All posts by Griff

My passion is studying American history leading up to & including the Civil War. I particularly enjoy reading, transcribing & researching primary sources such as letters and diaries.
Louisiana Homefront

1861: Charles Bingley Polk to John Houston Bills

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Charles Bingley Polk

This letter was written by 52 year-old Charles Bingley Polk (1809-1886), the son of Thomas Independence Polk and Sarah Isham Moore. In 1834 Charles married Sarah John Le Noir in South Carolina and two years later moved his family and slaves to Fayette County, Tennessee. He moved again in the late 1840s to Jackson Parish, Louisiana, and in the 1850s to Bastrop, Morehouse, Louisiana, where the 1860 US Census gave his real estate value at 59,200 and his personal estate at 130,520. The 1860 Slave Schedules informs us that Charles owned as many as 126 slaves.

Charles’ plantation was located in Morehouse Parish in Louisiana’s northeast “Delta,” just south of the Arkansas state line. Just prior to the Civil War, it is estimated that there were nearly 7,000 slaves living in Morehouse Parish. Charles was one of 19 slaveholders in the Parish who owned 50 or more slaves. Leonidas Pendleton Spyker, mentioned in Charles’ letter, also from Morehouse Parish, owned 122 slaves in 1860.

Charles wrote the letter to his relative, John Houston Bills (1800-1871), a prominent Tennessee merchant and plantation owner, out of concern for the health of John’s daughter, Ophelia, who was married to Horace Polk and living near Charles in Louisiana. Included in the letter, written less than two weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter, is a synopsis of current events in Louisiana where the male portion of the population was “full of war and gunpowder.”

Transcription

Hamilton Place
April 22, 1861

Maj. J. H. Bills
Dear Sir,

I have been trying for some time to make up my mind to write, and now that I have began, I don’t know that I am doing right but trust the kindly feeling and high regard that you must know I have for yourself & family will hold me blameless in the step I have concluded to take. And if I err in judgment and may be thought meddling with what does not concern me, set it down to that portion of scripture which says, “do unto other as you’d have them do to you.”

What I wish you to know is about Ophelia’s health. I do not think she ought to spend this summer here and I fear at this particular time that Horace would be troubled to get funds to go away on. He seems to be in a good deal of trouble about it and would sacrifice anything for her welfare.

If it can be so managed as to get her to spend the summer in Virginia at some of the Sulphur & Hot Springs, her health no doubt would be greatly benefitted. We would with pleasure keep her children if she can be induced to leave them here. I write this without the knowledge of anyone but my wife, and hope if you open any communication with them on the subject, you will not let what I have said reach them. You will know best how to act in the matter.

Horace’s overseer has been very ill and will hardly be able to attend to business for a month yet. The rest of our community are all quite well and the male portion full of war and gunpowder. A fine company leaves Monroe tomorrow and another from our Parish on next Saturday. We received the news of the Baltimore fight, Scott’s resignation, Virginia & Arkansas [seceding] and so on yesterday—and I hope Tennessee will do something handsome if it’s only to show the South that Andy Johnson is not her God.

You are in a bad position. You’ll have to go north, or come south, or all our battles will be fought on your soil [in Tennessee]. But we feel very well satisfied that as soon as the Rip Van Winkles all get their eyes open, they’ll know where to find their friends.

I have a little company getting up here myself for home defense and have in the ranks [Leonidas P.] Spyker, Tom & Horace [Polk], and if you want a lot of mean sausages, send down your [“Andy”] Johnson, [Emerson] Etheridge, & [“Parson”] Brownlow—but I’m afraid the latter would [be] tough. We sent off this morning for some Maynard rifles and have no doubt will kill something before it’s all over. We raised over $2,000 for our company that leaves Saturday, and the Monroe Company had twice that given them. I’m afraid they won’t give my boys anything.

We are most awfully behind with our crops. No cotton planted yet. I have 200 acres land for cotton not touched yet and 100 acres of corn to plow, and I’m about up with the rest of your friends here. Too much rain.

Please give my kindest regards to my kinfolk and accept for yourself the best wishes of — C. B. Polk

Antebellum Louisiana

1859: Horace Moore Polk to John Houston Bills

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Horace M. Polk in later years

This letter was written by Horace Moore Polk (1819-1883), a native of South Carolina, the son of Thomas Independence Polk (1786-1861) and Sarah Isham Moore (1786-1848). Horace was married to Ophelia J. Bills (1826-1885) and was the father of at least seven children by the time this letter was written in 1859. Ophelia was the daughter of John Houston Bills (1800-1871)—-to whom Horace addressed this letter.

Horace served in the Louisiana legislature from 1856 to 1859. In the 1850s and 1860s, Moore owned a plantation in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, and he lived in Bolivar, Tennessee, from the late 1860s until his death on September 14, 1883. Many of Polk’s letters can be fund in the Clements Library at the University of Michigan. Some of these letters pertain to state and national political issues such as a Louisiana legislature elections committee and related threats from “thugs” in New Orleans (January 31, 1856); the possible presidential nomination of Stephen Douglas and Polk’s preference for Douglas over a “black Republican” (March 7, 1859); and the rise of African Americans in Reconstruction-era Louisiana politics and of Radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress (February 20, 1868). Polk also provided news of the health of his wife and children, commented on plantation crops such as cotton and corn, and mentioned the effects of delayed telegraph news on war excitement in Bastrop (October 11, 1861). [see Polk Family Letters]

See also 1861: Horace Moore Polk to John Houston Bills published on Spared & Shared 9 in 2015.

Transcription

Eye Knocker Plantation
January 11, 1859

Maj. Jno. H. Bills
My dear Sir,

I have just arrived at the plantation and now have all my negroes down except two negro women who have recently been confined and were not in a condition to be removed. I will bring them down about the first week in next month when I will bring my family. Ophelia is staying with Father until that time. I shall by that time have the addition to my house, which is necessary. The house I am now writing in has two rooms and having an excellent double cabin on the lower place (plantation originally settled by three persons), I have hauled up one of the pens and will attach it to this house which will do until next summer when I will move up the other. I have already moved up from the lower place two excellent negro cabins and they are now occupied.

I am taking a good start to make a crop, by getting down in December. Cotton stalks are removed from most of my corn land and I could have had most of them off but Mr. Gray has only finished picking cotton within the last few days. He has lost from falling out & left in the stalks nearly as much cotton as we make in the hills. Getting rid of stalks is a rough job. They grow quite large. Some have heavy stalk cutters weighing 350 or 400 lbs. drawn by two mules—a cylinder 9if spelled right) with 9 steel blades around it which is passed over the row of cotton stalks (1 mule on each side of the row) which cuts them up very nicely. The machine requires but one negro to manage it and he rides one of the mules. It costs about 60 or $70 and the price alone keeps me from getting one of them. Economy being now the flag under which I expect to sail for many a year to come.

I am more than ever pleased with my place and know that I could never have got such a place if Mr. Gray’s debts had not compelled him to sell. He was deeply in debt when he bought here two years ago. The place was then not sufficiently opened. The first year he made 80 bales. This year 165—about a bale per acre. Mr. Gray is one of the best men in the world & my particular friend. we hope to elect him U. S. Senator in a few weeks & if any man could possibly be elected from North Louisiana, he would be. But we are in a minority compared to South Louisiana.

I expect to go down on his account to remain until after the election which take place (by our Constitution, the 2nd Monday after the meeting of the legislature & then return home and see my ground properly prepared for corn, stay 3 or 4 weeks, and return the last week of the session, and close out my political career. This I expect to do without a sigh even though my chances for preferment for high office from my position and unmerited goodwill of many friends throughout the State would be almost certain to advance me long beyond my deserts.

My name has been connected with two of the highest offices in the gift of the people in the State, but I have most peremptorily refused to be considered in any way a candidate for office. My first and last duties are to my family and every energy must now be bent to pay for a place which will be a small fortune when paid for to my children. I feel sensibly the force of your remarks in regard to my future prospects depending so much upon the price of cotton. I had weighed the subject as well as I was able, knew you and others of my family were anxious for me to leave the hills—felt that I was there breaking slowly through surely—which would soon be accelerated as my children grew larger, and feeling confident that if cotton kept up (and all the chances are favorable to it for years to come) and sickness did not injure me, I had found a place where I could redeem the past and get to making money. I was glad to meet the chance I did for a No. 1 place. I have no fears it will ever command as little money as I gave for it.

