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.
This letter was written in two parts—the first by William B. Kirk (1822-1901) and the second part by Ann (Jenkins) Kirk (1825-1917). The couple were married in 1845 and resided in Flushing, Belmont county, Ohio, at the time of the Civil War where William earned a living as a dry goods merchant. Their children in 1860 included Cyrus H. Kirk (b. 1847), John J. Kirk (b. 1849), and Ralph W. Kirk (b. 1858). We learn that the couple also had an 1 year-old infant named Elwilla (“Ella”) when this letter was written in April 1863.
Presumed to by Cyrus H. Kirk, eldest son of William and Ann (Jenkins) Kirk
William entered the service in August 1862 as the Captain of Co. B, 126th Ohio Infantry. He mustered out on 23 June 1863—a little more than two months after this letter was written—discharged for disability. By 1870, William had relocated his business and family to Morristown, Union township, Belmont county, Ohio. In addition to the mercantile business, William did well in the wool-buying business.
We learn from the letter that Ann has gone to Martinsburg, Virginia, with her 1 year-old daughter to visit her husband who was posted there on duty as “Permit Officer.” The letter was addressed to their other children who were staying with their grandparents. The letter was was really addressed to the oldest boy, Cyrus who would have been 15 years old at the time. A picture was included with the letter that is not identified but was probably Cyrus H. Kirk. Another period image of Ralph, who would have only been five years old, was found on Find-A-Grave.
Transcription
Addressed to Ann Kirk, Flushing, Belmont county, Ohio
Martinsburg, Va. April 19, 1863
Dear boys,
This is Sabbath evening. Mother and I are comfortably situated at sisters. She got here yesterday by the noon train & is quite well. Ella also except she is a little cross from her ride. I hope you are well and enjoying your visit at Grand Pops. I hope you will be good boys and give Pop & Mother as little trouble as possible as they are very kind indeed to take care of you while mother comes to see me. Give them my very best respects and tell them I remember them in very great respect. Hope I may live to see them again at their old six-mile run house when the mantle of peace is spread out over these United States and our glorious old flag unfurled to the breeze from every capitol in the Union. Then—and not until then—will I be willing to lay down my arms & return to my home, to remain with the dear ones there.
We have news last evening that Fairfax Court House is take by our forces & that the Rebels are about to make a run down the valley. But let them come. We will give them a warm reception, I do assure you.
Ralph W. Kirk (ca. 1864)
I hope you will be careful of dear little Ralph. I should be sorry if he gets hurt while mother is away. Get Minor Hamell to cut that cancer out oof the mare’s nose again. Yet I expect it will do no good. But if it not done, she will die and if she dies from the operation, let her go. It will not be the first mare that ever died. You can see fifty dead horses here in an hour’s ride. I am still Permit Officer and will be in town perhaps all the time mother remains. Well, as mother wishes to write some, I will close.
Ever your affectionate father, — Wm. N. Kirk
Martinsburg, Va.
Dear boys,
This is Monday morning and a very rainy morning. We have got a very nice comfortable room to stay in and have the nicest family to board with. John, I tell you Estella is the prettiest girl and the nicest girl I ever seen. She is tending Ella for me. She kept her while I went up to camp yesterday. In fact, she nurses all the time. I am going to bring her likeness home with me. She says she would come if her mother will let her.
Well, I got here all safe. I got to Wheeling at five o’clock and took the cars at eight and I took a sleeping car and Ella and me went to bed and slept real good all night. I slept some. We was almost to Cumberland when I got up in the morning and I got to Martinsburg at eleven o’clock. I guess I was glad when I saw your Pap on the platform waiting to meet me.
Simeon looks as fat as ever and was real glad to see me. I did not see John Morris but he is well again. I hope you will all keep well and be good boys and help grandmother and take good care of Ralph and when I come home, I’ll tell you all about things I have seen. Give my love to grand pop and mother. I must close. Write soon. Goodbye. Your affectionate mother, — Ann
P. S. Ralph, be a good boy and I will fetch you something nice when I come home. Goodbye. Every yours, — Mother
I could not find an image of Eben but here is one of John A. Hartshorn of Co. A, 19th Maine Infantry (LOC)
This letter was written by Ebenezer (“Eben”) Eastman Colby (1844-1892) of Belfast, Maine, while serving in Co. G, 19th Maine Infantry. Eben was wounded on 5 May 1864 while fighting in the opening stages of the Wilderness Campaign and was transferred to 1st Main Heavy Artillery on 15 December 1864, and later still to the 14th Veteran Reserve Corps (VRC). Before joining the 19th Maine, Eben had previously served in the 2nd Maine Infantry, Co. K, for two years, his enlistment being witnessed by his father, Charles S. Colby, who attested that his son was at least 18 years of age. At the time of his enlistment, Eben was described as five foot six inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. But Eben was no alone in his enlistment—his father also enlisted in the same company as his son but did not survive the war. He was killed at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill on 27 June 1862.
Following the war, though Eben did not leave the country as he threatened to do in the following letter, he relocated to Santa Cruz, California, where he could resume his blacksmith trade as far away from the liberated Negroes he obviously despised. He was married to Flora A. Collins (1847-1941) on 11 September 1864 in Liberty, Waldo county, Maine.
To read letters by other members of the 19th Maine Infantry that I have transcribed and published on Spared & Shared, see:
Camp near Catlett Station, Virginia October 25, 1863
Olive,
I will pen you a few lines today as I have nothing to do. We have got marching orders and we don’t know when we will have to go but go wnen or where they will, I am with them.
Olive, I have nothing very new to write today. Everything is quiet along the lines. The rebels are not far from here but what there is near us are peaceable as can be.
Eben was most likely reacting to this article appearing in the Daily Eastern Argus (or some other Maine paper) published on 14 September 1863
Olive, if you take the Belfast Journal, I wish you would send me one once and a while for I am fond of reading papers. If you will send me one every week, I will pay all postage on them, I was reading a piece in one that a fellow had in our company. It was about some of Abraham’s negro soldiers where they murdered—or rather massacred—a whole family of whites. Damn ’em. They all ought to be burned at the stake. What in hell will this country come to if the negroes are all free.
