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.
New York Draft Riot

1863: Joanna Mills to Emma Louisa Mills

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This mother-to-daughter letter describes the fear of NYC citizens during the draft riots, which extended from July 12-17, 1863, beginning the day following the NYC draft lottery. The letter itself was written on July 19, and expresses the hope that the riots were indeed over. It also indicates the role of the Catholic clergy in calming the rioters, most of whom were poor Irish who vented their anger at the U.S. government, at people with means, and particularly at Black citizens. They were angry at the government for establishing what they considered to be an unfair draft. They were angry at the middle and upper classes of society for having been given the option of hiring “substitutes.” And they were angry at Blacks who they blamed for being the cause of the war, and, in their view, for taking jobs away from them.

How Joanna might have looked

The letter is only signed “J. Mills” and there is no envelope to aid in the identity of the correspondents but given the names mentioned in the letter, I’ve concluded it was written by 50 year-old Joanna Mills (1813-1902) of 251 Madison Street in Brooklyn, New York. Joanna’s maiden name was Frost and she and her husband, Scottish emigrant George Mills, Sr. (1796-1867), had several other children besides Emma Louisa Mills (1836-1916) to whom she addressed her letter. They included John Mills (1823-1861), Charles Mills (1832-1866), Joanna (“Josey”) Mills (1833-1908), George Mills, Jr. (1838-1887) and Isabelle (“Bell”) Terese Mills (1847-1905). Most of these family members were buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

For those unfamiliar with the New York City Riots, I’ll state briefly that they were both the most violent and the most publicized. By the time the names of the first draftees were drawn in New York City on July 11, reports about the carnage of Gettysburg had been published in city papers. Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more young men to fight a seemingly endless war frightened even those who supported the Union cause. Moreover, the Enrollment Act contained several exemptions, including the payment of a “commutation fee” that allowed wealthier and more influential citizens to buy their way out of service.

“Perhaps no group was more resentful of these inequities than the Irish immigrants populating the slums of northeastern cities. Poor and more than a little prejudiced against blacks with whom they were both unfamiliar and forced to compete for the lowest paying jobs, the Irish in New York objected to fighting on their behalf.  

On Sunday, July 12, the names of the draftees drawn the day before by the Provost Marshall were published in newspapers. Within hours, groups of irate citizens, many of them Irish immigrants, banded  together across the city. Eventually numbering some 50,000 people, the mob terrorized neighborhoods on the East Side of New York for three days looting scores of stores. Blacks were the targets of most attacks on citizens; several lynchings and beatings occurred. In addition, a black church and orphanage were burned to the ground.

All in all, the mob caused more than $1.5 million of damage. The number killed or wounded during the riot is unknown, but estimates range from two dozen to nearly 100. Eventually, Lincoln deployed combat troops from the Federal Army of the Potomac to restore order; they remained encamped around the city for several weeks. In the end, the draft raised only about 150,000 troops throughout the North, about three quarters of them substitutes, amounting to just one fifth of the total Union force.”

Source: The Civil War Society’s “Encyclopedia of the Civil War”. See also B. L. Lee, Discontent in New York City, 1861–1865 (1943); I. Werstein, July, 1863 (1957, repr. 1971); J. McCague, Second Rebellion: The Story of the New York City Draft Riots (1968); A. Cook, The Armies of the Streets (1974); I. Bernstein, The New York City Draft Riots (1989).

The burning of the “Colored Orphan Asylum” in NYC during the 1863 Draft Riots

[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Transcription

New York [City]
July 19, 1863

My very dear Emma,

For fear I should become so wrapped in the arms of Morpheus if I indulged myself in an easy chair, I concluded to write my letter first and take a nap afterwards if necessary. I can’t keep the thought of Edward’s sudden affliction from forming in my own mind words of wonder and regret, that the poor old gentleman should have been taken away, when so nearly having his hopes of seeing his favorite son realized. I sympathize with poor Edward too, it seems so much worse to be so very near home and yet have been deprived the satisfaction of attending his last moments.

I am very sorry Sarah did not send for Elizabeth but perhaps the poor child had no thought for anyone but her suffering patient. I could not understand whether you saw the old gentleman while in health, or did you not call on Sarah until her father died? I do hope you saw him. You should not have waited on ceremony to see him for you could have gone when Sarah was in school if you thought she ought to call on you first. At all events, you must be attentive to her now in her affliction. She may feel kindly disposed towards you but being possessed of a peculiar disposition, may think the overtures of friendship should come from our side. And as Edward has always been so good and kind to you and George as well as highly esteemed by all of us, I hope you and Josey will do all you can to break down the barrier that has separated her from the family the past two or three years. I know Josey will do her duty whatever she may think that includes, and you must not let your pride restrain any good action you otherwise would perform.

Yesterday morning I mailed Bell’s letter to Josey and some papers for Aunt Lizzie, ordered my groceries, went home, read the news, took my dinner at twelve and half o’clock, after which the appearances of the clouds indicating the suns determination to gladded our eyes by its brilliant effulgence. We made immediate preparation to make a search for that wonderful round hat and feather. We rode to Broadway, or rather to Canal Street where you purchased yours and she had one exactly like yours and as it fitted and was very becoming, I took it at the same price, though she wanted more and did not seem much inclined to take my offer. We went in several stores. About the feather hat, the prices ranged from three and a half to six dollars where they were the real quill so we winded our way to Ridley’s where we had seen very handsome sewed feathers for one dollar fifty and there we got it to Bell’s entire satisfaction. I took great notice how they were trimmed in the store where we bought the hat so on my return home, after taking my tea, I sat down and bound it, and trimmed it and I flatter myself, you will have to acknowledge it looks as well as if a milliner had turned it out of her tasty fingers. I think I did a wonderful day’s work. Walked all the way except to ride over there, besides all the way up to Sloane. Bell has had it on her head two or three times to admire it and did not know how to sufficiently express her admiration, being I suppose so surprised to think I could do it so well.

I forget to tell you that Bell and I deposited the materials in the house on our return and went down to call on Cousin Eliza whom we had not seen since you left. We saw Mrs. Condit in the parlor so I talked to her a little before going to Cousin Eliza’s room—the latter having one of her headaches.

Poor Mrs. Condit. She is frightened out of her wits. What do you think she made Mr. Condit do?—take their name off the door because she thought it would correspond, she said, with the appearance of the neighborhood and the rioters would think that was a tenant house too. Quite and original idea and a good one too, I thought. It seems the gentleman, Mr. Condit, let the upper part of the house to do business for the government and was one of the enrolling officers and that is one reason Mrs. Condit stands in fear and trembling. So far we have been the most quiet Ward in the City, but we were enough frightened two nights last week as Bell told Josey.

On Monday night we all went to bed and slept soundly while our neighbors were awake all night watching. So I told Bell those that know nothing fear nothing. We had not heard of any intention to destroy that Station house so we had nothing to keep us awake. Not so on Tuesday night. Kate brought me in the news about ten o’clock. George was asleep and Charley out. I debated in my own mind a few minutes what I should do and went up in the parlor to take a view out of the window when I saw Miss Steckle and her friend running as fast as they could up the street with a large basket between them filled with things. In a few minutes, she was back and opened the door with her night key and took out another large basket which had been ready in the hall. I also saw some of the poor people that lived below the Station house taking out things for safe keeping.

I sat down a minute to think what I should do but could not think at that time of night one place that I could trust anything to be any safer than in my own house for they might be stolen if not burned. I went up and called George and consulted him and we decided to let things remain in the house. Then I got the key of Joseph’s wardrobe as quietly as possible out of my drawer (so as not to disturb Father) and took out the box Josey left in my charge. At first George thought it best to put the contents of the box about his person for the mob of course snatch everything out of a person’s hands, but I told him if he were robbed, then Joe and Tom might think if I had carried the box, it would have been saved. So I decided to put on a large shawl and keep the box out of sight if anything happened. I then took Father’s money and put it in my under skirt pocket and [your brother] John’s watch and things in another under jacket and my own watch on as much out of sight as possible and everything else I should have had to abandon—even my silver I could not have saved. I suppose though we intended to have Charley go in Mrs. Pomroy’s and we were going to break the blind out in your room by your bureau and George was to hand him other valuables.

But nothing happed, thank God. For two night s I had my things placed in my pockets and Josey’s box done up in an old flannel ready for a start and Father knew nothing about it. On Wednesday and Thursday night, I was not alarmed because there were plenty to guard against the invaders but on Monday and Tuesday nights, all the policemen were in other parts of the City.

Last night Kate was out in Avenue B & C and many places up town shopping for clothes for her brother but everything was just as quiet as any night. Mr. Farmer, the gentleman in Charley’s office, went home on Wednesday afternoon and found he had lost every stitch of clothes he owned and one thousand dollars worth of silver that was in his trunk all burned up in the house in which he boarded. Mr. Bull’s brother’s house was sacked and the inmates had to leave. Charley stayed home on Wednesday evening and George has not been out in the evening during the week. I hope everything will remain quiet now as the rioters have been addressed today in the different Catholic churches, I expect. Kate said the priest talked to them in her church this morning and told them if there were any rioters or any who had been engaged in stealing property as he knew there were some present, to return it and desist from such a course of conduct as they nor their children would never prosper. He also read them several parables so I hope Bishop Hughes and the rest of his brethren will have some influence over them.

Tomorrow Cousin Eliza is coming to spend the day as I thought I had better set the time as Bell and I want to go to see Mary Ellen and Mr. Carlisle just as soon as a day offers that the clouds are not just ready to deluge us. I am so sorry you went in July since you are to have nothing but fogs. George says it was just so last year this time. When he was in Poughkeepsie, it rained or looked like it all the time. George has gone to see Lizzie Legget and Miss Everett. This morning he accompanied Bell and me to church. It was as thinly attended as usual. We had a very good sermon on the mediation of Christ. None of the Vauns were there excepting Mr. Vaun and in fact, I think most of the congregation were strangers. 1

I expect Alexander went to Craneville yesterday or he would have been here. I have hard work to get rid of my pies though they are excellent—the paste being rich enough suit even Josey. But you know Bell don’t eat pies and Father hast not tasted them so they are left to George, Kate, and myself. I have one for tomorrow so Cousin Eliza can help me eat it. I tell Bell I have had to eat one piece for her and one for myself sometimes twice a day rather than let them spoil.

Father went down to dinner today the first time in some days. He is so lame he thinks it don’t pay. Two nights we did without gas and I had to burn candles so I would light a whole one when I went to bed and it would last till daylight. Last night we had the gas again but when Father went to bed, he said, “Ma, what made you burn the candle last night the full blaze?” “Why,” said I, “how could you burn a candle any other way?” “Oh, I could show you,” said he. So for the fun of the thing, I got a candle and lighted it and took it to him while he was all undressed sitting on the side of the bed, but the minute he saw it, he shook with laughter and decided it must have been something else he meant. I suppose he had been thinking of lamps.

I did not tell you that I finished my white waist and washed and ironed it thinking I could go last Friday or yesterday to Miss Carlisle’s but the weather prevented. Now, for awhile, I will not be busy. I intend to go out and read some if everything remains quiet. I had nothing in the world in the way of news as Bell told all that happened but I think I kept awake pretty we;; and my hand aches. I am so sorry for poor dear Joe. She is particularly unfortunate with her things but I hope it will be restored to its original whiteness. Father sends his love to each of you. Tell Lib I send her a good hearty kiss and hope her good husband will come home in good health to her and all safe. Tell her not to let you plague her to death. She must call on Josey to take her part which I know she will do.

George [said he] would write to her in a few days….Charley is well and would send his love if he knew I was writing. He has gone out as usual. We have not seen Capt. Livingston since Bell wrote word he was here and I guess nothing will be said about going down the stream. Bell sends her love and kisses to each one and told me to tell you and Josey she has not had to wake up at five or half past and gets up, puts on part of her clothes, and finds I am asleep, lies down again until six o’clock. Give my love and a sweet kiss to dear Joe and tell all the children I remember them with love and hope they re all good children. That will only apply to Harry and Lizzy as Augusta and Eddy are now grown to be young lady and gentleman since I was in Portsmouth. Nevertheless I send my love to them and good wishes for their welfare.

Now with love and kisses to yourself, I must close remaining your affectionate Ma, — J. Mills

1 The Mills family attended the All Saints Church on the corner of Henry and Scammel streets.

North Carolina Homefront

1864: Tew Family to Joel John Tew

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The following letters were written by members of the Tew family of Sampson county, North Carolina, during the American Civil War. Both home front letters were addressed to Joel John Tew (1836-1914) who enlisted as a sergeant in Co. K, 51st North Carolina Infantry when he was 25 years old. He was promoted to a 2nd Lieutenant on 17 September 1862 and was wounded in the left arm on 31 May 1864 in the fighting at Cold Harbor. He returned to his regiment in January 1865. [It should be noted that Joel’s first and middle name appear interchangeably in various records and he is often referred to as “J. J.” I have used Joel as his first name as that it is the way it appears on his headstone.]

The first letter was written by Sylvania (Godwin) Tew (1811-1875), the wife of John “Lewis” Tew, Jr. (1807-1882), and the mother of J. J.—the recipient of the letter. The second letter was written by Frances Matilda Elizabeth Tew (1838-1916), the younger sister of J. J.