Lands scarcely worth half the money are selling for as much and still they come and want to buy on Bartholomew. I have been told by an intelligent gentleman that my lands are worth nearer $50 per acre than what I gave for them and I have yet to meet anyone who thinks Mr. Gray got as much as they are worth. Old Mr. Smith, a stranger to me, says my track is nearer to Maury City, Middle Tennessee lands than any he has seen since he left there 40 years ago. I shall plant 200 acres in cotton & shall expect with ordinary luck to make 200 bales id I can pick them out. We can safely calculate on 40 bushels of corn per acre. C. B. Polk made corn enough for 50 hands and 25 mules on 100 acres last year.

I wish Marshall would come and look at the place [ad]joining me. It is small—240 acres—but can be added to. 100 in cultivation about the same old deadening and cut down. Could make a bale an acre. The man who owns it has 3 negroes and makes last year 40 bales cotton. 15 of it yet to pick. I am under many obligations for your kindness in offering to assist me in entering back lands but I have through Mr. Gray already purchased all that is desirable (he having discovered another area about to enter them). I shall enter only 120 acres more.

Write me at Baton Rouge. Love to all. Am very truly yours, — H. M. Polk

My logs are cut and rolled on 75 acres of land. I have paid Mr. Gray about $1,500 & will pay him the balance of 1st payments about the first of March. we do not hear very often from Tennessee. Please get all to write to Ophelia & I would be very glad to get letters also. As ever yours, — H. M. P.

Evansville Marine Hospital, Indiana Homefront

1862: Samuel Hartshorn Potter to J. O. Jones

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This letter was written by Samuel Hartshorn Potter (1809-1895), a merchant of Terre Haute, Vigo county, Indiana. An obituary for Samuel was found in the Terre Haute Saturday Evening Mail, 12 January 1895.

Unusual Mortality. A familiar figure will from this time forth forever be missed from our streets. The figure of a man who had spent the best years of a useful life in the Prairie City, had seen it grow from a hamlet to a thrifty commercial city, and had been identified with its growth, and participated in the efforts that made it possible for such growth. Samuel Hartshorn Potter—”Captain” Potter as he was familiarly known—died at his home on south Sixth street last Tuesday evening, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. He had long been subject to attacks of illness for which simple remedies “had heretofore brought relief.” But this attack was beyond remedy, and while seated in his room on the day named, the end came suddenly and unexpected, his daughter, Miss Frances E. Potter, being present when the final call came.

In the historic town of Cooperstown, N. Y., Mr. Potter was born on November 11, 1808, of a family noted for its longevity. He began life as a farm boy, afterwards engaged in the dry goods business, and later took up the hardware business in Utica, N. Y. He was engaged in the latter business in Cleveland, Ohio, and in May 1844, became a resident of Terre Haute. He was joined here by his brothers-in-law, Lucius Ryce, A. O. Potwin and P. R. Whipple, whose names are inseparably connected with the early history of the town. He continued in the hardware business until 1865, when be disposed of it to C. W. Mancourt and Simeon Cory, of which firm the first named is the survivor. Since then he had not actively engaged in business, his entire attention being devoted to his property interests here and in Clay county, and to other business connections elsewhere.

In years gone by Mr. Potter’s name was familiar to the newspaper readers, for it was well known that “P.” was the only disguise he pretended to assume when he expressed his well known views in public print. It was a well known fact that when an article appeared in public print signed “P.” there was sure to be something said that was directly to the point. He had views of his own, and the courage of his convictions, and he never hesitated to express them in his own pointed way. An Express writer who knew him well describes his characteristic pointedly when he says: “He possessed by nature and inheritance marked characteristics. What he believed, he believed with his whole soul, and he never shrank from saying or doing what he believed ought to be said or done. He was naturally high-spirited and of impulsive temper. How much more so he was than he showed none could know but himself, for he thought that he had restrained and subdued himself to a great extent.” He was the kind of a man who leaves his impress on a community. When be believed he was right he cared not if the whole world was against him. He made friends by it, too, for besides loving a lover, all the world admires a fighter.

Mr. Potter was married three times. His first wife was Miss Emily Van Buren, of Newark, N. J., whose brothers were Messrs. Whipple, Ryee and Potwin. She died in 1868. His second wife was Miss Louise Freeman, a sister of Stephen R. and John R. Freeman, who were also well known in Terre Haute’s business circles. She died after a few years’ residence here. Later Mr. Potter was married to Miss Gloriana Eldridge, of Lafayette, who has been dead many years. For many years Mr. Potter’s daughter, Mrs. Hannah Tutt, wife of Jas. P. Tutt, once a well-known shoe merchant, kept house for him, and in recent years that duty had fallen on his youngest daughter, Miss Frances E. Potter. One brother survives, Wm. M. Potter, of Lafayette, Ind. Besides Mrs. Tutt and Miss Frances Potter his surviving children are Mrs. Helen M. Beach, of Watertown, N. Y., and Mrs. Susan R. Smith, of Peoria, III. The deceased had been connected for many years with the Congregational church, and exercises appropriate to his memory will be held there next Wednesday evening.

From Samuel’s letter we can infer that he was a volunteer in a soldier’s aid society—probably the Terre Haute Sanitary Committee—attending to the wounded soldiers in hospitals in and around Evansville, Indiana, still arriving from the Shiloh battlefield. C. Russell Bement is mentioned in this letter and he was a member of the Evansville Sanitary Commission’s Board of Directors. Samuel wrote the letter to J. O. Jones who served as the Post Master in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Transcription

Evansville, [Indiana]
April 15, 1862

J. O. Jones, Esq.
Dear sir,

I arrived all safe last evening at 8 o’clock. Visited one of the hospitals before I went to bed. Saw many cases needing some of our stores & clothing. The sights were pitiful in the extreme and calculated to inspire sympathy of the strongest kind.

Early this morning I had all the stores in a good, spacious room arranged for opening. To Mr. Russell Bement 1 and others of the committee here I was under special obligations for furnishing the room and drays to haul them. I have distributed freely in two hospitals. Mr. Bement and myself visited the Marine Hospital 2 this forenoon and there found the poor wounded soldiers greatly in want of clothing, surgical attention, and nurses. What surgeons were there were busily engaged in performing capital operations, leaving 50 to 100 with wounds needing surgical attention badly. Also nurses to assist them to wash up and get on a clean shirt and drawers. Many had not washed since the battle and were still in their dirty and bloody clothing.

We returned after dinner with a dray load of stores, some more surgeons and nurses. I have worked hard all the afternoon distributing shirts, drawers, pollows, pads, handkerchiefs, and towels, and in some cases a little wine to strengthen and revive the weakened pulse. The S. B. Adams arrived this evening with many more of the Indiana wounded, among them some of the 31st [Indiana Infantry]. A portion of them will go on to New Albany.

I shall remain here tomorrow. Will send shirts and pillows to Paducah as per request of your dispatch. I have requested Mr. Crawford to see you or Bement, and have purchased 50 pair of slippers and sent immediately.

In haste with poor pen, paper and ink. Yours, — S. H. Potter

The Marine Hospital at Evansville

1 Charles Russell Bement (1828-1893) was a wholesale grocer in Evansville. He died at the age of 65 of Bright’s Disease.

2 The Evansville area had four hospitals during the Civil War. The largest of the four was Marine Hospital which was located on the bank of the Ohio River and Ohio Street. When occupancy was exceeded there, makeshift tents were set up on the grounds outside. This occurred in April 1862 when wounded soldiers arrived from the Battle of Shiloh.

Gen. Phillip D. Roddey

1865: Phillip Dale Roddey to Mary Emma Roddey

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The following letter was written by Confederate Gen. Phillip Dale Roddy (1826-1897) to his eldest daughter, Mary Emma Roddy (b. 1850). He also mentions his 2nd eldest daughter, Sallie Ruth (“Pink”) Roddey (1852-1935).

