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 have not been able to identify the author of this letter nor his regiment.
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Camp near Hancock, Maryland February 3, 1862
Friend Milo,
I received your letters and paper yesterday and was glad to hear from you. I am as well as ever and hope this will find you the same. We have done nothing towards fighting since I wrote to you. It has been the damndest weather you ever saw for the last two weeks. It has been stormy almost every day—mostly snow. We have had a hard time of it along back. We have had to do picket [duty] on the river. Have to stand all night without being relieved.
We shall cross over and go into Virginia [and] probably have some fighting to do. Saw several of their pickets the other day. Some of our men went over but the devils left like hell. I suppose you have heard what big marches we have made and that we have got the name of being the best marchers in the whole division. I have not much much war news to write this time so I will close.
You spoke about sending a book. The book that I was going to [send to] Phil got tore so that I could not send it. I wrote to him quite a spell ago and have not heard from him yet. Tell him to write.
I had a letter from Charles about a week ago. I would liked to have seen the hog that they killed. I saw the death of Colt in paper about a week ago. I have not much more time to write now so I will close. Yours, — A. L. Henry
This letter was written by a soldier named Henry who served in the 5th Connecticut Infantry. This regiment fought with the Army of Virginia in the East until the fall of 1863 when they were transferred to the Army of the Cumberland and assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps.
Henry Cornwall Clark, possible author of letter
The soldier did not sign his last name but he mentions being transported to his regiment in Stevenson, Alabama, where the regiment was sent in the fall of 1863. Most likely he was either a wounded or sick soldier held in the hospital on Bedloe’s Island (where the Statue of Liberty sits today in New York Harbor) and was being transported along with recruits or draftees to Alabama in time to participate in Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. He mentions only one traveling companion, Bob Warner, who was a private in Co. B, 5th Connecticut. Bob had been wound in in 1863 and was most likely hospitalized with Henry. Bob had been transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps but then transferred back, presumably thinking he could endure the two months he had left to serve with his regiment. Henry writes of being plagued by pains that he feels certain will enable him to get his discharge once properly examined by a physician after getting back to his regiment. One possibility is that the author might be Henry Cornwall Clark (1836-1912) of Granville, Massachusetts, who also served in Co. B, 5th Connecticut. Henry and his wife, Lauretta Moore, were married on 21 April 1863—only a year previous. I cannot prove he was the author, however.
The Zollicoffer House in Nashville, only partially constructed when the Civil War began, was used extensively as a prison for Confederate POWs. Many of them were housed there on temporary floors that had been constructed as makeshift barracks inside the structure, and many of them were killed or mangled when the flooring collapsed on 29 September 1863. By the time Henry and his traveling companions were quartered there, there was still no roof and the upper floors were partially collapsed. After the war, a 1st Wisconsin Cavalry Quartermaster Sergeant named James Waterman remembered the Zollicoffer House as being “more like a prison than a barracks for civilized beings, and was a disgrace to the service.”
Fort Harker just outside of Stevenson, Alabama
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Stevenson, Alabama May 11, 1864
My Darling & Beloved Wife,
I take this opportunity of writing you a few lines to let you know where I am and how I am getting along. I don’t feel any better than I have felt. My back and side troubles me considerable but I could not get any examination anywhere on the road. But if the regiment is stationed in the same place, I shall ask for my discharge as soon as I get there and I will get it.
Zollicoffer House in Nashville during the war
But I hope these few lines will find my darling enjoying first rate health. I hope that you received the letter that I wrote from Louisville the 8th of this month in which I told you about our treatment from Bedloe’s Island to Cincinnati. But from Cincinnati to this place we was treated a little better. But when we was in Nashville we put up at the largest hotel in the City. It was called the Zollicoffer House but it was not half finished. There was no covering on the roof and when it rained, it came right down through on to the ground floor. We arrived there about half past five in the afternoon and stayed until the next morning about 11 o’clock when we took the cars for this place and just outside of Nashville I saw a great many new made graves. And for about 4 or 5 miles you could see graves and entrenchments where there had been engagements.
And when we got to Murfreesboro, there was very strong entrenchments which encircled the whole town so the rebs would have a hard time getting in there. There was one place we came through called Wartrace and it was rightly named for it showed traces of a war party and as our train came thundering into the depot, there was quite a tumult such as the ringing of bells and gongs which one could hear above the noise of the train.
We arrived here about half past 4 in the morning and had to stand around about an hour before we could find out where we was going to put up but at last we found a place and Bob Warner 1 and two other men belonging to the Fifth and myself went into quarters together.
I have borrowed about 75 cents of Bob to get some paper and stamps so that I could write to you but I don’t expect to hear from you until I get somewhere to stay a spell and then I will want to have you write for it would only be a waste of paper and stamps. But I have not got much more to write so I will draw to a close for this time. So give my best respects to all and keep all of my love to yourself with 50 million kisses.
So good day hoping to see you before long, I remain your ever loving and affectionate husband, — Henry
To his darling little [ ]. You need not write until you hear from me again. So good day, darling pet.
1 Robert (“Bob”) Warner of Hartford, was a private in Co. B, 5th Connecticut Infantry. He was wounded on 8 August 1862 at Cedar Mountain, Virginia, and again on 23 November 1863 (place unknown). He was transferred to Co. G, 20th Veteran Reserve Corps on 11 January 1864 and re-transferred to the 5th Connecticut on 26 March 1864. He was discharged on 22 July 1864 when his term expired.