Lewis and Sylvania Tew sent two other sons to the Confederate service. The eldest son, William Robertson Tew (1833-1862) enlisted as a private in Co. E, 20th North Carolina Infantry in June 1861 and was killed in the fighting at Malvern Hill on 1 July 1862. The other son, Sampson Millard Tew (1841-1864) was a private in Co. H, 20th North Carolina Infantry (Iverson’s Brigade) during the Civil War. Sampson survived the Seven Days Battle and Chancellorsville but was taken prisoner at the Battle of Gettysburg on 1 July 1863 and died of diarrhea and small pox while in captivity at Hammond Hospital at Point Lookout, Maryland on 15 January 1864. From these letters we learn that the Tew family was not yet aware of Sampson’s death two months after he expired.

The letters contain great local history of Sampson county during the war, the hunting down of deserters and of extreme efforts to avoid military service.

See also 1863: Joel John Tew to Francis Matilda Elizabeth Tew

Members of the J. J. Tew family in front of the Tew Residence in Sampson county, North Carolina

Transcription

[Sampson county, North Carolina]
January 27, 1864

Dear Son,

I once more write you a few lines which will inform you that we are all well, hoping these few lines may reach and find you well and enjoying all the comforts that camp life can afford. We have a sad time here now. We have not heard from Samson yet. There came a letter to the office last mail to Henry Jackson informing him of the death of his son Josiah 1 which we were very much grieved to hear—his mother and sisters in particular. The letter was written by a Mr. Randal. He said he belonged to the Texas Cavalry and fell near Morristown, Tennessee on the 30th of December while gallantly fighting in his country’s defense and survived until the following day, and that his dying request was for Susan and Raiford to have his effects. He said his horse and gun and other equipment had been sold for near $1,000 and that he had a deposit of gold in Houston, Texas. 2

Your sister received a letter from Hezekiah Jackson last mail which informed her that he was in Richmond sick. He was in the Winder Hospital, first division ward D. He says he has been in the State of Virginia 18 months and has never seen one of his old friends yet and I should be glad if you could get two days leave of absence and go and see him. 3

The Cumberland Militia keeps very busy now looking up deserters. They have catched D[avid] J. Godwin 4, Blackmon and Branch. They dug them out of a cave under old Blackmon’s Stable and they are all lodged in Fayetteville jail at this time. They said David come out and told them he was glad to see them and was glad they had found him as he wanted to go to his company. A little while before that, they were out looking [for] deserters and about the time they were going to start home, they saw Harris and Jones. Harris had his gun to his face. One of the militia halted them when Harris shot Daniel Colvin in the face and he fell dead upon the spot. 5 They say they shall hunt continuously now until they find them.

J. W. Godwin came here last Monday after your double barreled gun. We let him have her but he requested we would write to you about it and if you were not willing he should have her, he would bring her back. He said if she was injured, he would be responsible.

They have also catched Willis Lee. They shot him in the hand and back but the doctor says he is not hurt much but he pretends he is about to die.

I can inform you that I have been after your coat and pants. I brought them home last Saturday. The time is too short to get them done by the first of February but you need not let that keep you from coming home as you will not come to stay less than fifteen days. We can make them before you will have to go back.

You spoke of coming home to get married and I think this is a bad time to think about it, let alone talking about, but I do not think you are in earnest or at least I hope you are not. 6 But if you are, you can marry in your long tail blue. You wanted to know if it had any trimming on it. It has got a little bars about as wide as the trimming you sent home to go on the sleeves of your other and none at all on the sleeves. I will now bring my long letter to a close. Come if you can. If not, write soon.

Your affectionate mother, — Sylvania Tew

To J. J. Tew

1 Josiah Jackson served as a private in Co. A, 8th Texas Cavalry (Terry’s Regiment or 8th Texas Rangers). Josiah enlisted in Bosque county, Texas, in September 1861 and was mortally wounded in the Battle of Mossy Creek Station which occurred on 29 December 1873. The letter informing the Jackson family of Josiah’s death was probably written by Sergt. Jack Randall who is the only member of the company by that name.

2 William Henry Jackson (1802-1877) and his wife Anna Godwin (1805-1882) of Mingo, Sampson county, North Carolina, were the parents of Susan Jackson (1845-1916) and Raiford Jackson (1847-1911)—the beneficiaries mentioned in the letter.

3 Hezekiah Jackson served in Co. I, 11th Georgia Infantry and was admitted to Winder Hospital in December 1863. He had been taken a prisoner at Antietam early in the war but exchanged. His descriptive list identifies him as having been born in Sampson county, North Carolina, but was residing in Georgia at the time of his enlistment in July 1862.

4 David J. Godwin served as a private in Co. F, 24th North Carolina Infantry. He enlisted in 1861 but reported as deserted on 31 July 1862 from the encampment near Petersburg, Va. Muster rolls indicate he deserted again on 5 August 1864.

5 Daniel James (“D. J.”) Colvin (1818-1864) was 45 years old when he was killed on 20 January 1864, leaving a wife and two young children. They lived in Linden, Cumberland county, North Carolina. According to this letter, his murderer was Harris of the Cumberland Militia.

6 J. J. did not marry until 19 December 1865. He married Mary Jane Draughton (1843-1915) who bore him at least nine children between 1867 and 1888.

[Sampson county, North Carolina]
March the 16th 1864

Dear Brother,

I again take my pen in hand for the purpose of writing you a few lines which will inform you that we are all well, hoping these few lines may early reach and find you in good health and fine spirits. Papa is gone after Wiley. He is very sick if he is not dead. Dawson’s Gabriel sent his master a letter dated the 28th of February stating that Wiley [Dawson] 1 was very sick and had been since the middle of February and his feet and legs was swelled & he had not had on his shoes in a week. We got the news on Sunday at the funeral and he started and he started the same night. I do not know where he is. The letter said they were talking of discharging him and if they did and his master went after him, to stop in Wilmington and look in the hospital for him.

I received a letter from J. R. Godwin last Sunday and he said there had come a letter to the company from Point Lookout dated the 14th of February which said Sampson was still in the hospital and also W. H. Dawson [Co. D, 57th N. C.] but did not say how sick they were nor whether they were mending.

I am very sorry to tell you that he wrote that W. B. Johnson was dead. B was a good soldier and his company all liked him and I was very sorry to hear of his death. Please tell George of it if his people does not write this week. W. W. Hood is also dead. He belonged to the same company but I do not know where he lived nor whose son he was. I am afraid they will keep them there until they kill them all but I suppose they have paroled 800 of them and that they are going to parole the balance as soon as they can. But I am afraid they will stop before Samson is sent over—if he is living.

There has nothing new taken place since you left—only they caught the Wades last Saturday. The militia all went to muster except a detail left for the purpose. They watched the house until Susan went to carry their breakfast and then followed her to them. L. H. Godwin and Levit and S. W. Taylor was the detail. Deal was not with them and so he is out yet.

Last Thursday was the day for the substitute men to be conscripted and they all have to go that had substitutes and the old militia officers has to stay at home. They did not take none of the exempts in this settlement except John W. Smith and there is lots of men about here as well able to go as he is and I wish that everyone had to go for one is no better than another.

Ben Wellons, Esqr. is out with another petition for the doctor. He passed here this morning but did not call. I guess he thought it was not worthwhile. He says the doctor does not wish to get out of service—that he is well satisfied with his station, but the men in the company wanted him to come home and attend to their families.

Ed sent you a letter which come after you left. He did not talk very complimentary about your staying until the funeral. I would tell him if I had 20 days like he had, I should not be behind time. Excuse bad writing for it is very cold. It snowed a little last night. Affectionately, — F. M. E. [Frances Matilda Elizabeth] Tew

To J. J. Tew

1 Possibly Wiley Dawson who served as a private in Co. E, 66th North Carolina Infantry.

Buffalo Hunt, Nebraska Panhandle, Post War Nebraska

1873: George Washington Chatterton, Jr. to George W. Chatterton, Sr.

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How George might have looked in 1873
(W. Griffing Collection)

The following letters were written by 20 year-old George Washington Chatterton, Jr. (1853-1915), the son of George W. Chatterton (1822-1888) and Sarah S. Chatterton (1827-1916) of Springfield, Sangamon county, Illinois. George Jr. eventually became the proprietor of the oldest music house in Illinois, established by his father on the west side of the Springfield public square in 1838. In addition to selling pianos, other musical instruments, and sheet music, he sold jewelry.  It was from the Chatterton store that Abraham Lincoln purchased the wedding ring engraved with the words, “Love in Eternal” that he placed on Mary Todd’s finger in November 1842. In April, 1879, George purchased the Opera House in Springfield, and that season rebuilt it in elegant style, making Chatterton’s Opera House the finest in the State outside of Chicago. The Chatterton Home, called “Castle Cottage” was built in 1857 on Sixth Street in Springfield.

Both letters were only signed “George” and there were no accompanying envelopes to aid in the identification of the author. From the letters we learn that the author has traveled to Potter—a station on the Union Pacific Railroad near Lodge Pole Creek in the panhandle of western Nebraska. His letters speak of visiting a cattle ranch, hunting buffalo, and seeing an Indian for the first time. From the content of the two letters, I was finally able to identify him by discovering a long letter published in the Illinois Journal (Springfield, IL) appearing on 31 March 1873 which reads as follows (in part):

Nebraska—Life in a Cattle Ranch—Sketch of the Jouney Thither—Potter Station—Indians—A Buffalo Hunt—The Pest of the Plains

Potter, Nebraska, March 26, 1873
Editor of the Illinois State Journal

Here we are—-Chatterton and myself—comfortably seated in a cattle ranch on the extreme western edge of Nebraska, 430 miles west of Omaha. We have just been perusing the the columns of our Springfield Daily Journal, and the thought has penetrated our wise heads that perhaps the numerous readers of said journal might be interested in a brief description of life in a cattle ranch out on the mighty plains of Nebraska…It was on the 10th of March that George W. C—-, Jr., and myself, remembering the injunction of the old Patriarch: “Go west, young man, go west!”—started from the fair city of Springfield on the Beardstown express, enroute for Beardstown, and the mighty west. We remained but two hours at Beardstown, during which interval “Chat” shot at several celebrated Beardstown mosquitoes, with his newly purchase revolver, to the immense terror of several persons standing behind him, who narrowly escaped with their lives. From the latter vile we journeyed to Monmouth, and there took the cars of the B&MRR for Council Bluffs and Omaha.

We remained one night at the latter city, resting ourselves and examining the advantages and disadvantages of the metropolis of Nebraska…The following day at noon we took our places in the cars of the great Union Pacific RR and proceeded on our journey westward. We passed through a very fine farming country for about two hundred miles west of Omaha…We passed rapidly along, stopping ever and anon at the little towns of the railroad, which places I may say, excel in the number of of their liquor saloons, and lawyer’s signs—not that the two always go together, by no means…At one place where we halted, there were eleven saloons, one lawyer’s office, one drug store, and five residences. I suggested to my friend that nothing was wanting but a first class jewelry store…Through the night we journeyed on, and at nine o’clock the next morning we arrived at our destination—at Potter.

Potter is not a large town—Oh no! In fact I may say it is a small town, there being but two houses in it—one the depot, and the other the station agent’s abode; however, it has a mighty future before—or at any rate behind it. I would not advise any ambitious young man from the east to locate in Potter unless he desires to grow with the town...

From Potter we drove over the prairie three miles and soon found ourselves at the ranch of Duncan, Redington, & Co. These gentlemen—General Duncan, Henry V. Redington of New York State, and General Perry, at present Quarter Master General Department of the Platte—became impressed with the importance and profit of the cattle business two years ago, and at present own a herd of 5,000 cattle. Hon. T. Wilson from New York State, has also 1,000 cattle with these gentlemen. Their range, or grazing ground, is about 40 miles north of Potter, situated in a beautiful valley, undisturbed by everything except the Indians; and right here a word about the latter. Is the opinion of the western men and frontiersmen the correct one, or that of Vincent Colyer, Gen. Howard, and the eastern men generally, who know about as much of the noble red man as they do of the inhabitants of the moon—provided it is inhabited—I am strongly inclined to the opinion of the former. Not that I would deny but that the Indians are frequently and continually abused, defrauded and cheated—especially by the agents of the government in the distribution of their supplies, rations, &c., but I would and do most strongly assert that the red men will lie, steal, murder, and commit the most frightful depredations provided they can commit the same undiscovered by the government…The hersdmen throughout this region are obliged to keep armed from one hour to another with revolvers and rifles…

After remaining for a few days near Potter, we started on horseback with Mr. Redington for his other ranch forty miles north. While on the way we experienced that which men from all parts of the world come here to experience, viz: a buffalo hunt. We had been on the road but an hour, when the buffaloes came in sight. We each singled out a buffalo and “went” for him. After a chase of three miles I, recklessly for a novice, came up alongside within six feet of the huge animal, and, alas, fired. I will not say that I was frightened—oh no!—yet I felt uneasy at the proximity of the huge beast; my digestion was seriously impaired for the time being. I…unluckily hit the animal. At once he turned and charge upon me; and at once my horse turned and ran, thereby partly unseating me in the saddle. At this critical juncture my rifle dropped. Some audacious wretch might say I flung it away—’tis false!—it dropped and I clung to the saddle.”