A post-war image of Phillip Dale Roddy

Phillip was raised in Lawrence county, Alabama, under meagre means and with scanty educational opportunities. He began his career as a tailor, but then went steamboating on the Tennessee River. He residence was in Chickasaw when the Civil War began. By that time he had been married to Margaret Ann McGaughey (1827-1881) for more than 15 years and the couple had four children. A fifth child was born in 1864.

Phillip enterd the war as a captain of mounted infantry. At Shiloh his company was the escort of General Bragg, and Roddey was complimented for gallantry on the field. While Bragg was organizing for his Kentucky campaign, he advised General Price that “Captain Roddey is detached with a squadron of cavalry on special service in northwest Alabama, where he has shown himself to be an officer of rare energy, enterprise and skill in harassing the enemy and procuring information of his movements. Captain Roddey has the entire confidence of the commanding general, who wishes to commend him to you as one eminently worthy of trust.” 

 At the close of 1862 he was colonel, in command at Tuscumbia, with his regiment, the Fourth cavalry, and other forces. He was then ordered to join Van Dorn’s cavalry corps in Mississippi, and his force at that time was given as 1,400 strong. With this corps he was in battle at Tuscumbia, February 22, 1863, and at Columbia, Tenn., early in March.

In April he assailed the strong expedition under General Dodge, intended to cover Streight’s raid, and fought it stubbornly during its advance up the valley to Courtland. Soon afterward, having been promoted to brigadier-general, he was in command in this district, of a force including Patterson’s Fifth cavalry, Hannon’s Fifty-third, his own regiment, under Colonel Johnson, Capt. W. R. Julian’s troop, and Ferrell’s battery. In October he cooperated with General Wheeler in the raid into Tennessee against Rosecrans’ communications. Early in 1864 he was in battle at Athens, near Florence, and at Lebanon, and in the latter part of February Gen. J. E. Johnston called him with his command to Dalton, and put him in command of a cavalry division, but he was ordered back to northern Alabama in April by the war department. He remained on duty in north Alabama commanding a cavalry division, two brigades, under Colonels Johnson and Patterson, and in June sent Johnson’s brigade to the assistance of Forrest at Tishomingo creek. It took an important part in the battle of Harrisburg, under Forrest, and in the pursuit of the enemy. Part of his troops were with Forrest in the September-October raid in Alabama and Tennessee, under Colonel Johnson, who was wounded. In the latter part of September, 1864, he was put in command of the district of Northern Alabama, under Lieutenant- General Taylor. During the Atlanta campaign he fought a heavy Federal raiding party at Moulton, and in Hood’s Tennessee campaign did great service to that general by keeping open his communications. In 1865 he offered a stout, though vain, resistance to Wilson’s column, and was engaged under Forrest in the gallant attempt to defend Selma against the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. 

In the following letter, Phillip offers fatherly advice to his daughter, emphasizing the importance of a good education, and for his part, promising to “make an honorable name for you.” Ironically, during the post-war period, he was implicated in scandal involving a second marriage to a much younger woman and in defrauding the U. S. government, resulting in him avoiding prosecution by fleeing to London where he died in 1897. The details of the scandal were captured in a book published by Carlotta Frances Shotwell—the woman he married—entitled, “The Sufferings & Trials of Carlotta Frances Roddey.” See: Phillip Roddey.

Transcription

Gilbert, [Alabama]
February 25, 1865

My dear child,

Yours dated 19th inst. is at hand, and of course very gratifying to me. You say you had had no letter from me in more than a week. I can’t say how that happens. I write every chance.

Col. Winos [Winds?] went from here to Tuscumbia and a letter from Capt. Jamison says he was captured and carried away on the 22nd inst.

I am glad to hear that you are pleased with your school and that your determination is to succeed in learning. The letter written by General Walker seems to have reached you in due time. I have written twice since and presume I have received all the letters you have written though I only acknowledged the receipt of those lately written & am sure I have more from you than from Pink though I have not kept a strict account. The length of my letters are governed by the time I have to spare when writing. You need not apprehend any danger of orders to stop your correspondence as quarreling letters are better than none. I am always anxious to hear from you by letter. I know by them that I am not forgotten. You must take more pains in writing. Write slow and educate yourself to making smooth letters, &c. I am not complaining of what you have done—only advising you as your writing shows some haste, &c.

I have not met Mr. Hodges since the [ ] was sent up & have not seen Mr. Price. Will do so as soon as I can.

I am sorry my horses are not doing better & hoped Col. Winos [Winds?] or Capt. [Arthur Henley] Keller 1 would have procured sufficient forage for them without my paying for it.

Cousin James got back safe & brought my overcoat. You express doubts whether I would be pleased if I were to visit you. I hope you are getting on all right. I have done the best for you I could under the pressure of circumstances surrounding us. So far as we can see, you are now enjoying all the chance you will ever have of acquiring an education & you must not neglect that for anything as it will be more advantageous to you than anything that I can hope to do for you. And if I fall in this war, God only knows what will be your destiny or what may be your suffering. To you—as the eldest daughter—I must look for help in training the younger ones. They will pattern after the example set them by you. Therefore you must be scrupulously correct in your deportments & habits & in all things & under all circumstances as much as possible preserve an even temper & control them by the love that have for you.

I will endeavor to make an honorable name for you and when President Davis asks pardon of the Federal government for his conduct, I may do the same. And when our government so instructs, I will lay down arms & seek as best I can to support the family dependent on me. These are my determinations. And if I live, will carry them out to the honor of my family. Better men than me have been killed by the thousand—& better soldiers than me now languish by the thousand in northern prisons.

We cannot tell what a day may bring about nor how soon you may be deprived of my health. Therefore, I importune you to forego any passing pleasure for your own & the good of the family. Write as often as convenient & oblige yours truly, — P. D. R.

To my dear daughter Mary.

1 Arthur Henley Keller was the father of Helen Keller (1880-1968) by his second wife, Catherine (“Kate”) Everett Adams (1856-1921). Arthur worked for many years as an editor of the Tuscumbia North Alabamian. The Keller family were part of the slaveholding elite before the war, but lost status later. Kate was the daughter of Charles W. Adams, a Confederate general, and his wife.

14th Michigan Infantry, 1859 Gold Seeker

1859: Charles E. Bowers to Minerva D. (Linsday) Bowers

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These letters were written by 33 year-old Charles E. Bowers (1826-1864) , the son of Henry and Jane L. Bowers, and the husband of Minerva D. Linsday (1831-1908) of Branch county, Michigan. Charles and Minerva were married in Branch County on 1 January 1852.

The following biographical sketch of Charles E. Bowers was published in the History of Branch County, page 307, published in 1879. Curiously, there is no mention of the gold seeking sojourn to California during which time he wrote the transcribed letters appearing below. Perhaps it was not a proud moment for the family that Charles should leave his wife and child on a wanderlust adventure of such danger and risk.

“His boyhood was spent in obtaining a fair education and in farm labor. In after-years he was engaged in teaching district school in the winter season, and in working at farming in the summer. 

He taught several terms in Washtenaw Co. and afterwards in Branch Co. In 1847 he settled on 80 acres of wild land in the township of Butler. He erected a small frame house, and improved his lands during the summer and taught school in the winter for a number of years. He became attached to one of his pupils, Miss Minerva D. Linsday, daughter of Pioneer Preacher Rev. David Linsday of Butler Co., MI. 

In 1864 Charles was drafted into the army [as a private in Co. B, 14th Michigan Infantry,] and, on the “March to the Sea,” strayed from his command, and for eleven long years his fate was unknown by his sorrowing widow and friends at home. But, after years of uncertainty, the full history of his sad death was revealed. He became sick and exhausted on the march through Georgia, and, delirious with fever, wandered away from his comrades. He was found by some people in almost a dying condition, and was taken to the house of Mrs. Bryson, the wife of a Confederate soldier. 