Lucius Parker Merriam (1846-1883) was only 17 years old in 1864 when he travelled from his home in Grafton, Massachusetts, to New Bern, North Carolina, captured by the Union Army from the Confederates two years before, then becoming a “mecca” for thousands of “contrabands”—freed slaves who flocked there seeking protection and sustenance. The humanitarian problem confronting the Union Army in caring for the contraband was given to Worcester clergyman and Army Chaplain Horace James who had already recruited Merriam’s 23 year-old college-educated sister, Sallie Anna (“Annie”) Parker Merriam (1839-1923) to teach school to illiterate Blacks.
By the time Lucius came to New Bern as a civilian Quartermaster clerk, Capt. James had created a small town for 3,000 freed slaves, a “Trent River Settlement” renamed “James City” in his honor. Merriam spent two years clerking for some 20 Army officers and civilian employees who administered this ramshackle Black community, duties assumed, after Lincoln’s assassination and War’s end, by the newly-established Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Lands, more commonly and simply called, the “Freedmen’s Bureau.” Despite instances of rampant corruption, the Freedmens Bureau would resist the efforts of President Andrew Johnson to abolish it. Spouting Republican rhetoric about “Universal Liberty,” Merriam insisted his Bureau must survive until “the Southerners are ready to give the colored man his just rights and acknowledge his manhood.” [This letter was sold from a small lot of letters written by Merriam by PBA Galleries in August 2014.]
Lucius’ parents were Charles Merriam (1807-1888) and Caroline Parker (1811-1890) of Grafton, Worcester county, Massachusetts. In 1869, Lucius entered Amherst College, graduated in 1873, and later taught school in Norwich, Connecticut, in Springfield, Massachusetts, and served as a high school principal in Providence, Rhode Island. In the 1870s he married Emily Atwell Clemons (1852-1910) but died a premature death in 1883 after fathering three children. He died of diabetes in Knoxville, Tennessee, while trying to regain his health during the winter of 1882-83 with the idea that he might relocate there.
[This letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Lucius P. Merriam worked as a clerk in the Freedmen’s Bureau at New Bern after the war while his sister Annie taught a school for Blacks at Raleigh and later New Bern.
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Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Lands Headquarters, Eastern District of North Carolina New Berne, North Carolina January 22nd 1866
My dear mother,
You must pardon me for not writing you oftener but the fact is I’ve been very busy lately. I have been employed on Capt. [Frederick A.] Seely’s 1 papers most of the time since I have been with him and have now finished them of this months.
Capt. Horace James, a former pastor of the Old South Congregational Church in Worcester who joined the 25th Mass. Infantry as a chaplain and then took charge of contraband during the war. For a great article chronicling his service to Freedmen, see Joe Mobley’s biographical sketch on NCPedia.
I am now busy in finishing up Capt. James’ papers of December and January. While here a week ago he received a letter from the War Department at Washington honorably mustering him out of the U. S. service in answer to his own request, his services being no longer necessary. The date being January 8th 1866. He has now been a Quartermaster [in the Freedman’s Bureau] from February 18th 1864 to the above date—nearly two years—and faithfully has he discharged the duties and responsibilities entrusted to his care by the government. In many instances have I noticed his economical management, calculating beforehand so that his expenditures on account of the U. S. would be no more than if the money was to come out of his own pocket. We have not in our army a superabundance of officers like him. When I have finished up his papers, it is my intention to write him a letter of regret on parting from his fatherly care and thanking him for his kindnesses to me of which there are many during my first absence from parental care and while a clerk under his patronage. I miss the light of his countenance very much, I can assure you, and the pleasing sound of his voice, whether in regard to official or private matters. It is a luxury, as you well know, to be in his company. When down here, he gave me another invitation to come up and see him which I shall accept at the first opportunity. You know he is civilian agent of the Bureau for Pitt Co., the county in which is his plantation. 2 There is a rumor of a plot among some of the secesh there to take his life. Captain is well aware of the satisfaction they would take in dispatching him and consequently keeps himself armed for any emergency and I understand intends to arm the darkeys on his plantation. Although I am fearful for his life, I know he would sell his life dearly unless he should be assassinated unawares. How contemptible are these secesh! North Carolina will be the last state to get into the Union at this rate.
An 1868 engraving of “James’s Plantation School” in North Carolina. This freedmen’s school is possibly one of those established by Horace James on the Yankee or Avon Hall plantations in Pitt County in 1866. North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.
Of course I shall not venture across the country alone or unprotected. Even now I think it advisable to confine my horseback rides within the breastworks of the town as a band of marauders are known to be outside in the woods and byways around town, several citizens having been robbed and outraged by them. Capt. Seely is about to arm a band of colored militia and send them scouting in the suburbs and through the county with orders to hang at once anyone who is known to be an outlaw or engaged in plundering and overhauling unprotected citizens or travelers.
January 23, 1866. I have just received two bundles of [Worchester] “Spys” which are very acceptable. After reading them—myself and Annie—I lend them to Mrs. Robbins and Mrs. Johnson, wife of Joe Johnson, whom Father saw with me in Worcester. Late yesterday afternoon, Johnson, being a little “tight,” got into an altercation with (3) three soldiers and one of them knocked him downstairs backwards and then kicked and stamped upon his head, bruising him very severely and rendering him insensible. He was taken home and medical aid restored him to consciousness in a couple of hours. This morning the paper says he has since died of his injuries but on going down to the house, I find him sitting up in bed eating his breakfast. I am glad he was not taken away under such circumstances. When sober, he is a kind, good, honest fellow, but drink sets him fighting crazy. Mrs. Johnson is a real good lady—kind and affectionate—and I have no doubt that Joe’s bad actions are a great trial to her. 3
My favorite pony “Dixie” has gone out in the country for three weeks to carry Lieut. [George S.] Hawley of the Veteran Reserve Corps on a tour of inspection. Mine is the only quartermaster horse that could stand such a tramp so he had to go. Capt. Seely told me he had done something which he supposed I would abuse him about—viz: letting my horse go for a short time. Nevertheless, he has given me the use of a private pony of his during Dixie’s absence. Capt. Seely is a sensible man. He calculates on his clerks have exercise out of office hours. Every one of his three clerks has a horse. Woog, I think, has a buggy. Captain also has a buggy.
