My passion is studying American history leading up to & including the Civil War. I particularly enjoy reading, transcribing & researching primary sources such as letters and diaries.
The following letter was written by a Union soldier named “Bob” who indicated that he had recently participated in the Battle of Fredericksburg. He also suggested that he was a part of “King’s Division” but of course King had resigned his commission in October 1862 and elements of his command were reassigned, some placed under the command of John Gibbon and some under Abner Doubleday—both of whom fought at Fredericksburg in William B. Franklin’s Left Grand Division.
James Newton served in the 105th New York Infantry and was wounded at Fredericksburg on 13 December 1863 (Robert May Collection)
Since the author asked about the 130th Regiment, he must have known soldiers who served in that regiment. But was it the 130th Pennsylvania or the 130th New York Infantry? I was able to rule out the 130th Pennsylvania Infantry because none of the few Pennsylvania regiment in either Doubleday’s or Gibbon’s Divisions were raised in Cumberland and York counties where the 130th Pennsylvania was raised. So where was the 130th New York Infantry raised? Most of the members were recruited in Wyoming county, a relatively low populated region in western, upstate New York. I could find only one other regiment raised in this region which was the 105th New York Infantry—a regiment that figured prominently at Fredericksburg in Gibbons Division of Gen. Reynolds 1st Corps. Here the 105th New York lost 78 killed, wounded and missing. After assailing the Confederate right at the point of bayonet and overrunning the Confederates position, when they were not reinforced, they were counterattacked and grappled in hand-to-hand combat before yielding the hard-earned ground. The “gallant old 105th New York was annihilated,” according to their commander Isaac S. Tichenor. “Captain Abraham Moore [Co. F] tried to rally the surviving members of the regiment. He failed. One soldier explained, “The 105th New York Volunteers was literally killed in action.” [See “The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock” by Francis A. O’Reilly, page 241] A great number of the surviving members of the 105th New York were taken prisoner.
One possibly is that the letter was written by Robert Lutze (1844-1907) who had a sister named Elizabeth (b. 1850). Robert served in Co. K, 105th New York Infantry, mustering in at LeRoy, New York. He was transferred to the 94th New York when the 105th was disbanded after Fredericksburg. I am unwilling to attribute this letter to him without reservation, however.
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December 26th 1862
My dear sister,
I received your welcome letter today and I was very glad to hear that you all keep well. Yes, Beckie, we were in [the fight] of course. They do not know how to fight without King’s Division to hold the flank. We came out alright. I wish you would in your next letter let me know what Brigade, Division and Corps the 130th Regiment is in—that is, if you know.
Well, we have 170 men in our regiment. When the regiment came out, it numbered 870 men. Well, Beckie, I spent my Christmas on picket and had for dinner hard tack and coffee. Today I had some hoecake for dinner and for supper I boiled some mush. I bought the corn meal from a darkey.
I shall not write anything about the battle as I wrote to Father a few days ago and told him enough about it. The next time you see Abe and Cal, give them my best wishes for their future happiness. I think writing is about played out for this time. So is the northern army if I know anything about it. When they put Mac [McClellan] out, then they ought to have sent the army home and saved those 20,000 men that Burnside killed.
We are both well and send our love. Your affectionate brother, — Bob
This letter was written to Henry White Gorham (1838-1876) who enlisted in April 1861 to serve three months in Co. F, 13th Regiment, New York State Militia. They were placed on railroad guard duty till June at Annapolis, Maryland, and then at Baltimore until August 1861. They mustered out on 6 August 1861. It was penned by his sister, datelined from Williamsburgh, Kings county, New York.
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Addressed to Mr. H. W. Gorham, 13th Regiment Company F, N. Y. V. M., Annapolis, Maryland; “Give them a little more grape boys. Let that be our Compromise.” Postmarked Williamsburgh, N. Y.
Williamsburgh [New York] June 29, 1861
Dear Brother Henry,
Patriotic Letterhead
It is two weeks today since I got a letter from you. I had written & I suppose you got one from me the same day. I mailed another one week ago yesterday & have been looking & hoping to get one from you every day this week but have been disappointed. I have thought you might be in an engagement but the papers have not given any account of one. Then I thought you might be out of paper, so I thought I would not wait longer but write you again.
We are all as well as usual but feeling rather stale as yesterday was our excursion. We had a very pleasant day, a good company, and a nice grove. Everything so far as I know went off pleasantly. Mr. McGonor went with us. He sang the pieces he used to sing at the hall last winter, besides others. It is a treat to hear him sing, you know. The girls were in there & I suppose wished you were there too. I for one did. I thought of you many times during the day. John & Isaiah are very lame today from running, chasing one another & the girls. They were playing war. I believe the girls thought they were so tired they could not go to the temple in the evening, but did go as we got home early enough for them to rest some first.