This kind lady procured a doctor and nursed him until his death, which occurred in Nov 1864. He gave Mrs. Bryson the address of his family in Michigan, but, owing to some mistake in the name, the several letters she wrote to Mrs. Bowers never came to hand, and in after-years, by advertising in the Detroit papers, the whole sad story came to light. He was buried in the cemetery at Conyers, Georgia, but afterwards removed to the National Soldiers Cemetery at Marietta, Georgia. 

At the time he entered the army he left his wife and one son, Don Juan. Two weeks after his departure for the war his wife gave birth to a daughter, to whom she named Jane L. At the age of 7 months the babe died, leaving the mother and little boy alone in the world.“

Because of the nature of Charles’ disappearance and death while in the service of his country, his widow had difficulty obtaining a widow’s pension. The official report from the Assistant Adjutant General was that Charles was “Missing from the Ambulance train of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 14th Army Corps on 19 November 1864 on the march from Atlanta to Savannah, Ga., while in a deranged condition resulting from sickness—supposed to be dead.” Minerva’s claim appears to have been initially denied—“Deserted December 1864 in the field. No evidence of death.” The pension record reveals she was still seeking a pension years later.

These eight letters are part of several letters written by Charles Bowers on his overland journey to California by way of Salt Lake City. “In crossing the plains when we got to Salt Lake,” he wrote his wife from California, “we sold our wagon and packed our things on the horses, sold our tent and slept on the ground in the open air the rest of the way to California without inconvenience of any sort.” Before winter 1859, his party made it to California where they began their search for gold in Genesee Valley in Plumas county, California. By February 1860, after digging for three months, Charles was not very sanguine as to his chances of great fortune: “I hope to make enough to pay a little towards the expenses of my journey. I do not expect to make much, and I should not probably have made a great deal if I had stayed in Michigan. I shall have a chance to satisfy myself about this about this western country and I think a man can gain more information by making the trip than by any other way.” By June 1860, he informed his wife that he intended to return home in the fall.

Charles wrote each of the following letters to his wife, Minerva, in 1859

Letter 1

Council Bluffs
May 9, 1859

Minerva,

I embrace this chance to inform you of my whereabouts. We arrived at Council Bluffs on Saturday, May 7th, all well. We are so at present. The boys have gone down to the city to buy our stock of provisions and have left me here to watch the tents. I forgot to tell you in my former letters that we got in company with four men from Genesee County, Michigan. We met them at Michigan City, the next day after we left home and have traveled with them to this place and shall most likely go through with them. They appear to be first rate fellows. 

I was a good deal disappointed on not finding a letter from you at the Bluff. I had made a good deal of calculation on hearing from you there but presume I shall not. A letter now from you now would be one of the bright spots in everyday life. Alonzo and Daniel were also disappointed. We shall leave orders with the postmaster at the Bluff to send them on if they arrive soon. If you do not have a letter already sent when you get this, you need not send any till you hear from me again and then I will tell you where to direct one. We shall start from here in two or three days.

We are encamped about ¼ of a mile from the Missouri River. I went over on Saturday after we arrived and took a look at it. Well, how do you think I found it. I will tell you. I found it to be a mudhole about 4000 miles long and a little less than a mile wide. It is very muddy and runs very swift. The cause of the water looking so is because the sides and bottom are quicksand. I saw about a half dozen steamboats passing up and down the river yesterday. There was a very nice boat stopped to take on freight on this side of the river and I went over and made her a visit. We use the water from the river for cooking and drinking. We have to bring it and let it stand over night and settle, then it is very good. The inhabitants here use it altogether but there is no need of it as good water can be got by digging. The water in Iowa where we have passed though is generally the best I ever saw. It is first rate. There can be no better.

There is plenty of Indians here and they come to the tents and want to eat, eat off the trim. They are a hard-looking set—poor and dirty. The squaws in particular—a degraded and abandoned set. They do all the work, carry all the burdens, bear all the drudgery and ____ hard. The Indians march along by their side carrying their rifle perhaps and fixed off as grand as coffee. 

Council Bluffs as a village is perhaps as large as Coldwater, situated on the river bottoms, three miles and a half from the river on the East side. There is a good deal of business done here, most of the emigrants fitting out here. Omaha City is situated in Nebraska Territory on the West side of the river. It is the capitol of the Territory and a very fine place, nearly as large as the Bluff to judge of its appearance from the east side of the river. The capitol stands on the elevation west of the town and is a fine-looking building.

Our company have been well since we left, with the exception of Len, he had the Ague every other day for a week but he is healthy now. We sleep on the ground on a blanket, cook our own grub and fare first rate. I have washed once since I left and did it first rate. We get along better by a good deal than I expected we should.
We shall probably cross the river this afternoon. We are camped near the ferry and it is three miles back to town. As soon as the boys get back, we shall go across the river. 

And now about the [Pike’s] Peak. I cannot tell you much—only that there is an immense emigration that way. It is estimated that fifty wagons per day have crossed the ferry here for sixty days. There is all sorts of news but on the whole they are favorable. If I could hear from you and know that you and Juan was well, I should be better satisfied but I shall wait patiently till the time comes. Give my respects to all friends. Hug Dick for me a little and remember me.

Ever yours, truly, Chas. E. Bowers

Letter 2

Council Bluff
May 11, 1859

Minerva,

I did not think when I wrote to you a day two ago that I should write to you so soon again, but having a little spare time this morning, I think perhaps that I cannot spend it in a manner more agreeable to myself or to you. When I wrote last, I had not got your letter, but the boys had gone to the village and when they returned, they brought me your letter. I need not tell you how well I was pleased to hear from you, and to hear that you and Juan were well as also all the friends.
I wrote to Lewis and Uncle Thomas at the same time that I did to you last.

We did not go over the [Missouri] river on Monday as we intended but we shall go today, for all I know now. We had a terrible thunderstorm last night—rain in torrents and wind in abundance. But we dug a ditch around our tent and got in and covered up and let it storm. This morning it is again fair and warm. Dan and Lon have not got any letter yet, but Dan is going to town this morning, perhaps he may find one. In my last letter to you I told you that you need not write to me again till I got established or wrote to you where to write. I cannot tell when I shall be where. I should be apt to get a letter from you with regard to the mines. I do not know anymore that I can depend upon than I did when I started from home.

There is some going home that have been three hundred miles west of here. They say that the whole matter is a humbug—that there is no gold there at all or none of any amount—that mining there cannot make 50 cents per day. In fact, we hear all sorts of stories and cannot tell anything about it. Some are going one way, some another. Some say one thing, some another, and that is all you can tell about the matter. Keep up good grit as I know you will, and all will come out right whether there is any gold anywhere or not. 

I will tell you how much it has cost me up to this time. We have got all our provisions that we can draw and all our equipage with the exception of a very little and it has cost me a little over fifty dollars or will when we get everything complete. That will include what I have spent and all. 

This Iowa that we have passed through is a good country, but I do not think I should like it well enough to settle in it. The prairies are too large and there is but very little timber on the route we passed through. There is thousands of acres that there is not a thing upon the grass. We did intend to go to Samuel Nicholls but did not go that route, so we did not see him. 

Sometimes I get to thinking of home and of you and Dick and then I wish I could be there for a little while, but I do not get homesick. I only think of the enjoyment we have had at home and hope we shall have again. You wanted me to write good, long letters and I do as long as I can and what I do not make in length, I try to in number. I believe this makes six that I have written to you.

We intend to cross the Missouri this afternoon and go on slowly at first as our load is heavy. We have to carry some feed from here for the horses and that makes the load a good deal heavier. You need not look for another letter till we get to Fort Kearney, which is one hundred and eighty miles, but I will write if I have an opportunity to send back. We have a first rate time full well and enjoy ourselves as well as we can. We hunt some but there has not been much game so far. We expect more ahead. We are all well and hearty, have good fare but rough, as all do on this journey. 

Tell your mother that the frying pan does the best kind of service and we keep it quite busy. I shall write to all the friends as fast as I can, but when we travel, we have to work hard. We get up in the morning, get our breakfast, pack up and move on. At night we camp, unpack, get our supper, go to bed and so it goes. There is a good many women going west with the emigrants, but it must be a hard journey and it certainly is a rough place. I saw one woman that was going through dressed in men’s clothes. She was not smart. 

