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.
37th Massachusetts Infantry

1863: William A. Bartlett to Alida (Fish) Bartlett

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This letter was written by Pvt. William A. Bartlett (1831-1897) who enlisted in Co. D, 37th Massachusetts Infantry during the American Civil War. William was the son of David Bartlett (1805-1836) and Cordelia Morey (1808-18xx). William married Alida Priscilla Fish (1829-1898) on 29 March 1854 in Westhampton, Massachusetts. Together they had at least five children: Clarence Alton Bartlett (1856-1929), Ida C. Bartlett (1857-1883), Mary A. Bartlett (1860-1915), Carrie M. Bartlett (1862-19xx), and Charles Watson Bartlett (1865-19xx).

In 2017, I published twelve letters from William, which were sent to me by a collector. At that time, it was widely recognized that numerous other letters from William had been sold to various collectors, and we have long anticipated the eventual emergence of additional correspondence. Recently, one such letter has surfaced, and it is presented below. The link to his other letters—Twelve Letters by William A. Bartlett

Bartlett was above the median age for enlistees in the American Civil War and his age and health seems to have limited his ability to perform the full duty he desired. He complained of pain in his arm which seems not to have been caused by his duties as a soldier but possibly an old complaint — rheumatism. If he served in battle with his comrades of the 37th Massachusetts, he did not speak of it in any of these twelve letters. When his regiment was ordered to New York City in July 1863 to restore order during the draft riots, he did not accompany them, preferring instead to remain on a special detail that afforded him light duty at the Corps headquarters.

From the letters we learn that he was sent to a hospital in Washington D. C. prior to the end of 1863 and in the spring of 1864 he was still awaiting his discharge from the Veteran Reserve Corps. His military records state that he was mustered out of the service on 15 April 1864.

At the time of his enlistment, he gave his occupation as a carpenter. In the 1870 U. S. Census, he also gave his occupation as a carpenter. In the 1880 U. S. Census, however, no occupation is given for the 48-year old veteran who seems to have been an invalid “at home.” William and his wife Alida made their home in Blandford, Hampden county, Massachusetts after the war.

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

General Sedgwick’s Headquarters
Camp near Fredericksburg, Va.
March 22, 1862

Dear Wife,

How do you do today? I suppose some of you are at church while I am out here in the Virginia woods trying to think of something to write to you. I am as well as usual & dong the same work. We have had about as hard weather for the last two weeks as we have had this winter. It has been snow in the mornings, rain at night for the last three days. The snow was about two inches deep last night but it is all gone this morning but the mud is deep enough to make up for all deficiency. My cows are doing well.

I received your letter write the 15th, Thursday. I should think you had rather of a small society & not a very expensive one. I am glad to hear that Mari is on the gain but it must be very hard for her to have her husband so helpless. I hope he will better soon. I am very sorry to hear that John is not at work. It seems as though he might find plenty to do as help is scarce. I think Horace and Abby are doing very well in the children line. The cultivators came last Friday.

I have a letter from Mary Ann Fairman the same day. She says that she has not seen you since I came away. Uncle Lewis sent word to me to come home and help him through haying. He thinks I have stayed down here long enough. He wishes I would come home.

I am going to ask you to send me a box. I would like to have you send me three pounds of fine cut tobacco, one half ream commercial note paper & four bunches of envelopes. Anna may write on two bunches and direct them to you if she has a mind to as it is not always that we can get ink out here. You wished to know if I would like a pair of stockings. I should if you wish to send them. Hooker’s wife may want to send a bundle in yours. You may send it in a bundle or box, just as you please.

If you can, you had better send it to Springfield to save expense as it will have to come by Adams Express if you put it in the Express Office at Northampton. You will have to pay Tompson’s Express to carry it to Springfield extra but do as you think best about it. You will have to pay the Express in advance. Pay Master has not got along yet. We expect him every day. I will send you the directions for the box on a piece of paper enclosed in this. My love to you all. Yours truly, from your husband, — William A. Bartlett

P. S. Send me some postage stamps in your next letter and you will oblige. — W. A. B.

1st Maryland Cavalry (USA)

1862: Joseph H. Kerschner to Edward Kerschner

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The following letter was written by Joseph H. Kerschner (1843-1881), the son of Gustavus Kerschner (1801-1872) and Anna Maria Brewer (1804-1890) of Clear Spring, Washington county, Maryland.

