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.
The following letter was written by Joseph (“Joe”) H. Prime of Strafford, New Hampshire. Joe enlisted when he was 21 years old as a corporal in Co. F, 13th New Hampshire Infantry, serving from August 1862 until October 1863 when he was discharged so that he could be commissioned as a Lieutenant in Co. G, 7th US Colored Troops (USCT). He was wounded on 29 September 1864 in the attack on Fort Gilmer, a bulwark on the Confederate defensive line six and a half miles from Richmond. Two months later, Joe was promoted to Captain of Co. F in November 1864.
Joseph H. Prime, 7th USCT
The 7th USCT was on duty at Camp Benedict, Maryland, until March 1864 when they were ordered to Portsmouth, Virginia, then to Hilton Head, S. C., and to Jacksonville, Florida. In August they returned to Virginia and participated in the siege operations against Petersburg & Richmond. “Fort Gilmer was yet another instance in which USCTs proved their mettle, getting farther with four companies than an entire division had been able to just hours earlier. Perhaps the best compliment came from a Confederate who was guarding the few men of Birney’s brigade who had been captured. When asked if blacks could fight, the Rebel replied: “By God! If you had been there you would have thought so. They marched up just as if they were on drill, not firing a shot.” After the war, another Confederate was willing to admit that on September 29th, “Richmond came nearer being captured, and that, too, by negro troops, than it ever did during the whole war.” [Source: Freedom By the Sword]
Transcription
U. S. General Hospital Point of Rocks, Virginia May 2nd, 1865 Tuesday
Dear Wife,
There is nothing going on here today, only the same daily routine of breakfast, dinner, and I suppose supper will come by and by as it is now in the afternoon. I have been playing a few games of cribbage today with Lieut. [Eugene] Judd of the 40th Massachusetts who is here wounded but is going to start for home tomorrow as he has a leave and has had it for three or four days but the doctor thought he was unable to start when he got it so he is going tomorrow. By the way, we played cribbage this forenoon until we had played two hundred and twenty six (226) games and then concluded we had played enough and went to reading Shakespeare.
By the way, I see by the papers that the body of Booth was sunk in the Potomac a few nights ago. By the way, I should like to know what David and Horatio thinks or says about the assassination of Lincoln. I am going to try tomorrow to get a pass to go to Norfolk to see if I can’t get my pay for the last month (April) and if I can, I will send you another hundred ($100) dollars out of that. I have not much hope, however, of being successful as I don’t know as Fowler has any authority to give passes to go down there.
I hear that the 13th New Hampshire Volunteers is going out to work on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad as they have concluded to have that railroad finished up soon so as to have connection between Richmond and Washington by rail. There is not more than a dozen officers in the hospital now as several went away this morning. There are only six to dinner and there is not more than six or seven that are here but can go to their meals. There is one man here in the hospital that has been here ever since I was here last fall. His name is Titcomb and I guess I have spoken about him once before. He has got the same disease that Lieut. [Charles A.] Hinckley of the 7th USCT was discharged for.
Well, I guess there is not quite so much chance for those Rebel leaders to get pardoned with Andrew Johnson for President as there was when Abraham Lincoln was alive. And I hope they will all be caught and hung—that is all the hurt I wish them.
Well, darling, I must close with a kiss for you from Joe.
Write soon, write soon, write soon, write soon.
[Included is a pass for Capt. Prime of the 7th USCT of the Officer’s Temporary Hospital at Point of Rocks to visit Fortress Monroe, dated 3 May 1865. The pass was signed by Hadley B. Fowler, Surgeon in charge.]
The following letters were written by Capt. Richard Watson Musgrove (1840-1914), the son of James Musgrove (1798-1878) and Ann Donker (1802-1879) of Bristol, New Hampshire.
Capt. Richard Watson Musgrove
Richard entered the service in August 1862 as a corporal in Co. D, 12th New Hampshire Infantry, was appointed sergeant, Mar. 17, ’63; first sergeant, Feb. 1, ’64; was at battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville (where he had one musket shattered and another knocked from his hands), at Gettysburg (where he carried the state colors on the third day’s fight), and at Wapping Heights. When the regiment was stationed at Point Lookout, he was detailed for duty at the camp for prisoners of war, where he had charge of 1,000 men, all a later was sergeant of the provost guard at Gen. Gilman Marston’s brigade headquarters; discharged, Apr. 23, ’64, to accept promotion, and Apr 24, ’64, was appointed first lieutenant of Co. D, 1st Regt. U. S. Vol. Inf., a regiment, organized by Gen. Butler, and composed of prisoners of war who had taken the oath of allegiance and enlisted into the service of the Union; appointed captain of Co. I, same regiment, Aug. 13, ’64, and mustered out, May 21, ’66, after a service of three years and nine months. While in this regiment, he served three months in Norfolk, Va., as provost guard, and the balance of the time on the northwest and western frontiers, being stationed one year at Fort Ridgely, Minn. In the fall of ’65, his company with three others opened what is now the Smoky Hill route of the Union Pacific railroad, from Atchison, Kan., to Denver, Col. In winter of ’65-6, he was stationed at what is now Fort Wallace, Kansas, over 300 miles from the nearest settlement on the east. (Source: History of Bristol, N. H., vol. I, p. 208.)
In his letter of 4 October 1864, Richard mentioned hearing of the death of his younger brother, Adam Clark (“Abbott”) Musgrove (1842-1864). Abbott enlisted as a Private serving the Union Army in Halfmoon, Saratoga, New York on 21 Jul 1862. On 20 August 1862 he enlisted in Co. H, New York 115th Infantry Regiment. Abbott was killed in action and mustered out of service as a Corporal on 16 Aug 1864 in Deep Bottom Run, Henrico, Virginia.
Richard wrote the letters to Abigail (“Abbie”) Blake (1844-1911). Abbie married Rodolphus M. Locke (1839-1883) in November 1870.
Readers are also referred to a blog post on “Our War” describing Musgrove’s experience at the Battle of Chancellorsville when he was a sergeant in Co. D, 12th New Hampshire Volunteers. See Our War, 6 May 2014.