Olive, I never mean to help free them anymore than I have. I mean to leave the army one of these days and then let them whistle if they get me. I am going to leave this country one of these days. I wish to God that Abraham and all of his followers was in hell. This war would be stopped shortly, I suppose. If some of the damned abolition curses down there was to hear me say what I have written, they would be mad enough to hang me. I wish I was down there—I would tell them what I think of Abraham and his black brethren. Damn ’em.
Olive, I will close this short letter for I have written more that you will want to read. No more today. Goodbye. Ever your friend, — E. E. Colby
P. S. Please write soon and write all the news. Give my love to Ed and all the folks.
The signature of the soldier writing this letter looks like it might read, ” J. F. Hall” and there is a a second signature following a post script that looks like “Foote”—possibly his middle name. However, I have not had any luck confirming his identity. He refers to Col. William Elisha Peters and informs us that he has a horse so I’m inclined to believe he is a member of the 21st Virginia Cavalry. There was a John Hall in Co. B of that regiment; there was also a John F. Hall in Co. K of the 22nd Virginia Cavalry. I’m leaning toward the latter (if it’s not the same person) since these two regiments rode together in the last month of the war in McCausland’s Brigade.
The letter was addressed to Joel Cormany (1826-1900, the son of John Peter Cormany (1795-1863) and Christina Weaver of Wythe county, Virginia. Joel was married to Barbara Ann Buck in 1850 and remained in Mt. Airy (now Rural Retreat), Wythe County, as a farmer the remainder of his life.
Transcription
Addressed to Mr. Joel Cormany, Mount Airy, Wythe county, Virginia
Petersburg, Virginia March 27, 1865
Dear Friend,
I got to Lynchburg three hours after my Brigade left so I stayed in town all night and had fun. From Lynchburg I went to Charlottesville to Gordonsville to____ C. H. to Hanover C. H., then overtook my Brigade in four miles of Richmond. On Sunday we pass through the City of Richmond. There is fighting going on now in five or six miles of this place. We will get into it tomorrow.
Men are going over to the Yankees. I do not know what to think of this war. Gen. Lee has the finest fortifications in the world.
My horse stood the trip. I do wish I was at your house so I could get something good to eat & drink. We got a little meal & bacon, three handful of corn for our horses.
If I am not kill[ed] or taken prisoner, I am coming home this summer. Keep me a little good whiskey. Excuse this as it has been done in a hurry.
My love to all the family and Uncle John Staley,
Your very best friend, — J. F. Hall
I will write to you again just as soon as I find out where we go. Col. [William Elisha] Peters says we go to North Carolina. — Foote
This letter was written by Mirza Leander Weller (1829-1862), the son of Rev. Sidney Weller (1791-1854) and his second wife, Elizabeth McCarroll (1803-1870) of Brinkleyville, Halifax County in eastern North Carolina. His father was the founder of the Medoc Vineyards, a major winery in North Carolina which, by 1840, was the largest wine-producing state in the United States. In 1850, the vineyard boasted of cultivating more than 200 types of grapes. A history of the Vineyard says, “After Sidney Weller’s death, three of his sons, John H., Merza Leander, and Joseph McCarroll, operated the Vineyards. The oldest son Merza was a salesman and did much of the traveling.
Wine making in North Carolina using slave labor.
In the late 1850’s, Weller settled in Hernando, Mississippi, where he not only sold wine, but also like his father, became a minister. He also became a member of the Hernando Masonic Lodge. Weller graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1856. Minutes of the Episcopal diocese of Mississippi from April, 1861 indicates he was “ministering at Hernando and Panola, and intervening places.” These minutes also record the bishop’s daily journal; he wrote on May, 1860 of “the zealous labors of Mr. Weller” as deacon for Hernando, and on July 29, “In St. Andrew’s Church, Jackson, I conferred the office of Priesthood upon the Rev. M. Leander Weller.”
In the 1860 Us Census, Weller was laboring as the Episcopal minister in Hernando, DeSoto county, Mississippi. He was enumerated in the household of John Clark Thompson—a lawyer farmer. When the Civil War erupted, he served as a fighting chaplain in the 9th Mississippi Infantry until he was killed in battle at Shiloh, April 6, 1862. Brigadier General James Chalmers noted Weller’s death in his field report, calling him “a pure man and ardent patriot and a true Christian . . . .” He is reportedly buried in Halifax County, NC.
The 9th Mississippi Infantry at Camp DeSoto, Florida in 1861
Transcription
Camp DeSoto, 4 miles from Warrington, Florida June 5, 1861
Mr. John H. Weller Dear brother,
I have been waiting anxiously to hear from home but so far I have not been gratified by such a letter. I should not write perhaps so quick but we want some wine in our camp. Direct 1 bbl of Halifax Port to Major A[lbert] R. Bowdre, care of Judah & Lebaron, Pensacola, Florida. He—Maj. Bowdre—who had formerly bought wine sent and brought some bottles from Hernando. It was so pleasing that several want each five gallons. If the barrel holds 40 gallons, it will be still better as it all will be used. Send as soon as you can. You know whether it will need any other intervening house to send the wine to the care of. If you have not the port, send some red wine near as you can like it.
I am getting on very well. There is not much prospect of a fight for some time. I have my appointment regularly. I will write more some other time. Now I must close as the drum has sounded now to blow out the lights and I have just been informed of the desire of these gentlemen for the wine as soon as possible.
Give my love to mother and all the children. Hoping soon to hear from home, I remain your affectionate brother, — M. Leander Weller
I could not find an image of James but here is one of James Parson of Co. D, 16th Maine Infantry. He was taken prisoner at Weldon Railroad and died at Salisbury Prison (Peter Pett Collection)
This letter was written by 43 year-old James Thomas Dakin (1821-1886), a farmer from Amity, Aroostook county, Maine, who was drafted into the army in the fall of 1864 and served in Co. G, 20th Maine before transferring to Co. K, 16th Maine Infantry in December 1864.