The letter goes on to describe the Redington cattle ranch. It was signed, L. W. R.

The George W. Chatterton Store (center) in Springfield, Illinois

Letter 1

Potter Station [Union Pacific Railroad]
April 21, 1873

Dear Father,

I received your letter on Monday, also the watch though believe I notified you of it in Mother’s letter. Yesterday Wilson & I rode up to the Depot as usual for the mail & there found a small band of Indians which being the first I had seen were quite an object of curiosity to me. After saying “How, How” to them all, they wanted to “swap” for my revolver, but being on their way for buffalo were rather poor, so could not offer me a good trade. Tried to buy Irwin 1 a bow & arrow but asking me $30, gave it up, as they have no idea of money but he either wanted his bow, or something to hunt with, & today the Interpreter stationed at Sidney passed by here on his way to their camp, so Wilson & I went along. After a ride of 12 miles we came up on them as they were all packed up ready to start. After smoking the “Pipe of Peace” with them, Wilson & I came home, leaving the Interpreter to go with them as a warning to all the Whites that they were friendly. It was quite a novel scene to me, the squaws driving the pack horses along & the bucks riding at their leisure.

The pistol I told Mother I traded for was stolen so I am to send it back tomorrow to the owner and get mine with the $5.00. As I think I have an opportunity to sell mine, have written to Schuyler, Hartley & Graham [in NYC] to ascertain the price of one. Will R. told me today that he was to be admitted as an equal partner in the ranch. The others don’t sell but just make the capital so much more & buy cattle.

Am thinking of of buying me a pony. Have seen two that will cost with saddle & bridle near $75 each & after trying the one I like & suits, will buy as Mr. R. is rather short of horses since he lost & has use for them all & can sell a good pony any time.

Am very pleased where I am. Have a good bed, good country table, and feeling very well, while I am getting fleshier slowly, exercise a good deal & do just as I please. You evidently think from the way you write that the cattle business here should be an exception to any other & not have any risk to run, though I am sure there are not as many here as in the store, no busted Insurance to the companies, thieves, old stock, &c, to contend against. Am going to the cattle ranch Friday but back again by Saturday night. Told Mr. R[eddington] 2 that I wanted to stay here as long as I wanted to, would pay a reasonable board, as the house is run by the Company. Did not ask for a salaried place as then I would have to stay at the other ranch & that I would not do. Regards to Commodore & Freeman & love to all at home.

Your Son, —  George

1 Robert Irwin Chatterton (1859-1897) was George’s younger brother.

2 Henry Vining Redington (1840-Aft1920), the son of Hon. George Redington (1798-1850) and Amoret Stone (1811-1843) was the first rancher in the panhandle of Nebraska. He located his ranch in 1870 on “Lorren’s Fork” about a mile from its junction with Gonneville or Pumpkin Creek. Stage routes from Sidney and Cheyenne, and the tremendous freight transportation opened up this new country in 1876 and later. In 1874, John M. Adams came to Sydney and formed partnership with Redington. Adams, Redington & Company ran 4,000 to 6,000 cattle and they principal ad best known brand was H-bar.

Letter 2

Potter Station, Union Pacific Railroad
Nebraska

Dear Father,

Well, I believe it is said that every man is destined to  accomplish something great that will astonish the world, and if so, Reddington and I have certainly astonished ourselves, if not the  world—viz: the killing of a large buffalo this evening, and rare  sport it was. We left the house after dinner on our ugly little ponies—but must say they are adapted for the purpose for which they are used as they climb a steep bluff on a full gallop very  easily—and rode four miles when we saw him grazing on a side of a bluff. [We] went way beyond him to get behind him and drive him into the valley where we could have a good and fair run, but in trying to do so we had to pass so many bluffs that when we got behind him, we lost the bluff where we saw him, so we parted and tried to find him.

Finally I looked around and saw Reddy & the buffalo about half a mile away having a race across the bluffs, and such a race as I had running up and down such steep bluffs as fast as my pony could run and I expecting every moment he would fall and brake my  neck, until finally I lost sight of them, when we heard a gun & followed the report, and there was Reddy & the buffalo in a valley having it between them. He had wounded it in the leg when it turned on him and came very near being run over but his horse got away. But when he saw me coming he felt relieved when we put three or four bullets into him and at last he fell on his knees and then over (dead).

Was going to send the head home but we killed it so far away from home and had no way to carry it. Had three hours hard work this morning in grinding cane in a horse machine, but you would have laughed to have seen me a few moments ago. But to commence, we are all going over to the large ranch tomorrow. This morning Mr. Reddington drove the ladies to Sidney to remain while we are gone, so Reddy went to work after we came from our hunt and got us supper for five—beefsteak, coffee, & baked potatoes—and after I went to work and plated Biddy in washing the dishes. Am in hopes that someone else will offer to do it at next meal as I am heartily sick of it.

Mr. Short—the man that I have heard so many comical stories of and is head herder came home this evening and while I am writing, I can hardly keep from laughing as Reddy is telling him his European stories and such comical expressions as he has that no doubt he will prove quite and acquisition.

We start tomorrow for the ranch 30 miles away and shall have a job of a week as they are going to “round” (get them together) the cattle and count them, and as they are running over a section of land 20 miles long that we will have riding enough to last us for  some time. Am not homesick as yet as they are all very, very kind to me. Have not said anything as yet about my remaining with them for any length of time but shall do so soon and after I have my plans made for a couple of months, I shall try to make some arrangements about a pony and rifle. They never think of leaving the house without a revolver and knife with them as they are expecting trouble any time now with the Indians as a white man killed a chief and they want vengence.

Tom Short is expounding his opinions on things in general and especially of letter writing as Reddy has spoken to me of getting up a letter for the Journal and think we will send it if they will publish it. You might ask Major Balbach about it though don’t say anything about it to anyone else as we might give it up.

Was sound asleep last night when I heard a gun fired from our window and thought my time had come and as I felt for Reddy and he was not in bed and then I was pretty near dead from fright for a moment when I heard a voice and there they were in the window, shooting at “Kiotes” a species of wolf that were around trying to kill the goats and chickens and felt quite relieved. Write soon. Your Son, — George

1844 Presidential Election, Antebellum New Hampshire

1844: J. A. Nichols to a Friend

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The following incredible letter was written by a young man by the name of J. A. (or I. A.) Nichols who we learn was attending the Kingston Academy in Kingston Plains, New Hampshire in 1844. There were several families residing in or about Kingston Plains at the time of this letter but I have not been able to place him in any particular family tree. He frequently mentions Sanborn so much hunch is that he was related to the Jonathan Sanborn Nichols family. Perhaps he died or moved away prior to the 1850 US Census.

The letter is interesting because it demonstrates the fervor in which citizens backed their favorite candidates—particularly in the Election of 1844 which pitted James K. Polk, Democrat (or Loco), against Henry Clay, Whig, whose defenders slugged it out on the campaign trail over the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of Texas. Hoping to take advantage of the splintered traditional parties was James G. Birney who entered the race as the nominee of the Liberty (or “Abolitionist”) Party. Birney was the editor of a Cincinnati abolitionist newspaper.

As the letter shows, there were a few abolitionists who voted for Birney in Kingston but the Locos carried the majority by a wide margin under the banner of “Polk, Slavery, Free Trade, and Texas!” The ripping down or trampling on the banners of opposing presidential nominee’s banners described in this letter reminds me of the 20th Century citizens removing or destroying campaign signs in each others yards.

Surprisingly the author makes no mention of the “Millerite excitement” that, next to the election, was probably the most frequent topic of debate and laughter at Calef’s general store in Kingston. “The believers of the pernicious doctine” in Kingston and other villages in the lower part of New Hampshire, “have almost entirely neglected to provide for future wants,” reported the Boston Post.

Transcription

1830 Kingston Academy in Kingston Plains, New Hampshire, 1857
(Harvard University Map Collection)

Kingston, New Hampshire
November 3, 1844

My dear friend,

I am confident that you will not turn a deaf ear towards a recital on my part of the public matters of our old beloved Kingston. For two weeks I have been a constant attendant of the “Old School.” The first day I attended it seemed as if none but strange faces stared me on every side. I recognized but a few indeed who were the life and joy of last winter schooldays. I took my seat in the corner which last winter was occupied by Miss S. W. N. and more recently vacated by S. W. Mason. You may think by this time I have initiated myself in the acquaintance of the ladies. This is true and I find most of them to [be] very fine young ladies! But I can mention no names familiar with you.

I think the school is nearly as full as it was last winter and quite as pleasant to me!! Thus far I have learned as well as you would expect! I board at [the] old building formerly occupied as The Banner Office but those old stairs are nothing in comparison with our here. Do you take the hint? As yet, I am true to the principles of bachelorism—I mean the professed principles. I have waited upon none of the fair sex since I have been here although I have had several opportunities and have received severe reprimands for not so doing. I would just say that Miss E. A. M. is well—I think so—although rather low-spirited. Can you divine the course?

There is to be an examination at the close of this term, or the Tuesday (the 12th inst.) before Thanksgiving in this state. You must come up then certain—do not fail. It commences at 10 o’clock a.m. The larger ladies prepare compositions for the occasion; also Ben Cheerful and myself. Dialogues have been prepared for others.

A Temperance convention was held in this place last Thursday. The exercises were rather interesting. On that morning for the first time was discovered on the cupola of the academy, a banner made of red cambria brick with silver letters upon it forming the  following words: “N. Hampshire, the Banner State for Polk and Dallas.” You may well think this exasperated me not a little. I declared to Mr. Dalton that I would not enter that building to attend school under that banner and that if I went in after my books, I would enter the back door. There was no school that day and I bore it patiently.

Evening came and I determined on having it removed. Accordingly, I fastened a large knife to a pole and ascended to the top the building and succeeded in cutting some of the fastenings—but not enough to lose it. I went to the meeting house and with D. Garland, agreed to take it down after meeting at any rate. But after meeting, we went there and found it down! Wm. Hogdon made [it] and put it up and probably took it down. That same day, Moses Sanborn and myself made a flag of cotton cloth 2 yds wide, 3 yds long, with Clay & Frelinghuysen painted and also the stars and stripes, and hung out on Mr. [Samuel] Calef’s [general store] sign post and there it floats to the breeze now.

Yesterday I went home away at night. I came home and found that same Loco banner attached to a line reaching from the cupola of the academy to the elm tree [in] front of Dr. [Levi Stevens] Bartlett’s. It hangs over the road. It looks like one of these “solid” rests in music—just the same proportion. It is red—without stars and stripes—so we call it the Pirate’s Flag!

I get but very little political news up in this region. Mason, Snow, and myself talk of going to Amesbury on Sunday next. Excuse all. Yours, J. A. Nichols

EXTRA!!!!!!!!  RIOT &c!

November 3d, Four o’clock P. M.

I have just returned from one of the most heartrending and diabolical scenes ever witnessed on Kingston Plains. The circumstances are as follows. It appears that before sunrise this morning an Abolition Flag was raised on a line leading from Mr. [Benjamin Dodge] Cilley’s chimney to the elm tree near 0[rin P.] Spofford’s. It was made and owned by Mon. [Monroe] & Elihu Colcord, 1 and P. Frost. It was a very handsome flag made of bleached white cloth with stars and stripes of pink. The names of Birney & Morris were painted upon it. It was the size of 15 feet by 9. They had the bells rung on the occasion when [they] raised it and felt rather proud of it. But a short time elapsed before that miserable Webster who carried that rum banner last spring around the streets came along and commenced stoning it and threw one stone through it. This was considered as a gross insult by the owners and at town meeting. Mon[roe] Colcord gave this Jont. Webster a severe drubbing, somewhat exasperated him, and he came down and got his Father onto the building and cut the rope of this flag whilst he and some others took it and dragged it into a mud puddle and stomped the Liberty which was upon it underfoot. This was seen by some friend of The Banner. The owners were at the Town House at the time but at the time saw it fall! and mistrusting the cause, they set out accompanied by others, and came foaming down like lightening. The rowdies run—some to the tavern and others at Peasley’s. They took the old man and gave him a beating without gloves on! The young Webster was taken by others and pretty essentially mauled, after which he got clear from them and was chased into Mr. Calef’s house. The ladies prevented them taking him at that time.

At the time I arrived at the scene of excitement, anarchy and confusion reigned triumphant. The [town] square [in] front of Peasley’s was crowded and more bloodthirsty fellows I never saw than were the friends of the flag. Such horrid imprecations as were uttered by them, I never before heard, Hogdon took an active part and if he didn’t damn Spofford and some others, I don’t know what damning is. Esq. Wise, Wm. Webster, and many others took an active part. Meanwhile the flag was again raised, securing one of the line to Mr. Calef’s sign post and the other to the elm by Dr. Bartlett’s. It was now reported that Webster was going home. The crowd now rushed down to Mr. Calef’s. The flag party was determined to pound him yet. In vain did Mr. Calef endeavor to pacify them—to persuade them to use no personal violence—to let him go home in peace. But no—they would not. The fugitive’s father got the sheriff to take him home but they suffered him not to go.

