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.
I could not find an image of Benjamin but here’s one of Henry Baker who served in Co. H, 141st Pennsylvania Infantry (LOC)
The following letters were written by Benjamin M. Dunham (1840-1863), the son of John L. Dunham (1811-1861) and Laura Cheney (1812-1894) of LaPorte, Sullivan county, Pennsylvania. Benjamin enlisted as a private in Co. K, 141st Pennsylvania Infantry. Benjamin enlisted with his older brother Henry R. Dunham (1838-1877) who was made the 1st Lieutenant of the same company for his efforts in raising the company. However, ill health resulted in his resigning is commission in late December 1862 and returning home where he remained until 1864 when he accepted a commission in Co. E, 13th USCT.
According to the regimental history, Benjamin M. Dunham was a young man of more than ordinary ability and character. Said one who knew him: “He was characterized by untiring energy and intense application to his studies. No lesson or duty was ever assigned that he did not grapple with all his powers. He loved study. He was impetuous almost to a fault. Whatever he did, he did with all his might. His moral character was without reproach. He could be relied on implicitly in all he said or did. He was, in ‘ short, one of Nature’s noblemen, an honest man. His dear remains rest in an unknown grave, on hostile ground, and his spirit has gone to God who gave it.” Benjamin was killed at Chancellorsville.
Letter 1
In Camp near Falmouth, Va. February 24th 1863
My dear Mother,
I yesterday received a letter from you full of your anxious fear about me. I hear nothing from you but a constant lament that I am where I am! Nothing but worriment about & fears that I am suffering here where I am. Now let this be enough for you, Mother, as it ought to be for anyone to know that I am doing well, getting over my lameness, and in fact, I have almost gained my flesh again. I have been on duty and took no cold from it & I hope I am none the worse for it. I asked to be put on [duty], it is true, for I knew there were some who would think I did not want to do [my] duty, but I did and so I went on. And as I said before, I am not sorry.
Now, Mother, what more under the light of Heaven could a son write to a Mother that would be of more cheering—I mean real cheering news—than what I have just written to you which is God’s truth and no deception, for I have not now nor never intended to deceive you. I know, Mother, there is news that I could write that might be more pleasing such as that I was coming home soon or something like this. But do I not tell you, Mother, that if I have my health, which I now hope to get, that I had just as leave be in the army here at such a time as this as at home. Maybe you think I lie, but I tell you that I can stand it here from my friends & family, if old grey-headed men who have children & a wife to think of & long to see, for this is the great, the most difficulty the soldiers has to contend against.
Don’t understand me to say that I like the hardships & hard marching of our life. But Mother, I do say in view of all things now, I—a single man [with] no one to depend on me [and] no one to suffer from my loss if should be the case, and no one’s support arising from my earnings—I say I and those in like circumstances are just the ones to be where I am if they have their health.
Mother, be reasonable! Look about you & see if you can point to another Mother who has three able bodied (for such I am now called & hope Henry is) Republican son who have no wives & little ones, no farms & workshops to hinder their being in the army of our Nation. I say, see if you can find another Mother who still has two sons with her at home all the time. Do you think, Mother, to raise three sons and live to see them all grow to be men & still be with them all & live with them all? It is an impossibility & the sooner you make up your mind to be content & satisfied while your boys are all doing well, the better it will be for you and your health and comfort also. You are almost selfish. You wish us with you & by constantly (except when we are fighting perhaps). But you must expect to be obliged to lay aside your own desires to see & pleasure to be with your boys.
I know this is not altogether what you wish me to come home for but you fear I will die here & then you will never see me again. Mother, does it make any difference about our meeting again in this world (for I have no fears for the next). Whether I die here from disease or you die there from a useless worriment, that does no one any good & hastens your own end. Think of this when you are lying awake nights on my account & if you wish to do anything to please me & make me happy and contented here with my lot. Why, don’t fret and worry & lie awake nights for me. Will you do this for me? Will you let this ring in your ears every time your mind turns upon me. Or will you still do that which is the farthest from my wishes of anything you can do? If you will, why then I cannot help it.
Again, my complaint (diarrhea & rheumatism), Mother, is not a thing you need to worry about at all. Why, do you not know that those who die with the chronic diarrhea live for four or five months & that there is no need of men to be sick that long in this army and not be sent home. As to the rheumatism, I do not fear death from that at all. So be contented & satisfied with your lot.
Mother, as to what you say about getting into this army, you did not such thing at all. I came of my own free will & you never asked me to come at all so I want you never to think of that again. Oh! you are a queer woman, Mother, & I hope you will try and exercise a little more your reasoning & relective faculties a little more & your caution a little less and it will be better for us both.
Our Captain has returned & I like him very much indeed so far & all the boys seem to almost worship him. We have just received orders to be ready to move over into Ward’s Brigade & the 4th Maine is to come into our Brigade. It is but a few rods between us. The trade is from some cause, I know not what. Time will tell.
Brewster, I think, will come home on a furlough but I do not know whether he can get it or not. Hank Gunn too, if he’s able. I shall try and get one if I can but I have little hopes as there is so many ahead of me. Do not build up any hopes of my coming home this winter.
An J. H. Winslow silver watch with engraving of soldier, perhaps like the one Benjamin purchased.
I yesterday received returns from my little investment (J. H. Winslow and Co., of New York) and I have me a larger patent lever silver watch and gold chain for which I have been offered $20 in cash besides selling some ten dollars worth of tickets to the boys and keeping for myself a ticket that calls for a watch worth fifteen dollars & ever so many other tickets calling for articles valued at eight and ten dollars. In fact, Mother, I have an agency here from which I can make double my wages & do it just as honestly as anything else.
So be content. Be satisfied & do not for God’s sake, kill yourself by worrying yourself about me. Have you any help yet? I will send you a circular of J. H. Winslow & you can see what I am doing. — B. M. Dunham
Letter 2
Stoneman’s Switch in May 1863.
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Keith Fleckner and was offered for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
In Camp near Stoneman’s Switch Wednesday, April 8th 1863
My Dear Mother–
I have at last succeeded in getting you a picture which I hope will be satisfactory to all. I think if you compare this with those taken before I left home, you will find I am still “the same old six pence.” I have the locket filled which I think will be—or at least I hope will be—satisfactory to you also. I have been asked by several for pictures and all want photographs which I cannot get here in the army as there is no one who takes them on this side of the Potomac that I know of. The only way I can think of to get them is to send this to [ ] with Edwin and let Mr. Wood copy it. Then when you get a negative, I suppose you know you can get as many as you choose & give them to whom you choose. If you think this one not large enough, I will get a half-sized picture and let that be used in its stead.
Mother, have you received that package of old letters I sent home some time ago but have not heard from them. I do hope they are not lost for I value them too highly to lose them now. I wrote to Edwin day before yesterday. Have you received that yet? I have just received your letter of March 31st also. I am very glad to say it was the most encouraging thing I have had for many a day. It cheered my feelings very much & I hope I will not run to enquirer “if there is any letters for me” very often without being answered in the affirmative.
Well Mother, I have seen Honest Old Abe, President of these Dis-United States and I consider it one of the greatest treats I have had since I left Little Sullivan. As you are aware if you have read my letter to Edwin, this Brigade is on picket for three days and I was left behind for camp guard. I was relieved yesterday and had the day to myself, so I took a french furlough and went over to Stoneman’s Switch after the pictures I now send to you. While there, I heard the awfullest cheering and shouting heard in all my life and was soon told that the President was with Hooker reviewing the Army, or rather riding around from regiment to regiment as they were drawn up in line to receive them. Out I went and took across the fields on double quick to where I saw a long line of troops drawn up. It was quite a piece but on I went, through mud sometimes nearly to the top of my big boots, but I got there just in time to have him ride close along side of me. He was followed by General Hooker & staff, and one battalion of Rush’s Lancers. (I believe they called them Rush’s Lancers). He was then, at the time I saw him, just reviewing Berdan’s Sharpshooters.
I then turned and went back, and as I crossed the road, I looked behind me and saw him & [ ] coming at a full gallop. I stopped—there was four or six with me—and they did the same. They all fell back from the road and said, “Oh, don’t stand so close! Don’t stand so close.” But I didn’t run all this distance to spoil it all now, so I stood in front and when the honest old fellow came along, I gave him a military salute and he returned it with all the grace imaginable. Three cheers for our President was then proposed, and if I didn’t give my old Methodist lungs rent then, I never did. It raised Old Abe’s hat right off his head and he smiled as pleasantly as you please. It did me good I can tell you, and I guess if he ever hears me cheer again, he will know he has heard me before. When he took off his hat, I could see he looked for all the world just like the pictures of him. He rode a very beautiful horse on which was a very handsome saddle but not a very handsome man. He wore a tall black hat which was put on the back of his head and made him look like an old farmer by the side of the many dashing looking exquisites who call themselves officer who followed him. I saw old Gen. Hooker and a number of other Major Generals I did not know.
I began to think Mother from appearances that we are not agoing to be moved from here right off. I do not think now we will move before the last of this month and perhaps not before June or July owing to the weakening of our army by the leaving of many troops. Both the nine-months men from Pennsylvania and the two-year men from New York leave about the same time which will weaken us until their places are supplied by other troops which will take some time to do—two or three months at least. I will put this in the mail and the locket the next if I cannot get it done up for this one. If I do, I will send it in this. Sam sits here as I write and wishes me to say that he sends his best wishes to you and all the family. I wish to be remembered to all who inquire after me, especially to Mrs. Finch. Tell her I will write to her in a day or two or as soon as I can find time. I wish Aunt Annie would write to me. Has she forgotten me or has she no time to do so as I hope all will write often.
The following letter was written by George W. Westfall (1842-1923) of Newark, New York, who enlisted for two years as a corporal on 10 May 1861 in Co. I, 17th New York Infantry. He mustered out of the regiment as a private in June 1863 and then saw subsequent service in the 1st New York Veteran Cavalry.
George was the son of David Westfall (1814-1857) and Laura Daniels (1820-1873) of Arcadia, Wayne county, New York. He wrote the letter to Mary Catherine Phillips (1844-1941) whom he would later marry and with whom he would move to Hillsdale county, Michigan, after the war and raise at least four children.
17th New York Infantry at Hall’s Hill, Virginia; Butterfield’s Brigade; Fitz John Porter’s Division
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Greg Herr and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Camp Butterfield Hall’s Hill, Virginia February 8, 1862
Dear Friend Katie,
I received your letter last night and was glad to hear from you. We are all well but A. Westfall and W. Brink. They have got bad colds so they can’t speak loud. You said that Benny Brink was a coming down here. If he has not started, you tell him to come and see us. Tell him that we are on Hall’s Hill. He can’t help but find us if he enquires for the 17th New York Regiment. They all know where we are around here. I should like to [see] Benny if he comes down here. I will see him too if I have to run away.
You said that the talk was up there that we was a going to have a battle here soon. That is the talk here, The sooner that we do have a battle, the better for I am tired of staying here penned up in camp. You said that you had good sleighing up there. Last Sunday we had some snow and the [ ] yet. The men went out on Monday morning and rolled snow balls and built a snow fort. They was eight hundred out and worked all the forenoon and in the afternoon we had the men divided up in two parties and put one party in the fort and the other party outside of the fort. They was eight hundred out in the whole regiment besides the officers and he had them snow ball and see which party could whip. I was in the party outside of the fort. We whipped the other part and draw them out of the fort. I got one black eye and was glad to get off with that. It was the biggest snow ball fight that I ever saw. It was in the Washington paper the next day. We have some good times here.