James wrote the letter to his wife, Louisa Estabrook (1817-1884), the aunt of George Franklin Estabrook (1845-1865) who death was disclosed in this letter.
To read more letters that I have transcribed by members of the 16th Maine Infantry and published on Spared & Shared, see:
I wrote a letter last night to you but this morning I have heard some bad news which I am sorry to relate. I heard by Herbert [J.] Ham—he has been over the 20th [Maine] Regiment this morning—and he brought word that George Franklin Estabrook was dead. 1 He died at City Point with a fever but when he died I don’t know. Word came back to his company that he was dead so there can be no mistake about he matter. I feel bad this morning about George. I can wet my sheet with tears. I am writing but I must not give away to my feelings here. You can tell [your brother] George what I have told you. I was a going to write to him but I thought I would let you or some other one tell him so I have told you all I know about the matter so I will stop.
I wrote to you last night about my sending one blanket, one dress coat, and one shirt in a box with Herbert [J.] Ham and they will be directed to Mrs. Ham in Hodgdon. When they get there, you pay one half of the express bill and take the things likewise. I wrote to you that I expected to leave here this morning but I have not left yet but I can hear the guns very plain. It is very warm and pleasant here. The bugle has called for drill and I must go so I will write more when I come back.
Well, I have got back. Well, I must close. I am well. — James T. Dakin
We have got word to fall in so I have got to go, so goodbye for the present. Write soon. I would write more if I had time. I suppose when [your brother] George hears this letter read, it will make him feel bad. When I signed my name above, we was called to fall in the ranks but I am ready so I will write a little more. I believe George died yesterday and the word came up here this morning. So no more. I remain your absent husband with the best of wishes, — James T. Dakin
Looking over my letter I find I have made some mistakes so excuse these.
1 George Franklin Estabrook, Jr. (1845-1865) died on 21 March 1865 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 13, Site 9700. George was the son of George Frederick Estabrook (son of Hammond and Catherine Estabrook) and Frances Ann Estabrooks. He enlisted in the 20th Maine Infantry Volunteers, Co. H. He fought at the Battle of Gettysburg—saving Little Round Top—along with his uncle Glazier Estabrook and two cousins, Jewett Williams and Albert Hartford Williams. He was 19 years old when he was killed in the Civil War. Before his death, he was promoted to Sergeant.
This statement was recorded on 6 June 1858 by 53 year-old Samuel Allen McCoskry (1804-1886) who was the first Bishop in Michigan in the Episcopal Church. Samuel attended the United States Military Academy for two years, then graduated from Dickinson College in 1825. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1833, and after serving as rector in Reading and Philadelphia, was elected bishop in 1836.
Samuel’s statement records his acquaintance with a runaway slave named Henry Garret and the circumstances surrounding his manumission by Julia (Wickham) Leigh (1801-1883), the widow of his former master Benjamin “Watkins” Leigh (1781-1849) of Richmond, Virginia. Watkins was an 1802 graduate of William & Mary College who became a successful lawyer and politician, serving in the US Senate as an Anti-Jacksonian Whig in the mid 1830s. They lived in a home on Clay Street in Richmond (still standing) that was a gift for Julia and Watkins given to her by her father. After Watkins died, however, the property was sold. Sometime in the 1850s’ Julia relocated to New York City were she likely took up residence with her son-in-law, Charles Meriwether Fry (1822-1892), a New York banker and the husband of her daughter Elizabeth (“Lizzie”).
Julia’s son, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Jr., served the Confederacy and was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Left: Benjamin Watkins Leigh; Right: Julia (Wickham) Leigh
[Note: This document is from the personal collection of Adam Fleischer and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Was well acquainted with Henry Garrett (a colored man) from Canada. He visited me frequently. He stated to me that nearly twenty years since he had run away from his master Watkins Leigh, Esq., of Richmond, Virginia, but that he had never felt free—always apprehensive that he would be arrested. He stated that he had by appointment met Mrs. Leigh and her children at Clifton House [Niagara Falls], Canada, that they had never lost their attachment to him. I at once advised him to go and see Mrs. Leigh who had removed to New York after the death of her husband. He followed my advice. He went to New York and brought to me his free paper given by Mrs. Leigh. I read the case fully. They contained a full and entire relinquishment to his services and that from the date thereof he was a free man. I think these papers were dated in the autumn of eighteen hundred and fifty-seven.
— Samuel A. McCoskry, Bishop of Michigan, Detroit, June 6, 1858
Major Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Jr., 42nd Virginia Infantry. Killed at Gettysburg, Reverse of card reads, Benj. Watkins, son of Julia Wickham and Benj. Watkins Leigh, born Richmond January 18, 1831, killed at Gettysburg July 3rd 1863. He had dashed forward to rally some retreating troops up to a breastwork where both man and horse were killed instantly. Their bodies were found the next day by a clergyman who buried the officer and informed his family of Major Leigh’s death. He said that his attention was attracted to the officer’s splendid figure and face.” He was said to be one of the soldiers who carried the wounded Stonewall Jackson from the battlefield at Chancellorsville.
This letter was written by Stafford Gibbs Cooke (1820-1894), an attorney and the son of William Cooke (1786-1847) and Mary Elizabeth Gibbs (1793-1871) of York county, Virginia. Stafford was married to Sarah Virginia Gibbs (1828-1887) in 1845. In the 1850 Slave Schedules, Stafford was identified as the owner of 11 slaves ranging in age from 4 to 70 years of age.
We learn from the letter that out of fear of being caught between enemy lines when McClellan’s army marched up the Peninsula towards Yorktown in the spring of 1862, Stafford and his family fled their home one and a half miles below Yorktown. Prior to this date, the Confederate army had purchased from him various provisions and fodder, logs for the building of winter quarters, and hired some of his slaves for the construction of nearby fortifications. Receipts indicate he was fairly compensated by the Confederate quartermasters though this letter suggests it was entirely against his will.
