland, where they had just arrived when William wrote this letter to Abel. William’s enlistment was for three years but he barely lived three months. He died of typhoid fever in the regimental hospital at Baltimore on 2 November 1862. A month later, the 129th New York Infantry was converted into an artillery unit and was renamed the 8th New York Heavy Artillery.

The original letter was kept by Abel Rice and eventually passed down to his descendants. Scans of the letter were made available for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by Aimee Albanese. She informed me that a Widow’s Pension record for William Bonnett’s service was filed by Mary Jane (nee loper) Bonnett. In the 22 page document, Mary Jane Loper and William Bonnett Jr were married in the Town of Barre, NY on 06/01/1861 by Reverend Mason (Methodist).  When widowed, she had no children.  In an affidavit, William Bonnett Jr’s parents, William Bonnett and Ann Mary (nee Clark) Bonnett testified to this marriage.

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

[Fort Federal Hill]
August 31, 1862

A. Rice,

My friend, I now take my pen to write to you hoping to find you well as it leaves me at present. We got news that we got Stonewall Jackson and six thousand men—that is ten regiments—in here. We are in Baltimore, Maryland, on Federal Hill. It is a nice place here. I send my best respects to all the boys round there. I like it here. This is a very hilly country here.

I sent $87 home. There was 15 men went out of this regiment to Washington for prisoners. I got so that I can lay down and sleep. We fire good enough there. There’s six [Columbiads and] 40 [other] cannon here. There is one fort [Fort Marshall] east of us about four miles from us. We can see all of the City of Baltimore. There is a fire in the city most every night.

We was called up the other night and distributed ten rounds for we though that we would have to fight a little, but we hain’t had to yet. We sleep in bunks. There was about 50 of [us] boys on guard last night. We had all of our guns loaded. And we went out this morning and shot them to a mark and there was eight balls hit the mark. There was one of the boys got shot through the hip. I guess that he will get well. ‘Twas a boy out of Company K. ¹

We have good arms. It is just as Milton said, a man will get used to eating grub [?]

Fort Federal Hill
Baltimore, Maryland

William Bonnett,

Co. C, [New York] Regiment [1]29

¹ Typically, when guards carried loaded weapons over night, they would discharge their weapons the next morning by taking target practice.