When the Colonel gets the regiment out and have a good time a playing ball and I tell you, we have some hard times. I shall have to close by saying goodbye. From Corp. George W. Westfall
When the Civil War began in 1861, 51 year-old Thomas Humphrey Crow (1809-1865) was a prominent merchant in Berryville, Clarke county, Virginia. He had been married to Frances Amelia Shepherd (1811-1879) for nearly thirty years and their youngest child was at least ten years old. His oldest living son was Henry Clay Crow (1846-1865). But the war disrupted Thomas’s household and the lives of most of their neighbors. Union and Confederate troops passed through, bivouacked, and fought in Berryville so many times that by 1865, the town was in ruins.
Thomas was too old to pick up a musket himself but he led the county’s war effort by serving as the Chief Commissary, collecting taxes from its citizens to procure arms, tents, wagons and provisions for the volunteers who offered their services to the State of Virginia—one of whom would be his 16 year-old son Henry Clay Crow (1846-1865). Of course these commissary duties that Thomas engaged in were considered “treasonous” by the U. S. Government (having never recognized the Confederate States of America) and he was eventually rounded up with other “traitorous” citizens and sent to Fort McHenry where he was held until December 1862, 1 probably with an admonition not to engage in further such activities.
Thomas must have continued to wear on Gen. [Robert H.] Milroy like an ill-fitting shoe, however, for the following order—issued just a month before the Battle of Gettysburg—informs us that from his headquarters in Winchester, Gen. Milroy decided to have Thomas and his family exiled further “South.” Apparently he didn’t care where so long as he was gone from the district he was responsible for.
I haven’t learned where Thomas took his family but he did not live to see war’s end. He died on 14 February 1865 at the age of 55 and was buried in the Grace Episcopal Church Yard in Berryville. Census records indicate that Thomas owned 9 slaves prior to the war.
A Virginia family exiled further South during the Civil War
Transcription
Headquarters 2nd Vision, 8th Army Corps Winchester, Virginia June 2, 1863
Colonel,
You will send Mr. [Thomas H.] Crow living in Berryville through the lines immediately with his family. Send then South not to return during the war, under pain of being treated as deserters.
They will be permitted to take such articles of apparel and furniture as will be necessary to their comfort. A guard will be placed over the house and furniture left to prevent its being destroyed or removed until the Government Agent comes to receive it. An inventory must be taken of the effects left.
By command of Maj. Gen. Milroy
(signed) Jno. O. Cravens, Maj., & A.A.G.
Col. A[andrew] T[homas] McReynolds, Commanding 3rd Brigade Headquarters 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 8th A. C. Berryville, Va., June 2nd 1863
Official Jas. H. [ ], AAAG
1 It’s not clear when Thomas Crow was arrested and taken to Fort McHenry but a newspaper notice appearing in the Alexandria Gazette on Friday, December 12, 1862, states: “By order of the Secretary of War, Thomas H. Crow and William H. Carter, citizens of Berryville, Clarke county, Virginia, have been released from Fort McHenry and returned to their homes.”
The following 1863 diary was sent to me for transcription. I was informed the first part of the diary was kept by a member of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry who had not yet been unidentified. After some effort, I was able to identify the author as 40 year-old John T. Goldsmith (1823-1904), a carpenter by trade, who mustered into the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry in November 1862 and deserted the regiment in June 1864 at Cold Harbor, Virginia. The portion of the diary written by Goldsmith can be found at 1863 Diary of John T. Goldsmith, 2nd Rhode Island Infantry.
Walter Augustus Weddin at right with mustache (Courtesy of F. M. Polston)
A notation of the inside cover of the diary suggests that the diary was picked up on the battlefield during the Battle of Chancellorsville. Subsequent diary entries reveal that they were made by Walter Augustus (“Gus”) Weddin (1840-1902), a member of Manly’s Battery, or Co. A, 1st North Carolina Artillery. This battery was commanded by Captain Basil C. Manly, the son of the former governor of North Carolina. By the summer of 1863, the battery consisted of two Napoleons and two 3-inch Blakely Rifles. In the Battle of Chancellorsville, Manly’s Battery was attached to Cabell’s Artillery Battalion in Lafayette McLaws’ Division and factored heavily in defending Lee’s rear at Salem Church. In fact, Manly posted one gun immediately adjacent to the church. Later in the day, Manly’s battery fired at the retreating enemy passing over the Rappahannock on a pontoon bridge.
Gus was born in Wake county, North Carolina, where he resided as a professor and enlisted at age 21 on 8 May 1861. He mustered in as a farrier but was promoted to Corporal in 1862. He suffered a gunshot wound to the arm on 9 June 1864 but returned to duty in mid-September and was present and accounted for through December 1864. After the war he married Kate Levy (1846-1908) of Raleigh and became one of the proprietors of the Weddin & Bailey Stage Line to Asheville. When that business was replaced by the railroads, Weddin ran the Eagle Hotel and then became superintendent of the Greystone Quarry.
The Goldsmith/Weddin 1863 Diary
One of the artillerists in Manly’s Battery was a New York native named Henry Ellis Thain. The story of his service in the battery and of having a “Confederate Medal of Honor” conferred on him can be found at the following web page along with some very interesting material about the battery. See Private Henry Ellis Thain.
[Note: This diary is from the collection of Rob Morgan and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
JUNE 1863
Monday, June 1, 1863—In camp near the Poe River. Nothing transpired of importance. Went fishing. Caught a fine mess.
Tuesday, June 2, 1863—In camp near Poe River. Nothing transpired of importance only we received three days rations in advance. We expected orders at any moment. Called on Mrs. Blackley. Taken tea with them.
Wednesday, June 3, 1863—Marching orders. Left camp at sunset. Ordered to or near Chancellorsville. Marched 7 miles & went into park. Remained there until daylight.
Thursday, June 4, 1863—Marched 25 miles near the Rapidan. Went in park. Remained there until the morning.
Friday, June 5, 1863—Left camp at ten o’clock. Went one mile to better grass. Remained in camp until morning.
Saturday, June 6, 1863—Left camp at eleven o’clock. Ordered to Stevensburg. Got in camp at 10 o’clock. Remained there until morning.
Sunday, June 7, 1863—Received orders to march back to Culpeper Court House. Was out towards Sperryville on the turn pike 3 miles. Went in camp [illegible].
Monday, June 8, 1863—Remained in camp. All quiet. Many troops passed.
Tuesday, June 9, 1863—Fighting commenced at Beverly’s Ford soon after sunrise. Cavalry engaged. Our boys run back. Our battery was ordered off. Formed line of battle after marching through Culpeper. Advanced in sight of Stevensburg. Remained in position till near night. Went in park for the night.
Wednesday, June 10, 1863—Remained in camp all day. Reported that the Yankees had recrossed the river. All quiet during the day. We received orders to hook up to move camp. The order was countermanded.
Thursday, June 11, 1863—Still in camp. Nothing of importance transpired. No orders.
Friday, June 12, 1863—Received marching orders. Hooked up. Remained in park all night. Orders countermanded. All quiet along the lines.
Saturday, June 13, 1863—Went down near Stevensburg to graze the horses. Yankees crossed the river near Brandy Station. March back at double quick. Hooked up and moved out in a field. Moved from there to a new camp.
Sunday, June 14, 1863—Remained in camp all day. All quiet. Attended prayer meeting conducted by Mr. Oliver. Spoke a great deal of [ ].
Monday, June 15, 1863—Received marching orders. Left camp at 9 o’clock a.m. Marched through Culpeper. Very warm day. Went out ten miles on the turnpike road. Camp on Ha____ River.
Tuesday, June 16, 1863—Reveille at 2 o’clock a.m. Marched at daylight. Passed Sperryville at eleven o’clock. Camped near Washington all night. Passed through Woodville before we got to Sperryville. Taken breakfast with Mrs. Williams.
Wednesday, June 17, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Left camp at 4 a.m. Passed through Washington. Got to Gaines’s Crossroads at ten o’clock a.m. and waited there for our Division. Very warm/ Camped on Fishers [Farm?].
Thursday, June 18, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Left at 7 a.m.. Marched 12 miles. Very warm. great many sun stricken men. Got to Piedmont at 5 p.m. Camped for the night. Pleasant rain.
Friday, June 19, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Cloudy but very pleasant. Marched at 7. Got to Paris at 9 o’clock at the top of the Blue Ridge. Got to the top, rested under a large Poplar [tree] where three counties joined (Fauquier, Loudoun and Clark). Remained all day. Cold and rainy. Ashby’s Gap.
Alfred Waud’s sketch of Ashby Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The point marking the border between Fauquier and Loudoun counties was originally marked by a “double-bodied poplar tree standing in or near the middle of the thoroughfare of Ashby’s Gap on the top of the Blue Ridge.”
Saturday, June 20, 1863—Still on the ridge. Very cold & rainy. Clouds very low. Orders to leave at 3 p.m. Got to the Shenandoah river. Cross the river. Very deep. Camped for the night. Still cloudy.
Sunday, June 21, 1863—Reveille at daylight. Left camp at 8 a.m. Turned back. Threw up breastworks. Expected a fight. Taken position on bank. Through out part of our force. Heavy fighting with cavalry beyond Paris.
Monday, June 22, 1863—Reveille at daylight. Ordered across the river. Taken position on the Blue Ridge. Yankees fell back. No fighting up to 2 p.m. Ordered to recross the river. Camp near ford for the night.
Tuesday, June 23, 1863—Reveille at daylight. Nothing transpired until evening. Received orders to cook up three days rations. Enemy falling back. Reported by cavalry.
Wednesday, June 24, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Marched at 4. Passed Millwood, very pretty village, taking the Pike Road to Berryville. Very pretty town. Taking the Smithfield Pike. Left the Charlestown to our right. Passed Summer Points on the Harpers Ferry-Winchester Railroad. Camped for the night.
Thursday, June 25, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Marched at 4 a.m. Passed Smithsburg, very pretty little place. Went on, struck the W&M Pike. Passed through Darkesville one mile [and then] rested. Marched on through Martinsburg. Very pretty town. Came out one mile & camped for the night.
Friday, June 26, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Marched at 4 a.m. Came to a crossing of the Potomac at Williamsport. Came out a mile and rested. Had whiskey. Cold and rainy day. Came on to Hagerstown. Quite a large place. Great many secesh. Came out one mile [and] camped for the night on the Frederick City Turnpike, Maryland. Whiskey killed 50 yards around the corner.
Saturday, June 27, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Left Hagerstown at 9 o’clock a.m. Meet a great many friends. Went in Pennsylvania at 12 M. Received very cordially at Middleburg. Came past Greencastle [ ] came on towards Chambersburg. Passed through Marion. Camped [with]in 4 and a half miles of Chambersburg.
Sunday, June 28, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Left camp at 7 a.m. Came through Chambersburg. All Union. Very pretty place. Came out mile and camped for the night. Population about 8 thousand.
Monday, June 29, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Remained in camp all day.
Tuesday, June 30, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Marched at 7 a.m. Passed through Fayetteville at 9 a.m. on the Baltimore Turnpike. Camped near Fayetteville at the foot of the Schuylkill Mountain.
JULY 1863
Wednesday, July 1, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Orders to cook up 3 days rations. Left camp at 2 p.m.. Passed the ruins [of the] Catskill Iron Works at the foot of the Catskill M. Came down at Cashtown. Heavy fighting near Gettysburg. Came on through New Salem. Came on near Gettysburg to camp. Yankees driven 5 miles. Reported 30 pieces of artillery & three thousand prisoners. Rainy.
