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.
Col. Alexander Piper, 10th New York Heavy Artillery(Find-A-Grave)
These orders were penned by Lt. Eugene A. Chapman who served as adjutant to Col. Alexander Piper of the 10th New York Heavy Artillery. The orders were issued in January 1863 while the 10th manned Fort Wagner—an earthen fort in southeast Washington D. C. that was sometimes called Fort Good Hope. Eugene was 22 years old when he enlisted in August 1862 in the Black River Artillery. He was made Lieutenant and Adjutant in September, and became a Captain of Co. C by July 1, 1863. He was later discharge for promotion to serve as an Asst. Surgeon in the 127th USCT.
The 10th N. Y. artillery regiment was organized on Dec. 31, 1862, of the 1st, 2nd and 4th battalions, Black River artillery, the battalions having been organized at Sacket’s Harbor in September, and the consolidation took place on Dec. 27. The men were recruited in the counties of Jefferson and Lewis and were mustered into the U. S. service for three years as follows: Cos. A, B, C, D, E, F, G and M on Sept. 11, at Sacket’s Harbor; H and I on Sept. 12; at Staten island; Co. K on Nov. 12, and Co. L on Dec. 27, at Fort Schuyler. The 2nd and 4th battalions left the state on Sept. 17, 1862, and were at once assigned to garrison duty in the forts about Washington; the 1st battalion garrisoned Fort Richmond and Sandy Hook, N. Y. harbor until June, 1863, when it joined the others at Washington.
Order No. 5 pertained to the requirements and responsibilities of those carrying out the duties of the battery’s picket guard. Col. Alexander Piper, an 1851 West Point graduate with many years of military experience under his belt was a stickler for discipline.
“The Picket Guard” by N. C. Wyeth, painted in 1922
Transcription
Headquarters 10th New York Artillery Near Fort Wagner January 26th 1863
Order No. 5
The following orders relating to Guards and Sentinels at the different posts are published for the information of all concerned. They will be read to the Guard at least once every day by the senior non-commissioned Officer of the Guard.
I. At least two non-commissioned officers should be detailed with every guard—one of whom must be awake and with the guard at all times day and night.
II. The officer or senior on-commissioned officer of the guard is responsible for the carefulness and efficiency of the sentinels. A sergeant or corporal should inspect every relief before it is posted to ascertain if the men have their belts, clothing, and accoutrements in order. Every sentinel should be visited at least once in every ten hours to communicate to him new orders if necessary and to ascertain if he is acquainted with the orders already given, and is properly executing them.
III. When not on a post, members of the guard must remain at the guard house or tent. None should be allowed to leave it without the authority of the Sergeant in charge and then not more than two at a time.
IV. Where “prisoners” are confined under charge of the guard, they must in no account be allowed to leave except to go to work or to the sink. If it is necessary for prisoners to go to their quarters for any purpose, permission must first be obtained from the officer of the day. Meals for prisoners must be sent to the guard house or tent. When prisoners are sent out to work, they must be accompanied by a sentinel who will have orders to let them have no communication with any person except by authority of the officer of the day or commanding officer. The sentinel will see that the prisoners under his charge work well and steadily. If any of them trifle or neglect their work, he will report them to the sergeant or corporal of the guard.
V. During a “term” of guard duty which lasts 24 hours, neither non-commissioned officers or privates must remove their belts or any part of their clothing.
VI. The duties of a sentinel are most important and most responsible. On him depends the safety of the command. If he is vigilant, and army can rest in security. But if he is careless or indifferent, his companions are at the mercy of an enemy. Officers and non-commissioned officers cannot therefore be too careful in seeing that sentinels discharge their duties properly and execute strictly the orders that are given them.
All persons, whatever their rank may be in the service, are required to observe respect towards sentinels. Sentinels will walk their posts briskly with the bayonet fixed, carrying the musket at a shoulder arms, right shoulder, shift arms, or support arms. They must not quit their post without being regularly relieved not must they hold any conversation that is not necessary for the proper discharge of their duty.
VII When an officer passes across the post of a sentinel, the latter (the sentinel) will halt face outward and salute according to the rank of the officer. The Commanding Officer, Officer of the Day, and all officers above the rank of Captain are entitled to “present arms.” Captains and all officers below that grade are entitled to “shoulder arms.” The rank of officers is indicated by the shoulder straps. After retreat, sentinels do not salute but they stand at attention when an officer passes. When a sentinel is being relieved is giving or receiving orders or whenever he speaks on post, he must come to “arms post.”
VIII In addition to the above orders the following articles of the Revised Army Regulations will be read once a day to the guard. Articles 399, 400, 401, 407, 408, 409, 411, 413, 414, 415, 416. 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429.
These orders will be neatly attached to a piece of board for better preservation and will be kept with the guard.
By order of Col. A. Piper E[ugene] A. Chapman, Lieut. & Act. Adjt.
This early war letter was written by Adoniram Judson Clark (1838-1913) who “enlisted in the 1st New Jersey Militia in April 1861, and became a sergeant in Co. F. When the regiment’s three-month enlistment ended, Clark was involved in raising Battery B, 1st New Jersey Light Artillery. It was mustered into service on September 3, 1861, at Camp Olden in Trenton, New Jersey. The battery was assigned to the First New Jersey Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Philip Kearny. Clark became first lieutenant under Capt. John E. Beam, and was then promoted to captain when Beam was killed in the Battle of Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. Clark commanded the battery to the end of the war.
Clark was the son of Samuel Clark (1791-1869) and Livia Drusilla Wellman (1789-1849) of Manlius, Onondaga county, New York. He wrote this letter to his older brother, Samuel W. Clark (1825-1892) of Newark, Essex county, New Jersey—a long time school teacher in Newark and principal of public school No. 3 in 1860. Samuel was married in 1851 to Sarah Mayhew in Newark.
The first four regiments organized in New Jersey, all three-months regiments, were called militia and were brigaded together as the New Jersey Brigade under the command of Theodore Runyon, a Newark lawyer. The New Jersey brigade was one of the best uniformed and equipped organizations to arrive in Washington in early May 1861 and they were greeted with marked enthusiasm. A little over two weeks later, the brigade crossed the Potomac into Virginia and threw up the first fortifications erected by Union troops on Southern soil (Fort Runyon). This letter was written from Camp Trenton on 5 July 1861, just a couple weeks before the Battle of Bull Run. Camp Trenton was located adjacent the tracks of the Alexandria, Loudon and Hampshire Railroad some two or three miles west of Alexandria in a camp formerly occupied briefly by an Ohio regiment. The camp was described by one member of the 1st New Jersey as being on level ground in a grove of cedar trees.
The Jerseymen were not in the fight at Bull Run, but held in reserve and helped to stabilize the panic during the retreat. It has been conjectured that the Jersey troops were placed in the reserve due to the fact that their term of service was about to end.
Transcription
Camp Trenton, L&H Railroad, Virginia July 5th 1861
Dear Brother Sam,
I have delayed writing till now that I might tell you what was going on here on the “glorious fourth.” First, I got “home” safe and sound. Reached Washington at 6 o’clock Sunday morning in company with J. Haworth & Tom Leffingwell who came down in the same train with me. Ran around a couple of hours with them after the 2nd Regiment & then breakfasted at the Kirkwood House for which I was sated $0.75. The usual high Washington prices are running up now as the time for Congress to sit is near.
Reached camp at 10 o’clock and of course was besieged for new at home. The officers alone expected me home & they did for when some of the boys were making remarks about my hurrying up so, they were shut up with the remark that, “He obeyed orders,” so that it was full as well that I hurried up so. Lieut. [John E.] Beam & the men were very much pleased that I did not forget their messages, the thanks of part of whom belong to you. My basket hangs in the top of the tent & my “pocket pistol” is in my knapsack waiting for orders. I could myself well armed all around now for anything.
You told Mrs. Beam what I spoken to you about, I hope, because I told him you would.
Well, hurrah for the Fourth! Turned out a little before 4 o’clock & cleared up the tent & washed &c. 5 a.m. reveille & roll call, and at 5.30 or 6 o’clock we had a flag raising on the color line. Lieut. Beam had put up the pole the night previous. The lieutenant put on the color. Col. [Adolphus] Johnson had hold of the rope and at the word, it was run to the top amid a hearty “3 times 3” and for the first time floated on the breeze on Virginia soil. The chaplain [A. St. John Chambre] then made a short speech & Lieut. [George T.] Woodbury with a few others sang the Star Spangled Banner, the Red, White, & Blue, &c. after which we went back to our quarters.