At the outbreak of the war, it appears that Joseph was mustered into the service of the United States into the 2d Maryland Potomac Home Brigade Cavalry. He went into camp at Frederick, Md., for drill and preparation for active service in the field. He was called into action in West Virginia and Maryland to repel an invasion, and was in several engagements early in the war. Maryland, being a border state, did not raise many regiments for the Union during the war. As a result many of its pro-Union citizens joined regiments raised in other states. In Joseph’s case, it seems he was able to get a discharge from his regiment in order that he might get a commission in a Massachusetts regiment. However, I could not find any evidence that he was able to do so. By 1864, I found him enrolled in the Freshman Class of Franklin and Marshall College.

Edward Kerschner, USN

Joseph wrote the letter to his older brother, Dr. Edward Kershner, who joined the US Navy as an Assistant Surgeon in January 1862 and was assigned duty aboard the sloop-of-war Cumberland. He was aboard the vessel when she was sunk by the Confederate ironclad Virginia (Merrimac). When she went down, one third of the crew was entombed in her hull and drowned in nearly nine fathoms of water. Kershner went down with the ship and was, by some miracle, rescued in an unconscious condition by an unidentified marine. After service at the Washington Navy Yard he was assigned to the New Ironsides and was aboard in April 1863, during the attack on Charleston Harbor. Kershner served on several ships in the North Atlantic Squadron and after the war, in 1872, achieved the rank of surgeon and then medical inspector in 1890. 

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

Addressed to Dr. Edward Kerschner, US Ironclad Steamer New Ironsides, Hampton Roads, Va.

Clear Spring [Maryland]
October 6th 1862

Dear Bro. Edward,

I have received my discharge from the Secretary of War and am at home on my way to see the Governor at Annapolis. It reads thus: “The following enlisted men are honorably discharged [from] the service to enable them to accept commissions in Massachusetts regiments. Private Jos. K. Kerschner, 2nd Ma. P. H. B. [Potomac Home Brigade, Cavalry]” I have a certificate of character from Capt. William [F.] Firey and also one from Lieut. J. A. Metz. I have an introduction to [Maryland] Governor [Augustus Williamson] Bradford from Lewis P. Firey, Esq. 1 I will ask for a commission in the Quartermaster Department & if refused, I will ask for one in the cavalry service. To go in the infantry service is to do which I hope he will not ask me.

I did not know where your ship was for a long while & when at last I heard from it, you were on your way to Fortress Monroe. I left the company on 1st of October and arrived at home on the evening of the 3rd. I would be much pleased to know what you have done with the Governor’s letter. I ought to have it by all means. You said you sent it to Father, He has not received it. I have received your letter of September 28, and also one in care of Father’s. I did no duty while I was sick of the dropsy in September. I am now well.

The company is at Williamsport. My discharge was sent to the Colonel of our brigade by the war Department who sent it to the captain. My discharge is dated August 28th.

I had thought of starting for Annapolis on Wednesday from here but I may defer it a couple of days. Father has a No. 1 crop of wheat & plenty of apples & grapes & pears. If I get a commission, it will be more than a sergeant (Rivers of Balt.) could do in my [ ]. He went to Annapolis but could get no commission. I will not be surprised nor sorry if the same luck should befall me. I told the captain he must take me back to the company again if I did not get a commission.

Mother is not so well as she might be but we all send our love to you. I am glad to hear that [brother] Jacob is got well & better pleased with Germany. I hope I shall soon hear from you again. Your brother. Affectionately, — Jos. H. Kerschner

1 Lewis P. Firey (1825-1885) was a Southern Unionist who served in the Maryland State Convention, and the Maryland State Senate during the Civil War. He pushed the administration hard in 1862 for a compromise that would end the war. He was the originator of the project for the Antietam National Cemetery.

8th Maine Infantry, Beaufort, South Carolina

1862: Greenwood Norris to G. J. Wing

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The following letter was written by 18 year-old Greenwood Norris (1844-1862), the son of Greenwood B. Norris (1825-1844) and Harriet N. Hall (1820-1861) of Wayne, Kennebec county, Maine. After his father’s death, his mother remarried to William Wing, Jr. (1805-1888).