From my supper, I returned there. Gen. J[ames] Spofford was sent up to take him home. He went in and coaxed him out on the platform but upon the advance of the leaders, he ran back into the house. General Spofford then threatened them—intimated as though he would shoot them with pistols, &c. He was obliged to clear out to save threshing. He then went to the tavern, raised a gang of about 20 drunken vagabond loafers with Oren and marched down with much dignity as we thought to fight! Dreadful forebodings were pictured on every countenance. That blood would be shed was not doubted. I felt determined to at all hazards! We counted about a dozen. Sanborn was on hand, determined to do his part. The mob approached, broke into our ranks, and endeavored to frighten us by threats. We did not retrograde a hair’s breadth, but only the firmly clenched our fists and strengthened our valor. Failing to drive us by their boasted courage, they did not seem willing to fight. Neither did they dare to take the prisoner out of the house. At every corner and nook of the house we had watchmen placed to prevent his escape undiscovered.

A reporter for the Boston Atlas would give you a description of this affair which would be interesting. He would describe them at this time in great commotion—some urging on fight, some restraining, some screaming, and some talking love, &c. The outskirts were lined with women praying, dancing, renting their clothes, tearing their hair, and agonizing in fearful expectation  of the approaching crisis. But our opponents did not dare to  fight and so concluded to let him ask their forgiveness for injuring their flag, which they before would not do. Upon his acknowledging his wrong, they forgave him freely and broke up their ranks. Thus we hope ended a scene which might have proved sad and lamenting in its results.

Yours, &c., — J. A. Nichols

P. S. — The vote for this town for Presidential Electors stood

Clay 52
Polk 107
Birney 17

At noon, it was reported that Kingston had given [ ] majority for Polk.

An 1857 Map of Kingston Plains with residences marked, including the Kingston Academy. (Harvard University Map Collection)

1 Monroe Colcord (1824-1887) and Elihu Colcord (1825-1909) were the sons of Daniel and Polly (Woodman) Colcord of Kingston, Rockingham county, New Hampshire.

4th Iowa Infantry, Battle of Arkansas Post, Fort Hindman

The Letters & Diary of Sheldon C. Treat, Co. E, 4th Iowa Infantry

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The following four letters and an 1863 diary were written by Sheldon C. Treat whose biographical sketch was included with a large collection of his letters that sold at Cowan’s Auctions in 2012. It reads:

Lt. Sheldon C. Treat

“Born in West Haven, Connecticut, Sheldon Treat emigrated to Missouri in 1859 to find work as a carpenter. Not the best choice. Although he was fully employed, Treat soon found himself on the frontlines of what would become a Civil War. This fine collection documents the transformation of a young easterner looking for work into a Civil War solder.

In some ways, the three pre-war letters are the most interesting of the lot. Written from Forest City, Missouri, a troubled outpost near the Kansas border, the letters provide a glimpse into the drama as war fever rose in an area already engulfed by violence.  On 24 January 1861, Treat described an incident with border ruffians: No law of this state could molest them fellows at all for they had got my on the Kansas side and the only way get it was by force. A fellow from Ohio was with me on the river at the time of the fuss. There was 6 of them they all drawed their knives and one his revolver. We had no arms but one knife to defend ourselves with but we got the boat and got back safe. When we got up town 30 men was ready to go after them. Had we had our revolvers there would have been some shooting done.

By March, the scene grew even darker. The young men of this place are having their hair cut short for the spring fights, Treat reported, They commenced election day to fight and have been at it ever since. Under the circumstances, Treat decided to decamp for the north: I shall leave here next week for some spot unknown. I think of going to Fort Desmoine to work. This state will probably go south soon… this state legislator met the 2 of May and elected all of their officers secession. They have threatened to drive out all the free state…Once there, he wasted little time before enlisting in Co. E, 4th Iowa Infantry, where he proved himself a capable soldier, earning promotion to 2nd Lieutenant by October 1862 and to 1st Lieutenant in January 1863.

Serving mostly in the western theatre, Treat saw action in 17 battles and took part in Sherman’s March to the Sea, reenlisting after a furlough for the duration. His letters reveal a strong pro-unionist as he became accustomed to military life in Missouri, culminating in his first major battle—Pea Ridge. On 18 August 1862, he wrote home to describe the devastation he experienced during one of the year’s most decisive battles, and the way in which his commitment to the cause was growing stronger as he grew from new recruit into a veteran.

Martha says it almost makes her sick to see them poor fellows in the hospital at New Haven. She ought to go over one battlefield and see the sights. It would make her sick for certain. I should liked to had you seen the field at Pea Ridge for I know it would not made you sick but you would not have forgotten it very soon. Man is a curious thing in a fight. People will say fight for honor and glory but I tell you that they fight because they are mad and because they love to fight. You put a company into action and watch them. The first 2 or 3 rounds, they take it very cool. But soon they begin to fall and this one looses a brother and that one a messmate, and blood runs freely. Then just listen and hear the deep curses of revenge, and then see if they fight because they love it. Yes, every shot is dearer than life to them. They don’t think of honors then. And how different is it with them the next time they come into action. They go at it like a day’s work…

Interestingly, Treat’s support for the war seems not to have been shared by his father, and he writes a passionate letter complaining that his father seems to offer nothing in his letters but sarcastic and discouraging comments: I have here some 80 men to associate with and all are getting letters from home, cheering them on the good work. And although I have proved myself as brave as the bravest, yet I get no encouragement from father…(28 August 1862).

Posted at Helena in latter half of 1862, the 4th Iowa took part in the early maneuvers of the Vicksburg Campaign, and the collection includes a fine description of the fall of Fort Hindman [Arkansas Post], 18 January 1863. Our loss is 500 killed and wounded. Our Regiment lost but 4 men in all. The battle lasted 3 hours when they surrendered the fort to us. They had 1 gun of 100 lbs. and 3 of 68 lbs. all casemated with railroad iron and 6 feet of oak timber… We got 2 field batteries and 2 splendid Parrott guns and 4000 stand of Enfield Rifles, some muskets, plenty of shot guns, revolvers, and pistols of all sorts…

There are also two excellent letters from later in the Vicksburg Campaign, written after the regiment had been circled behind Vicksburg to cut off any possible escape to the east, though at heavy cost to their own ranks. On 24 May 1863, he wrote: We have taken 8000 prisoners and 75 pieces of artillery. Our loss is heavy. My regiment has lost about 50 men. The 9th Iowa lost all but 130. Some regiments have lost all their field officers and some most all their line officers. Jackson—the capital of this state—is burned down. I am in camp on Walnut Hills two miles back of the town. In front is a big fort still in the hands of the rebels… We have got Warenton and Haines Bluffs both with all their guns and have got the rebels where we can tend to them just when it suits us…

A thread running through Treat’s letters is the squabble with his father, and Treat takes every opportunity to lambaste the Copperheads. After the draft riots of 1863, he taunted his father: How much has the Copperheads made by their riots in New York city? I think they will get their fill before long. I rather guess bullets will stop them. It was a pity they used blank cartridges as they had such a nice range for canister in the streets. I guess that Father Abraham who lives in Washington is able to stop such proceedings and if necessary stop some of their winds…After the election later that fall, he poked his father again: The soldiers of the 2nd Brig., 1st. Division fought a bloodless battle yesterday but very decisive victory was gained. Stone the republican candidate for Governor went up, Tuttle and Copperheadism went down. The 4th gave Stone 292 and Tuttle 13…”

Many of Sheldon’s letters are now housed at the University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections and the digitized images have been posted on-line under Correspondence from Sheldon Treat to family before, during, and after the Civil War, 1860-1873.

[The letters and diary of Sheldon C. Treat published here are from the personal collection of Greg Herr and appear on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Letter 1

Helena, Arkansas
August 15, 1862

Dear Sister,

Your letter of August the 6th has just come to hand and I am glad to hear from home again. I am as well as ever. There is no news of importance here. Our Brigade was reviewed day before yesterday by Gen. Carr. There is some skirmishing around here but it don’t amount to much. The main body of the troops are laying quietly in camp.

You speak of suffering in this army but the worst is for water. On the road from Jacksonport we could not get near water enough to drink and a mud hole where the hogs had wallowed was quite a luxury to all. Provisions is nothing compared to water. You must recollect that we have been in the interior all the while and 200 miles from civilization and could not get provisions. Our suffering are nothing to what we expect to see in times to come if the war lasts.

Drafting is a good thing and I was glad our government has adopted that system. Had they gone at that one year ago, the war would have been at end now and that system brings all on the level as it has no respect for a man’s ricjes. I hope they will fill up the old regiments as it will be a great saving to government both in drill and in officers. Besides, in old regiments they will learn more about camp life in one month than they can in a new one in one year. Tell the boys to go and serve their country and they will never regret it. Now is the time when every loyal man and woman should put the best foot forward. I hope to hear that John Treat is in th ranks before long and prepared to defend his country even to death. Tell him to go and let nothing stop him. Tell Father and Mother to let him go with their consent. Do what you can for them poor fellows in the hospital. Recollect that they have been fighting for the dearest cause that God ever gave to man, recollect that a good many of them are far from home and friends and you have a little brother that may be in want sometime. Do to them as you would to him. He is not better than thousands of others who are in the army and his friends think no more of him than their do of them. And a little kindness often does more for them than all the medicines that doctors can give. I have been on the battlefield and in the hospital and know that a great many suffer for care. If you can’t do nothing else to help them when you pass through their sick wards, speak a kind word to them. They will not forget it and will bless you for it. Just watch the change that comes over their faces. It will light up instantly at kind words and not only make them forget their pains, but will make you feel as if you had done good.

I am glad to hear that Leander has taken a wife and I think he has got a good one and I think she has got a good husband too. So good luck to them both. I would like to have been to the wedding but it came in the wrong time. Just my luck, as always. But I think that Shel will come out alright yet and it is something to have a good opinion of yourself.

Dinner is ready and I must stop. Give my love to all, — S. C. Treat

Letter 2

Helena, [Arkansas]
November 7, 1862

Dear Sister,

I received your kind letter this morning and was glad to hear you were all well at home. I am very glad you sent that picture of Jane’s. A thousand thanks to her for it. I am well with the exception of a bad cold which I caught last night on chain guard.

I have been promoted to a Second Lieutenancy from the 16th day of October and shall get my commission before long. Four new regiments have arrived here—3 from Iowa and one from Wisconsin—all full, and our old regiment looks like a Battalion beside of them. One year ago we could muster 1000 men but now we muster but 690 all told and but 450 able to take the field. Our Lieut.-Colonel has gone to Iowa to get 300 recruits and will be back before long.

I don’t know what you can expect of such men as you say broke open the church. They are too great a cowards to fight for their country but are just the men to break up a church. It is a pity that such men can’t get their just dues because of a civil law which they can get out of the scrape by paying 5 or 10 dollars. I hope there is men enough left there yet to tar and feather them and ride them on a rail or else shoot them and let their bodies rot on top of the ground for the buzzards to eat. That is one thing why I like to live in Missouri—shooting and disputing both commence at once and before long somebody gets hurt and it ends. Nobody takes any notice of it further than to laugh about it.

I had to stop a[while] for Sergeant Bramhall brought in a cranberry pie and soon as that was out of the way, Houser got another and as I love pie, I had to stop awhile as you know that I am very fond of it.

There is not much of sickness among troops but the niggers are dying off very fast. They buried 9 yesterday and 8 the day before. They can’t live like a soldier.

I wonder if you think of my coming home. It will be sometime yet before you see me. I think if the war should end soon, I shall go back to Forest City [Mo.] or Kansas to live. I mean to have me a farm before I come home or else die in the undertaking. That is the whole story without any if or ands about it, if I can’t do it at all.

I would like to see all of the family but that is impossible for years. Yet I have learned one thing—that [is] to rely on my own exertions and trust nobody. If I should get a furlough, I should go to Missoury and look round. You need not be afraid of me getting married. I have something else to do and can’t spend time for that.

Give my love to all, — Sheldon C. Treat

[insert transcription of 1863 diary here.]

The shelling of Fort Hindman

January 1—Left the Yazoo River on transport John J. Roe. Anchored in the Mississippi 6 miles from the mouth of Yazoo. Sick all day with the ague and fever.

January 2—Got under way at daylight and steamed up the river. Sick.

January 3—Going up the river. Had the ague.

January 4—Received a mail. Got $40 dollars from home. Going up the river.

January 5—Still going upstream. had the ague.

January 6—Lying still for wood and fresh provisions.

January 7—Started up again. Chills and fever still keeps me down.

January 8—Off the mouth of the Arkansas. Steamed up to the cut off from White river. Found the whole fleet here.

January 9—Ran through the cut off into the Arkansas river and up that to the post.

January 10—Landed on the east side of the river 4 miles below the fort [Fort Hindman]. Tried to out flank it but could not cross the bayou. Traveled all night and drove the rebels from their encampment.

January 11—At sunrise found myself asleep on the roof of a log house. Artillery opened on us at 8 a.m. Battle began at 2 and lasted till 4.30 p.m. Camped on the field.

January 12—Our tents got up at 12 noon and we went into camp. Broke up camp at sundown and marched to the lower landing. Rained hard all night.

January 13—Snowing hard this morning. We had no shelter and are taking it harrd. Stormed all day.

January 14—Ordered on board the steamer Hiawatha with the 9th Iowa. Went on board at 12 noon.

January 15—Went down the river to Napoleon, Stopped for mail and provisions.

[January 16-22—no entries]

January 23—Landed near Vicksburg and marched most all night. Camp below the town on the opposite side of the river.