Thursday, July 2, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Went to the hospital. Saw Capt. [Campbell Tredwell] Iredell [of Co. C, 47th North Carolina Infantry]. Right arm shot off. 1 Came on to battlefield. Went in line of battle. Marched to the right. Marched back to center. Went in action about half past 2. Battery fought till night. Lost one man killed—W. F. Ramsey, 7 wounded, 8 horses wounded & killed. 2
1 Captain Campbell T. Iredell of Co. C, 47th North Carolina Infantry had his right arm shot off by a shell in the first days fight but lingered for nearly two days before dying. He was 27 at the time of his death and as far as is known, his remains were never recovered and no record exists, except for the fact that he was buried on the Polly Farm. He may still to this day rest where the “green grass waves between thy clay and heaven.”See Their Stories. 2 Capt. Manly’s after action report for 2 July 1863 reads: “When we arrived within a few hundred yards of the crossroads mentioned above, we discovered that the enemy held it with a large force of infantry and artillery, which opened upon us immediately. We forwarded into line by a right oblique, and came into battery on an eminence a short distance to the right of the road on which we were advancing, at a distance of 700 yards from the enemy’s batteries. From this position we engage the enemy at 2.30 p.m., giving and receiving a very heavy fire for several hours, until at last, with the assistance of other troops, we succeeded in driving them from their position. During the evening, we advanced by a left oblique to the position left by the enemy in a large peach orchard. During the night, I was ordered to resume the position I had occupied during the afternoon.“
Entries on 1 & 2 July 1863
Friday, July 3, 1863—Still in line of battle. Fought all day. Fell back to our former position. Severe shelling. Rifle Section engaged. Lost three men wounded, 7 horses killed & wounded. 3 Heavy rain.
3 Capt. Manly’s after action report for 3 July 1863 reads: “On Friday, July 3, at 5 a.m., I was ordered to carry my rifled guns to the position occupied by the enemy’s batteries the day previous, leaving my smooth-bores in the same position occupied on Thursday, to check the advance in that direction. I accordingly placed my rifles in battery beyond and to the left of the crossroads, from which point the enemy’s line of artillery was 2,000 yards distant. At a given signal, we engaged the enemy from this position, my guns firing slowly and with deliberation. About 3 p.m. my supply of ammunition was exhausted, but in a short time I received another supply, and was enabled again to engage the enemy, which we did, keeping the fire until 7.30 p.m., at which time I received orders to withdraw my guns, as our troops had carried that line.“
Saturday, July 4, 1863—Still in line of battle. Enemy attempted to charge our batteries. We opened & drove them back in gallant style. Sharp skirmishing all day. Rumors of falling back. Fell back at 8 o’clock p.m. Enemy also fell back. 4 Rainy.
4 Capt. Manly’s after action report for 4 July 1863 reads: “On Saturday, July 4, I occupied my original position of Thursday, 2nd. At about 10 a.m. the enemy advanced with about three regiments toward our position. At about 1,200 yards distance we opened on them with beautiful effect, causing them to report that fact to their comrades in rear in great haste and disorder. They made no other advance on our position during that day. That night we withdrew from the vicinity of Gettysburg, and marched toward Hagerstown, Md.“
Entries on 3 & 4 July, 1863
Sunday, July 5, 1863—Struck the Fairfield Road at the Black Horse Tavern. Very rainy. Roads awful muddy. Seen 35 hundred prisoners come through Fairfield town. Our loss in the 3 days fight in Battalion was 67 horses & 65 men. Struck the Mountains. Got to the top about 10 o’clock at night. At Monterrey, great waiting place. Came down at Waterloo, Rainy.
Lee’s army in retreat from Gettysburg
Monday, July 6, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Left Monterrey Springs at 8 a.m. Came down the mountain. saw good many wagons destroyed by the enemy. Passed Waterloo. Came on by Ringgold Crossroads. Came on through Leitersburg. Heavy firing towards Hagerstown. Cavalry fighting. Came on to Hagerstown. Saw some dead Yankees where they fought through town. Our boys run them several miles. Camped for the night. Rainy.
Tuesday, July 7, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Ordered to hook up to meet a cavalry dash. Orders countermanded. Still in camp. Rainy morning.
Wednesday, July 8, 1863—Still in camp. No orders. Still rainy. Faired off about noon. Received orders at 8 o’clock p.m. Left at 9. Marched down the Boonsboro Road to the Antietam river. Cavalry fight near Boonsboro Gap. Beautiful night.
Thursday, July 9, 1863—Went in position at the bridge at the edge of Funkstown. Remained there all night.
Friday, July 10, 1863—Still in position. Orders to cross at 8 o’clock. Heavy fighting beyond town. Went in position and commenced firing at the edge of town [Funkstown]. Exhausted all our ammunition. Came to the rear. Loss C. Harwood seriously through the stomach. [George] Bridgers [ ] on horse killed. 5 J. H. Dunn [taken] prisoner. 6 Came to the old camp. [ ] to General Pickett.
5 Capt. Manly’s after action reports reads: “On Friday, July 10, I was ordered to cross the Antietam, and go to the assistance of General Stuart’s cavalry. We engaged the enemy at about 6 a.m. near the suburbs of Funkstown, and fought them from that position until late in the afternoon, compelling their artillery to change position twice during the engagement.” 6 J. H. Dunn was taken prisoner at Funkstown on 10 July 1863 and taken to Baltimore, then Point Lookout. He was exchanged on 17 March 1864.
Saturday, July 11, 1863—Left camp at 7 a.m. Came to Williamsport. waited for orders. Ordered out to park on the Potomac near the town. Charley Harwood died about 5 o’clock p.m. No orders.
Sunday, July 12, 1863—Still in camp near Williamsport. Went over to town to bury Charley. Buried him in the Catholic Church yard. No orders. Fighting up on river. The enemy repulsed three times. Rainy.
Monday, July 13, 1863—Still at Williamsport. Rainy. George Bridges died about 1 o’clock. Firing on the line towards Hagerstown. Orders to cross the river at 4 p.m. Left camp 6 p.m. Very rainy & muddy. Got over about 9 o’clock. Ordered to Martinsburg. Went several miles and camped for the night.
Tuesday, July 14, 1863—Left camp at 7 a.m. Came on through Martinsburg two miles and camped near the Big Springs. Heavy fight with [ ‘s] Brigade. General P. killed. Reported.
Wednesday, July 15, 1863—Left camp at 7 a.m. Came on through Darkesville on to Bunker Hill. Ordered in camp for the night. Fine day.
Thursday, July 16, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Orders to join our Battalion. Left camp at one o’clock p.m. Very pleasant. Arrived at 3 p.m. Taken very sick in the morning. Heavy firing in the direction of Martinsburg.
Friday, July 17, 1863—Rainy today. Severe pain in my head & neck. Nothing of importance going on.
Saturday, July 18, 1863—Received orders to move camp. Left at 2 p.m. Came on towards Winchester several miles & camped for the night.
Sunday, July 19, 1863—Camped in a beautiful grove. Orders to be ready to move. Didn’t leave today. Received a letter from home. Wrote letter.
Monday, July 20, 1863—Reveille at daylight. Orders to leave at 7 o’clock. Left at half past 7 a.m. Ordered to Berryville. Came through Bucktown on to Berryville from there to Millwood. Got in camp at 7 p.m. Yankees occupied Ashby Gap at 12 o’clock.
Tuesday, July 21, 1863—Reveille at half past three thirty. Left camp at 8. Passed through Millwood. Took the Winchester Turnpike. Left the pike. Came on to White Post. On out to Winchester & F. R. Pike on towards F. R. Camped on Crooked Run.
Wednesday, July 22, 1863—Reveille at 3 o’clock. Marched at light. Came down to the Shenandoah River. Crossed on the pontoon bridge at the fork. Came on through Front Royal. Came up the mountain through Chester Gap 5 miles up. Had a cavalry fight coming down. Run them back. Came on to Gaines’s Crossroads. Got into camp at 11 o’clock at night.
Thursday, July 23, 1863—Reveille at daylight. Left camp at eleven o’clock. Came on towards Cupeper. Camped near the Hazel River. Rained.
Friday, July 24, 1863—Reveille at half past 3. Marched at daylight. Came on to Culpeper. Out mile and camped. Very warm.
Saturday, July 25, 1863—Beautiful morning. Orders to was the gun carriages & rub up the pieces. Pleasant rain after dusk.
Sunday, July 26, 1863—Pleasant morning. Nothing transpired of importance. Wrote a letter to G. L. T. & received a letter G. L. T.
Monday, July 27, 1863—In camp. Nothing of importance transpired. Rain in the afternoon. No orders.
Tuesday, July 28, 1863—In camp. Nothing of importance transpired. Thunder storm & heavy rain. No orders.
Wednesday, July 29, 1863—In camp. No orders. Pleasant rain.
Thursday, July 30, 1863—In camp. Nothing of importance transpired. Light showers of rain. Yankee General Meade’s Headquarters at Warrenton.
Friday, July 31, 1863—In camp. No orders. Signal gun heard towards the enemy just at light. Eleven o’clock received orders for two days rations. Commenced cooking. No sleep for the night.
AUGUST 1863
Saturday, August 1, 1863—Reveille at 2:30 o’clock. Orders to march at 4 a.m. Harnessed, hooked up, orders countermanded. Heavy firing towards Stevensburg. Cavalry fighting. Enemy drove ours 2 miles.
Sunday, August 2, 1863—In camp. All quiet today.
Monday, August 3, 1863—Reveille at 3 o’clock. Orders to be in readiness at daylight. Moved at 8 o’clock. Came out and struck the Rapidan road. Stopped to rest on the battlefield of Cedar Run. Came across to country toward Summersville. Crossed the Rapidan at Summersville ford. Camp for the night.
Tuesday, August 4, 1863—Very warm. Heavy storm of wind and rain. Some firing towards Fredericksburg. All quiet along our lines up to this time—half past 2 o’clock. No orders. All quiet.
Wednesday, August 5, 1863—Reveille at sunrise. Orders to cook up three days rations & be ready to march at 8 o’clock. Came of 20 miles of Fredericksburg. Camped for the night.
Thursday, August 6, 1863—In camp. No orders. All quiet except slight firing towards Stevensburg.
Friday, August 7, 1863—In camp. No orders. Went foraging. Got some hay. Pleasant rain.
Saturday, August 8, 1863—ve camp. Left at camp at 5 o’clock p.m. Came 4 miles. went in park. Very pleasant camp.
Sunday, August 9, 1863—No orders. All quiet. Quite warm.
Monday, August 10, 1863—No orders. All quiet. Very warm.
Tuesday, August 11, 1863—All quiet today. Orders to report to General Kershaw. Some talk of moving towards Spotsylvania Court House. Very warm. Moved at 5 p.m. Came to [ ] Church. Camp near the church.
Wednesday, August 12, 1863—In camp. No orders. Went fishing. Catched a fine mess. very warm. Rain.
Thursday, August 13, 1863—Still in camp. No orders. Very warm. Rainy.
Friday, August 14, 1863—No orders. Very warm. Rainy.
Saturday, August 15, 1863—All quiet. No orders. Warm.
Sunday, August 16, 1863—Orders to hold ourselves in readiness to move. Firing towards Fredericksburg.
Monday, August 17, 1863—No orders. Very warm.
Tuesday, August 18, 1863—No orders. All quiet. Very warm. Orders to grant furloughs.
Wednesday, August 19, 1863—No orders. All quiet.
Thursday, August 20, 1863—All quiet. No orders., Very warm.
Friday, August 21, 1863—All quiet. Fast and pray. Went to church. Orders to leave at 2 o’clock.
Saturday, August 22, 1863—Reveille 2 a.m. Marched at 3. Came 12 miles. Halted for the night.
Sunday, August 23, 1863—Reveille at 2 a.m. Marched at 3 a.m. Came 10 miles. Went in camp. Expected to stay some time here.
Monday, August 24, 1863—All quiet. No orders, Rain in the evening.
Tuesday, August 25, 1863—All quiet. No news of interest. Pleasant rain in the evening.
Wednesday, August 26, 1863—All quiet. Very pleasant. Cool. Wind. No news of interest.
Thursday, August 27, 1863—All quiet. No orders. Beautiful day.
Friday, August 28, 1863—All quiet. No orders. Very cool day.