As his letterhead informs us, Greenwood Norris was a member of Co. C, 8th Maine Infantry. And while he writes on 8 July 1862 “I am well” and that Beaufort, South Carolina “is the healthiest island round here,” he died just three days later on 11 July 1863, according to Beaufort National Cemetery records. Another source claims he did not die until July 30th which seems more likely.

Beaufort, South Carolina in 1862. It shows the front & rear of several buildings lining Bay Street from what today is Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park. Sam A. Cooley, Photographer.

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

8th Maine Regiment, Co. C
Beaufort, South Carolina
July 8, 1862

Dear Friend,

I received your letter the 7th [and] was glad to hear from you. I am well and hope you [are] the same. We moved from Hilton Head the 3rd and went up to Beaufort. We stopped in a meeting house two nights and over the 4th, we did not have a very good time. It was not a day of independence because we had to stay in the house and the niggers went where they pleased.

This is quite a large place. There is two meeting houses—one a Methodist and a Baptist. We are right side of the mainland. The rebels shell our pickets every day. One of our boys were shot and two taken prisoners.

I am glad that so many of the young folks are getting married. I suppose that the next thing that I hear, you will be married. I think that some of them had better wait a little longer before striking out. I think I should.

We have green corn and squash. I have not much news because we have just got settled here. I guess that it will puzzle the devil to read this letter.

I should like to have been at Wayne the 4th [of July]. I think I should [have] had a better time. I am afraid we shall have to stay longer than it is expected. This is the healthiest island round here.

I am afraid that Gen. McClellan’s army will fail to do as much as expected. We are quite discouraged down here. There is plenty of darky girls out here but I have not see a white girl yet. So goodbye. Yours truly, — Greenwood Norris

to G. J. Wing

Hartford, Connecticut, Peekskill Academy, Thanksgiving Celebration

1848: Noah Hobart Wells to Hiram Bell

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Rev. Hiram Bell

The following letter was written by Noah Hobart Wells (1804-1872) to his brother-in-law, Hiram Bell (1807-1872), the husband of Mary Elizabeth (Wells) Bell (1811-1897). Noah and his younger brother Albert Wells (1807-Aft1880) were two of four brothers who all graduated from college, all became “professional” men, and all solemnly pledged to abstinence from alcohol. When this letter was penned in 1848, Noah and Albert Wells were operating the Peekskill Academy at Peekskill-on-the Hudson. The Peekskill Academy opened its doors in 1833 as a coeducational institution but by 1841 it decided to only admit boys. In 1857, it became a “military” academy.

In his letter, Noah reflects on Zachary Taylor’s election, arguing that New York proved decisive and hoping that voters will focus more on principles and policies than campaign spectacles such as hickory poles and hard cider. He also comments on Thanksgiving observances and condemns drunkenness and violence after an election-day riot, warning that unchecked vice threatens the entire community.

My thanks to Abbey Weber Jones for providing a first draft of this transcription.

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

Stampless Letter Addressed to Rev. Hiram Bell. Marlboro, Connecticut

Peekskill, [New York]
November 25, 1848

Dear Brother,

You probably think it strange that you hear nothing from me after so long a time, but our laborious occupation since the term began may be some apology, though I did not intend to wait till now before writing. After leaving Marlboro, I remained in Hartford till Tuesday. On sabbath morning, I heard Dr. [Horace] Bushnell 1 in the afternoon; Mr. Clark, and Dr. [Joel] Hawes in the evening. On Monday, walked about the city visiting several places of interest in company with General Buell, and cousin David [Wells] Kilbourn. The latter came in from Boston on Saturday a few minutes after my arrival. His son George [Erskine Kilbourne] was there. We visited the Secretary’s office, Athenaeum, and Charter Oak, and I afterward visited a few friends in the city. On Tuesday morning at nine o’clock, I left in the car for New Haven, reached New York [City] early in the evening, and came home on Wednesday evening.