Description of 4th of July Celebration at Camp Trenton published in the Newark Daily Advertiser, 31 July 1861
At half past seven o’clock, the regiment was formed into close column by companies & marched in front of the flagstaff. First in order of exercises, was singing, 2nd—prayer by chaplain, 3rd—speech by General [Theodore] Runyon, 4th—Reading of Declaration of Independence by Lieut. [George T.] Woodbury, 5th—Singing, 6th—Oration by Major Barlow, 7th—Col. [Adolphus] Johnson, and 8th—Dr. [Surgeon] Craven. Major Mikels made his bow to conclude that part & then more singing & the benediction by the chaplain after which were broken for the quarters.
Passed the day as best we could for it was very warm & none were allowed out of the lines. I saw but one or two that were any the worse for liquor. There may have been others but I did not know it. Was invited out to dinner to the orderlies tent in company with Sergeant [William C.] Courter of Co. A. Had a fun time. Our bill of fare was boiled ham, roast beef, bread pudding, picked beets, bread & butter, & iced lemonade. And, “after the cloth was removed,”—cigars.
At night there was all sorts of fun. We had new canteens give out during the day and just after night the boys got all the old ones together & divided into two portions & for an hour had a pitched battle & the way the tin canteens flew was a caution! Neither party would give in & I don’t know how long it would have lasted if the officers had not stopped them.
In the eve we had a “fancy” parade and on the parade ground “big” bonfires were burning. Fireworks were not as plenty but we had some show. One of the fine sights was the setting fire of the tall red cedar in front of the parade ground & see the whole tree one mass of flame. In the direction of the Washington Navy Yard we could see rockets of government blue lights &c.
“Time’s up.” Give love to all. We are under marching orders again today & expect to leave either today or tonight towards Fairfax. Ready for fun or fight.
Your affectionate brother, — A. Judson Clark
Direct (in addition to the usual direction) Care of Col. [Adolphus] Johnson, 1st Regt. N. J. M. to ensure safety, — Jud
This letter was written by Henry Cheney Rice (1841-1909), the son of Jonas Persis Rice (1812-1892) and Louisa Patridge (1818-1893) of Stockbridge, Windsor county, Vermont. Henry wrote the letter in March 1863 while serving in Co. E, 14th Vermont Infantry—a nine month regiment that was raised in August 1862. The regiment’s only major engagement was at Gettysburg where they played an important role in repulsing Pickett’s Charge on the afternoon of July 3rd by flanking Kemper’s Brigade.
I could not find an image of Henry but here is one of Frank S. Hollister of Co. B, 14th Vermont (Photo Sleuth)
In his letter, Rice lays out the unvarnished truth regarding the capture of Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton—commander of the 2nd Vermont Brigade—by Mosby’s men on 9 March 1863. Rather than set up his headquarters in a tent with his men, Stoughton chose the brick home of Dr. William Presley Gunnell in Fairfax as his headquarters, though it was dangerously close to Union picket lines and a tempting target to the Grey Ghost. Legend has it that when Mosby and his rangers entered Stoughton’s bed chambers, “they found him fast asleep, lying on his side, in bed snoring loudly. It was obvious that there had been a party from empty champagne bottles lying about the room. Stoughton did not stir when they entered his room. Someone lit a match. Stoughton slept on. Mosby approached the bed and drew back the blankets. Still Stoughton did not wake. He merely snorted and rolled onto his stomach. Mosby then lifted his bedclothes and spanked him. Stoughton sat bolt upright in the bed, bleary eyed and indignant at the outrage, he demanded to know the meaning of the insult, thinking the culprit was one of his aides. Mosby then asked him, ‘Have you ever heard of Mosby?’ Stoughton quickly answered, ‘Yes, have you caught him?’ To which Mosby replied, ‘No, I am Mosby, he has caught you.'” [See Historic Fairfax]
Transcription
Attention to Orders Headquarters 2nd Brigade, Casey’s Division, Reserve Army Corps for the Defense of Washington Fairfax Station, Va. March 9, 1863 General Order Np. 9
Dear Parents,
Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton “on the road to Richmond”
Having a few leisure moments tonight, I thought I would write you a few lines to let you know that we are well. Hope this will find you the same. I received your letter of the 3rd yesterday. Sam also received one from you that was dated Feb. 9th. The most that I wrote to you so soon is this reason—we have lost General Staten [Edwin H. Stoughton]. He was taken prisoner last night by about 100 of [Jeb] Stuart’s rebel cavalry. The General’s headquarters was at Fairfax Court House about five miles from here. They took [him] about three o’clock in the morning. There was not a gun fired nor a man hurt. The rebs had the countersign so they passed our pickets without any trouble. They had our clothes on so that our pickets thought they were our cavalry. There was not any cavalry at the Court House so they had a good chance to work. They took about twenty horses, eight or ten prisoners, and one general. There is about three thousand cavalry after them today.
We got news that our cavalry about three o’clock were [with]in about an hour of them but I guess that Old Stoughton is on the road to Richmond.
There is nothing more of note to write tonight. It is late so I will quit for this time.
In September 2022 I was gifted a photo album by my friend Charles Joyce that he purchased at the Gettysburg Show earlier in the year. There were a couple of Civil War images in the album that he wanted which he kept but passed the remainder of the album on to me hoping I might be able to identify several of the other people in the album. It turns out the album belonged to Heyward Glover Emmell whose letters I have recently transcribed. Included in the album were pictures of Heyward, relatives and friends—mostly from Morristown, New Jersey.
Cabinet Card of Dr. Stephen Pierson, photographer E. G. Lacey of Morristown, NJ (Griffing Collection)
Two pictures of “Dr. Pierson” were included in the album which I have identified as Dr. Stephen Pierson (1844-1911) of Morristown. Stephen was the eldest son of Edward and Elizabeth (Guerin) Pierson.
Here is a brief biographical sketch lifted from the Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey written by a colleague in the medical profession.
After attending the old “Morris Academy,” Stephen began his freshman year at Yale, After completing his freshman year, Stephen dropped out to enlist in the 27th New Jersey Infantry, a nine-months regiment commanded by Col. George W. Mindil. It wasn’t long before Mindil selected Stephen to be his adjutant, and when Mindil received command of the newly organized 33rd New Jersey Infantry, Stephen reenlisted went with him and was promptly promoted to Sergt. Major, then Adjutant and Lieutenant, then breveted Major.
“Doctor Pierson’s record of honor in the two commands cannot be more than noticed in a brief study of his life, its motives and its accomplishments. A commissioned officer in the field and a medal of honor man, he fought in Virginia under Burnside and Meade, in Georgia (where he was wounded at Pine Knob), under Thomas and Sherman. He was found “marching through Georgia” and was of that column of Western Giants in the “Grand Review” by President Lincoln…
Lt. Stephen Pierson, 33rd New Jersey
“The writer finds, in ‘Foster’s History of the New Jersey Regiments in the Civil War,’ that the 27th Regiment was under fire on various occasions, that it manifested sterling bravery and that when its term of service expired, it offered to serve the government in the Gettysburg Campaign, actually doing so for an extra month, when, it not being longer required, it was mustered out wit this additional act of patriotism to its credit.
“As to the 33rd New Jersey, Forst writes, “The 33rd N. J. Volunteers fired the last shots of the war (fighting with the rebel cavalry). This regiment in a little less than two years, traversed a distance of 2500 miles, 1700 by marching. It fought in eight battles and engaged in over a dozen skirmishes…”
After he was discharged from the 33rd New Jersey, Stephen returned to college and “passed to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating with such honors as to ensure his internship at Bellevue Hospital.” His obituary (below) includes more details on his life as a physician.