Saturday, August 29, 1863—Orders to hold ourselves in readiness to move. Yankee force advancing on Richmond. Two of our brigades ordered to Richmond. Wofford’s & Semmes’s orders were countermanded when around at Bumpass’s Station.
Sunday, August 30, 1863—Beautiful day. Went to (Good Hope) to church. Heard a splendid sermon from the 68 Psalms. Came to camp. Went to prayer meeting in Kershaw’s Brigade.
Monday, August 31, 1863—No orders. All quiet today. Very cool.
SEPTEMBER 1863
Tuesday, September 1, 1863—Very quiet today.
Wednesday, September 2, 1863—No orders. All quiet today. Very pleasant.
Monday, September 7, 1863—Pleasant today. Orders to cook up three days rations. Orders to move at daylight.
Tuesday, September 8, 1863—Left camp at half past five. Very warm. Camped on Butler farm near the railroad.
Wednesday, September 9, 1863—Left camp at 7 a.m. Came down to Hanover Junction. Parked on the railroad.
Thursday, September 10, 1863—Great many troops being transported on the roads. Our battery still in park on the railroad.
Friday, September 11, 1863—All quiet today. Still waiting for transportation. Went on guard at Mrs. Saunders’.
Saturday, September 12, x1863—Corporals Weddin and Brooks are detailed to go to Chesterfield after some clothing. Camp Manly Battery, September 12, ’63. Granted, — B. B. Guion, in command. Went to Chesterfield Taken dinner with Mrs. Burns.
Sunday, September 13, 1863—No transportation yet. Rumored that the artillery is not going out West. Went visiting to the 15th N. C. Regiment.
Monday, September 14, 1863—Orders for going out West is countermanded. Received orders to report at Gordonsville.
Tuesday, September 15, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Left camp at daylight. Very pleasant morning. Came on near Villa Green. Camped for the night.
Wednesday, September 16, 1863—Reveille at 3 a.m. Left camp at 4 a.m. Came on to Louisa Court House. Camp for the night past Collinsville.
Thursday, September 17, 1863—Left Louisa C. H. at daylight. Came near Gordonsville. Heavy rain. Dr. Wall’s farm.
Friday, September 18, 1863—Very rainy. No orders.
Saturday, September 19, 1863—No orders, Rainy. Reported that the army was going to fall back.
Sunday, September 20, 1863—No orders. Very pretty day.
Monday, September 21, 1863—All quiet. No orders.
Tuesday, September 22, 1863—Heavy firing towards Liberty Mills. Cavalry engaged. Our men driven back. Received reinforcements. Held them. Own ground. Our loss 70 in all. Received orders to move.
Wednesday, September 23, 1863—Left at daylight. Came our near Gordonsville. Went in park. Run around there all day.
Thursday, September 24, 1863—Still in camp near Gordonsville. All quiet beyond the mountains.
OCTOBER 1863
Thursday, October 8, 1863—No orders. Samuel Snow and Nock West returned from home. Joseph Harly came with them.
Friday, October 9, 1863—Orders to move to t he front. Hooked up. Orders countermanded. Henry & Batte [?] left us [ ]. Whole army moved forward.
Saturday, October 10, 1863—Sharp skirmishing in the front. Good many cavalry came to Gordonsville.
Sunday, October 11, 1863—All quiet today. No news from the front. Went to work on quarters. Put up very comfortable house.
Monday, October 12, 1863—Reported that the army have passed Springville. Our army marching altogether through the woods to avoid being seen from the heights occupied by the enemy.
Tuesday, October 13, 1863—But little news from the front. Some prisoners passed Gordonsville. Heavy rain.
Wednesday, October 14, 1863—Heavy fight near Bristoe Station. [John Roger] Cooke’s & [William Whedbee] Kirkland’s Brigades engaged. Our loss near a thousand on our side. Enemy loss also heavy. Lieut. Boone wounded. General Cooke wounded in the thigh. General Kirkland in the arm. Heavy rain.
Thursday, October 15, 1863—Heavy storm of wind and rain. Enemy reported to fall back to Centerville.
Friday, October 16, 1863—No fighting as can be heard today. Ambulance committee went on from Richmond.
Saturday, October 17, 1863—Some wounded arrived here today.
Sunday, October 18, 1863—Good many wounded came down today. Saw good many friends among them. Very pleasant day. Went to church in afternoon.
Monday, October 19, 1863—Wounded still coming. Saw Lieut. Boone wounded through the right arm near the shoulder. No news from the front—only Hill’s Corps reported falling back to the Rapidan river.
Tuesday, October 20, 1863—no news reliable today. Rumors say Meade is advancing to [ ].
Wednesday, October 21, 1863—No news from the front. Very cool. Went to depot. Saw some acquaintances from North Carolina.
Thursday, October 22, 1863—No news today from the front. Saw three hundred prisoners that came down on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad. General [Stephen Dodson] Ramseur visited our camp on his way home. Looked very well.
Tuesday, October 27, 1863—Went out foraging with two wagons to Morris’s farm. Very cool today. The cavalry had a skirmish yesterday. One hundred of the enemy killed. A great many wounded. Our loss killed ten, 30 wounded.
NOVEMBER 1863
Sunday, November 8, 1863—Nothing of interest today. Very stormy. Very cold. Windy. Cloudy. Fighting up on the line. Two of our Brigade reported captured except 6 hundred. Hooks and Hayes. Our forces fell back to Rapidan.
Monday, November 9, 1863—Cold and windy. Heavy snow commenced at 2 o’clock and stopped during the night.
Friday, November 13, 1863—Very pleasant today. Very dull in camp. Went to Gordonsville after corn with the wagons. received orders to leave camp early on Saturday morning.
Saturday, November 14, 1863—Left camp at 8 a.m. Came out two miles to the right of Orange Court House. Camp in an old field. Rainy. Very pleasant. Camped near a camp where we camped one year two months before. Awful thunder storm lasted all night.
Sunday, November 15, 1863—Thunder showers until 7 a.m. Faired off very pretty morning over head. Heavy cannonading towards Germanna Ford on the Rapidan.
Germanna Ford on the Rapidan River
Tuesday, November 17, 1863—Very cool morning. Some rain early. Went to Orange C. H. Went over to Kirkland’s Brigade. Saw several acquaintances…
Wednesday, November 18, 1863—Sharp skirmishing in front. Went to Orange C. H. with the wagon after forage. Dreamed of being home again 4th night in secession.
Sunday, November 22, 1863—Beautiful morning. Went down near Forest Hill Church to see some friends. Came back late at night. Very cool.
Monday, November 23, 1863—Moved camp. Cloudy and cool. To more wood.
Tuesday, November 24, 1863—Cold and rainy. On detail after lost horses. Nothing could be heard from them. Went over to Riley’s Battalion. Saw some old friends.
Wednesday, November 25, 1863—On detail after horses. Very cold…Major Badger came from home. Went out to camp.
Thursday, November 26, 1863—On detail after stray horses. Came to the depot. Mrs. Sterne and Lieut. Dunn came from home. I went out to camp with. Heavy firing down towards Raccoon Ford. Enemy reported trying to cross at Raccoon Ford. Received orders to cook up 2 days rations & be ready to move.
Friday, November 27, 1863—Reveille at 2 o’clock a.m. Left camp at 4 a.m. Came down towards Spotsylvania C. H. Heavy firing on the river. Cavalry fighting 3 miles off. We were ordered out towards Louisa C. H. to avoid the raid. Close place all day. Stopped at 3 o’clock p.m. & camped for the night 6 miles west of Waller’s Tavern. Rations wagon broke down. No rations tonight. Very bad pain in my head. Cold.
Saturday, November 28, 1863—Remained in camp all day. Heavy fighting in front. Nothing heard of the losses. Rained. Received orders to be ready to move at moments notice. Ordered to cook up 3 days rations. Rumors say 100 captured. 450 prisoners & 225 mules and horses. Destroyed 50 wagons.
Sunday, November 29, 1863—Reveille at 2 a.m. Left camp at 4 a.m. Ordered to Sandersville on the O & F Plank Road. Cannonading heard towards Ely’s Ford. Came several miles before daylight. Very warm & looked like rain until daylight. Then turned off very cool.
Monday, November 30, 1863—Reveille at usual hour. Heavy cannonading towards Ely’s & United States Fords. Rifle Section ordered off at 9 a.m. Rumors say two Yankee regiments captured. Henry’s Battalion lost good many men. Rifle section returned.
DECEMBER 1863
Tuesday, December 1, 1863—Very cool morning. Went to Orange Court House with Sterne. Enemy reported falling back. No fighting going on today.
Wednesday, December 2, 1863—No fighting going on today. Went to Orange C. H. with the wagon after corn…A. P. Hill’s Corp is returning to old camps.
Thursday, December 3, 1863—Troops all returning to old camps. Went on several miles & meet out battalion coming back to old camp, 2 miles of Orange. Got in camp at 3 p.m.
Wednesday, December 9, 1863—Nothing of interest today. All quiet along the lines. Papers speak of Longstreet falling back to Morristown. Very cool & fair. Received a Napoleon gun for my detachment.
Thursday, December 10, 1863—no orders nor no news. Sergt. Slade & Private Newsom fell out about rations. The latter stabbed the former in three places on the left arm.
Saturday, December 12, 1863—No orders today. Some rumor about going in winter quarters near Louisa Court House. Rainy and cold in afternoon. Yankees leaving Culpeper Court House and destroying a good deal of property of the citizens.
Tuesday, December 15, 1863—Reveille at 4 a.m. Left at 6 a.m. Ordered to Raccoon Ford. Came on near Ewell’s Headquarters & parked & waited for orders. Ordered on in position at Raccoon Ford. Bad camp. No woods. Relieved battery.
Wednesday, December 16, 1863—Nothing of interest today. The enemy seem to be in small force on the opposite side of the Rapidan but in large force on the Rappahannock. Cool. Commenced raining & drizzling during the night. Visited Gen. Ramseur’s Brigade. Saw many friends.
Thursday, December 17, 1863—Still raining and sleeting. see but few Yanks today. Rainy and cold all day.
Friday, December 18, 1863—Went to work on chimney. Finished it & moved in. Very cold, cloudy and looks like snow after dark. On guard. Went up to post. The relief saw signal lights on Pony Mountain. Good many lights up & down the lines. Rapidan very full.
Saturday, December 19, 1863—Nothing going on today of any interest. The Yankees double their lines of pickets. All our extra men and horses are ordered to the rear. Caissons, horses included on account of the bad roads to Orange. We can’t get forage for them over the roads. Worked on my quarters today.
Sunday, December 20, 1863—Nothing of interest today. After suffering for six days with the toothache, I went over to Dr. Brown’s to have it pulled…Pulled two teeth & [ ] the jaw bone which caused much pain. But few Yanks today.
Monday, December 21, 1863—Nothing of interest today. But few of the enemy visible. Early’s Division moved to the rear. Very pretty morning but turned off very cool and looked like snow in the afternoon.
Wednesday, December 23, 1863—Found the ground covered with snow. Faired off in the afternoon. The Louisiana Brigade moved back to Wood. Leaves us alone except a small picket force.
Thursday, December 24, 1863—Beautiful morning, only it’s rather cool. Hear more drums in Yankeedom than usual. This morning snow all gone.
Friday, December 25, 1863—Beautiful morning. Very dull. Yankees reported advancing from Culpeper Court House. Afternoon officers having a gay time. All hands drunk. I don’t think I ever spent a duller Christmas in all my life. Nothing to amuse us at all. Near night, the enemy appeared in some force on the line & we taken three cracks at them & they soon departed.
Tuesday, December 29, 1863—Faired off very pleasant. Went down on the river to see our breastworks. Found them very strong. McM__ wounded himself in the foot.
Wednesday, December 30, 1863—Very pretty morning. Went down to Orange C. H. with the wagon after rations. Went down to the 14th N. C. troops. Saw all the Raleigh boys. Came back to the forage camp after supper. Stayed there all night. Looked like rain.