Yesterday while we were gone, Mr. Wilber came in with a man from your regiment that had come home sick. He said he knew you & I was in hopes he would have been in today so I could have asked him about you. Mr. Wilber said he would come with him but perhaps he is not able to come. John & Isaiah have both gone over to see Oli Briggs this afternoon. Allen was home Saturday. Went away again Monday, I believe. He is doing very well. Chrit is peddling paper, envelopes and segars I guess—a Yankee notion pedlar. He told Oli he was agoing to Albany today. Last Tuesday, Johnnie, Isiah, and myself went over to Maria’s & spent the day. Went to the Elysian Fields [in Hoboken, New Jersey]. It is very pleasant there now. Isaiah and I went to Flushing last week to the hot house. 1 Saw some of the handsomest plants I ever saw in my life. It does not seem possible such plants grow but nature is much more beautiful than anything man can make. I expect if you are spared to come home, Isiah will want you to go with him to see them. He wants to get some to put in your garden. It looks very pretty. He had a bouquet from it yesterday. The girls said they did not believe it came from his garden so he called on me to vouch for it.
The [Brooklyn] Industrial School held a fair Wednesday evening—or Strawberry Festival as they call it. Cherries are getting plenty. Wish you were here to have some. Expect you will be here before they are gone. We had some yesterday from Annie Cook’s garden. Perhaps she will save some for you. I dare say you will get some if you come before they are all gone. You say my pies will suffer when you get home. I shall be only too happy to see you eat them. You shall have as much as you want of everything I can cook for you. I always think of you when we have anything that I know you love.
13th Regiment, New York State Militia
There is a great deal said in the papers of the way the 13th [Regiment] are treated & of their clothes and their fare. We do not know how much of it to believe. Now I want you to write in your next if you are treated as the papers say, and tell us if there is anything we can do for your comfort we are willing and desire to do if we knew what you need. It is hard for the soldiers if they have all it is possible, for them to have for their comfort. I think the people at home ought to sacrifice some of the luxuries for their sake if they cannot be made comfortable without. If they are treated as the papers state, it is ridiculous, but we do not know what to believe.
Williard has not gone yet but he thinks they are going soon. John Dean is in and out as usual. He is not able to work, he says. He thinks his lungs are affected. He is spleeny still, I think. He is not long lived. He will probably go as Frank did. He seems some as he used to. I had a letter from [ ] the other day. She says she is not agoing to take no for an answer to come there this summer. I must, it is so lonesome. I do not know as I shall go. I think I will wait until you come. I suppose you will want to go east on a visit. What do you think? I know I have written all the news I know so will stop writing. Hope I shall get one from you soon. A good long one. Your sister, — Sarah
1 Possibly the Linnaean Botanic Garden or Prince’s Nursery in Flushing, Queens, New York. It was started in the mid-18th Century.
Letterhead of stationery used by Dibble with engraving of Williston Seminary
The following letter was written by Fitzhugh Ithamar Dibble (1840-1918), the son of George Dibble (1805-1881) and Betsy Whittlesey Underhill (1807-1902) of Old Saybrook, Middlesex county, Connecticut. Fitzhugh wrote the letter in May 1861 while attending Williston Seminary. He later attended and graduated (1863) with a law degree from Yale College. Fitzhugh had two older brothers who served in the Civil War. George Eugene Dibble (1830-1863) in Co. F, 12th Connecticut Infantry and died on a Mississippi transport on 24 May 1863. Also serving was Augustus Llewelyn Dibble (1831-1878) in Co. G, 14th Connecticut Infantry, who was wounded at Antietam and shot in the foot in a later engagement but recovered.
Curiously, census records in 1850 and 1860 reveal that Fitzhugh was born in 1839 or 1840; yet subsequent census records report his having been born in 1845 or even 1846, leading one to question whether he misreported his age in order to avoid the draft.
Fitzhugh wrote the letter to his older sister, Juline Josephine (“Jose”) Dibble (1834-1924) who was employed as a school teacher in the common schools of Old Saybrook. In 1867, she married Henry H. Buell (1837-1927).
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Addressed to Miss J. Josephine Dibble, Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Puckertown Heights May 19th 1861
Dear Sister Jose,
Yours of May 12th was received four days after date & of course read with extreme pleasure as all long anticipated epistles are. I nearly began to think that you had likely forgotten me or that in the fire of your patriotic ardor, had concluded that all minor objects must give way before that. Previous to receiving your letter I had not received one for a whole week & a half. Now only imagine to yourself the distress & anxiety I must have been in & methinks I see the sympathetic tears suffusing your eyes & a firm resolve entering your mind never to indulge in such delay again.
