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.
The following letter was written by Augustus (“Gus”) Dilley (1835-1906) of Hubbard, Trumbull county, Ohio. Gus was raised in the same community as Lyman and Festus Tylee, two brothers roughly the same age as himself. In 1860, Gus married their younger sister, Martha Tylee (1840-1887). When the Civil War began, Gus joined with Lyman in Co. B, 19th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI). Lyman was killed at the Battle of Stones River in January 1863. Not long after, Festus enlisted in Co. C, 125th OVI. Gus states in his letter that he never had the opportunity to meet Festus’ wife who, when he married Harriet M. Downing in 1858, lived in another community in Trumbull county.
Gus wrote the letter from the camp of the 19th OVI on 6 September, less than a week after the fighting before Atlanta that resulted in its capture. Both the 19th OVI and the 125th OVI served in the 3rd Division of the IV Corps during the Atlanta Campaign.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Camp 19th Regt. O. V. I. September 6th 1864
Dear Sister,
It is with a sad heart that I try for the first time to write to you. I presume you have heard ere this of the death of your husband. I did not hear the sad news till this afternoon on the march. I saw one of the boys from his company [Co. C, 125th OVI] and as soon as we halted, I went to learn the particulars but could learn nothing—only his officers had received a notice of his death on the 25th and an inventory of his effects. I also got three letters of his, one of them which I opened and found yours and Hattie’s and Jennie’s pictures in. The others was dated on July 20th and August 16th. The pictures I would like very much to keep with your consent but if you want sent, write me and I will send them.
I saw him a few days before he was sent back and he was in good spirits and seemed to think he would be able to stand the service after he got used to it. He looked fleshy but did not look healthy and as much as I wanted to see him, was very sorry he came to the regiment at the time he did. He seemed like a brother to me indeed. And when he came up we did not have the privilege of visiting each other but a few times until the Lord seen fit to take him away.
His company mourns his loss. They all seemed to be very much attached to him. It is getting dark and we have to move tonight and I will be obliged to make my letter short. What can I say to cheer the heart of one that has lost as dear a husband as he must have been. My acquaintance with him was short but I am confident that he put his trust in Him that was able to save and doeth all things well. May we be enabled to profit by his example and not mourn as those that have no hope.
It is so dark that I will have to close for this time. I would like to hear from you often although I have never had the pleasure of seeing you. You seem like a sister to me. Please excuse this poor letter and I will try and do better next time. Your in haste, — Gus
P. S. He was at Murfreesboro hospital when he died. — Gus
Jonathan Sproul enlisted in Brooklyn at the age of 21 on Oct. 2, 1861, and was mustered into Co. C of the 87th New York Infantry. He was transferred on Sept. 6, 1862 to Co. C Mozart Regiment of the 40th N.Y. Infantry, and promoted to Sergeant on July 16, 1863. Wounded at Kelly’s Ford on Nov. 7, 1863, he had his leg amputated in a field hospital. Transferred to a Washington, D.C. hospital shortly thereafter, he nonetheless died of his wound on Dec. 7, 1863.
This letter was once part of much larger collection of Sproul’s letters, one of which was written on the Battle of Gettysburg on 5 July 1863. It read in part: “Again are we permitted to record the goodness of a very kind Providence for the sparing of our lives and protection from harm during the last few terrible days. But thanks be to God the fight is thus far ours and we have driven the enemy at all points. As in times past, so have we been spared by a Merciful hand which we fail to interpret the reason why. God is gracious and we are grateful…We have had one of the biggest fights of the war, and the loss in our Regiment is about one hundred and fifty…I never went into a fight with a better heart, not felt better during any engagement than I have the last few days. I guess the rebels find it quite a different thing fighting in Pennsylvania than in Virginia. What this week will tell I am unable to say, but I reckon they will get out of this right-smart. This is a splendid place to fight in as we have so much open field. And we have had for once a square open field fight…I promise we shall see much more fight this afternoon or tomorrow. If the rebels make a stand we will fight them, they have left our front and there is some firing a few miles distance which is proof that if they are taking out we are after them. God is our Refuge…“
The letter transcribed on Spared & Shared was penned on 17 January 1862 from Camp Casey where the regiment was spending its first winter in the field. The location of this camp is thought to have been within the red box marked on the map below. [Source: Camp Casey] He wrote the letter to his sister Kate. The University of Virginia has a couple of Jonathan’s letters written during the Peninsula Campaign.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Addressed to Miss Kate Sproul, 377 Washington Street, cor[ner] Beach, New York City
Camp Casey Washington January 17, 1862
Dear sister Kate,
If you are having as jolly ties as Wilson and I just about now, I am sure you are doing pretty well for just imagine for a moment we live in our own house and all alone by ourselves, by our own fireside, and table, plentifully spread by two large boxes of good things. Why a king is not so happy as we are just about now with all the nice things plenty—cake, chickens, pies, buts, raisins, honey, apples, oranges, &c., &c. Why who would not enjoy themselves with so many things.