Thursday, December 31, 1863—Rainy and cold. Came back to camp. Awful roads. Drew coffee, sugar, flour, dried peaches, apples, bacon, beef, and rice. Quite a ration.
The following 1863 diary was sent to me for transcription. I was informed the first part of the diary was kept by a member of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry who had not yet been unidentified. His entries were cryptic up until the Battle of Chancellorsville, when, on the morning of May 3rd, the Regiment supported General Gibbon’s division in carrying Salem Heights, near Fredericksburg. The diary gives some pretty good detail of the regiment’s movement on the “Mud March” in late January but the majority of his other entries serve more as a ledger for loans the author has made to officers and enlisted men in the 2nd Rhode Island. The majority of these seem to be in Co. B though there are loans to comrades in other companies as well. The amount of money loaned is rather significant and seems to be beyond what would normally be handled by anyone other than an officer. However, his handwriting and spelling are poor and more likely that of an enlisted man—especially since he does not record any activities typically performed by an officer.
On the inside cover, “found on the battlefield, Sunday May”
The diary is then taken over by Walter Augustus Weddin (1840-1902) of Manly’s Battery, Co. A, 1st North Carolina Artillery. A faint notation on the inside indicates the diary was “found on the battlefield.” Weddins started daily entries in June—including Gettysburg—and on through the year. Weddins also used the memorandum section as well as the first half of the diary (written around and on top of the previous owner’s entries) to keep various lists.
With the help of my friend Rob Grandchamp, an expert on Rhode Island regiments, I have been able to identify the author as John T. Goldsmith (1823-1904), a carpenter by trade. The numbering of the letters received and sent suggested to me that the author had only recently joined the regiment which had been in existence since much earlier in the war. John was not mustered into the regiment until 4 November 1862. He was mustered into Co. B but that company was consolidated with Co. A shortly afterward. In mid February he was detailed to the Brigade Quartermaster Department with whom he served until after the Battle of Chancellorsville. He then was assigned duty as a Provost Guard until mid-December 1863 and then worked in the commissary until deserting at Cold Harbor on 6 June 1864. These details and activities coincide reasonably well with the diary entries and are consistent with a man his age, which was about 40 years old. What’s more, John Goldsmith had a younger brother that served with him in the same company named Tobias A. Goldsmith, also a carpenter by trade, who enlisted in early August 1862 when he was about 30. Corporal Tobias Goldsmith was reported missing after the battle of Salem Heights and was “probably killed” in the battle. The clincher, however, was finding the author’s brother, “Asa” with a death date of 13 March 1863—the date stated in the diary. In Ancestry.com I was able to find that Asa H. Goldsmith (1834-1863) died on that date in Providence. In the 1860 US Census, Asa was identified as a 26 year-old “stable keeper” still residing in his parents home in Providence’s 5th Ward. His parents were Hubbard Goldsmith (1796-1879)—-a carpenter, and Joanna Roberts (1796-1875).
The Goldsmith/Weddin 1863 Diary
John Goldsmith was married on 26 April 1849 to Emily Frances Barton (1831-1910). She was the daughter of Robert H. and Julia Ann Barton of Providence.
[Note: This diary is from the collection of Rob Morgan and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
JANUARY 1863
Sunday, January 4, 1863—Inspection of arms this morning. Orders for three days rations for fatigue duty, to be ready at 7 o’clock in the morning.
Monday, January 5, 1863—Broke camp at 8 o’clock. Went to landing 10 miles.
Tuesday, January 6, 1863—Went out to work this morning at 8 o’clock corduroying a road from the new landing at the Potomac Creek.
Wednesday, January 7, 1863—Went to work on the road at 8 o’clock.
Thursday, January 8, 1863—Went to work on the road at 9 o’clock. Returned to the camp near White Oak Church.
Friday, January 9, 1863—Nothing of importance.
Saturday, January 10, 1863—Raining.
Sunday, January 11, 1863—Received a letter from George [Edwin] Cushman. 1
1 George Edwin Cushman (1837-1898) was the son of Asa Cushman (1798-1884) and Puah Tilton (1795-1863) of Massachusetts. George was married to Susan L. Waite (1838-1865), the daughter of Stephen and Nancy B. ( ) Waite. in July 1855. In the 1860 US Census, George was a “laborer” residing in Providence’s 6th Ward. In 1870, he was employed in a screw manufacturing company in Providence.
Monday, January 12, 1863—Tending for the sutler.
Tuesday, January 13, 1863—Tending for the sutler. Received letter No. 17
Wednesday, January 14, 1863—Sent Letter No. 3.
Thursday, January 15, 1863—Received letter No. 18.
Friday, January 16, 1863—Marching orders. Orders countermanded.
Saturday, January 17, 1863—Went to the landing with the sutler.
Sunday, January 18, 1863—On inspection.
Monday, January 19, 1863—Received letter No. 19.
Tuesday, January 20, 1863—Broke camp at 11 o’clock to cross the Rappahannock. Marched 9 miles and camped for the night. Rained all night.
Entry for 21 January 1863 during Burnside’s Mud March
Wednesday, January 21, 1863—Broke camp at 6 o’clock. Marched 4 miles. The roads so bad that we could not go any further. The 4th Battery struck in the mud and most of the pontoon train. Some of them tipped over in the road. At 2 o’clock we moved 1 mile and camped for the night.
Thursday, January 22, 1863—Marching orders at 10 o’clock. We took our tent down and packed up. At 4 o’clock we pitched our tents again and waited for further orders. Order at 9 o’clock to turn out at 4 o’clock in the morning to ready to move at daylight.
Friday, January 23, 1863—Turned out at 4 o’clock and packed up. Started at 7 o’clock for our old camp. Arrived at 3 o’clock. 8 miles. Cleared off pleasant.
Saturday, January 24, 1863—[no entry]
Sunday, January 25, 1863—Sent letter No. 4.
Monday, January 26, 1863—On general inspection. Colonel [Nelson] Viall left us today. Read on dress parade.
Tuesday, January 27, 1863—Received letter No. 21.
Wednesday, January 28, 1863—Snowing. Sent letter No. 5.
Thursday, January 29, 1863—Cleared off beautiful. Snow 7 inches deep.
Friday, January 30, 1863—Went to the landing. Got stuck in the mud. Received letter No. 20.
Saturday, January 31, 1863—Credit Mr. Brady one dollar.
FEBRUARY 1863
Sunday, February 1, 1863—Brother T[obias] and I built a chimney to our tent. Received letter No. 22.
Monday, February 2, 1863—Sent Letter No. 6.
Tuesday, February 3, 1863—[no entry]
Wednesday, February 4, 1863—Loan Mr. Booth $1.50 of Co. C. On guard today. Brother T[obias]] detailed to go to headquarters as a carpenter.
Thursday, February 5, 1863—Received letter No. 23. Sent letter No. 7.
Sunday, February 8, 1863—The regiment gone on picket. I am with the sutler.
Monday, February 9, 1863—Loan [Peter] Riley, the tailor in Co., one dollar. Sent letter No. 8.
Tuesday, February 10, 1863—Over to the 139th [Pennsylvania Infantry] with the sutler.
Wednesday, February 11, 1863—Over to the 139th [Pennsylvania Infantry].
Thursday, February 12, 1863—Loan Sergt. [James C.] Nichols [Co. B] $4 with $1.25 [interest] ($5.25). With Bedwell today. Received letter No. 25.
Friday, February 13, 1863—Received letter No. 26.
Saturday, February 14, 1863—Loan two dollars.
Sunday, February 15, 1863—Loan F[rank] D. Morse [Co. B] four dollars. Rainy. Sent letter No. 9 with [$]20.
Monday, February 16, 1863—Sent a letter to G. E. Cushman. Sent letter No. 10.
Wednesday, February 18, 1863—Received letter No. 27.
Friday, February 20, 1863—A man in Co. F borrowed the spade. Sent letter No. 11.
Saturday, February 21, 1863—Commenced snowing at 10 o’clock this evening. Received letter No 28.
Sunday, February 22, 1863—The severest storm ever witnessed out here. The snow is 10 inches and still snowing.
Monday, February 23, 1863—Cleared off very fine.
Tuesday, February 24, 1863—Loan Luke Kelley [Co. B] $2. Received letter No. 29.
Wednesday, February 25, 1863—Received a letter from George Cushman. Sent letter No. 12.
Thursday, February 26, 1863—Started for three days picket. Down to the [Rappahannock] river. The Rebs is trying to send a board across the river with some tobacco to our boys. It is a stormy day.
Trading coffee for tobacco with the Reb pickets on the Rappahannock River
Friday, February 27, 1863—It has cleared off very warm. We are out hunting rabbits. A broiled rabbit for breakfast.
Saturday, February 28, 1863—We caught 8 rabbits today. It rains tonight.
MARCH 1863
Sunday, March 1, 1863—Came off picket today. It is a beautiful day.
Monday, March 2, 1863—Mustered in today. Lent $1 to Hunt, Co. C.
Tuesday, March 3, 1863—Loan T. B. Howath one dollar. Morris O’Hern $6.
Wednesday, March 4, 1863—Loaned James Stanley [Co. E] $1. Received letter No. 30.
Thursday, March 5, 1863—Received a letter No. 31. No. 9 Lincoln Street. Sent a letter to T. M. & A. H. with $20 (sent letter No. 13).
Friday, March 6, 1863—Loan Lt. [Edwin A.] Russell $10.
Thursday, March 12, 1863—Built a fire place and chimney for the colonel.
Friday, March 13, 1863—On line drill. Loan Corporal Calley $1. Brother [Asa] died today at 11:30 o’clock.
Saturday, March 14, 1863. Received letter No. 34.
Sunday, March 15, 1863—Sent letter No. 15.
Monday, March 16, 1863—Went on picket for three days. Brother Asa was buried today at 11 o’clock.
Tuesday, March 17, 1863—Loan Frank Carr $2.
Thursday, March 19, 1863—Loan Tom Reynolds [of Co. B] $1. Came off picket today. Received letter No. 35.
Friday, March 20, 1863—Stormy.
Monday, March 23, 1863—Loan Frank McCaughey $15. James Bishop $1.
Wednesday, March 25, 1863—Sent letter No. 18 with my knife.
Thursday, March 26, 1863—Received letter No. 37.
Monday, March 30, 1863—Blustering snow storm. Miss Millum. Received letter from Just Clarke. Sent letter No. 21 with $20.
Tuesday, March 31, 1863—Loan T. Custy $1. Sent a letter to mother $5. Sent brother [ ] a letter with 2 dollars. Sent a letter to Gust. Clarke. Received letter No. 38.
APRIL 1863
Wednesday, April 1, 1863—Loans [to] Robert Yeaw $2. Lt. Russell $5. J[ohn] T. Goldsmith $7.
Thursday, April 2, 1863—On guard.
Friday, April 3, 1863—Loan McManuel $2.
Saturday, April 4, 1863—Some Capt. [Henry H.] Young $10. Richard Grant $1.
Sunday, April 5, 1863—Very stormy. Snow and rain. Received letters No. 39 and 40. Sent letter No. 22.
Monday, April 6, 1863—Loan John Heart $1. Lt. Gifford $5. W. H. Rutser, Dutchess county, New York. Sent Letter No 23 with 20 dollars.
Tuesday, April 7, 1863—Loan John T. Goldsmith $15. [apparently a loan to himself]
Wednesday, April 8, 1863—Loan Hilton $2. Morris O’Hern $1. Was reviewed by the President today. Received letter No. 41.
Thursday, April 9, 1863—Loan Foster $2.
Friday, April 10, 1863—Was mustered by Colonel of the 37th Mass. Received letter No. 42.
Saturday, April 11, 1863—Loan M. O’Hern $2. On guard today. Received letter No. 43.