I am gratified to hear that you are all well at home & I can say that I fully approve the plan which you girls have adopted of planting “each one a hill of corn” & hope it will prove a successful crop & the beginning of a mighty harvest of heroic deeds performed by the Angels of America. I am glad to learn that S. & W. [Saybrook & Westbrook] are so enthusiastic in this war with the rebels & hope to hear that they have united and raised a company of volunteers. I am also extremely pleased to hear that Mr. [Salmon] McCall 1 came out with a Union sermon & had the pluck not to be bullied an inch from his position. It has considerably changed my opinion of him, for I had begun to think that he was a regular “dishwater concern”—not daring to say his soul was his own or the Bible the book of God. I hope you will send me a copy of it (i. e., his sermon) if published.
I have not delivered that oration yet as I got a substitute in my place for I found upon copying & arranging it that it covered more than 21 pages of foolscap & took me an hour to read it through in my room at a quick rate. But I have one to deliver this week Friday eve which I have not yet written. As to Flunks Fizzles, &c. they are about as frequent as ever & also about effectual. We have been obliged to give up our military drill as we could obtain no arms from the government unless we placed ourselves at its disposal & there were not enough in school who would enroll in a regular company in this way. This was a great disappointment to us. The Amherst students were disappointed in th same way—but it cannot be remedied.
The weather is very beautiful here now & nature is arranging herself in her best “bib & tucker” 2 —preparing to send out a rich harvest from red bosoms [?]. I am happy to hear that Evelyn’s health has improved enough to ensure his return home & hope his wife may derive all the satisfaction possible from all the stories she sees fit to fabricate & report—but I really don’t think they will do any serious injury only to those who frame them & moreover I don’t think that they or their [ ] are worth noticing. Let the jealous & [ ] rage and vent their discontentment, but they will never seriously injure those who are innocent of any misdemeanor.
Now I trust I shall not be compelled to wait so long again for an answer to this as before, but that you will write soon & also Adell & the rest, keeping me informed of all the news at home. Please remember me to all friends & all the family at home & God bless & protect you all. Very sincerely, your affectionate brother, — F. I. Dibble
Williston Seminary, East Hampton, Massachusetts
1 Salmon McCall was the pastor of the First Church of Christ in Saybrook from 1853 to 1871. He was 27 years old when he first occupied the pulpit in Saybrook. He was described as “a studious and learned man.”He was an 1851 graduate of Yale College.
2 “bib and tucker” used to mean the most lavish attire a gentleman possessed.
The following affidavit addressed to Iowa Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood was penned by 29 year-old Hiram B. Gray (1832-1863) of Mason City, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa. Hiram was the orphaned son of James L. Gray (1792-1857) and Zillah Beulah [unknown] (1796-1856) or Oberlin, Lorain county, Ohio. In October 1861, Hiram recorded his Last Will & Testament in Iowa, indicating his intention of enlisting in the service of his country but I have not found any record of his service. He willed his property to his only surviving sibling, Hester Ann Gray of Oberlin, Ohio. Hiram died on 1 July 1863 and his sister died a few years later.
Datus Ensign Coon (1832-1893)
In his affidavit, Hiram solemnly attests to the reprehensible actions of Datus E. Coon (1831-1893), who allegedly appropriated the company roll book of the Cerro Gordo Guards and falsely presented himself as the individual responsible for mustering a sufficient body of men to secure a Captain’s commission from the Governor of Iowa. A biography of Coon reveals that he served as the publisher of the Cerro Gordo Press in Mason City “until the war broke out in 1861. Upon receiving the news of the fall of Fort Sumter, he made the resolute decision to enlist in the army as a cavalry man and obtained a captain’s commission from Governor Kirkwood of Iowa, tasked with raising a company within three weeks. The company was successfully assembled, proceeded to Davenport, Iowa, and was subsequently assigned to the Second Iowa Cavalry [Co. I].”
[Source: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 291-292]
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Patriotic stationery letterhead
To His Excellency, Samuel J. Kirkwood, Governor of the State of Iowa
I, H[iram] B. Gray of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, do solemnly swear that I am a member of the Military Company known as the Cerro Gordo Guards, of said county, that I have been a member of the same since its first organization, that I was duly elected corresponding secretary for the company, and that no business has been done for the company or by the same, with any of the State authorities, except as it has been through me. That sometime in the month of June (prior to the 15) Datus E[nsign] Coon who was then one of our corporals borrowed our company roll of the Orderly Sergeant and without the knowledge or consent of the company or officers, carried the same to Des Moines & Iowa City.
And further, that said Coon, returned to Cerro Gordo county with a commission as Captain of the Cerro Gordo Horse Guards. And further, that no such company had been organized in the county, and that the said Coon had never been elected to the said office.