How I wish you were here. I could manage so that we could take a buggy ride quite often. The weather is delightful now. The beautiful, bright southern mornings and the balmy air are very exhilarating and are much like our northern spring. I miss very much the skating and sliding and the deep snows of a more northern clime. I really used to enjoy running through the snow banks carrying morning papers.
Lt. Beecher (Fred H.) of the Veteran Reserve Corps and nephew of Henry Ward Beecher was down here Monday. He is acting Asst. Adjt. General for Col. [Eliphalet] Whittlesey at Raleigh. He called at the “home” to see Annie with whom he became acquainted when he was at Raleigh.
I send in a separate envelope addressed to Father my invitation by Mr. Near to a New Year’s dinner; my letter to Col. [Nathan] Goff of the 37th N. C. C. T. [USCT] relative to the death of young [Lieut.] Mellon [shot on 23 September 1865] and his reply, also notice of a meeting of our “Social Sociable Association.” This association is not a rough and tumble conglomeration of everything and everybody as you might think its name implied, but is a company of respectable northern young men mostly who have regular meetings in the capacity of a literary club and its object is as stated in the by-laws for the mutual improvement of all its members in parliamentary rules of debate, declamation, and the proper mode of conducting meetings. They have already given one lecture this winter by Capt. James. They seem to want to have me belong to the club as they voted me in without my wish or consent. All that is necessary for me to become an active member is to sign the constitution and by-laws (and slide into the Treasury a greenback). It is a very good kind of society to belong to and if I was North, I would join it eagerly, but I wish to give my best attention to my business and have time enough for recreation. I don’t want to tax either my mind or pocket unnecessarily or without improvement. The chairman of the lecture committee, Mr. Frank H. Sterns, came up to the office and presented us clerks with complimentary tickets. He gave me two—one for Annie and one for me.
This p.m. we are going out on a grand horseback ride. Mr. [Edward] Fitz, Annie and myself, and perhaps Miss Thompson. Mr. Fitz has gained honor and credit to himself by his decided stand against the popular immoralities of the times. Through my own and Joe Towle’s intercedence, I think an amicable feeling will be brought about between parties lately at [ ]. I think each and all have done wrong in some degree. Those quoted lines in your letter which aroused your suspicions was simply my opinion; they did not relate to Mr. Fitz particularly. I think just so no matter who it hits. Everyone has a right to his or her opinion on matters and things and our judgement becomes more just as we advance in knowledge. 4
Mr. John F. Keyes [1835-1921] of Clifton, Mass., came in to the office to see me this morning. He was Capt. James’ commissary and a chum of Abernethy’s in dealing out rations. He was a detailed soldier of the 2nd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. He has come out here to start in the carriage business which is his trade.
Our Congregational Society are about to lose the use of the Presbyterian Church….
1 Capt. Frederick A. Seely served as the Superintendent of the Eastern District of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (a.k.a., the “Freedmen’s Bureau”), headquartered in Newbern, North Carolina, between January and May 1866. He later worked for the Bureau in Missouri.
2 Capt. Horace James “remained as head of the eastern district until December 1865, when Gen. O. O. Howard finally accepted his resignation. After leaving the Freedmen’s Bureau he entered into a plantation and labor scheme in Pitt County. In the enterprise he was the partner of Whittlesey and Winthrop Tappan, a neighbor of Whittlesey in the state of Maine. The plan conceived by Whittlesey and Tappan and presented to James called for the two men from Maine to rent two plantations in Pitt County from the owner, William Grimes. The plantations, named Avon and Yankee Hall, were located about twelve miles from Washington on opposite sides of the Tar River. James received money for expenses and had complete charge of the farms, including hiring and supervising freedmen as laborers and purchasing supplies. On each of the sites he established schools and churches for the freedmen. In overseeing the laborers employed on the plantations, James acted as a civilian agent for the Freedmen’s Bureau; he received no salary, but if the project produced a profit he was to share in it equally with his partners.
“In the summer of 1866, a black laborer was killed on one of the plantations. In September a military court tried James as an accomplice in the shooting and for allegedly exploiting the freedmen in the profit-making venture. The court also tried Whittlesey for using his position as head of the Freedmen’s Bureau in the state to exploit freedmen labor and for not reporting the Pitt County shooting to headquarters in Washington. Both men were acquitted. Whittlesey soon left the state and rejoined Howard’s staff in Washington, D.C.
“James continued to run the plantations until a crop failure in 1867 led to the venture’s termination, after which the land was returned to the owner. James returned to Massachusetts in the same year and took charge of a parish in Lowell, serving also as associate editor of the Congregationalist, a church publication. He then traveled abroad. While visiting Palestine, he contracted a severe cold that resulted in consumption and ultimately his death in Worcester, Mass. He was survived by his wife and son.” [NCPedia]
3 Joseph (“Joe”) Johnson may have been the member of Co. H, 25th Massachusetts Infantry by the same name from Worcester who served as a wagoner during the war and was a machinist by profession. This is the same regiment that Capt. Horace James first served as chaplain. He was married to Lucretia Wheelock (1834-1888) of Worcester county.