Sunday, April 12, 1863—Going on picket for three days. Sent letter No. 24 with $20.
Monday, April 13, 1863—Received letter No. 44. One from mother.
Wednesday, April 15, 1863—Came off picket. It rains in torrents.
Thursday, April 16, 1863—Loan Lt. Gifford $15. Sent letter No. 25 with 5 dollars and one to the treasurer.
Friday, April 17, 1863—Received letter No. 45.
Sunday, April 19, 1863—On guard today.
Monday, April 20, 1863—Sent letter No. 26 with $5.
Tuesday, April 21, 1863—Answered brother T’s letter. Received letter No. 46. And one from Brother Tom.
Wednesday, April 22, 1863—Sent letter No. 27, with $40 and another $20.
Thursday, April 23, 1863—Loan Bishop $5. Very rainy. Sent a letter to Charley Becker. Sent likeness with 40 dollars.
Friday, April 24, 1863—It rained all day. Receive letter No. 48
Monday, April 27, 1863—From 7 o’clock a.m. to 12 at night. 17 hours. 254.00
Tuesday, April 28, 1863—14 hours $125, 17 hours $254. 31 hours $379.00. No. of checks that I sent today 32.19 $700 dollars. Broke camp at 3 o’clock. Went down near the river and camped till further orders.
Wednesday, April 29, 1863—Broke camp and started at 7 o’clock. Corcoran’s Brigade crossed the river at sunrise. It is now 10 o’clock. We are resting in the road near the river. A very little firing his morning. Sent letter No. 29 with check $700.
Thursday, April 30, 1863—Daniel T. Lyman, Allotment Commissary. No. 42 Weyhosset Street, Providence, R. I. No, 3289 Sent 50 dollars check in a letter No. 30. A slight cannonading today. A beautiful sight to see it.
Friday, May 1, 1863—As fine a morning as I ever saw. Everything quiet. Received letter No. 50. Sent letter No. 30 with check 50 dollars, No. 3289.
Saturday, May 2, 1863—Received letter No. 51.
Sunday, May 3, 1863—The batteries opened at 4 o’clock a.m. The rebs opened first and was soon answered.
[To see the remainder of the diary, kept by Corp. Walter Augustus Weddin of Manly’s Battery—Co. A, 1st North Carolina Artillery, see 1863 Diary of Walter Augustus Weddin.]
This letter was written by Sereno Bridge (1820-1888), a native of Wilmington, Vermont, who lived there until 1848 when he came to Bureau county, Illinois, with his wife, the former Alice S. Winchester. The letter is only signed, “S. B.” but it came from a collection of his letters.
I could not find an image of Sereno but here is an unidentified Union trooper about the same age (Kolt Massie Collection)
In September 1861, he enlisted in Co. B, 52nd Illinois Infantry, his muster records describing him as a 5 foot 9 inch tall, black-haired, blue-eyed farmer. Shortly after he must have transferred into Gilbert’s Independent Cavalry. In February he was transferred again into Co. H of the 12th Illinois Cavalry, and then transferred one more time in December 1862 into Co. G of the 15th Illinois Cavalry when that unit was formed. He remained with the 15th Illinois Cavalry until late October 1864 when his three year enlistment expired. This letter was written during the period he was in the 15th Illinois Cavalry which was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division, 16 Corps, Dept. of the Tennessee, though it appears to have been detached and assigned duty in hunting down Confederate guerrillas in eastern Arkansas along the Mississippi River.
The letter was written in diary form and relates his past week’s activities. Chasing Confederate guerrillas (many of whom were local inhabitants) though the swamps, forests, and plantations of rural Arkansas, Bridge is exposed to the ‘human’ side of war as he comes into contact with the families of captured guerrilla soldiers. Digressing from his story of the scout he was on, Sereno wrote his wife: “You at the North can hardly realize what an amount of suffering this war is causing.”
[This letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Helena, Arkansas November 9, 1863
Dear Wife,
Another week has passed since I wrote you and now I will record some of the events that have transpired during the time. On Sunday, the 1st day of the present month, I had to help load hay for the horse. On Monday, we had review of the regiment in the forenoon. In the afternoon, we chased three guerrillas about five miles. They came in among the darkey wood choppers. On Tuesday and Wednesday, was on picket.
On Thursday, started on a scout. Went down the river [and] got on the track of about thirty guerrillas. Rode till night, camped on a deserted plantation, stood picket that night by the side of a big swamp and by the noises that the owls, coons, cranes, geese, ducks, and other wild vermin made, reminded me of what I have read about the dismal swamps.
On Friday morning, we started on the trail again. Rode about six miles when the advance came up with some of the guerrillas. They fired some shots at them, then we all gave chase. Run them two or three miles but did not get any of them. They went in amongst the cane brakes and hid. Then we rode on for about four hours through the most dismal looking place that I ever saw. The mud was ankle deep a good part of the way and cane brakes so thick that a bird could not fly through it and so high that we could not see a man on his horse unless we was close on to him.
About noon we came to a crick where the rebels had camped the night before. We followed them so close that they had to leave their wagon, camp kettles, corn meal and some ammunition. We kept after them till we came to a large plantation that stood on the bend of the river. They broke up there and we lost track of them. We had now got forty-five miles from Helena. We camped there for the night. The planter was a strong secesh and had a plenty of corn, cattle, hogs, hens, ducks, geese, honey, &c., so the boys just went in on their nerve and you better believe the feathers flew, hogs squealed, the geese and ducks fluttered, the bee hives disappeared, butter milk was in demand. The women and children cried and I think the old man would have sworn if he had dared to. But let that be as it would, we lived high and slept on corn fodder that night.
Saturday, we came back twenty miles to another plantation that was owned by one of the guerrillas. There was none but blacks on the place but there was what was better for us that was corn, hogs, sweet potatoes, molasses, &c. We camped about noon. In the afternoon, about thirty of us was sent out to reconnoiter. We had not gone far when we came in sight of a guerrilla. We chased him about a mile and took him after firing several shots after him. He was not far from his home. We went to his house. He had a wife and three small children. It made me feel bad to see him part with his family although his wife took it very calmly. He had a little boy a little bigger than Arty 1 that cried very hard. He took his children upon his horse and hugged and kissed them—but so it is. You at the North can hardly realize what an amount of suffering this war is causing.
In coming into camp, I saw an old widow woman. She said she was left all alone with three children, two girls and one boy twelve years old. He was born when she was fifty-seven years old. At another house I saw a woman and asked her how it went with her in these war times. She said badly enough—her husband was in prison and she was left with three small children to take care of and nothing to do it with. But I am getting off from our guerrilla hunt.
Soon after we left the house of the man we had captured, our advance saw two more. They ordered them to halt but they did not so they fired on them and we all started in the chase. We had a pretty exciting chase for half mile or so when we took a lieutenant. The other got away. The next day Sunday we came to camp.
Goodbye, — S. B.
1 Sereno’s son, Arthur (“Arty”) M. Bridge, was born on 14 February 1860.
The following letter was written by a Confederate deserter named William W. Rhoden (1840-1864) who enlisted on 12 September 1862 in Co. G, 16th Georgia Infantry. He wrote the letter while under guard at Richmond’s Castle Lightning, addressing it, and most likely hand delivering it to “Sergt. Philips.” The recipient is speculated to be Sgt. John R. Phillips of the 25th Bn. VA infantry. Though the author’s calligraphy appears crude, the composition and spelling in the letter suggests he had an above-normal education.
No record could be found showing the date of William’s release but he clearly was permitted to return to his regiment where he served until 25 May 1864 at which time he was taken prisoner and transferred to the prison at Elmira, New York. He died “in the hands of the enemy” at Elmira on 8 September 1864 of chronic diarrhea.
In his letter, William infers that he deserted in a weak moment to see his “two darling infants” at home in Lowndes county, Georgia. William was married to Keziah Drawdy (1834-1900), the daughter of Levi Drawdy and Rebecca Carter. Their children were Emanuel (b. 1860), Sarah Jane (b. 1861) and William (b. 1863).
Castle Lightning Prison was located on the corner 6th and Cary street. At various times, it was known as Western District Military Prison, Castle Booker, Castle Griswold, and Castle Lightning. It stood across the street from Castle Thunder and was established to hold criminally accused Confederate soldiers and civilians. This prison primarily housed deserters from the Confederate Army as well as overflow prisoners from Castle Thunder. Castle Lightning appears to have closed in 1863 and was converted into barracks for the accommodation of several companies engaged in guard duty within the city. The prisoners confined here were removed and most likely placed in Castle Thunder.
Castle Thunder (at right) and Castle Lighting (at left near lamp post) stood opposite each other at the corner of 6th and Cary in Richmond.
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner and was transcribed and published in Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Castle Lightning December 17, 1862
Sergeant Philips, Kind and esteemed friend;
Will you be so kind and condescending as to grant me a personal interview as early as practicable?
Notwithstanding we are utter strangers to each other, yet your deportment and the kindness you have invariably exhibited to me since my arrest and confinement here have inspired me with confidence and esteem towards you. I rely on your generosity and friendship. If I have erred in trying to get back home, that error can be easily palliated if you will only take into consideration the natural fondness every parent entertains for his children. I have two darling infants at home and you may well imagine how dearly I desire to see them.
The following letters were written by Calvin Thomas Crane (1839-1905), the son of John Calvin Crane (1807-1895) and Emiline D. Burt (1809-1893) of Berkley, Bristol county, Massachusetts. He wrote the letters to his sister, Sarah (“Sallie”) E. Crane (1844-1920). A younger brother, Levi Lankton Crane (1842-1928) is mentioned in the letters. Levi later served in Co. C, 22nd Massachusetts Infantry until he received a leg wound at Fredericksburg which led to his discharge for disability.
According to military records, Calvin enlisted as an ordinary seaman at New Bedford on 20 May 1861 and he was mustered out of the Navy on 15 March 1862. He served first on the receiving ship USS Ohio and then was assigned to the USS Massachusetts. He was described as standing 5’11” tall, with blue eyes, chestnut hair, and a ruddy complexion.
According to Calvin’s headstone inscription, he only served in the US Navy in 1861-62 but he remained a mariner. He eventually became a ship’s master and was captain of various vessels, including the schooner M. M. Merrimon of Taunton, Massachusetts. He was married to Charlotte M. Burt of Berkley in 1870.
The 1864 letters included in this post reveal that Calvin served for a few months during the summer of 1864 as an assistant to the sutler of the 104th Pennsylvania Infantry while they were on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor. It appears that he would have stayed longer but became so ill that he decided to return to Massachusetts.
Letter 1
Off Brooklyn Navy Yard February 23, 1862
Dear Sister,
Have been within two hundred miles from you and have not heard a word from Berkley yet and have laid here 9 days now and possibly may as much longer and if possible, please write a few lines. Luther got a word or note from John last week that if we were to be paid off, I should be at home by the latter part of the week and you ought to have wrote for father wrote to me that we would not be discharged. But we shall. But how soon I do not know. It may be this week. All that is wanted is the money.
There is plenty of rows on board caused by liquor and 6 men are in irons for drunkenness. The officers do not do the first thing for our good with the exception of Capt. Godfrey who is ridiculed by the rest for his interest in the “Boys.” We have not had a bit of fresh meat or vegetables since we have been here. Wormy rice and flour are served out to us twice a week. I will [not] write anymore about our troubles—they are too numerous to mention. But the end is ahead.
Last Friday they got a stove which is very comfortable to what it was. I am very anxious to hear from home and hope you will write so that I can get a letter this week. Direct as heretofore to Naval Lyceum. I have sent two letters to Levi. The answers will come to Berkley. Please keep them.
I have nothing more to write but hope you will write soon. From your brother, — Calvin T. Crane
to Sallie E. Crain
P. S. Excuse this pencil writing.
Letter 2
Addressed to John C. Crane, Berkley, Mass.