David Crowell Campbell (1800-1862), aide to Georgia Gov. Brown in the Executive Department in 1861 (Griffing Collection)
These letter were written by Col. David Crowell Campbell (1800-1862) who was married to Caroline Elizabeth “Eliza” Geddes Campbell (1804-1864)—a native of Charleston, South Carolina. David was a native of New Jersey and a graduate of Hamilton College, New York. Soon after completing his education, he moved to South Carolina, and for several years practiced law in partnership with the Hon. C. Y. Memminger, the distinguished Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederate States. About the year 1835 he changed his residence to Macon, Georgia, and soon afterwards represented the county of Bibb in the Legislature. He moved to Milledgeville, GA and in 1845 he became proprietor and Editor of the “Federal Union,” in which character he was a firm and zealous supporter of the Southern Rights Party in the contest of 1850-51. After the defeat of the Southern Rights ticket, he sold the office and devoted his time mainly to his valuable planting interests and to works of internal improvement connected with the seat of government.
Though he retired from his editorial position, David continued to serve on the Georgia State Democratic Executive Committee. On November 22, 1860, the committee issued a call for a state secession convention, and Campbell was a delegate to that convention which of course voted for the ordinance of secession. From the following letters, we see that David served as an aide to the Governor, Joseph Emerson Brown, in the executive department early in the war. He died on the 4th of April 1862, however.
Banner of the Federal Union Newspaper edited by David C. Campbell for many years.
Letter 1
Executive Department Milledgeville, [Georgia] June 11th 1861
Col. Wm. A. Harris [of Worth Co.], 1 Isabella Sir,
I am directed by his Excellency the Governor in reply to yours of the 10th inst., to say that Volunteers are enrolled for service in the order in which their tenders are presented; and that so numerous are the tenders that several regiments must be sent into service before your company, if [ ] enrolled, could be called upon. Another difficulty must embarrass you. Before your time will arrive, all the arms under the control of this Department will be exhausted. I am further directed to say that no arms or accoutrements or tents can be furnished to any company except it has received marching orders & is ready for actual service.
Respectfully, your obedient servant, — D. C. Campbell
1 Col. William Augustine Harris (1827-1895) served in the Mexican War, named the county of Worth for his commander of that war and the county-site Isabella, for General Worth’s wife. In the Civil War, Colonel Harris was Captain of the Yancy Independents, a company formed by him, and was Colonel of the 14th Ga Regiment. He was commissioned a Major in the 10th Georgia Militia, 1864-1865, Home guards.
11 June 1861 Letter
Letter 2
Augusta, [Georgia] July 12th 1861
Dear Governor,
I have got 29,000 lbs. powder, more in pounds than is strictly due the state. I busied myself about the arms. The Clinch Rifles 1 left 119. 17 are in the hand of a squad of that company who will give them up. 100 the Capt. assures me the they are demanded. 47 in the hand of Judge Good, Capt. of the Silver Grays who promptly yields them and has them boxed. I hold them subject to your order. The balance are in the hands of Judge Stamer, Captain of the Home Guard who will give them up cheerfully provided they go to Col. Cobb’s Legion.
The Oglethorpes hold 100 guns. 40 are in the hands of Mayor May who holds them subject to your order & will get the others from the squad of Oglethorpes left behind. The Captain of the squad says he has your permission to return them. The community say they are good guns and should be sent into service. The Mounted Rifles are disbanded. Their arms the Captain is hiding away but the Mayor & Col. Cumming think they can get control of them.
The Montgomery Guards, the only corps now left in the city properly organized, have 50 guns & I have not interfered with them. About 300 flint & steel muskets will be gathered up in the city & some more of other kinds. Judge Stamer & several other prominent gentlemen in the city & doing all they can to aid in collecting the arms.
Yours truly, — D. C. Campbell
1 The Clinch Rifles were Co. A, 5th Georgia.
Letter 3
Executive Department Milledgeville, [Georgia] September 12, 1861
A. Fitzgerald, Esq. Dalton, Ga.
Yours of the 10th reached this Department today. The Governor is absent on the seaboard taking a survey with reference to measures for its defense. He will be absent for several days. On his return, your letter will be laid before him.
Respectfully your obedient servant, — D. C. Campbell, Aide-de-Camp
This letter was written by Thomas P. Nodine. He may be the same blacksmith born in New York in 1824 that relocated to Connecticut prior to the Civil War and enlisted in Co. B, 28th Connecticut Infantry under the name Nodyne. I could not verify this or his parentage given the absence of information in early census records. William wrote the letter to his brother William Nodine (1804-18xx) who worked as a cartman, later as a blacksmith, in Williamsburgh, Kings county, New York. William was married to Catherine K. Richardson in the 1820’s and had at least two children by the time his letter was written in 1836.
It’s difficult to discern from Thomas’s letter what he was doing in Mobile, Alabama, in 1836 besides hunting reptiles which I assume was only a pastime and not the “excellent job” he claimed having. In any event, it’s easy to understand the fascination that visitors from the northeastern states experienced when they first encountered an alligator. Thomas may have been employed by a merchant in the trade between New York and Mobile which was well established by this time.
An 1835 Woodcut of Mobile, Alabama
Transcription
Mobile [Alabama] July 15th 1836
Dear Brother,
I received with much pleasure a letter from you daed June 14th. I expected it before but am happy to get it. Let it come when it will. It is still quite healthy here and all prospects of continuing so all summer as I hope it may. We have an excellent job and one that will pay well. We have two black boys to work for us and profits from them will be something nice. It is out of my power to bet when I will be home but it will be as soon as possible as I am anxious to see you all. But you must not expect me until you see me. Tell Mother to give herself no uneasiness as I never enjoyed better health in my life.
There is stacks and cords of game but I think you would not like such game as much as you do the northern as they would not be so handy to pocket. We have been out a hunting several times. I suppose you would like to know what kind of game it is that is so handy. Well them, just imagine yourself a locust log floating in the water about fourteen feet long with a mouth one half the length of the body with four short, crokked legs with nails about 4 inches long and then you wil know exactly what our game is (Aligator).
When I come home, I will be very glad of an introduction to that Miss E. Lambert you talk about so much in your letters. I don’t know who she can be. I am well acquainted with a young lady and a particular friend of mine by the name of Lizzy Lambert but it cannot be the same. But whoever she is, give her and all her family my love. The same to Miss Crawford. Remember me to all inquiring friend.
My love to Mother and Father and sisters. My best respects to your wife. I remain your affectionate brother, — Thomas C. Nodine
I could not find an image of William but this image is one of the White brothers who fought in the 1st Palmetto Sharp Shooters (Civil War Talk)
This letter was written by Pvt. William R. Erwin (1839-1864) of Co. G, Palmetto Regiment Sharp Shooters (a.k.a., Jenkins’ Regiment, or 1st Palmetto Sharp Shooters). Muster rolls for the regiment indicate that William enlisted in April 1862 at Yorkville and that he was taken prisoner at the Battle of Williamsburg on 5 May 1862. Though absent from his regiment from time to time due to sickness, he had returned to his regiment in early October 1863 (recovered from syphilis) and was with them in East Tennessee when this letter was written late in December 1863. Less than a month later—on 17 January 1864—he was killed in the Battle of Dandridge, a relatively minor affair resulting in approximately 250 casualties total between the two armies.
William was the oldest son of Francis James Erwin (1813-1876) and Letitia (“Lettie”) Jenkins Smith (1819-1896) of York county, South Carolina.
Written on the back side of the letter—perhaps by his father, “Near the last—if not the last—letter to his home. Killed January 1864 near Dandridge, Tenn.
Transcription
Camp near Morristown [Tennessee] December 29, 1863
Dear Father,
I have written so often since I left home and have never received a letter or heard a word from there that I almost despair of ever hearing from home again. I wrote to you about sending up my papers for exchange and do not deem it necessary to repeat it.
William’s parents, Frank & Lettie Erwin
I have had a hard time of it since I came to Tennessee. Hard marching, short rations—and sometimes none at all. We are camped for awhile now if the Yankees will only let us alone. But they seem determined to harass us as much as possible. Our pickets have been fighting every day since we came here and sometimes we are all under marching orders. Minor is well and doing well.
I wrote to you some time since to send me some two plugs of tobacco and $20 by someone that may be coming out. I think that Lt. W[illiam] B. Smith [Co. G] will be coming by home shortly from Atlanta. I wish you would enquire and let me know if Thom. Bratton got the box I left up in Atlanta for him.