4 Rev. Edward Fitz was a Worcester, Massachusetts, clergyman who exercised arbitrary powers of law enforcement in James City. Fitz was charged with practicing “revolting and unheard of cruelties on the helpless freedmen under his charge” which was supported by testimony from those he had harshly punished. An Army Court of Inquiry dismissed the charges as personal “malice” but also dismissed Fitz for administrative “malfeasance.” Defending Fitz, Lucius wrote in another letter, “This is the reward of four years of his labor for the Contrabands. I would not blame him in the least for turning to an Andy Johnson man. These ignorant darkeys are the hardest people to get along with I ever saw. The more you do for them the more they hate you and will trample on you…”
This letter was written by Irish emigrant William Donaldson (1810-1855) who we learn settled in Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio in 1837 with his wife Margaret Murphy (1814-Aft1850), daughter Mary Jane Donaldson (b. 1833) and son John Donaldson (b. 1835). The couple would eventually add six more children to their family. We can infer that William was a weaver when he settled in Steubenville but he eventually became an Innkeeper.
William was the first adult burial to take place in the Union Cemetery located on west Market Street in Steubenville, Ohio.
Transcription
Steubenville, [Ohio] January 21, 1837
Dear Brother,
You will no doubt think it strange that I did not write sooner but I think you will be satisfied on that point when the reasons for such delay is explained shortly after we came here. David Lindsey wrote to N. Hartford and mentioned our names which I expected you would hear but the chief reason was this—that we left our chest of clothes aboard of a steamboat on Lake Erie and did not get it to a few days ago. The particulars on this point you will hear in the part of our letter on the Sunday following after we left Utica.
We arrived in Buffalo that afternoon. There set in a heavy northwest snowstorm which lasted to the Thursday following. On that day (Thursday) about 1 o’clock we sailed for Cleveland in the steamboat DeWitt Clinton but was not long out to a fresh blow set in and the boat was obliged to put in for land on the Canada side where she lay at anchor part of that night. We then put out again and kept under way to the afternoon the next day. We were then about 15 miles past Erie in Pennsylvania where another blow compelled her to turn about and put in at Erie where we landed after dark. We were all very sick on the Lake except John Rainey. Wm. Johnston and Hunter left us at Rochester and ew did not see them till we came here. John’s family and mine all cried out to leave the boat at Erie & which we consented to do and also done.
At Buffalo we took all the clothes out of the large box and tied them in bundles to save the freight as it was very high. Our other chest was marked for Cleveland and stowed in the hold. Them we could not get out at Erie as they were covered very deep with other goods for the same place so we took what we had in the bundles with us and left the boat, leaving our chest and one of John Rainey’s at risk in the boat. We directed them to be forwarded to Pittsburgh which they were and a few days ago, we got them.
We spent the evening with James Scott and his family in Erie, Pennsylvania. He told me that our Uncle James is going to come to America in the Spring. We together with John Rainey and family engaged our package from Erie to Pittsburgh in the stage and left on Sunday morning at 4 o’clock. About a mile and a half from Erie, the stage upset and Margaret was considerably hurt. I then left the stage, taking her and little John with me and went back to Erie. John Rainey took Mary Jean with him to the next Inn where he left the stage to wait on us. Margaret soon recovered, or so much so as to permit of us proceeding on our journey. The agent paid the doctor and our expenses till the next stage went out which started on Tuesday morning.
We arrived in Pittsburgh on the Thursday morning next. We took a steamboat that day and landed here the next day which was Friday. The next day John Rainey and I hired two rooms on the third story of an Inn for which we pay 4 dollars per month as houses here are very scarce and dear. We could get no other place nor don’t expect any other before the first of April. I engaged work shortly after I came here and in one week got to work. We are furnished with loom and stand by our employers. John R. and I got one wheel and swifts between us from our employers and we bought another as it is the rule to give one wheel and swifts to every two looms. The price of one wheel & swifts is $5. We are paid $2 for spadling one warp. The No. of skeins are 480. I am weaving what is called Kentucky jean, 3 leaf twill with 5 treadles, cotton warp and woolen filling. Both blue. I am weaving a 900 at present. The price I have for it is 14.5 cents per yard of which I can weave more than ever I could of bedticking. Our webs comes out about 195 yards. I am now on the third for very hundred of a reed finer than this. There is 2.5 cents of an advance for weaving.
As John Rainey has stated the price of provisions, I will postpone it at this time. You will please write as soon as you receive this and give me all the particulars which you think will most interest me. But be particular to state all you know about Nancy as I am very uneasy to hear from her. I have not wrote to Ireland yet nor want to [till] I get your answer to this.
William & Antney Wilson is living 3 miles from Pittsburgh. William is talking of going to Ireland to see the farm. If he goes, I intend to send a letter with him. Antney is married. Let brother George know that journeymen carpenters wages here is $1.25 per day. I understood in Buffalo that carpenters wages was $1.75 in the summer but living high. Let William Ross know that a man that understands coloring wool can get from 9 to 10 dollars per week. The color is all made blue on both cotton and wool. We forgot to pay Mrs. Murphy the milk we had from them. I would be glad you would settle it. I have not room to say all that I want but in my next I will give you the particulars more fully.