Letter 1
Addressed to Miss Abbie M. Blake, Bristol, New Hampshire
Fort Ridgely, Minnesota October 4th 1864
Friend Abbie,
I presume you have concluded by this time that I have forgotten you, but such is not the case. I have thought of you often and wondered that you did not write. By the last mail, however, the mystery was explained by the arrival of your letter bearing date of July 3rd directed to Norfolk Va,
As I did not leave there till the middle of August, I do not see why I did not receive it before I left there but it was anxious to find me, and followed me to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Madison, then to St. Paul, Minnesota, to Fort Snelling and then here. I have been at all these places and am now stopping here, but how long I shall remain here I know not.
My 2nd Lieut. is now gone to Fort Wadsworth, Dakota Territory, with 40 men of my company as a guard for a train of supplies going to Fort Wadsworth. I expected to go myself with the whole company and remain there during the winter, but I am pleased at the prospect of remaining here. We are now 120 miles west of St. Paul. There is not but one or two houses within fifteen miles of here so I am far enough out of the world. But we should be worse off at Fort Wadsworth which is 180 miles west of here and not a habitation within 150 miles of there. Wild animals of all description—buffaloes, bears, wolves, and Indians are very numerous and troublesome, but I should not care for them. I do not like, however, to be so far from friends. Here we get a mail three times a week. There we should have one only once a week. I had just as leave go there next summer and expect we shall go further west then—probably on an expedition against the Indians.
Fort Ridgely, Watercolor by Alfred Sully
I suppose you was aware of the death of my brother long before I was, as I did not know that he was dead till about three weeks ago, but looked in each mail for a letter from him, little thinking that I had received my last from him. Of course I feel very badly about his early fall. I miss his letters, always cheerful and hopeful, and I shall miss him very much when I get home as I hope to some day. But I am proud to think that he died so noble a death in the service of his country and I have the fact to cheer me that he died a christian soldier and while I mourn his loss, I am cheered at the thought that he is at rest where war is unknown, and that if I am faithful to my God, I may one day meet him above, although I can never more see his face upon earth. It would be a pleasure in some respects to be at home at this time to mourn with those there, or I would esteem it a great privilege to hear his funeral sermon preached, but as this cannot be, I will try and bow submissively to this heavy affliction and may his death result in good to me and us all.
It has been so long since you wrote your last that I hardly know where to direct [your letter] but I guess I will direct this to Manchester as you said nothing about leaving there and I hope you will receive it. I thank you for the little gift enclosed in your letter. I will try and heed its warning voice, and if you fail to hear from me for a long time, you must not think that I have forgotten you but attribute it to some such cause as delayed me now, or maybe I shall not have an opportunity to write as I am very much of the time on the move. So if you do not get a prompt answer, just write again and I hope they will get round even if they are delayed three months.
Personally I am prospering very well since leaving Norfolk. Gen. Butler has had the kindness to send me an appointment as Captain so now I have the honor of wearing two bars instead of one. My work is no more, as I have had command of this company (I) since it was formed the first of June.
Since leaving Norfolk, I have rather lost track of some of the Bristol boys who are not at their regiment, Louis among the number, and I must hunt them up now that I have tome to write. But I must close. Write as soon as convenient and remember me as ever. Your true friend.
My address is R. W. Musgrove, Capt. Co. I, 1st USV. Fort Ridgely, Minnesota
Letter 2
Fort Ridgely, Minnesota December 7th 1864
Dear Friend,
Your letter of Nov. 6th was received about a week ago and I now hasten to answer it. I was glad to hear from you once more. I was fearful lest my letter would not reach you, but it seems that it did. I always like to hear from my friends at home. It makes this place and indeed any place, more cheerful to hear often from home, and those with whom I am acquainted. To say the best, this is a lonely, dreary, bleak, desolate place, and frequent letters do much to drive away the blues. The little world in which I move here is about fifteen rods square, and I seldom go outside of the fort unless it is on a pleasant day to take a horse back ride. This is about all the recreation I have, and as you may imagine, time passes off rather slowly and heavily. If it were not for books, I do not know what I should do. As it is, I read a good deal of the time and so turn my spare time to good account.
I had not heard from Jerome Hancock for a long time and have wondered what had become of him. I am glad, however, to hear so good account of him. If you see him or his mother, give them my respects.
I am very glad that so many of the boys came home from the army to vote. I suppose you passed a few pleasant hours with some of them. Lieut. Fullonton belongs to this regiment—as I suppose you know, but is on duty on Gen. [____ston’s] Staff. I think he is a tip top fellow and very smart too. I would like to spend a short time, or a long time rather, atBristol. I should enjoy it very much—especially now that William is at home. You know it seems so much better to have all at home together, but not all of our family will again assemble around the family board. The vacant place cannot be filled. I shall miss my brother Adam when I go home very much, more than I should any other brother because we were so near of an age that we were more intimate. How many times we have talked over our future plans. But he is gone now. He is now at rest and I would not call him back much as I feel his loss. Others too have passed away. I was sorry to hear of the death of Mary Woolson very. She will be missed very much at Brostol as she was a valuable member of society and of the church. But I have no doubt but what she too is at rest. Thus we are all passing away.
I do not know that Jack Smith had just a lady in New Hampton. I should think he was about old enough to die.
I also had a letter from Louis Rowe a few days ago. I am glad that he has got an easy chance as I think he should have, for he has had quite a hard time since he was wounded.
I suppose you will have a pleasant time at Manchester this winter. I would like to call in some evening and see you. I should enjoy it very much. But then such pleasures are not in store for me now, but I do not always expect to live in this out-of-the-world place. But before many years at least to return to the land of civilization. Then I shall know how to prize the blessings of society.
I have just been reading in the paper a beautiful piece of poetry which I copy lest you have not seen it. It goes as follows.
“De lord he lubs de nigger well, He knows de nigger by the smell; And whilst de pitch holds out to burn, De blackest nigger may return.
He knows dere wants and all of day, He feeds dere souls on possum fat; And when de nigger baby cry, De Lord he gibs ’em possum pie.
When in de Tabernacle met, Big nigger by a white gal set; And in de Beecher Chapel too, De nigger habs a good front pew.
De Lord determined not to keep. In different pews de cullerd sheep, But mix de various collors up, Like rum and lasses in a cup.”