[January 24-February 13—no entries]

February 14—Detailed in the Pioneer Corps of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 15th Army Corps.

February 15—On duty in my company.

February 16—On duty in my company.

February 17—Received orders to organize my corps immediately.

February 18—Getting in my men all day. The 26th Iowa detail not reported yet.

February 19—My detachment all reported for duty. List of non coms, Sergt. Conrad Ditmore, 9th Iowa
Sergt. Joseph McQuiston, 26th Iowa
Corp. Benjamin Vanasdoll, 4th Iowa [Co. E]

February 20—Awaiting orders.

February 21—Awaiting orders.

February 22—Ordered to report to Capt. Klosterman of the 3rd Mo. I went did so and got some tools. Ordered to build log houses for my men.

February 23—Began my houses today. 1st Detachment cutting logs and one preparing the ground.

February 24—Working at the houses.

February 25—Still at my houses. Had teams from our regiment and 1 from the 9th Iowa.

February 26—The boys have been bringing in shakes for the roof.

February 27—Got two of my houses done today. A party stayed to watch our rations.

February 28—Rained all day hard. Roads impassable for teams.

March 1—Finished our houses up and moved in to them.

March 2—Working at the canal, building runs for barrows.

March 3—Working at the canal.

March 4—Still at the canal.

March 5—Building a carpenter shop.

March 6—Got it done in good shape.

March 7—1 year ago today. Fight at Pea Ridge.

March 8—Still at the canal. 1 year ago today, Price retreated to Van Buren with his army from the battleground at Pea Ridge.

March 9—The dam at the mouth of the canal gave away and the water overflowed the bottoms.

March 10—We will have to get out of our houses before long if the water continues to rise.

March 11—Had to move camp up the river to keep away from the water.

March 12—Got new tents for the boys and I will tent for myself.

March 13—Began the bridge from the levy to boats. Myself and Corp. McQuiston in charge.

March 14—Working at the bridge from the levy to the boats. Sergt. Auterburn and Corp. McQuiston in charge.

March 15—Working at the bridge from the levy to the banks. Sergt. Auterburn in charge.

March 16—Finished up the bridge from the levy to the boats at noon. In quarters all the afternoon.

March 17—Ordered to the canal to bridge the break in the levy. Sergt. [Conrad] Ditmore does the job.

March 18—Lieut. [Benjamin F] Darling from the 9th Iowa took the 2nd Detachment to day in place of [Edgar] Tisdale. Promoted to a QM of the corps.

March 19—Sergt. [Conrad] Ditmore and Corp. [Sterns D.] Pratt at the canal with 15 men.

March 20—Sergt. Ditmore at the canal with 15 men and Corp. Pratt.

March 21—Had a party on the canal. The enemy shelled them all day but done them no harm.

March 22—Went to the canal myself and finished up the bridge. Brought up a boat and turned them over to Capt. Smith on steamer Decta.

March 23—Send one party to open [illegible] railroad. Sergt. Auterburn in charge.

March 24—[purchases]

March 25—Not well today. Sent a party to the canal to repair bridge. Corp. Pratt in charge. 1 p.m., sent one part to the canal to repair [ ]. Sergt. Auterburn in charge.

March 26—At the canal myself all day. Levy nearly gone. Pulled several drifts to pieces and used them for breakwater.

March 27—Sent out 3 parties, two to canal and one for Capt. Jenney to out up stabling. Sergt. Authern, Corp. Pratt, & McQuiston.

March 28—Two parties at the canal. Sergt. Auterburn finished his job. Stood guard for the whole corps, 11 men and Corp. McQuiston.

March 29—Got up 7 o’clock and eat my breakfast. Going up to my regiment today. Had a dreadful storm last night. Had the day to myself.

March 30—Sent 1 part of 8 men to the cotton gin. Corp. McQuiston in charge. Paid out 250 for the mess.

March 31—Sent a detachment to the canal to work there myself. Ordered to put up a flag staff at Headquarters 15th Army Corps. Settled up my account with the mess due me for the past month. 80 cents. Richard Ballou detailed to take George Black’s place from Co. K, 4th Iowa. Reported April the 1st. Absent now sick. Abijah Lancaster, Co. J, 4th Iowa with his company at Young’s Point.

April 1—All fools day. Sent out two parties—one at the canal with Sergt. Ditmore and one with Sergt. Autburn for a pole to make a glag staff.

April 2—Sent out two parties—one to the canal and one for the flag staff. Corp. McQuuiston and corp. Pratt.

April 3—Two parties out. One at the canal and one brought in the flag pole and topmast. Staid in quarters.

April 4—Sergt. Ditmore and 8 men at the canal. Corp. McQuiston and 4 men on flag staff . In quarters all day.

April 5—Sunday. All my squad off duty today.

April 6—Turned out at 2 o’clock this morning to cut the railroad and let the water off canal. Levee broken at the upper end near the old levy.

April 7—Done but little all day.

April 8—Went to the canal with a party to fix the ferry boat.

April 9—Had the rheumatism.

April 10—Been over to shop. Up to camp.

April 11—Pole already to put up but the irons.

April 12—[no entry]

[The remainder of the diary is filled with post war notes.]

Letter 3

Camp on Black River, Mississippi
August 25 [1863]

Dear Sister,

It is a very nice cool morning here. Yesterday it was as hot as thunder and this morning overcoats and gloves are in demand. I have not received a letter from home since the 10th of this month and I shall block on this one till I do hear from there. I am a keeping old Bachelor Hall. All the rest have gone home on furloughs. I am the only officer left in the Brigade Corps. My turn will come sometime. It is dreadful lonesome in camp—not much to do—no books to read—nothing a going on to interest a fellow at all but to eat and sleep.

We are getting better rations than this army ever got before and enough of them. It is getting to be quite sickly here. Most everyone has got or had the ague and fever. But a very few die with it.

I hear that the 1st Brigade is losing men by the dysentery—quite a number having died last week. I should like to know whether Doct. is home yet or not and how he had endured the campaign. I don’t think he is tough enough for a soldier. It takes a good constitution to stand this climate. My head is getting gray in the service but my time is short now. I am mustered till 1866 on my last commission but I shall go out with my regiment next July if I live and nothing happens.

It is most dinner time and I am too lazy to write. Give my love to all.

Sheldon C. Treat, 1st Lieut.
4th Iowa Infantry
Commanding 3rd Brigade Pioneer Corps

Letter 4

Camp at Black River Bridge
September 8, 1863

Dear Sister,

Your kind letter of August 19 has just arrived and I am glad to hear you are enjoying yourself so well. I sent you my picture some weeks ago and one to Mary too. I put in rather a hard night last night. I worked hard all day and was up all night with the Flux but I feel better this afternoon. I am very glad that Doctor has got home safe and sound. As for friends there, I suppose I have a few but have got friends here too—plenty of them—such as I can depend on in time of need. And a friend in need is a friend indeed.

You may look for me there in September 1864 if I live till that time for I don’t think I shall come on this fall. I am very sorry to hear of Fred Beecher’s bad health and I hope he will get better soon. I used to correspond with him but he never answered my last letter so it stopped. I sing some but not often of late. I can’t get no songs. I still keep the prayer book I got from you. I have carried it all through the campaign and many a poor soldier has had the last service read over his grave out of it by our chaplain, it being the only one in the regiment of the kind.

When my time is out, my duty will be done and not before. My oath says for three years and so let it be. Brave men must die on ever battlefield. They know it and expect it and when I think of my comrades who now sleep on the battlefield, it don’t alter my mind. More must die yet. I don’t think of the dead but of the living. Whose turn will it be next? That nobody knows. It would take longer to come home by the way of New Orleans than by Cairo.

I am very much obliged to you for your song. The words are very good but not very true. I am afraid Little Mac [McClellan] will not save the Union by making Copperhead speeches. It seems to me that Maine comes in for more than her share of the flory. I believe Gen. [Philip] Kearny was the smartest general in that army and I believe Gen. Grant the best in the States. I see that 20,000 of this army has gone to reinforce Meade.

Gen. Grant has thanked the 9th Army Corps for their services here in a General Order but they could not cross Pearl river so Gen. Parkes’ orderly told Gen. Sherman I will send one Division of the 15th Army Corps to cross and hold the ground till the 9th can cross, says Gen. Sherman. In about one hour the orderly came back and told the Gen. that the 9th was crossing. In meantime, the First Division had orders to be ready to move at a moment’s notice and they would have cross if the Devil himself had been there. Gen. Lauman lost most all of one Brigade at Jackson by carelessness. His whole Division was marching by the flank and ,arched right between two rifle pits and then charged one Brigade to save his Division. He had 300 men killed and wounded and lost 700 prisoners. Gen. Grant sent him to the rear and broke him of his command.

I have got my watch and chain. Both are broken and i don’t wear either one. The gold ring which I used to wear I lost in a skirmish in Missouri one year ago last July. I have got to go down to the river and see about getting up the machinery of some steamboats the rebs burned there last spring.

The artillery is just blowing Boots & Saddles for Division drill and I must saddle up and be off. I will write some more tonight.

[Later]

I have been down and looked at the boats. There is 5 all told and it will take two weeks to remove it. Tomorrow is issue day for the month and the clothing has just come into camp. I have not heard a gun in most two months except a musket and I believe the boom of cannon would be quite welcome as it makes a fellow feel young again. 10 boat loads of troops leave Vicksburg today for the South so I am told by the Quartermaster Sergeant who has just come from there and I expect something is up below. I wish it was this Corps a going. Lying still don’t suit me. I want to see the country below here.

We are looking for Capt. Klosterman back this week from St. Louis and then probably some of the rest of us will get to go. I must close as it is getting dark.

Give my love to all. — S. C. Treat, 1st Lieut., 4th Iowa Infantry, 1st Div. Pioneer Corps, 15th AC

51st North Carolina Infantry

1863: Joel John Tew to Francis Matilda Elizabeth Tew

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Joel John Tew (or John Joel Tew) of Co. K, 51st North Carolina Infantry (Civil War Faces)

The following letters were written by Joel John Tew (1836-1914), the son of John Lewis Tew (1807-1882) and Sylvania Godwin (1811-1875) of Sampson county, North Carolina. He wrote the letter to his sister, Francis Matilda Elizabeth Tew (1838-1916), and refers to a younger brother, Sampson M. Tew (1841-1864) who served as a private in Co. H, 20th North Carolina Infantry (Iverson’s Brigade) during the Civil War. Sampson was taken prisoner at the Battle of Gettysburg on 1 July 1863 and died of diarrhea and small pox while in captivity at Hammond Hospital at Point Lookout, Maryland on 15 January 1864.

Joel was 25 years old when he enlisted in April 1862 as a sergeant in Co. K, 51st North Carolina Infantry. He was promoted to a 2nd Lieutenant on 17 September 1862 and was wounded in the left arm on 31 May 1864 in the fighting at Cold Harbor. He returned to his regiment in January 1865.

The first document is a letter. The second is a copy of an enlistment paper signed by J. J. Tew. The enlistment record was for John Cager Williford though there are several discrepancies such as the spelling of his surname, his age and date of enlistment. Cemetery records indicate John C. Williford was born in 1834 and died in 1910. He was buried at Mingo, Sampson county, North Carolina. Williford was employed in the turpentine business before the war.

Letter 1

Addressed to Miss F. M. E. Tew, Draughon’s Store, Sampson City, N. C.

Camp Florida
Near Wilmington
May 9th 1863

Dear Sister,

I can inform you that we are back in Old North Carolina again at last & is tolerable well. Hoping these lines may early reach & find you in the best of health. We reached Wilmington on Sunday night at ten & you can not imagine how glad the men was to get back. We are now 25 miles from the City on Topsoil Sound in the nicest camp we have been since we have left old Fort French & the rest of our Brigade is at French now.

I can inform you that I received a letter from you & Father Monday before we left town & I was glad to hear that you were all well but very sorry to hear of the accident that had happened to Mother. I hope that she will soon be well & not happen to such another.

I have not got anything interesting to write to you at this time—only we are highly spoken of by the commanding generals of Charleston & I am glad to think that so worthy a man as General Beauregard thinks something of us. But I fear it will occasion us to go to Virginia soon.

There has been a battle at Fredericksburg but I have not heard from it more than we gained the victory & drove the enemy back across the [Rappahannock] River. I have heard of two Brigades that was in the fight & Iverson’s was not mentioned in it & I hope it was not in the fight at all. I think if it had been & they did not all get killed, they would have written before now. But I shall patiently wait the result of the battle knowing that if Samson is killed or wounded, there is one above to protect him in his troubles.