John Ferguson wishes to let his friends know that he is well and thinks strange he has got no answer to his letter. Margaret wishes you to send particular word how her sister Mary Murphy is and if they moved to John Rainey’s house. Likewise if John, his brother, is still in Utica. We must conclude by remaining your affectionate brother, — William Donaldson
Let Hugh Murphy know that I cannot give him any particulars about his trade yet but one thing I do know that boots and shoes sell very high in my next. I will let him know more about it. Margaret sends her love to her sister Catherine and wants to know if she likes the place any better. She likewise sends her love to your wife Jean, her Uncle William Murphy and family, R. McCord, and Direct to Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio.
It cost me about $58 to come here on account of it being late in the season. We were a good deal put about.
This letter was written by 19 year-old Francis (“Frank”) H. Emley (1843-1935) of Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio, who enlisted as a private in the 112th Ohio Infantry on 12 August 1862, and was transferred to Co. G, 63rd Ohio Infantry on 6 November 1863. He mustered out of the regiment on 8 July 1865 at Louisville, Kentucky.
Frank’s letter was addressed to David Laughlin (1817-1897)—the father of his comrade, Alfred A. Laughlin (1844-1862), who served with him in the same company. According to Frank’s letter, Alfred died of chronic diarrhea on 28 December 1862 at Davies’ Mills, Mississippi. Alfred’s mother was Susan Armel (1819-1904). In 1860, the Laughlin’s lived in Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio.
Transcription
Corinth, Mississippi January 28, 1863
Mr. Laughlin Dear Sir,
I take the pleasure of writing you a few lines to let you know that I am well at present. I received your kind letter last night in which you stated that you wanted to know all the circumstances about Alfred’s death. He died the 28th of December at Davis’s Mills of chronic diarrhea. I was not there at the time he died but I heard a reliable friend say that he did not appear to suffer much pain and that he died very easy. That on the morning he died, the hospital steward called in to see to the sick and he found Alfred worse. Then he called on Dr. Crane who looked at Alfred and then turned around to the steward and told him that he was in a dying condition. Then he felt his pulse. When Alfred looked up in his face and said that he was dying and died without a struggle. He never appeared to suffer much pain when I was with him.
He talked some about home, about the fine times that we had at school, but he never appeared to be home sick and he often would read the testament of an evening and he had a chaplain to talk to. The chaplain preached a number of times to the regiment and Alford was always there to hear what he had to say.
As for my part, I think he was willing to die. Thank God he died in a glorious cause. That cause was for the old flag that our forefathers fought for and I think that we shall still maintain the old flag. I had forgot to mention to you that Alfred was buried very nice for I helped to dig his grave and I know that it was done right. So he was buried nice as can be expected in the army.
So I must bring my scribbling to a close by stating to you to give my best respects to all enquiring friends. So goodbye from your obliging friend, — Francis H. Emley
This incredible letter was written by Emeline—“Emma”—(Washburn) Grout (1831-Aft1900), the wife of master cabinetmaker, Chester “Gilbert” Grout (1828-1903). Gilbert was raised in Bratteboro, Vermont, the son of John Grout (1788-1851) and Azubah Dunkle (1793-1866). After his marriage to Emeline, Gilbert lived in Kansas [Territory] for a time but left there during the “period of violence” days and went back East to Berlin, Sangamon county, Illinois, where this letter was datelined in September 1856. Gilbert must have traveled to Kansas Territory with an older brother, Admatha Grout (1817-1855)—a theologically trained graduate of Dartmouth and the Union Theological Seminary—who died in Osawatomie on 6 September 1855.
Voting records indicate that Gilbert cast a vote at Lawrence on 29 November 1854 when the territory selected its first delegate to Congress, and again on 9 October 1855 at Osawatomie when a “proper” election for a delate to Congress was held. Emma’s fifth paragraph refers to the gathering of Missourians south of Lawrence threatening to attack and the murder of a horseback rider. I feel certain that she is referring to the murder of Thomas Barber and the otherwise bloodless standoff which became known as the Wakarusa War. This would suggest that Gilbert and Emma made the journey back to Illinois during the middle of December 1855. Gilbert’s name does not appear on Kansas Territory land claims which is understandable given that he was not a farmer but a craftsman.
At the time of the Civil War, Gilbert and Emma were living in Agency, Wapello county, Iowa, where he enlisted as a corporal in Co. F, 7th Iowa Infantry and rose in rank to sergeant. He was discharged in January 1864 to accept a lieutenant’s commission in Co. A, 3rd Alabama (African Descent) Infantry which became the 111th USCT. After the war he returned to Kansas, settling in Augusta, Butler county. In the 1870 US Census, the couple were enumerated in Ottumwa, Wapello county, Iowa. In 1880, they were enumerated in El Dorando, Butler county, Kansas. By 1900, the couple had moved to Esculapia, Benton county, Arkansas. Gilbert’s death notice was published in the Windham county Reformer as having occurred in Magazine, Arkansas, on 28 February 1903. The couple do not appear to have had any children.
Missourians coming into Kansas Territory to vote before Election Day
[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Rob Morgan and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Berlin, [Sangamon county,] Illinois September 28, 1856
Dear Aunt,
I have neglected writing you too long. I thought when I got your letter I would answer immediately but my time has been so much occupied that I have not got at it.
There has been a family in the neighborhood that has been very sick & I have been there a great deal. The lady was taken with the typhoid fever, got a little better, & the erysipelas set in & she died. And her eldest daughter—about 9 years old—was taken the same way; got almost entirely over the fever & the face began to break out with the erysipelas. She lived a few days & died. A little boy about 6 years old was taken with the fever but they broke it up so it did not have a full run. But the day the little girl died, his face began to break out & swell. They got a physician from Springfield that succeeded in stopping it. Some think he is gaining slowly & some think he will never get well. He is not able to sit up any now. They have a little babe left, 6 months old, without a mother. He is a pretty little thing. I have had him & took care of him 2 weeks. They carried him home to his grandfather yesterday. With the exception of this family there has been no sickness in this vicinity this summer.