And now, Minerva, take good care of Juan. Make a hero of him if you can by making him do his duty and your own heart will reward you. We start in a short time, so good-bye now.

Yours truly, Chas. E. Bowers to M. D. Bowers

Letter 3

Fremont, Nebraska Territory
May 14, 1859

Minerva,

When I wrote to you last, I thought that it would be some time before I wrote again but today it is very rainy and we are laying over and I thought I would like to write a few lines to you as that it is the most agreeable occupation I can engage in. When last I wrote to you I believe the mines were as favorable as common but now they are of the worst possible kind. The talk is that it is all a humbug and thousands of men are coming back. I do not know anything about it. I cannot tell anymore about it than I could before I started, but I must tell you the truth—the matter looks very dull. But I am going through if possible and then I shall know for myself certain. 

I want you to write to me and tell me what the news are from the boys that went from Butler and what they write back. And now Minerva, I shall write this to you as a private letter. You must not let anyone see this at present but write me a letter and direct it to Denver City, Kansas Territory, and I think I shall get it by the time I get there.

And now Minerva, if this matter is a humbug, what do you think or what would you think if I should tell you that I think of going through to California. The company that we are with are going through and I do not know but that may be the best way. I think so. When I get to Cherry Creek, I can go to California just as cheap as I can come home, and I think I would like to go. The news from the Kansas mines are very discouraging but I can’t tell you any more now till I get there and know for myself and I shall write to you as often as I can.
I think of you and Juan often and would like to see you, but I am not homesick and do not expect to be.

This is a splendid looking country but there is no timber and it is not near as ___ as Michigan. I went down to the Platt River this morning with Dan and took the first look at it. We are 40 miles west of the Bluffs. I cannot write much as we shall leave here this afternoon I suppose. Think the matter over and write me a letter directed as above and there I will have more chance to know. If you want any money, tell Lew so and he will get it for you. Take good care of yourself and Juan and then I shall be satisfied. I am healthy and feel first rate as far as health is concerned. Do not say anything to anyone of this matter.

Remember me and I shall remember you. God Bless you, — Chas. E. Bowers  to  M.D. Bowers

Letter 4

Shinn’s Ferry, Platte River
Nebraska Territory
May 18, 1859

Minerva,

Again, I embrace the opportunity of writing to you. I think I do my only towards you in that respect but it may be that I shall not be able to write so often by and by so I will write while I can. We are camped on the bank of the Platte River. Have been here two days [and] expect to go on tomorrow.

Minerva, in my last letter I told you that the news from the mines were very discouraging. They are so still and a great many men are coming back from the mines. Yes, thousands of them who say they cannot make their board by digging gold. But we are going on and if the mines at the Peak do not pay, we are going on to California. We can do just as well by going through as to come home and go just as cheap from there as to come home. You can just not say anything to anyone about our going to California till I write to you whether we are going or not. I don’t think I can afford to come so far and not make it pay. The man that come with us from ‘Homer’ leaves us here. Thinks it will not pay to go farther. Perhaps he will call and see you if he comes home but I do not know whether he will or not.

Be of good cheer. Take good care of Dick and yourself and have no fears for me. I am health us and feel better drinking river water and sleeping on the ground than before in two years. I feel as well as I ever did. Remember me to all to the old folks especially, and believe me ever yours, yours, yours, — Chas. E. Bowers

I will write as often as I can to you and to all, but I shall write to you first. We shall not cross the ferry here but go up on the north side of the Platte—a river that is of no account at all to the country. C.E.B to M.D.B. Did not I write this side.

Letter 5

Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory
May 25, 1859

Minerva,

This will tell you that we are all well and will also inform you where we are. We arrived here last night. We are not at the fort, but on the north side of the river. We are going on again shortly. I hope you will write me a letter and direct it to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, as I requested in my last letter. I sometimes long to hear from home but think I can wait a little while. I shall not write again till I get to Fort Laramie which is 300 miles, or I don’t expect to but if there is a post office between here and there, I will write if I can.

We had a snow storm last night and it is cold this morning. We are camped with a company that are going over the river and I can send this over to the fort, so I thought I would write. I hope you are comfortable and enjoy yourself well. Keep up good courage and I will see you again as soon as possible. We are in the buffalo range and expect to have some fun soon. We came across a dead Indian last night before we got to camping plane. He lay wrapped in his blanket. He had laid there a good while. How he came there, no one knows. I have no news to write. I knew you would like to hear how we were getting along.

Give Dick a good hug for me and consider yourself hugged a little if you are a mind to. Yours truly, — Chas. E. Bowers

Letter 6

Nebraska Territory
June 10, 1859

Minerva,

We are now within 15 miles of Fort Laramie, all well. We have had a lame horse the past week which has delayed us some but he is better now. We are camped now on the Platte River in a nice grove—the first almost that we have seen for two hundred miles. Lon is cooking dinner. We shall be at the fort tomorrow if nothing happens to hinder us. We have had some sandy roads but they are better now. Yesterday we came in sight of the Black Hills and soon shall be among them. From here it is 500 miles to Salt Lake. We can make that I suppose in about a month. We met a train of Mormons going east a few days ago. They stated the roads to be good but some snow on the mountains. There were some women with them—fine looking ones too. One in particular dressed in good style and wore kid gloves but when I saw her, she was cooking over a fire of buffalo chips. But one needs gloves to fuel the fire with such fuel.

I must tell you something of the kinds of winds they sometimes have on these plains. A company of emigrants going to California had stopped for the night about 200 miles east of here when a tornado struck them, upset their wagons and blew them upwards of 80 rods, broke their wagons to pieces and scattered their effects in every direction. We were some 40 miles east of them at the time. It blew terribly where we were but did no damage. We stopped and saw the wreck. When we came up on the wheels of their wagons, seven wheels were torn to pieces. Some of their things were blown 5 miles. One spoke of a wheel was broken in two pieces. It broke open trunks and satchels and scattered the contents on the ground. One woman had her arm broke and two men were hurt but not seriously. It is a wonder some were not killed. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it myself.

A young man in a company near us met with an accident a few days ago. One of the company was taking a gun out of the wagon when it went off and lodged a ball in his back or struck him in the shoulder blade and lodged in the bones of his breast, going nearly through his body. It did not kill him and he may get well. They have taken him to the fort to be attended to by the United States surgeon there. We have got mostly out of the region of storms of rain. I suppose that it rains here very seldom. We have traveled on the bank of the Platte so long that it looks like an old friend. 

I hope you are well and enjoy yourself, will try to do so as well as you can.
Take good care of my boy (I might say your boy). Train him up in the way he should go but allow him to act like a child while he is a child for Saint Paul done that you know. I would like much to see him. I would give money now, as little as I have got to hug the little fellow. Perhaps I shall have the chance some time. I shall write you from Salt Lake again and I want you to write and direct your letters to Placerville, California so I can hear from you as soon as I get there.

I do not know that I shall write any more this time. If I get time when we get to the fort I will. And now good-bye, — Chas. E. Bowers to M.D. Bowers

Letter 7

Fort Laramie, Nebraska Territory
June 11, 1859

Minerva,

We are at the fort as you will see. I did not think yesterday that I would have any more to write in this letter, but I think I like to write to you best of anyone. I shall send some though besides this to others. I have not had time to write to my folks yet. I suppose you do not think of going to see them. If you should, you can tell them the news and I shall write to them as soon as I can. Keep up your courage and do not get downhearted.

I wish you was here this morning to see the Indians with their ponies and packs. We see lots of them now.

Enclosed I send you the seed of a small prickly pear that grows on the prairies here. We shall go on from here soon. As soon as I can I am going over the river to the fort which is on the point between Platte and Laramie Rivers.