Alexandria Gazette, March 5, 1867
His letter describes the losses he experienced due to the Union occupation of his property throughout the war and afterwards when it was used as a settlement by the Freedman’s Bureau against his will and though records survive to show that he was compensated in the post-war period by the Freedmen tenants, it was a paltry sum of money that he had difficulty collecting (see the adjoining newspaper article published in March 1867). I can’t find any evidence that Stafford was successful in getting additional compensation for his losses and the use of his farms which he called “Newmans” and “Edgehill” in York county but the Virginia legislature, in 1875, did award him relief from paying taxes on those properties for the years 1865 through 1871 when the farms were “withheld from him.”
Stafford wrote the letter to his friend, John Newton Van Lew, a Richmond hardware merchant, who was during this postwar period regularly billing the Freedman’s Bureau for various commodities and rents. John was the brother of famed spymaster Elizabeth Van Lew, sometimes called “Crazy Bet.” John assisted his sister in her espionage efforts even while serving against his will in Co. C, 18th Virginia Infantry from February 1864 until he deserted in August of that year and spent the remainder of the war in Philadelphia.
[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Adam Ochs Fleischer and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Contraband put to work by the Union Army near Yorktown in the summer of 1862 (LOC)
Transcription
Gloucester county, Virginia September 15, 1868
To Jno. N. Van Lew, Esqr. My dear Sir,
In accordance with your suggestion made during our last interview, you will find a subjoined statement containing the circumstances which caused me to leave my home when Gen. McClellan appeared with the “Union Army” before Yorktown. Also my reasons why the U. States Government should indemnify my losses sustained at that time, by its use of, and consumption of my personal property, and for the use of and injury to my real estate by Freedmen, they being first settled on my lands by the military authorities in the winter of 1863 & 4, and continued to occupy it by authority of the Freedman’s Bureau until the close of last year, 1867.
1st. My home being one and a half mile below Yorktown and lying immediately on the public road leading from that place to Fort Monroe, was between the contending armies and consequently, I with a wife and seven children—six of whom being daughters—could not have remained at that time between those armies. That about four days previous to Gen’l. McClellan’s arrival before Yorktown, I with my family and a part of my furniture were taken and carried by Confederate wagons in the night and placed on the shore at Yorktown to seek shelter wherever we could find it. On the same day we were sent up York river in a sail vessel and on the third day thereafter found shelter about twelve miles above Yorktown between Bigler’s Mills and the City of Williamsburg where we remained until nearly the close of the year 1862 when we removed across the river to Gloucester county and since resided where we now are.
All my crops made in 1861 were in my farm houses which together with all of my stock of horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, &c. were taken and consumed by Gen’l McClellan’s Army excepting my crop of oats and a portion of my crops made in 1860 and on hand, were impressed by the Confederate authorities.
I could have disposed of all my crops made in 1862 and stock to the Confederate Army but declined and withheld them because I wished to take no part in the unfortunate sectional strife, and believed there would be a great scarcity of bread stuffs and stock among the people of my own and adjoining counties, because of having been consumed by the Confederate Army.
Now in as much as I could have disposed of all my crops, stock, &c. to the Confederate Army, but did not, and refused for the reasons above given, and as the Union Army had the entire benefit of them, is it anything more than just and right that I should be allowed by the U. States Government a fair and reasonable compensation for what it thus used and consumed of mine?
2nd. General Howard (Chief Commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau) published his Circular dated the 5th day of September 1865 defining abandoned property, in strict accordance with the Act of Congress approved July 2nd 1864; which says, “Property real or personal shall be regarded as abandoned when the lawful owner thereof shall be voluntarily absent therefrom engaged either in arms or otherwise in aiding or encouraging the rebellion.” Now I did not voluntarily leave my home nor was I ever engaged in arms or aided the rebellion in any capacity whatever; and therefore I do not believe my lands should have been declared abandoned, and if necessarily used as they have been by the U. States Government for the occupancy of Freedmen, thus I submit the following query. If I neither voluntarily left my home, and never aided the rebellion in any way whatever, could my lands be fairly considered abandoned according to the Act of Congress and Gen’l. Howard’s Circular before referred to. And if not abandoned, and of necessity used by the U. States Government for the occupancy of its wards, should I not be allowed a fair and reasonable amount for its use and injury?
At the close f the war, I found on my tillable land (amounting to about 400 acres) 219 families of Freedmen. They remained thereon until March 1867 when they were removed by the Bureau except 86 families to which the Bureau gave permission to remain to the end of the year 1867; as they had paid the nominal amount of $5 each to rent for the preceding year (1866). These lands were turned over to me on the 1st day of the present year (1868) with this 86 families on it, many of them being unable to pay any rent; and I have never received any more for their living on my lands than what they have thought proper to pay me, which has been very little; and consequently the approbation of my lands to the use and occupancy of Freedmen by the U. States authorities causes me at this time to be a resident of Gloucester county, although I have repeatedly requested and begged of the Bureau to remove them and I be allowed to return to my home and engage again in agricultural pursuits to support my large and expensive family. About 250 acres of my woodland has been entirely stripped of its timber which included about 2,000 cords of pine on a navigable creek and very saleable for cord wood. The large amount of chestnut trees on this land, and now required to re-enclose my farms, has with a large quantity of excellent ship building timber, has been consumed by the Freedmen in firewood.
You will also find a subjoined statement of the items of my losses and what I consider to be their respective valuations, but should you consider any estimate of mine too large or small, you can alter the same to what may be regarded as right and proper. I have now, my dear friend, given you a true statement of this matter and said nothing more than I can prove, and hope you will put forth your strongest efforts, and give me the benefit of all your influence to get something allowed as indemnity for my losses—use and injury of my real estate—for which I am willing to allow liberally a portion of the same, even to the extent of one-third if it will not be attended to for less. Please let me hear from you at your earliest convenience about what you think of this matter. Also about the Bureau buildings.
Kindly & truly yours, — Stafford G. Cooke
Statement of Losses, &c.
