All posts by Griff

My passion is studying American history leading up to & including the Civil War. I particularly enjoy reading, transcribing & researching primary sources such as letters and diaries.

Antebellum New Jersey

1834-1842 Journal of Lavinia Murray of Middletown, Monmouth county, New Jersey

January 4, 2026 Griff 1 Comment

This journal was kept by Lavinia Murray (1818-1896), the daughter of William W. Murray (1784-1865) and Mary Crawford (1800-1853) of Middletown, Monmouth county, New Jersey. Lavinia commenced her journal on 24 May 1834 when she was 15 years old. Her last entry, on the last page of the journal, was dated in 1842 when she 23. She married James M. Hoagland (1818-1857), a New York Merchant, on 26 August 1847 and resided in New Jersey or New York City the remainder of her life, leaving no children. She died in 1896.

Lavinia was the oldest of three children. Her siblings were Eleanor Crawford Murray (1821-1858) and George Crawford Murray (1827-1884). George graduated from Yale in 1845, studied law in New York City and was admitted to the bar in 1849 but gave up law to manage two family farms. [Source: The Scott Family of Shrewsbury, page 20]

I could find no images of Lavinia; the woodcut depiction of a young woman standing on the outskirts of Middleton, New Jersey, in the 1830s in purely conjectural.

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

1834 May, Private Journal, Middletown, N. J.

What woman has done, woman may do.

*The Family at Home, by G. D. Abbott, published in 1834*

24th Saturday. A delightful day. Spent it principally at home. Finished reading “The Family at Home” which is written by Mr. G[orham D.] Abbott. It is a very interesting work and contains many good precepts and maxims which if they are well followed may prove of lasting benefit. In the afternoon heard of the death of Mrs. [Julia Anne Conover] Schureman who left this world at two o’clock in the morning. She died up at Mr. [Nathaniel S.] Wyckoff’s [in Freehold, N. J.] so I have not yet heard the particulars of her death. Oh! may her death be a solemn warning to her neighbors saying to each be ye also ready. In the evening it rained very fast indeed. This week has passed away very quickly yet I have no reason to complain of the shriftness of time, when recollecting the saying of Mr. [Mr. John] Newton in The Family at Home, “A sinner has no right to complain and a saint has no reason.” Upon the whole, time is long enough to perform the work given us to do if well employed.

25th Sabbath. Attended the Dutch Reformed Church. Mr. Beekman, the pastor of it preached from John, 6th Verse, 38th Chapter. It was communion Sabbath. Mr. Austin accompanied us to church.

Middletown, N. J. May 26, 1845, Monday. Very rainy in the morning. Spent the day at home. In the morning, Mama went with Mr. and Mrs. Van Doren to Mrs. Schureman’s funeral which was held at Mr. Vanvranken’s church. It is said he preached an excellent sermon. Her three daughters grieved so much respecting her death that they were unable to attend her funeral. I have heard the particulars of her death from Aunt A. C. H. She was a sincere christian and died rejoicing, her mind was perfectly composed until the last. All her children were called to her bedside for her to bid them farewell. She said the only tie which bound her to the earth was her children, but if it was the Lord’s will, she was perfectly willing to go. What a happy death is that of a christian, and what a bright picture of God’s mercy when contrasted with that of an infidel.

In the afternoon an old Mrs. Morrison from Tom’s River came here a begging for money to build her a house. She was an utter stranger to my sister and myself as she had not been to Middletown before in fourteen years, When Mama returned, she knew her. She tarried all night with us.

Middletown, N. J. May 27, 1834, Tuesday. Rainy and unpleasant in the morning. The before mentioned lady stayed with us until after twelve o’clock and during that time she amused Mama and myself (as she’s a great talker) in telling about those days in which she lived in affluence and wealth, and about her many beaus. Lastly about the manner is which some of her rich connections in New York had used her since she became poor. One thing she said her aunt had taught her, and which had through life proved and important lesson to her—viz. that when her rich connections used her unkindly when she was poor, not to attempt revenge. It (as she said was her disposition to do), but let it pass unnoticed, for probably she would have to go a second or third time to ask the same favor, and which she said had been frequently the case. Cleared off very pleasant in the afternoon. Uncle and aunt Beekman and the baby called here to see us a few moments and to give me an invitation to Uncle C. Burrowes’ and home with them. I went accordingly. The ride there was pleasant. Mary and aunt E. B. had in the morning gone to New York; aunt Ester B. was quite indisposed and Pollo Tilton was keeping house. We stayed there only a few moments and returned to Grand papa’s where I spent the afternoon. Aunt A. E. H. was there also. Grandpapa’s health is no better. Had a pleasant visit and returned home with aunt A. E. H. Shecalled sometime at our house.

Have learned today that a few drops of any perfumed oil will secure [ ] from mould and damp. Russian leather, which is perfumed by the tar of the birch tree, never moulders, and merchants suffer large bales of this leather to remain in the London docks knowing it cannot sustain injury from damp. It was known to the ancients the Romans used oil of cedar to preserve valuable M. C. L. Retured early.

Wednesday 28th. Rained very fast all day. Remained at home all day.

Thursday 29th. Again a rainy day. E & G. [Eleanor & George] did not attend school as the weather prevented.

Friday 30th. Clear and pleasant, and it is the first day we have had so this week. It is truly delightful to have pleasant weather again after a long storm. Spent the day at home, principally in sewing and doing little errands about the house for we are now engaged in that unpleasant occupation cleaning house, but hope to finish tomorrow.

Middletown, N. J. May 31, 1834, Saturday. A pleasant day. Spent the morning in practicing my music. I have made a resolution to practice it much more that I have done formerly and hope I will have perseverance enough to follow it. At ten o’clock, Mama went up to Grand Papa’s and spent the day there. His health does not continue to amend. In the afternoon, Aunt E. Laten and her son called here for the purpose of carrying home some potatoes and a variety of old articles which I designate by the name of trumpery and which came from the other house, I was much rejoiced to see her take them away.

Sabbath, June 1st 1834. Very rainy all day. Did not attend church. Heard in the afternoon that grandpapa’s health remains the same.

Monday 2nd. A very pleasant day. This day is designated by the name of Training Day. The soldiers marched down as far as here followed by nearly all the small boys of the village. The number of soldiers were few compared to what it has been formally. I have eaten some strawberries for the first time this year. E. P. A. Hendrickson spent the afternoon here. Mr. Austin also called to inform the little girls there would be no school this week as his presence was requisite in New York City to sign a paper respecting his expected fortune which is coming from England. Walked nearly home with E. & A.H. Retired early.

Tuesday 3rd. A warm and pleasant day. The weather now really beginning to feel like summer. Mrs. [Rachel Bowne] Winter who died on Sabbath last was buried today.

Wednesday 4th. Received in the afternoon calls from Uncle Timothy and Aunt H. White, Catharine, Morford, and Aunt A. C. Hendrickson. Just at evening there fell a delightful shower of rain.

Thursday 5th. Rainy all day.

Friday 6th. Spent the morning in reading. Uncle Beekman and Miss C. D. spent the afternoon here.

Saturday 7th. Very warm. Have read today a description of Mr. Wort’s [?] death written in two long letters by his third daughter. They were very beautifully written. Mr. Austin who has returned from New York spent part of the afternoon here.

Sabbath 8th. A pleasant day. Went in the morning with Papa and the other members of the family up to Baptisttown [Later called Holmdel Village] to what is called Great June Meeting. The multitude was so great as to prevent our obtaining a seat in the church [the Upper Meeting House of the Baptist Church], so we all sat in our carriage by the side of the church where we could hear very distinctly what the preacher said. The Rev. Mr. James, a Welshman, preached. The text was Hebrews, third chapter, first verse. “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. The sermon was a very good one. It was communion Sabbath: there were three who became members of the church, viz—Rachel Stout, a widow; the others’ names I forget. The journey was six miles going and returning.

Monday 9th. A very pleasant day. Church in the Baptist Meeting House in the afternoon. Several ladies who came before the church was opened called here, viz—the two Miss Johnsons and Mrs. F. Morford. Mama and myself attended church. Mr. James preached. The text was the 52nd Chapter of Isiah, 13th Verse. “Behold my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.” There was a great deal of repetition in the sermon which made it rather dull to the ear, yet notwithstanding what he said was very true. When we came home, could not get in the house for some time as Mama had not the key & it was locked. As the day has been so exceedingly warm, you [know] the evening is the most pleasant part of it as it is cool.

Tuesday 10th. Have been quite weary all day with the heat of the weather which was very great. The cool of evening restored vigor again to boost mind and body, and which nothing is as proper to restore as the operation of nature and our observations of it. A lovely summer’s evening is almost beyond the power of [unfinished thought; remainder of page blank]

Friday 13th. Much cooler than usual. Spent the day at home principally in sewing. Brother George came home in the afternoon with his eye very badly hurt. Mr. Austin called in the afternoon. There also fell a fine shower of rain.

Saturday 14th. Nothing particular occurred.

Sabbath 15th. Rainy in the afternoon.

Tuesday 17th. Arose quite early, Rainy all day. In the afternoon, Papa left home for the purpose of going to New York City.

Wednesday 18th. Exceedingly pleasant in the morning. The bees have swarmed again today. This was quite an interesting sight to me who had only witnessed it once before. Delightful showers in the afternoon accompanied by unusually heavy thunder which may be called rather sublime than delightful. Retired later than usual.

Thursday 19th. Have today had the honor of holding that very important office of being housekeeper as Mama has spent the day at Grand Papa’s house. His health continues rather to decline than amend. In the afternoon as usual, showers accompanied with thunder and lightning. Mr. Austin’s pupils on their way home from school in the afternoon were caught in the shower and I had the pleasure of having those who pass by hereto go home, calling in to remain until it was over. The following is the names of those who called—viz. E. A. & G. Hendrickson, M. and D. Willet, C. Truex who is Mr. Austin’s assistant in teaching the young idea how to shoot, and Edgar Henrickson. I was quite amused with their conversation. I have learnt that a bee hive should be rubbed with cream and sugar, or with molasses, salt, & peach tree leaves before the bees are put in it.

Friday 20th. As usual, showers accompanied with thunder and lightning. the bees swarmed again which makes four swarms we have had from the hive that came from the other house. In the afternoon papa returned home from New York. Learnt the melancholy news of the death of the illustrious General Lafayette, which news was received at the city on yesterday. He died at a quarter of five o’clock on the morning of May 20th 1834. The venerable general was born September 1st 1757 and was nearly 77 years old when he died. In him America loses an early, faithful, and disinterested friend and champion of her independence, and her children may well weep for a great man is departed.

Saturday 21st. The first perfectly clear day we have had this week. Papa had his new articles carted up from the sloop. To mu great joy he brought me a note from my dear friend Amelia. She enjoys very good health. I would like very much to have the pleasure of seeing her again. How true it is—“absence makes the heart grow fonder.” So would I all the girls, or rather all my schoolmates and dear teachers. Mr. Austin called at eight o’clock this morning for the purpose of reading us a letter he had just received from his friend in New York respecting that fortune. Aunt A. E. H. called in the afternoon. Retired late.

Sabbath 22nd. A very warm day. Attended the Episcopalian church in the afternoon. The Rev. Mr. Finch delivered an excellent sermon. The text was in Corinthians. The congregation was much larger than it usually is for that church.

Monday 23rd. Exceedingly warm. Spent the morning at home in various employments. In the afternoon went to visit my Aunt Adaline Hendrickson. I found her much engaged in covering the knobs on her clock with paper. Spent the afternoon pleasantly engaged in talking all kind of nonsense. After school was dismissed, my sister Eleanor came with her cousins down there also. Returned home at eight o’clock. On the way met my little brother [George] who had come to accompany us home. The walk home was pleasant as the moon was just rising and was “throwing her silvery mantle over the darkness of night. Arrived home at nine o’clock.

Sabbath 29th. Rainy and unpleasant. Did not attend church but stayed home to nurse my sister and brother who were both very sick.

Tuesday 31st. My sister and brother’s health grew better. Mama spent the day at Grandpapa’s house. His health is not any better. In the afternoon Aunt M. Murray came to see us and tarried with us all night.

Wednesday, July 2nd 1834. Very warm. Miss Mary Burrowes came and spent the afternoon with us. Towards evening I went with her to call to Grandpapa’s. We returned home to tea, after which Aunt M. left purposing to go to New York tomorrow. Mary Burrowes, my sister, and myself accompanied her nearly down to Mr. Willet’s. Mary B. stayed all night with us and it is the first time in her life she has ever done so. I have learnt that another name for Roses of Sharon is Althea.

Thursday 3rd. Mary Burrowes left here in the afternoon as all our persuasions were not sufficient to prevail upon her to remain with us longer. I accompanied her half of the way home, but on our way there called upon Aunt Adaline Hendrickson. I returned home quite fatigued by so long a walk.