I have nothing of any importance to write. We are in very good quarters at present but from the sound of the artillery that has been booming all day, I think we will have to defend even our camp firesides if we stay here long.
John Erwin is sick. I have not seen him since he took sick. Tom Guy is well & B. Winay.
Stephen “Chase” Hill (1841-1903) was working as a pilot in Boston Harbor when he was only 19 years old. From these letters we learn that he shirked responsibility and resorted to sea duty whenever he needed to make money. During the Civil War he enlisted on 13 May 1863 as Acting Ensign in the US Navy and was assigned to the crew of the “USSWater Witch.” He was aboard the ship when she was boarded and taken captive almost without a fight by Confederates in June 1864. He was wounded and taken prisoner by the Confederates but exchanged later in 1864. He resigned his commission on 25 April 1865. In 1870, he was still enumerated in his parents East Boston residence, still single and employed as a “mariner.”
I could not find an image of Acting Ensign Chase Hill but here is an albumen of Abner Dodge Stover who served as Acting Ensign with him on the Water Witch when she was captured in June 1864. (Herman Kinder Collection)
He was married to Emma Laura Gay (1855-1920), the daughter of Charles Royal Gay and Laura A. Young, sometime in the late 1870s and in the 1880 Census, he was enumerated on Liverpool Street in Boston, working as a “Ship Keeper.” By that time, he and Emma had a young daughter named Laura M. Hill, age 1. Stephen died in 1903 at the Home for Disabled Soldiers in Togus, Kennebec county, Maine, where he was buried. His admission papers at the Home indicate that he had received a “gunshot wound in his right side on June 3rd 1864.” When he entered the Home in September 1891, he was 50 years old, stood 5’10” tall, had blue eyes and gray hair. He told them he was an “Engineer” by profession and that he was married and had been living in Wollaston, Massachusetts, just before admitting himself to the Home. He gave his brother John Hill of Dorchester, Massachusetts as nearest relative.
Chase’s letter gives a great description of the capture on 2 June 1864 of the wood-hulled, side-wheel gunboat, USS Water Witch, on which he had been serving as an Acting Ensign. The gunboat was anchored on the Little Ogeechee River near Racoon Key—part of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron—where it had been patrolling in Ossabow Sound for many months. The Water Witch was captured by a squadron of small boats led by 1st Lt. Thomas Postell Pelot who stealthily approached the anchored Union gunboat with padded oars on a dark and drizzly night and surprised the ship before they could react.
Addressed to Acting Ensign John Hill, Flag Ship “Malvern,” Hampton Roads, Va.
East Boston, [Massachusetts] December 8th 1864
My Dear Brother,
I received a letter from you yesterday in which you state you were at Norfolk, Va. I am sorry you did not like the service. I don’t like it myself but I don’t see as I can do any better. I have a great mind to shove in an application for Acting Master. When I was in Washington, I told Secretary [Gideon] Welles I wanted to be attached to a cruiser after I had recruited my health. I want you would ask Kidder if he had to stand an examination for promotion. Before I was captured, Secy. Welles issued orders that no one would be promoted only for bravery. I think he ought to promote me. I am afraid if I should get an Acting Master’s appointment that I should have to act as “Exec” on some ship and I wouldn’t like that much. I would sooner have command.
I am not well today. I have been on the go ever since I got home and yesterday p.m. I had a slight attack of chills and fever [malaria]. I contracted the damn disease down in Georgia. I was very sick there with chills and fever.
You state you would like to know who had the deck at the time of our capture. I don’t wonder you ask. I wish most anyone had of had the deck except the one that did have it. You know that we got short of officers—some of them having been detached—leaving two Ensigns and two Mater’s Mates for naval officers. We use to have a Masters Mate in the watch with us until we got short. The Master’s mate that had the deck was the damndest fool that you ever see. We were laying at anchor once in Port Royal and he had the deck. It came on to blow, the old Water Witch commenced to drag and the damn fool, instead of letting go the second anchor, he come down off the hurricane deck and lifted up the wardroom skylight and and yells out, “All hands!” waking up every officer in the ship instead of rousing up the men.
Well, my noble Mr. [Eugene D’W.] Parsons had the deck when we were captured. The quartermaster reported the boats or something he said looked like boats fifteen minutes ere we were attacked. It was an awful dark and squally night. I had the deck from 8 until 12 M. Parsons relieved me at 12 and at 2 the boats came and attacked us. They hailed the ship and Parsons was so damn frightened that he fell off the hurricane deck and landed pretty close to the rattle. He made out to spring the rattle. After that I don’t know where he was [but] he took damn good care to keep out of the way of the bullets.
Chase was shot while at the starboard gangway just aft of the ladder where the black star is located.
By the time we got on deck, they were nearly alongside and I got up pretty damn quick. I think I was one of the first on deck. I couldn’t see anyone at my gun, but heard the Rebs give a yell to “Board her.” There was some one of our side a firing at them with muskets on the port gangway. I called out to the watch on deck [but] couldn’t see a damn man. The boats got alongside, forward and nearly aft. By the time the officers were up, they were alongside. We wounded a great many before they got alongside. I was in the starboard gangway when I was shot. I got wounded before many of them got aboard. Most of the officers were wounded with cutlass wounds. The Captain was cut down very soon after he got on deck. The officers—with the exception of the one that had the deck and Engineers—done all the fighting with 4 or 5 of the men. We killed their leader, Lieut. [Thomas Postell] Pelot of the Rebel Navy [and] also their pilot and eight others, wounding some 25. We only had one killed and 13 wounded. They would have killed more of us but they could not get their pistols off, being wet.
If anybody else had of had the deck and got the crew to quarters, they never would have got aboard, or if the Engineers had have been armed. Each boat had just such a part of the ship to board and they brought engineers with them. Our engineers all piled into the Engine room and started her ahead but when the Rebel Engineer made his appearance with a revolver, they all surrendered—so I was told.
I have not seen Capt. [Austin Pendergrast] nor any of them except Mr. Weston. He was cut over the head. They tried the Capt. & Executive for [court martial]. I haven’t learnt the particulars yet but one of our men that was on the trial told me in Washington the Captain was honorably acquitted. We had a pretty desperate fight but they overpowered us. There was 150 of them and half of our crew was below and couldn’t get on deck. They got aboard forward and guarded the hatches. Finding but little resistance, they soon got aboard but not so easy aft. I think it all lays to Parsons. I see by the Army & Navy Journal that he is ordered to report to Admiral Paulding. 1 None of the rest have received orders to report yet. I am on the sick list [and] have orders to report every 15 days to the department. If I don’t feel any better than I do today, I shall be home a good while.
I wish you was here but you have got a better place than I had stuck in Ossabaw [Sound] for 12 months [where I] never saw anything. But I suppose that would have suited you better than being where you are. As for myself, I never want to see a “flag ship.” Too much signaling going on.
I suffered a great deal with my wound. 2 The ball was in me a month before they extracted it. I was pretty low at one spell. I am awful weak now. I have been drinking too much ale lately. Sum[ner] went to Washington last evening to see about his appointment. There is something in the way and he may not get it. I hope he will. I think if he has a change of climate, it will do him good. I suppose you are a going to attack Wilmington soon, ain’t you? I should think the Navy ought to cooperate with Sherman. He will take Savannah, I think. They were damn frightened when I left.
I was treated very kindly there, being under the C. S. Navy authority. I think it was lucky I was wounded so I could remain in the hospital.
Well, Jack, I must wind up for today. I don’t feel very smart. Excuse the writing. The folks are as usual and send love. Tell Kidder to write. Do you ever see Billy Bangs in Norfolk? Tell him to write also.
Yours affectionately, — Chase
1 Eugene DeWitt Parsons (1835-1903) was appointed Acting Master’s Mate on 19 November 1862. He resigned his commission on 20 January 1865—six weeks after this letter was written.In 1865, after his resignation, he was enumerated in New Lebanon, Columbia county, New York, where he worked as an Engineer. By 1870 he had relocated with his wife Harriet and two small children to Rochester’s 8th Ward where he was employed as a bookkeeper. Eugene was the eldest son of Anson Parsons (1792-1871) and Louisa H. Hull (1816-1903) of New Lebanon, Columbia county, New York. He attended Williston Seminary in the early 1850s.