Don’t you think those are beautiful lines? But I must close so goodbye for the present. Hoping soon to hear of your peace and prosperity, I remain as ever your true friend, — R. W. Musgrove
The following letters were written by Isaac Hiram Every (1838-1920), the son of Hiram Leon Every (1809-1896) and Hannah Eliza Stoutenburg (1813-1898) of Kortright, Delaware county, New York.
Isaac was 23 years old when he enlisted in October 1861 to serve in the 8th New York Light Artillery. According to family lore, Isaac went to war as a substitute for his younger brother who had been drafted and judged by the family to be too young to serve. This seems unlikely, however, as he went into the service in 1861, well before passage of the Conscription Act and the implementation of the Draft. The family also say that he was mustered out of the service in 1864 suffering from a disease that took him more than a year to recover from once he was home. After the war Isaac married Esther Ann Ferguson (1847-1936) and relocated to LeRoy, Mower county, Minnesota.
The Battery left the state commanded by Capt. Fitch on 7 November 1861; proceeded to Washington, where it was assigned to Casey’s division; and was with the 4th Corps in the Peninsular campaign in 1862, sustaining a loss of 6 killed and wounded at Fair Oaks. It then performed garrison duty at Gloucester Point, Yorktown and Portsmouth, being engaged at Gloucester Court House and Baltimore cross-roads. A section of the battery served with the cavalry division, Army of the James, in the operations against Petersburg and Richmond in May, 1864. It continued in service as a veteran organization and was mustered out at Norfolk, Va., June 30, 1865, under command of Capt. Morton. It lost during service 1 enlisted man died of wounds, and 40 men died of disease and other causes.
In his first letter, Isaac mentions three of his siblings, Katherine (“Kat”) Every, (1840-1916), Stephen A. Every (1843-1927), and Jennie Every (1848-1918). The second letter was written while in the service but the content is limited to discussion of a legal matter.
These letters were made available for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by Laurie Every Manuse, a great-granddaughter of Isaac H. Every.
A Soldier’s Memorial for the 8th Independent New York Battery belonging to Isaac.
Letter 1
Washington [D. C.] December 15th 1861
Dear Father,
Today is Sunday and while I sit in my tent and thinking of home, I thought that you would like to hear from me. Well, my health is good and I hope this will find you and the rest of the family the same. You may think it is wrong to write on Sunday but I thought I might do worse than that. And now I will tell you the news, but I suppose you have heard them before now and then they won’t be news to you.
There is a prospect of a large battle soon and Charleston is in ashes now and all of the troops are all ordered across the Potomac and there was 1200 regular cavalry went by our camp Friday and they have been agoing every [day] since then. We will remain here and guard Washington at present. Our troops will make a strike for Liberty now and it won’t be a feeble one either.
I got a letter from John Bradon and he said his regiment had orders to start at one and so you see they mean something now. And Father, I don’t know whether you can read this or not for my pen is poor but you can try try [to write] you know, and now you must tell Jennie to write to me. I have just got Kat’s letter and was sorry to hear that Uncle Charley was sick. Got a letter from Dock Kiff and he said that they were all well and Kat’s letter was the first letter I have heard from home in two weeks and I had just begun to think you had forgotten me.
And so Steve has got a new dog? Hope Sport will whip him every time he wants it, and I think he can do it. Tell Mother not to worry about me for I will take good care of myself and Father, you heard that I was sick. Well I was sick a few days when I first came here and so was they all. But I was not taken to the hospital for I was not very sick and now I feel better for it for we have to get acclimated to this place, you know, and that was all there was about it. So you see they can make a story about nothing for if I get sick, I shall come home, you know. But my health is good now and if I was there I might be sick, you know.
I must close for the present. Tell Kate I will answer her letter as soon as I get time which will be soon as the first of this week. It is warm weather here yet. Today is as warm as it is in summer there and we all go in our shirts sleeves. But we will go in barracks in a few days more. I send my love to you all. So now goodbye for the present. This from your son, — I. H. Every
Letter 2
Camp near Portsmouth, Virginia July 7th 1864
Dear Father,
You will probably think I ought to have written to you before but could not until now and you wanted to know what they asked me in regards to the letters. I told he Captain that you wrote to me wanting me to state when I knew of the payment. I have now done so and he wanted to know if anyone else had wrote to me. I told him that my sister had wrote to me and that she wrote nothing that was anyway or I should say she wrote nothing about the lawsuit pending between you and Coan, only stating that you were sent by Orin Coan the letters I lost. Then also the one you sent they can’t make anything out of that they wanted me to state if I knew the time the money was paid. I told them or the Captain it was in the spring of 1858 in or about the middle of March. Also it was on the store stoop of Peters McC___ or in the store, I could not say which it was and that will have no bearing in the case. It will probably be sent off tomorrow. You can ask Squire Peters to let you see it and then you will know all about it. He will let you see it, I think. If not I will write the whole of the testimony down for you.
So write as soon as you get this if there is any more you would like to know but I don’t know as it will be of any account any way. I did not swear to the [bible] on it for I could not remember that and the Captain said it was not necessary. And now Father, you must not blame for it was some six years ago that this happened and a little over. Hoping this will find you well and in good health. Also the rest of he family there. My love to all.
The following letter from William Knight’s pension file was sent to me for transcription by my friend Gina Denham who is showcasing William’s service in the Civil war along with many other British citizens who served in the American Civil War. As a teenage, William served in the 61st Foot of the British army to put down the rebellion in India against British rule in the late 1850s. He then went with the Royal Irish Fusiliers to participate in the Battle of Shanghai (1861-62) in China before coming to the United States in the middle of the Civil War.
It’s a bit difficult to trace William’s service record in the United States. It appears that he walked into a Philadelphia recruiting office in the fall of 1864, accepting a $400 bounty to serve in the 29th Pennsylvania Infantry. By this stage of he war, the regiment had been moved from the Eastern Theatre of the war to the Western Theatre and so he was transported to Chattanooga in time to fight the rebels at Dalton and then to help defend Nashville from Hood’s army in December 1864. Shortly afterward we learn that William deserted for reasons explained in his letter and then enlisted in the 195th Ohio Infantry where he accepted yet another bounty.
Becoming inadvertently separated from the 195th Ohio Infantry while enroute to the Shenandoah Valley in March 1865, William was arrested as a deserter and taken to Fort McHenry in Baltimore. He was subsequently sent to Alexandria to stand trial and was found guilt and made to pay a fine and return to duty. At war’s end, believing his contract to serve for the duration of the war only, William booked passage to London to visit his friends. He then returned to serve two years in the 2nd US Infantry from 1867-69.
