All posts by Griff

My passion is studying American history leading up to & including the Civil War. I particularly enjoy reading, transcribing & researching primary sources such as letters and diaries.
115th New York Infantry, Battle of Darbytown Road

1863-65: Reuben T. Wells to Margaret J. (Dutcher) Wells

Leave a comment

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.

— R. T. Wells

To his dear wife, M. J. Wells

On board the steamship DeMolay

29th Wisconsin Infantry, Dauphin Island

1865: John Pushe DeMeritt to Julia A. DeMeritt

Leave a comment
A postwar cabinet card of John Pushe Demeritt

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

Direct to New Orleans and not put on via Cairo.

77th Pennsylvania Infantry

1865: David Dempsey Kreps to Frank A. Kreps

Leave a comment

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

7th Connecticut Infantry, Fort Pulaski, Observation Balloon

1862: George Washington Cone to Jennie Bradt

Leave a comment
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.

20th Massachusetts Infantry

1862: Ferdinand Dreher to John W. Le Barns

Leave a comment
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

8th Indiana Infantry (3 months), Camp McClellan, Indianapolis

1861: John Pfeifer to Sallie (Strucker) Pfeifer

Leave a comment

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.

2nd Independent Battery, Maine Light Artillery

1864: Stephen Manchester to Mary E. Manchester

Leave a comment

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

3rd Vermont Infantry

1862-63: Hosea B. Williams to Olivia Williams

Leave a comment

The following letters were written by Hosea B. Williams (1841-1864) who served in Co. C, 3rd Vermont Infantry. He enlisted on 16 July 1861 and was killed in the fighting at Spotsylvania Court House on 12 May 1864. Hosea wrote the letters to his mother, Olivia, in Concord, Vermont. The first letter was found in Hosea’s Pension File in Washington D. C.; the second letter is in private hands.

Hosea’s second letter refers to “bosom pins” that he opted to send home for safekeeping. Unfortunately he was no more specific as to the nature of these pins, but promised one to each of two older brothers, Hiram (b. 1836) and William (b. 1837), if he did not return home from the war.

Letter 1

Camp near Herson [Harrison] Landing
August 1, 1862

Dear Mother,

I received your letter and I was very glad to hear that you were as you were. I am well and I hope that these few lines will find you the same. Dan is well and he is a going to write a few lines to Father.

We have not had a battle since the Battle of Malvern Hill till last night the rebels drawed up some artillery and began to shell our troops but they were sorry that they ever come down there for we drawed out our siege guns and gunboats and give them hell to hteir own satisfaction so they left the ground. But it was a noisy time, I tell you.

Now I want you to write to me often as you can. You tell William to write and Hiram too. I have not much to write now. I want you to write whether John Morse has paid that money to your or not. I have got two hundred dollars in the State Treasury and I have put it so that you can draw it if I should be killed here for I stand a fair chance to be killed every day or so far it is shell and shot all the time. But Iam happy as a clam in deep water, Write to me often as you can. — Hosea B. Williams, Co. C, 3rd Vermont Volunteer Militia, Washington D. C.

I will send you a paper that [shows] where we fought the rebels at Savage Station and the battle elsewhere too on the retreat.

Letter 2

Patriotic stationery used in Hosea’s Letter

Camp at Waterloo, [Fauquier Co.] Virginia
August 10, 1863

Dear Mother,

I now take this time to write you a few lines to let you know that I have got your letter and was very glad to hear that you were well. I am well and hope that these few lines will find you the same. I got your letter this morning and was glad to think that check had gone alright. I shall send a lot of money soon and you can take care of it for me better than I can for I am in a hard place to let money in the State Treasury and I am a going to draw it out and send it to you to take care of for me. And if you want any of this money to help you along, take it as I send it and I want you to get me a pair of boots made and then when I send to to send them, they will be ready. I want Patent No. 9 so you can get them alright.

There is no signs of a move for the present time. Have you seen Charles Mabury since he went home? Write when you hear from William and tell me where he is. As I wrote to Hiram a day or two ago, I shall not write so much to you this time. So goodbye for this time. This is from your son, — Hosea B. Williams

I am a going to send my Bosom Pins to you to keep for me till I get home and then I can wear them so you take care of them for me and if I am killed, give one to Hiram and the other to William. That is all I have to say now.

13th Connecticut Infantry

1862: Henry Lauren Lane to his Parents

Leave a comment

The following letter was written by Henry Lauren Lane of Plymouth, Connecticut, who enlisted in February 1862 as a private in Co. H, 13th Connecticut Infantry. He died of chronic diarrhea while in the service on 5 May 1863 at New Orleans.