2 The post incident report files by Acting Asst. Surgeon W. H. Pierson, US Navy, claims that after Chase Hill was shot, he “came limping into the wardroom with a dangerous looking wound…”
How Increase Sumner Hill might have looked during the Civil War
These letters were written by Increase Sumner Hill (1806-1873), husband of Mary S. Perkins (1806-1878) and an Boston Engineer by trade. Toward the end of his career, Increase worked as a government inspector of steamboats and boilers. Known children of the couple, who married in 1829, were John Hill (b. 1836) to whom he addressed this letter, Sophronia E. Hill (1832-1876) and Stephen “Chase” Hill (1841-1903). The 1860 US Census enumerates the family in Boston’s 2nd Ward and besides John and Chase, were Anne Hill (b. 1844), and George Hill (b. 1848). In the 1850 US Census, the family resided in Salem’s Ward 3 where Increase was identified as a “Machinist.”
In one of his last major assignments, Increase was given the heavy responsibility of co-leading the investigation into the explosion of the Staten Island ferry steamer Westfield that took place in New York Harbor on 30 July 1871, killing 125 passengers. When he died in 1873 at the age of 65, he left a “wife and four sons.”
Increase wrote the letter to his 24 year-old son John Hill who was 2nd Mate of the crew on the clipper Golden Fleece.
One of Increase S. Hill’s last major assignments was to co-lead the investigation into the explosion of the Staten Island ferry steamer Westfield that took place in New York Harbor on 30 July 1871, killing 125 passengers.
Letter 1
Addressed to Mr. John Hill, Ship Golden Fleece, Capt, Mandon, San Francisco, California
East Boston, [Massachusetts] 20 October 1861
My dear son John,
We have written you several letters, some of which have not been directed right, & you had better call to the post office & see if any remain there. Our family are at present not very well. Your mother is rather more poorly than usual, and Anna is rather slim. She has had some trouble with her lungs lately and has spit some blood. She may recover, however, her usual health but I fear she will pass away as Lizzie did before long. She is quite liable to take cold and is not so careful as she might be.
Phronia is tolerable well but is at present suffering from swelled face, bad teeth, &c. Dony is well as usual & so is George & Eliza.
Hattie is well and was up here a few days since. Susan Hill’s beau at their house.
My own health is about as usual. I have had two slight attacks of bleeding since you left. I think on the whole I am not so strong to endure fatigue as usual. The store is vacant & has been for three months past. Brown has moved into Morgan’s store on the corner so we are now losing the rent. I have had it painted and cleaned and signs put up to let but the times are so hard that no one wants it unless I would let it for a grog shop which of course I will not, so it must remain vacant.
I hope you will be able to get along and not go before the mast any longer as it seems to me almost like throwing away your time—and besides, you are quite capable if you will only put yourself ahead.
The war seems to absorb all people and all things at the present time. We now have an army of 300 thousand and more, & the secessionists have nearly as many more. we are expecting every day that the army under McClellan will move down towards Richmond and a tremendous battle must be fought. The old flag will be triumphant this time, you may depend on that. The papers will give you all the news.
Write often and let us know all particulars. Sumner is all right at Salem and his boy is a fine child.
Affectionately yours, — I. S. Hill
Letter 2
Addressed to 2nd Mate John Hill, Steamer Golden Fleece, San Francisco, California per Wm. Burnette, Esq.
45 Niles Block, Boston [Mass.] November 17, 1862
My dear son John,
The Niles Block Building in Boston where Increase wrote the letter. It stood near the corner of School Street and City Hall Avenue.
You will perceive I have altered my room. I now have a room to myself & have to pay 50 dollars more a year but it is the best room in the building on the corner of school street. As Mr. Burnett was going to leave with his family for San Francisco next Monday, I thought I would commence a letter to you today and finish it the last of the week.
So far as my health is concerned, I am about as usual. Your mother is ditto. Dony do, & Liza do. Anna is still under Dr. Birmingham’s [care], the Indian doctor, and has decidedly improved. She goes out every day when it is pleasant and I think will get patched up pretty well if she is careful. Susan has got about again, and has discharged the doctor, but is still feeble. She will with care I hope soon get strong. Sophronia got over her womb difficulties some weeks since, but was found to have an ulcer formed in the back passage & has now to undergo an operation for fistula and expects the doctor every day to perform the operation. It will be very painful but this is the only way it can be healed. Poor thing—she has suffered dreadfully the last two months but we hope so soon as the operation is performed that in a few weeks she will get about again.
Chase left the pilot boat because the 1st boat keeper left and they did not give him the boat. He loafed round a few weeks and I succeeded in getting him a 3rd Mates berth on the steamer Mississippi—one of the 2,000 ton iron steamers built at Loring’s for the New Orleans line. His captain’s name is [Charles H.] Baxter. 1 I being acquainted with the captain, I pressed him to take Chase although he never had a 3rd Mate before. But as the other steamers carried one, I persuaded the captain to take him. He gets 30 dollars a month and has made one trip to New Bern, North Carolina with troops and is now down there on another similar trip. I expect him back in a few days and will try and get him to write you & enclose his letter in this.
When they returned from their first trip, I asked Capt. Baxter how he liked Chase. He told me he was well pleased with him and if he did not get to be a Master of a vessel in due time, it would be his own fault. The Chief Mate and 2nd Mate also like him. The other mates are not sailor men and the Captain & Chase have to look after everything of that sort so I think Chase is fairly under weigh now and if he don’t stick this time, I shall abandon him to his fate. Chase says he likes it first rate and well he may. He has a good state room with one of the quartermasters and messes in the mess room with all the officers & lives first rate. I expect both these steamers will be sent by the government with troops to Texas for General Banks’ expedition now fitting out at New York. If so, he will be gone a month or two. Thus far for Chase.
Sumner and Phronia will both write you in season so that you may expect a good budget of letters on your arrival in California. I hope that Young America [14 year-old George Hill] has been a good boy and given you no particular trouble. Your mother was very sorry she forgot to put into your things or George’s any towels but I told her she need not be uneasy—that you would contrive well enough till you got to California, and then you could buy a few for George & yourself. I shall write George by mail and you also by & bye. When Mr. Burnett arrives, he will probably take rooms in San Francisco and you and George will undoubtedly call on them.
I shall not say much about the war as all the newspapers will give you more particulars than I can write. I will merely mention that the monitor [USS Nahant] at South Boston will be ready for service in about 3 weeks. Willie Neal has been ordered to her as 3d Asst. Engineer so he is in a fair way to see war service. I expected that 3 or 4 of these monitors will be sent down to Charleston, Savannah, & perhaps Mobile in the course of a month so you may expect to hear something in the way of war music from the ironclads for service this winter and these are the things now most wanted.
November 21st 1862
I resume your letter to say that Chase has not yet arrived from his second cruise but one of the steamers which went with them—the Saxon—has arrived two days since in Philadelphia. I suppose the 2 large steamers were detained at New Bern, N. C. & will be here in due season.
Sophronia has not yet had the operation performed as she was not well enough and the doctor has set next Wednesday for the operation. I hope she will soon get about after that is done. I have no special news to communicate today but shall keep you informed by the mail in due season.
Remember me to Capt. Manson and Mr. Baxter. And believe me most affectionately yours, — I. S. Hill
We shall expect a good long letter from you on your arrival in California.
1 Charles H. Baxter was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1835, was educated there and also in Calcutta, India. He joined the East India Company as an officer of engineers, and served in the Crimean War and Indian mutiny. In 1857 he fought in the second Anglo-Chinese War as a lieutenant of engineers. He served in Madagascar, worked for the Portuguese government, then worked in Uruguay and participated in a rebellion in Argentina, before working as a surveyor in Mexico in 1859. Returning to the United States, Baxter bought land in the Bronx, New York, but then went back to Mexico and built barracks in Vera Cruz. In 1861 he joined the United States Navy and was sent to Cairo, Illinois, where he joined the Mississippi fleet. Baxter is mentioned in the Official Record of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion as an ensign assigned to the Union gunboat “Genesee” under Commander William Macomb. In a report, Macomb refers to acting Ensign Baxter and commends him “for celerity and attention to supplying powder” during the Battle of Port Hudson on March 14, 1863. On March 29, 1864 he was promoted to acting master of the “Genesee” and in that capacity commanded his ship as part of Admiral Farragut’s fleet at the Battle of Mobile Bay in October 1864, and was honorably discharged with that rank on September 16, 1865. He returned to New York and was involved in numerous Bronx and veterans’ organizations. Baxter died in New York on January 18, 1917.