William’s life seems to have been filled with tragedy and misfortune, perhaps a consequence of his overindulgence in spiritous liquors. An notice for William in a London paper about 1900 claims a “Sad Ending of an Old Soldier” who, at age 60, was living on the streets and without means to purchase food and clothing.
William was the 84th Member of the London Branch of American Civil War veterans. Gina is currently writing a book to commemorate the service of these veterans.
Transcription
12 Northumberland Street West [London, England] January 7th 1910
Sir,
William Knight, late of the 35th United States Infantry, who was discharged at Fort Concho, Texas, on the 23rd of September 1869 by reason of a surgeon’s certificate with service near two years humbly appeals to you under distressed circumstances who is 70 years old and unable to get employment under the liability act, wishes to state about two regiments in the Civil War—the 29th [Pennsylvania] Vol. Infantry, my enlistment being 27 October 1864 one year and in Philadelphia, received 400 dollars state bounty of which was taken from me and received a bank check on the First Nation Bank of Philadelphia & left with a detachment to Tennessee to join the regiment but was detained at Chattanooga & was shortly after engaged with rebels at Dalton, Georgia, and was on the last train that left Chattanooga for Nashville, Tennessee to oppose General Hood’s advance on Nashville. As soon as we got out of the train, we was employed in making the breastworks in front of Fort Negley and Fort Zollicoffer. There was a large amount of prisoners captured a few days after.
[While] my detachment of the 20th Army Corps was on the march for Murfreesboro, Tennessee, I had the misfortune of being robbed of this check. I wrote to the bank sometime after to stop the payment. This played on my mind. At the same time I was bad with a bowel complaint but not under the doctor’s [care]. It was very cold weather when I made up my mind to get to the bank. [Deserting, I] got into Kentucky and walked through the State of Kentucky, part by day and night and on the way noticed armed men which [I believed were on the] look [out] for government troops, but found out they was guerrillas. They asked me to halt and they asked me where I came from & [I] told them Nashville. They proposed to shoot me but one of them that was an Englishman and born in London [intervened and] they let me go stating that I would see more of these men. I came away on my road to Owensboro about three miles from there and obtained employment in shelling Indian corn where I got enough money to pay my fare to Cincinnati.
After I got into Cincinnati, I enlisted for the 195th Ohio Regiment and got the same amount of bounty and was in Camp Chase until the regiment left for the Shenandoah Valley. My enlistment was the 23rd of January 1865 for one year, or during the war. This regiment was organized at Columbus, Ohio. [When I was on] the train, [I got off with] some men to get whiskey in their canteens, [leaving] our knapsacks inside the train. Some got [back] on the train but I was stopped. The train was in motion and I was not allowed. I did not know what to do. Having money in my pocketbook and finding out where the regiment was going to, I paid my fare to Baltimore and got in company with a man who advised me to change my clothes as he said I was in a hot spot and would be arrested. This proved true. I gave this man the money and got [civilian] clothes. I went to the theatre at night, leaving my soldier clothes till the next morning with the keeper of a saloon bar, but when I got to the theatre, I was arrested by a detective on suspicion of being a deserter and was taken to Fort McHenry where I was brought before the Provost Marshal. He asked me what [regiment I] belonged to as it would be better for me and I confessed the truth. He said he would take charge of my money and it would be transferred to my regiment [telling me that] after I left the fort, if I took the [money] outside, I would be robbed and he would [give me] a little money to get food with.
I did not remain long. I was sent to Alexandria to be tried [for desertion] resulting in a fine of 30 dollars and returned to duty. I joined the regiment at Summit Point a few miles from Charlestown and told my case to the Colonel in camp who gave me my bounty and two days after was on Camp Guard and spoke to the Colonel on sentry where I considered I done my duty as a soldier. After the war [ended], the regiment was ordered to Alexandria doing duty with the 2nd District of Columbia Regiment when I became ill with ague and dysentery, passing blood. I had drawn two installments of my government bounty (66 dollars). The war was over—my contract being one year or during the war—I went to Bladensburg and bought a suit of clothes and took the train to New York and bought ten bottles of medicine in a drug store and paid 35 dollars passage to Liverpool on a visit to my friends in London on the City of Baltimore and returning in 1866 and served in the 2nd United States Infantry [where I] was made corporal of Co. B at Louisville, Kentucky under the name of William Smith and got my bounty from the 29th Pennsylvania Regt. and came away June 19, 1869.
William Knight, alias William Smith, wishes to state that when enlisted for the 2nd US Infantry at Louisville, Kentucky, I was asked by Captain Lacey of Co. B whether I had been in the army before. I stated that I was in the 29th Pennsylvania—a regiment in the war, that I lost a bank check on the 1st National Bank of Philadelphia for the sum of 380 dollars and I put it in the hands of a claim agent, As I found out, it was in the hands of the government. He told me to write to Mr. Jackson and tell him that the Captain of my company would write to the government and he got this bounty which I had an order payable by any paymaster the sum of 380 dollars as William Smith, 29th Pennsylvania Volunteers the day I left the regiment 1st day of June 1867. I was under arrest for sending a barrel of beer for the use of the company—that is the reason I gave the name of William Smith.
I remain respectively, — William Knight, 12 Northumberland Street West [London, England]
The following letter was written by James C. Magee who, at the age of 23, enlisted on 16 July 1861 to serve three years in Co. D, 47th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI). He was appointed a corporal on 1 September 1863 and made sergeant on 4 August 1864. In July 1865 he was promoted to Hospital Steward.
James was the son of Robert Magee (1808-1885) and Catharine Campbell (1806-1853) of Somers, Preble county, Ohio. After the war, James married Caroline Brown (1841-1924) and moved to Andrew County, Missouri, where he farmed and raised his family. Later in life he moved to Scott City, Kansas.
Transcription
Addressed to Miss Sallie R. McQuiston, Morning Sun, Preble county, Ohio
Louisville, Kentucky June 7th 1865
Friend Sallie,
I received your ever welcome & interesting letter some time ago & should have answered sooner but when I received it, I was busy writing for the Lieutenant & when I got through with that we commenced moving & opportunities for writing were very rare. Ever since Capt. [Joseph L.] Pinkerton has not been in command of the company, we have not had an officer capable of doing the business belonging to the company & this has thrown things in rather confused condition. But I am now in hopes they will be settled up in a few days as there is a prospect of our being paid before long. I expect to fill out the Payrolls tomorrow if there be no preventing Providence.