We have just as much company as we want, so much so that business has to be suspended and we have to post up on our door, “No admittance except on business.” But we have plenty of time for those nice little visitors that come in envelope form, who are the flying messengers from the loved ones at home. We hail each with a welcome that is most hearty. We thank you very much for the cake you sent. I tell you, it come nice for we have not had anything like it since we left. The box that came from home and Garret sent came yesterday and the one James sent came on Tuesday. I tell you it was a like a rainbow in a snowstorm. We have not been suffering for want of enough to eat so much as the kind we eat—it is too much salt meat to suit dainty appetites. So the presents were like a drop of water to a thirsty man in a desert place.
Your letter was received in due season and I was right glad to hear from you. Hope you will write again soon. I was sorry to hear of a contingency between Thorn Anderson and his sister but hope it is all emicably settled by this time. At all events, you must let me know “pertickalers” as S. A. would say.
We are having splendid times just about now as we have snow, rain, ice, and mud and no very extreme drills. Day times it is a perfect slush all over camp and out of camp. The top of the ground thaws in the sun and makes it quite slippery. Just imagine a side of a hill that is clay in the above condition with hundreds of men trampling in it all the time. It makes mud in and mud out, and mud all over. But we are satisfied and would be glad if it rained a whole week for when it rains, we can sit in our tents and so what we like. Oh how nice it is to sit around our little stove and crack nuts and eat the nice things—especially evenings, just as composed as you in your parlor.
I have just received a paper from James a package of thirteen papers from someone else. I guess from Miss Libbie Brown but I am not sure. If you will, please thank her for me as they are just in time this muddy weather we want something to read and tonight whilst I am writing, I find them very nice to keep the boys quiet so that I can write peaceably.
We are expecting important orders soon. The general impression all around here is that there is some grand movement on foot that is soon to develop itself. The paymaster has not come yet. Our captain has been sick for a week past and has done no duty but is getting better now. I was down town today on business for the captain and took the occasion to visit the Patent Building. I should like to spend about three days in it so that I could see everything in the building.
I received a letter from Garret which I will answer soon. Also two or three from home. My love to all friends and especially to yourself. Wilson 1 sends love. Yours hastily and affectionately, — Jonathan
1 Sproul’s brother Wilson, mentioned in this letter, enlisted at the same time as his brother at the age of 19, and was also transferred to the 40th N. Y. Infy. Surviving the war, he was mustered out on Oct. 6, 1864, and died at age 62.
The identity of this soldier has not yet been revealed by an on-line search of records. The content suggests that he served in a Union regiment and was detailed to oversee the operations of a cane and cotton plantation known as the “Collin’s Plantation” early in 1864. He makes reference to a nearby bayou and since this is a term used most widely in the Gulf states, I’m going to presume that he was likely in Louisiana or Mississippi. He indicates that he belonged to Co. I, 12th Regt. USA but that has not enabled me to identify him. His signature looks like “Buber” or “Barber.”
We learn that even though many of his regiment are accepting bonuses and reenlisted for another three years, he has chosen not to do so.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Collins Plantation 13th Regt. Co. I, February 14th 1864
Dear Brother Herbert
Today is Sunday & having nothing in particular to do, I will write you a short epistle as I received two letters from you this week and you always let me know what is going on around home. I don’t know what I should do if you stopped writing. It was too bad that you had to leave the Donation Party as you did and not enjoy the fun. Henry is getting to be some, I should think by your letter. hiring city horses to carry the girls to Donation. That’s right, Doctor, you keep me posted up about what is going on around there. Deacon won’t be likely to let me know about any such thing as that.
You spoke about the old cellar being gone under. What’s the matter with it? Won’t it keep the vegetables from freezing this winter? It has been colder here this winter than it has before for 50 years. But it is a pretty warm day today. It has been nice weather for plowing & planting cane this week. The week coming we expect to have 20 plows running. Some 4-mule plows and some 2-mule. I tell you what it is, Tivus, if you had to work with such tools and fixings as they work with here, you’d want to quit farming. Our lightest kind of hoes are six times as heavy as the hoes you use. And the plows are just the same; carts too. It would make Father sick to see his farming carried on as they do it here. Yes, and it would make any Northern farmer so, if things were carried on as shiftlessly as they are here. They don’t believe in having everything “handy” as we do at home. Everything is left where it was last used.
We milk about 10 cows and we don’t get any more milk than you would from three at home. No care is taken of stock. They run in and out about the plantation just as they please. Hogs ditto. Not long ago, the niggers set fire to the wild grass and it happened that a sow had just had a litter of pigs out in the grass & all 9 of the pigs burned to death. That’s the way to carry on farming to make money—-over the left.
It won’t be time to plant cotton for a month yet. The cane is nearly all planted. They don’t plant cane here as you did that Chinese cane from seed; but the cane itself is planted and a new cane comes from every joint.