New York Sailor’s Home February 27, 1862
Dear Mother,
I am agoing to write this letter to you as I have written to Father & Sarah without getting an answer although in the first place I did not ask them to write. We got released from the ship yesterday about noon after striping ger to a “gauntling.” We got in a fret before we left on account of a story that we were to be put on board the North Carolina to wait until pay day as there was not a man that wanted to go there. After we left the ship at the earnest request of the officers, we gave three cheers for the ship and then three for Capt. Godfrey with a good heart.
Most of the Taunton boys came to this place. It is under the care of the Seaman’s Friend Society and carried on as a first class hotel. Board [is] $4 per week or 60 cents per day and it is a very good place—no liquors—prayer in morning—grace at meals—and all conveniences. Luther and myself room together.
It is snowing nicely now. We have not suffered but very little with the cold since we came in yet. Do not expect to get paid off until next week. It may be—cannot tell yet. You had better write. You will probably get this Sunday and if you send a letter to Taunton early Monday, I will get it Tuesday morning. Direct it to New York, Sailor’s Home, 190 Cherry Street to Calvin T. Crane. You may have forgotten who to direct one.
I heard that John G. went to the depot twice last week after me and my things. He was disappointed but some time within a month I shall be happy to see him and the red wagon. You need not be afraid of my going in the Navy. It is hard to be in this large place without money where there is so good chance to spend it. If I thought that Father had more than two cents, I would send for some but will try and get along without any. I am going to try to fat up before I get home and not look so craney as I am now.
Get some mince pies ready for I shall make great havoc amongst pies when I do get home. Don’t forget to write. Let Sarah write a little (as she must be greatly fatigued in writing so much) but not much.
From your son, — C. T. Crane
To all hands—the cook especially.
Letter 3
Brooklyn January 17, 1864
Dear Sister,
It is just a week ago today since I left the quiet little town of Berkley to come to the great city. I can hardly realize it—times goes very fast. I will give you an account of my travels thus far.
l left Assonet at 6 o’clock that evening and soon got to Fall River. Went and saw Oliver and John. Left there at 815 o’clock. The ice was 6 inches thick all around the boat when we started and did not get out of it until we got down to the Bristol Ferry. Got to Newport at half past 9 o’clock, half an hour behind time. It was quite rough on the beach but did not disturb my slumbers at all. We cane into ice about 35 miles from New York and arrived there at 11 a.m. There was a guard of soldiers with some 36 deserters and bounty jumpers that were being taken back to the army. They were a hard-looking set.
As soon as I got here, went up and found Capt. White without any trouble. Went over and saw my men and made all arrangements that we could. I am to have $40 per month, time to commence as soon as I get there, and to get there the best way I can. There is a vessel going down there the last of this week with sutler’s goods and I am to go in her if nothing happens to the contrary. This $40 is for 4 months and then it is it be raised. They want me to try and be able to “run the 52 Penn. Regt.” by myself after that time. I am rather impatient to get down there and make a beginning. I am stopping aboard of the “Oaks Ames” at the request of Capt. French although he is at home now on business.
Yesterday went up to Dr. [Henry Ward] Beecher’s Church to hear him. I wish you could have gone. It was a splendid discourse. The text was the last clause of the 9th Verse of the 6th Chapter of Matthew: “Hallowed be thy name.” It was delivered in his own peculiar style which I cannot explain. At times you could have heard a pin drop so intense was the feelings of the people. At other times bursting into laughter at his witty remarks. He is very poetic in his imagination.
You must collapse your crinoline to about one-third of the largest size as that is the style in the city. You would hardly know that there was any hoops at all on, to look at the most gented ladies. Dark velvet bonnets with some dark blue ones are worn most. Don’t you think that I am getting to be quite observing to tell you so much.
I have been up and had my head examined at Fowler & Wells. They told me things just as I know them to be. They said that “my love of home and parents was very large as well as firmness that secrecy was very small—that I would make a good farmer or teacher, but that a trade would not suit.” I have a book, or chart, which explains everything about my head. Said that I though a great deal of the ladies but that you know is not so.
It is a rainy, disagreeable night out now. I shall write again before I sail which I think will be the last of this week. Give my love to father and mother and all enquiring friends and reserve a share for yourself. Tell Levi as soon as I get settled I will write to him. I do not think of anything more to write. Tell mother that I have got one shirt. It cost $3.50—cheap at that.
I will bid you good night and not write any more now. From your brother, — C. T. Crane
Letter 4
Morris Island Feb 3d 1864
Dear friends at home,
As I must write before i get a letter, I commence one tonight which will be some time before it can go.
I left New York at half past one o’ clock p.m. in tow of the Steamer Atlantic on the Schooner E. R. Bennett the 24th with the wind to the southward, and cloudy but not very rough. But the next day it breezed up some and made it quite rough. And Thursday morning at two o’clock a.m., we got off the light boat off Port Royal all right with a smooth passage for the season. You would laughed to have seen me feeding the cattle as I worked my passage down as cattleman. It would have been almost impossible for me to have got down any other way. But Mr. Eager gave me a letter to the man that shipped the cattle to give me a chance to work my way down and although they had men engaged, he put me in as extra man. The captain tried to make some objections, but he—that is, Mr. Starr—made it all right, so along I came, ate my meals in the cabin, and slept in the hold with the rats which were as thick as you can imagine. I slept one night with my boot in my hand and thrash that awhile, then go to sleep and rest until they waked me up, then thrash again, and so on, but lived through it.
Thursday about 9 o’clock, cast anchor off Port Royal harbor and went ashore and was disappointed in the look of the place. The sand is just like a deep snow all around. It is mostly built up by the war but a few houses of the old planters are there. Sutlers and storekeepers make the most show. Got my pass and transportation and then had to look up a chance to go up to Morris Island. Got aboard of the Steamer Mary Benton about 10 p.m., slept on some logs until morning, and got to see who were my fellow passengers. Found there were some 52 Darkies [coming] to join the 54 Mass. Regt from Vermont. Got up to the island about 10 a.m. at high water so as to cross the bar, went down to see Mr. Webb—the one I was to report to. Found him without any trouble and went to work that afternoon.
The island is like all southern coast—low and sandy, but it is quite lively now. They are firing at the rebels all the time, night and day. Tuesday night a blockade runner ran in and got in as far as Fort Moultrie and got aground, and the next morning as soon as the fog lifted, three moniters and Wagner, Gregg, and other batteries opened on her and kept up a fire all day—and the rebels firing too. They have knocked the steamer into a “cocked hat.” They think no more of that here than we would of going to Taunton although there was one killed, and several wounded on our side.
The weather has been quite warm. In fact, as warm as summer with us. But today it is very much cooler with the wind to the westward. The work is not hard that I have to do—the same as any shopkeeper has to do. We board with the Quartermaster and a Capt. & Lieut. of the 104 Regt. Penn. Vol. and the living is par excellent with milk and the best of coffee and all kinds of preserves, fresh meat, soft hack, and everything that is good.
I got one meal down to Port Royal. It was a cup of tea and two biscuits and they charged me 25 cents. Got a very good breakfast on the Mary Benton for 50 cents but everything is dear out here. Butter 45, potatoes 4 cents per pound, and everything in proportion.
You will please direct letters to me in care of H. M. Webb, Sutler to the 104 Regt. Penn. Vol. Morris Island, S. C. and as soon as you can conveniently. I wish, Sallie, you could come down here this evening and go up on the sand hill just back of our tent and see how splendid it looks to see the tents all lighted up and to hear the band playing and to look off in the harbor, and see the calcium light that is on the Ironsides. It is a pleasant position. I do not know of anything more to write tonight, but will close and retire to my bed which is a mattress such as I lost in the “Ames” and two boxes under it and sleep like a major. Write all the news and oblige your brother and son, — C. T. Crane
Camp of the 104th Pennsylvania Infantry on Morris Island (1864)
Letter 5
Morris Island April 17, 1864
Dear Sister,
I received your long letter a week ago yesterday but not in time to answer it by that steamer and have been too busy until now to write an answer. I will give you a description of my writing desk. It is a barrel with a board across the head and Frank Leslie’s [newspaper] on that. Then for a seat, I have a camp stool with a board across that to make it high enough and you will have a complete writing desk for this country.
You may think that “Order addressed to this office” dies not receive as prompt attention as yours but the fact is that I have been full of business for the last week. We have been moving camp which was hard work for us to pack up everything, then to move our tent. We have a large, splendid (for this country) building 24 by 16 and 8 feet high fitted up in store style. We moved our camp about a mile to a healthier location and shall probably move down to Beaufort within a short time as all the white troops are to leave the department with the exception of some 6 regiments and the rest to be Colored regiments. The regiments that leave here go to Yorktown and “On to Richmond” by way of James River. It looks as if it was going to be dull this summer in this department. But if we go to Beaufort, it will be pleasanter than here. You may tell my maternal not to worry about me. I am only a little spleen and am not afflicted with none of those aches that you mentioned.
I can congratulate you on your school’s being out now. You have had a tedious time of it. I know you can look back after it is all past and it does not look half so hard, and will wonder why you was so perplexed about such little things. That little item, I presume, is gone with the accustomed velocity as all items do with you but never mind. There is plenty of greenbacks in the country.
I think that Berkley is about played out to put such men or lunatics as Oliver French in as school committee—a man that is afraid of his own shadow. I have not found out who the veterans are in Berkley yet. Is Bradford Hathaway in Berkley yet or is he gone back to the 7th? He went away with Capt. Williams into New Orleans. From there he got to Providence and was there when I came south. I should think William Warren was spreading himself considerable in buying a horse. There must be plenty of horses in the neighborhood now. Everything must be very high at home now. They are almost as cheap here as there now. Butter is 55 cent, cheese 25, raisins 35 cents, other things in proportion.
I may possibly see Drises White when we go down to Beaufort. I will try to see him. The draft may have taken place but I do not think that there will be any.
Levi is very tardy about writing. He is my debtor for a letter which is due some time. Am very obliged to Bessie for her kind regards. Send mine in return. “But do not see the point” that you spoke of as it is very uncertain that we shall stay in any place long. I would like to see William Henry. Could set him agoing into a fighting mood in a short time by stating facts. Give my respects to all the girls. And you will oblige your friend and brother, — C. T. Crane
Dear parents. As I am writing to Sarah and have some blank room, will write a few lines to you. The weather is very cool down here for the season of the year. Today is a fine day but the sand is blowing like a snow storm. You have probably planted your potatoes by this time. You had better plant all you can and more too as things will be very high indeed if the war goes on another year. Plant all you can of corn as it will be high. If you want some money, send me word. Will send you some. Yours in haste, — Calvin
Hope you are all well.
Letter 6
Hilton Head May 12th 1864
Dear Sister,
I received your two ladened epistle of the 19th April & another of May 4th last night. Was truly of the impression that you was leaving “the earth and climb a tree” from the tone of your first letter but the second one was more cheerful. You seem to think that you were a gone goose but never give up. There is more than one person in the world by the name of Charles too. I would have nothing more to do with him if I could help it more than as an acquaintance. His disposition must be very singular if he has no more provocation than you speak of and would not be very likely to improve with age and if nothing has passed between you that is binding, I would let him flirt as much as he chose. You will feel better as times passes away. Time cures a great many such diseases but not all.
You will have to be smart if you want that school in the district and speak in time as schoolmarms will be plenty. I am very sorry to hear that Mr. Davis is to leave our church as he was worth all the Baptist & Methodist preachers around. I think that if some were to be truly reconverted that it would make a better state of affairs in that society. It seems as if they were making religion to suit themselves and discarding the original pattern altogether. The church is in a poor state and no pastor will please them. True religion is the best of all things but all other kinds are worse than none.