Friday 4th [of July 1834]. I am again permitted to see this great day on which 58 years past our forefathers declared themselves independent. What happy emotions rise in our breasts by taking a retrospective view of such a noble action, and also by keeping this day in remembrance of the fourth of July 1776. In the afternoon attended a Temperance Meeting held at the Baptist church. It was a meeting of the different societies meet together, which belong to our township of Middletown. There was an address delivered by J. Patterson, Esq., Rev. Mr Woodhull, and Mr. Goble. The latter was from Chesapeakes. He delivered a very good address. It was proposed by our pastor, the Rev. Mr. [Thomas] Roberts [pastor of the Lower Congregation Baptist Church in Middletown, N. J.], that every person belonging to the society would endeavor to induce one person at least to join between this and the first of January next, and bring an account of it to the Temperance Meeting which is held on that day. I think this is an very good proposition and hope every member will use their utmost influence in complying with it. It was also proposed there would be another meeting held on the 3rd Tuesday in August for the purpose of forming out of the different societies of the townships, a township society. There are 446 persons belonging to the different societies of the township. I hope the Temperance cause will continue to succeed.

Saturday 12th. Attended the funeral of my dear Grandfather who immortal soul left its earthly habitation on yesterday to land, we hope, on that fair shore where tempests never beat, nor billows roar. During his last sickness his bodily sufferings were very excruciating, but they were ended by death. Oh! what a destroying Angel he is, but we ought all to feel the “Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be His name.” Our dear departed had been a resident with us eighty years and we feel it is hard—very hard, to part. But may we from it take warning and be ready. The Rev. Mr. Roberts preached from Job, “If I am wicked, woe unto me. If I am righteous, I shall not hold up my head.”

Wednesday 17th [16th]. Received an account by our New York paper of a dreadful riot occasioned by a mob who have risen in that city to put down the doctrine of amalgamation which is supported by the Rev. Dr. [Samuel Hanson] Cox, Rev. Mr. [Henry Gilbert] Ludlow, the Tappans [Arthur & Lewis Tappan] and others. The two first mentioned persons have had their churches demolished by the mob and have been obliged to leave the city. They have also demolished many of the African churches. The idea of a mob is dreadful yet I think they act from right motives. It is hoped the above mentioned opinions will soon be abolished in our country.

Middletown, N. J. August 8, 1834, Friday. Went with the family down to the shore to bathe. It was high water. I think I never enjoyed this exercise more than at the present time. On our return home, I heard of the death of Mrs. Mary Lawrence who died with the small pox which disease is quite prevalent at Upper Freehold. I have seen the following lines upon her death—viz:

Lines. On the death of the much lamented Mrs. Mary Lawrence, wife of James S. Lawrence of Upper Freehold.

Tis come, tis come, the hour of peace…

[Much more to come]

22nd Indiana Infantry, Desertion, Mental Illness

1862 Diary Fragment of James A. Guirl, 22nd Indiana Infantry

January 4, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

This diary fragment was written by James Andrew Guirl (1841-1868), the son of Isaac Guirl (1813-1879) and Jane Redick (1813-1888) of Benville, Jennings county, Indiana. In the 1860 US Census, James was enumerated in his parent’s home as a 19 year-old portrait painter. Just prior to his enlistment, James moved to San Jacinto in Jennings county, and while there offered his services in Capt. Michael Gooding’s Co. A of the 22nd Indiana Volunteers in July 1861. He later transferred to Captain David Dailey’s Co. D. Throughout his time in the service, James suffered ill health and a game leg. He was eventually discharged for disability in August 1863. After the war, he moved to Franklin, Venango county, Pennsylvania to visit an uncle and work in the oil fields but again his health failed and her returned to Indiana where he died in 1868.

This diary fragment of unbound pages only spans the period from October 19, 1862 through November 11, 1862 while James was absent without leave from the army, hiding out at his home in Jennings county, Indiana. We learn from the diary fragment that he spent his time reading, writing and drawing while he earned money working at the cane mill or cutting wood for the Passmore family. His last entry expresses his deep concern for his arrest by the county sheriff or a provost marshal and his fear of being shot for desertion. He provides a brief summary of how he came to enlist in the army, his endless troubles with physical illness while a soldier, and of his intentions to leave the state and go to Western Pennsylvania to avoid arrest. Some time after this last entry, we know that James was arrested and taken to Indianapolis where he was held awaiting trial as a deserter. A set of letters written in April and May 1863 informs us how he avoided trial and sentencing, see—1863: James Andrew Guirl to his Family.

Though I could find no public record to confirm my suspicions, it’s my personal belief that James suffered from a psychological disorder which he described as “nervousness.” His anxieties reached a level that one might say he suffered from paranoia. One better educated than myself in psychiatry might be able to accurately diagnose his condition based on his diary and letters. One of his dreams is extensively detailed in his diary and he admits that it was a common reoccurrence and that he suffered from insomnia as a result of these dreams.

James older brother, William Guirl (1838-1861), served in the same regiment, Co. A, and died at Otterville, Missouri on 15 December 1861. James refers to another brother in his diary—Charles A. Guirl (1836-1870), the husband of Mary Milhous (1832-1884), and the father of two boys, William and Ellet) at the time this diary was penned in 1862. The Guirl family, Mihous family, the Passmore Family and most others mentioned were Quakers and members of the Hopwell Friends Meeting. Much of the area in which these families lived were taken up by the US Government for use as the Jefferson Proving Ground in the 1940s.

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

A Journal of my every day life, Volume 2nd

We have now finished one volume of my daily life. Let us begin another and go on together as we did before.

Sunday, October 19, 1862. I was drawing part of the day at a picture Amandud and Amandaof my own designing. I intend to send it to Miss. H. M. Middleton, one of my old school mates in Ohio. Was sketching some pictures from the Travels of Herodotus and also from the New Testament. A clear, pleasant day.

Monday 20th. Was drawing part of the day at Amandus and Amanda. Did not do anything in the afternoon. Do not feel well. A cloudy, cool day. We worked at the cane mill till midnight.

Tuesday 21st. I was drawing part of the day at Amandus and Amanda. Was quite unwell all day and night, but worked at the cane mill till midnight. Cloudy and quite cool in the evening; a clear cold, frosty night.

Wednesday 22nd. I finished the picture of Amandus and Amanda and shall send it with the large letter to John Middleton by the next mail. I also wrote a letter to Miss H. M. Middleton to accompany the picture. Was copying off my diary into my large journal. Hiram Bigg spent the day at our house. Clear and pleasant.

Monday 23rd. Was copying off my diary into my large journal and reading in Tristram Shandy. Worked at the cane mill awhile in the evening. Received a long letter from Miss H. M. Bigg. I also began a History of Benville [Indiana] on the opposite page, and went over to Hiram Bigg’s at dark and wrote two chapters of it. I came home again at 9 o’clock. A clear, pleasant day.

Friday 24th. I was writing part of the day at the History of Benville. I finished the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of it. Was working a little at the cane mill. Received a letter from Mrs. M. A. Miller living in Mt. Union, Ohio. A clear, pleasant, warm day.

Saturday 25th. Was writing most all day at the History of Benville. It came up a severe snow storm in the morning and snowed without intermission all day. Very cold and disagreeable. I helped to gather up a good quantity of cane leaves and seeds, and also helped brother Judson haul some wood. They finished working at the cane mill about noon. The snow melted off almost as fast as it fell, but in the evening it had got to be two or three inches deep.

Sunday 26th. Was writing all day at the City of Benville. Yesterday I wrote the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of it, and today the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters. Cleared away about noon. Snow most all melted away at night. Brother Charley spent an hour or two with us.

Monday 27th. I was writing all day at the History of Benville. Wrote the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th chapters of it. Clear and cool.

Tuesday 28th. I wrote the 21st chapter of the History of Benville, and chopped a half cord of wood for Joseph and George Passmore. Hiram Bigg and Hannah Walton spent the evening at our house. Cloudy and cool.

Wednesday 29th. Chopped a cord of wood for Joseph and George Passmore. It took me all day. How awful tired I am. Clear and pleasant.

Thursday 30th. Wrote a letter to Mrs. Mary A. Miller, one to Mrs. E. Sanders, and a long one to Miss H. M. Bigg. I also cut some wood for Joseph and George Passmore. Clear, warm, and pleasant.

Friday 31st. I chopped a cord and a half of wood for Joseph and George Passmore, and wrote the 22nd and 23rd chapters of the History of Benville. Clear, warm, and pleasant.

Saturday, November 1st. I chopped a cord of wood for Joseph and George Passmore, and took a little one-horse wagon and went with Hannah Walton to the farm where Mrs. Pamela Smith formerly lived, got several bushels of potatoes, and came home in the evening. A clear, pleasant day.

Sunday 2nd. I wrote the 24th chapter of the History of Benville. Was also reading a little in Tristram Shandy. In the evening I wrote two letters for a poor old mulatto living near named Dunken [Duncan] McDowell, commonly called “Old Dunk.” He has lately become slightly insane and one of the letters which I wrote for him was an earnest appeal to “His Excellency Abraham Lincoln,” to put his late Emancipation Proclamation in immediate force, or else give the negroes the power to fight for their liberty. ¹

Hiram Biggs and Hannah Walton spent part of the evening at our house. A bright, warm morning. Clouded up at nine. Began raining at ten and continued slowly most all day. Quite cool in the evening.

*Col. Michael Gooding, 22nd Indiana Vols.*

Monday 3rd. I chopped a cord of wood for Joseph and George Passmore; half of it beech and half of it gum. I have decided to leave here soon and go to Cincinnati and probably on to Uncle Thomas J. Myrer’s in Western Pennsylvania. My old Captain [Michael] Gooding of the 22nd [Indiana] Regiment, now Colonel of the same, came home a few days ago slightly wounded in the head. He received it in the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. He told my brother Charley that I was a deserter and that he was going to take measures to affect my arrest immediately and send me to the army for severe punishment—probably to be shot. But I am going to take measures to make my escape if possible. I have been meanly treated by my regimental officers. I have expected to see the sheriff out after me every day since I made my escape from the Soldier’s Home at Indianapolis. Every time a small wooden bridge near our house rumbles by someone passing over it, I make haste to peep out to see whether it is the sheriff or not.

My dreams every night are chases and captures and court martials, always closing with my death. Last night I dreamed that a large number of officers and men surrounded our house and attempted to take me prisoner, but I succeeded in getting safely away to the distance of several hundred yards when I was discovered by my pursuers and a terrific chase began. Never before did my long legs serve me so faithfully as then. I flew like an arrow over a vast plain, jumping stumps, logs, fences, and runs in my way, hotly pursued by a large band of furious savages eager to drag me to a cruel and bloody death. At length I was brought to a stand on the edge of a giddy precipice with a roaring stream of water beneath. There seemed no possible chance for my escape now. The precipice was before me and my pursuers gradually forming themselves into a semicircle were closing in upon my right and my left, and upon my rear. The very earth seemed to tremble with the loud and repeated cheers of the furious body of men as they rapidly closed upon their defenseless prey. Their eyes gleamed like fire and their lips was covered with a phosphorescent foam, making them look like hideous demons. I gave myself up at last and fell to the ground in a paroxysm of fear and despair; but at the moment the lovely Goddess Athena came soaring over the chasm, and, gently raising me in her arms, she bore me safely across the frightful torrent and set me down on the opposite side.

Then what a yell of rage and disappointment echoed across the chasm! Never before did I hear such earthly sounds come from human beings. But in a moment more, a horrible crash accompanied with a roar a thousand times louder than the loudest thunder completely drowned the dismal yells of the infuriated men. It was they shooting at my fair protectren and I, with monstrous siege guns which had somehow or other suddenly planted themselves on the edge of the precipice. A storm of huge balls came flying around us, which threatened our immediate destruction. But Athena, thinking discretion the better part of valor, suddenly disappeared in a cloud leaving me to make my escape if possible.

I started on a brisk run, every now and then stumbling over the great cannon balls strewed in my pathway, which threw me headlong onto the ground. But scrambling to my feet again, I started briskly forward, only to be, the next moment, sent sprawling as before. The roaring of the siege guns ceased not for a moment, and the hailstorm of ball came pouring in around me unceasingly. But by some good fortune, I escaped being hit by them. At length I was startled by a furious yell immediately behind me, and, on turning my head, I saw several of my pursuers with muskets in their hands only a few yards away, coming toward me with the swiftness of the wind. I redoubled my exertions to escape, every moment expecting the reappearance of my protectress Athena to aid my faint [ ] strength, but I looked [ink blotch hides the script]… was useless to assist me against such fearful odds.