And further, that in consequence of losing our said Roll, we were obliged to reorganize, which reorganization created some dissatisfaction, and some of the original members would not sign another Roll. And further true, said Coon reported to the people of Cerro Gordo county, and the Cerro Gordo Guards, that the Governor said that the Cerro Gordo Guards would never be called into service, and that it was his [request] for every man that could to join his Horse Company. And further, that in consequence of said report, our said company has been nearly broken up, and the members have become nearly discouraged in regard to keeping up an organization or carrying out to drill.
And further, that said Coon has failed to organize his said Horse Company, and that he is about to leave the said county, or has already left with a few men without horses, representing to them that they can go right into the cavalry service as soon as they reach Burlington—that the government has horses in readiness for them. And further, that I have good reason to believe and do believe that Sam Coon used our said company roll for the purpose of procuring himself a commission. And further, that in consequence of the facts herein set forth, some 15 or 20 of our men have left with other companies.
Des Moines, July 31, 1861 — H. B. Gray
In the tintype, Coon is posed in a photographer’s studio. He wears a double-breasted frock, a sword belt with pattern 1851 buckle, sash, and heavy gauntlets, one of which rests upon the hilt of his sword. The photographer applied gold tint to the buttons and shoulder boards (filled all the way in, indicative of cavalry). Red tint was applied to the sash and the decorative cord to Coon’s side. (Iron Horse Military Antiques)
The following incredible letter was written by Mary Bethune (Craig) Hunt (1836-1911), the second wife of (then) Major Henry Jackson Hunt (1819-1889). Hunt’s first wife, Emily C. De Russy, died at Fortress Monroe in 1857 and he took 19 year-old Mary as his second wife in December 1860—just a little over four months before this letter was penned. Mary was the daughter of Henry Knox Craig (1791-1869), the Chief of the US Army Ordnance Bureau. Mary’s mother came from Massachusetts, and had strong ties to the Boston area. She was pregnant with her first child at the time.
Mary’s husband, Henry Jackson Hunt
Henry Jackson Hunt was a dedicated military officer, graduating from the US Military Academy in 1839. He is predominantly recognized for his role as the Chief of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War, where he earned acclaim from his contemporaries as one of the war’s most formidable tacticians and strategists. When the conflict commenced in 1861, Hunt was stationed at Fortress Monroe commanding his artillery battery.
Mary wrote the letter to her cousin Annie Dunkin Adams (1834-1910), the daughter of Dr. Horatio Adams (1801-1861) and Ann Bethune Dunkin (1797-1889) of Waltham, Massachusetts. In her correspondence, Mary mentions Annie’s siblings, “Mollie”—Mary Faneuil Adams (1836-1912)—and “Faneuil”—Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin Adams (1839-1895). Annie was a pivotal force behind the Waltham training school for nurses and she devoted her life to a number of charitable causes. What’s more, Annie apparently had a friendship with the Lees of Arlington House, Robert and Mary (Custis) Lee, who are mentioned in the closing lines of this letter. How little did Mary know at the time that Mr. “Lee” would eventually emerge as the Army of the Potomac’s fiercest adversary in the turbulent years to follow.
For a good summary of the Lee’s departure, see The Lee’s Leave Arlington by the National Park Service. I note some discrepancies in the dates between that article and this letter, however.
From Mary’s letter we learn that she and her mother were the individuals responsible for making the havelocks distributed to the members of Col. Samuel Lawrence’s 5th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Perhaps she made the very havelock worn by Sergeant Edward Bracket featured in the picture below.
For the first time in 162 years, the havelock of Sergeant Edward Brackett, 5th Massachusetts Infantry, returned to Henry Hill on the Bull Run battlefield where the regiment fought on 21 July 1861. (Manassas National Battlefield Park Facebook Page).
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Addressed to Miss Annie D. Adams, Waltham, Massachusetts
Washington [D. C.] May 6th 1861
My dear Annie,
I received a letter from Mollie this [morning] telling me that she had seen to my request. I do not like to bother her again but just try your good nature a little. The havelocks which we made in our family—about 250 in number—Mother gave to the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Col. [Samuel C.] Lawrence. They come from Charlestown and the vicinity of Boston. Mother thinks that it would be a good plan to send them enough to finish supplying that regiment as they are hard at work at Fortress Monroe. There are about a thousand in the regiment. It is much easier to have them sent from Boston to Fortress Monroe than from here. Please ask Faneuil to mention this to someone in authority for if they are sent here, it may be two weeks before they can be sent to Fortress Monroe.
I received a letter from Major Hunt this morning. It came in a round about way. I do not know exactly how it got here. Of course I was glad to get it but my anxiety is none the less for at the time he was writing, they were in hourly anticipation of an attack. He feels very confident of the success of the United States troops. However that may be, I scarcely dare think of it in any way. There is an order out for Major Hunt’s Battery to be brought to Washington. Even that seems impossible to be true.