Taking my visit altogether, I was much pleased, as from the nature and confinement of our business here a season of leisure twice a year may be said to be indispensable to health and spirits both, and if we can secure both repose and a pleasant change of objects, the effect is happy in various ways. But this love of change pursues us, and in order to be beneficial must be held in due bounds, and if rest and diversion are needful at times, a return to serious occupation at the proper period is no less requisite. Our school has filled more punctually than usual I believe, this term; we have twenty boarders, and above thirty day scholars, and more are expected, but probably there will after this time, be no considerable accession unless the three additional boarders who have been expected, should come. We have one boarder from Portland, opposite Middletown in your state. His name is Sparks. 2

I have been reading in the [New York] Observer some results of the election. It seems that General Taylor has a majority just equal to the electoral vote of New York; the majority of the popular vote in the Union is thought to be one hundred and forty thousand, of which 100,000 are in this state. It seems then that neither party could have succeeded without the vote of New York, and that in this instance New York is more properly the key stone state. So far as military fame has an influence in our elections, I think it is to be deprecated, but in the present case, as the matter appears to me, this consideration has had but partial weight, and much care has been used to ascertain principles, and to find out what measures the President elect could pursue. I hope, therefore, no more will be heard about hickory poles, or ash poles, or hard cider, connected with the dignified business of electing a president for twenty millions of people.

The day appointed for public thanksgiving in this state, you may observe, has occurred this week. We had a discourse in the morning by Mr. [David Mead] Halliday, and one in the evening by Mr. M’Kee. The time has not come, it seems, for an entire agreement upon one day throughout the Union; such a coincidence would add interest to the occasion, and this interest would be greatly increased would the public give countenance of the occasion by laying aside all business and allowing the world to see that they do in fact recognize their obligations to gratitude, and join the christian community in expressing it. Till something like this is done, there seems to be less propriety in speaking of an entire people offering up their united thanksgiving.

On election day we had, in a furious riot down at the river, a display of the beauties of the license law. As no law for the prevention of drunkenness can stand long among us, we must be content to pay the heavy expenses which crime must cost the community, and if such bitter experience cannot open the eyes of the people, and make them wise, it seems their folly must remain without a cure. If you should see in your quiet place, one half the iniquity that reigns in this village, you and your people would think the enemy had indeed come in like a flood, and that Satan had taken to himself his great power.

Has Mary got almost ready to write me a letter? Or can I not expect one from her this winter. Let us hear from you in the same way before long, and as often as may be during the long cold season that is approaching. Albert says he would like to hear from you all, and know how you are getting along, I have not seen cousin Edward since my return, but Albert says he heard from him. I have written to him today, inviting him to give us a call. It is more than a year since I saw him. 

With love to all, — N. H. Wells

1 Dr. Horace Bushnell was a prominent Congregational minister and theologian who earned notoriety for challenging some traditional Calvinist doctrines, making him a somewhat controversial figure. When Wells heard him preach in November 1848, Bushnell was just entering one of the most controversial periods of his life as he experienced what he described as a profound spiritual illumination and soon delivered lectures that became the basis for “God in Christ,” a book that provoked accusations of heresy from conservative ministers.

2 Possibly Nathan Sparks, b. 1831; a resident of Portland, Middlesex county, Connecticut.

Vermont Brigade

1863: Calvin to his Mother

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Unfortunately I have not been able to identify the author of this letter but I am confident he was a member of either the 13th, 14th, 15th, or 16th Vermont Regiment—all nine-month’s regiments and all part of the 2nd Vermont Brigade. The brigade was stationed in the vicinity of Fairfax, Virginia, at the time of this letter in mid-January 1862. They had been assigned to picket duty and the defense of Fairfax Court House. The signature appears to read “Calvin” but there are too many soldiers by this name to narrow it down further without much more research.

Patriotic letterhead of letter with figure of George Washington

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

Camp near Fairfax, Virginia
January 12th 1863

Dear Mother,

I received your letter tonight and was glad to hear from you. I was much gratified and pleased to receive a few lines written by yourself and I hope now you have commenced to write you will write to me every time for you do not know how much good those few lines did me being written by you. I could read it all and should be happy to have had it been more.

I am well now, dear mother, and have been drilling today for the first time in two weeks. We have been having a good rain and I tell you it is pretty muddy drilling. I must tell you I received four letters tonight and I had been scolding about not getting any so they have come all together. Well they are calling us to fall in for roll call so I must go now and finish this when I can.

The roll is now called and so I must hurry to get this ready to send in the morning. I received one of my letters from Charles Russell and he said he had seen you a few days before and you was well and he said a great many things which pleased me much. Laura wrote some and she was well. The other was from Daniel and they are all well over there.