My health is quite good. I cannot endure so much since I had the ague as I could before, but am quite well. I have had no chills this summer. Mr. Grout’s health is not good. He has the ague every little while & I sometimes think he always will. He is so apt to work part of the time. He is now at Springfield, Illinois, at work at his trade where I expect to go in a few weeks if we do not get any land. Gilbert wants to get him a piece of land somewhere if he can but he has not the means to do as we should like to do.
You asked me to write what I know about was in Kansas. I cannot write half as well as I could tell you if I could see you. I have seen companies of Missourians by the hundreds come in there to vote having large wagons filled with provisions & whiskey, come in 4 or 5 days before the elections, rob & burn houses, & kill Free State men—or men that come from free states if they had said they were in favor of free Kansas, or [even] if they said nothing about it if they come from a northern state. There was one of our neighbors shot at at the first election because he would not resign his place as judge of the election to the Missourians when he was appointed by the Governor. Two men [were] killed within 20 miles of our house & their house burnt to the ground & their families left to do what they best could. Others drove off their claims & their houses burned.
A week before we left, there was a man from Lawrence that we were acquainted with that said a day or two before he came away, a man living 5 miles from there came to the store to do some errands, was riding home horseback between sundown & dark. [He] said nothing to anyone, [yet he] was shot off his horse & killed instantly. At that time they were gathering for a fight at Lawrence & were camped about 5 miles south of Lawrence. They then stopped every team & took whatever they had & [took] the drivers as prisoner. They thought in that way they should starve them out of Lawrence. They did not dare to attack Lawrence. [They] stopped there until they quarreled among themselves, killed 2 of their own men, [then] broke up and went home rather ashamed of themselves & a great many other things.
I could tell you if worthwhile but I will tell you what I think is the great cause of it—it is their being all the time, or most of the time, intoxicated. They never go into the Territory without as much whiskey as they can drink & drunken men will do almost anything you know.
There has been a great battle at Osawatomie within a few weeks. 1 Several men [were] killed & others drove from their homes and everything they had in the world left there to be destroyed. Two of the men went through Springfield & Gilbert saw them but I have not seen them & do not know whether they was anyone we knew or not. Gilman & his brother was out there that day & saw them & said that they were drove from their farms 1 mile from Osawatomie and left everything to be destroyed if they chose.
I think the New York Tribune [would] give the most correct news of any other paper there is. I do not see how the North can sit still & see such outrages go on & not say or do anything about it—& especially now since the President says he will not do anything to prevent these outrages. I should think they would begin to look around themselves & think what they were coming [to Kansas Territory]. I only wish that some of those eastern editors that do not believe there is any outrages or bloodshed in Kansas were obliged to go to some of these towns near Missouri, Osawatomie, or Lawrence & stay one month, let them know that they were northern men, & then see what they think. I do not think stories about the outrages have been exaggerated but very little. [There is] no knowing where this will end.
I am writing too long a letter. You will get tired reading. Please accept much love from us all for yourself & family. Write soon. Yours as ever, — Emma
1 Emma is referring to the “Battle of Osawatomie” that took place on 30 August 1856.
This letter was written by Manius Buchanan (1835-1914), the son of David Buchanan (1800–1874) and Lydia Tribbey (1802-1885) of Fairfield, DeKalb county, Indiana. At age 26, Manius first entered the service at LaPorte, Indiana, as a private in Co. B, 29th Indiana Infantry. He served in that regiment from 27 August 1861 until 5 September 1862 when he was discharged for disability.
In July 1863, he enrolled again to serve in the 118th Indiana Regiment which was being organized to serve for 6 months. He was selected as Captain of Co. D and served from early September 1863 to early March 1864. [Note: the officers of Co. D were originally recorded as being in Co. F, as well as some of the solders. By 1864, they were all clearly in Co. D, however.]
Service: March from Nicholasville, Ky., to Cumberland Gap September 24-October 3, and to Morristown October 6-8. Action at Blue Springs October 10. March to Greenville and duty there till November 6. March across Clinch Mountain to Clinch River. Action at Walker’s Ford, Clinch River, December 2. Duty at Tazewell, Maynardsville and Cumberland Gap till February, 1864. Skirmish at Tazewell January 24. Mustered out March 1-4, 1864.
Manius wrote this letter to his fiancee Emma W. Childs of DeKalb county, Indiana; the couple were married on 28 July 1864. In 1870 the couple were residing in Richmond, Ray county, Missouri, where Manius was employed as a surveyor. Sometime in the 1870s, Emma died and Manius remarried to a woman named Anne.
Transcription
In Camp near Tazewell, Tennessee January 13, 1864
Dear Emma:
It has been a long time since I wrote you a letter and this is bound to be a short one; it is hard I am certain, but it can not be helped at present. You should be thankful for small favors in so busy a time. The time may soon come again when I cannot grant even these. you must not begin to think it is a burden to be forced to write a few lines to Em, for it is one of the pleasures left me. I have received letters very irregularly for the chance I have had, no mail comes of late without bringing one from my “M.” Nearly every one of them gave me a scolding for not doing what was not in my power, but it is a pleasure even to get a scolding from one I am so glad to hear from. It would be more natural to see those eyes flush with anger and those cheeks burn with honest pride.