The bayou is rising fast and people are afraid of an overflow next spring. I have been to the bayou today watching the drift wood & logs float down. I got onto one great stick & had a nice sail down the bayou for a good distance.
I was at camp yesterday. All the boys are well but none have reenlisted. The veterans have received their $300 State bounty. When they are going home. I can’t tell. They say the 1st of March. Let ’em go. They’ll earn their 700 dollars bounty before they get through another three years. I must close. Write every chance you get and give me all the news. I have not had a “chill” for more than a fortnight. I’ll send you my picture soon as I get any money. From your own brother, — Buber
Niggers get 4 lbs. meat & fish & 1 peck meal per week. First class hands $8 per month. I received 4 postage stamps from Father in your letter. I aso received a package of papers in it. A Chronicle from Ambrose.
These letters were written by Reuben T. Wells (1835-1902) who served as a private in Co E, 115th New York Infantry from 15 August 1862 to 17 June 1865. When he enlisted he was described as a 27 year-old, black haired farmer who stood 5 feet 4 inches tall.
Reuben wrote the letter to his wife, Margaret J. (Dutcher) Wells (1832-1902) and his young son, Lewis Wells (1862-1933). Their farm was located in Mayfield, Fulton county, New York.
I could not find an image of Reuben but here is one of Private Henry W. Mallery of Co. F, wearing the uniform of the 115th New York Volunteer Infantry
Letter 1
Beaufort, South Carolina August 12, 1863
Most dear and affectionate wife,
I received your letter of August the 3rd and was glad to hear from you and to hear that you all was yet enjoying good health. Your letter found me well and enjoying good health. We were paid yesterday and I will send you 20 dollar check and you can draw the money at any bank you please…You must draw it yourself. Write and let me now whether you get this order or draft as soon as you get this.
It is very warm and they are fighting up to Charleston every day. Old Gilmore has got the rebs where the hair is short. I think Charleston must fall and I hope it will soon for then we expect to come north as soon as the Charleston affair is over. No more at present. Write soon and often as you can and all the particulars and news.
This draft you must draw they money yourself for no other can draw it. If it is lost, I will get another and send to you. Pa will send Lewis a [ ] in this letter.
Letter 2
Malvern Hill, Virginia October 8, 1864
Dear wife,
I received your letter three days ago stating that you had sent the box with Danford to Amsterdam, I have not seen the box yet nor don’t expect to very soon for we hant nowhere near the express office. I shall buy a pair of boots the first opportunity. I thought that I wrote you not to send them that way. At the time I received your last letter, I was not about to answer it, I had taken with the ague and have had it for the last three days. Today I am much better so that I got dinner today. I was glad to hear that you were all well again.
We had a fight yesterday on our right. [See Battle of Darbytown & New Market Roads] The rebs charged and tried to turn our right flank. They charged on a brigade of seven shooters. They did not turn our flank but I should think by the dead now in the field they had turned 1000 lives in[to] eternity besides. They have been burying dead ever since dark last night. They first drove in our cavalry, taking some and two light field batteries. Besides the dead, we took 15 hundred prisoners the night before. Three deserters came in and told of the move. They also reported a great riot in Richmond on the same day which they say was caused by the mayor wanting the city to be surrendered and they ordered the mayor in prison. Then the citizens rose [up] and tore opn the jail, opened all the stores and storehouses but how this all is we are not about to say only by report from deserters.
Though wind blows and it is some cold. It rained yesterday. I will now close hoping to hear from you all soon and hope that i may still be home to spend the winter with you. — R. T. Wells
To M. J. Wells
Letter 3
In front of Richmond December 13, 1864
Dear and affectionate wife,
In writing my last letter I did not write what you requested me to and so I will write a few lines today. All is quiet here along the lines but they are looking for the Johnnies to make an attack on our lines for they already know that our lines are weakened by this last move. I have not yet heard from the regiment—only a rumor that they lay at Fortress Monroe on transports. I don’t think that we will lay here long.
The weather is cold and frozen so we are out of the mud for the present. I think that we will go soon to our regiment. I hope so at least for we lay here in these old camps most froze to death. I am well with the exception of these nasty boils. And now I most tired of them.
You speak of the place and about staying there. I can’t tell you now what my mind will [be] one year from now but I can tell you what I think at present. I think you had better stay where you are for most likely you could not get a place till next spring and it hant long from the first of April till my time of service expires. If you go anywhere else, you must sell your cow or hire pasture and lay hay. You might better buy a few slabs and make a new fence for it won’t take more than one hundred slabs if they are righly used. This moving around I don’t believe in till i come home, if I ever do, and I hope that I may and before next August. And I some think that I will be home time enough to fix the fence in the spring.
I must close for my sheet is full. I still remain your affectionate husband. — Reuben T. Wells
To his dear beloved wife and children.