We are all well. Presley’s foot is much better and he thinks that he will soon be able to walk. Give much love to my dear Aunt Ann. Love to Fan and Mollie. Tell the latter that tomorrow I intend to write her a long letter. Please answer this immediately for Mother as all of us do nothing but work for the soldiers and of course we can think of nothing else. There is scarcely a day passes that we do not have rumors of fighting on the other side of the river.
Your friends, the Lee’s, are at a place near Alexandria. Their house at Arlington is used as the headquarters of the commanding officers. These are awful times. Your affectionate cousin, — Mary B. Hunt
Unfortunately this partial and unsigned letter provides us with few clues to the author’s identity. I’m inclined to believe it was a young female between the age of 15 and 20 who lived in Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio. She writes of receiving a Christmas gift of “a very nice tooth brush and a cake of tooth soap and a comb”—a practical and coveted luxury at the time. She also writes of visiting the camp of the 72nd Ohio Regiment at nearby Camp Chrogan in company with the handsome Capt. Samuel A. J. Snyder. “What didn’t I have a good time!” she wrote her friend Mary.
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Fremont [Ohio] December 30th, 1861
Friend Mary,
Your letter was most gladly received and came in time to stop my letter which I was about sending, and which contained something like a scolding. I began to think you weren’t going to write to me any more or something dreadful had happened, but when your good letter came and set my fears at rest, you can imagine how welcomed it was.
I haven’t written to you so long that I hardly now how to converse with you. The first thing I will try to do will be to imagine how the house looked after you and Frank had done up the work. Probably the first thing Frank does to bother Mary is to go at the caller [?] and [ ] them a pail of water and is sent off in a hurry. [ ] straight for the corn crib and begins to shell corn while Mary puts the caller to bed and returns to her work, gets the work done up and commences to write to you know. We were but your humble servant. [ ] is much obliged to you for it, but enough of this nonsense.
I spent my Christmas very pleasant here. Went down town in the morning and called at Mrs. Beans, got an invitation to dinner the next day (which was the day after Christmas). Got home and found Brother and his wife here and spent a pleasant afternoon and evening. The next day had a present of a very nice tooth brush and a cake of tooth soap and a comb. I think I have told you all that I did on Christmas as nearly as I can think.
There is a regiment of soldiers stationed here now which makes the realities of war come closer home than ever. The camp is called Camp Chrogan (72nd [Ohio] Regiment). I went over last week with one of the officers, Captain [Samuel A. J.] Snyder 1 (he is handsome as he can be I tell you). What didn’t I have a good time. It looks so funny to see them was dishes and cook and their tents are so funny. But enough of this.
Who do you think Dillie is going to be married to? If you know, tell in your next letter. I have been interrupted in my pleasant talk with you by a caller from the town Miss Smith. They staid so long that it drove everything out of my head that I was a going to say to you. You spoke about Sis Whiskers staying here in Fremont over night. I don’t believe it for I don’t believe the place could hold him, much more that he would come here without seeing me. It is perfectly shocking. It almost made me cry. Don’t he look as though he had lost something since I came away. I don’t believe his whiskers have grown a bit since he see me. I bet the sight of me made them strike in. If so, please console him as well as you can and give him my prescription, that is some of Mrs. Winslow’s soothing syrup. Now mind you, don’t… [partial letter]
1 Capt. Samuel A. J. Snyder’s name comes up in the history of the 72nd Ohio Regiment in connection with the regiment’s flag and the Battle of Shiloh. To wit: “This flag was presented to the regiment by the mayor of Fremont in January 1862 as the regiment was leaving Camp Croghan to head south to war. It was entrusted to Sergeant Gustavus H. Gessner of Co. H. During the skirmish at Crump’s Landing on April 4, 1862, Gessner received a neck wound and went into the hospital; the flag was left furled in his tent. At the outset of the Battle of Shiloh two days later, Co. H was on picket duty and the company commander Captain Samuel A.J. Snyder (who under arrest for shooting a squirrel in camp and consequently left in camp while Co. H was on picket) noticed that the flag was in Gessner’s tent. Snyder took the flag and placed it in a regimental wagon behind the lines, then offered his services to Col. Buckland, thinking that he had placed the flag in a safe place. After a hard fight of two hours, the 72nd Ohio retreated from their position west of Shiloh Church and in the course of the retreat, the wagon and flag were captured. The flag was quickly discovered and presented to Confederate General Pierre G.T, Beauregard who kept the flag for many years.” See “72nd Ohio Infantry Flag Captured at the Battle of Shiloh”; Dan Masters’ Civil War Chronicles, June 4, 2017.