I soon came to a huge new log house with no doorways or windows cut out and the cracks between the logs undaubed. Through one of these cracks, not large enough to admit a rat, I crept and lay down close to the wall on the ground. My pursuers arrived upon the spot a moment after and began firing their muskets through the cracks at me. For some time not a ball touched me, but at last, one of the men put the muzzle of his musket through a small hole near my head and fired. The ball passed entirely through my neck and tore up the ground on the opposite side of me. The crimson blood poured out of the wound in two large streams which soon flooded the ground around me, and, in the end, entirely covered me over till I was drowned by it. Of course I knew no more till I awakened next morning. Such dreams as these disturb me every night. I suffer all the horrors of death but it is very pleasant the next day to think over all my escapes and feelings and the sensation which I felt while dying. A clear, pleasant day.

Tuesday 4th. I chopped a load of beech and maple wood for Joseph and George Passmore. In the evening, Judson and I took the violin and went over to Hiram Bigg’s. Hiram was not at home and Mrs. Miller and her children were there. First place, Judson played the “fiddle” while Hannah Walton and I kicked up our heels in a “stag dance” around the room. Next we rested and smoked a cigar. And last we played blindman’s bluff, children and all, till we were all tired. Then we kissed all round, shook hands, and “Kinnix” and I took our departure for home. A clear, warm, pleasant day. Bright and lovely moonlight at night.

Wednesday 5th. I rose this morning with a horrible tooth-ache, and, after breakfast, went to the woods to chop wood; but my tooth pained me so that I threw my ax down and came to the house. I wrote the 25th chapter of the History of Benville and read a little in Tristram Shandy. After dinner, I went to the woods again and chopped wood till three o’clock when it began to rain. George Bland came to our house in the evening and stayed all night. Clear till noon; rained all night.

Thursday 6th. I chopped two cords of maple and oak wood for George and Josepg Passmore. Brother Charley removed today into the house near here, formerly occupied by Marb. Cook. I spent a few minutes there in the evening with the family, James Painter, and “Good Robin Williard.” Clear, warm and pleasant till most evening, when it clouded over and snowed at night.

Friday 7th. A cold, snowy morning. I was looking over my Magazines and sitting by the fire all the morning. Should I go away, I shall have to sell all my dearly beloved books and pictorial papers to help defray my expenses on the journey. I shall regret to part with Don Quixote, Children of the Abbey, Up the Rhine, Tristram Shandy, Sentimental Journey, Scottish Chiefs, &c. It was for this reason that I was assorting them over this morning. I received a letter from Miss H. M. Middleton living near Alliance, Ohio. Also received a long letter from Miss H. M. Bigg. Afternoon, it cleared away and before night the snow all melted off. Very cold and disagreeable.

Saturday 8th. I designed and drew the outlines of a picture called “Dar-thula.” from Ossian’s Poems. I think a great deal of this sketch and shall take it with me to Cincinnati. to show to the artists there. I wrote a long letter to Miss H. M. Middleton and read an excellent story called Thrown Together. A clear, cold, disagreeable day. One year ago today I arrived home from the army.

Sunday 9th. I was drawing part of the day at a picture of Morning which I began several weeks ago. I want to finish it now and send it to Miss H. M. Middleton. Brother Charley, his wife and children, spent the day at our house and in the evening we all went home with them. Hiram Bigg and Mrs. Hannah Walton were there also. We all stayed till bed time. A clear, pleasant day.

Monday 10th. I cut a cord of wood for Joseph and George Passmore. I want to start away on Wednesday or Thursday next. At noon I went over to Hiram Bigg’s for a few minutes. I was drawing all the evening till late bed time at the picture of Morning. I am making it with minute dots of the pen, a forming a very pretty effect of light and shade. Hiram Bigg spent the evening and night at our house. He sat up with me till bed time writing a voluminous record of his daily life. A clear, pleasant day.

Tuesday, 11th [November 1862]. I am in a desperate situation at this time! Governor Morton has issued an order to Sheriffs and Provost Marshalls in the various counties throughout the State [of Indiana] to immediately arrest all deserters, stragglers, and soldiers who may be home without leave of absence, and send then to Indianapolis for trial. No doubt but a great many of them will be shot. I have no money or else I should have left ‘ere this. I shall try to borrow a little this evening or early tomorrow morning. It seems that I was born to bad luck and constant misfortune. Probably the scale will turn soon. My misfortunes began on the unfortunate day that Master Horace Boston [Barton?] ² threw me down on the frozen ground. Ever since then my life has been one continual disappointment and draw back. I went to Cincinnati to become a great painter, and came home in a short time a beggar. I joined the army and fell sick in four weeks afterward. I went again and in four weeks more, I was again taken sick and lay in the hospital for eight weeks. I at last got home on a thirty day furlough more dead than alive. My furlough was never renewed and for a long time I violated the army law by not returning to my regiment. At last I started but before I reached the end of my journey, I came near dying and was again sent home more dead than alive. Then I went to Indianapolis to get a discharge but was arrested and sentenced to work six months upon the breastworks at Memphis, Tennessee. I made my escape and came home again, more dead than alive. Then I was advertised as a deserter and shall now have to flee for my life. This has taken most all my patriotism away and the whole country may go to “Old Nick” for all I care.

God knows whether I will ever get clear of this dreadful misfortune. Every night comes the horrors of a disturbed mind in dreams that haunt me throughout the entire day. Mental misery is the most acute of all our many distresses.

¹Free Black Duncan McDowell is mentioned frequently in connection with George Waggoner’s Underground Railroad Station #4 which was located near Big Graham Creek. Fugitives slaves were sent from Benville to Waggoner’s farm and from there McDowell conducted them to Waddle’s Grist Mill, then on to Dr. Andrew Cady’s Station at Holton. McDowell is listed among the best known conductors along this route. He lived near Bethel Hole. [See: Southeastern Indiana’s Underground Railroad Routes and Operations, 2001]

² I have not been able to identify Master Horace Barton (or Boston) was but my hunch is that he may have been a school master at the Quaker school that James attended in Ohio. He doesn’t give the name of the school but he mentions acquaintances in Mount Pleasant so I’m inclined to believe James attended the Mount Pleasant Friends Boarding School in Mount Pleasant.

22nd Indiana Infantry, General William S. Rosecrans, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

1863: James Andrew Guirl to his Family

January 3, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

*I could not find an image of James Guirl but here is one of James Martin Coffey (1837-1861) who served in Co. I, 22nd Indiana Infantry, He died at Syracuse, Missouri.*

These four letters were written by James Andrew Guirl (1841-1868), the son of Isaac Guirl (1813-1879) and Jane Redick (1813-1888) of Benville, Jennings county, Indiana. In the 1860 US Census, James was enumerated in his parent’s home as a 19 year-old portrait painter. Just prior to his enlistment, James moved to San Jacinto in Jennings county, and while there offered his services in Capt. Michael Gooding’s Co. A of the 22nd Indiana Volunteers in July 1861. He later transferred to Captain David Dailey’s Co. D. Throughout his time in the service, James suffered ill health and a game leg. He was eventually discharged for disability in August 1863. After the war, he moved to Franklin, Venango county, Pennsylvania to visit an uncle and work in the oil fields but again his health failed and her returned to Indiana where he died in 1868.

James had an older brother, William McGowan Guirl (1838-1861), who served in the same company with him but died on 14 December 1861 at Otterville, Cooper county, Missouri.

In his letters, James makes several references to his drawings and some of his artistry was indeed utilized by Harpers Magazine. Here is one of his most famous drawings entitled, “A Rebel Prowler Shooting A Union Picket near Jefferson City, Missouri.”

Letter 1

Murfreesboro, Tennessee
April 6th 1863

Dear father and mother,

It seems strange that I now write from this place away down here in the “Sunny South” when only three short weeks ago I wrote to you from the “frozen regions” of Western Pennsylvania. How quick one can fly over this old world of ours now-a-days. In the good old days of yore, when minstrels played from cottage to cottage, when powdered knights and gallant warriors fought for honor and glory, and when it took a man a lifetime to go half way round the world, if they could then have gotten a transient peep into the future and save us at this age, how bewildered they would have been; aye, more, like Sancho Panza when officiating as Governor of the island, they would wish themselves safely out of it, back to the simple and primitive manners of their own period.

I wrote to you from the guard house at Indianapolis on Thursday last and then expected to be severely punished; but that evening I begged our jailor to take me to Gen. [Henry B.] Carrington and let me explain the whole matter. He did so and it proved satisfactory, and that evening at eight I was put under a strict guard with about three hundred others and sent to Louisville. We arrived there at three in the morning and placed in a dismal barracks in the city. There was no fire and we were very cold and uncomfortable all day, and at night we suffered a great deal.

At eight next morning we took the train for Nashville. It was Saturday and a clear, lovely day. When about 80 miles out from Louisville, the train met with a serious acident. A rail gave way over a courfit [?], throwing two cars off the track, one of which rolled over a steep embankment and was totally demolished. It was filled with ladies and children, besides a number of officers returning to their regiments. I was in the other car that ran off but escaped except a sprained shoulder. The sight of the wounded was sickening to behold. A brakeman was completely crushed about the thighs and groin, and was carried to a neighbor’s house insensible. He was in a dangerous position, but instead of jumping off like the other brakeman did, he hung to his post trying to stop the train till he met his fate. One woman with a little child in her lap was bruised from head to foot and almost blinded with her own blood, and when she came to conciousness, she saw her child unhurt sitting, smiling, at the distance of twenty rods. It had been thrown there by the violence of the shock, but alighted unhurt. The woman said it was smiling when the accident took place and it had taken placed so sudden that the child was still smiling when the tragedy was over.

We started on again at two o’clock with 8 or 10 of the wounded in the baggage car, and arrived at Nashville at midnight, We took on a heavy guard of well-armed men at Bowling Green to protect us from the guerrillas who were expected to attack us every moment but we got through in safety. Next morning we took the train to Murfreesboro and about noon I arrived at my old regiment. The boys came from all directions to shake me by the hand and Col. [Michael] Gooding spoke very kindly to me, and this morning elected me as Adjutant’s Clerk. He says that he knew all along that I was unfit for duty but he got word from some of my “friends” on Graham [Creek] that I was as stout as any man in the army, and had boasted as much several times, and he said he then thought I deserved punishment.

Some of the boys say that I was discharged long ago but I can’t tell how it is. I am now writing in the Adjutant’s office, and feel very happy and contented. I want you to thank Joe Passmore for me as he was the sole cause of my returning to honor and duty. Being so long sick in the hospital, I have had ever since a untold honor of the army. But now I am all right again.

George Thomas is unwell at the convalescent camp and Jack Haynes is well and hearty. Poor fellow—his hair is far more gray than when I saw him last, but his great warm heart is just as it always was. I am very unwell, but the surgeon says he will get me well in a few days. I got a desperate cold at Louisville and can scarcely speak above a whisper. It has settled on my lungsm but the mild climate here I hope will prove a cure for me. I feel so confused that I can write no more today. I have jumbled together all that I have written so that I expect you will all laugh at it. Send all letters to me as follows:

James A. Guirl, Co. D, 22nd Regt. Indiana Volunteers, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in care of Captain [David] Dailey.

Write soon. Yours, — Jim

Letter 2

Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Monday, May 3rd 1863

Dear Father and Mother,

I shall attempt to write you a few lines though I do not know whether you can read them after they are received for I have been bedfast since Friday evening last with flux and liver complaint, and have to write this lying down, besides being very nervous too.

Yesterday I received a letter from you with Aunt’s enclosed, and also one from Hiram Bigg. I was very glad to hear from all of you but, above all, I was delighted that a permanent peace had been restored once more among our old neighbors in Benville. I am very sorry that I said one word about any of these petty disturbances in my letters of late. But it was all done in the best nature in the world. In fact, I never thought those feuds would become larger in the great globe’s hide than a flea bite. Therefore, I treated it as such, giving it a scratch here and there, and now and then a hasty slap by way of emphasis. Never more will I say a single uncourteous word about Benville and if I live to get back there, it shall have its whole glorious history finished up un schoolmaster’s style, and for many years I hope to see it decorate the good Governor’s enter table. I have written two letters to Joe Passmore, neither of which have met with an answer yet, but I look for letters from him soon.

Tell Hiram that I will write to him soon, and also show his letter to Isaac Gunder.

The surgeon wanted to send me to the hospital this morning, but I would not go. I shudder at the thoughts of a hospital, and hope never to enter one again. George Thomas is getting better quite fast, and I expect will not get his furlough. I am very glad that some of the boys from the 26th [Indiana] are getting home and hope they enjoy—and will continue to enjoy—themselves to the end of their furloughs.

*Dr. Nathaniel J. Beachley, originally as an Assistant Surgeon in the 22nd Indiana Infantry.*

I am sorry that Dr. [Nathaniel J.] Beachley ¹ told me the scandalous story about Angeline’s money. He told me all about it without any questioning from me which caused me to think it more likely to be true. I beg pardon from all parties injured. I will never again write anything I hear of that kind. It is all folly. Besides, it keeps up a constant turmoil, and God knows I never want to create any disturbances with anyone.