Captain Pinkerton returned to the regiment a few days before we left Washington. I think he returned one week ago last Saturday, though he has not taken command of the company yet as we have but one field officer present. He is acting in the capacity of Major. He is the only line officer in the regiment that came out with us as an officer.
We left Washington on the 1st inst. and came by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Parkersburg, Va. We arrived there last Saturday night about midnight (I was too sound asleep to know just the hour). We embarked on the Steamer Express on Sabbath morning at 9 a.m. bound for Louisville. We had quite a fine trip. Stopped at Cincinnati on Monday evening between sunset and dark & the Colonel gave us liberty to run around through the city until eight o’clock Tuesday morning when we were to report back to the boat. As a general thing, the boys were punctual, but as you know there are more or less of the black sheep in every flock. There is one of the numbers of Co. D that I presume you will see or at least hear of before this reaches you.
We arrived at the City of Louisville about 9 o’clock last night & marched some two or three miles south of east from the town. We have a very nicely situated camp. There is more or less talk every day as to where we are going & what we are going for. Some think we will be mustered out while the greater portion think we will be sent to Texas & I don’t profess to know anything about it & I believe I know nearly as much about it as any of them. That is as much to say, there is none of the, knows anything about it. Be these things as they may, I think I have fulfilled my contract. I agreed to serve three years if the war lasted so long & if it didn’t, I was to quit sooner. So if they want to go to Texas or to Mexico to fight Maximilian, they may go but I think I’ll go to Preble county, Ohio. That is hte feeling at present. I think four years of actual service is enough at one time, don’t you?
Well Sallie, you rather set me to thinking pretty seriously over my being elected. I must confess the subject is too serious for joking, yet I fear there is too much truth in the statement. You asked me to excuse all mistakes & whatever I was not pleased with. I had no occasion for either mistakes I did not find & I had no occasion for any displeasure. You seem to think that my market is made & I hear hints to the same effect from some others though that’s what I am utterly unable to see. Why you don’t suppose she would stoop so low as even dream of such a worm as I.
The weather is quite warm and sultry & makes me so lazy I can hardly see. The boys are all in their usual health, I believe, except W[illiam] T. Ramsey. He came near getting his left leg broke. Just as we were leaving Cincinnati, he got it caught between the fenders of the boat we were on & another one though I think he will be able to go about in a few days.
I suppose there is quite a number of young ladies wondering what they’ll do when their soldier comes home but there are some of hem won’t be left in doubt long. How I wish I could be some young lady’s soldier! Wouldn’t I cut a swell though?
You seem to think it a pity that Old Jeff disgraced skirts. So do I, but he has disgraced the masculine gender so much worse that I would like to be classed with the feminine if I could. I guess I have written about all the nonsense I can think of & perhaps more than you will care to read so for fear of wearying your patience, I will close hoping to hear from you in due time.
The following letter was written by Joseph T. Miller (1836-1863), the son of William B. Miller (1803-1864) and Synthia Johnson (1807-1884) of Jackson, Keokuk county, Iowa. Joseph was working as a carpenter and still enumerated in the household of his parents in Jackson, Iowa, when he enlisted at age 26 in August 1862 to serve three years in Co. F, 33rd Iowa Infantry. He was seriously wounded in the battle at Helena, Arkansas, on 4 July 1863, and was transported to a hospital in Memphis where he died on 8 August 1863.
Carte de visite photograph of the city of Helena in Phillips County under Federal occupation. (Arkansas Digital Archives)
Transcription
In Camp at Helena, Arkansas January 22nd 1863
Dear Friends,
I take this opportunity of dropping you a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope those lines may find you all enjoying good health as health is the greatest blessing we can enjoy.
I hardly know what to write as Nicholas [Belveal] has wrote about all the news. I will tell you that the word came here that the 33rd [Iowa] Regiment was cut all to pieces but I think it is a mistake or I would know something about it for I have been with the regiment all the time. I believe I am as hearty as I ever was and weigh 167 lbs.—a little more than I ever weighed before.
We are camped on the west bank of the Mississippi river. It is rather swampy and wet around the camp but where our tents are pitched is dry and sandy. The river has raised 4 or 5 feet since we landed here. I do not know exactly how many troops are stationed here—something like 25 or 30 thousand—and the river is lined with boats loaded with troops now going North. I do not know to what point they are going. I can hear no news here but a little camp news and that don’t amount to much.
I must tell you that we have some pop guns here. They take about 6 lbs. of powder at a load.
Helena is rather a dull-looking place. I expected to see quite a city but was much disappointed. In coming down from Columbus, we laid at Memphis, Tennessee, one day and we got off a little bit and went up in the city and in the park. It was a nice place. I saw a monument there in memory of Andrew Jackson which paid me well for my trouble. Memphis is quite a city but I must come to a close.
The following letter was written by William Henry Anderson (1836-1902), the son of Francis D. Anderson (1807-1866) and Jane Davidson (1808-1880) of Londonderry, New Hampshire. William attended primary school in Londonderry, before studying at the Pembroke Academy (Pembroke, New Hampshire, 1852-1853), Phillips Academy (Andover, Massachusetts, 1853), and Kimball Union Academy (Meriden, New Hampshire, 1854-1855). He considered attendance at Dartmouth, favoring instead Yale College, which he entered in 1855. An 1857 disciplinary action notwithstanding, Anderson graduated in the spring of 1859. [See: The Demise of the Crocodile Club: A Town/Gown Tragedy at Yale]
After graduating from Yale College at New Haven, Connecticut, William accepted a job as a private tutor on the Sligo Plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, teaching students from Sligo as well as the nearby Retirement Plantation from 1859 to 1860. Prior to the Civil War, it was a widespread practice for a wealthy southern planter, or planters banding together, to hire a college graduate from the North to teach the white children on the plantation. Public schools were virtually non-existent in the South. By the late 1850s planters monitored the schooling closely to make certain that tutors from the North did not attempt to introduce ideas about racial equality into the heads of their children.