Letter 4
[Note: “On 4 January 1865, the 115th again embarked on board the Propeller “DeMolay,” on its second expedition against the keystone of the confederacy. The whole force was under command of Gen. Alfred H. Terry. The troops landed at Flay Pond battery, a short distance north of Fort Fisher, on the 13th at 9 A. M. The 115th lost but two or three men in landing. At 3 P. M. of the 15th, the grand charge was made upon the fort, the 115th bearing a noble part in its capture, and being again complimented by General Terry, also by Gen. Ames, who knew something of its fighting qualities while in the army of the James. The loss to the regiment was about 70, and among the killed was Lieut. S. S. Olney, of Co. F., whose loss to the regiment and company could not be made good. At about 8 o’clock, on the morning of 16 January, one of the magazines of the fort exploded, killing and wounding more of this regiment than the fighting of the day before.”]
On board the steamship DeMolay January 3, 1865
Dear wife,
I now will write you a few lines to let you know that we are on the move south. The fleet that was at Wilmington returned and landed and now it is on the move and whether it is for the same place or Savannah, we don’t know. We are now going down the James river to Fortress Monroe. When we land, I will write as soon as possible.
I got a letter from pap stating something about your moving. I can’t nor hant no more to say than I have said but if I ever get out of this, I shan’t stay in the State of New York long. You can move wherever you like. I can’t nor hant time to write to the old Ma now but will as soon as the opportunity comes. You must look out for yourself for I can’t at present.
We are most at Fortress Monroe and I will have to draw five days rations and cook them so no more this time and I close.
John Pushe DeMeritt (1836-1921) was born in Montpelier, Vermont, the son of John and Almira DeMeritt. Following graduation from the University of Vermont in 1861, he moved to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, to teach school. On August 15, 1862, he enlisted in Company S of the 29th Wisconsin Infantry. He served in the quartermaster’s office for the regiment and was eventually promoted to quartermaster. He was mustered out June 22, 1865. After the war, he returned to Vermont, and in 1870 was ordained a minister in the Congregational Church. He died July 23, 1921, at the National Soldiers Home at Bennington, Vermont.
Four more of John P. DeMeritt’s letters while he was serving in the quartermaster’s office with the 29th Wisconsin Infantry in 1862 (with notes added by him in 1900) may be found at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.. Additional Civil War materials of John P. DeMeritt are held by Tulane University Special Collections and by the National Library of Australia.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Quartermaster Dept. 29th Wisconsin Dauphin Island, Alabama February 28, 1865
Dear Sister Julia,
The end of another week has come and I feel it my duty to write home though I have no news of importance to communicate. I wish I had, however, a letter from home to answer now for it is more pleasing and easier when we have and answer to meet.
The past week has been rather rainy and business has been uncommonly dull. Of course we are not disposed to complain for not having work when it rains, not a bit, but these rainy days though dull, are on the island, even delightful. It is on such days that sewing, reading, pleasant chatting, writing letters &c. occupy our attention more than on other times.
March 2. I was interrupted in my writing here and this evening resume it. As I was about to write, “very little has transpired upon which one can arrange an interesting epistle,” I have written you so many letters about camp life—a life that is almost as monotonous as life in the kitchen, that I hardly know how to present the subject in a new light. Every camp has its peculiarities just as villages have fashions and customs wholly their own.
You know how shells were “all the go” at Pas Carrallo, Texas, and ornaments from clam shells all the rage at St. Charles, Arkansas. So here oyster hunting and pipe making reign supreme. On one part of this island is an oyster bed and by wading waist deep the boys can fish out all they can carry to camp. So oyster peddlers are plenty and that food, despite butter or milk to cook them, find its place on our table quite often. The briar-root from which tobacco pipes are made to a great extent North is found in large quantities here so the boys give the many leisure moments they have here to pipe making. I wish you could see the workmanship thus displayed for it is really interesting. You would see pipes of all sizes and carved into numerous figures. I have seen a pipe which had a mule’s head nicely joined to a face. Another had a hand grasping the neck of a fierce looking Turk. Another was a turtle, a horse’s foot, and a man’s head neatly joined together. Another represented a frog united to some other figure. And all these relics are finely executed and so successfully wrought that I am not sure that I would have made an attempt at the business if the article manufactured had been one useful to society. As it is, I find more pleasure in occupying my odd moments in study and reading. In this pastime, I have engaged much of late.
As the weather has moderated so much we have set our store aside altogether. We begin to talk much of resuming our evening prayer meetings and if permitted to remain much longer here, I think we shall begin again those meetings. A few of us have lately formed a Bible Class and for a few weeks have held sessions two or three times a week. These have been very interesting & doubtless to our good. But the last few days has taught us that our life on this island is soon to be disturbed and we be moving into more active duty. Already orders have come cutting down our train to the teams and others taking our tents and allowing only dog tents to the men & one wedge tent to the field and staff, &c., all of which mean “march.”