700 Bu. white wheat at $1.50 per bu. $1050.00 1500 Bu. corn 80 cents per bu. $1,200.00 15,000 lbs. Fodder 1.5 per lb. $225.00 8 Horses and mules $1,000.00 30 Head horned cattle at $10 each $300.00 40 Head horned sheep at $5 each $200.00 60,000 new bricks $600.00 Farm machinery $300.00 Buildings $7,000.00 4 miles of costly substantial chestnut enclosure $2,000.00 To use of 400 acres of tillable land for four years as $3 per acre per year $4800.00 2,000 cords of merchantable fine timber at $3 per cord $6,000.00 To timber on 250 acres consumed by Freedmen in firewood Say 50 cords to the acre at $1 per cord $12,500
[Total] $38,725.00
Hoping again to hear from you and something that may indicate the success of my claim and that you are in the enjoyment of good health.
These letters were written by John Mortimer (“Mort”) Carr (1827-1904) of Taylor Creek township, Hardin County, Ohio. Mort was married to Maria Scott (1838-1871) in 1854. The couple had four children at the time these letters were written; Thornton (“Thornt”) Washington Carr (1855-1889), Jennie B. Carr (1857-1929), Maud Charlotte Carr (b. 1859), and Scott Sieg Carr (b. 1862). Census records inform us that Mort was a farmer but these letters reveal that he was also a stockman who raised hogs for the Eastern markets as well as sheep.
Mort wrote the letters to his brother-in-law, Pembroke S. (“Snook”) Scott (1842-1864), a private with the 118th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered into service on August 11, 1862. This regiment saw action as part of Burnside’s Campaign in East Tennessee from August 16- October 17, 1863. Afterwards, they served near Kingston, Tennessee, until moving to Nashville in December. They then joined the Atlanta Campaign from May 1 to September 8. Pembroke was killed in battle on May 14, 1864 at Resaca, Ga. [See 1862: Pembroke S. Scott to Jane (Patterson) Scott published on Spared & Shared 18]
In the first letter, Mort writes of getting into a scrape with Charles Quinn (1818-1865) of Rush Creek township in Logan county, Ohio. The scuffle began with name calling (“Abolitionist!”) and resulted in thrown punches and a knife plunged that fortunately missed its mark. Though both parties pressed charges against each other, it apparently did not amount to much. Heated disputes such as this between civilians on the home front were probably more common than we realize today as news of Lincoln’s impending and controversial Emancipation Proclamation became more commonly known and debated in the fall of 1862.
Letter 1
Addressed to Mr. P. S. S. Scott, Falmouth, Ky., 118th Regiment O. V. G., Company B, In care of Capt. Kramer
Rushsylvania [Logan county, Ohio] November 17th 1862
Mr. P. S. S. Scott, Esgq, Dear Sir,
Yours of the 2nd inst. at hand was truly glad to hear from you and to hear that you was well again and was with your regiment. We are all well here at present and the folks in this county are generally well here.
Nothing of interest has transpired from my last but I got into some difficulty with Charley Quinn and he called me a damned abolitionist and struck me two or three times and then I took out my knife and stabbed him in the side. But lucky for him it was a glancing stick and went down instead of going in so I did not hurt him very much. We was by ourselves and he had me arrested for stabbing with intent to kill and he says he is a going to put me to the penitentiary but I do not feel much alarmed about that. I had him arrested and we had both of our trials before the same justice and we are both bound over to court and I think he will not make more than four times. Court commences the 25th inst. and we will soon know our dooms. It is causing me some trouble and will cost me right smart but I think that will be all that he can do.
I have a lot of hogs ready to ship to New York but cannot get back in time for court and I will have to sell in Buffalo if I do not sell here before I start. I will start on the 19th inst. and I have to be here on the 25th for court.
I wish you was here to go with me to Buffalo and then you could go to Niagara Falls and see one of the grandest sights that the human eye ever beheld.
I received a letter from Miller and he is a getting very low but he expects to be discharged. Dock is a getting better very slow. He says he will always be a cripple. I got a letter from J. W. M. and he is not very well but says he likes the service better that he expected. I received a letter from Mort Stiles and one from Joe and one from you all the same day and one from Frank the day or two before and one from Miller and Dock today. Mort and Frank was well. Mort said he had got a letter from home and Harper was home with the typhoid fever and one of the Colonels of that parts had come home and he had took Bill Hardin prisoner near New Orleans and he was married and was in the Rebel army. So he may get what he deserved. Goodbye, — Mort
Capt. [Solomon] Kramer is here but I have not seen him.
Letter 2
Rushsylvania [Logan county, Ohio] December 29, 1862
Mr. P. S. Scott Sir,
Yours of the 16th inst. [came to] hand in due time [and] was truly glad to hear from you once more and to hear that you was well. We are all well here at preset and I hope when these few imperfect lines comes to your hand, they may find you enjoying good health. There is nothing of interest a going on here at this time as I know of.
Christmas is passed and I believe the girls and the old bachelors had a party at H. H. H. on Christmas night but I do not know how they enjoyed themselves. They say they had an oyster supper. That is all I know about it. I just got home the night before Christmas from Buffalo. I was down with the hogs and found rather a hard market but I got out safe without making very much money. John Clark and Henry Rumsey went along with me and they went down to the [Niagara] Falls and enjoyed themselves well. Spent the Sabbath down there. I am a going down again next week and then I expect to go on to New York City and John is a going along with me. I wish you was here to go with us. You would have a very nice time. You would have time to go and see the Falls for U expect to stay in Buffalo as much as ten days and you could have time to see all there is to see down there.
I want to take down about three hundred hogs this time. Oh how I wish you was here to go along with us. I have not had any news from any of the boys from the Army of Virginia since I last wrote you. I have not been about home very much for some time and I think there must be some letters at the [post] office. I have not been to Rushsylvania for three months.
I believe John C. Bailey 1 was wounded in the late battle at Fredericksburg in the leg and since then he has had to have his leg taken off above the knee. So you see he will always be a cripple. I do not know whether J. W. was in the battle or not. I have not had any letter from him since the battle. If he was in the battle, he may be amongst the dead. I do not know what to think about him. I would like very much to hear from him.
