The following letter was written by Samuel M. Spengler (1841-1906) who served the Confederacy as a private in Co. F, 10th Virginia Infantry. He enlisted in 1861 and was promoted to corporal in April 1862. He was detailed as clerk in his regiment in February 1863 but taken prisoner at Spotsylvania Court House on 12 May 1864 and taken to Fort Delaware on 20 May 1864. He was not released from there until he took the oath of allegiance on 15 June 1865.
Samuel was the son of Cyrus Spengler (1816-1890) and Mary C. Redmon (1817-1883) of Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia.
Samuel addressed his letter to Mrs. Jane Eliza (Brown) Bestor of Baltimore, a Southern sympathizer with two sons serving in the Confederate army. In the letter, Samuel mistakenly identified Mrs. Bestor as the sister—rather than the mother—of one of her sons who had been nursed by the author’s mother in Virginia. He asks her for money while in prison in Fort Delaware.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Fort Delaware [Delaware]
3rd October, 1864
Mrs. Jane Bestor,
I wrote you on the 20th Sept. since which time I have not heard from you.
I rec’d a letter from my Mother (Mrs. Mary C. Spengler) several days ago, who resides in the town of Woodstock, Va. My mother states that your brother has visited our family frequently during the past summer. In July last, he was at my Father’s house several weeks sick.
During his stay there, he learned of my being a prisoner and gave your address to my Mother, requesting her to send it to me, & in the event I should need anything, to call upon you. I am at present in most dependent circumstances & if you will have the kindness to send me a small sum of money, I shall feel under lasting obligations.
I have no relatives living north of Virginia from whom I can ask any aid. Hoping to hear from you soon. I am very respectfully your friend, — Sam’l M. Spengler
N.B. Address: Co. “F” 10th Va. Infty. Division No. 3, Ft. Delaware, Care of Capt. [George W.] Ahl, Acting Asst. Adjutant General 1
1 Capt. George W. Ahl commanded a Battery of Heavy Artillery at Fort Delaware. The men in the battery were mostly former Confederates who could prove the Confederacy had forced them to fight. Many of these prisoners said they never wanted to join the rebel army. For some, it was a matter of Confederate service or jail.