I found a pocket testament in the street in front of my tent yesterday and will try and send it to you if I can. I am happy in reading my bible and Saint’s Rest, and mother, you wrote that you hoped I would discharge my duty as a Christian. I will try to do so and my mother’s advice shall ever be borne in mind.

I was sorry to hear that Aunt was sick but I see she has got better for she has written some to me in the letter. I will write a few lines to her and Harvey if I get time tonight but this must go in the morning and as I write to them they must excuse me with a short letter to them for I am in a great hurry. Tell Ella I was glad to hear from her and will answer hers in a few days but she did not write an answer to the last one I wrote for a long time. I like to hear from all the children and when they write to me in their own way, I think it some like home. I wish I could see you a while now mother and then I could tell you many things which I cannot find time to write about now.

They have heard here that they are getting their men ready in Vermont to take our places by the time our time [9 months] is up. You spoke of sending me some stamps. I have got enough to stand me a while and $4 in money. Besides, I am getting so I eat again almost as well as ever and I shall go it now pretty well. I will send you a few leaves which I picked from a bush tonight and you may see what curious things we have here. If you can tell what it is, you will do better than I can. Well, as I wrote to you all I can think of, so I must close. Write next time all you can think of and when you can’t write anymore, get someone to write what they can. Your boy, Calvin

To his Mother

Uncategorized

Spared & Shared Podcast 5: Week ending June 19, 2026

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Pip: Spared and Shared 23 arrives with battlefield maps, artillery rosters, and enough letters home to fill a regimental mail sack — which, given the postal chaos described in several of them, would have been delayed by about six months anyway.

Mara: All of it comes from Griff, who has assembled a set of Civil War primary sources ranging from an artillery soldier's terse camp dispatch to a thirty-one-letter correspondence spanning nearly the entire war. Let's start with the battlefield maps and artillery.

Guns, Maps, and the Men Who Used Them

Pip: This segment is about what the war looked like on paper and in practice — how soldiers recorded where they stood, what happened to their batteries, and what a hand-drawn map can still reveal a century and a half later.

Mara: The anchor here is a letter written from Camp Chase in February 1863, signed only "Ol" — identified as Corp. Oliver P. Clark of Battery E, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, a battery that was overrun at Stones River on 31 December 1862. He writes: "He says that the battery suffered quite a loss of men killed and wounded. They went into the field with 140 men and came out with 80 that can be accounted for. The rest were either killed or taken prisoner and sent to Vicksburg."

Pip: Sixty men gone in a single morning — and the letter's other business is defending a lieutenant named Dorsey against newspaper accusations of cowardice, which Oliver dismisses flatly as a damned lie.

Mara: The second post pairs with that ground-level account. It presents a hand-drawn map believed created by David J. Dann of the 38th Wisconsin, showing the position of the 1st Brigade before Petersburg in early 1865. The map marks the precise spot where Confederate peace commissioners Stephens and Hunter crossed the Union picket line on January 29, 1865 — a detail that anchors it to the Hampton Roads Conference.

Pip: A soldier-artist marking peace negotiations on a siege map, with the word "Del" inscribed after his signature for reasons nobody can explain. The archive delivers.

Mara: Both posts together trace the arc from a battery destroyed at the war's midpoint to a mapmaker recording its diplomatic endgame — which brings us to the letters themselves.

What the Mail Carried

Pip: The bulk of this episode is letters home — and the question they collectively raise is what soldiers actually put on paper when they had a few minutes, a bad pen, and no certainty about when the letter would arrive, or whether they would.

Mara: The clearest window into that comes from Lt. George W. Evans of the 14th Illinois Cavalry, writing from Pulaski, Tennessee in April 1865. He has just absorbed two enormous pieces of news in rapid succession, and he sets them side by side without ceremony: "The army has been cheered with glorious victories won by Grant over Lee and we all felt as if we should soon go home until the wires brought the melancholy intelligence of the death of President [Lincoln] which has not only cast a gloom over the army here but the entire community."

Pip: Grant's victory and Lincoln's assassination arriving in the same emotional breath — that compression is something no newspaper account quite captures.

Mara: The letter is addressed to his niece Mollie, and it shifts registers almost immediately — asking how she liked a pin cushion, sending love to the family, mentioning that high water has washed out railroad bridges and made the mail irregular. The ordinary and the historic sit right next to each other.