I feel pretty confident this letter was written by Jacob Fisher (1823-1905) who was born in Germany in 1823 and came to Buffalo, New York in 1833 with his parents, and then came to Racine, Wisconsin about 1845. According to his obituary, he worked for many years for the Case T. M. Co. as a machinist. He did serve in the Civil War but did not enter the service until September 1864 as a recruit in Co. D, 16th Wisconsin Infantry. In this letter he claims to have enlisted in the 22nd Wisconsin but says he was “sorry” he enlisted and given that the regiment was urgently mustered in and moved out to Kentucky just a couple days after he wrote this letter, my hunch is that he was never mustered in. At least there is no one by that name appearing in the regimental roster. At the age of 36, Jacob married his first wife, Anna Stecher (1836-1911) in 1859.
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September 12, 1862
Mr. George Hall, dear sir, I now take this opportunity of writing a few lines to you to let you know that I am well at present and I hope these few lines may find you the same. I have enlisted and going to war. I should like to have come out there before I went off but I could not.
In regard to that little matter I have left it with Joeb Fisher and all the rest of my business. I am married and I am sorry that I enlisted but it can’t be helped now. I have bought a house and lot and I don’t know how I can keep it for I shall have to pay it before I can get the money, were it is coming to me. It would accommodate me very much if you would advance the money on those mules. I will throw off the interest which would make it one hundred and thirty-eight dollars. I said accommodate me but I mean my wife for I don’t know but I am past accommodation. But fools for luck, they say, and it may hit me. When you do send it, send it by express and then you will have a receipt to show that you have sent it and it will be all right. Send it to Jacob Fisher, Orfordville T., Rock county, Wisconsin
I hope I shall get a letter from you. You will please answer this at your first leisure time if you please. Direct to Jesse Edgerton, 22nd Regiment Wisconsin Vols. Racine, Wisconsin, in care of Capt. Miles
This letter was written by William Eugene Ruggles (1846-1907), the son of Noble O. Ruggles (1807-1892) and Sarah Shoens (1824-1890) of Syracuse, Onondaga county, New York. Nothing is known of William life until he enlisted with Co. B, 122 Regiment of New York Volunteers in 1862, at which time he described himself as a carpenter. He was clearly unhappy in the army, however, and deserted several times. In 1865, after one such desertion, he was court martialled and dishonourably discharged, after which he returned to Syracuse where he remained until his death. There he married Alida Alexander a year or two after his discharge, with whom he had one daughter, Reba. During his time in the army Ruggles had contracted chronic diarrhea which left him permanently weakened. After the war he worked in a meat market, and when this became too much for him, as a cigar maker. He died in 1907, after which his wife and daughter moved to Prescott Ontario. Some time after her mother’s death in 1927, Reba moved to Scotland. She died in Angus in 1958.
William is credited with a series of drawing depicting the regiment that were bequeathed to the University of Dundee in 1958 by Ruggles’ daughter. All the drawings, however, at some time appear to have had a different signature, in the right hand corner, which has been erased. This name in most cases is illegible apart from a few letters, but the drawings are in fact believed to be that of Phillip M. Ostrander, 149th Regiment. Several of the drawings, however, depict scenes at which Ostrander could not have been present. It is likely that the later and perhaps even all the drawings are based on original photographs or other pictures. [see Ruggles Bequest]
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In rifle pits May 16, 1864
Dear father and mother,
I now sit down to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well and kicking. We haven’t lost many men in two or three days—only 24 wounded. Tommy Gardner is well and all right so far. Skile Segor is killed. He was killed in a charge and all the boys is well that is left—only a few that worne out. Our [Brig.] General [Alexander[ Shaler is taken prisoner. He was commanding our Brigade and our adjutant and six lieutenants and some captains was taken prisoner in our Brigade. Lieutenant White is safe and Andrew Wilkins is too. And Lieut. Col. [Augustus W.] Dwight.
We have got most to the railroad that goes to Richmond. Many things is working right so far and I hope it will continue so. The Rebels is pretty sick of fighting and I think everything is good so far, I hope it will continue so till we get to Richmond.
I will send some more letters and papers that I got out of the Rebels knapsack and I will send a dollar that you may use. I doesn’t send much at a time but I will send you all I can spare. I have to close for it is going to rain. Give my love to all—Charley too, and all that ask about me.