I have not got quite well acquainted with Ike Gunder and think him a mighty good fellow. He is a great deal like his father. I am keeping a diary again though I haven’t written any in it for five days. About half an hour ago I pulled off my small clothes and caight fifty-two greybacks [lice] inside the legs! These breeches were washed on Thursday last, and completely purified, but everything here is perfectly swimming with body lice. You can see them on the ground, on the tents, on the clothes of the men, on the trees around—everywhere—all body lice!

I feel a great deal better than I did this morning when I began this letter though I am very weak yet. It is very queer that I can never be well again. Our doctor is very kind to me and is trying to get me up again. I cannot sleep at nights and lay awake till after midnight trying to get asleep and thinking over my whole past life.

The writing of that song about the Old 22nd has gained me still greater favor from the Colonel [Michael Gooding]. It is wonderful what a kind, good man he has got to be. ²

I hope you will send me the box which I spoke of in my last and add a sweet cake or two as my food is very unpalatable. I have scarcely eaten anything since last Thursday. Give my love to everybody in our neighborhood and tell them to write to me. I like letters so well. One letter received here is worth a half dozen at home. Tell Charley to write me a good long letter. He should also write one to his old friend Leander Kelly, teamster in the 65th Ohio.

I must close for this time. Write soon for I think a little world of your letters. I remain yours, — Jim

¹ Nathaniel Jacob Beachley (1831-1908), a native of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia who was practicing medicine in Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana, when the Civil War began in 1861. In the first year of the war he organized Co. H, 26th Indiana Volunteers and served with that company until mustering out on 24 February 1863 to accept a commission as Assistant Surgeon of the 22nd Indiana Volunteers. In April 1864, he was commissioned Major Surgeon of the 69th Indiana Volunteers. See 1861-64: Nathaniel Jacob Beachley to George Washington Shober.

² James must have written the lyrics of a song (“The Old 22nd”) dedicated to the 22nd Indiana Infantry that no doubt praised the Colonel of the regiment, but I have not been able to find a copy.

Letter 3

Camp Hospital near Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Sunday, May 10th 1863

Dear brother Charley,

As I expected you have not answered my letter to you but I believe you are almost excusable owing to the care naturally resulting from a large family, and the multiplicity of little matters forever crowding upon a married man, In lieu of this, I freely forgive you and shall try to write a few lines to you once again.

Last night by candlelight I wrote a letter to Mrs. Painter giving her a few of my many queer experiences since coming here. If I was only able I should write somebody, I care not who, one of the longest letters ever sent through the mail. I feel like I must do it, and unburden my mind, like Sterne did to the lady in the “Disobligement” at Paris. But when I pick up my pen and get it well inked, all the burden on my mind vanishes like California fleas, leaving your humble servant standing naked and alone, with only one thought in his head—that is, “Naked we come in to the world and naked we go out of it,”—a thought which does not go far in composing a letter. Now if I was at home with one week’s repose, I could then sit down and write a hundred pages of a letter and feel no lack of words. To be sure, the letter might not contain an over amount of genuine philosophy, but it would be a letter, and a letter is a letter any day.

I have been here since last Thursday noon, and feel better today. It has got warm and pleasant again, after four or five of the coldest days and nights I ever saw or heard of this time of the year. This is a lovely Sabbath morning here but a horrible misery rages through the camp. A poor fellow is dying in my tent and as I write, he is struggling in death a few feet from me. He has had the dropsy, and yesterday morning was able to sit up and talk. Even last night he said he wished he had a furlough for ten days and he would go to Terre Haute, Indiana, and try and find his brother who went there two or three years ago. Poor fellow! his family lives in Eastern Tennessee and all communication with them is cut off. In two hours more, he will be in eternity, and his family will never know where he died, nor what became of him.

A boy died here on Friday morning last and one more in my tent will die before a week. Twenty or thirty die in this camp every day. Every morning I can see a man driving into camp with an immense load of coffins to be used through the day. This is what I call awful! So many dying day after day, yet no help for it. It is not unhealthy here but in so many troops, there are always some dying, and one out of each regiment every now and then makes up a large quota here every day.

The U. S. graveyard here covers two or three acres. Everyone is buried neatly in a stout coffin and a board is placed at their head with their name, &c. &c. I am getting very thin, yet I do not feel very bad. The surgeon has just passed through and he says I am afflicted with liver complaint, affection of the lungs, and flux. When I get very thin, I shall then apply for a discharge. I believe I shall get one. My leg has no sign of getting sore again though it is much weaker than the other one. One good thing here, the surgeon gives me no calomel or quinine and says for me never to take any more such medicine.

I am not able to draw but I hope to be soon. Then I shall send more sketches to Harper & Brothers. I have several that I wish to draw, but I am too nervous.

When father sends the box to me, I wish Mary would send me one of her sweet cakes. The one I took to Indianapolis with me was as good as I ever eat. Our food here is very poor, consisting of bread, coffee, meat and potatoes. I scarcely eat any of it. They are making garden near this camp, covering several acres, all planted with such vegetables as will be good and palatable for sick men.

Gen. Rosecrans and staff accompanied by several ladies rode through here [at the hospital camp] last night. Rosey is a very blunt man. When opposite our tent he roared out like some every-day farmer, “Hello there boys! how d’ye do, eh? I’ll have to bring my headquarters here, I guess, for most of my army seems to be here.”

“Bully for you, General!” sung out a score or two of boys standing round on their canes. Then the General laughed, the ladies laughed, the staff laughed, and our invalids fairly roared. Everybody loves Gen. Rosecrans!

I must now quit writing for this time. I positively command you to write to me soon! I remain yours, &c. — Jim

Direct to General Field Hospital, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Ward C, Tent No. 1.

Letter 4

General Field Hospital near Murfreesboro, Tennessee
May 22nd 1863

My dear Father and Mother,

Your letter of the 18th arrived yesterday evening and I should have answered it immediately had I been able, but then I felt worse than usual and was confined to my bed. This morning I was still worse but now (three o’clock p.m.), I am able to sit up and write. A few days ago I was able to ride to the 22nd Regiment and get my Descriptive List and Pay Roll so that I can draw my pay here. Thanks to the kindness of Jack Haynes, who is now orderly of Co. D, for procuring me the necessary papers, as my Captain and Lieutenants were all too lazy and indifferent to make them out though they knew that I had come most a mile through a severe illness to procure them. How infernally mean are some of the officers of the 22nd Regiment! While at camp I received two letters but neither from Benville.

I came back late in the evening, weak, sick, and exhausted. I had almost given up the idea of ever receiving any more letters from you. It seems so very long since I came to this place. I have some of the best of friends here and most of them were brought round by my drawings and kindness to my fellow sick. The young lady who brings us our delicacies after the meals each day never fails to give me a goodly portion and then follows a pleasant chit chat of a minute or two, which, I assure you, is very agreeably maneuvered by us so as to interest all in the tent.

The doctor is also interested in me and my drawings and the result may bethat I may get a discharge sometime; but God only knows when. Several have been discharged since my arrival here, but they were men entirely ruined and who will die on the way home, or shortly after reaching there. When I first returned to my regiment, I thought that I would have refused a discharge had they offered me one; but now I plainly see that I cannot stand army service of any kind. Lying on the ground, drinking strange water, eating hard and worse food, and all the time laboring under a kind of excitement from the multiplicity of strange things constantly taking place in a great army is more than I can undergo.

How thankful and doubly thankful I was when I learned that you had started a box of eatables to me. I have no appetite, but I know I can eat something that comes from the hands of my mother and sister! I only hope that you will not think me a son who is far more trouble to his parents than he is worth. I know I have always been a poor, needy wretch, forever unfortunate, yet sometimes one of the happiest fellows alive. When I look back at the golden times when I built miniature railways round our pleasant cottage, when I sauntered along to the Old Quaker School on the hill on bright spring and summer mornings, and when I greedily looked for books in the library at San Jacinto and proudly carried my selection home to be perused with untold joy—then a dizziness seems to grow over me, and in spite of all my efforts, tears will come into my eyes, and a foreboding that such times are gone forever come into my soul never to be effaced.

I am a queer, queer fellow. No one can read me in a day or even a year. No man but Dr. Davidson of Madison ever got a complete confession of thoughts from me. That outpouring was like a fairy view of Heaven to me, It was joy of the purest kind. I shall never forget what he told me on separating at DuPont on the day I took him home from brother Charley’s. “You are poor now,” he said, taking my hand, “but before you die, you will be the coveted companion of the greatest men!”

I thought of this for a long time, and tried to imagine myself at some future day a “hale old fellow with silver hair” surrounded by opulence and wealth, with a name equal to that of the great painter Raphael. The doctor had built a dangerous castle in the air for me, and I was constantly adding and enlarging its beauty. Next I would see myself a great author—a perfect literary lion, with the whole world enraptured with my works. How much larger was my castle then! How gloriously it shone down through th mystic clouds and vapors of time! It has all faded and disappeared now. I am left standing on a barren shore, made tenfold more desolate by the remembrance of the golden structures which once hovered around and above me. My only hope now, like Irving’s Poor-Devil-Author, is to be a common village portrait painter, or maybe half an author for frivolous magazines. Is not the just and sober reality of the future of my life? But enough of this.

I have received Hannah Bigg’s letter which you sent me. I received it three weeks ago today and answered it immediately. I should like to see Tom Batcheler very much but I am not able to hunt him up. I am glad you have got your corn in so early and want you to raise me some tobacco for next winter’s use. I am now ab inveterate smoker and have a very curious pipe of my own manufacture with a stem four feet long. I hope to bring it home as relic of Murfreesboro. You know I love relics.

I am very glad that so many of the Benville people are going to write to me. I almost bless them for it. I shall send to town after the box tomorrow and then write to you the result. No danger of me hurting myself eating for I can scarcely eat a few dainties supplied by our lady. Nine hundred sick and convalescents came here yesterday from the hospitals at Murfreesboro. I heard this morning that the whole of my division moved forward this morning at six o’clock and I believe that the whole army is moving, but am not certain. I may be taken to Nashville soon, but I don’t care now, for I have my Descriptive Roll with me.

You write very good letters now and I want plenty of them. There are about fifteen hundred sick soldiers in this army now; not may when the vast bulk of the army is taken into consideration. You wanted to know whether I was very sick or not. I am quite sick but I believe am not dangerous. I have chronic dysentery (getting better), liver complaint (getting worse), lungs affected, and billious stomach. I must quit. Write soon.

You affectionate son, — James G.

4th Massachusetts Infantry

1863-64: Henry Humble to his Family

January 2, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

I could not find a photograph of Henry but here’s an Ambrotype of Pvt. William Wadsworth (1839- 1863) of Duxbury served in the 4th Massachusetts Infantry. He was wounded during the Second Assault on Port Hudson and died shortly after in a Baton Rouge hospital. Circa 1860.

These letters were written by Henry Humble (1836-1908), the son of Marshall Humble (1807-1896) and Emily Reed (1808-1899) of Abington, Plymouth county, Massachusetts.

Henry was a 24-year-old shoemaker when he enlisted at Abington on 16 April 1861 and was mustered six days later as a Sergeant in Co. E of the 4th Massachusetts. This 90-day regiment was the first from the Bay State to answer President Lincoln’s call and were deployed to garrison Fortress Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, and Camp Butler at Newport News. Half the regiment was engaged in the battle of Big Bethel on Jun. 10th. The regiment returned to Boston on July 22nd and was mustered out of service.

Henry was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in Co. E, when the 4th Massachusetts was mustered for a second service of 9-months duration on 26 September 1862. His regiment left the State on Dec. 27th and, after a brief stop in New York City was sent to Louisiana, arriving on 13 February 1863. The regiment assisted in Admiral Farragut’s running of the fleet past Port Hudson, was involved in the assault on Fort Brisland in April and the siege and assault on Port Hudson, which culminated in that city’s surrender on 8 July 1863. On June 23rd Henry was one of a large number from the 4th Massachusetts who were captured and taken prisoner, but paroled after two days. The regiment was mustered out of service on 9 August 1864.

Henry, who never married, worked in shoe and boot factories following his military service and was a member of the David A. Russell G.A.R. Post 78 in Whitman. He was 72 when he died of heart disease.

Letter 1

*Addressed to Mr. Marshall Humble, South Abington, Massachusetts*

Fort Monroe
April 28, 1861

Mr. Humble,

Dear Father, we are in Fort Monroe and all well. I am better than I ever was before. It is healthy here. We are in good spirit, have a good living and clothing and twenty-seven dollars month. Do not want to come home yet. Want you to write as soon as you can and tell me how you all get along. Want to know if you are well and how business is.

We have beef, pork all we want. Have captured one prize armed with artillery. We are at work mounting guns as fast as we can. There is 1500 to man the guns. It will take 50,000 to take this fort from us. Feel safe.