You can tell Father that I am going to write to Gent. — Strickland this week or this evening about that money & if he does not pay it, proceed as I directed. Give case to Smith & not show my letter to Mr. Strickland any more. I never got the letter that he sent to me in Georgia. You may tell the gent plainly that I will not let him off at what it is now at. He sunk me & blew at least one thousand dollars. The suit will be damage. I am yours as ever, &c. — J. J. Tew

to Lewis Tew

Letter 2

State of North Carolina
County of Sampson

I, John C. Willifoot [Williford], born in Sampson County in the State of North Carolina, aged 18 years and by occupation a farmer, do hereby acknowledge to have voluntarily enlisted this the 24th day of July 1863 as a soldier in the State troops of North Carolina for the period of the war unless sooner discharged by proper authority; do also agree to accept such bounty pay, rations, and clothing as also may be established by law, and I, John C. Willifoot [Williford], do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of North Carolina and to the State of North Carolina and to the Constitutional Power and authorities which are or may be established for the government thereof, and maintain and defend the Constitution of the said State; and I do further swear that I will obey the orders of the Governor of the said State and the orders of the officers that are or may be set over me according to the rules and discipline of war, so help me God. — John C. Willifoot [Williford]

Sworn to and subscribed before me. — James C. Dougherty

Enlisted by William S. Blue, 51st Regt. N. C. Troops

J. J. Tew, 2nd Lt., Co. K, 51st Regt. N. C. Troops, November 1st 1863

4th New Jersey Infantry, Jersey Brigade

The 1864 Diary of Benjamin Linton, 4th New Jersey Infantry

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Benjamin’s Pocket Diary

The following diary was kept by 29 year-old Benjamin Linton (1835-1864) during the opening phase of Grant’s Overland Campaign. Benjamin was a sergeant in Co. F, 4th New Jersey Infantry. He died at the Division Hospital on 14 May 1864 from wounds he received fighting at the Bloody Angle (or “Muleshoe”) on the 12th in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. He was buried on the battlefield. His term of service was due to expire on 15 August 1864.

From the inside page of Benjamin’s diary, we learn that he was related to “Mrs. Hannah R. Linton, of Franklin Street in Philadelphia.” Hanna R. Wittshire was married to Dr. James D. Linton (1838-1898), a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, and an Asst. Surgeon in the 2nd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery and later in Co. D, 124th Pennsylvania Infantry. Benjamin and James were brothers—their parents being Benjamin Linton (1772-1849) and Abigail Ann Wert (1800-1839) of Philadelphia.

The 4th New Jersey Infantry entered the Battle of the Wilderness as part of the Jersey Brigade (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, and 15th New Jersey Regiments) under the command of Col. Henry W. Brown. The Jersey Boys were the 1st Brigade of Brig. General Horatio Wright’s 1st Division and Major General John Sedgwick’s VI Corps.

The cdv that came with Benjamin’s diary. An annotation on the reverse side claims that Benjamin is on the left though the face has been altered considerably. The image would have had to have been taken before December 1861 when he was still a private. The backmark indicates it was taken at Weitfle’s Photograph Gallery in Newark.

In the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania of the Overland Campaign, the VI Corps encountered the hardest contested fighting of its experience. At the Wilderness, the Vermont Brigade—Getty’s Division—lost 1,232 men out of the 2,800 effectives that crossed the Rapidan River on the previous day. At Spotsylvania, the Jersey Brigade of Wright’s 1st Division was engaged in a deadly struggle, the percentage of killed in the 15th New Jersey being equaled in only one instance during the whole war. General Sedgwick was killed by a sniper’s bullet at Spotsylvania on May 9, which caused great distress to the soldiers of the corps, who loved and admired their “Uncle John.” General Wright succeeded to the command of the corps, Brig. Gen. David A. Russell succeeding Wright in the command of the 1st Division. On May 10, Col. Emory Upton led a storming party of twelve picked regiments selected from the VI Corps; they carried the Confederate works in the “Mule Shoe” after a hand-to-hand fight in which bayonet wounds were freely given and received. On May 12, the entire corps fought at the “Bloody Angle,” where the fighting was among the closest and deadliest of any recorded in the Civil War. The casualties of the corps at the Wilderness were 5,035 (719 killed, 3,660 wounded, 656 missing); and at Spotsylvania, 4,042 (688 killed, 2,820 wounded, 534 missing).

[Note: This diary is from the personal collection of Greg Herr and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Inside Cover of Benjamin’s Pocket Diary

1864

A page from Benjamin’s diary showing his handwriting in pencil. The entries were made without regard to the pre-printed dates in the 1863 pocket Diary.

[Excerpts in parenthesis and italics are quotations from the book, “First New Jersey Brigade,” by Camile Baquet, 1910]

May 4—started at half past 4 to the front. [“It was getting well on towards dusk before the Jersey men arrived at the halting place for the night…The Jersey Brigade camped about a mile from German Ford They had crossed earlier in the day), along the side of the road. Little sleep visited the men who sat around their small campfires in groups, talking in low tones, smoking, some writing letters by the lights of the campfires, and many repacking their knapsacks (lightening their loads).”]

May 5—Went through the Wilderness and there engaged the enemy at 15 minutes past three. Relieved the 6th Maine by a charge on them which was just in time as they were giving away by a half flank movement. This morning started about sunrise. Had a tedious time getting into line as we were going from an early hour in the morning until 3 p.m. , we being then on the road 11 hours. All that night, laid on the skirmish line. At daybreak the ball opened again. Our boys made another charge in the evening and drove them for the 4th time. The morning passed very slowly, being up so early to the work of death. But Lo! William, amid the excitement which always exists more or less human [ ily] in such occasions, one don’t fear or have such a thought to enter his mind hardly although he may think of it when off duty or even on duty but at a different time or in another place. One more charge with the same success driving the Johnnies clean into their rifle pits. [“The regiments of the Brigade had difficulty keeping in touch with each other and the Fourth Regiment was entirely separated from it….Some firing was done by the Brigade but as no enemy could be seen, it died down to now and then a shot, as the men fancied they saw moving objects or caught sight of sharpshooters. The line advanced several times during the day to not only keep the lines intact, but to take advantage of the enemy retiring, to secure the abandoned positions. It was only after advancing several hundred paces that dead Confederates were found, indicating where their line had been….About 5 o’clock (p.m.) a charge was made by the enemy…The Confederates came on with great dash and spirit, charging right up to the low breastworks the Jersey men had thrown up, and which were on fire in several places. The first line held their ground adn pured a hot fire into the rebel ranks, causing great confusion and disabling many of them…The deadly fight lasted twenty minutes or more, when the enemy…retired.”]

May 6th—About 8 o’clock a.m., we were relieved by the 1st [ ] New York when we went back in the 3rd line. Towards noon we were allowed to make small fires to cook coffee. In the afternoon about 4 o’clock the enemy made a flank movement on our right which was a weak point. The enemy found it out and came up close. [“The wierd rebel yell accompanied the discharge (of musketry) and the men of the Jersey Brigade saw a vast crowd of Confederates pouring over the half-built breastworks in front of Seymour’s Brigade on which they were at work when the enemy charged….A wild scramble for the rear ensued, and the rebels, pursuing, kept up a fierce fire on the retreating troops…”] The enemy got in their position very nicely and gave us a severe shelling of balls along the line for 3 or 400 yards, our men giving way slowly. On the right here the enemy got in the rear so we had to vacate our position. [“The right of the Jersey Brigade was broken and forced back by the stampede and the men backed off towards the left and rear so as to present a decent front to the enemy.”] So about 12 o’clock p.m., took up the line of march towards Fredericksburg.

[May 7th]—On the morning of the seventh, got out in the neighborhood of Chancellorsville Heights. The enemy followed us. About daylight we stopped [and] got a little to eat. Capt. [Samuel Mayhew] Gaul is in command of the company. We got a little coffee and fried pork but had to leave to take our position in line. Heretofore we couldn’t use our artillery but they got every grape in this case after which they were a little slow to come so close. In the meantime, we threw up a line of breastworks along the whole line. That night the enemy made another attack on us but received a galling fire and fall back. We intended to evacuate this evening (Sat. 7th) at 8 but did not move until 10 Saturday evening on account of the attack. We set out this evening [and] took up our line of march [on the Germana Plank Road] for this place—Spotsylvania, but the road was so stopped up that we moved very slowly going all night and then again all day nearly. [“The night was very dark and warm and the men, tired out with little sleep and food and much hard work, staggered along the road, some falling asleep while marching, awakened only by the shock of their fall.”] Arrived at this place on the 8th instant late in the afternoon. the sun was very warm, roads dusty.

[May 8th]—The 1st Division of the 5th Corps had drove the enemy a short distance back to a line of rifle pits. We were a little rested by this time, unslung our packs, went forward but this time we were in the 2nd line. The 10th and 15th [New Jersey] regiments were in the 1st. On the right of the 5th Corps men, [were the] Pennsylvania reserves. They fought well, driving the enemy out of the rifle pits. Now it was dark, Sunday evening the 8th. The fighting ceased about half an hour after dark when our men fell back to their original position. Our turn coming to go on picket, [we] went and laid out front all night, sleepy as we were. Were there until 8 this morning.

[May 9th]—Monday. There is some little skirmishing along the line but don’t amount to anything. It is near 9 o’clock, [when we] moved in and to rear to partake of coffee. From that position we moved towards the left in support of [5th United States] Battery M. [“Being about a half a mile from the enemy’s line, the men could see plainly their movements and the disposition of their troops behind the breastworks which appeared very formidable. While resting here, …they were horrified to see (Gen. Sedgwick) straighten up with a jerk and fall backward. He was caught before he struck the ground and was immediately surrounded by his staff and orderlies, who, after some delay, secured a stretcher and had the General carried past the rear of the Jersey Brigade towards the field hospital.”] Laid there the night of the 9th and all day the 10th. Towards night, orders came to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. When there, the centre broke.

May 10th—Afternoon, ready to go forward on the grand charge. Went forward about 3 o’clock. Made a grand rally on the enemy, took the rifle pits, and two pieces of artillery. Held the ground part of the line until about 2,000 prisoners were captured and brought in safe after which the enemy made a flank movement. [“Wright’s 1st Division, including those regiments of the Jersey Brigade not with Colonel Campbell, with the 3rd Division (6th Corps), made a charge as a column of assault under Col. Upton, which, while one of the most gallant of the war, was also at all points successful.”]

Hand to hand fighting in the Muleshoe at Spotsylvania in 1864
Battle of Chancellorsville, Battle of Fredericksburg

1862-63: Civil War letters of Wilber H. Merrill, 44th New York Infantry

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I could not find a wartime image of Wilber but here is an image of Sgt. Edgar A. Merchant of Co. E, 44th New York Infantry. Edgar was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg (Photo Sleuth)

The following letters were written by Wilber H. Merrill (1840-1925), the son of Leonard J. Merrill (1816-1899) and Eliza J. Judd (1815-1887) of Cattaraugus county, New York. Wilber enlisted on 15 September 1861 at the age of 21 to serve in Co. H, 44th New York Infantry (People’s Ellsworth Regiment). He was quickly promoted to corporal and again to Sergeant in mid-December 1862, just after the Battle of Fredericksburg. He survived his term of service and mustered out with his company on 11 October 1864 at Albany, New York.

“The 44th New York was an extremely battle-hardened unit, whose effort had been depended upon in many prior battles, and which would play a significant role two months after Chancellorsville at Gettysburg where it was heavily involved in the defense of Little Round Top. As noted in the letter, the 44th was supposed to be in the forefront of the battle at Chancellorsville, but the Confederate disruption of the Union plans led to their sustaining only modest losses. It turns out that their most significant action at Chancellorsville took place around the time this letter was written, when, as noted above, they were called upon to protect the retreat of the defeated Union troops.  Hooker’s 130,000 troops faced Lee’s 60,000 at Chancellorsville, with the battle leaving a total of nearly 30,000 killed, wounded, or missing. The burning alive of Union wounded by the Confederates, described emotionally in this letter, has in fact been corroborated by historians.”

Wilber’s letter praises Hooker for his planning and execution of the campaign against Lee’s army but expresses a personal belief that “some of the generals got a little scared about the rear” and also shares a rumor that President Lincoln may have actually precipitated the retreat due to his concerns that the Nation’s Capitol might be vulnerable should his army be annihilated. I have not found any evidence that this was the case. Hooker kept his battle plan for the Chancellorsville fight closely guarded from even his Corps Commanders. Lincoln knew only vaguely what Hooker had in mind and wrote to him, “While I am anxious, please do not suppose that I am inpatient, or waste a moment’s thought on me, to your own hindrance, or discomfort.” [Lincoln to Hooker, 28 April 1863, in Basler et al., eds., Collected Works, 6:189-190.] The consensus of opinion among scholars today is that Fighting Joe Hooker lost Chancellorsville simply because he lost confidence in himself.

To read letters written by other members of the 44th New York Infantry that I have transcribed and published on Spared & Shared, see the following list. The letters by Anthony Graves are particularly detailed and interesting. His letter of 7 May 1863 gives an account of the Battle of Chancellorsville that is also excellent.

Louis Ferrand, Co. A, 44th New York (1 Letter)
Louis Ferrand, Co. A, 44th New York (1 Letter)
John Gurnsy Vanderzee, Co. A, 44th New York (1 Letter)
John T. Johnson, Co. C, 44th New York (2 Letters)
John H. Lewis, Co. D, 44th New York (1 Letter)
Peter Mersereau, Co. E, 44th New York (1 Letter)
Charles Robinson French, Co. E, 44th New York (1 Letter)
Anthony G. Graves, Co. F, G, H, 44th New York (38 Letters)
Isaac Bevier, Co. E., 44th New York (2 Letters)
Albert Nathaniel Husted, Co. E, 44th New York (1 Letter)
Samuel R. Green, Co. I, 44th New York (6 Letters)
George W. Arnold, Co. K. 44th New York (1 Letter)

Letter 1

[Note: The following letter was found for sale on The Excelsior Brigade and was presumably transcribed by them so I cannot verify the accuracy of the transcription.]