And among these trimmings I must not forget to tell you that Major. Gen. Granger got his eye on our White Team and ordered that for his use, so the flag-of-truce team has gone. I have seen too much soldiering to scold over such a mishap or to get ruffled beyond what Martha was when she called the peddler’s fish “chubs.” In like manner I console myself by saying that one of my teams I have now, though to so gay, is a more serviceable team. From all I can see, I guess we shall start off on a campaign within a fortnight. As the weather is now very mild, we all are by no means reluctant to enter field service, even though it be as grand as that done and being done by Sherman, nor are we willing to rest so idle when many other soldiers are doing so much to smother the last feeble gaspings of this wicked rebellion.
March 4. I thought it best to defer this letter a little longer as I have sent several papers home lately and you certainly must know from them that I am all right. A day ago I sent to Laura a small book which purports to be the life of Mead Holmes. I sent it because it gives a minute notice of the hero’s life as a soldier and hence much in accordance with our present circumstances. I think you will be interested in the book for in many respects it is a good thing.
March 7. I was interrupted in my writing and expecting a letter from home daily, I waited a little longer. But as the mail goes today, I will close this letter of paragraphs and defer my next for the expected message from you. I have said so much about how I think about not having a letter every week when I have three sisters to answer my letters that I do not want to say more. Yet I can assure you it’s not a thought at all pleasing to dwell upon. The last letter I had from home was received February 17th and written February 2nd, so I am over a moth without the least word. As it does not take more than ten days for a letter to come, I cannot think otherwise than you have delayed a long time. I hope however that this long suspense is not because of sickness or other misfortune.
My health is the very best. In a short time we expect to be moving towards Mobile and I hope you will hear soon of th fall of that city, that another joy may be added to those splendid rejoicings from the East. With much love to you each and all, I am with much love your dear brother, — John
This letter was written by David Dempsey Kreps (1844-1920) who enlisted on 8/18/64 as a private in Co. B, 77th PA Infantry. He was discharged on 6/16/65. He was a Member of GAR Post # 433 (Sergeant John C. Dickey) in Greenville, PA. Kreps died on 11/7/1920 in Indianapolis, IN and is buried there in Crown Hill Cemetery.
David wrote the letter to his brother, Frank A. Kreps who was one of the officers that escaped from Libby by tunneling out of the Confederate Prison in Richmond. He was one that was recaptured as well as the following article in the Richmond Enquirer on 13 February 1864 relates: “Three more of the Yankee officers who recently took the underground route out of the Libby Prison, were recaptured on Thursday, near Fort Clifton, on the Appomattox. It seems that after their escape from the Libby they succeeded in reaching Port Walthall, where they secured a boat and started for Old Point. In going down the James river they mistook their way and turned into the Appomattox. In the darkness they ran the boat upon the obstructions in the river, near the fort, and upset it, when, utterly exhausted and almost frozen to death, they went ashore and surrendered themselves to a party of men belonging to Martin’s Battery. They were conveyed to Petersburg and confined in the provost marshal’s guard house. Their names are Frank M. Kreps, 1st Lieutenant, 77th Pennsylvania; Freeman C. Gay, 2d Lieutenant, 11th Pennsylvania; Henry B. Freeman, 1st Lieutenant, United States Infantry.”
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Camp near Huntsville, Alabama January 29 [1865]
Dear Brother,
I received your letter some days ago and I put it iff and ought of answered it before this time. But being as it is Sunday and not having much to do, I thought I would answer your letter.
Will Lavern said that Col. [Thomas E.] Rose said that you was to be Capt. of Co. B and that he was going to try to go home to recruit and get you to help him. I don’t know how true it is but that is what Will [ ] heard at headquarters. Lieut. Shroth and Lieut. Johnson and Lieut. [George] Conrad and Lieut. [Silas L.] Vera are all going home.
Lieut. Vera told me to tell you that he had got a letter from you and that he would answer it in a few days. He said he was kept busy making out pay rolls. They got a notice at headquarters a day or so ago that you was mustered out of the service. If you haven’t sent those shirts I sent for, send me a hat with the shirts. The government hats are such poor things that they won’t last no time at all and it cost between 7.8 and 9 dollars for a hat.
Lieut. [Alex T.] Baldwin [of Co. C] is the only one that was killed [at Nashville on 16 December 1864] that I know. There was several others killed and some wounded but I don’t know their names. Acer of our company was wounded but not very bad.
I guess we will be paid off in a few days but don’t know how soon. They are busy making out the pay rolls.
I think you had better stay at home for I think you have done enough. Our family has done enough towards putting down this rebellion. Let some others come that has not soldiered any. We are all well, getting along first rate. We have nothing to do except eat, drink, and drill a little. The grub we get is not quite as good as that we get at home [but they] give me plenty of it. I can live. I have gained just twenty pounds. I weigh 137 pounds and a half. Whenever we are paid off, I want to get my picture taken and send it home.