Letter 3
East Boston, [Massachusetts] January 18, 1863
My dear son John,
As the mail leaves New York on the 20th, I thought you would expect a letter from home & so I sit down to write you a few lines. I have written you by Mr. Burnett & by the last mail. So has Phronia & I believe Sumner and Phronia intends to write George by this mail so I shall omit writing to him. But I want you to assure him of my great anxiety concerning him & I hope he will be a smart, active, obedient & good boy, & get well posted in all his nautical duties whether he intends to follow the sea for a living or return to go to a trade. In either case, knowledge even of a sailor stamp will be found useful in after life on many occasions.
My own health is comparatively feeble. I am much troubled by the pain in my back, preventing my sleep & otherwise preventing me from labor of any kind but that which is light. Besides I have had recently within two months two slight attacks of bleeding which has weakened me considerably & confined me at home several days on each occasion.
I am now, however, out every day and yesterday went down to Salem and inspected a boiler for the county in the Court House.
Phronia is still confined—scarcely goes the length of a block out doors. Her case is destined to be a long one, I fear, & she may never recover fully, but we hope she may. Anna is getting along pretty well & is quite smart for her. Your mother is about as usual & Dony the same. Lizzy as usual. Chase is down in the Gulf [of Mexico]. The last news of him was in the paper. He wasspoken going up the Mississippi River with troops. I expect him home soon. Susan is pretty well and has discharged her doctor. I am glad of this for I have had to assist her with the others. It has cost me some 350 dollars—a pretty heavy bill for one year’s doctoring. To meet this, I had to draw on my life insurance which I was loath to do & must now try to pay it up if possible.
I am about moving my office into our store. Got it parted off so as to have the office in front & store room for the instruments back & intend to move over this week. This will save the rent of the City office & be quite as well for the steamboat interests.
I want you to write every opportunity. Don’t let a mail leave without a letter to me as I shall look for one. And tell George to write also. If you can procure some of the California Angelica sweet wine—say a keg of 10 or 15 gallons—get it if you can find some dealer who will warrant it pure, and if you go to Manilla, don’t fail to get some of the chocolate they raise on that island, It is the best in the world and there is none to be had here. The preserves I imported from Manilla spoiled coming out. They were not put up well. They were called lemoncetas.
I do not know of any particular news to give you as the papers will tell all about the war and you can get the latest by telegraph. Mr. Burnett will be found at the custom House. If he does not know of your arrival, you must call on him. Give us all particulars of your voyage & how you get along with officers, men and boys.
George Williams sent Anna a letter the other day & says he shall call on you soon as you arrive, or soon as he hears of your arrival.
The Lord bless you & keep you & in His own good time return you both to meet us all well is the prayer of your affectionate father, — Increase S. Hill
Letter 4
Addressed to Mr. John Hill, Acting Ensign, U.S. Steamer Daylight, Hampton Roads, Va.
East Boston [Massachusetts] Sunday, [October] 23rd 1863
My dear son John,
George has written you today & I will just add a line also to say that we hope you will be ordered to Baltimore & get a furlough to come home. We all long to see you. If you should be ordered to another vessel, it is likely you will be sent to the attack on Wilmington which we all dread as it will be a very hard place to take.
Friday, July 29, 1864 Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
Judge how disappointed we all were to see all the officers of the Water Witch on the exchange list of prisoners at Fort Monroe 3 days ago and Chase’s name not there. I got a letter from Chase yesterday dated at the hospital the 8th of this month. In that he says the Rebel papers there say the exchange was to have taken place at Charleston on the 1st inst. and he was disappointed that he had not been called for.
I am afraid for some reason he was overlooked but we hope he will be sent along in the next batch. You may have a chance to see him if you could be near when the flag of truce boats arrives at Fort Monroe.
Our family are in usual heath. Sum[ner] will not get off for a month yet as the steamer will not be ready. Her engine is not completely in yet.
Try hard & get off for a furlough & write oftener so that we may know how you are. Sherman [he means Sheridan] give the Rebs Jessie in the Shenandoah Valley the other day. I think they won’t trouble him again this fall.
Affectionately tours, — I. S. Hill
The USS Water Witch performed blockade duty at several points along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida, but most frequently at Ossabaw Sound between Ossabaw Island and the Georgia mainland about 15 miles due south of Savannah, Georgia. That remained her primary duty station well into 1864. On the night of 3 June of that year, a Confederate Marine boat force under the command of First Lieutenant Thomas P. Pelot, CSN, succeeded in boarding and capturing Water Witch in Ossabaw Sound after a brief scuffle which cost the Union ship two killed and 12 wounded—Chase Hill, acting ensign, among them. (13 officers and 49 men were captured). Confederate losses were 6 killed and 17 wounded. African-Americans were killed on both sides, Confederate river pilot Moses Dallas and Union landsman Jeremiah Sills. The only Union man to escape was a “contraband” named Peter McIntosh.
Letter 5
Addressed to Mr. John Hill, Acting Ensign, U. S. Steamer Daylight Malvern, Turkey Bend, James River, Fort Monroe, Va.
East Boston, Mass. November 15, 1864
My dear son John,
I duly received your note on the back of the paymaster’s letter to you concerning Chase. Capt. [Austin] Pendergrast informed us that Chase was not well enough to stand the journey to Richmond where they were liberated or he would have been exchanged with them but he said nothing about his having had the dysentery not did Chase either in his letter of the 8th last month. So I expect Chase did not want to let us know he had been sick with any disease except his wound and that he was said was all healed up. I hope he will get comfortable quarters on the transport but it will take but a few days to make the passage to New York and I expect him home in a week or two at farthest as the fleet of transports have been sent to Port Royal and Savannah some days since.
I see by the papers that a fleet of iron clads and gunboats are up the James river. I suppose they are near you. Let us know what they are up to. I expect now Lincoln is elected for another term by such an overwhelming majority that the Rebels will see we mean to prosecute the war until ew overcome & subdue their armies, &take their principal cities & sea ports. Then if Jeff Davis and his accomplices don’t escape to Mexico, or some other foreign country, & we take them prisoners, they will have to swing & serve them right enough.
We have a glorious country now & we mean to leave it to posterity cost what it may, and from the Southern papers I think they know it for they seem to be in a very unsettled state of mind. Some are coming back. Some for arming the slaves, and some for fighting it out, and as many the opposite way of thinking. There is unmistakeable evidence that they are sadly disappointed in not having McClellan elected on th basis of the Chicago Platform. If that had been done, the rebels would have got an armistice & then goodbye to the Union, for England and France would then have stepped in & broke the blockade by acknowledging their independence. But now these nations know what we mean & will keep hands off till we settle the matter by force of arms, & this is the only way we shall ever have a permanent peace and United States of America—the glory of the World, and the asylum of the oppressed for all Nations to flee to.
When we have once settled our difficulties on this base, there will be no fear of any one or two foreign nations daring to attack or insult us. We shall be stronger than any other people on the face of the earth, and if we only grow a better, and more law loving and law abiding people, we shall never again be at war with any Nation or among ourselves. Slavery is dead—no fear of that. And the South knows it.
A few days ago, in the early evening as I was walking down the square, I felt the blood coming up—my old trouble. I walked quietly home, took some salts, lay by for a day or two, and it stopped as it did a year ago. It is alarming to have it occur without the least notice but my lungs are like your old boiler—a little extra strain and a leak follows. The you and I have to stop, blow off and patch, and carry less pressure in future. The fact is, John, I am sensibly ging down the other side of the hill and consequently expect to be a long time before I reach the bottom. I dread the cold winter more than anything else & have tried to prepare for it by plenty of coal and wood in the cellar and war clothing for the body, & hope to weather it comfortably. I intend to be outdoors more this winter than I have been the last summer. I have confined myself too much to my office. I have done more work than for 10 years before in making instruments and tools, &c. Probably it would have been better for e to have kept out more.