Camp near Fredericksburg, VA
November 25, 1862

Dear Parents,

I once more take a few spare moments to converse with you. I feel it a great privilege to take my pen to write to you. Although I cannot sit myself by you and converse with you but pen, ink and paper is next [best].

Well, we have been on the march nearly every day for the last month although we have not had any very hard marches. Imagine yourself packing up at three o’clock in the morning. Remember you are to take your whole kit of things—bed and bedding, crockery and eatables enough to last you three days—and then sit around in the cold November winds until perhaps 12 o’clock before you get started. And then you will have a little insight into a soldier’s chance of having his patience tried. Well here we are down near Fredericksburg where we were soon after we left Harrison’s Landing. The rebels occupy the town in force.

The report is that Burnside has given them fourteen hours to remove the women and children. They say that they are busy at it now. I don’t believe that they will stand and fight here but they may. I don’t pretend to know. Only sunrise will tell.

I received your letter of the 3rd. It found me well as usual. I had just written to you one before I received it and that is the reason that I have not written before. I am feeling tolerably well now and hope this may find you all the same. Mother, you wanted to know when I heard from Jane Austin. Well, I can tell you when I had the last letter from her. It was last spring. Just after we left Hall Hill. So you see I have not heard from her very lately.

I am glad to hear that Adelbert is a going to board at Normend this winter and go to school for I think that will be an easy plan for him. It seems that your family is going to be rather small this winter but it will make it all the easier for you too. Tell the boys for me that they must learn fast and improve their time for they don’t know the worth of a good education until they leave home and take up business for themselves. I have never seen or noticed the worth of a good education than I have here since I have been in the army.

Mother, the next time you see Mrs. Austin, please thank her for me and give her my best regards. And tell her that tea made me a quart of good tea and you better believe that it tasted good. I wrote in my other letter that you need not send me any money but we have not gotten any pay yet. I don’t know as they ever intend to pay us again. I tell you, we are seeing pretty hard times for tobacco. And I wish you would send me a dollar or two in your next. There is not much danger but that I would get it all right. Direct your letters as usual. It is always the same. They first come to Washington and then to the regular wherever it may be.

I have just gotten a letter from Dayton and I tell you, it done me lots of good. E. A. Nash has just received his commission papers as Captain of Co. D and so we have lost one of our best officers. He is one of the best officers in our regiment and I am glad to see him promoted for he deserves it. We are now under command of Lieutenant Colonel Conner. He has lately been promoted and I tell you, it makes a perfect fool of him. We don’t like him a bit. He is so awful strict. I wish that Colonel Rice would come back. He is just a whole solid man and we all like him first rate. I must close for this time. Please give my love to all of the friends and accept them yourself. Write soon. Yours truly, — Wilber H. Merrill

Letter 2

Camp near Falmouth [Virginia]
December 25th 1862

Respected & much loved Aunt,

I wish you happy Christmas. I thought that you would like to hear from me after the battle so here goes. I have passed through another awful shower of lead & iron & escaped unharmed while many of my comrades have been mangled & torn in pieces by my side. This makes the 6th battle that I have been in & I think that I have great reason to be thankful that I have thus far escaped unharmed.

The 154th Regiment lays about three miles from here. Last Sunday Alva was over here to see me. I tell you, I was glad to see him & to see him looking so tough. He stayed all day & we had a first rate visit. He seems to like soldiering first rate. Yesterday morning as I was standing by the cook fire, someone came up behind me and slapped his paws on my neck with the power of an elephant. On looking around, who should I see but Uncle Barzilla. Maybe you think that I wasn’t some tickled & he seemed to be in the same fix. I believe that I never was as glad to see anyone as to see him. He stayed most all day with me & I tell you, we kept up a pretty brisk chatting. He looks as tough as I ever saw him. He looks a little black & smoky but that is not unusual for a soldier. He is just as full of his times as ever and says he like soldiering first rate.

They have not been in any battle yet & I hope they will not be obliged to for it is anything but a pleasant place to be on a battlefield & see the mangled forms and hear the dying and wounded. To hear them calling for water or to be carried off from the battlefield—it is enough to melt the hardest of hearts. We lay on the battlefield amongst the dead and wounded 36 hours & I tell you, we had to hug the ground pretty tight to keep our skulls whole.

Well, Aunt, today is Christmas & I presume you will have some nice fixing up. Now what do you suppose I am going to have for a Christmas supper? I am a going to have some fried beef & some potatoes, and some apple sauce and hard bread, and I think we shall enjoy that full as well as some would the best of suppers for it is something unusual with us. We can’t afford to live as high as that every day. I wish that it was so that I could call in and have a chat with you & help you eat a pan of green apples or take a piece of pie & cheese, but that is impossible now.

I don’t know but you will have to find you another man for I don’t know but what Uncle B. will fall in love with some of these quadroons down here. I can’t see what possessed him to come off down here and leave everything comfortable at home. He had just got things all fixed up comfortable.

In the last fight we lost about 50 killed and wounded. Our Lieutenant Colonel [Freeman Conner] had his right arm broken and out of the Dayton boys was John Mayer shot through the leg. The rest of the boys are usually well excepting [Charles] Hart Blair. He is not very well.

I wish you could peep into our little tent. We are fixed up pretty comfortable. We have got a little fireplace fixed in one side of our tent which makes us quite comfortable. I suppose you would take us to be as sorrowful a lot of fellows as there is on the face of the earth, but instead of that we enjoy ourselves first rate—only when we get sick and then things look and go pretty blue. Health is a great blessing to soldiers. And finely to anyone, if you think this worth answering, please write soon. Please give my love & best wishes to all & save a large share for yourself. I remain as ever, your most affectionate nephew, — Wilber H. Merrill

Address: W. H. Merrill, Co. H, 44th Regt. N. Y. S. V., Washington D. C.

Letter 3

Camp near Falmouth, Va.
January 12th 1863

Dear Aunt,

Your letter of the first came to hand last evening & most gladly did I receive it & was glad to hear that you were all usually well. My health never was better than at the present & I am enjoying myself as well as could be expected under present circumstances. We are fixed up very comfortable now & would be very glad if they would let us stop here all winter. But we don’t expect any such good luck.

The weather here is very pleasant now. We have not had but very little rain this winter & but little snow. But there has been some pretty cold nights which pinches the soldiers up some. I have not been over to see Uncle B[arzilla] since I wrote. Alva was here New Year’s afternoon. We had just got into camp from a three days reconnaissance. We were tired and hungry and did not have much chance to visit. I think I shall go over and see them before many days.

Now, Aunt, I am going to tell you just what I think of this war. I think if the War Department would let the generals in the field have their way a little more and not do all the bossing themselves, I think the war would progress a great deal faster. Washington shelters some of our worst enemies. I think to burn Washington & hang some of the leaders would be a blessing to our country. I don’t think that all of our officers are true blue but I do think that we have some that would like to finish up the muss. I think the war might of been settled before this time had we had the right men in the War Department and also had true generals to lead us on to victory. Tis not the soldiers fault. They fight brave enough & are faithful enough. But I will tell you one thing, there is some that are getting their nest feathered pretty well & they don’t care how long the war lasts nor how many homes are caused desolate by its power. What care they for the sufferings & privations of the poor soldier as long as they get good salaries & good quarters furnished them.

I think as I always did about McClellan. He is the man who had ought to command the army and that is what every soldier will tell you here. They all have confidence in him and when he leads them into battle, they know that he is not leading them into a trap where slaughter is needless & where there is some chance for their lives. Look at Burnside’s Great Battle of Fredericksburg. What did it all amount to? I will tell you—the slaughter of 8 to 10 thousand men while their loss must of been light. He must of been very near sighted or else his judgment must of been very poor. Burnside is a good man in his place, but not to command as large an army.

The President’s [Emancipation] Proclamation I don’t think amounts to any certain sum for how is he a going [to] set the slaves free before he has them in his hands? Then the first place, he has got to catch them before he can free them. I say if we are fighting to free the slaves—as it seems that we are, [then] take them as fast as we can get them and arm them and let them help free themselves. Their blood is no better to be spilt than mine. I think things look rather dark now but I hope it will look brighter soon. I allow myself to think so at any rate. I can’t tell how soon we may be called on to fight another battle for you know that a soldier don’t know one day what will happen another. I don’t think there will be another fight right here but can’t tell.

I found John Mayer about 9 o’clock at night & helped carry him off from the field. He was shot through the leg just below the knee. They thought they could save his leg. [Israel] Luce and [Sylvanus] Markham have not been with us since we left Harrison’s Landing. Markham has been in Philadelphia since. I learn that he is a going to get his discharge. Luce is at Alexandria in the Convalescent Camp. Wall Johnson returned the 2nd of this month. The Dayton boys are scattering here now. Please [accept] my love & best wishes. Remember me to the children & friends. I remain as ever your affectionate nephew, — Wilber H. Merrill

Letter 4

[Note: The following letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner who provided the following description and authorized me to transcribe it and publish it on Spared & Shared.]

Headquarters 44th Regt. New York State Volunteers
Camp near Falmouth [Virginia]
May 6th, 1863

Remembered Parents,

You will see by the heading of this that we are back in our old quarters. We have met with another defeat. I received a letter from sister Jane & Mariett last evening & was very glad to hear that they were enjoying themselves as well as they appear to write. But I can’t say that I feel quite as well as common but I think I shall soon feel better. You need not worry any about me.

Well now I must tell you something about the battle. The fighting continued 3 or 4 days. Saturday and Sunday were the two hottest days of the fight. It raged very hard & the 11th Corps broke and caused pretty sad havoc. They did not fight worth a snap. The 154th [New York] Regiment are in that Corps. They lost about half of their regiment. Them that have seen them tell me that [Harvey] Inman, [William] Blair, [Horace N.] Darbee—Strickland Blair’s son-in-law, Barzilla, 1 Alva, and a good many more that I don’t think of now, they are missing—perhaps taken prisoners. I hope nothing worse. You need say anything about it for they may turn up yet. Perhaps they have got around to their regiment by this time.

Tuesday night, May 5th, the whole army recrossed the [Rappahannock] river, not because we were whipped there but because Sedgwick, commanding the 6th Army Corps, he crossed down below Fredericksburg & took the heights and then left one Brigade there to hold them and started up the river where we were fighting. The rebs turned his flanks and obliged him to retreat across the river so you see the rebs had possession of the heights. They say that orders came from Abe not to fight & endanger the capitol. If that is so, I would not care a bit if the capitol was burnt to the ground.

There was a great stand on both sides. I think it was a great deal heavier on the rebs than ours. We must of taken all of 5,000 prisoners. How many they took of us, I don’t know. The two-years men and nine-months men are leaving as fast as they can carry them away on cars. We think here that the army were not whipped but that some of the generals got a little scared about the rear. I never saw the army so eager for a fight as they were when they had thrown up breastworks. There were lots of them that wanted them to attack us but now things look rather dubious. I begin to think now if they put in a general smart enough to whip the rebs, they will do something to foil his plans. I never saw plans laid out better and carried out better than Hooker’s were as far as I know anything about it.

“Sunday, when the battle was raging the hottest, the rebs set the woods afire I suppose thinking that they could drive us out in that way. But think of the poor wounded lying there without the least chance of help. Can such men have any souls in them?”

Sgt. Wilber H. Merrill, Co. H, 44th New York Infantry, 6 May 1863

Sunday, when the battle was raging the hottest, the rebs set the woods afire I suppose thinking that they could drive us out in that way. But think of the poor wounded lying there without the least chance of help. Can such men have any souls in them? I don’t believe they have and they also fired a large brick building 2 and burnt some of our wounded there. Oh war—cruel war—when will it cease—inhuman worse than the savages dare be.

We were very lucky in this fight. We were put every time where they thought the rebs would come but were not engaged at all. Our pickets fired some, had one killed & five wounded in our regiment. There was not one touched in Co. H.

I sent my likeness a few days before we marched. I would like to know if you had received it & I also sent Heman $40. Please let me know if he has got that—that is, if you should happen to know. Tell Uncle Hiram that I don’t know any such man. Wall & Hart have gone over to the 154th Regiment. Probably I shall know more about them when they get back. If you can’t read this, I shant wonder any. If you can’t, send it back and maybe my nerves will be a little steadier then & I will try it over again. Tell the girls that I will write them a good long letter when I get a little leisure time. Please write soon. Write all the news. My love and best wishes to all & may God see fit to soon close this terrible, terrible rebellion. It almost makes my blood curdle to think of the battlefield.

Good afternoon. From your ever affectionate son, — Wilber H. Merrill

An artist’s rendering of the Chancellor House prior to the Battle of Chancellorsville

1 The roster of the 154th New York Infantry includes Barzilla Merrill who enlisted at the age of 44 as a private, and his son Alva Cole Merrill who enlisted as a private at the age of 18. Both served in Co. K together. According to a newspaper article, Barzilla was shot twice and died lated in the day on 2 May 1863. His son Alva was killed the following day. The Dayton Historical Society has a copy of the original letter written by Asst. Surgeon C. C. Rugg to Mrs. Merrill dated 30 May 1863 informing her of the death of both her husband and son.