I believe that Doc is at Point Lookout in the hospital yet. They say old Noah Rogers is getting fat as a bear. I believe there has nothing of interest transpired here for some time. I believe that they say that Frank [M.] Rose was married on Christmas day to one of Jim Haney’s girls [Eunice]—a very poor choice the girl made, I think. What think you? It is a rose with a thorn in it is my opinion
Well, P. S., I am writing by candle light and all of my family is around me. Maud and Jennie is laying on the bed, Sieg is asleep in the cradle. Thornt, Johnny, and Maria is looking at the pictures in my new dictionary. I got a new atlas and dictionary that I paid $18.50 for—the best in use.
I believe that I wrote you in my last that I got through with that Quinn scrape without much trouble. They say he carries a revolver for to shoot me but I do not feel much alarmed about it. If I never die till Charles Quinn kills me, I think I will live to see the war close anyhow.
I believe I will have to bring my letter to a focus. Maud says I must write a letter to you for her. Thornt says he is well. Jenney says she will send you an apple if I will put it in this letter but you will have to excuse me for I cannot get it in the envelope. We have some very fine apples and I wish you had some of them anyhow for New Years.
So good night and I wish you a happy New Year. — Mort
Write soon as you can and believe me ever your sincere friend, — Mort to Snook
Thornt says as for them chickens you wanted to know about, he says his advise is to take all you can get from them old rebels and talk to the girls in the borques [?] He says if he was you he would have a nice turkey for dinner on New Years Day if they was any Rebel turkeys that could be drafted in or around your camp. That is what’s the matter.
You said you thought you would try to get a furlough to come home on New Years. Well I wish you may get one for I would like very much to have you to take dinner with me a New Years Day.
1 John Catlett Bailey (1832-1922) of Taylor Creek township, Hardin County, Ohio, served as a private in Co. D, 4th OVI. He enlisted on 1 June 1861 and was discharged for medical disability on 24 April 1863. We learn from this letter that Pvt. Bailey was wounded in the leg at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862 that necessitated the amputation of the limb, leaving him a cripple. He was married to Hortense Shepherd in 1878.He died in Kenton, Ohio.
Letter 3
Rushsylvania [Logan county, Ohio] June 10, 1863
Mr. P. S. Scott Dear Brother,
I received your kind letter some time ago and was truly glad to hear from you and have neglected to answer till now awaiting for to have something of interest to write you but they have nothing of that kind transpired so you must excuse me if I do not write you anything of that kind. But in the first place, we are all well here and they was all well at our Mother’s yesterday and John he was well enough to be out last Sunday night to see some of the fair sex. So you can see that it is all right with him.
Well I have got through planting corn and I did not get very much planted. I only got about nine acres planted. We had to clear all the ground that we planted but it is a coming up very nice. But it has been so dry here that they can nothing grow to do much good. The wheat is this part of the country is a going to be very poor. It cannot make over one half crop. It must be six weeks since we have had any rain to do any good toward wetting the ground here and they are still planting corn yet.
I just sheared my sheep yesterday and Maria, she is a going to work up some of the wool and I will have about ninety dollars worth to sell. I saw Mr. Canaan when he was here and he told me that you was alright and was lied first rate by all of the men in the company and I was very glad to hear that. And he said that you would et a furlough for to come home he thought before long. I would like very much to see you and would come down to see you if I had the time to spare. But if you are well and can get to come home, I suppose it will be alright.
I received a letter from Mort [Stiles] written the last days of May. He was well then and was in good spirits and he thinks that things look alright down there in Virginia. He is still at Suffolk but he thinks or says itis the opinion that prevails amongst the men and officers that that army will be moved to Hooker’s army soon.
I got a letter from J. W. M. a few days ago and he was just tolerable. Well, he was not in the battle but is one of the guards that guard the cattle and he says he has very easy times. Well, I suppose Noah Rogers was killed in the Chancellorsville Battle for he amongst the missing and it has been reported since that he was found in three or four days after and was buried and I am inclined to think it is true. They are picking up some of the deserters here now and making the balance run and hide in the woods.
So write soon and believe me ever your friend and brother, — Mort
This letter was written by Harmon Miller (1847-1884), the son of John Sylvester Miller (1801-1878) and Elizabeth Holder (1808-1873) of Winston, Forsyth county, North Carolina. He wrote the letter to his older sister, Antonette Sophia (Miller) Beckel (1828-1891)—the widow of George Hiram Beckel (1829-1862) who died of pneumonia on 24 December 1862 while serving in Co. G, 33rd North Carolina Infantry.
Harmon wrote the letter from an outpost four miles from Fort Fisher in late November 1864.
The Fourth Battalion, four hundred strong, was organized at Camp Holmes, near Raleigh, N. C., on 30 May, 1864, by the election of J. M. Reece, of Greensboro, Major; John S. Pescud, of Raleigh, was appointed Adjutant. Pescud was a brave, true-hearted lad, and is now an honored citizen of Raleigh. The battalion was sent to Goldsboro 2 June. It was composed of the following companies: COMPANY A-From Guilford County-John W. Pitts, Captain; J. N. Crouch, First Lieutenant; T. A. Parsons and George M. Glass, Second Lieutenants. Upon the resignation of all the company officers, W. W. King was elected First Lieutenant and Davis S. Reid Second Lieutenant. The former was in command of the company at Fort Fisher, Kinston and Bentonville. He also acted as Regimental Adjutant for a time, when D. S. Reid commanded the company. Both of these officers were intelligent, brave and efficient. COMPANY B-From Alamance and Forsyth Counties-A. L. Lancaster, Captain; A. M. Craig, First Lieutenant; William May and C. B. Pfohl, Second Lieutenants. COMPANY C-From Stokes and Person Counties-R. F. Dalton, Captain; G. Mason, First Lieutenant; G. W. Yancey and J. H. Schackelford, Second Lieutenants. COMPANY D-From Rockingham-A. B. Ellington, Captain; J. P. Ellington, First Lieutenant; F. M. Hamlin and William Fewell, Second Lieutenants. This company was added to the Battalion 15 June. Captain Ellington was promoted to the Majority when the regiment was formed. Lieutenant J. P. Ellington in July, 1864, was drowned in Masonboro Sound, while in the discharge of his duty as officer of the day, visiting the pickets on the beach. His body was recovered by exploding torpedoes in the sound.