During his time in Mississippi, William wrote numerous letters home to his parents and to his future wife Mary A. Hine. He arrived at Bennett’s Retirement Plantation in early September 1859, and shortly thereafter settled in at David P. Williams’ Sligo Plantation. In his letters from Natchez archived at the University of Michigan, William described his relative isolation, loneliness, teaching and wages, corporal punishment, thoughts on slavery and the enslaved men and women on the plantation, games he played with his scholars, travel between the Sligo and Retirement plantations, and leisure activities such as hunting and horseback riding. In late December 1859, he provided a lengthy description of a (largely) steamboat trip to New Orleans with his students for Christmas.
Anderson noted that no poor white people lived between Sligo and Natchez; he was uncomfortable with the aristocratic lifestyle of white people living in the south, and expressed this view on multiple occasions in his correspondence (see especially September 30, 1859). Although his father appears on list of members of the American Anti-Slavery Society, William H. Anderson did not write with disgust at slavery, but rather used racist epithets, accepted the “servants” who assisted him in various ways, and wrote unmoved about abuse doled out to children (see especially June 9, 1860). In one instance, he wrote about enslaved women who gathered near to the house in the evenings before supper to sing and dance (October 25, 1859). One of the highly detailed letters in the collection is William H. Anderson’s description of the use of the cotton gin on the Sligo Plantation, which includes remarks on its history, its functioning, the various jobs performed by enslaved laborers, and the rooms in which the jobs took place. He included calls made by enslaved workers between floors of the “gin house” and the roles of elderly men and women in the grueling labor (October 1859). In 1860, Anderson planned to take a summer break in Tennessee and then teach another year, but on the death of his oldest scholar Susie (14 years old) by diphtheria, Williams decided against having a school the next year (July 4, 1860).
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Natchez, Mississippi December 1st 1859
Dear Mother,
It is too warm altogether to be comfortable. I have had no fire for three weeks and the very thought of one puts me in an additional perspiration. It has been as warm some days as it is at home in August and thin clothing has been not only desirable but comfortable. Some say we shall have such weather all winter but I hope not for it makes me feel like a “wet dish cloth.”
One of my scholars—my oldest boy—comes up in the evening and studies his Latin a half an hour or an hour and a half just whether he is very sleepy or not. He is now at it but it is like pulling teeth for us both—at least it is for me. I get terrible tired of this constant “punching up” of small boys and girls who know nothing about studying and care less. I think it is the last business for a man to engage in permanently and if I am not much mistaken, my anticipated term of teaching will be cut short a year or so, if I can find any other way of getting along.
You must not conclude from what I have said that I am having any difficulty or trouble. Not the least. Only that I am worrying and fussing over examination, which is expected to come off on Monday the 19th of this month. The parents are calculating on having a huge examination and will invite all their friends and relations for miles around—and they are not a few—to be present at the show. I did not expect they would make so much of it and have made no great preparation although I am trying to so something now. I am bothering over French dialogues, declamations, and compositions. The reviews do not go off smoothly enough either to promise a very brilliant examination.
Sometimes I flatter myself that I don’t care anything about the thing and so it goes. [Joel Jackson] Hough is as much exercised in mind as I am. I don’t want him to have a better one than I do for the people here would not like that as they consider their children superior to the Retirement children and they are. But enough on this point.
On the Wednesday after the examination, the family here leave for New Orleans and Hough goes up river somewhere to visit his “intended.” I expect to have a more lonesome time then than ever.
Christmas is really a great occasion here—especially for the negroes. The gardener—an old black fellow—asked me the other day how long it was to Christmas. I told him. “Ah,” said he, “dat’s de time to hop ub & down.” I asked him if he hopped up then and he replied, “No! when I goes to jumps up, I tumbles down.” He said, however, that “some of dem does.”
The negroes, I believe, then have a week or so to make merry in, and also have various “goodies” (as they call them) to eat. They are busy making the dresses for them. They also get their presents then.
Hough was down here last Saturday and we went gunning as usual. I flatter myself that I am a little better shot than he is. Sometimes I get behind him when he has got good aim on a bird, and shooting before he does, destroy the necessity of is firing. It makes him rather provoked but then it takes him so long to get ready to fire that I like to do it. All the good clothes I’ve got can keep till I leave here. I have worn my old light coat all the time except on three or four occasions. My best black coat I have not taken out of my trunk. Hough and I are thinking that we must have more pay if we stay here another year. Please write a little oftener and oblige.
Yours truly, — W. H. Anderson
You need not be alarmed about my getting married down here as I have not spoke to an unmarried female except my two scholars since I left New Haven.
The following letter was written by Henry Clark (1845-1893), the son of George Clark (1821-1896) and Rhoda Parks (1820-1852) of Clifton Park, Saratoga county, New York. When he was eighteen years old, Henry enlisted to serve a three year term beginning on 8 August 1862 in Co. H, 115th New York Infantry. He was among the thousands of troops surrendered by their commander at Harpers Ferry in September 1862, paroled, and sent to Chicago to await exchange. As regimental bands were disbanded by Congress in October 1862, Henry continued to serve in the Brigade Band. He mustered out with his regiment at Raleigh, North Carolina, on 17 June 1865.
At the time of this letter, datelined 4 January 1865, the Third Brigade consisted of Henry’s own 115th New York, 169th New York, 13th Indiana, 9th Maine, and 4th New Hampshire. Colonel Louis Bell of the 4th New Hampshire acted at Brigade commander.
In his letter Henry refers to his brigade having recently returned from their expedition to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, which proved a failure. Not long after having returned to Virginia, the Brigade returned to North Carolina and participated in the assault and capture of Fort Fisher on 15 January 1865.
Henry wrote the letter to his cousin and former comrade, Lt. James H. Clark of Clifton Park who was wounded in action on 20 February 1864 at Olustee, Florida and was discharged for disability on 29 December 1864.
A typical Brigade Band during the American Civil War (Military Images)
Transcription
Headquarters 3rd Brigade 2nd Division, 24th Corps Near Chapin’s Farm January 4th 1865
Dear Cousin,
I take this opportunity of answering your kind letter which I received on the 30th—the day that we returned from the North Carolina expedition. I will not undertake for to tell you anything about the expedition for you have read it all in the papers before this time, only we had a pretty hard time of it and gained nothing. Whose fault it was, I cannot tell.