Pip: Which is the condition of all these letters, really.

Mara: Sgt. William Jasper Srofe of the 48th Ohio writes from Camp Smith in February 1862, describing the wounded from Fort Donelson — "a frightful looking sight" — and noting a Confederate general escaped a Union transport boat, then pivoting to ask his parents where his brother John is stationed. Ransom Wharton of the 2nd Maine writes from Camp Jameson that same month, reassuring his mother the rebellion cannot last, and that the boys in his company are "all like brothers." He was killed at Second Bull Run six months later.

Pip: That letter lands differently knowing what comes next.

Mara: William S. Leinbach of Battery C, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery writes in February 1865 about his brother Dan hauling hay past the Antietam battlefield and seeing soldiers' graves. Frank Pumphrey of the 80th Ohio writes from Paducah in March 1862, asking his sister to find out what the house they live in might cost — he hasn't spent a cent of his wages and plans to send money home as fast as he gets it. Simon Ewing of the 58th Indiana writes to a friend in California in October 1861, admitting he doesn't know if he can stand the physical demands of camp life, but the excitement has carried him along anyway.

Mara: And then there is William Blackmar of the 11th Connecticut, whose thirty-one letters to his brother Lemuel run from April 1862 through November 1865. They cover foraging after battle, a hand wound at Swift's Creek, months as a ward attendant at Knight General Hospital, the fall of Petersburg, and the slow bureaucratic business of recovering a dead nephew's effects and back pay. The letters are full of bounty checks, express packages, requests for newspapers, and the recurring phrase "write as soon as you get this."

Pip: Thirty-one letters is less a correspondence than a documentary record — the whole war in envelopes.

Mara: William Leonard Forster of the 13th New York State Militia rounds out the set, writing from Carroll Hill, Baltimore in June 1861 — a three-month man, sneaking away from camp to write on his tin pan for a desk, reporting that a thousand soldiers scattered in the rain at half past eleven and he got soaked. The war was eleven weeks old.

Pip: From a tin pan in Baltimore to Petersburg falling — the letters carry all of it.

Mara: What holds all of this together is the gap between what soldiers knew and what we know reading them now.

Pip: Ransom Wharton promising his mother he'd be home in a few months. Next episode, presumably, more dispatches from that same gap.

1865 Peace Negotiations, Siege of Petersburg

1865: Map showing the Position of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Corps Before Petersburg

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The accompanying map is believed to have been created by David J. Dann (1840-1902), whose signature is located in the lower right corner. David’s parents were English immigrants residing in Effingham, Illinois, during 1861 when David initially enlisted for a three-month term in Company G of the 11th Illinois Infantry. In 1864, he re-enlisted in Company I of the 38th Wisconsin Infantry. Muster rolls confirm that he enlisted on August 16, 1864, and was mustered out on June 2, 1865. At that juncture, he listed Janesville, Wisconsin, as his residence. David married Eliza Q. Holmes on November 30, 1863, although the marriage ultimately ended in divorce. In his later years, following his retirement, David referred to himself as a “Painter.”

Map shared by the courtesy of its owner, Jim Rivest

The map does not bear a date on its front, and if a date is present on the reverse, it remains inaccessible at this moment due to the map being contained within a frame. Nonetheless, it must have been created subsequent to the Flag of Truce on 29 January 1865, during which Alexander Stephens and Robert Hunter, serving as Peace Commissioners, were permitted to cross the Union siege lines at Petersburg. It is noteworthy that just above the center of the map, the point marked “where Stephens and R. Hunter crossed” is indicated immediately above the Union picket line.

In the History of the 38th Wisconsin, it was written: “Received Rebel Peace Commissioners Stephens, Hunter, Campbell and Hatch through lines under flag of truce January 29, 1865.”

“On January 29, a Confederate officer with a flag of truce interrupted the Siege of Petersburg to announce the passage of the three Confederate peace commissioners. Soldiers from both armies cheered. On February 1, Seward dropped off a copy of the new amendment in Annapolis, then departed with the River Queen for Fort Monroe.” Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_Roads_Conference

Lincoln greets Peace Commissioners.