Transcription
Addressed to Mrs. Sophia Bec
Fort Gatlin, 1 North Carolina November 20, 1864
Dear Sister,
I seat myself this evening to drop you a few lines to let you know I am well at preset & hoping when these few lines comes to hand, they may find you and Sarah well and enjoying good health. I would [have] answered your letter sooner but I had the chills and fever when I got your letter and we had ben moving and I had no paper so I had to wait till I got my paper. I have no news to write at present.
We are now about four miles above Fort Fisher lying here in the woods waiting for the Yankees if they land but I don’t think they will land here. We are lying here without any tents and it is a raining and you may know we had a bad time of it.
I got a letter from Capt. D____ yesterday and he wants me to come and join the band if I can get off from here and the Major [Reece] says he is willing for me to go and I think I will start in a week or so. 2
I must close for this time for this is the fourth letter I have wrote today. Write as soon as you get this letter and write all the news. No more at present. Your brother, Harmon Miler
Direct to Wilmington, N. V., 4th Battalion Junior Reserves in care of Major [John M.] Reece
1 Harmon datelined his letter from “Fort Gatlin.” No such name exist in the military installation of North Carolina during the war. There was a “Battery Gatlin” or “Gatling” located 15 miles south of Wilmington and on the west side of Myrtle Grove Sound. The Union forces referred to it a “Half Moon Battery” and was actually not far from where they landed troops.
2 Probably a captain in the 33rd North Carolina Infantry where his brother Gideon was a member of the regimental band.
These five letters were written by Gideon Leander Miller (1845-1907) who was conscripted into Co. H, 33rd North Carolina, as a private on 1 July 1862. Sometime about the middle of July 1862, he was transferred to the regimental band of the 33rd. He surrendered with his regiment at Appomattox on 9 April 1865.
Gideon Leander Miller
Gideon was the son of John Sylvester Miller (1801-1878) and Elizabeth Holder (1808-1873) of Winston, Forsyth county, North Carolina. He wrote the letters to his older sister, Antonette Sophia (Miller) Beckel (1828-1891)—the widow of George Hiram Beckel (1829-1862) who died of pneumonia on 24 December 1862 while serving in Co. G, 33rd North Carolina Infantry. He frequently mentions Sarah who was Sophia’s daughter.
Gideon survived the war and returned to Winston, North Carolina, where he and an old brother named John Sylvester Miller formed a partnership and went into the production of windows, sashes, blinds, doors, and other woodwork (see Miller Brothers).
What is most compelling about this correspondence is Gideon’s mentioning the execution of deserters in two of the five letters—scenes he could not avoid as the regimental band was always called upon to play the dead march as they escorted them men to the stakes where they were lashed and shot by a firing squad. In his article entitled “Confederate Dilemma: North Carolina Troops and the Deserter Problem,” author Richard Bardolph’s research resulted in an estimation of “between 180 to 200 of the many thousands of North Carolina runaway were executed and hundreds more were sentenced to death but eventually spared…”
Letter 1
Camp near Liberty Mills, Va. January 1st 1864
Dear Sister,
I this evening take the pleasure of dropping you a few lines to let you know that I am well at present and hope these few lines will find you and Sarah both well and enjoying good health. I have nothing new to write at present. I received your letter last night by hands of George Flynt and I was very glad to hear from you now for I had not received a letter from any my folks in two weeks. I reckon they are looking for me at home yet, the reason they don’t write to me anymore.
I am about six or seven miles from Orange Court House and about the same distance from Gordonsville. I expect we will stay here this winter. We are a very nice camp now and I like to stay here better than any place I have ever been at since I [enlisted. I am] getting pretty well [acquainted with] the citizens in this country. We can go out in the country here every day and get a very good supper. I hope you all enjoyed Christmas and New Year but I am sorry to hear that you see such hard times and that you cannot enjoy life any better. It is true enough, this is a trying time and everybody has felt the effects of the war and a great many have been deprived of the pleasures and comforts that they would have enjoyed had it not been for the war—especially those who have lost their husbands as you have. But it will not do for to give up in despair but hope for a better day in the future.
I have thought too that I would as soon die as to live but that is folly and now I am determined to live in hopes if I am compelled to die in despair. I hope that I will be at home in a few days if nothing happens. Nothing more but remain your brother, — Gideon Miller
Letter 2
Camp 33rd Regt. N C. Troops April 17th 1864
Dear Sister,
I am well and enjoying fine health and sincerely hope these few lines may find you and Sarah well and enjoying the same great blessing. I would have written to you sooner but I have not had the chance to write and I have so many to write to that I cannot write to all. Tell Sarah that I got that peach [ ] she sent to me by Mr. [ ]. I am much obliged to her for [illegible].
We are still in our winter quarters yet and everything is quiet on the front of the enemy but our army is making active preparations for the summer’s campaign. I don’t think it will be long before we will have a fight for we have got orders to have seven days rations on hand and be ready to move at any time.
There has been a good deal of rain here for two or three weeks and the ground is covered with snow yet and have been since before Easter. No doubt this is what has kept them from fighting this long. I expect we will have a hard fight before long and I am afraid we will have a great many men killed but I hope that this war will stop soon that we may all come home to stay at home for I don’t want to see anymore men killed on the battlefield. There were two men have been shot to death this week in our regiment for desertion with fifteen others [illegible] shot at the stake. I hope that I will not have to see another killed that way.
I must bring my short letter to a close for the present. Write to me soon. Give my love and best respects to all my friends if I have any. Tell sister Julia that I am sorry that I did not come to see her when I was at home but if I am ever so fortunate as to get home again, I will come to see her. Nothing more but remain your brother, — G. L. Miller
Letter 3
Chaffin’s Bluff below Richmond July 26th 1864
Dear Sister,
I received your letter and was very glad to hear from you and to hear that you was all well at home. This leaves me well and enjoying good health and I sincerely hope it may find you enjoying the same great blessing. I have no news of interest to communicate at present as we are at a place where we cannot hear any news. We have been at Chaffin’s Bluff for nearly a month—our Brigade and two others—but we was reinforced last Saturday by one Division of Gen. Longstreet’s Corps. We have had no fighting to do since we came up here but we are expecting a fight every day for the Yankees have been crossing the river. They keep fighting at Petersburg yet everyday but they don’t do much for I reckon the Yankees are getting tired as well as we are. But we are all anxious to hear from Georgia to hear what they are doing there [before Atlanta]. We are certain that the Yankees cannot get Richmond or Petersburg so we are just waiting for something to turn up.