Our Brigade all had quarters built—only our Regiment. They commenced building quarters day before yesterday and yesterday morning the Division got orders to move at eleven o’clock. Colonel [Louis] Bell 1 said that the band might stay back this time. At the appointed time the fourth and Second Division started for Bermuda Hundred. There they are going for to take transports for North Carolina again. I heard that Gen. Burnside was going to take command of the expedition in the place of Butler. I think the men must have suffered very much last night on their way to Bermuda Hundred for it snowed about two inches during the night.
It has been very cold here for a few days and we have had hard work for to keep warm. I think it is two months since Lieuts. Corene and Smith were discharged while absent from the regiment but George Smith came back and I heard that the Major was trying for to get him in again but I haven’t seen anything of him lately.
Things go on about the same as usual in the regiment. [George T.] Hoag was mustered as 1st Sergeant of the company at last muster and William H. Gorham was promoted to Sergeant. Wallace McIntosh of Co. I is promoted to Lieutenant over Jay Ashman. Hoag told me yesterday that he received a letter from you not long since and before he could answer it, they were off again. He told me to tell you not to expect an answer from him until they make another stop.
William H. Gorham told me yesterday that Lieut. [Aaron C.] Slocumb told him that you was discharged or was a going to be. There is some one coming back to the regiment most every [day] that has been wounded during the summer. There is no news at present so I will close for this time. Give my respects to all.
Yours truly, — Henry Clark, Clifton Park
Direct to Henry Clark, Brigade Band, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 24th Corps
1 Col. Louis Bell, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 24th Army Corps, never made it to Fort Fisher in the assault. He fell with a bullet through his chest, at the head of his brigade, not far from the bridge leading to the river road sally port. The colonel later managed to ask if his wound was fatal. A surgeon gently confirmed that it likely was. “I thought as much,” admitted Bell. He was dead before sunrise, and the survivors of the Third Brigade were crushed by the loss of their popular commander.
The following incredible and newsy letter was penned in October 1864 by “Carrie O.” whom I later determined to be Caroline Victoria Ozias (1843-1902). Caroline was born in Twin, Preble county, Ohio, the daughter of Peter Leo Ozias (1812-1893) and Rebecca Kesler (1818-1863). It seems she never married. She died of pneumonia when she was 59 years old.
We learn many things from Carrie’s letter but her post script suggests that she was attending school at the time and my hunch is that she was attending the Davenport Female College.
Carrie wrote the letter to her childhood friend, Sarah (“Sallie”) Rachel McQuiston (1843-1926), the daughter of David McQuiston and Margaret Hamilton of Preble county, Ohio.
Transcription
Addressed to Sallie McQuiston, Morning Sun, Preble county, Ohio
Davenport, Iowa October 20, 1864
Dear Ohio Friend,
I can’t say that it was negligence why I did not write sooner but have ben very busy and received a “host” of letters from our old neighborhood and I answer first those which I receive first. Your letter was very interesting as it seemed that I was at home in Ohio while reading it. Don’t think that I am homesick that I write thus—not by any means for I enjoy it here and like it very much. I have been some two or three miles out in the country to parties several times and had real good times.
As to soldiers, they are pretty plenty here, they having two camps near here, besides the guards of the rebel prisoners at Camp Jeff Davis on the island. 1 I have been at both camps, and a good view of Camp Jeff which I think is better than going on the island to see them.
Then there is the Indian camp close to Camp Roberts 2 and it is amusing to see those sons of the forest carrying water, washing, cutting wood, and sweeping the grounds at the other camp. They number nearly three hundred and are a hard looking “set”—some dressed in soldier’s clothes, others in citizen’s dress, and others in Indian stuff. They are prisoners brought here several years ago from Minnesota and the ring leaders are kept very close, not being allowed to go out even with a “guard.” 3 Quite a number were in the woods gathering hazelnuts as we passed, with a dignified looking “guard” with them which reminded me of a former teacher of mine who considered it his duty to prop himself up at some conspicuous place every noon to watch the pupils in their play, which was productive of evil instead of good, as he was very impudent about it.
108th USCT guarding prisoners at the Rock Island Prison in 1864
To my subject again, the rebs are guarded (partly) by colored soldiers 4 and you may be sure that their aristocratic southern blood boiled at the very thought and it was not until they killed about half a dozen that they submitted of the darkies that they forced them to submit. I rejoice in it, but imagine their feelings at being guarded by the race they always were taught to hate. The “sogers” in a large camp are not the same ones that we see when they come home to their friends. There are a number here whom I think their friends would not like to own. Being away from many acquaintances, they care not how they act.
We had a heavy draft in some parts of this county and I learned that my old friend Preble [county, Ohio] had the same. In Poweshiek Co. (west of this near Iowa City), they resisted the draft, killed a provost marshal [John Bashore] and several others. The man who shot the marshal was wounded and taken. A rope was put around his neck and he was forced to name his accomplices, about a dozen of whom are now in jail. General [N. B.] Baker went from here with some soldiers and Governor Stone hastened there. Upon the whole they had quite a time resisting this “abolition tyrant.” Pa was in Grinnell the same night the soldiers came. He said it looked very warlike for so small a place. The soldiers realized what northern traitors are and felt like giving them their just dues. A few of the butternuts hid among the bushes near where the marshal and several others were obliged to pass and shot at them, killing him. Then, not satisfied with that, they beat his head almost into a jelly. It caused quite an excitement for a time. Price was in the southern part of Iowa and it was rumored that he intended making his way through to the island and take the rebel prisoners. I think until he gets this far, he will deserve them. 5
The guerrillas are in Davis County. They entered from Missouri one hundred and fifty strong mostly attired in Federal uniform. Soon after crossing the border they separated into bands and went plundering, murdering, and deceiving by the uniform. 6 The latest news is that four hundred citizens have congregated at Bloomfield and arming themselves to meet five hundred guerrillas reported to be at Memphis, Missouri, preparing for a march on Bloomfield. Further news are awaited anxiously.
I do feel rejoiced and thankful for the success of our arms and also for the victories achieved by the ballot. Don’t talk about the war being over for it is too good to think of. Oh! what a happy time would that be when friends shall meet on earth once more and those long loved return. But are we sure that they will return? That throws a deeper shade over our darkened hopes.