I must say good-bye, which I very seldom say to anyone but will as it you. Hoping to see you at the earliest possible time, I remain your affectionate — Charlie

Chas. E. Bowers to M.D. Bowers

Letter 8

Nebraska Territory
June 19, 1859

Minerva,

Today is to us as to all & should be a day of rest. We are laying over and shall start from here in the morning. We are well as common. We are camped on the bank of Platte River. I hope we shall see the last of this river soon. We have followed on its track about 700 miles. We are about 125 miles from Fort Laramie. The mountains on each side of the river begin to look up some. From where I am writing I can see snow on their tops in lots of places and yet it is 140 miles to the summit of the Rocky Mountains yet. This country has every evidence of having been formed as it now is by the force of volcanos or earthquakes. Of that I will tell you more when we meet.

We are in company with a company of seven wagons going to California by the way of Salt Lake. We expect to get there in about three weeks if nothing happens to hinder us. I shall mail this letter there. I thought I would commence to write you now and would have it ready when I get there. I am expecting a letter from you at Salt Lake and hope to get it too but if I do not, I shall be much disappointed. I shall have to wait, in that case, till I get to California which will seem like a long time.
I sometimes fancy that something is the matter at home, that you or Juan is sick or worse and often blame myself for not staying with you but perhaps this is not the case and I fondly hope that it is not. Of one thing you may be assured, I shall return as soon as I can, and I shall probably think the time as long as you. Take good care of Dick and yourself and the time will not seem long. I wrote you a letter from Fort Laramie which I sent one week ago yesterday. In that I told you all the news up to that time and I shall write this letter at intervals between this and the time we get to Salt Lake. I want you to be sure and write to Placerville, California and have the friends write that wish to and I shall get there sooner than if you waited longer.

We have got out of the region of rain I think as we do not have any more though we have some heavy thunder very. The feed that we find here in the mountains is as dry as hay but is very good. Sometimes it is plenty, sometimes none at all. Then we have to take our horses off two or three miles to where we can find grass, take our blanket along and lay down by them and sleep on the ground through the night. There is no dew of any account, so it is good sleeping. The weather here is very warm in the middle of the day when there is no wind but the nights are cool. I have not had better health in a long time than on this journey except a very sore mouth and lips. It seems that they cannot be cured. Everyone almost has them. I shall write enough before I send this to you to make out a good long letter, so I shall not write any more at present except to say that if I go to California and like the country as well as I expect to, I want to know if you will go there to live. When you write after you get this, let me know what you think of it. For the present I must close but you will hear more from me soon again if nothing happens. Till then Adieu, From your Charlie

Devils Gate, Nebraska Territory
June 27, 1859

Minerva, 

When I commenced this letter, I expected to mail it at Salt Lake but conclude to send the some now, as I have a good chance and you will get it sooner. We are 200 miles from Fort Laramie. Expect to go on from here in the morning. We are now about 300 miles from Salt Lake. We are camped on the Sweet Water River at the Devil’s Gate—a passage of the river through a spur of the Rocky Mountains. It is a frightful looking place. The river passes through a narrow cut in the rocks which rise about 400 feet from the water, perpendicular on each side. It looks frightful to go down into the gap and look up, but nothing to be compared to the looking down from the top. I went up to the top, had to lay down and crawl up to the edge and look over. I am not nervous, but it made me have a horrid feeling to look down on the river, tumbling over the rocks below.

We have plenty of game here. Dan has gone out hunting. We are staying in camp today, so we have a little leisure. I hope you are well, but you cannot tell how much I would like to hear from home and from you all. I shall write from Salt Lake, most likely, if not before. Keep up up the best kind of courage and all will be well. I am not homesick but would like to see you and Juan the best kind. I shall write to you as often as I can and to all the rest, but you will get letters ahead of the rest of course. Be brave and strong and we will meet again soon,
From your Charlie truly

Clarksville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee

1862: Charles Henry Irvin to Isabella Anne (Harradin) Irvin

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This letter was written by Charles Henry Irvin (1832-1906), a native of England, who enlisted as a 1st Lieutenant & Quartermaster of the 9th Michigan Infantry on 12 October 1861. At the time of his enlistment, Charles was working as a civil engineer in Detroit and residing in the 9th Ward with his wife Isabella Anne (Harradin) Irvin (1835-1909) and daughter Fanny Marie Irvin (1854-1929).

An obituary for Charles posted in the Idaho Daily Statesman (Boise, Idaho) on 23 November 1906 says of him:

Colonel Irvin holds a wonderful record both as a military man and in his chosen profession, that of civil engineer. He was born in Thornton, parish of Pickering, county of York, England, in 1832…He was a graduate of King’s college, London, afterwards studying engineering under the most famous of the English engineers of that period.

He came to America in 1860, locating at New York. One of his first positions was that of consulting engineer of the New York Central road. His career as an engineer has been most remarkable. He was one of the inspecting engineers with E. R. Blackwell and Albert C. Tracy during the building of the Niagara suspension bridge. He was assistant chief engineer for the Denver & Rio Grande at the time of the building of the famous hanging bridge over the Royal Gorge and he also ran the line for the Toltec tunnel in the Toltec Gorge. He made the survey of the Canadian government for the improvement of the Ottawa river 50 years ago. This survey was not used until five years ago, when it was remarked by the press of that date that the survey was used without a single deviation from the original survey. He was also city engineer of Buffalo.

In ’61 he enlisted in the Ninth Michigan as first lieutenant of the army. Within three months he was made brigade quartermaster with General Swords [?] under General Buell, and later was made United States quartermaster with the rank of captain on General Thomas’ staff. Owing to the illness of General Morton, he was given entire charge of the fortifications before Nashville, arranging for this besides attending to his regular duties as quartermaster. For this work he was made a colonel. At the close of the war he was chief quartermaster of the transportation and his duties did not cease until three years after the close of the war.

He went to Colorado in 1879 where he was engaged in very important engineering work and in 1890 came to Idaho to represent the interests of W. C. Bradbury in the New York canal. In ’92 he built the Payette canal and later was manager and engineer of the Phyllis canal. In 1898 he was stricken with paralysis and while he recovered very quickly, he never enjoyed perfect health afterwards.

He was city engineer for a number of years and the last assistance which he renedered the city was in preparing the report of engineers on the gravity water system, which was presented to the council a few meetings since.

Colonel Irvin was a man of broad education who had traveled almost all over the world. When but a boy of 14 his grandfather took him to Algiers and on a long voyage to other foreign countries. He was a natural linguist and spoke and read seven languages. His mind, up to th very last was very clear and it was only the day before his death that he was telling his children his impressions on witnessing the coronation of Queen Victoria, when, as a boy, he was taken to parliament by this father on that occasion. He was a delightful racanteur, a man of the courtly manners of the early days, with a heart as simple as a child’s. He was liberal to a fault and literally gave a way a fortune to friends in need. 

Nashville, Tennessee, in 1862 (Harper’s Weekly)

Transcription

A. A. Quarter Master’s Office
Nashville, Tennessee
November 9, 1862

To Mrs. Isabella A. Irvin
My dearest Bell,

At last I have a chance of writing to you without fear of my communication to you being intercepted. This letter will be sent by a special messenger who will be accompanied by a sufficiently heavy escort to make sure that my letter will not be read by the Confederates and stopped for containing information contraband of war.

The first news I have heard of you since the 22nd of July I got today by Lt. H. C. Gilson who said he had seen Henry who told him to tell me not to get the Blues as you were all right and even this small piece of information has relieved my mind immensely. I made five attempts to get money to you send my you 4 times fifty dollars each time all of which I am informed was captured by the enemy but the last. I sent $200 I have no doubt will arrive to you before this letter.

We have since the middle of August been completely hemmed in by the enemy so that we have had no communication with the outer world and for some weeks have been in daily expectation of an attack by an overpowering force of the enemy but thank God they have put off the attack too long for them to succeed. I have no idea when you heard from me last but I suppose from what I heard the other day it must be a long time for I met a gentleman a day or two ago with whom I was slightly acquainted in Michigan who seemed as much astonished to see me as though he had seen a ghost and told me he had understood that I was killed at Clarksville. 1 Fortunately for me I left Clarksville about hours before it was attacked with a large boatload of horses and got away clear with the clothes I stood up in and positively nothing more—not even an extra pocket handkerchief. I did not intend to come up the river from Clarksville more than thirty miles but hearing the fury at Clarksville and having no other way of getting back except on horseback through woods infested with guerrillas, I thought it prudent to come to Nashville and did so and on arriving at Nashville almost the first news I heard was that Clarksville had been captured and sent up congratulations on what they learned my good luck.