I could not find an image of Seavey but here is a cdv of John B. Bohanon who served in Co. C, 16th New Hampshire Infantry. He was one of the lucky ones to muster out at Concord after 9 months in August 1863 (Dave Morin Collection)
These letters came to me for transcription attributed to an assistant surgeon in the 16th New Hampshire Infantry—a 9-months regiment—but it became obvious to me rather quickly that the “Moses” who signed all of them and addressed them to his “cousin Lydia” was someone else. The content convinced me that the soldier served in Co. H of the 16th New Hampshire and there were only two men with the name of Moses; they were Moses D. Sargeant and Moses J. Seavey, both of Warner in Merrimack county. Sargeant’s muster rolls indicated that he deserted during his term of service so I doubt it was him. I’m going to attribute these letters to Moses Seavey (1841-1863), the son of Andrew Seavey (1817-1901) and Lydia Johnson (1817-1879).
It’s clear from Moses’ letter that he was ill the entire time he wrote to his cousin from January through June 1863. The last of these four letters was written in early June in which he claimed, “I am once more on the gain for I have got so that I can sit up most of the time and hobble about the room some for I have nearly lost the use of my left arm and leg.” Unfortunately for Moses, like many others in his regiment, he never made it home. He died while in passage to Cairo on a Mississippi river steamer on 3 August 1863. He was buried at Natchez, Mississippi.
Letter 1
Camp Parapet, Carrollton, La. January 27, 1863
Dear cousin Lydia,
I received your letter of the 12th last night. Also three papers. I was on guard yesterday and when I cane in a t 4 o’clock, tired and sleepy as I had not had any rest for 36 hours, I thought I would lay down and take a fine nap. As I sat my gun back, I espied something on my shelf and what should it be but a letter and paper. I immediately sat down to read and forgot to leave off till 8 o’clock. I am greatly obliged to you for those papers as I don’t get many New Hampshire papers. I can sometimes get a New York one for fifteen cents.
My health is good now as I could wish. I have had two sick turns and am not quite so fleshy as when I last saw you but am tough and like well, never enjoyed myself any better in my life. As yet there has been but one death in the regiment. There are several sick—some very who will never be any better. I am afraid I don’t know as I shall get a chance to kill Jeff [Davis] but you had better believe it won’t be my fault if I don’t kill him. I was surprised to hear that Davis had come back alive for I thought he was dead. Some three weeks ago I heard Nelson was at Weare and wrote to him. Gardner & son are in this company and are both well.
We have moved half a mile from where we were when I wrote before. We are in a large field containing several plantations and are surrounded in part by a large impassable swamp, the river and a parapet five miles long that is mounted with cannon and large parapet of guns. There is to be a large fort built here soon. There are to be three thousand negroes to work on it, several hundred of whom are here now, and it frequently looks quite dark. The contrabands are coming into camp in flocks.
Yesterday we were ordered to pack and be ready this morning to move down below Carrollton and about five miles above New Orleans, but this morning it was raining hard and continued all the forenoon, and now it is so muddy it is almost impossible to step. But I expect we shall move before long. Don’t wait for me to write for I don’t have much time to do anything but write as often as you can. From your cousin, — Moses
Letter 2
New Orleans, La. U. S. Marine Hospital April 1st 1863
Dear cousin,
Yesterday I received your letter of February 22nd but have not got those papers yet but they are in the city and I expect to get them in a few days. The regiment is at Baton Rouge and our mail goes there and the Chaplain sent down a large bundle of mail which we have not got. It has been a long time since I wrote to you and many changes have taken place. A great many have been and now are sick, and there has been thirteen deaths in our regiment since we got here.
It has now been two months since I was taken sick and I was very sick with the typhoid fever for three weeks, being insensible most of the time. But I am quite smart now so I can go out doors and walk around some but have not got much strength yet. I shall go to the regiment before many weeks. Perhaps you have not heard that as Ed[win Hardy] and Bela Nettleton 1 and another of the band boys were laying on the ground fell asleep and were taken prisoners by the rebels and have not been seen nor heard from since.
I suppose there is snow enough in Old Newbury yet and folks are having sleigh rides every day. I have not stepped my foot on snow since I left New Hampshire but I should like to be up to Goshen this spring and get some maple sugar. You must cut some for me, won’t you?
Write when you get this. — Moses
1 Edwin R. Hardy, a musician in Co. H, (from Warner, N. H.) was Bela Nettleton, a musician in Co. F, was taken prison on 17 March 1863 near Port Hudson, La. Paroled on 4 April 1863.
Letter 3
Marine Hospital, New Orleans, La. April 20th 1863
Dear Cousin Lydia,
It has been a long time since I have written to you because I have felt too lazy and shiftless to write much to anyone. But I will try and write a few lines this morning.
Last night I was very much pleased on receiving a letter from Newbury saying that you were all well as usual. I should like to be with you sugar off. 1 I’ll bet I would enjoy myself eating sugar and molasses with a little bread on it. You know that is the [favorite] I eat.