The weather has been very hot and dry out here for a month or two but now we have rain plenty and the weather is some colder. We get plenty of blackberries for we are back in rear of the line of battle and there is not so many men around us to eat up everything. I have to go down to the regiment as soon as I get this letter done and I am going through my berry patch on the way. We stay about three miles from the regiment at the hospital to wait upon the sick and wounded when there is any. We have got houses to stay in where soldiers was last winter. We had a nice place to stay at for two or three weeks but now there is a brigade came here in these houses and tearing up things around here so that it is not like it was before they came here.
We have got a teacher and we are taking music lessons. We are learning some very pretty music now. There is some men in the next house to ours that has got a note book and they are singing some of the old tunes that I used to sing before I left home. It almost makes me homesick to hear them sing. It makes me think about Benton and Tom Miller and the rest of the boys and the girls that I used to go with to singing school. They are all scattered about though now and I don’t know where they are. Benton & Tom I suppose is both dead from what I can find out. Some of our prisoners that has been exchanged say they was with Tom when he died—or they say they think it was him. He died in prison. There has been a good many of my old friends killed and wounded this summer already and a few more will take them all. I think I have been very fortunate to escape this long.
I was sorry that I did not get them things you all sent to me by Mr. Thomas but I hope somebody got them that needed the. I must close for this time for I have not got time to write any more. Please write to me again. Tell Sarah that she must hurry and get well of the toothache and write too.
I remain, your brother, — Gideon Miller
Letter 4
Petersburg, Virginia September 18th 1864
Dear Sister Sophia,
I will drop you a few lines this evening to let you know that I am well at preset and hope these few lines may find you well and enjoying good health. I have no news of importance to communicate at present. I am at Petersburg yet and no prospect of getting away soon for they keep fighting here everyday. There has not been much fighting today till a few minutes ago [when] they commenced shelling again. They were fighting all night last night. Day before yesterday our skirmishers charged the Yankees skirmish line and it took about a hundred prisoners.
I have not heard from home in some time. I am sorry that they have got Cal and Wes out. I do wish the war would stop so that we could all come home for I am getting tired of the war. But I hope it won’t last much longer.
I must close for this time for I have not got time to write much more. Please write whenever you can for I am always glad to get letters.
I remain your brother, — G. L. Miller
P. S. Give my love and best respects to all inquiring friends if there be any.
Letter 5
Addressed to Mrs. Sophia Beckel, Winston, Forsyth county, N. C.
Petersburg. Virginia March 28th 1865
Dear Sister,
Your welcome letter came duly to hand yesterday. I was glad to hear from you again for it had been a long time since I had heard from you. I have nothing new to write at present. I am well except a very bad cold.
There has been fighting going on for nearly a week. Last Friday night we went to Petersburg serenading and never got back to camp till after midnight and when we got back the regiment was gone and we didn’t know where they had gone to so we went to bed and when we waked up next morning we heard them fighting in front of Petersburg. Soon after we heard that our men had broke the Yankee’s line and took a great many prisoners. About noon our regiment came back to camp but they had not been here but a few minutes before the Yankees charged in front of our old camp where we have been all the winter and before our Brigade could get out they had took our whole skirmish line and a great many prisoners. They have been fighting there ever since. Our men drove them back again night before last so we hold nearly the same line we did before the fight commenced.
I hope the Yankees will go back now and let us stay in our camp a while longer for the weather is most too cold to leave our winter quarters.
You said you heard that I was coming home the reason you never write to me. I tried hard enough to come home but failed in every attempt, so I will not get to come home soon now for they have stopped giving furloughs.
I am sorry to hear that you have such hard times. I wish it was so that I could do something for you. I would freely but the way I am situated it is impossible. This is what troubles me more than anything else—to think that my folks at home is suffering where if I was at home I could work and keep them from suffering. But instead of that, I am here in the army—a man able to work hard everyday and have to spend all my life in the army. It will soon be three years since I first left home and it seems to me like it has been ten years for I was nothing but a boy then and I don’t think it will be long before I am an old man. I don’t reckon you will know me if you was to see me now. Me head is nearly as white as Father’s and I am not twenty years old yet. Did you ever hear tell of the like before?
I am sorry to hear that there has been so much sickness about home. There has not been much sickness in the army this winter but I fear there will be more this summer. I have had very good health and that is one great blessing.
I have nt had a letter from [brother] Harmon since a few days after he left home. I don’t see why he don’t write to me. I heard he was wounded but hope that it was only a false report. If he is, I hope he will get home. I was in hopes that he would be here to this regiment before now but I am afraid he will not get to come at all. I have not had but one letter from home in more than a month. I believe they all quit writing or it looks so to me.
You say them men don’t care anymore to kill a man than you do to kill a chicken. I don’t mind it much more to see a man killed now that I used to to see a chicken killed for I have seen so many killed that it is nothing new anymore. I have seen between twenty & twenty-five men shot at the stake since the Gettysburg fight and had to march in front of them to the stake and play the dead march. A great many of them were nice men and had families at home. It is a terrible thing to see and I hope I never will see another one killed in this manner.
Tell Sarah that I am glad to hear that she is so smart and that she has learned to weave and spin. I expect she has got to be a grown woman by this time adn that I would not know her anymore.
I must close my letter for we have to go down to the line of battle this evening. Give my love and best respects to all my friends and accept the same yourself. Tell Betty Miller if you see her that she has never answered my letter yet. Excuse bad writing for I have been in a hurry. No more but remain your affectionate brother, — Gideon
Spared & Shared 23 