When you write, address Fort Monroe, Virginia. Write soon. Want to hear from home. Want all to write. From your son, — Henry

Letter 2

Camp Butler
Sunday, June2, 1861

Dear Father,

Since I left home, have been in all kinds of business—the business that I like. Our living has not [been] so good as it might be but it will do well enough. Our living consists of beef, pork, beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and hard bread, a little coffee, but we have to drink it without sweetening. Don’t find any fault with it. We do not get any soft bread, butter, tea, but our time has expired.

Since we went from the fort, have been at work throwing up entrenchments. We are now at the place called Newport News, twelve miles above the fort on the banks of the James river. Splendid place for our camp. The climate is healthy but it is rather warm sometimes. We have heard that our regiment—the 4th—have had a battle at Sewell’s Point. We have never been there and I think we shall not go any farther.

The Vermont regiment is here and a Dutch regiment making in all over 2500 men. With our fortifications, we can hold out against ten thousand troops. Have to work harder here than at the fort. Yesterday I was Sergeant of the Guard. In the afternoon when I was at supper, one of my guard shot two of his fingers off while he was capping his gun.

Have not had any rainy weather to speak of since we left home until today. We had a heavy shower that lasted some four hours. I never was as healthy in my life as I now am. Do not want to go home until we have some kind of a brush today, We had green peas for dinner. Wish you would write as soon as can. The boat is going and I must stop now.

From your obedient son, — Henry

Have to write on the ground or hold paper in my hand.

Letter 3

*Addressed to Lieut. Henry Humble, Co. E, 4th Regt. Mass. Vol. Militia, Banks Expedition, New Orleans, La.*

South Abington [Mass.]
March 30th [1863]

Dear Henry,

I received your letter the 25th. I was very glad to hear from you that you were well and enjoying yourself so well. I felt very anxious, it were so long since I heard from you. You wrote that you have not been paid off yet. How do you get along? If you want any money, you can have it any time you want it if you let us know. I should rather not be paid off till I get home if I could get along without; it will be so much trouble to take care of it and keep it safe.

How do you get your washing and mending done. Take good care of your health. I don’t know where you be now. Perhaps you are called to battle before now. Some think you are going to take Port Hudson. We heard that there was a goo many of your regiment sick. You must be careful what you eat in that warm climate. The sick soldiers are coming home almost every day. Frank wrote to you about Alve Gurney being brought home sick. I have not seen any of them since but I shall go and see them soon. Salmon Reed is in the hospital in New Orleans sick. He belongs to the 42nd [Mass.] Regiment. I hope you will not have to go into battle. If you do, go not in your own strength but in the strength of the Lord as David did when he went out to meet Goliath and the same God will protect you.

Have you received my letter the 4th instant? We are all well as common. The cannons are going as fast as they can. I don’t know what is come to Boston. We all want you to come home. Don’t forget your mother, — E. H.

21st New York Cavalry, Camp Stoneman

1863: Oliver H. Green to Elizabeth Jane Wiley

January 1, 2026 Griff Leave a comment

*I could not find an image of Oliver but here is one of Robert Delos Haight who also served the 21st New York Cavalry at the same time.*

The following letter was written by Oliver H. Green (1837-1929) of Stephentown, Rensselaer county, New York, who was drafted at the age of 27 in September 1863 to serve as a private in Co. I, 21st New York Cavalry. He was immediately made a corporal and in January 1865 made a sergeant. He was reduced to the ranks in March 1865 before mustering out of Co. D in July 1866 at Denver, Colorado Territory. Oliver was a farmer before the war and later worked in the coal business.

Oliver wrote the letter to his wife Esther E. (Wiley) Green (1839-1870). On the very same day Oliver wrote this letter, President Abraham Lincoln gave his address to the assembled citizens honoring the fallen soldiers of the battlefield and dedicating the National Cemetery at Gettysburg.

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

Camp Sanman [Stoneman] ¹
November 19, 1863

Dear wife and children.

I take this opportunity to write to you again to let you know that I am well at present and hope that these few lines will find you all the same.I had a letter from Gale and have answered it. I had one from F. Hatch but have not wrote to him yet but shall soon. I am uneasy about that money that I sent you. I am afraid thsat it is lost.

The weather is pleasant here now. It is very unhealthy here now.

I wrote to Father Green but he has not answered it yet. I wrote to George Moffitt and have not heard from it yet. I wrote to Nancy Moffit and have not had no answer yet ad have wrote four or five to you that I have had no answer from. I wrote another to Mother Wiley the other day and that I have not heard from yet. Tell them all that they must [write] to me and I will answer them. I want you should write how that old mare gets along. Tell Dr. Graves that it is time that he paid that money.

I have just got back from taking the sick to the doctors.

I want you to write as soon as you get this. If you knew how much better I felt when I get a letter from you. It has been most a week since I got a line from you and it seems like a month. Write often if but a little. I would give all the world if I could see you and the children but that can’t be so I must make the best of it. But I hope the day is coming when we shall see each other again. But it looks blind to me. I have a great many sad hours but I shall keep up as good courage as I can. Write often and write all the news.

There is some deserting most every day but I never shall leave my post, let the cost be what it will. I shall do my duty as far as I can. We have not drawed anymore pay yet and I don’t know when we shall but I think we shall before long. They talk all kinds about the war here.

This is from Oliver H. Green

Direct as before. To his loving wife.

¹ Camp Stoneman was a United States Army military facility located in Washington, D.C., during the American Civil War. It served as the Dismounted Camp for the cavalry forces of the Army of the Potomac from September 1863 to December 1864.

Antebellum Kentucky

1846: John M. Ellis to William B. Harrison

December 31, 2025 Griff Leave a comment

The following letter was written by John M. Ellis (b. 1824). He appears in the 1850 US Census as a law student living in Hopkinsville, Christian county, Kentucky. He wrote the letter to William B. Harrison (1808-1884) of Elkton, Todd county, Kentucky.

John’s letter speak’s of local and state politics as well as of “pretty girls” at a Methodist camp meeting in Salubria Springs.

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

William B, Harrison, Esqr. Elkton, [Todd County] Kentucky

Hopkinsville, [Christian county] Kentucky
July 21, 1846

Dr. William,

Your very interesting and acceptable document came to hand in due time & had I not been very busily engaged, I should have given it my immediate attention. But as circumstances placed me, I was bound to defer answering for some time—1st as I had no news of importance to communicate, and 2ndly, because I have no other reason.

Times are flourishing for McL and we are going to do all we can for him but because that is the case we should not remain in a state of lethargy but be up and doing and Capt. Bristow I am informed by some will grow all in the northern part of your county. Said yourself and one or two more, “This I do not put any confidence in as being the truth.” Show them how many you can carry in with you, and go up to the polls early in the day with all that you can think the least wavering, if such you have, and make them vote if possible the right way. Three cheers for M. G. and our side and will do all you can and you will be doing sure enough.

The southern part of Todd will give a considerable majority for McL. and by balancing as much as possible in your range you will do a great deal of good. We are going to give McL in our county I think a majority of some four or five hundred and it will keep us working hard to dit yet nevertheless we will try.

I went to a camp meeting on Sunday last at old Salubria Springs [near Pembroke, KY] and the Lord knows there were more pretty girls there than ever were together before since the foundation of Christian county. Seen I could scarcely get along for looking and gaping about. I was just like a green horn who had just entered a city looking at signs, &c. You never saw the like in your life. [ ] Gals want nothing to them and you think they are some punkins—that last word is spelled wrong but what the odds in electioneering times. We get along in our way just as well as the nature of the case will admit. We have a fight in town occasionally and kind Justices of the Peace to keep the peace.

Will, I have been among the women so much for a few days past that I am entirely out of sorts for writing a letter and therefore I hope you will excuse this disconnected, disjoined scroll and hope for one better when I hear from you again which I trust will be as soon as you get this and send me all the news—local, political, statistical, or otherwise you may have and be sure to nurse the Brethren in politics and you will be remembered long in this world by many friends and lovers of the light side of all questions. Send me that magazine you were speaking of and give my very best respects to all friends and acquaintances. Take a liberal share of my love to yourself and believe that I as ever remain your sincere friend, — Jn. M. Ellis

To Wm. B. Harrison

smallpox, St. Bartholomew, West Indies

1816: Charles Augustus Cheever to Arnold Welles

December 30, 2025 Griff Leave a comment

The following letter was written by Dr. Charles Augustus Cheever (1793-1852), the son of Dr. Abijah Cheever. It describes his sea voyage to St. Bartholomew (St. Barts) to perform vaccinations, presumably for small pox. In datelining his letter, Dr. Cheever failed to write the year. In a book published in 1854 under the title, “Extracts from the writings of Charles A. Cheever,” it is stated that Charles made his voyage to the West Indies “for the purpose of introducing vaccination as a preventative for the smallpox” and this trip was made during the period he worked for Dr. Brown of Boston in the Spring of 1815 and the autumn of 1816 when he moved to New Hampshire.

Charles “entered Harvard in 1809 and took his A. M. in 1813. He had the good fortune to study medicine with Dr. John Warren and in 1815 with Dr. John B. Brown, and enjoyed the benefit of his large dispensary practice, then the only clinical opportunity in Boston. In 1816 he received his M. D. and settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he was the leading surgeon for thirty-six years, until his untimely death in 1852. Previous to this he made a voyage to the West Indies to carry vaccination, then a new practice, there. His material of vaccine was embodied in an Irish lad whom he vaccinated on starting and took with him to supply the vaccine virus. This trip was entirely successful. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was a compact town of about seven to nine thousand people. It was intensely conservative, older physicians were abundant, and his progress in acquiring practice was extremely slow.

Although always somewhat impecunious, he lavished his scanty means in all expenses which would advance him as a doctor. He bought new books, was extravagant in new instruments, and disregarded cost of knowledge. He early attracted students, and always had from one to three under him. He formed a good library, read and catechized his students, took them to see his cases, taught them to dissect and to prepare anatomical injections, dried specimens and skeletons, so that he collected for those times an unusual though small museum. Anatomical material could be obtained only by very expensive purchase. $25 to $50, from New York and Philadelphia (no railway transportation), or by illegal means.

The cadavers were obtained and dissected in the attic of his house. His home was the center of anatomical and surgical knowledge for thirty miles around, and over this area he was for thirty-six years known as “The Surgeon.” His work ranged from dentistry and obstetrics to the major surgical operations. Considering the limitations, ignorance, prejudice and timidity with which he was surrounded, it is remarkable that he undertook, for his first attempts, new and recently described operations.

He operated successfully for cataract, and to ensure it kept his patient in his own house and nursed him. He operated for strabismus, also removed breasts and tumors, amputated limbs. The first asepsis of subcutaneous surgery coming to his early knowledge, he operated for club-foot and tendon sections, and treated his patients by apparatus. He was among the first here to follow up a trephining by laying open the dura mater for hemorrhage or for abscess. No asepsis, no ether! Nerve and audacity were required to assail these new problems; enlightened only by his own dissections and his own reading, he practised what he had never seen. The unaided natural senses of sight and touch guided a hand, erudite only by dissection, safely to the recesses of a quivering and moving patient.

Keen insight, intuition even, made him a noted diagnostician, esteemed as such by his contemporaries.

He died too early, shattered by domestic griefs which preyed on a sensitive nature.” [Sketch by David Williams Cheever]

I believe the letter was written to Brigadier General Arnold Welles (1761-1827), a Boston native, who served as the first President of the Boston Branch of the Bank of US (which is now the US Treasury). He married Elizabeth Warren of in 1790, daughter of Dr. Joseph Warren, killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. Warren was a presiding officer of the Mass. Congress, whose portrait was painted by John Singleton Copley. Arnold Welles father, Gov. Thomas Welles, was a prominent citizen of Wethersfield/Glastonbury, CT.

Transcription

St. Bartholomew [West Indies]
March 31 [1815 or 1816]

Respected Sir,

I arrived in this place on the 25th of March, 19 days from Boston and 17 from the Quarantine ground. To describe to you the suffering & anxiety I experienced the first week of my passage is impossible. We left Boston Harbor with a fair wind a prospect of fine weather—but the wind shifted and blew very hard from the east before we had proceeded 40 miles below the light. About 12 at night I was suddenly aroused by the cry of “All hands upon deck!” Thinks I to myself, the danger must be very great or the Captain would not certainly call upon his men at this time of night. With this impression, I sprung and made a bold push for the deck forgetting that I was not on terra firma and assisted by an unlucky and not a very gentle roll of the vessel, was landed high and dry on hte opposite side of my state room amongst kegs & barrels & the Lord knows what. The severity of the blow with an entire loss of nerve impressed me with the idea that all was lost—that some dreadful accident had happened—that the ship was foundered or was dashed to pieces upon the rocks. I verily believed that my last hour had come.

After the first shock was over, I picked up the pieces and mustering all my courage made another bold push to gain the deck. At the hatchway, I was met by a sailor, who, judging I presume from my appearance the state of my mind, accosted me with, “What’s the matter, doctor?” “Sure enough,” replied I, “What’s the matter?” Looking round I perceived that the weather was pretty good and that I had no great cause for alarm. I retreated to my berth, considerably mortified—the sport of all the sons of Neptune.