Schenk is elected. Good for that I say. A[ndrew] M. Weller’s Uncle was here a few days before we heard the result and he seemed very anxious to know the opposing candidates, and don’t you think that pa did not know who it was. He was a former resident of Preble [County, Ohio] and now is an active butternut. By the way, A. M. W.’s mother 7 died a few weeks ago. Her brother is the person of whom I have written.
There was a large mass meeting over in Rock Island City last week and some good Union speeches made. Governor Yates of Illinois was there and the soldiers from here went over in true warlike style. After dark there was so much noise that it seemed as if they intended storming the city. We went up in the third story piazza and had a view of all the processions and performances—better than if we had been there as I don’t think that I would fancy being there after night. I can walk quite well but my arms seem weak and I have been helping to wash this afternoon and it has made my hands quite nervous, and if you will excuse my poor letter, you will confer quite a favor.
Please think of me and write soon. Goodnight. — Carrie 0. Your true friend.
I like the school very well indeed. I am quite fascinated with it. There are one hundred in attendance now and you may be sure we have good times. I consider it all right that you write about your letters and such like, for it is interesting to me. I must quit for my hand is becoming painful. Pleasant dreams to my loving friend tonight. My love to you, — Carrie
Write soon please.
1 Though I have not heard of it being called “Camp Jeff Davis” before, it’s clear that Carrie is referring to the Rock Island Prison which was located on a government-owned island between Davenport, Iowa, and Moline, Illinois, in the Mississippi River.
2 Camp Roberts was the headquarters of the 8th and 9th Cavalry. It was established 14 July 1863 on Duck Creek near Oakdale. It was afterward called Camp Kinsman and the buildings were turned over to the orphans of soldiers and became the Davenport Orphan’s Home.
3 These Indians—part of the Minnesota Sioux—were among the nearly 300 that were rounded up after the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota in August 1862. They were brought to Davenport where they were confined in a prison area 200 feet square containing four buildings: two for prisoners to sleep in (no beds were provided), one for a hospital, and one for the guardhouse. It wasn’t until April 1866 that those who had survived were released.
4 It was the 108th USCT assigned the duty of guarding Revel Prisoners at the Rock Island Arsenal.
5 For more details on this Draft Resistance Incident in Poweshiek county, Iowa, readers are referred to a post by David Connon entitled, Draft Dilemma in Poweshiek County: The Murder of Marshals,” Emerging Civil War, March 29, 2018
6 In the book entitled, “The Confederate Invasion of Iowa,” author Russell Corder informs us that the raid took place in mid-October 1864. “Twelve young men, dressed in Federal uniforms, mounted on splendid horses, and armed with from two to seven revolvers each, entered Davis Co. near its southeast corner in the early morning with two prisoners, young men whom they had captured in Clark Co., in the Northeast corner of Missouri.”
7 Sarah (Higgins) Weller (1811-1864) died on 21 September 1864. She was buried in Roselawn Cemetery in Lewisburg, Preble county, Ohio.
I could not find an image of James but here is one of Charles Oliver Hunt who also served in the 5th Maine Light Artillery
The following letter was written by James Porter Holt (1838-1863), the son of Samuel Holt (1803-1891) and Elvira Estes (1808-1852) of Bethel, Oxford county, Maine. James was married in February 1859 to Mary Hicks (1838-1861), but after her death in June 1861, he mustered into the 5th Maine Light Artillery on December 4, 1861. He and the battery fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run on August 29, 1862 and at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862, where the 118 men were part of General Gibbon’s 2nd Division of General Reynolds’ I Corps of General Franklin’s Left Grand Division. The chief of artillery in his report stated, “The batteries of Captains Cooper and Leppien on my left did good service. The practice of the Fifth Maine (Captain Leppien’s) attracted my special notice and admiration”.
On May 3, 1863, Holt was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Orders had been received by Captain Leppien from Colonel Wainwright, chief of artillery of I Corps to move the battery to the front and report to General Reynolds, commanding the corps. While on the way to the front, orders were received from General Hooker that the batteries in reserve should move along to Chancellorsville, which was near the center of the Union line, and report to the chief of artillery there. Upon arriving and reporting, the battery was ordered to take position in an open field just to the right of the Chancellor House, with the left piece near one of the outbuildings. The Confederate line extended along the southern edge of the field and into the woods at a distance of 450 to 500 yards. As soon as the battery emerged from the woods and made its appearance upon the open field, the Confederate infantry was removed from the Federal front, disclosing the enemy artillery posted in the rear and partially covered by a slight elevation. The Confederate artillery had the exact range and immediately opened the most destructive fire the battery had ever experienced. Men and horses of the 5th Maine began to fall before the battery was in position In addition to Private Holt, five other men were killed in action, and 43 of the battery’s horses were killed..
James wrote the letter to his older sister Juliaett Matilda Holt (1834-1901) who married Augustus (“Gust”) Estes sometime prior to the 1860 US Census.
Transcription
Headquarters 5th Maine Battery Camp Augusta March 7th 1862
Dear Sister,
I seat myself this evening after so long a time to answer your letter. You must excuse me for not writing before. I have been waiting to get my picture to send. I have got it but it isn’t a very good one. I am here in Augusta, tough and hearty.
Aunt Hannah was here yesterday and brought Pason and I a box of provision. It made me think of home. She said the folks were all well. She come to Winthrop Wednesday and down here yesterday and back last night. They have had a very hard winter there and plenty of snow and it is drift[ed] bad. There was a storm last week that blocked the railroad up so the cars did not run for a week. There has not been a great deal of snow here this winter and not as cold as I have seen it in Bethel. It is muddy enough here now. I suppose you have plenty of it now.
I have no news to write. We don’t know how long we shall stay here. We have been expecting to leave every week for three or four weeks but don’t seem to get away yet. The soldiers all seem to enjoy themselves tonight. Some are reading and some writing. Some are playing cards and others are singing songs. We hear good news from the seat of war. It seems as though they won’t want us unless we get there pretty soon.
I should like to go home in sugar time but I can’t get away now. I cannot write more now. Write soon as you get this. Tell Gust to write to me. Give my love to all enquiring friends if any there be. Accept the same yourself.
This from your brother, — James P. Holt, 5th Maine Mounted Battery, Augusta, Maine
Spared & Shared 23 