I laid round Nashville for about two weeks waiting for orders & was ordered to take charge of the government manufacturing establishment at this point and was attending to that when Captain R. Stevenson was taken sick and at his request I took charge of his business for him and at his death [on 3 October 1862], I was detailed to take his place and am now at the head of one of the largest Quartermaster establishments in the U. S. I have been fortunately called upon to act here at a time when my knowledge of engineering was of particular value to the government and have succeeded in getting quite a reputation as an office as the old woman says, “although I say it as I oughn’tnoto.”

We expect to have railroad communication here in about fifteen days & then you shall hear regularly from me and as soon as possible I will have you here. You have no idea what straits we have been put here for weeks past. No tea, sugar or coffee & nothing but bread and fresh beef, often not having enough beef even to supply the hospitals which you know are always supplied first. We have not received a mail from the North since the 16th of August & I have paid as high as one dollar for a Louisville paper and never during this time less than twenty-five cents and mighty scarce at that.

I am still wearing my summer clothes from the very fact that there is not blue cloth enough in town to make a suit of clothes & I assume am beginning to look magnificently shabby. The ladies in town are about as strong secesh as ever and I have not the pleasure of making the acquaintance of any of them except officially when they come in to get paid for something that the army has taken from them. We have living by taking whatever we could find within twenty miles of this place without having any reference to whether the original owners thereof wished us to take it or not. The beautiful groves round Nashville are rapidly disappearing under our axes so s to give free sweep to our artillery and many fine residences are sharing the same fate.

You have no idea with what joy we greeted the appearance of the advance guard of General [William S.] Rosecrans’ Army. Only one thousand men arrived on Thursday but it provides the assurance that more were coming & that at least we were safe. On Wednesday the enemy had attacked the town at three different points and though none of the attacks were very heavy, nevertheless created quite an excitement among us. Captain [Charles M.] Lum is here in command of the 10th Michigan Regiment and is well.

I don’t know what to tell you about myself that is interesting except that as usual I work early and late and take but little rest and that I think when you come here you will find me decidedly both much fatter and much grayer than when we last saw each other which will form an admirable excuse for your being disgusted with my personal appearance and falling in love with someone else for I suppose you feel as young as ever. I do not even know where you are. Till I hear from you, shall continue to direct my letters to you to the care of Col. W[illiam] W[ard] Duffield as usual. The last money I sent to you I sent to the care of D. Bethune Duffield fearing that the Colonel might be in the field & some delay be occasioned thereby in the arrival of the money to you.

Now do write to me as soon as you can, enclosing letter to me to Capt. W. F. Harris and write to him requesting him to send it to me by private hand. Read this letter to Fanny. Tell her how dearly I love her & let her know that I expect soon to see her & miss her again & kiss her ten thousand times for me. When you see Father & Mother or write to them, give them my love. Ask George if he wants to come and work for me as copying clerk. If he does, as soon as communication is open, I will give him a good chance.

When you come here we will go to housekeeping taking the house and furniture of someone who has gone away down in Dixie land. Now my dearest little wife that I now and always shall be yours, most loving husband, — Charles H. Irvin

Address:

Lt. Charles H. Irvin
A. A. Quartermaster
Nashville, Tennessee

1 The Union-occupied garrison came under attack on 18 August 1862. See Recapture of Clarksville.

Amputee, Battle of Shiloh

1863: William Graham Hazelrigg to J. O. Jones

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For many Civil War soldiers, life’s greatest challenges only began when they left the army. This image is of Pvt. George W. Lemon who also lost his left leg.

This letter was written by William Graham Hazelrigg (1834-1896) who served as a private in Co. A, 19th Regiment US Infantry until he was wounded on 7 April 1862 in the Battle of Shiloh. Military records indicate that he received a severe wound in the left leg that required amputation to save his life.

William was the son of William Hazelrigg (1794-1853) and Elizabeth Wall (1795-1867) of Sullivan county, Indiana. He was married to Cecelia Morgan Scranton (1843-1915) in 1864. After the war, he found in employment as a sewing machine salesman, and as a commercial grocer. In 1880, he was residing in Evansville, Indiana.

William wrote this letter to J. O. Jones, the postmaster at Terre Haute, Indiana, on the very next day after filing for an invalid’s pension.

Transcription

Terre Haute
April 29, 1863

Mr. Jones, P. M., Sir,

I was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh 7th of April ’63 [1862], disabling me for life and there is nothing that I can do to make a living at—only writing. I wish to know if you will give me employment in the [post] office. I have a slight knowledge of the business. I can give you good references. If you can give me employment, I will call and see you soon. Hoping to receive a reply soon, I remain yours truly, — Wm. G. Hazelrigg

P. S. Please address me through the P. O. — W. G. H.

Battle of Chancellorsville

1863: Jacob W. Strawyick to Andrew Strawyick

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Capt. John G. Parr of Co. C, 139th Pennsylvania (Lewis Bechtold Collection)

This letter was written by 19 year-old Jacob W. Strawyick (1843-1863), the son of Andrew Strawyick (1808-Aft1880) and Susannah Martin (1807-Aft1880) of Butler, Butler county, Pennsylvania. Jacob’s father was a German emigrant who made his living as a gunsmith.

Jacob enlisted with his older brother, Hugh M. Strawyick (1840-Aft1900)—a gunsmith like his father—into Co. C, 139th Pennsylvania Infantry in early September 1862.

In his letter, written from the battle line on 1 May, 1863, Jacob attempts to reassure his father and sister that he expects to survive the battle of Chancellorsville but there is a subtle foreboding in the letter that seems to betray his true feelings. Two days later, Jacob was killed in the Battle of Salem Church (a.k.a. “Battle of Bank’s Ford”) while fighting with Sedgwick’s VI Corps. In that battle alone, the 139th Pennsylvania lost 123 men killed and wounded. Jacob was originally buried on Thomas Morrison’s Lot, Fredericksburg, Va., but was later moved to the National Cemetery.

Jacob’s letter was found in the Pension Office Records.

Some of the boys of the 139th Pennsylvania Infantry

Transcription

Line of Battle near the Rappahannock
May 1st 1863

Dear Father,

I take my pen in hand to let you know that we are both well at present and I hope these few lines will find you all enjoying the same blessing at present and I hope that it may continue so till we come home that if we live to get safe out of this battle now, if we have as good luck as we had when we was across the [river the] other time—and I pray that we will. Now don’t be any uneasy about us. If it is your time to die, it will come, and if it ain’t, we will come out safe.

Now father, I sent forty dollars home with Harvey Parks to you and I want you to let me know if he gave it to you so that you can spend it for what you want and not be in need of anything that you stand in need of. Now father, I have nothing more to say this time. [That is] all at present but still remain your son till death.

— J. W. Strawyick

Write soon.

Dear sister, I received your letter of the 22nd and was glad to hear from you and was also glad to hear that you were all well and I hope they may continue so till we all meet again—if we live, ad I pray that God will spared your life to meet again. Now dear sister, I have not much to tell you this time but if I live to get out safe out of this battle, I will tell you more for I will get a furlough and come home and then I will tell you all about the times I have had since I left home. Nothing more at present but still remain your brother till death. Write soon. — J. W. Strawyick

Let Lizzy read this too…for it may be the last letter that you might get from me. But do not be uneasy till you hear from me. Goodbye, — J. W. S.

Jacob’s headstone with surname misspelled.
91st Pennsylvania Infantry, Battle of Fredericksburg

1862: Theodore H. Parsons to Sarah (Christine) Brown

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Capt. Theodore H. Parsons, Co. C, 91st P. V.

In response to her husband’s reported death in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Capt. Theodore H. Parsons (1834-1863) wrote Sarah Brown the following letter. The letter was short and direct though not very sensitive to the no doubt shattered life of the fallen soldier’s widow.