In the morning I learnt that in consequence of a change in the wind, the Captain thought best to put back to Quarantine. I expected a broadside from the Captain and Mate respecting my last night’s adventure but to my great joy they were quite ignorant of it. We arrived at Quarantine at noon where we remained till morning. Here I suffered so much from the cold that had I not started with the firm resolution of surmounting every obstacle, I should most certainly have turned back.

In the morning we started again, but misfortunes seldom come alone for we had nearly arrived at the same place we left before when the wind shifted and back again we went. This was too much for human nature to bear. It required more philosophy than I could muster. The moment I went below, sea sickness drove me back and compelled me to seek refuge among the wind and the waves. I had pretty much determined to give up my expedition but was prevented by another sudden change of the wind which blew very fresh for three days and completely carried us off the coast. I had now got over my sea sickness and consoled myself with the idea that all my misfortunes were ended. But a severe storm brought with it another fit of seas sickness which compelled me to keep the deck and tough it out.

While I was sitting on the boat (for stand I could not), a wave had the impudence to come on board & wet me to the skin & indeed there seemed to be a Providence in it for I had scarcely escaped below when a second broke down the bulwark opposite which I was sitting. With the exception of a few squalls, we had very pleasant weather the rest of the passage. I could relate more adventures of a like nature but have not time.

This island is a very barren place and contains but very few respectable people. Matrimony is seldom heard of in the island. Most all—even the Governor himself—live publicly in a state of concubinage. There is no danger of my staying here. I would not if they would give me the island.

I expect to hear, sir, that you take a ride every morning and I hope I shall not be disappointed. Do not be distressed about your eye for thousands in your situation have been cured. I present my best respects to Mrs. Wells & should be highly gratified with a letter from her. I have seen no preserves as yet. My regards to Eliza & Lucy Ann. No snuff but parrots in abundance. I shall send one by Capt. Becker. Remember me to Mr. & Mrs. Derby and family. There is no guinea grass in the island, but I will try elsewhere. Mr. & Mrs. Cobb and family command my best wishes. Tell Miss Margaret that her work bag is very acceptable and of great service.

For a detail of my business, I refer you to Dr. Brown. I have been engaged in business only two days & have inoculated to the amount of $70 but fear it will not last long at that rate. I never have had a great many difficulties to encounter & many vexations to bear. The Governor of this island is the most dignified, most despothe & tyrannical gentleman I ever beheld. He is in power here what Bonaparte was in France. In my next I will give you a more particular account of him and of the island. ¹

Permit me to urge upon you the necessity of exercise. Do not, I beseech of you, confine yourself so much to your office. But above all, dear Sir, do not destroy present happiness by anticipating evil. You will forgive bad spelling, bad phraseology, bad everything, but I know you will not criticize when I tell you it is now 12 o’clock at night and that I have another letter to write. Though I have had many troubles & trials in my expedition, I do not repent, for I have grown quite polite, barefaced and impudent & acquired a good stock of each in one short week. I am, Sir, with the greatest respect your obedient servant, — C. A. Cheever

¹ The Governor of St. Bartholomew at the time of Cheever’s visit would have been Berndt Gustav Stackelberg (1784-1845. He was a Swedish military officer and diplomat. He ruled the colony from 1812 to late in 1816. The population on the island at the time was about 6,000, with roughly half being enslaved. Slavery was not abolished on the island until 1847.

40th Pennsylvania Infantry, Battle of Fredericksburg, Peninsula Campaign

“The ground for a bed and the sky for a tent.”

December 29, 2025 Griff Leave a comment

The 1862 Diary of James Hamilton Mills, 11th Pennsylvania Reserves

*James Hamilton Mills just before the Civil War*

The following account of the Peninsula Campaign and Battle of Fredericksburg comes from the 1862 diary of James Hamilton Mills (1837-1904) who was a native of new Lisbon, Ohio. He was working in “mercantile and mechanical pursuits” until the Civil War when he enlisted as a private on 27 April 1861 in Co. G (“The Independent Blues”), 11th Pennsylvania Reserves (40th Pennsylvania Infantry). With his regiment he participated in twenty seven general engagements of the Army of the Potomac, and for “gallant conduct on the field” he was promoted to corporal, first sergeant, first lieutenant and captain and for “heroic conduct in the Battle of the Wilderness and Bethesda Church” he was commissioned brevet-major and brevet-lieutenant colonel. He was mustered out of service at Pittsburg on June 13, 1864.

See also—“Two canteens of old rye for the boys!”—Excerpt from the 1863 Diary of James Hamilton Mills, 11th Pennsylvania Reserves.

Mills’ 1862 diary is among several diaries of his that are housed at the Montana State Library. It has been digitized recently but apparently never before transcribed and published. I have not shown the images of the diary pages since these can be viewed on line at James H. Mills diary, 1862.

*The 1862 Diary of James H. Mills, Co. G, 40th Pennsylvania Infantry*

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

Thursday, April 10, 1862—Weather bright and pleasant today. Went to Alexandria, tramped around town nearly all day. The 1st Brigade left on the cars yesterday and today for Manassas.

Friday 11—Was up at 3 a.m. [with] orders to march overland to Manassas. Passed through Fairfax Court House and camped within 3 miles of Centreville. Weather pleasant and men somewhat fatigued.

Saturday 12—Broke up camp at6 a.m. and reached Manassas at 2.30 p.m. Entrenchments at Centreville numerous but not formidable. Manassas a humbug. McClellan could have taken it in 3 hours.

Sunday, April 13, 1862—Up early in the morning and off to the battle field five miles. There is no advantage of ground—it being a beautiful undulating country full of woods. Many of the corpses were lying out exposed to the sun.

Monday 14—Moved camp to a fine location about 200 yards distant, fitted up our little quarters right comfortably and are making preparations to stay comfortable if we stay at all. Weather hot.

Tuesday 15—On picket about a mile and a half south of camp. Very rainy in the morning but got fair and warm by noon. [ ] Armstrong makes the company to [illegible].

Wednesday, April 16, 1862—Got into camp at 9 a.m. fatigued and sleepy, Gen. Meade had the audacity to order us out on Brigade Drill. I was excused and I wrote to Lizzie. Weather getting the Spring fever.

Thursday 17—1st Brigade marched to Bristow. Election for Major. Candidates Porter and Johns. Johns majority 124. Dress Parade at 6 p.m. Orders at 10 to be ready to leave at 4 a.m.

Friday 18—Left camp at 6.30 a.m. and marching on the A&O [Orange & Alexandria] Railroad tracks, reached Catlett’s Station about 2 p.m. Camped in a large meadow. Wood distant, Water scarce and bad.

Catlett’s Station on the Orange & Alex. R.R. (1862)
Edwin Forbes (American, 1839 – 1895)

Saturday, April 19, 1862—Weather unpleasant. Rainy and cold. Had turkey for dinner which I had roasted at a neighboring farmhouse. Regiment was paid today for January & February.

Sunday 20—Weather very bad. Laid in bed nearly all day. Expressed $40 to Jo Cline. Wrote to L. Townsen and Lizzie.

Monday 21—[Still at Catlett’s Station] Weather still outrageously bad. Went to Dr. Edmonds and had a warm berth at the fireside. The Dr. and Lady are evidently full blood secesh.

Tuesday, April 22, 1862—Stayed at the Dr’s over night and returned to camp in the morning. Went on guard at the camp at 9 a.m. Had to keep guard all night. Day fair.

Wednesday 23—Another nice day. Boys engaged in cleaning up their guns and playing “penny poke” on the sunny side of the straw stack.

Thursday 24—Company detailed as guard at Catlett’s Station. A boy was killed a few feet from me by a locomotive. Commenced to rain in the evening. Slept in a car with lots of hay.

Friday, April 25, 1862—Very wet. Left camp and took up quarters at Mr. Stone’s. Had two good meals with the inevitable corn cake and bacon. Returned to camp in the evening.

Saturday 26—Detailed as Judge Advocate on Regimental Court Martial. Rather a troublesome position. The 1st Brigade marched in the direction of Fredericksburg at 1 o’clock.

Sunday 27—Mail carrier brought the 1st mail we have had for ten days. Wrote to Lizzie, Hanna and Cunningham’s. Also a letter to the “star of the evening.” Received letters from Lizzie, Hanna, G. S. M. , W. T. J., The first fair day we have had for a week.

Monday, April 28, 1862—Left camp at Catlett’s and marched about nine miles in the direction of Fredericksburg. The roads are very bad so far. We hitched our horse in a little wagon of the sutler’s and hauled all our baggage. Had a good sleep with the ground for a bed and the sky for a tent.

Tuesday 29—Struck tents at 5.30 a.m. and marched 23 miles by 3.30 p.m. Camped in a pine wood northeast of Falmouth, Stafford county, Va. Men stood it pretty well. Co. G has now 14 men on the sick list. Weather cool and pleasant.

Wednesday 30—Set in wet in the forenoon, Was mustered for pay in the afternoon. The country around Fredericksburg is beautiful. Peach trees in full bloom, apple blossoms bursting, and forest trees putting on their verdure.

MAY 1862

Thursday, May 1, 1862—Weather variable. Had a pass to visit Falmouth. Country in the vicinity rather picturesque. Undertook to be commissary for officers’ mess. Corp. Robert Hunter discharged for disability.

Friday 2—Took a ride on the pursuit of eatables and after returning, plunged into the second volume of The Count of Monte Christo—a fascinating work. Weather fair and pleasant.

Saturday 3—Felt rather dilatory and lay in my tent nearly all day reading. The mail for the 11th [Pa. Reserves] came in about 10 p.m. Lots of letters. Boys gay and happy. Had two from Lizzie. All right.

Sunday, May 4, 1862—Company detailed for patrol duty. Found it a very lazy business. 3rd Brigade arrived in the afternoon. The second pontoon bridge was laid to Fredericksburg today. News that Yorktown is being evacuated.

Monday 5—Court Martial met. Tried Joshua L. McCreary. Weather pleasant. News of the evacuation conformed. McClellan in full pursuit.

Tuesday 6—Court Martial adjourned until tomorrow. Weather still pleasant. Dr. Fulton left for Washington with the mail.

Wednesday, May 7, 1862—Court Martial met and tried the four remaining cases in Co. A. Evidence contradictory. Hot in daytime. Cool at night.

[May 8 through May 13, 1862—no entries]

Wednesday 14—Rained all day. Went on picket in the evening.

Thursday 15—Rained all day.

Friday, May 16, 1862—Weather fair. Received letters from Will & Lizzie Jackson. The camp getting more beautiful every day. The leaves are all out.

Saturday 17—Weather very warm. 2nd Brigade reviewed and inspected today by Gen. McCall. Expressed much satisfaction at the condition of the rms of Co. G.

Sunday 18—Pleasant. Wrote to Lizzie and sent to Philp and Solomons, Washington, for Artemus Ward’s book. Men ordered to each have two pair shoes & socks.

Monday, May 19, 1862—Reviewed and inspected by Gen. Van Rensselaer & staff. Co. G again complimented on its arms. Weather pleasant. Dress Parade every evening at 6.30 o’clock.

Tuesday 20—Detailed as officer of the guard. Capt. [Evans R.] Brady [of Co. I], Officer of the Day. Had orders to come down to the regiment and we did it. Commenced raining in the evening.

Wednesday 21—Cool and damp in the morning. Faired up at 9 a.m. Received a letter from Labana Townsen. McClellan is at White House [on Pamunkey River] ten miles from Richmond. Will we get there too?

Thursday, May 22, 1862—Very warm. Read “The Loves of Byron,” which is also warm. [Jacob] Colver, [Johnson] Brown, Samuel T. Stewart sent to City Hospital at Washington.

Friday 23—Took a ride this afternoon to Shield’s Division. Went to the railroad bridge, from there to Gen. McDowell’s Headquarters and saw King’s Division reviewed. Afterwards our own was reviewed. Letter from Lizzie & Ans.

Saturday 24—Nothing going on. Gen. Banks was attacked at Front Royal and defeated. Had to return our wedge tent to Quartermaster.

Sunday, May 25, 1862—Received Artemus Ward’s work and read it through. Dress Parade in the evening with leggings on. The regiment looks far better.

Monday 26—Received orders to move our camp on account of sickness. Struck tents and went to another camp but before pitching, got marching orders. Left at 1 p.m. and marched down opposite Fredericksburg and camped.

Tuesday 27—Are located in a very pleasant place near the railroad, half a mile from the river and Fredericksburg. Camp in an open field, dry and gravelly which I think will improve the sanitary condition of the regiment. Warm, warm. Some anxiety for the safety of Banks’ army.

Wednesday, May 28, 1862—Opposite Fredericksburg. Dress Parade & Company Drill.

Thursday 29—Colver, Brown, and Stewart sent to Washington hospital.