Letterhead of patriotic stationery featuring lithograph of Maj. Gen. McClellan

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

New Haven [Connecticut]
March 12th [1862]

Dear Father & Mother,

I now take my pen to let you know how I am getting along. I am not very well at this present time. We are going tomorrow night or next day. We are talking of going [to] New London to stay a while. I want you to [write] as soon as you hear from me again and let me know if you got the money I sent you. Write as soon as you hear from me. Yours, — Henry Lane

Direct your letter to Henry L. Lane, Co. H, 13th Regiment, Conn. Vols. To the care of Capt. [Homer Baxter] Sprague, Co. H.

There has been an allotment roll to send money home. I shall send you 8 dollars a month home to you or a draft. You must sign your name, name of place, and you can get the money. Yours, Henry L. Lane

57th Pennsylvania Infantry

1865: David Wakefield Haight to Judy Minerva (Horton) Haight

Leave a comment
A post war image of David Haight

These letters were written by David Wakefield Haight (1841-1906), the son of Joel Albert Haight (1810-1886) and Rebecca Anne Stewart (1821-1859). David was married in March 1864 to Judy Minerva Horton (1845-1925) and their first child—the baby mentioned in this letter—was Ethel M. G. Haight (1865-1869).

David enlisted as a private in Co. E, 57th Pennsylvania Infantry on 28 July 1864. He was later transferred to Co. K and was mustered out of the service on 29 June 1865. Prior to serving in the 57th Pennsylvania, David served in Co. D, 2nd Battalion Pennsylvania Infantry. It’s noted that his headstone in the Clarington Methodist Cemetery spells his name “Hait.”

Letter 1

Addressed to Mrs Judy M. Haight, Clarington Pt. Forest county, Pennsylvania

Camp of the 57th [Pennsylvania]
Near Burke’s Station
April 24, 1865

My dear wife,

It is with love and pleasure that I seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well, hoping that these few lines may find you the same.

It has been one month today since we broke camp and I never had better health in my life although we had some very hard marching and fighting. There was one day that we marched about twelve miles in line of battle and we charged about every half mile till we got them in a tight place and then they stood and tried to fight us but they run from the skirmish line before the line of battle got up. I was in the skirmish line that day and it was fun to see the rebels run. They run and fired back till we took about five hundred prisoners and two hundred wagons and five pieces of artillery and about seven hundred mules and horses. I [think] that the fighting is pretty near done now. If Sherman gets Johnston and his army, the fighting will be done and I will get back to you again in about six months.

This is the third letter that I have wrote since we have been in this camp and have received one and I got one from Ren Haight and he is well. And I got one from George this morning and he is getting along fast. He thinks that he will be back to the company in two or three weeks. Hiram is well.

Well, Judy, I wish that I could get home to see you and the baby. I think about you all the time. I wish you would send me your picture in your next letter. Give my best respects to all the friends and tell them that I would like to hear from some of them. So I guess that I must close for this time. Tell me in your next letter if Andy went to the army and here he is.

So goodbye. Write soon. From your husband, — David Haight

To his wife, Judy M. Haight

The reverse side of the envelope says, “Rebel envelope captured near Burksville in the Reb train.”

Letter 2

Washington D. C.
June 22, 1865

Dearest Wife & Companion & Love,

It is with pleasure that I seat myself to write you a few [lines] to let you know that I am still alive, hoping that you are enjoying good health. I have had a pretty hard time with the diarrhea till I got very poor. But I am getting well now and feel strong again. The weather is very hot now and the sun send her scorching rays down the near way. Robert went to wash this morning and was alone and I thought that I would write to pass time as the time passes very slowly. One day seems like four when we was after Old Lee. I think that if I was at home with you that the days would pass more natural and I could content myself better.

I expect that we will have to stay till fall if not longer but I would like to get home out of the God damned thing. I would write oftener but I have no stamps. you never told me whether you got that song ballad [on] the Weldon Raid so I have but little write this time and I don’t get a letter from you more than one a month. So I must close till after drill.

Well, we have got done drilling and had some dinner and a good shower of rain and I have got commenced to write again. The showers cooled the air off some. I have very good times here now. They are still mustering out some regiments but we still have to stay. I don’t see why they don’t discharge the drafted men but they are holding on to us yet and damn them, they will I guess.

If you write and let e know where Samuel is, I will go and see him if I can. I want you to give me all the news that is flying up there. So I guess I have wrote all the news. So goodbye. Write soon. — David Haight

To his sweet wife, Mrs. Judy Haight

Company E, 57th Regt. P. V. V. , Washington D. C.

I want you to tell me how Amanda is getting along and the rest of them may go to hell if they don’t think enough of me to write. I have wrote two or three times to them and got no answer.