I must bring my letter to a close. Frank, I would like to see you. Well, I will close hoping to see you in about seven months. Give my love to all the family and friends. Your affectionate brother, — David D. Kreps
George Washington Cone, Co. B, 7th Connecticut Infantry
This letter was written by George Washington Cone, Jr. (1840-1911), the son of George W. Cone (1806-1882) and Nancy A. Cone (1812-1852) of Utica, Oneida county, New York. George may have been working in Connecticut at the time the Civil War began because he first enlisted in the Co. B of the 1st Connecticut Infantry (3 months) and then reenlisted in Co. B, 7th Connecticut Infantry, entering as a corporal and mustering out as a sergeant.
After the war, in 1866, he married Helen Augusta Louisa Cole (1846-1925) and worked as a carpenter in Herkimer, New York, for a time and then relocated to Springfield, Missouri. He died in 1911 and was buried in Fordland, Webster county, Missouri.
George wrote the letter to Jennie Bradt (1844-1915) who married in December 1863 to Delos Curran Dempster (1840-1924 at Herkimer.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Addressed to Miss Jennie Bradt, Herkimer, New York
Fort Pulaski May 11, 1862
Friend Jennie,
I now take this opportunity to answer your letter of May the 5th. I received it this evening and was very glad to hear from you once more but was very sorry to hear that your Father is unwell. This is a very lonely evening and I am on guard so I will write tonight when I have time.
A few days after we came into the fort, some of the 3rd Rhode Island Artillery men were working among some shells that had not exploded when one of them burst and killed four of them instantly. It seemed hard after passing through a battle without getting a scratch to get killed so suddenly.
We have got a balloon here now to reconnoiter Savannah City. 1 It went up with a couple of Gents and Ladies the other day. The Ladies make frequent visits to the fort. There is one or more visits us nearly every day. The fact is, before we had stopped firing 15 minutes, some Ladies came down to our Battery. They must have run in order to get there so quick. We have got the fort fixed up pretty well now. The masons are repairing the breaches that we made in the fort. I saw a picture in Harper’s Weekly that was intended to represent the fort but it don’t look a bit like the original. One of our steamboats went up to Savannah with a flag of truce the other day.
Drawings of Fort Pulaski appearing in the 3 May 1862 issue of Harpers weekly
The weather is very fine here now and our men are enjoying good health with the exception of a [few] cases. You spoke about the letter that I sent to Charles. There was nothing of great importance in the letter so it won’t make any difference for I will write another letter. I am glad that Charley has got a good wife.
You want to know where we are going, I suppose. Our regiment is quartered in the fort at present but whether we are going to garrison the fort all summer, I am not able to say. We expect to help take Fort Sumter before long but it is only a report and it will go with all camp stories. But I think that we shall stop here some time yet. My health has been quite good since I have been here. I had rather fight one or two more battles before I come back but I can’t have any choice.
I have not any news to write at present so you must excuse me this time. Please give my best respects to all of your friends. When you write, please tell me all the news. I remain your sincere friend, — Corp. G. W. Cone
P. S. Direct to Co. B, 7th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, Port Royal, South Carolina
1 There is no record of balloon observations made in the vicinity of Savannah until after the fall of Fort Pulaski. Sometime in May 1862, aeronautics John Starkweather observed Confederate positions around Savannah.
Capt. Ferdinand Dreher, Co. C. 20th Massachusetts (Mass. Historical Society)
The following letter was penned by Capt. Ferdinand Dreher (1821-1863) of Co. C, 20th Massachusetts Infantry. Ferdinand was an emigrant from Germany who married in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857 to Margaret Lacroix. He was badly wounded at the Battle of Balls Bluff but returned to the regiment in time for the Peninsula Campaign. He was wounded again in the Battle of Fredericksburg and never recovered. He died of his wounds on 1 May 1863 as the Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. Prior to his enlistment, Ferdinand was employed in Boston as a carriage painter.
Ferdinand wrote the letter to a former lieutenant of the regiment, John W. Le Barnes. He shares with him some of the internal politics and jealousies that were common in many regiments, but particularly in the 20th Massachusetts, sometimes called the “Harvard Regiment” because so many of its officers and enlisted men were Harvard men or from the privileged class of Boston society.
[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Greg Herr and was made available for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Bolivar Heights, Va. October 8, 1862
Mr. Le Barns, dear sir!
When I joined the regiment in the month of March last, it was in Bolivar and I did find you there in some disagreeable position which was anyhow honorable for you. Since that time I had to go home again to restore myself for another warfare, came back to the regiment, had to march to fight again and at present I find myself on the same place on which I have been six months ago. I suppose it would have been the same profit for me and the country if I had stopped in Boston, waited and then come to Bolivar. What a history we have to make about this war and our regiment. Colonel [William Raymond] Lee is an old, out-played and out-worn sick man but still he is commanding our Brigade.