Friday 30—Very warm Took a run around the country. King’s Division left to join Shields. No troops here now but the Pennsylvania Reserve.

Saturday, May 31, 1862—Wet and disagreeable last night. Commenced boarding at the sutler’s at $3 per week. Received letters from R. Cunningham & Lizzie. Severe battle at Richmond.

JUNE 1862

Sunday, June 1—Very wet all day. Read “A Strange Story” by Sir E. Bulwer Lytton.

Monday 2—Weather pleasant all day. On camp guard today. 60 men on guard. Received word of the fight at Richmond on Saturday. Commenced reading Jack Hinton [the Guardsman].

Tuesday, June 3, 1862—Opposite Fredericksburg. Warm as usual. Camp off camp guard at 9 a.m. Severe storm of wind and rain at 4 p.m., immediately after we were detailed for picket duty three miles down the river road. Reached the place at dark.

Wednesday 5—Horrible. What a rain last night and all day incessantly. Not even a bush for shelter. Woke this morning with my head in a puddle of water. River very high, Took off all four of the bridges.

Thursday 5—Slept this morning until Guard Mounting. Air raw and occasional showers all day. Wrote to W. J. Jackson. Orders for no passes & roll call five times a day.

Friday, June 6, 1862—Letter from Lizzie. Weather rather disagreeable.

Saturday 7—Wet and disagreeable. A rumor is prevalent in camp that we are to be sent to McClellan at Richmond.

Sunday 8—Had orders to strike tents at 9 p.m. and be ready to march to the transport lying down the river. Slept on the ground all night. Weather fair. A heavy dew.

Monday, June 9, 1862—Left camp at noon and marched 6 miles down the river to the landing. The 1st Brigade & the 4th Regiment went on board today. Weather fair. Bivouacked for the night.

Tuesday 10—Woke up this morning to find it raining. The 3rd and 1st went on board in the forenoon. Nine companies of the 11th [Pennsylvania. Reserves], Gen. McCall’s staff and body guard, went on board the John [ ] at dark.

Wednesday 11—Weighed anchor at daylight and run down to Chesapeake Bay by dark. Anchored until 12 o’clock and then steamed round to the mouth of York River by daylight. Fair.

Thursday, June 12, 1862—Ran past Yorktown at 6 a.m. and arrived at White House on the Pamunky at 12 M, Encamped for the night one mile from the landing. 1st Brigade gone to Richmond.

Friday 13—Left White House at 9 a.m. and marched two miles past Dispatch Station. Guerrilla party came in our rear, chased back the baggage train, and did considerable damage.

Saturday 14—1st Brigade gone back in pursuit of the guerrillas. Gen. Meade and our baggage arrived safe. Had a visit from B. H. Scott of the 103rd. Weather oppressively hot.

Sunday, June 15, 1862—Wrote to Lizzie & Hanna. Very hot and sultry in the forenoon but a thunderstorm in the evening made overcoat comfortable.

Monday 16—Weather still cool from the storm. Formed in line to be reviewed by Gen. McClellan but he did not arrive.

Tuesday 17—Pleasant. Heavy firing in direction of Fort Darling. Formed again for review but disappointed. Grub scarce today. Orders to leave at 6 a.m.

Wednesday, June 18, 1862—Marched about 8 miles up the Chickahominy and encamped. Rebels in plain view across the bottom. Artillery firing continually. Wrote to G. S. Mills.

Thursday 19—Smith’s Division had a skirmish yesterday evening a short distance from our camp. Townsend and Elder from 62nd called to see us. Battalion on skirmish drill 3 p.m.

Friday 20—Rebels throw up two new batteries with heavy guns. They have been shelling our camp all day. I was detailed today with 25 men to report to Maj. Lyman for Provost Guard duty.

[No entries from June 21 through 26, 1862]

Thursday, June 26, 1862—No firing in the forenoon. Baggage all ordered to be sent to Gen. Headquarters. The rebels attacked our right in force.

Friday 27—Three regiments fought the rebels yesterday five hours and held them in check. Today the battle of Gaines’ Hill [Mill] fought.

Saturday 28—Commenced to fall back from our works in front of Richmond. Another fight today by Smith or Hooker. Whipped the rebels.

Sunday, June 29, 1862—Stampede in the morning among the teams. All the army moving towards City Point hastily but in good order. The 11th [Penn.] Regiment annihilated.

Monday 30—Porter’s Corps took the wrong road. The rebels attacked our rear. Guards repulsed with heavy loss. The Battle of Turtle Island fought. Our forces held their ground against overwhelming number. Gen’s McCall and Meade wounded. A.A.G. Biddle killed.

JULY 1862

Tuesday, July 1—At City Point Landing. A hard fight about 1.5 miles up the river. Gen. Magruder taken prisoner. The army steadily retreating toward Harrison’s Landing.

Wednesday 2—Set in very rainy during the night. The Reserve fell back last night toward Harrison’s Landing. The roads almost impassable. Enormous stores destroyed that could not be removed.

Thursday, July 3, 1862—Gen. Shields Division arrived yesterday. The rebels threw shells into our camp today but the whole party were taken prisoners. Our army is again on the advance.

Friday 4—The army is again in order. Our advance is back four miles. The troops are all in good spirits and will fight better than ever. The Penn. Reserve Corps only musters 3000 men. Our regiment 170 in all.

Saturday 5—The weather has been fair for the last day and the roads are getting in better order. Wrote to Lizzie…

Sunday, July 6, 1862 [At Westover on the James river]. Nothing of importance. The army is entrenched—a line almost ten miles long. Had a chase for Col. Harvey of the 7th Regt. Hot. Hotter. Hottest.

Monday 7—Received a letter from Lizzie M. Jackson, I believe the losses in killed and wounded on both sides during the late battles will reach 80,000 men.

Tuesday 8—Had a letter from H. S. R. Weather exceedingly hot and sultry. Sent a box of clothing to G. W. Hoffetot, Pittsburgh…

Wednesday, July 9, 1862—Relieved from duty with Provost Marshall and reported to Capt. Porter for duty. Tom Taylor started home with the Colonel, Lt. Colonel, and adjutants’ horses. Horse to Quartermaster.

Thursday 10—Very warm. A heavy shower in afternoon. Visited 103rd Regiment and also 25th. Thomas Cochran, 2nd Lt. Heard Lt. Col. Jackson was at home.

Friday 11—Nothing…

Saturday, July 12, 1862—Nothing important except a review by President Lincoln & Gen. McClellan. Very hot. This place is a perfect Tophet [Hell].

Sunday 13—On fatigue duty. Repairing corduroy bridge across the swamps. Worked in mud knee deep all day.

Monday 14—Moved camp about two miles down the river. Good camp. Sunk wells. Water tolerable. Received a letter from Dr. Kuhn in regard to Capt, Speer. Answered.

Tuesday, July 15, 1862—Went to Gen. McClellan’s Headquarters to procure a pass for Dr. Kuhn. Was placed in command of the fragments of Companies F, G, H, I & K. Wrote to J. P. Davis, Crestline. Terrific storm in the evening.

Wednesday 16—Issuing clothing to the men. Wrote to Lizzie. Had a strange dream last night. Received an order to remove camp and to permanent guard duty ay hospital camp. Another storm.

Thursday 17—Marched through the med to the old Harrison house [Berkeley Plantation] and commenced policing the ground preparatory to pitching camp. Had a letter from Lizzie.

Friday, July 18, 1862—Finished policing and having received new Sibley tents, we pitched them in three streets forming a splendid camp. Weather very warm.

Saturday 19—Nothing of special interest occurring. Men have to do duty every other day. Hard work to get men enough at that.

Sunday 20—Received in the evening a little crumpled note from Capt. [James P.] Speer. He went down on the Louisiana wounded in the shoulder and thigh [on June 27th]. Thank God he is safe.

Monday, July 21, 1862—Mistake yesterday. I got alongside the Flag of Truce boats and saw several of our company on parole wounded. They are on their way east in good spirits. Wrote to Will Jackson.

Tuesday 22—Sutler here has his tent up and selling tremendously. Maj. Ball paid Co. B today for four months. Weather very hot. Flies bite clear through our clothes. Commenced to board at sutler’s.

Wednesday 23—Paymaster paid Cos. A, C, and D for two months this afternoon. He is the slowest man in the world. The boys are cursing him all around. Had a good view from the signal station this evening.

Thursday, July 24, 1862—Nothing of particular interest occurring. There has been a review of troops by Division for several days in the rear of our camp, It is said reinforcements are arriving every night.

Friday 25—Paymaster paid off Cos. E, F. G, H, I, and K this afternoon for two months. Payrolls have to be made over again for May and June. Received a letter from & wrote to Hanna, S. R.

Saturday 26—Nothing of special importance. Commenced to make out payrolls for Cos. F, G, H. I. & K. Find it a very difficult job.

Sunday, July 27, 1862—Had letter from Lizzie. Thomas A. Cochran & James Chambers on a visit from Headquarters. Went with them in afternoon to 62nd Regt. Saw Tom Anderson & Joe Moorehead of Jefferson county. Capt. Townsend commanding Co. G Sergt.

Monday 28—Find I missed it in leaving yesterday. The paymaster says the rolls must be finished today or we will not get paid. Worked until 12 o’clock last night and finished them all this evening. Letter from G. S. Mills.

Tuesday 29—Paymaster Ball paid off the regiment today. Received for March, April, May and June $445.00. Went with Archie Stewart to the Morgan in the evening. The flies are dreadful, biting through one’s clothes and crazing the horses.

Wednesday, July 30, 1862—The rebs made a raid on one of our transports last night. Burned the schooner and made the captain prisoner. Also captured a number of cattle. Received letters from W. T. Jackson and Lizzie. Letter from Zimmerman.

Thursday 31—Sent to G. W. Hoffstot $300 by Adams Express. Our gunboats now concentrating at the picket line. The siege train is also in position on ythe bank of the river. Something is evidently expected. Probably an attack looked for.

AUGUST 1862

Friday, August 1—Sure enough, the rebs give us “hark” from the other side of the river at 2 o’clock last night. Our batteries and gunboats soon made them skedaddle. 20 Union men killed and wounded. Two regiments crossed this afternoon and burned the buildings along the rebel shore. Wrote to G. S. M. and Mrs. Boyles.

Saturday, August 2, 1862—Nothing important today. REceived a letter from Rev. Kuhn in regard to some boxes. On guard at hospital.

Sunday 3—Sent $5 to Editor of Philadelphia Enquirer for subscription to be sent to G. S. Mills…

Monday 4—[No entry].

Tuesday, August 5, 1862—Several transports passed up the river last night loaded with rebel prisoners. It is hoped now that our boys in Richmond will be exchanged. Burnside has gone to Gen. Pope’s army.

Wednesday 6—11th [Penn. Reserve] Regiment returned from Richmond 329 privates. No officers yet. Boys look hard on show. The shirts and drawers were distributed and were gladly received. The enemy were expected but did not come. Bought blouse for $10.

Thursday 7—On guard today. Regiment ordered back to division delayed on account of having no tents. Very warm. News of the extra 300,000 to be drasfted is regarded as a good thing by the soldiers of the army. Name sent in for recruiting officer.

Friday, August 8, 1862—This is by far the hottest day we have had this summer. 13 men died in the General Hospital, mainly from the excessive heat. Not gone to the division yet. Tried to sell “Bill” to A. S. or 3rd Regt.

Saturday 9—Requisition made and clothing drawn for returned prisoners. Muskets also drawn but the men manifest disposition not to take them. An important movement on the [ ].

Sunday 10—Regiment formed in line and an explanation made by Capt. Porter. Men took the arms, marched to the Division and back. Sold Bill to Asst. Surgeon Orr, 3rd Regt. P. R. C. for $90 at 90 days.

Monday, August 11, 1862—Appointed acting adjutant. Had orders and moved to the Division camp in the morning. Left one hundred men in camp for a hospital ward. At 3 p.m., turned wagons over to division quartermaster and marched down to the mail landing to go on board transports. Destination unknown.

Tuesday 12—Went on board a ferry and was taken out to the steamer Belvidere at 1 a.m. 3 a.m. under weigh. 10 a.m. off Fortress Monroe. 5 p.m. a thunder storm, rough sea and sick quarter master. The most beautiful sunset I ever saw. 11 p.m. anchored near mouth of the Potomac.

Wednesday 13—Anchored off Aquia Creek at 9 a.m. Was ferried ashore. In the afternoon, left Aquia for Fredericksburg on the cars at dark. Arrived at the station at 9 p.m. Regiment slept in the open field. Wrote to Will Jackson.

Thursday, August 14, 1862—Camped on the hill in Sibley tents lately occupied by Gen. Burnside’s troops. A very pleasant, healthy location. Plenty of camp pedlers. A prospect of getting home on recruiting service,

Friday 15—Nothing important transpiring today. The weather here is cool and much pleasanter than on the Peninsula. Received orders to go home recruiting.