I am glad to be able to inform you that I am feeling nearly as well as I did before I was taken sick but have not got full strength yet—and never shall if I stay here. But I shall go to my regiment this week but shall not go on duty just yet. The regiment is doing garrison duty at Brashear City up eighty miles from here. Our troops are sweeping everything before them in this state. At last accounts, they had destroyed several gunboats and one entire fleet, [taken] from two to three thousand prisoners, twelve hundred of whom are in this city, and one wounded rebel is in this hospital. From your affectionate cousin, – Moses
Please excuse my short letter this time.
1Sugar Off – This signals the end of the sugaring season. The weather has warmed enough, causing the sap to stop flowing and the boiling to come to an end.
Letter 4
Marine Hospital [New Orleans, La.] June 4th, 1863
Dear cousin,
I believe the last time I wrote I was expecting soon to leave hospital for the regiment. So Saturday, April 25th, I left the hospital, went down into the city and stopped over night. Next morning took the cars for Brashear City eighty miles distant where I arrived at 4:30 o’clock and found the regiment had left except a few sick ones and one surgeon who told me to stay there a few days and get used to being out in the sun.
I stayed some ten days when all that were able to ride were ordered to the regiment which was stationed up a river sixty miles from Brashear at Fort Burton at Butte a la Rose, which was taken by the gunboat Clifton and Cos. E and H of the 16th Regiment. 1 I was somewhat surprised at finding so pleasant a place. There was a small plantation. The fort, mounting two big guns, and behind that good barracks for the accommodation of a thousand troops. The boys had a nice, cosy time here and lived like pigs in the clover. They used to go out foraging. The day I got there, five of my company came in with as nice a beef creature as I ever saw, three sheep, and three hogs. So we had fresh meat all we wanted. But I didn’t eat much for I had been running down since I left the hospital and continued to grow worse till the 15th when I started for the hospital where I arrived the next day at 4 o’clock, very tired and weak for I had not eaten over a pint of gruel for five days.
But thank God, I am once more on the gain for I have got so that I can sit up most of the time and hobble about the room some for I have nearly lost the use of my left arm and leg. But I have no notion of being discouraged yet for my time is out July 25th and I expect to be in Concord on or before that time. I have received two letters and papers from you since you went to Worth___. From your cousin, — Moses
1 “Sickness and death plagued the 16th New Hampshire at Fort Burton over the next six weeks, and by the time of their return home at the expiration of their nine-month enlistments in August, disease had claimed the lives of one-quarter of the Union men. Many Civil War regiments suffered grievous casualties in battle. But for the 16th New Hampshire, who saw little action and did not lose a man to Confederate bullets, the invisible enemy of disease defined their service in the Civil War.” [Our Deaths on the Battle Field Were Not Many: Disease in the 16th New Hampshire, National Museum of Civl War Medicine, 22 October 2020, by Nathan A. Marzoli]
The following letter, bordered in black, was written by Simeon Draper (1806-1866), the Collector of Customs at New York, a week after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He wrote the letter to the Hon. William Pitt Fessenden, who as Secretary of the Treasury in the Lincoln Administration had been instrumental in securing Draper the coveted patronage post in 1864. As a successful businessman and the former chairman of the New York State Republican Party, Draper enjoyed the support of Secretary of State Seward and was at the center of New York’s business, political, and social scene. Not everyone in Lincoln’s cabinet thought favorably of Draper, however. Gideon Wells believed him to be swindler and in fact, a post-war investigation revealed that Draper was guilty of diverting some of the proceeds of the confiscated cotton from the U.S. Treasury to his personal use. It’s believed that when Lincoln wished to remove Draper from the post, Seward “wouldn’t let the President do it.” Draper was finally replaced as the Collector in August 1865 by Preston King—the “intimate friend and constant companion” of Andrew Johnson.
Fessenden was named Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury upon the resignation of Salmon P. Chase in 1864. He held the post for only eight months and then returned to the United States Senate. Though he disliked Andrew Johnson, he disliked the idea of impeachment and was one of the few Republicans who voted for Johnson’s acquittal—a position that alienated him from the party he had helped to form in the 1850s.
Transcription
New York April 22, 1865
My Dear Sir,
I have not had a moment to write you since I came home and now have nothing to say worthy of your attention. The dreadful event which band my paper in black has upset all one’s thoughts and left us in contemplation of the great and uncertain passages which mortals are called to explore. I have in more moments than I can tell you thought of you with grateful feelings and zealous devotion. I have often wished I could see you that I might talk over matters and learn from you whether I have the power to serve you or yours. I will by & bye take a run otherwise Portland and see you. Perhaps you will take a little sea air in July or August in one of the cutters.
I am going to Charleston tomorrow to dig out the cotton there under the donation of the Secretary of the Treasury. I hope, pray, and intend to vindicate your kindness and confidence and pray you to command me freely.
Spared & Shared 23 