I wrote you about saving your money. You must try and save up 20 or 30 a month out of your 60. Certainly $1 a day ought to support you. I want you to get ahead. Look out you don’t get gobbled up going ashore hunting. All send love. Write often. Give me all the news. Affectionately yours, — I. S. Hill
[In a different hand]
My dearest brother—I think I could add a line or two in this page as my stamps are getting short. Mother and I are anxious about this hunting business. You will be gobbled up the firs thing you know if you are not careful. I am worried to death about those horrible guerrillas and Rebels. Now look out for yourself and do your hunting in the boiler room! You know the poor prisoners suffer untold horrors some of them, and we don’t want you among them. Poor Chasy! I believe if he doesn’t come soon, he shall be crazy. We feel must more anxious since hearing he had been sick with dysentery. God grant he may soon be home once more so we can nurse him up again. I hope he will reign. He will have a good excuse, feeble as he must be now.
A ten cent stamp from the National Sailor’s Fair held in Boston in November 1864
There is a great Fair in Boston now for the benefit of “Poor Jack” 1 and I hope they will raise two millions! It is held at Boston Theatre. I haven’t been—want to go bad enough, but tis $100 a ticket. Can’t afford it. Sum[ner] and Carrie were up Friday and they went. Mother went with them. was perfectly delighted. There will be a full description of it in the Weekly. Capt. and Nelly called the other day. He always speaks in the highest terms of you. He doesn’t care to go to sea this winter. Will keep house at Situate. His typhus [?] troubles him a good deal so it is not cured as he thought. Too bad. I hope you will lay up enough this winter to resign in the spring and go into business with Henry in the spring. All send lots of love. Now do take care of yourself. I shall write again in a day or two. With love as ever, — [sister] Phronia
Young America [brother George] expects to sail tomorrow and will probably return Master of the Ship! Get $20 a month—ordinary steamer.
1 “Poor Jack” was a general reference to sailors or mariners. It probably derived from the lyrics of a song composed by Charles Dibdin entitled “Poor Jack” in 1789. The National Sailor’s Fair was held in Boston from 9-22 November 1864.
Letter 6
Addressed to Mr. John Hill, Acting Ensign, U. S. Flagship Malvern, Commodore Porter’s Expedition, Via Fort Monroe, Va.
East Boston, Mass January 8, 1865
My dearest John,
I received yesterday yours of the 2nd inst., dated Beaufort, & was very glad to hear you was well. I am sorry your whiskey got damaged by breakage of 2 bottles. Hope they were the small ones but suppose they were the large ones or you would have mentioned it.
I expect from appearances that your Naval Expedition will again be called on to battle Fort Fisher in company with a land force under some other general than Butler but I hope it is a flag ship you may be required to go in and around the fleet in an engagement to give orders &c. We trust you will get through the war without injury & settle down at home in some kind of business which suits you better than going to sea.
Sum[ner] has been quite unwell for two weeks past by inflammation of the bowels. He is now better and we think will soon be out again. He hears nothing more about the consulate but expects to shortly. I think they will both be off to California in the course of a month & on the whole, it may be the best for him.
Chase is still on the court martial at Philadelphia. Expects to get through this week. 1
I shall buy another government bond for you tomorrow although I have not enough of your money by $25 to get it. Still I shall try to make it up. Then you will have $400 in government bonds bearing interest. And Chase has the same if he can keep it, but he spends his money altogether too freely, after taking such risks to get it.
Write often as possible. Keep me posted up. All send love. Affectionately yours, — I. S. Hill
P. S. I am glad you mean to redeem your Mass. Bill. I would not pay such a bill in future. Get a furlough soon as you can. — I S. H.
1 Stephen Chase Hill was no doubt called to testify in the naval general court martial proceedings held in the naval yard at Philadelphia to examine the charge against Lt. Commander Austin Pendergrast for “culpable inefficiency in the discharge of duty” for not having taking adequate precautions to secure his vessel (the Water Witch) against a surprise night attack, neither “by stationing picket boats nor leaving the charge of the deck in the hands of a vigilant and competent officer (Acting Master’s Mate, E. D. W. Parsons)” Pendergrast was found guilty of not posting picket boats and suspended from duty for two years, on half pay, with loss of rank during the suspension.
Letter 7
Addressed to Mr. John Hill, Acting Ensign, U.S. Steamer Malvern off Wilmington, N. C., via Fort Monroe, Va.
Office 43 Maverick Street East Boston, Mass. January 29, 1865
My dear son John,
Increase Hill’s boiler inspector business/office may have been in a gambrel roofed brick building such as can be seen at right in this photo from the early 1900s. This building was at 33-39 Maverick. Hill’s was at 43 Maverick in East Boston.
We received two letters from 20th & 21st inst. addressed to Phronia & Sum[ner[ yesterday and we were happy to learn you were well and that your vessel had taken two prizes though we suppose that all the gunboats which were within sight would participate in the awards. Please let us know exactly how this case stands, who took the prizes, and how many vessels & their names will have a claim on them, &c. &c.
Both these prizes have arrived at New York & they will be condemned & sold there which is a pity, as all the prizes are better sold here. The expenses here are less than in New York. In some cases I hear that the officers & crews of some of our naval vessels have been assessed to pay the expenses of selling the prizes they took, as all the proceeds were used up and more too by the marshal in New York. Hope you will get something out of these vessels.
Let me know what you are about and where you are going & when you expect to get off for a furlough.
Chase is still at home & is ow quite smart. He is out all the time & we see no more of him than though he was a transient boarder. He spends two or three hours at home every day and thinks the bedroom downstairs rather too common a place for him so he goes out to lodge with some of his chums about every night. His wardrobe was rather scant when he came home which he has replenished & with his theatre & horse ride expenses, he has made way with about 500 dollars, leaving only his 400 in government bonds which I expect will go before he goes & then Jack -like, when he is run out [of money], he will go to sea for more to spend in the same foolish way. No more of my talking about him. 1
I have hard work to keep the wheels ground at home, now the government has taken off all my fees for tug & ferry boats, and compel me to inspect them under a new law and pass all fees into the treasury of Uncle Sam so that I get now only $800 a year, & what little I can pick up outside by private inspection & yet I have some 6 or 8 dependents on me for grub, fuel, and clothing. I don’t know what Chase would do if he had a wife to support. Perhaps he would then be prudent. He has tried to get promoted but he’s received no orders yet for examination. I expect he will be ordered to report for duty any day.
Sum[ner] is still here with his wife [Carrie] waiting to see if anything will turn up as Micawber says, or to get well. He has been down with a bowel complaint for 4 or 5 weeks but is some better. He will probably be off with his wife to California in a few weeks, if some other door don’t open. I shall miss him much as he will be absent some time wherever he goes. I hope you may be able to see him before he starts.
Well, John, be careful of yourself & don’t on any account volunteers for any of those dangerous expeditions likely to come off in the taking of Wilmington, such as searching for torpedoes & cutting out vessels & the like. Let them go that wants to. Don’t you go unless positively ordered, in which even be exceedingly careful & not too venturesome. We long to see you and have you at home with us. I could probably get you into some kind of business if you were disposed to stop at home, but enough. You know how we all feel about it. Do right and do your duty to your country & the Lord will take care of you in any event. All send love. Affectionately yours, — I. S. Hill
1 Stephen “Chase” Hill (1841-1903) was working as a pilot in Boston Harbor when he was only 19 years old. From these letters we learn that he shirked responsibility and resorted to sea duty whenever he needed to make money. During the Civil War he enlisted on 13 May 1863 as Acting ensign in the US Navy and was assigned to the crew of the “Water Witch.” He was aboard the ship when she was boarded and taken captive almost without a fight by Confederates in June 1864. He was wounded and taken prisoner by the Confederates but exchanged later in 1864. He resigned his commission on 25 April 1865. In 1870, he was still enumerated in his parents East Boston residence, still single and employed as a “mariner.” He was married to Emma Laura Gay (1855-1920), the daughter of Charles Royal Gay and Laura A. Young, sometime in the late 1870s and in the 1880 Census, he was enumerated on Liverpool Street in Boston, working as a “Ship Keeper.” By that time, he and Emma had a young daughter named Laura M. Hill, age 1. Stephen died in 1903 at the Home for Disabled Soldiers in Togus, Kennebec county, Maine, where he was buried. His admission papers at the Home indicate that he had received a “gunshot wound in his right side on June 3rd 1864.” When he entered the Home in September 1891, he was 50 years old, stood 5’10” tall, had blue eyes and gray hair. He told them he was an “Engineer” by profession and that he was married and had been living in Wollaston, Massachusetts, just before admitting himself to the Home. He gave his brother John Hill of Dorchester, Massachusetts as nearest relative.