I am well and hearty, of course I am. Who said I wasn’t? Rations fare hard that come before your “Capt.” [Pvt. Humphrey English] Chilcoat is sick and back on the road somewhere. I think he will get in sometime today. I do not know what is the matter with him but think he eat too many Tennessee pies. I would not have lost him, but he is in the habit of always struggling, sick or well, generally for the purpose of “crumping,” sometimes through mere laziness, so I did not miss him until after night. Then I was told that he fell out in the morning and was quite sick. You need not tell his folks, but I fear for his safety.
The health of the company is good—very good. The Orderly is sick but the cause is not Tennessee pies, nor anything in the eating line. But I fear his British cake is “dough.” I done all I could for him and he worked for himself but all would not do. Poor fellow, how I pity him. He is quite a different boy of late; he neglects duty and self respect. his chance for a Lieutenancy is played.
[1st Lt. Cyrus T.] Mosier’s resignation never was received at Department Headquarters on account of the siege at Knoxville but it made a better officer of him and now I shall bear with him until the end. Sergeants Whitney, [George N.] Cornell and [Erastus] Pyle, Corporals [Erastus] Finney, [Albert M.] Alton, and [Squire] Admire are my best officers. Of all the good boys in my company, [Pvt.] Martin Castleman stands preeminent.
I suppose you would like to know what I have been doing since I wrote to you last. Well here is our work briefly delineated. December 21st, we marched to Walker’s Ford, the scene of our recent battle. 22nd, marched back to Tazewell. 24th and 25th, marched to Monroe Gap, 25 miles from here and 12 beyond Walker’s Ford on the Knoxville Road and near the little town of Maynardsville, and here we lay until day before yesterday when we started back for Tazewell. We expected to go farther but nothing is certain in war.
Christmas dinner I partook on one of the tallest peaks of the Clinch in company with the Orderly. Our dinner consisted of fresh peaches, apple pulp, sardines, and the best of wheat bread. You may talk of your splendid dinners and rousing balls, but none were better enjoyed than our frugal repast high on the Clinch. It only lacked one thing to make it perfect—that we could not supply the society of those dear at home. The rest we had carried from Tazewell in our haversacks. From our mountain heights we looked over a large expanse of country once wealthy and prosperous, but now desolated by the ravages of war and thought of our happy homes and the happy hearts there. Imagination could see the tables spread with the richest luxuries, but here there was a dearth of everything except tears and broken hearts. The poet that sung:
“How little we know of soldier’s fare Until our brothers are in the fight”
might have gone a little further and said, “We know nothing of the hardships of war until we have connections in an invaded country.”
But I am transgressing. I am most to the point—if I have any point. New Years we spent as any other day, doing pretty much nothing. What did you do those eventful days?
H[umphrey E.] Chilcoat has come up, not so sick after all; fuss is peculiar to the family.
We have had some very cold weather for the last 10 days making the soldiers in their pup tents lay up close. Many of the soldiers had to stand by campfires night after night to avoid freezing. How hard! how terribly severe!
The officers tried to reorganize this regiment fo the “three years service” a few days ago. I suppose you would think that I would be in that movement as I am always at some devilment, but I was not. I was a dead weight on their hands. I protested that I wanted to go and see my little woman about it first (they thought I was married). We would not reorganize worth a cent. We are going home first to see whether there is any objection to it. I must quit and go to over to the widow’s and get my dinner. Direct your answer to Cumberland Gap.
Your soldier, — Manins
to “M”
I will be home sometime if not sooner. If you do’t write immediately, I will “box your ears.”
This partial letter was written by 28 year old Augustus White (b. 1833) of Auburn, Androscoggin county, Maine, who served as a private in Co. H, 1st Maine Infantry (3months). There were several soldiers by that name but the key to his identity was the name and location of his camp near Columbia College on Meridian Hill in Washington D. C. This regiment was organized at Portland, Maine, and was mustered into service on 3 May 1861 and was mustered out on 5 August 1861. They did not participate in the Battle of Bull Run. Rather, they were ordered across the Chain Bridge on 20 July 1861 and held that position until the afternoon of 24 July 1861.
In his letter, Augustus conveys the hearsay news he received from those returning from the battlefield and repeats rumors of atrocities carried out by Confederates who murdered wounded and sick Union soldiers.
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Confederate soldiers bayonetting the wounded Union Soldiers after the Battle of Bull Run, Harper’s Weekly
Transcription
Washington D. C. Meridian Hill Camp Jackson July 24th 1861
[portion of letter missing]
…thing for our troops to get drove but they did. But they fought like tyrants. This fight was at Bulls Run last Sunday. Ellsworth Zouaves was well cut up but they cut 2 to 1 besides taking 600 cavalry all but three and put them to an ever lasting death. The Maine regiments was scattered. Two or three of the New York regiments was cut up. The fight lasted 9 hours. Our troops—or the Right Wing—retreated but we now hold the battlefield. I expect that there was a fight that way today for the balloon was up.
If nothing happens but good luck, I shall be to home soon and then I will tell you all that I can about it. The boys haint found out yet what they are fighting.
31 July 1861 Cincinnati Daily Commercial article about “The Barbarism of the Rebels” killing wounded Union soldiers in the Sudley Church used as a hospital.
The rebels played a yankee trick in good shape but we will whip them yet for we can do it—that’s so. The boys are all hell bent to kill the whole of them for don’t you think that at the last fight when our troops retreated, they followed them up and cut the throats of our wounded and entered a hospital and bayoneted and stove the brains out of the sick and then burned the hospital. That is damn hard but they will catch it the next time we get at them.