History records that Confederate peace commissioners Alexander Stephens and Robert M. T. Hunter, accompanied by John A. Campbell, crossed the Union picket lines in late January 1865 at Aiken’s Landing on the James River in Virginia. They traveled under a flag of truce to meet with Union General Ulysses S. Grant at his headquarters in City Point, Virginia. Subsequently, they proceeded to Hampton Roads to engage in the historic yet ultimately unproductive Hampton Roads Conference with President Abraham Lincoln aboard the steamboat River Queen on February 3, 1865.

MYSTERY

Following the signature of David J. Dann, the letters “Del” appear to have been inscribed; however, the rationale behind this inscription remains unclear unless it constitutes a fragment of a larger word. To the best of our knowledge, he had no affiliations with the State of Delaware.

80th Ohio Infantry, Paducah, Kentucky

1862: Frank Pumphrey to his Family

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The following letter was written by a member of Co. E, 80th Ohio Volunteer Infantry who signed his name “Frank.” There are a handful of soldiers in that company with the initial “F” in their names but the only one who went by the name Frank was 28 year-old Frank Pumphrey who must have lived in Coshocton county, Ohio, at some point in his life as he and his relatives were acquainted with Sam Compton who also served in that company and was mentioned.

Frank enlisted for three years on 28 October 1861 and was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps on 5 September 1863. Frank appears to have a sister named Laura and a brother named George. Most likely his father was no longer living since he is not mentioned.

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

Camp at Paducah [Kentucky]
March 28, 1862

My dear little sister Laura & Mother,

I must sit down and drop you a few lines to let you know that I have not forgotten you. I am on duty now but I have been on the sick list for two weeks. George is here. He has been here for two weeks. He is going to stay here till pay day—if it ever comes. If he stays till we get our pay, I will send you fifty dollars home by him.

Paducah is a pretty place but it is full of secesh. The women are very sassy but the men dare not open their mouth. I get along well. The Boys appear to like me very well. They say if I leave them, they will desert. I am dem [?] & Will McComber are well and as fat as pups I am. Clark brought me a can of tomatoes. I tell you they tasted good. The catsup fell down and bursted open. That piece of beef was very good and smart.

I don’t think this war will last more than six months or one year at the farthest. I hope not for I would rather be at home than to be here. It is very sickly here. There is from one to two hundred buried here a week—mostly Illinois troops. There is about 15 hundred sick at this point and only nine surgeons to attend to them. Sam Compton has been very sick. His fever is broke but he is not able to be up. I don’t think he will ever get well. I think he has the consumption. Don’t tell his folks anything about his being dangerous. George will bring him home with him when he comes if he is able to come. 1

I have nothing of importance to write. You are better posted at home on the war than we are. We don’t know anything—only what transpires in our own camp. As yet we have done nothing but move from camp to camp and eat fat meat & hard bread. We have our arms now—all the 80th [OVI] wants a chance and we will make our mark.

Paducah is full of refugees from Tennessee. There is from one to two hundred comes every day. They have been coming all this week. They say that they had to run and leave everything else go in the Secesh army. They say all they want is arms and they will clean out Tennessee themselves. I saw Pompey & G. W. Brown at Louisville, Kentucky. They both looked well. I think after I get over this camp disease, I can stand as much as any of them. I like this kind of a life but if the war was over, I would rather be at home.

I want you to find out what is the least that James will take for the house that you live in or what you can get the Shrieves’ house for. I have not spent one cent of my wages—only what it took for my uniform. I will send my money home as fast as I get it. Give my love to grandfather,

From your affectionate brother & son Frank.

Direct to Paducah Camp, in care of Col. [Ephraim R.] Eckley, 80th [Ohio] Regt.

1 Samuel Compton (1835-1862) served in Co. F, 80th OVI. He was the son of Richard Compton (1806-1894) and Dorcas Jane Odor (1811-1870) of Roscoe, Coshocton county, Ohio. He died of disease at Paducah, Kentucky on 9 April 1862.

1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battle of Antietam

1865: William S. Leinbach to his Parents

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William S. Leinbach, Battery C, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery (14th Reserves)

The following letter was written by William S. Leinbach (1842-1921) who served with his older brother, Daniel S. Leinbach (1841-1894) in Battery C, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery (14th Reserves). [Note: military records spell surname as Leinback but family records spell it Leinbach.] William and Daniel were the sons of Amos Leinbach (1816-1887) and Mary Ann Schrum (1821-1886) of Union county, Pennsylvania. William survived the war and married, in 1865, to Eliza Jane Dieffenderfer (1841-1923).