These letters were written by Sumner Hill (1838-1878), the son of Increase Sumner Hill (1806-1873) and Mary S. Perins (1806-1878) of East Boston, Massachusetts. Increase S. Hill made his living as a steamboat engineer and later as an inspector.
A post-war CDV taken in San Francisco of an unidentified man about Sumner’s age. (Will Griffing Collection)
Sumner was married on 19 March 1860 in Boston to Caroline A. Keith (1839-1917), the daughter of Elbridge Gerry Keith (1804-1870) and Lucy Howland (1807-1883). In 1861, he appears to have been serving as chief clerk in the Salem Post Office. The Salem Observer posted a notice in the 27 February 1864 issue announcing the appointment of Sumner as a Justice of the Peace for the county of Essex. Sometime after the Civil War, he resigned his position on account of ill health and went to the Pacific coast where he regained his strength and took a position in the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, making frequent trips between San Francisco and Hong Kong. In the 1870 US Census, Sumner and Carrie were enumerated in the household of her father in San Francisco’s 7th Ward—her 66 year-old father laboring as a house carpenter and Sumner employed as a purser. Indeed, in 1874 there is notice of him serving as purser aboard the steamship Japan.
Sumner wrote the letters to his brother, John Hill (1836-?) who, in 1861, appears to have been on the crew of the Golden Fleece, a commercial clipper ship bound for San Francisco at the time. Other known siblings included Sophronia E. Hill (1832-1876) and Stephen C. Hill (1841-1903), the latter having served as an Ensign in the Navy during the Civil War.
Hill’s letter contains a description of the devastating fire in East Boston that destroyed several business establishments and over 100 dwellings on 4 July 1861. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
Letter 1
Salem, Massachusetts September 18, 1861
My Dear Brother,
Nearly three months have passed since you left us and I presume by this time this arrives in san Francisco, your ship will not be far off from the same place. I expect however we shall have to allow 140 days for the passage. I see some ships are five months getting there but I hope you will not be so long. I was up to Boston two or three days of last week. Father wrote you while I was there. I am sorry, John, that Hattie is so inclined to go with other men during your absence but such is the case and you must now act the man—not a boy—for if she acts thus before you are married, God only knows how bad she may do after. I do not wish to meddle myself with your business but at the same time I feel as though I ought to advise you. The way I should act in this case would be to let her go. Don’t for heaven’s sake, John, marry a woman of that kind.
Another thing, there is time enough for you to think of getting a wife. You know you have got to get started in your profession before you can support one. Your aim now should be to go ahead as fast as possible. Work solely for the interests of those who employ you and when you get home, hold your head up like a man and have an independent feeling accompanying it. Damn this sorrowful look. It don’t amount to a red [cent]. I know it from experience. Now Johnny, take a fool’s advice and think of nothing but strive hard to get ahead and come home an officer if tis nothing but 3rd Mate.
Advertisement for the Golden Fleece that sailed from Boston to San Francisco
My health is about the same as when you left us. One day I feel first rate and the next one all used up. Thus passes life with me. My lungs trouble me some. I am going to Boston next week to consult with a Doctor in regard to them. Carrie got through her sickness after a hard trial. We have a fine boy. I hope when you go home he will be able to walk a little. His name is Sumner Atherton. 1 Carrie sends her love to you. Be sure and call upon Mrs. Keith and tell her we have not heard from her for two months. Ask her to write me, also Carrie.
We had an awful fire in East Boston on the 4th of July. It commenced down on the point below the new Ferry and sweeped through New Street taking the Salt Factories, Iron companies, Union Guard’s Armory, Clifton’s Lumber wharf, and about 100 dwelling houses. I thought one time Father’s would go sure. Such a sight I never saw before from the top of our house. Every engine in Boston, also Charlestown, Cambridge, and as far off as here were there. The loss was estimated at about one million, I believe. Clifton’s loss was heavy as he had his wharf full of lumber. 2
Father seems pretty well now. He has been off to the lake for three or four weeks and I think he gained very much. I hope he will feel better now.
Everything is war now. I tell you, Johnny, they are at it in earnest. We have hd two or three hard battles and I am sorry to say lost the largest—I mean the Battle of Bull Run. Our loss was 6 or 8 hundred. You can bet that this is the first and the last we will lose for we have a man now to lead our troops—Gen. McClellan.
The coast guard has broke up and the state has their guns—thus you see it did not amount to much.
I am somewhat of a hurry now or else would write more. Will write again, however, before you sail. Tell George Williams I will write him in a few days. Don’t fail to write me sure as soon as you arrive. Direct to Salem as I am here yet. See Chase if possible and don’t let him leave the ship. I wrote him today. With much love, I remain your affectionate brother, — Sum
1 Sumner Atherton was born on 19 August 1861 and died on 21 August 1863 at Salem. Massachusetts Death Records attributed the child’s death to “Dropsy in head.”
2 According to the book, “A Complete History of the Boston Fire Department,” by Arthur Wellington Brayley, “The first destructive fire which visited East Boston was on July 4, 1861, and was caused by a fire-cracker. A large fire was then in progress on Albany street, Boston proper, and the assistance could not be given which was need. The fire started on Week’s wharf, at the foot of Sumner street, and burnt an area of eleven acres. At this time was consumed the sectional Dock—one of the finest dry-docks in the country, also numerous dwelling houses, planing mills, stores, mills, etc.”
Letter 2
Post Office, Salem, Massachusetts November 14, 1864
Dear Brother John,
Your favor of the 10th inst. was received this morning.
My time for P. O. Business grows “beautifully less” as I quit here tomorrow night, then goodbye post office for me fora spell anyway, for if I can earn my grub at outside business, you can bet that a P.O. won’t fetch me up very soon. I have my auction sale on Thursday and shall probably get up to Boston by the latter part of the week. I am not able to state now when the “D Cavannah: will get away but presume it will not be far from the first of December. Between now and that time I shall try for a consul’s berth but I am keeping it very quiet so don’t write home anything in regard to it as Father and myself only are in the secret of our family. Mr. Ryan who was the postmaster here when I came here, lives in Washington, and is now here on a visit but returns on Thursday and I am to send my documents on with him and he is a going to put them through the best he knows how. Of course there is nothing sure but you can’t tell what you can accomplish until you try. It don’t cost anything to try. I have got some 3 weeks before the Carannah sails and if anything can be done in that short space of time, I am bound to try it on. If I do nothing, why of course I got to China as at first anticipated.
We are all up in a heap at home, cleaning house, packing up &c. I shall be glad when I get all settled up down here so I can have a comfortable loaf in Boston. I wish you could get out of the Navy, but as you say, tis no use loafing. And as chances for officers in our merchant service are slim. I think on the whole (pecuniarily speaking) that you are better of where you are, I have no doubt that the time is only a little way distant when all you volunteer officers will have your “heads taken off” for in my opinion this rebellion will soon wind up. The overwhelming majority which “Old Abe” has received is the worst blow the rebs have yet received and as soon as they see this, they will conclude that a united North is against them adn all hopes of compromise, and all questions of peace, are settled, except upon our terms. The result of this election to the rebs has inflicted upon them more damage than the capture of 2 Richmonds would. I tell you, Johnny, that there is no way in which to bring them to terms except to whip them and I trust with the faithful leaders we now have, this will soon be accomplished and all enemies of our country, both South and North, will be on their knees pleading forgiveness. The mass of the people South desire peace, and on our terms also, but the damnable leaders are the men which we have got to subjugate. Those men once in our power and Southern Confederacy will be but a bubble.
Write us often and I’ll do the same. I enclose you the 24 stamps as you requested. Carried is well and sends love. I got a letter from Father this morning. He is better.