You must have written a letter that I have not received yet as I did not know that Levi was sick until your last but we have not got all of our mail as yet, it may come. Levi will not reenlist I hope as it is a slave’s life. I would not be a common soldier for nothing that I can think of yet. It is a degrading slavish life. A man that is a half fool would make a good soldier.
The noble Sanitary Commission that is talked so much about is almost as great a humbug as the war is which is the biggest one that ever was in the world. The Sanitary Commission next to it. All the pillows, dressing gowns, sheets, comforters, wines, in fact everything eatable, is taken and given to officers and chums and the ones that ought to have them never see them. The money is all spent in salaries and the suckers are appealing to the sympathies of the people for the sick and wounded soldiers all for their own benefit.
Do not know how long I shall stay down here now but will make some arrangement soon. My pay at present is more than $40 but how much depends on circumstances. I shall expect to get $60 after my time is up. My last was written with the expectation of going North. The regiment was hastily embarked to go North when the order was countermanded and now will stay in this department some time. We are now about a milt from town or place of business near the entrenchments. Business is very dull now in this department as a great many of the troops have gone North to the Army of the Potomac.
The weather has been very warm down here but today it is quite cool. The mail got here Tuesday and is not all distributed yet. It was a very large mail. Indeed, it was three weeks gathering in New York. About that money, let father have it until you hear from me again. Tell him not to spend it as I may want it down here.
Has Capt. White paid father that $20 that I gave him in New York. If not, he may have paid Capt. French as I owe him $30, thinking that I should be short. Who goes with Andrew Pierce as mate this summer? Get your picture and letters from Saxie and tell him plainly what you mean. Nothing like the truth is such matters.
May 13th. The mail closes today. There is nothing new today. Enclosed you will find a leaf from Morris Island and a picture of a friend of mine that was in the [USS] Massachusetts—Robert Morrison, an assistant engineer in the Navy. Write soon. Be of good cheer, Sal. Yours in haste. — Calvin T. Crane
Letter 7
Provost Hospital Hilton Head August 8, 1864
Dear Friends at home,
It is after 9 weeks sickness that I am able to scribble a little. I was taken sick first by my stomach getting out of order, then with a slight fever in the head and loss of appetite which grew worse until the regiment moved. Did not follow it for a week. Stayed at the 104th [Penn.] Regiment. Went and saw the doctor. Said better go in hospital. Did so. Grew worse. Lost all sense. Do not remember anything for some days.
A week ago the regiment had to move and this was the only place that I could find where I could get in. I was very sick. They thought that I would not be any better when I was the sickest but now I have got quite well. Now can get all around without help. I shall try to get North as soon as I can. U have but $15 now and when taken sick had about $90 which someone has borrowed. But my wits must get me home. Shall try to find Capt. French as I have [either] dreamed or someone told me that he is here.
It is a rainy day or I would go down to the dock to see if I could find a vessel bound North of if I can raise $50, I would come on a steamer. But if nothing happens, will be at home sometime or other. Would like to be there now.
Father, wish you would raise $50 and send it by express to W. D. Mangam’s, 92 Broad Street, New York so that it will be there when I arrive there as I may want to pay my passage after getting there. Yours in haste, — Calvin T. Crane
The following War Department memo written and signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton pertains to the confinement of James Washington and Herbert Alexander, Prisoners of War (POW), at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore.
Edwin M. Stanton
Herbert Lee Alexander (1846-1866) was the son of William Pearson Alexander (1801-1863) and Hannah Lee Washington (1811-1881) of Claymont (name of farm), just west of Charlestown, Jefferson county, [West] Virginia. According to a letter by Col. John Peter Shindel Gobin, 47th Pennsylvania Infantry, Herbert was arrested in his own home when a note was found in his pocketbook identifying him as a conscript and with instructions to report to the 12th Virginia Cavalry. He was unarmed and apparently frail in constitution. “His mother, an estimable lady [with ancestral ties to George Washington], is exceedingly fearful a rigorous confinement will completely prostrate her son, his health being naturally precarious.”
Muster roll records for Co. A, 12th Va. Cavalry, state that Herbert was captured on 31, 1865 and confined at Fort McHenry on 8 February 1865. In the remarks, he is identified as a “Guerrilla: not to be exchanged during the war. By order of Maj. Gen. Sheridan, commanding Middle Military Division.” While at POW at Ft. McHenry, Herbert was sent to the post hospital suffering from anemia. He was eventually released from Ft. McHenry on 27 April 1865 and he died at home on 3 October 1866, probably from tuberculosis.
The other prisoner identified in the memo only as “James” was Pvt. James Cunningham Washington (1847-1865). Though James and Herbert were relatives, they were not brothers as might have been presumed by Edwin Stanton. James was a member of Co. B, 12th Virginia Cavalry and he was taken prisoner with Herbert at the Claymont Farm near Charlestown, also labeled a “Guerrilla, not to be exchanged during the war.” According to family legend, 17 year-old James was starved and inhumanely treated by his Yankee captors and he died in the post hospital on 24 February 1865, less than four weeks after he was taken prisoner. Curiously, the National Park Service website for Fort McHenry claims that, “in contrast to the high death tolls at other prisons, the death toll at Fort McHenry was only 15.” Color me skeptical of that number.
Mrs. Lyle, mentioned in the memo, was Herbert Alexander’s aunt.
Transcription
Memo kept in an envelope with the annotation: “Letters referring to the most heart-rending grief of my life, March 1865.”
War Department, February 20, 1865
Case of James [Washington] & Herbert Alexander, Prisoner of War in Ft. McHenry
Referred to General [William Walton] Morris to permit Mrs. Lyle to have an interview with them under usual regulation. — Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War
The following letter was written by Henry Hirst Bentley (1832-1895), the son of Hiram Bentley (1802-1896) and Hannah Swartwout (1803-1863) of Pine Plains, Dutchess couty, New York. Without any money, Henry left his parents home and went to New York City in 1852 when he was twenty years old, landing a job as a reporter for the New York Tribune. He subsequently helped to organize a company to promote the use of printing telegraph machines known as the New York City and Suburban Printing Telegraph Company. When that undertaking failed, he organized a system of depositories for telegraph messages and then established the Madison Square office known as Bentley’s Dispatch.
When his health failed, he took some time off to regain it and then settled in Philadelphia where he joined the staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer and was assigned duty as a war correspondent in 1861—a paper that would earn a well-deserved reputation for reporting military action in an objective manner (unlike other papers). Bentley joined a stable of correspondents that were seasoned and knowledgeable. A good team—so good that a correspondent from a rival newspaper complained to his boss that the “the Inquirer people knew more about the war than did most of the generals.” Henry may have been a bit more haughty than his colleagues, however, as they sometimes referred to him as “The Water Spout Man”—always bragging and babbling.
It was while working as a war correspondent that Henry wrote this letter to his wife, Ellen Widdifield (Penrose) Bentley (1833-1915)—the daughter of a Quaker family—with whom he married in 1860. The date of the letter is unknown. I have suggested 1861 while Henry was much of the time in Washington D. C. though he mentions something about the “Court Journal” which might suggest a later date. I found a reference to the Washington Star being considered Mr. Lincoln’s “court journal” but I don’t know if Henry changed to that newspaper during the war.
Henry’s name appears in the papers throughout the war. In the 19 February 1862 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, it was alleged that he and Mr. Schell of Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, “entered Fort Huger [on Roanoke Island], after its abandonment by the Rebels, in advance of the army, and hauled down the Rebel flag.” In another issue of the same paper published on 15 April 1862, he was reported as having been taken prisoner at the Battle of Shiloh but subsequently escaped after having been robbed of everything but his “pantaloons and boots.” Legend has it that Bentley hadn’t really escaped so much as the Confederates let him go because “they had grown weary of listening to him talk.”
After the war, Henry organized the Philadelphia Local Telegraph Company and also became head of the Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph Company and President of the Bell Telephone Company of Philadelphia. He was a close friend of Thomas A. Edison.
Transcription
Washington [D. C.] 21st, 8 p.m. [1861]
My Dear Baby,
Thy sweet little missive arrived this morning and I read it over several times before I could become satiated in the least degree.
There seems but little that is new and that is more suitable for newspaper reading than for a letter to a wife. I am still enjoying excellent health and spirits considering the clouds of dust that once more assail us. Mud or dust is peculiar to Washington’ there is no medium.
I presume thee saw my dispatch yesterday announcing that Mrs. Lincoln would pass through Philadelphia for the East. That was my first “Court” announcement, in advance. Some of them laugh at the Inquirer having suddenly become Court Journal. Well, it merely happened so, she having told me that she intended going to Cambridge 1 in a few days. I asked her to please let me know when she was going as it would be a favor. So the evening before she started, she sent word down to me with her compliments, stating that she would probably be gone 2 or 3 weeks, and that when she returned, they would be pleased to see me at the White House, whenever I chose to call. She told Friend Newton that there was “some difference between the Chevalier Wikoff 2 and Mr. Bentley,” and, that she was “very much pleased wiith Mr. Bentley’s manner.”
As to the depreciation of paper money, of course all bank notes are depreciated the same as Treasury Notes. Gold is the stand point, so for instance, gold is worth today about 130 cents on a dollar—that is, a gold dollar is worth 30 cents more than a one dollar paper note of the best kind. My sweet wife thinks she can see the way clear, therefore I am perfectly willing she shall do just what she proposed about the cloak and dress. I thought it best to call her attention to the matters that appeared before me at that time and now I leave it to you own good judgment.
Should I not come up 7th Day, I will send thee some more funds. My coming, baby knows, depends upon what word I get from her, as however much I might desire to see my sweet child, and hold communion with her in every ordinary social way, she knows her husband’s little failings and he could never bear the comments which his baby might be obliged to impose upon him. Dear me! When shall I have my little wife to fondle on and caress again? Hasten the day—or night.
It affords me some poor consolation that my darling baby dreams of me if she is not permitted to go beyond that. My sleep is sweet and I sink into it with sweet thoughts of my own dear one far away in her couch, snugly stowed away.
By the way, in the course of conversation the other day, Mrs. Lincoln in talking about various people with whom she was perpetually bothered, mentioned one Sweeney of Philadelphia—rather a beau looking gent. I didn’t enter into any particulars but it appears among many others who have axes to grind and wants to get on intimate terms must be the gent I have heard them mention as Beau Sweeney. I was asked if I knew him but I said I had heard of such a person but did not know him. He pesters the life out of them and she says she cannot give audience to everybody, however much she desires to please their constituents.
I am glad Willie gets along well with his recruiting. Give my love to all the family and tell them I am extremely well. I forgot to say before that the Dr. had a slight hemorrhage of the lung last night. He looks very bad. Rachel is quite smart. And now I will close by sending my wife’s untold love and hope I shall hear from her soon and satisfactorily. Thy husband, — Henry
1 Mrs. Mary Lincoln would have wanted to visit Cambridge because her son Robert was attending school there. Robert left for college in 1860, but during the next four-and-a-half years, he became his mother’s traveling companion. Mother and son both loved traveling, and whenever Robert had a break from college (at Harvard) he and Mary were usually on the road somewhere together. Robert met his mother during many of her trips to New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, where the two would not only spend hours together shopping in the most fashionable stores, but also entertaining with social, political, and military leaders. Mary also visited Robert at Cambridge when she could, at least once a year. Every summer mother and son spent one to two weeks traveling around New England on vacation: in August 1861 to Long Branch, N.J. for two weeks; in 1862 to New York City for one week; in 1863 to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for one week; and in 1864 from Boston to New York City to Manchester, Vermont for a total trip of about ten days. [See Lincoln Lore]
2 Chevalier Henry Wikoff (1813-1884) was a charlatan who managed who managed to flatter his way into Mrs. Lincoln’s inner circle. “In almost all things, he was disreputable if frequently charming,” He used his access to the White House to leak information anonymously to a New York newspaper. [See Mr. Lincoln’s White House]
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