Lieut. Col. [Francis Winthrop] Palfrey who had the unwise taste to interfere with the Governor’s doings about the officer’s commissions and through that nonsense brought himself into blame and who did trouble you about the negro to whom you gave the liberty, the same Mr. Palfrey is now at home wounded and very likely he has yet not the power to overjump the experienced & brave Lieut. Murphy again as he used to do tree times.
William Francis Bartlett—“the soul & real commander of our 20th”[Massachusetts Historical Society]
Major [Paul J.] Revere who is wounded too has become a Lieut. Colonel in Sumner’s staff and doesn’t belong anymore to our regiment. Capt. [William F.] Bartlett, the soul & real commander of our 20th is at home a cripple. Capt. [William Lowell] Putnam a cripple too, is recruiting at home and does not want to come back to the regiment, neither as a Major. Then it is to me who comes in the next & so I am commanding—since the last battle—the regiment. But how long will it go so. Why they don’t make a Major, and then, who will it be? Am I in the way? If they know a good, brave man, a abolitionist & a free Republican, I feel proud to serve under such an officer as subaltern and let us have such a one. But if they choose a Beacon Street boy or a Harvard College youth, or overjump me, then I wish you would help me that I will get my discharge as a cripple.
Capt. [Henry Martyn Tremlett has become a Major. Lieut. [Charles Lawrence] Pierson a Lieutenant-Colonel. Lieut. [George E.] Perry has resigned. Lieut. [James Jackson] Lowell is dead. So there are now vacancies for one Major; one Captain, or if Capt. becomes Major, two Captains; two First Lieutenants. Now who will fill those places? Cousinship or business relations? Of course I have nothing to say to those things because I am only acting, and Colonel Lee wants to do the things himself. But if I had the right or the power as a regular field officer, I would give my counsel to it. And this counsel would be not to overjump an officer without he has such an insult to suffer for a charge against him by court martial. Then, otherwise, it makes a bad name of the regiment and it does not raise a good spirit among the men and our friends at home feel sorry about it and will make in time some questions. And this thing so malicious and so unjust has been done in our regiment towards Lieut. Murphy and is there no body who can bring it to the right place??
Lieut. Hirsthaver, Lieut. Panselar & Lieut. Berkwith are sick of the regiment and in body absent. Capt. [Allen] Shephard is brave and right. Capt. [George Adam] Schmitt is now here since a fortnight and is acting Lieut. Colonel. What Capt. [George N.] Macy doesn’t like because before Capt. Schmitt came, Shephard was acting Lieut. Colonel & Macy acting Major. But now Shephard became acting Major and Macy had to go to his company. I tell you, this Macy is a fellow. It is he who brought that fugitive slave in slavery again. Officers and soldiers tell me that he is the whole time in headquarters of the Brigade and does just what he likes.
The new officers made from the ranks—Lieut’s. Alley, Mikey & Willard are good & honest men and they don’t belong to any clique. And if Hirsthouer, Miller, and Panselar, Messer & Beckwith would be here with a good officer corps, which would know what is d’esprit de corps and comradeship, but so I am alone, a half a cripple too with no friends and society. Therefore, I would prefer to work on a railroad as hard laborer. I would have more pleasure and more happiness. Our soldiers are all right. They obey orders & fight very well.
We have sometimes visiting of Boston gentlemen, so is here at present Mr. Rope’s brother, Misses Lee & the younger son of Mr. Lee (Col.)
Company B & C are now very small. We don’t get much recruits & our old soldiers are mostly sick, wounded, killed & deserted. we have every day company drill in the afternoon, Battalion drill under me, [ ] and Shephard. we have to do pickers and the reserve for the pickets.
Our camp is just in the front & centre of the Army Corps. On the edge of a hill in front of us is a valley where our picket line is posted. Sundays we are invited to attend divine worship at the headquarters of our Division Commander Gen. [O. O.] Howard—a very pious man. But generally not much officers & men are going there.
Since I am in the regiment again, I did not hear any news from Boston, neither from my wife, although I send every couple of days letters home. But I got plenty letters of soldiers at home. They want their Descriptive List but they cannot have them without asked for by a state officer or Doctor [William Johnson] Dale.
I am sure you don’t feel sorry that you have left the regiment and you have not only a better time yet, but you are a free man and go by your own mind.
Capt. [Allen] Shephard & Lieut. Murphy send to you their respects and the soldiers in Co. B wish you may remember them. But for myself, you may be sure that I respect you and will always be your, — Ferdinand Dreher
This letter was written by John Pfeifer (1837-1898), alias John Fifer, who served early in the Civil War as a private in Co. C, 8th Indiana Infantry—a three month’s organization. When he mustered out of the regiment on 6 August 1861, he gave his residence place as Delaware county, Indiana. John wrote the letter to his wife, Sarah (“Sallie”) Strucker with whom he married in January 1848 in Ripley, Indiana. John was a German emigrant and a boot/shoemaker by trade. After he was discharged from the 8th Indiana, he returned to Muncie, Indiana, but a year later enlisted again for three years as a sergeant in Co. D, 84th Indiana. He lived out his days in Muncie.