I don’t think of any more to write now for I am coming home soon. Then you know that I am in for a good time. I want you to get me some good old girl that will do…
[portion of letter missing]
…matter with me. From your old friend, — Augustus White
In haste. Don’t wait again for I shan’t stop here long enough to write another letter. Goodbye until I see you with my eyes.
This letter was written by James Ogburn Norton (1825-1862), a 1st Lieutenant in Co. F, 32nd Tennessee (Confederate) Infantry while imprisoned on board a boat docked at St. Louis. Lt. Norton was among the 528 members of the 32nd Tennessee that were taken prisoner on 16 February 1862. They would eventually be imprisoned at Camp Chase, Ohio, where they suffered through hard times. Though he tried to reassure his wife that he would be alright, Lt. Norton was one of the first officers to die at Camp Chase. His date of death is given as 4 March 1862, less than two weeks after this letter was written.
In the 1860 US Census, Norton was employed as a physician—a profession he learned from his father—at Hawkerville, Franklin county, Tennessee.
Surrender at Fort Donelson, 16 February 1862
Transcription
On Boat, St. Louis, Missouri February 24, 1862
My Dear Wife,
I write you a few lines by Dr. as I learn that he is going to Tennessee. I am well and am getting over hte fatigue of our late Battle Fort Donelson. We were all taken prisoners of war on Sunday morning, February 16th. There were none of our company killed and but three wounded. I was in the fight but did not get a scratch. How long we will be retained, I do not know know. I suppose we will be taken off the boats & be placed in comfortable quarters. We are treated very well by the officers who have charge of us. I can give none of the particulars as our letters will have to come open & be inspected.
I want you [to] bear up under it the best you can under the circumstances. We are in a healthy climate and when we get settled, we will enjoy fine health. My kindest regards to all. I want you all to do the best you can and not grieve about my confinement. I will ty and take care of myself the best I can and return when permitted. May God bless [my] dear wife and children.
From your affectionate husband, — Jas. O. Norton
Capt. [Elijah] Ikard [and] George is still with me.
Frank Brown, 87th Indiana Infantry, sporting his “florid mustache”
This letter was written by Frank Brown (1832-1922), the son of Enoch Brown (1805-1851) and Anna S. Leonard (1809-Aft1870). Frank enlisted at LaPorte, Indiana, in Co. G, 87th Indiana Infantry on 21 August 1862. After two years of hard fighting as a private, he was promoted to Commissary Sergeant and on 10 June 1865 was mustered out at Washington, D. C. Before his promotion, Brown fought at Perryville, Hoover’s Gap, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Pine Hill, Kennesaw, Peach Tree Creek and Utoy Creek.
In his letter of 11 December 1863, Frank speaks of his intention of returning to the battlefield at Chickamauga to look for evidence of missing comrades. It was in the woodlands on that field where “the 87th Indiana established its bravery forever by standing steadfast with its brigade on three separate occasions, each time saving a significant part of the Union army.” [A Stupendous Effort, by Jack K. Overmeyer]
Frank wrote the letter to his sister, Charlotte (“Lottie”) Brown (b. 1835). Frank’s father died in 1851 but his mother was still residing in Almond, Allegany, New York in 1870. Frank had at least two brothers who also served in the Civil War. Joel Brown (1830-1865) served in Co. B, 211th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was killed in action in front of Petersburg on 2 April 1865. Albert Leroy Brown (1838-1862) served in Co. K, 11th Pennsylvania Reserves (40th Penn. Infantry). He was killed at Antietam on 17 September 1862.
Transcription
Chattanooga, Tennessee December 11, 1863
Dear Sis,
I don’t like to scold but I really do want you to write oftener. I write to you as often as once a week without waiting to get letters to answer and I would be very happy to have you do the same by me. You will, won’t you? The mails are very irregular at present and I don’t suppose that over two-thirds of the letters that are written ever reach their destination. I have seen nothing of your Mother’s or Henry’s photographs yet. Why don’t you send them? I am going to have some more taken soon and then I will send you another one different style but still with the florid mustache which I shall wear until I am done soldiering.
I am going out on the old battlefield of Chickamauga where we fought September 19th & 20th tomorrow to be gone two days. There is a party going out to see what they can find out about the lost and missing comrades that was with there. I expect it will be quite interesting to me to go over the ground again that we made such desperate efforts to win but was compelled to let it slide.
I don’t much think that I shall get to see you this winter and if I don’t this winter, I shall not for another year. I have made up my mind to stay and see the end of the show if it don’t last too long and I think it is good to last another year yet at least. I may get a furlough but it is not much of an object as they won’t let you be gone only just about long enough to go and return so a poor fellow has no chance to visit. However, I may take a short run up that way. I have the promise of the next chance in our company so watch out or I may come in and take you by surprise. When I do start, I will beat a letter through.
Frank’s brother Joel Brown, 211th Penn. Infantry.
I have no idea that I can get a furlough of sufficient length to go and see my Mother. Too bad isn’t it. I have got two letters from her yesterday and a paper. She thinks I am just one of the best boys there is. I write to her every week and have sent her seventy dollars (70.00) since last payday and shall send her fifty more in a day or two. You may wonder how I get so much money. I do a little speculating on my own account in the stationery line and then I am doing the Orderly Sergeant’s duty and keep our Commanding Officer’s Books and clerk for him for which I make them pay a nice thing. So much for having a good-shaped head.
Henry must be getting to be a large boy. How I would like to see him and all of you. Love to all. write to me about all our friends as far as heard from. Ever yours, — Frank Brown
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