Saturday 16—Lieut. Sloan undertook to get transportation and failed. We are all considerably bored at getting heat as they are all poking fun at us. We will make it yet, or break something.

Sunday, August 17, 1862—Very cold last night. Went to Gen. Burnside’s Headquarters and got transportation. Arrived at Aquia Creek at 1 p.m. and got to Washington at 8 p.m. Stopped at Mrs. Forbes. The officers of the 11th [Pa. REserves] Regiment are at Brown’s Hotel.

Monday 18—…Left Washington at 5 p.m. and arrived at Baltimore at 7… Reached Harrisburg at 5 a.m.

Tuesday 19—Had our business arranged with Capt. Dodge. Sloan goes home and I am detailed here at Camp Curtin. Thousands of troops are arriving and leaving Camp Curtin daily. Very dusty and disagreeable.

Wednesday, August 20, 1863—Was arrested by Provost Guard before I was out of bed. Provost Marshall apologized but I [ ]. Reported at Camp Curtin for duty. Assigned to most wretched quarters, alive with vermin and disgustingly filthy.

Thursday 21—We are not allowed to leave camp. But several Reserve Officers run the blockade and go to town on spite of Provost guards. Board at the May House. Good fare, Very warm and dusty.

Friday 22—Much surprised this morning to receive a visit from D. W. Hoffstot. He won’t enlist. Was in town all day. Had sergeant paid off. A fine rain in the evening. Recruiting officer is god fellow.

Saturday, August 23, 1862—…Last day of volunteering for new regiments.

Sunday 24—Stayed in camp nearly all day. Don’t know what to make of the new captain. Got up a petition to Gov. Curtin which we will put through if pressure is not taken off.

Monday 25—All tight, Captain ain’t so bad as we thought—only afraid of Capt. Dodge. Slept at May House last night. Much better than camp.

Tuesday, August 26, 1862—Roads getting very dusty again. Nothing of special import today. There is fighting going on along the Rappahannock.

Wednesday 27—Sick today. Was detailed for duty. Not excused….

Thursday 28—Went down town and from there in the evening over to Independence Island to the picnic…

Friday, August 29, 1862—Feel pretty well played out today. So used for a spree. A heavy fight reported at Bull Run or Groveton. Wrote to Col. Jacksonm sent by Capt. R___.

Saturday 30—Left Harrisburg with Capt. Sands adn Lt. Cochran with 100 men to report at Ft. Ellsworth, Alexandria. Stopped over night at Baltimore. Went to Continental House O. K. Slept at Soldier’s Rest. Dry.

Sunday 31—Left Baltimore at 9 and arrived at Washington at 10, then to Alexandria by boat and on to Fort Ellsworth where we delivered the recruits. Came back to Washington and Lt. Cochran and I went over to Cunningham’s.

[No entries between 1 September through 6 December 1862]

DECEMBER 1862

Sunday, December 7, 1862—Arrived at regiment quartered at Brooks Station, Fredericksburg and Aquia Creek Railroad. Very cold. Wrote to Lizzie & N___. Slept in Col. Jackson’s tent. Received a letter from Hattie, Lizzie, Hanna, R. G. A.

Monday 8—Started at daylight and marched across the country about 8 miles and camped in a cedar thicket. Passed a couple of huts containing the most destitute, miserable looking creatures I have ever witnessed.

Tuesday, December 9, 1862—Laid in camp all day. There is snow on the ground and the nights are cold. Wrote to Adjt. Powell and Hanna. Rumor of a move soon. I think we will cross the river.

Wednesday 10—Orders to leave tonight at 11.30 o’clock. Three days grub, 60 rounds cartridges. Wrote to Hattie McIntryre. Weather fair and moderating slightly.

Thursday 11—Started at 12 midnight and reached the landing at 4 a.m. Our Brigade is guarding the pontoon corps who are laying two bridges a mile below Fredericksburg. The town is being burned down. Very heavy cannonading. Franklin’s Corps commenced crossing at sunset. No resistance but a little skirmishing.

*Fredericksburg, night of the 11th, by Alfred R. Waud. Library of Congress.*

Friday, December 12, 1862—Crossed the river before noon and bivouacked in an open field near stone house. No fighting of any consequence today. Large numbers of troops are crossing over. Weather fair. Cold at night.

Saturday 13—Were ordered to prepare for immediate action at 6 a.m. and taken to the left. Supported batteries until 2 p.m. Then ordered forward. Advanced half a mile. Drove the rebs and were driven. Regiment suffered terribly at the railroad.

Sunday 14—The Division is laying in reserve today, being badly used up on yesterday. Co. G lost 20 men out of 25 in action and the regiment lost 212 out of 390 in action. Weather pleasant. No fighting today.

After the 11th Regiment was pushed down the ridge, Lt. Daniel Coder (11th Pa. Reserves, Co. E) wrote, “Never did I look back for support with more anxiety than on that fatal day; for on seeing a single line advance I had anticipated the result. We lost color bearer after color bearer, I know not how many. I picked up the colors at three different times myself. The flag staff was shot off and the flag perforated in nineteen different places by rebel bullets.” One of the flag bearers was Pvt. James Fritz of Co. E. Capt. Daniel S. Porter (11th Pa. Reserves, Co. B) made a similar comment. “Our division charged in the face of rebel batteries and rifle pits, drove the enemy from them and gained the hill; but no support came to our assistance, and we were driven back.” He later added, “The boys fought like heroes. They were too brave. I have little heart left, brave comrades have fallen without gain. We were butchered like so many animals.” Just above the railroad track, Pvt. James H. Trimble was shot in the chest and killed. Captain Porter wrote to Trimble’s father, “The saddest part of my task as Captain was to see my brave boys fall and next to it was to convey the sad intelligence to bereaved friends.” [Source: Shock Troops for the Union: The Pennsylvania Reserves at the Battle of Fredericksburg, by Bill Weidner (2023)

Monday, December 15, 1862—No fighting of consequence today. Brilliant Northern Light last night. A Flag of Truce was granted for one hour to bury our dead. No more of the company found.

*Northern Lights dance over the battlefield at Fredericksburg on 14-15 December 1862*

Tuesday 16—The entire army was withdrawn across the river quietly last night. The night was rainy and favorable. Rebs made their appearance in the morning. Camped on the hill.

Wednesday 17—Lay all day in camp. Whiskey rations were issued last night and the Division was gloriously drunk. Capt. [James P.] Speer left for Washington. Cold.

Thursday, December 18, 1862—Col. Jackson and I visited the hospitals of our Division. Nearly all gone to Washington. On returning found the Division had left. Followed up and camped about two miles from White Oak Church.

Friday 19—Marched to within two miles of Belle Plain in the afternoon and camped. Very cold. Col. Anderson got a few blessings for running us through brush and over the hills uselessly.

Saturday 20—Moved about a hundred yards and camped in what is probably winter quarters. Good location. Brigade inspection. Went on picket in the evening.

Sunday, December 21, 1862—Rather pleasant for the time of year. Only three companies on post. The rest on reserve. Was relieved at sundown. This is my 25th Birthday.

Monday 22—Weather moderate. Boys all busy putting up winter quarters. Received a note from Hanna and one from Lizzie.

Tuesday 23—Weather very fine for the season. More like spring than winter. Getting along very well except that we get very poor fare from McCandless & Co.

Wednesday, December 24, 1862—Had A. K. Vantine appointed sergeant from December 1st. Took a tramp over the hills to Cockpit Point Landing. Fine view. Get no letters or papers. Very lonesome.

Thursday 25—Christmas. Oh, how dry. But I am well today and last Christmas I was [sick and] at the point of death [at Camp Pierpont, Virginia]. Am I thankful enough for the blessing? I fear not…

Selling Slaves, Slave Labor

1847: Thomas Whiting Cowne to Thomas Whiting Cowne, Jr.

December 28, 2025 Griff 2 Comments

The following letter was written by Thomas Whiting Cowne (1784-1857) of Turners, Fauquier county, Virginia. Thomas was the son of Robert Cowne (c.1756-1829) and Sarah Whiting of Culpeper. His first wife was Martha H. Buchanan (died 1818). In 1820 he married Susan Latham (born 1787) of Fauquier. Thomas W. Cowne was a merchant in Falmouth. He also operated a school in Falmouth and offered courses such as reading, spelling, penmanship, grammar, geography, history, arithmetic, bookkeeping, and Latin. Tuition was $20 per student (Virginia Herald, Dec. 11, 1816). At the time of the 1850 US Census, Thomas was the owner of ten slaves ranging in age from 10 to 50.

He wrote the letter to his son, Thomas W. Cowne, Jr. (1821-18xx), a merchant in Staunton, Augusta county, Virginia.

Thomas’ letter speaks of the “rebellious spirit” of one of his negro slaves named “George”—so troublesome that he has decided “to dispose of him” as soon as he could “clear of him” on “reasonable terms.”

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

[Falmouth, Virginia]
21 June 1847

Dear Son,

We have at length got the mill in operation, which has cost a great deal, & as was contemplated have to dispose of some property to defray the expense. After due reflection & from the rebellious spirit constantly appearing in George, we are all of opinion that it will be to our interest as well as yours to dispose of him. He is hired out and the man with whom he is complains of him and has frequently recommended to us to get clear of him as soon as we could upon reasonable terms. Should you approve of it, I will put John in his place and secure him in the same manner George now stands & will be hereafter. There is only a few months difference in their ages. John is a much more valuable hand on the farm & of stronger constitution, I wrote you in December last but not on this subject and have been as a loss to account for not receiving a line from you since, and think it probable the letter never reached you. We wish you to answer this immediately. We will not do anything contrary to your wish in the matter although the younger negroes are becoming every day more valuable.

I hope you will not be dissatisfied at not receiving any part of the goods got of you. When I see you, you will be convinced that nothing but unseen events which no foresight could prevent have been the cause, We are very anxious to see you, & if it it’s possible, come down. Perhaps it may be as convenient now as it will in August. The mill promises to do well and if we can be blessed with the ordinary seasons, will we think bread the family. The family is in tolerable health.

22nd Iowa Infantry, Vicksburg, Mississippi

1863: Isaac Newton Haldeman to Minnie Haldeman

December 28, 2025 Griff Leave a comment

The following letter was written by Isaac Newton (“Newt”) Haldeman (b. 1840), the son of Isaac Haldeman (1812-1885) and Maria Miller (1823-1910) of Wapsinonoc, Muscatine county, Iowa. Newt enlisted as a corporal in Co. F, 22nd Iowa Infantry in September 1862.

Newt wrote this letter some three weeks after the surrender of Vicksburg which was followed quickly by a march to Jackson, Mississippi, and return. See also—1864: Isaac Newton Haldeman to his Sister.

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

*Addressed to Minnie Haldeman, Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio*

Vicksburg [Mississippi]
July 26th 1863

My dear Sister,

I received your good long letter last evening. I am mistaken—it was father’s letter I received last evening & yours a few nights ago. Since I last wrote you this great stronghold of the Mississippi has at last fallen, which caused the hearts of many a soldier in rear of Vicksburg to bound with joy when the “white flag” was run up over the fortifications surrounding the city. You asked me what I thought was hte number of men that composed this army. It consists of four Army Corps commanded respectively by ~~Gen. Osterhaus~~, Gen. Sherman, Gen. Ord, Gen. McPherson, and Gen. Burnside’s Corps is also here, together with a portion of Gen. Herron’s Corps. By whom these last named Corps are commanded, I can’t tell. Now if all these Corps were all full, we would have an army of nearly 200,000 men, but as the army is very much reduced by disease, sickness, killed, &c., that there is not 100,000 I don’t think.

*I could not find an image of Newt but here is one of William P. Marvin who served in Co. I, 22nd Iowa Infantry (Iowa Civil War Images)*

Since I last wrote you I have been to, or within 1.5 miles of Jackson. I would like to have gone in and seen the town but I did not feel able to walk and so I could not go. I had just arrived there when our regiment was ordered back here to Vicksburg. I did not stand the trip very well but feel better now. We are now encamped on the bank of the Mississippi on the inside of the rebel works one and a half miles south of the city. How long we will remain here is more than I can tell, or where we will go. It is supposed by some we will go up into Tennessee and some think we will go farther south. It is not likely we will remain inactive long, if there is anything to do.

The health of the army is not very good. We had another man die out of our company yesterday. All the boys of your acquaintance are well.

Tell father I received a letter from him last evening containing some postage stamps. I was lucky enough a few days ago to buy half a dollar’s worth so I am well supplied for some time to come as I don’t write more than one half the letters I use to.

Min, how many letters do you suppose I have written home since coming into the army? I thought from what father said you had saved my letters. If you can tell me I wish you would. I also received last evening a letter from Charley and Elmore written by father. I will answer them both as soon as possible. I will have to close as it is mail time. Love to all. Write soon. Affectionately, — Newt