Wilber Merrill as an old man

2 The Chancellor House was burned during the Battle of Chancellorsville. About mid-morning on May 3, General Joseph Hooker was standing on the porch of the Chancellor House when an incoming projectile struck a pillar which broke and knocked the general out. At the climax of the battle on May 3, Federal soldiers tried to crowd into the basement, where the Chancellor women were hiding, to escape the fighting. Lt. Col. Joseph Dickinson of Hooker’s staff routed them out and, later, conveyed the women to safety when the house caught fire.  A letter written by an unidentified oficer in Hancock’s Division to the New York Times and published on 11 May 1863 mentions the Chancellor House as follows: “A large red brick house stood in the front and on the crossroads where our line of battle was formed which was used as the headquarters of Gen. Hooker, but afterward as a hospital. This they shelled and unfortunately set it on fire, causing a fearful scene. However, we succeeded in renoving our own men, The wounded rebels made piteous cries for help, but we were obliged to take care of our own men first.“

Letter 5

Headquarters 44th Regt. N. Y. S. V.
Camp near Falmouth, Va.
May 14th 1863

Remembered Aunt,

Thinking perhaps that you would like to hear from me & perhaps you have not heard from the 154th Regiment, I thought I would give you what little information I can about Uncle B[arzilla] & A’lva]. Giles Johnson was over here today & he says that they lost over half of their regiment. He said there was only 17 left in Co. K. All of the Dayton boys are missing but George Newcomb, George Hubbard, and Fred Wiegand—a Dutchman from the swamp. Giles says that some of the boys saw Uncle Barzilla fall and thought that he was killed. He saw Alva after they had fell back into the woods and he was all right then. He thinks he must of been taken prisoner. I hope nothing worse has befallen him & I hope that Uncle Barzilla may [be] nothing more than wounded. And I trust it may be so yet.

How many homes this war has caused to be homes of mourning—homes that were once happy are now homes of sorrow. They were in a pretty warm place. They were flanked & the troops ahead of them made it a great deal worse for them. It came near being the ruin of the whole army but the 9th Army Corps were sent in and stopped the bloody rebs. This was Saturday night that they broke through. So Sunday morning we were sent out near where the 11th Army Corps broke and we held the lines till the army recrossed the river. Our brigade were not engaged at all. We lost some 9 wounded in our regiment by shell and stray bullets that came whistling over our heads. We were gone from our camp about 10 days. We started with 8 days rations & 63 rounds of cartridges & I tell you, that made a pretty hard load for us to march under.

I presume that up north that you think that we have met with an awful defeat but we don’t feel so here. We think that the rebs have paid pretty dearly for their victory. We were not compelled to fall back up where we were fighting, but George Sedgwick who took the heights & also Fredericksburg was compelled to fall back across the river & I suppose that Hooker thought it best to recross for fear of his communications being cut off. I think the army has full confidence in Hooker as they ever had & that is considerable. I think things look full as favorable for closing the war as they ever have.

I wish that President Lincoln would draft 200 thousand & full up the old regiments to their full standard & just crowd this thing right ahead. If I have got to fight, I wish I could do it everyday till I get through. The ambulances went out across the river day before yesterday and I hope and trust that they may get some tidings of those that are missing. I can’t help but think of the folks at home that have friends missing. My heart aches for them but there is one thing to comfort them & that is to sustain a government that our forefathers fought to hold and sustain.

Hoping this may find you all enjoying good health, I will close by asking you to write soon. Please accept my love and best wishes. Also the rest of the friends. I remain as ever your affectionate nephew, — Wilber H. Merrill

Forty-niners, Gold Mining in California

1849: John Holman to Elizabeth Holman

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The following letter was written by 46 year-old John Holman (1803-1872) to his wife Elizabeth (Henderson) Holman (1807-1849) of Wilbraham, Hampden county, Massachusetts. John and Elizabeth were married in December 1829 and lived in the Boston area for a time before pursuing farming and stock raising in Wlibraham.

This clipping provides the names and home towns of the members of the Suffolk Mining Company

John wrote the letter in April 1849 from Rio de Janiero, Brazil, while enroute to the California gold fields as a member of the Suffolk Mining Company. The members of this company included “a clergyman, physician, lawyer, carpenters, tailors butchers, &c.” Newspaper notices pertaining to the company claim that the “company go on strictly temperance principles and pledge themselves to abstain from gambling and labor on the Sabbath.” The 21 member company was lead by Rev. Hiram Cummings (1810-1887)—an anti-slave lecturer. Other members included: F. E. Baldwin, E. A. Kendall, J. R. Carr, L. Cleaves, Joseph A. Whitmarsh, Humphrey Jameson, Hiram W. Colver, Amasa Bryant, Edwin Faxon, John Gregory, Jr., J. W. Gay, Thomas Emery, A. Sigourney, Leonard F. Rowell, Henry Soule, Peletiah Lawrence Bliss, S. W. Grush, W. H, Tupper, John Holman, S. N. Fuller, M. Bruwer, H. M. Adams, Enoch Burnett, Jr., H. E. Gates, James Gibbens, G. A. Hall, R. C. M. Boynson, F. Z. Boynson, B. White, A. 0. Lindsay, C. T. Mallett, E. B. Kellogg, Henry Hancock, George C. Cargoll, Henrick Cummings, Joseph C. Trescott, G. W. Colby, Albert Cook, Francis S. Frost, Albert Merriam, John Hancock, D. C. Smith, J. Lindsay, S. A. Stimpson, R. G. French, and G. J. Lindsay

The company booked passage aboard aboard the 210-ton barque Drummond which departed Boston on 1 February 1849 and arrived in San Francisco on 1 September 1849 (210 days). John claims to have been keeping a journal though I have not found a record of it. Another passenger, Charles T. Mullett, kept a journal also which has survived and is in the Peabody/Essex Museum in Salem. The enties are brief but mention celebrating Washington’s birthday with a 13 gun salute on 22 February, singing, prayers, and an address by Mr. Lindsay, and a dinner of roast pig, chicken, plum pudding and pies. He lists 21 passengers in the forward cabin, most of whom were members of the Suffolk Mining Company, and 22 passengers on the after cabin. [Forty-Niners Round the Horn, page 319]

John’s letter informs us that the Drummond was in port at Rio de Janiero for some two or three weeks making repairs and that the Captain hoped to sail without stop around the horn all to way to San Francisco. Another member of the Mining Company named Peletiah “Lawrence” Bliss wrote a letter [in the Mass. Historical Society] describing the ships voyage that informs us the Drummond had to make another stop at Lima, Peru, before sailing on to San Francisco. His letter also states that the Drummond departed Rio de Janiero on April 19th “to the spirited song of the generous sailors.”

I could not find any record of John in California or of his success in finding gold once there. I believe his experience turned out to be like so many other 49ers—the journey was not worth the cost, financially or emotionally. He mentions his wife and children but I could not find any children that survived his first marriage to Elizabeth. All of them appearing in census records died young, including the child that Elizabeth was bearing at the time of his departure for California. That child died three days after her birth in mid-July 1849 while John was still enroute, and Elizabeth died in early October the same year. If John had any surviving children by the time he heard the news after his arrival in California, he may have immediately booked passage to return home. He was remarried in March 1851 to his second wife and took up farming once again.

The only obituary notice I could find for John was the following: “John Holman, a well-known citizen of Wilbraham, died in his chair while eating his breakfast, Sunday morning. He exclaimed, “How dark it is growing!” and was dead before assistance could reach him. He was 58 [68] years old.” [The Boston Herald, 21 March 1872]

Transcription

Rio de Janiero
16 April 1849

Dear Elizabeth,

I sent two letters—one to you & one to Mother B. the first opportunity I had after our arrival here two weeks tonight since we arrived in this port. Capt. [Thomas G.] Pierce thinks he shall be ready to leave on Wednesday next, the 18th, but I very much doubt whether he will. He has overhauled all of the rigging, is now a corking & painting. Has some carpenter work to do yet. I believe he intends to have everything in good order before he leaves for the old Horn. He told me yesterday that he did not intend to put in to any port again after leaving this until he arrives at San Francisco. I hope for one that he will not, even if he has to put us on allowance for water. I know he has a plenty of salt junk aboard to last us a year, & a plenty of hard bread. I think sometimes that it is rather hard fare but it is harder where there is  none.

I have great reason to be thankful that I enjoy so good health. I have not yet had a sick hour since we left Boston. There is but few on board that can say this. Should we all live to arrive at the gold region, the climate may agree with others better than myself. I think if we all arrive there in the enjoyment of good health, that there is some prospect of our doing well. There was a whaler arrived in this port yesterday from San Francisco. They bring good news from the gold regions. They were there  three months. The Captain had 50,000 in gold dust, one of the sailors 7000, & the remainder of the crew had about 5000 each.

I cannot think of much to write by way of news. Our company are all in good health except three or four gormondisers that have eaten so much fruit, it has given them the dysentery. The Wilbraham Boys will write for themselves.

Slaves in Brazil carrying “heavy burdens on their heads.”

I must give you a little sketch of what I have seen since I arrived here. I have seen the Emperor & Empress & Mr.  Gorham Parks, the U. S. Consul. I have been several miles out into the country, have seen a number of very fine  plantations. The trees are loaded with oranges. The coffee tree looks very fine; likewise the banana trees. I will give you a good description of Rio in my Journal if I live to return home to old Wilbraham. Likewise of the natives & slaves. The poor slaves have a hard time of it. They are compelled to carry heavy burdens on their heads. They will take a barrel of flour & a large bag of coffee & run through the streets. I suppose there are more than a thousand persons in this  harbor bound for the gold regions, but enough of this.

I keep the two letters you sent me before I left Boston. It affords me much pleasure to read them occasionally. I thank you kindly for the good advice you gave me in them. I hope you will keep your promise you make in them—that is, to pray for me daily. I will do the same for you & our dear children. Please give my love to them & tell them that although I am far away, they are not forgotten by me daily. I hope if I live to arrive at San Francisco I shall hear from you & them. I am well aware of your situation. I hope you will be well provided for during my absence. I hope you  will try & make yourself as happy as you can till we meet again. Please give my love to Father & Mother & all enquiring friends & accept the largest share for yourself.

Your best friend on earth and ever affectionate husband, John Holman

War of 1812

1814: Patrick R. Wybault to Major Thomas Melvill, Jr.

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The following War of 1812 letter was written by Patrick R. Wybault, Deputy Assistant Commissary General—a British agent dispatched by Sir George Prevost, Governor General of Canada, to observe and report on the treatment of British officers being held as Prisoners of War in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and elsewhere.

Maj. Thomas Melvill, Jr. (1776-1845)

Wybault’s letter was addressed to Major Thomas Melvill, Jr. (incidentally also uncle of Herman Melville) who was the Deputy Marshal and Agent for Prisoners in Pittsfield, Mass. In the letter, dateline 23 December 1814 from Pittsfield, Gen. Wybault, profusely thanks Melvill for his multiple kindnessess to his British prisoners. This is not surprising, given that Melvill purposely strove to be hospitable to his prisoners, e.g., even letting them go off the prison grounds at times to work as paid employees around town. For that matter, his efforts were so successful that some British military leaders were concerned that some of their captured officers would prefer staying in America rather than return to their military duties.

The conditions Wybault found at Pittsfield were considerably at odds with those found at Greenbush (see footnotes). The captured POWs were initially kept in a barracks at Pittsfield, then in two barns at the rear of the Cantonment on North Street. Expecting another 1,500 prisoners, Melville, workin with little or no funds from the national government, enlisted Captain Hosea Merrill, a lumber dealer and builder, to construct new quarters. Until they were ready, measures were taken to maintain the prisoners in Cheshire and Stockbridge.

[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner and was transcribed and published on Shared & Shared by express consent.]

Transcription

Pittsfield [Massachusetts]
23rd December 1814

Sir,

Having been informed by several of the British officers stationed at Cheshire on their parole, that there is no longer any accommodation for them in that village, they have inconsequence applied to me to be removed to Stockbridge where there are only a few stationed at present. I have in consequence to request you will allow the seven British officers whose names I have mentioned to you this morning, to proceed and take up their quarters at Stockbridge, should it not interfere with your public arrangements and am led to suppose it will not as Captain Free of the Indian Department has obtained your permission to proceed to Stockbridge in consequence of there being not sufficient quarters at Cheshire.

The British Prisoners of War here now in this depot have expressed to me the many obligations they all feel under for the humane and kind treatment they have received since they were placed under your charge and beg to assure you, I shall not fail to make it known on my return to Canada to his Excellency, Lt. General Sir George Prevost.

I have been particularly requested by the British prisoners to beg you will permit one of their officers to visit them in the prison once a fortnight, which will contribute in a great measure to their comfort and happiness, and , have therefore to request on your receiving Mr. Commissary General Mason’s answer on this subject. You will be pleased to make it known to the Senior British Officers at Stockbridge and Cheshire.

I beg leave to return you my most sincere thanks, as also to Col. [Simon] Larned for the permission you have granted to British Prisoners in allowing them to march into the country once a week a few miles for the benefit of their health. Your allowing them to keep their fires two hours longer than usual will also add much to their comfort. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, — P. R. Wybault, D. A. C. Gen’l

From the Dedham Gazette, 20 January 1815