Theodore volunteered as the 2nd Lieutenant of Co. C, 91st Pennsylvania Infantry on 21 September 1861. In less than five weeks he was promoted to the Captain of his company whom he led until he was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville on 3 May, 1863. He died of his wounds on 26 June 1863.

Capt. Parsons wrote the letter to Sarah (Christine) Brown, the widow of Sergeant William Henry Brown (1835-1862)—a wheelwright residing in Philadelphia’s 2nd Ward before the Civil War. Clearly she had heard of or read the account of her husband’s death that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on 19 December 1862:

On Monday last [15 December], as Hon. John Covode, in company with a number of officers, was passing over the battle-field beyond Fredericksburg, their attention was called to a small dog lying by a corpse. Mr. Covode halted a few minutes to see if life was extinct. Raising the coat from the man’s face, he found him dead. The dog, looking wistfully up, ran to the dead man’s face and kissed his silent lips. Such devotion in a small dog was so singular that Mr. Covode examined some papers upon the body, and found it to be that of Sergeant W. H. Brown, Company C, Ninety-first Pennsylvania.

The dog was shivering with the cold, but refused to leave his master’s body, and as the coat was thrown over his face again he seemed very uneasy, and tried to get under it to the man’s face. He had, it seems, followed the regiment into battle, and stuck to his master, and when he fell remained with him, refusing to leave him or to eat anything. As the party returned an ambulance was carrying the corpse to a little grove of trees for interment, and the little dog following, the only mourner at that funeral, as the hero’s comrades had been called to some other point.

Illustration of a Faithful Dog Watching Over His Wounded Master (Frank Leslie’s Illustrated)

It’s difficult to reconcile John Covode’s account of Sergt. Brown’s death with that offered by Brown’s captain. There was a flag of truce on 15 December—the day Covode claims to have visited the battlefield with some Union officers—in order for Union troops to bury the Union dead remaining on the field. But perhaps the Congressman misinterpreted the notes he kept that day. If Capt. Parson’s account is to be believed, Sgt. Brown was still very much alive on the15th of December, though writhing in agony from his mortal wounds.

Serving with Sergt. Brown was his younger brother, Pvt. Conrad R. B. Brown (b. 1838) who enlisted on 2 November 1861. Conrad was wounded at Petersburg on 18 June 1864 and discharged on Surgeon’s Certificate on 29 December 1864 as a veteran.

Capt. Parson’s letter can be found in the Pension Office records (WC4959). It was offered as an exhibit to prove the death of her husband in order to merit a widow’s pension.

Transcription

Camp near Fredericksburg, Virginia
December 23rd 1862

Mrs. Sarah Brown, Madam,

I received your letter of inquiry in regard to your husband William Henry [Brown] and I am sorry to inform you that he was mortally wounded on the 13th inst. and died from the effects of his wounds on the morning of the 16th. He was brought to this side of the river and had his leg amputated and had attention paid him until he was buried. I was present with him when he died and I think that death relieved him of a great deal of pain for he suffered untold agony from the time he was wounded.

He was struck by a shell which injured both legs and tore off part of his thigh. The account of his burial by the Hon. John Covode 1 is very near correct with the difference that it was not on the battlefield but three miles away that he died and I left Conrad and John Wright to bury him as I was ordered away with the company. His body can be sent home but we are all out of money. He will have to be embalmed and I would like to know whether you would like to have his body remain where it is until some of his relatives come for it or whether you will wait until the regiment is paid off when Conrad proposes to send him home. It will cost about $50 to get his body to Philadelphia. Conrad is safe. So is Harry McKane. 2

I remain yours &C., — Capt. T. H. Parsons, Co. C, 91st P. V.

1 Hon. John Covode was a member of Congress from Pennsylvania.

2 Henry (“Harry”) McKane (1824-1894) was a member of Co C, 91st Pennsylvania. He was wounded between the eyes at the Battle of Fredericksburg though Capt. Parson reports he was “safe.” Later in the war, Harry was detailed as a hospital nurse. He was discharged in August 1864.

2nd Illinois Cavalry

1862: William Gover Gilpin to Rachel (Gover) Gilpin

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I could not find an image of William but here is one of James F. Wilson who also served as a Quartermaster Sergeant in the 2nd Illinois Cavalry. James was in Co. G. (Photo Sleuth)

This letter was written by William Gover Gilpin (1836-1862) who enlisted on 5 August 1861 at Quincy, Illinois, to serve in Co. L, 2nd Illinois Cavalry. William was the quartermaster sergeant of his company. He died of “Camp Fever” on 29 September 1861 at Island No. 10. The following letter written to his mother was found in the the Pension’s Office Records. It was penned less than three weeks before his death.

William was the son of Samuel P. Gilpin (1801-1849) and Rachel Gover (1803-1871) of Baltimore, Maryland. William’s father died of cholera at Quincy, Illinois, in May 1849. The Gilpin were Quakers and members of the Baltimore Monthly Meeting of Friends (Stony Brook). Samuel and Rachel’s children included: James S. Gilpin, b. 1822, Joseph Bernard Gilpin (1825-1878); Edward Canby Gilpin (1829-1908); Thomas Harris Gilpin, b. 1831; William Gover Gilpin, b. 1836; and Albert Gallatin Gilpin (1838-1893). In the 1860 US Census, William was enumerated in Ellington, Adams county, Illinois, where he earned his living as a florist. Ten years earlier, the family was enumerated in Baltimore’s 16th Ward, Rachel being the head of the household, her husband having died the year previous.

William mentions his older brother, Joseph B. Gilpin who enlisted in April 1862 to serve as a Captain in the U. S. Commissary Department (Paymaster). He remained in the service until 13 March 1866. In the 1860 US Census, Joe was enumerated in Quincy, Illinois, where he was employed as a land agent. William also mentions his older brother Edward and a younger brother—Albert—who apparently threatened to join the Confederate army. If he did, I can find no record of it.

Rachel filed for a mother’s pension from her home in Sandy Springs, Montgomery county, Maryland. She offered this letter to the Pension’s Office as evidence that her son sent her money and that she relied on it to sustain her.

Transcription

Island No. 10, Tennessee
September 10, 1862

Dear Mother,

It has been some time since I heard from you & cannot imagine why some of you don’t write oftener. We have no news worthy of note transpiring around here save the chasing & bagging of guerrilla bands.

We see with regret that our army has retreated to where they were just a year ago and are followed by the Rebels. There is no doubt that by removing McClellan, Pope has been outgeneraled, hence our defeat. But this yet will prove a good move for the North for it will cause them to stir & be active & prove to the idle thousands that there really is a war going on. Baltimore, Frederick, & perhaps Philadelphia may be taken before our army is filled up sufficient to overthrow this rebellion. But the day is not far distant when our army will be swelled to such a number that there will be no resisting it. Just when the North stopped recruiting, the South commenced the same, by which means they have probably two to our one man in the field. But this new levy will bring our Army up to its standard.

There is no fighting very near us, Bolivar being the nearest some 60 miles east of here. [Brother] Joe is at Jackson some twenty miles from Bolivar. Guerrillas are around Jackson but not in force to take the place. Matters are quiet generally on the river. The health of our camp is very good. My health still continues good, or better than ever in fact. The weather is splendid.

Our folks in Louden are again feeling the terrors of war, & those in Sandy Spring will no doubt feel the same.

You must remain perfectly quiet where you are for this will be but a raid in Maryland that cannot last but a few days & they will again be driven South. Stay where you are & take it as cool as you can. 1

I suppose ere this Albert has joined the Southern Army. Let him go if he wants but I assure you he will yet regret leaving this—the best government that ever existed—to join the Negro Government of a day.

Have not heard from Quincy for some time but all were well when last heard from. Ed’s folks were also well. Hope you will write often. I enclose you $15 all I can spared now. will send more soon. With much love in haste, I close and remain your son, — Wm.

1 William is referring, of course, to Lee’s Maryland Campaign that culminated in the Battle of Antietam.