The 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 21, 1861, for a three-month enlistment. The regiment was assigned quarters in Camp Morton initially where they drilled and they remained there until 1 June when they moved to an ecampment five miles east of Indianapolis called Camp McClellan. Named for Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Department of the Ohio, the camp was sited on the Jacob Sandusky farm, future site of Irvington. They remained there until mid June when they were ordered to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and attached to William Rosecrans’ Brigade, in George B. McClellan’s Provisional Army of West Virginia. They fought in the Battle of Rich Mountain on July 11, 1861 and returned to Indianapolis in August to be mustered out.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Camp McClellan Indianapolis 5th [June 1861]
Dear Sallie,
I received your letter you sent to me by Mr. Harter and was very glad to hear from you. I am sorry that you are not very well but I hope you feel better by this time. Dear Sallie, you must excuse me for not writing any oftener. Last week I had no time atall to write because we moved from the fairgrounds. I sent a letter up to you by Harter and you did not say if you got it or not. He told me that he gave it to you and I sent a letter last Monday to you by Mr. Wise.
Sallie, I am very sorry that you think I had forgotten you or be mad at you. Sallie, I will remember and think of you until I see you again. I will not be very long. I hope you will not think hard of me because I could not write oftener. I will write to you whenever I can. Believe me that I think of you all the time.
Sallie, we are all satisfied now because we got some new guns. We can shoot as far with them as any of them Southerners. We would like to go and try them on now. The report is that we will leave for sure next Saturday. We all hope that we will.
Dear Sallie, you want me to come up to see you. Oh how glad I would be if I could see you and more before I go to war. [But] Sallie, I could not come unless I run off like the rest of the Boys did. I do not like to go unless I could go honorable. Our time is over half up and in about five weeks more I am sure to see you again. I shall not enlist for any longer till I see you and more if I keep my life.
Sallie, you say you like to know how I liked that cake you sent me. I liked it the best kind. I gave all the Boys in our tent a piece of it and they all said they wished they had some as good as that was every day. I wish so too. Sallie, you say that you heard so much talk about Camp Morton. I do not think that one half of it is true. There is too much false reports about us. We have to do the best we can here. It is not like home. Everyone’s got to take care of himself.
Sallie, they was trying to get us in for three years but they could not do it. I think there is not many that [are] here that would enlist for three years. They’ll be satisfied in three months. Our place here looks like a small town, a [ ] from all the railroads pass about two hundred yards from our new camp from Indianapolis to Dayton and every train stops here. Our camp looks nice but it is very warm. We have no shade at all.
Dear Sallie, I’ll remember you as long as I live. Do not think that I have forgot you. I will write to you whenever I can. Perhaps this is the last letter you get from me but I hope not. I must close. Write as soon as you can. Yours truly forever. My love to you, — John Fifer
Goodbye dearest Sallie. I dream of you most every night and think of you all the time.
This letter was written by Stephen Somes Manchester (1831-1914), the son of Stephen Manchester (1800-Aft1880) and Hannah Somes (1806-1858) of Solon, Somerset county, Maine. He wrote the letter to his sister, Mary E. Manchester (1842-1935).
Stephen wrote the letter from Camp Berry near Washington City, D. C. after his enlistment in January 1864 as a private in the 2nd Independent Battery, Maine Light Artillery. He remained in the service until 16 June 1865.
Stephen enlisted rather late in the war for a man his age and there’s a strong possibility he went as a substitute since his stationery pays tribute to substitutes.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Camp Barry Washington March 30th 1864
Dear Sister,
I don’t know which wrote last—you or I. it has been so long I have forgot, but I will write now. I am well yet. We are here and I don’t know how long we shall stay here. There is some talk that we shall leave soon but we don’t know anything about it. It is pretty certain that four or five batteries will leave soon but I don’t think we shall go. There is fifteen batteries here now.
I went out to the City the other day. I went up to where four companies of the heavy artillery was quartered and saw Elijah Wasgatt and Sam Savage [1st Main Heavy Artillery]. I went all through the Patent Office and the Smithsonian Institute that is just like a museum—only I did not have to pay anything for going in.
It is rather dull music staying here so long. It is one thing over and over again. When we leave here and go to the front, I expect it will be more stirring times there. Sis, not much news from the war now. Things is rather dull and I expect they will be till I get out in front. Then there will be something did.
I have not seen anybody from Solon that I knew. It will be my birthday the third of April and you will get this letter about the same time. Where do you suppose I shall be when I have another birthday? I think I shall be at home. I had a letter from James the other day but there was no news in it. When I write to one of you, I write to the whole. Tell Wilbert that I was glad to see that he could write so well. Write often—all hands of you. Yours in love, — Stephen Manchester
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