William’s letter of February 1865 speaks of the battlefield at Antietam and the graves seen by his brother while passing through it to Hagerstown. Battery C did not arrive on the field with their four 10-pounder Parrott rifles until after the battle but camped nearby afterward (as noted in the letter). By the time this letter was written, the Battery had been consolidated with Battery D and was bivouacked at Maryland Heights. They did not muster out until June 1865.

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

Maryland Heights
February 10, 1865

Dear Parents,

I will now drop a few lines to let you know that we are well, hoping these few lines will find you enjoying the same good health. I received your letter last night and also then five dollars and was very glad to get them. I will get my pictures taken one of these days and then I will send you one. Dan, he went out for hay yesterday morning with his team. They get the hay near the line of Pennsylvania and Maryland on the other side of Sharpsburg near Hagerstown. The must go [over] a part of the battlefield of Antietam. He said he seen a good many soldiers’ graves when he passed through there and he said he seen the place where we laid near Sharpsburg when we was out before.

We have a deep snow here at present. It is about a foot deep and as cold as Greenland. I have my picture frame done now. Perhaps I will send it home after a while. I have a notion to make another one if I don’t get tired of it. It takes a long time to make one.

Let me know what William Knapp is working. I would like to see him be with us and then the draft would not hurt him but I don’t think this war will last much longer. I think next summer will make a stop to it if the Johnnies don’t come down to it before that. We was still thinking there would be peace before long but I think them black bull dogs have to make it if there will be peace and that is about the best way to make peace. Make them come down to it if they don’t want to come.

So I have not much to write at present. There is some talk of our being paid in a few days but I don’t know how true it is. Dan, he will come in with the hay today some time. He always lives good while he is out there with them old farmers but he said they got to an old Copperhead the other time and the old fellow did not like them very much when he found out that they was Union men. But Dan said he did not care for that, but he said he pitched into his sashes [?] when they took breakfast and eat about a yard of one.

I must come to a close for this time. I will send you one of my pictures in the next letter. No more at present. From your brother, — William S. Leinbeck Write soon

14th Illinois Cavalry, Lincoln Assassination

1865: George W. Evans to Mollie Fowler

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The following letter was written by George W. Evans (1836-2893), the son of Samuel Evans (1781-1851) and Sarah Doubngin (1792-1845) of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. At the time of the 1860 US Census, George was enumerated on the farm of his younger brother, Charles P. Evans near Cotton Wood, Gallatin county, Illinois.

During the American Civil War, George enlisted in the 14th Illinois Cavalry, mustering in as 1st Lieutenant of Co. E on 6 February 1863 at Shawneetown, Gallatin county, Illinois. His military record suggests he was married but his ancestral record says otherwise.

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

Addressed to Miss Mollie Fowler, Lawrenceburg, Indiana

Camp 14th Illinois Vol. Cavalry
Pulaski, Tennessee
April 17, 1865

Dear Mollie,

I hope you will pardon me for not writing sooner but will excuse myself by saying that we have been on the war path again but are again stationed at this point and seeing very good times. The army has been cheered with glorious victories won by Grant over Lee and we all felt as if we should soon go home until the wires brought the melancholy intelligence of the death of President [Lincoln] which has not only cast a gloom over the army here but the entire community received any particulars.

I think we can soon wind the war up now. We wait to hear from Sherman everyday. We expect to hear of him capturing Johnston’s entire army.

I have not heard from home since I seen you. I cannot account for other than the high water has washed some of the railroad bridges away between here and Nashville which makes the mail very irregular. My regiment left Nashville the next day after I returned from my visit. We are seeing a nice time here—have only to go on picket once a week.

Mary, I don’t know that I have anything of interest to write. Yell me how you like the pin cushion. Tell Allie and Lawrence I shall write to them next. My regards to [ ] Fellow and remember the invitation.

I am anxious to hear from Old man [George Daniel] Sanks and Aunt Susan [Terhune and] how they have got [along]. Write often. My love to one and all. I remain your uncle, — Lieut. George W. Evans, 14th Ill. Vol. Cavalry