Category Archives: 9th New York Heavy Artillery

9th New York Heavy Artillery, Siege of Petersburg

1865: Lewis Mason Foster to his Mother

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Lewis Mason Foster (1846-1912) served with Co. C, 9th New York Heavy Artillery. He enlisted as a private in 1862. He became a corporal in November 1864. He mustered out with his regiment in July 1865. At the time of his enlistment, Foster was 18, suggesting he was born about 1844. Prior to the war, he lived in Conquest, NY. He was the son of Chandler and Amelia Pierce Foster.

The Special Collections and University Archives at Virginia Tech has one letter written by Foster in their collection to his mother in December 1864. Written near Petersburg, Virginia, Foster’s note describes his regiment’s travels from the Shenandoah Valley to the Petersburg area. He writes of the defenses of the nearby fort in detail, daily activities, and food and rations supplied to the troops. He also talks about living on the site of previous battles and building winter quarters there: “The boys have accidentally dug up dead Johnnies when they have been building their houses and there is lots of solid shot, shell and bullets and pieces of muskets laying around all over the ground.”

Over the years I’ve transcribed quite a number of letters by member of the 9th New York Heavy Artillery and published them on Spared & Shared:

Lawrence Johnson, Co. A, 9th New York H. A. (6 Letters)
Wesley Scott, Co. E, 9th New York H. A, (1 Letter)
Peter Baggerly, Co. G, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Walter Guppy Hole Duckett, Co. K, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
John B. Sayles, Co. H (later L), 9th New York H. A. (2 Letters)
Isaac Cordon, Co. I, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Jerome Gardner, Co. K, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Francis Alexander Sinclair, Co. L, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Francis Alexander Sinclair, Co. L, 9th New York H. A. (1 Letter)
Sheldon Smith, Co. L, 9th New York Heavy Artillery (1 Letter)
Cyrus B. Tanner, Co. L, 9th New York Heavy Artillery (1 Letter)

Letter 1

Fort Fisher [Virginia] 1
March 27, [1865]

Dear Mother,

I received your welcome letter last night and I hasten to answer it. Will has gone to the hospital. Went about ten days ago. I don’t know where he is. He promised to write to me as soon as he got where he could get a letter back.

We have advanced our picket line in front of our fort. It took some hard fighting to do it. The line was advanced Saturday. Yesterday everything was quiet but this morning about four o’clock the Rebs tried to get our lines back, but they didn’t make it out. Our company went in the fight, but lay in the fort. The bullets and shells flew into the fort but didn’t hurt anyone ver bad. Co. L of our regiment worked a Battery of 30-pounder Parrott guns and made some of the best shots that were made on the whole line. They silenced two of the Johnnies’ forts. They fired one shot that went through an embrasure in one of the Reb’s forts and dismounted one of the Reb’s guns and blowed up their caissons of ammunition. It was a pretty hard fight for a picket line fight.

Our men got so close to the Reb’s camp that they killed some of the Johnnies right in camp. A solid shot struck in our fort, bounded, and went out again without hurting anyone. This morning a Minié bullet struck one of our boys on the back of the neck and knocked him down but he got up all right. The force of the ball was spent. I went out yesterday where the hardest fighting was. There was lots of dead Johnnies all shot through the head—one Colonel, one Lieutenant-Colonel, and one Captain.

Willard did not get any pay. His Descriptive List didn’t come, I don’t know what is the matter with him but I think it is the acclimating process. He is not used to the climate yet and everyone has to have their turn some time or another. I got a letter from Lute and Cornelia this morning. Rube escaped the draft. Send me a county paper if you can get one with the list of the drafted in Wayne county. According to all accounts, the water must be very high in York State. It has delayed the mail on account of the railroads being washed away.

It is a very fine day [here]. A bullet went through my house Saturday but there was no one in it. You will get notice when that money I sent gets to the Depot. I don’t know what Depot it will go to. They will send it to the nearest one. I sent the receipt. Did you get it? I had the money directed to you. The Chaplain took it to City Point for me. I wrote a letter to [ ] some time ago. Did he get it? Has he found a place yet?

The sharpshooters are popping away out in front but I must close. Give my best regard to Grandpa and John. Don’t be uneasy about Will. He may come out all right yet. Write soon. Your loving boy, — Lewis

Fort Fisher near Petersburg, Virginia

1 Fort Fisher was a major Union siege fort on the southwest side of the City of Petersburg at the intersection of present-day Church Road and Flank Road. It was built after the September 1864 Battle of Peeble’s Farm. It is now part of the Petersburg National Battlefield’s Western Front and is stop number 3 on their driving tour.

Letter 2

Arlington Heights, Va.
June 6, [1865]

Dear Mother,

I received your welcome letter some time ago but have not had time to answer it until now. We lay within three and a half miles of Washington. We expect to be reviewed in a few days and to be sent to Albany and mustered out of the army. I think I will get home sometime in July. I woul like to get home by the 4th but don’t think I can. The weather has been very hot for the last few days but is cool this morning.

We had a hard march from Richmond.The weather was very warm with the exception of three days that it rained. We marched ten miles one day when it rained as hard as it could and the mud was knee deep. Had to ford one creek where the water was three feet deep. A great many died on the march from heat. I stood it as well as anyone and feel none the worse for the march. Willard has been transferred to Philadelphia to Satterlee Hospital. I think I will get my discharge nearly as soon as he does. His Descriptive List has not been sent to the hospital yet and he can’t get his discharge until it is sent. Our officers are all busy making out final statements and muster rolls preparatory to mustering us out.

Our Corps has got to be reviewed yet. That will be a hard day’s work but we will willingly do that. There is some talk that we are going to take our guns home with us. I hope so. We will be mustered out at Albany and I can go which way I am a mind to from there. I shall go to Clyde and take the stage. I shall go home the first place I go to (I have not got the itch but I have got now and then a greyback [lice] as the boys call them. I don’t know what you call the Camp Itch. I never read any of it. Do you think I had best to buy me a suit of clothes at Syracuse or wait until I get home?

We will get no pay until we get to Albany and get our discharges. Then we will get all that is due us. The men that enlisted in our regiment in 1863 have got to stay a while yet. Old soldiers whose times expire before the 1st of October will be discharged immediately. The rest will be kept. There is but 32 old boys left in our company of 100.

I spent half of a day looking around the City of Richmond. I visited Libby Prison, Castle Thunder, the Statehouse, and various noted places in the City. There has been millions of dollarsworth of property destroyed there. A great many nice houses destroyed and all the government buildings and four or five bridges across the James river.

Some of the boys that have got to stay after we are discharged are beginning to get homesick already. I don’t think I should get homesick if I had to stay my time out. Well, I must close as the company are drawing clothes and I want a new shirt and pair of pants. Write soon. Give my best respedcts to all enquiring friends. From your loving son, — Lewis M. Foster

P. S. Send me $5 in your next. Send it right away as we may leave here ibuprofen a couple of weeks. — Lewis

"Broke Up Jeff Davis' Ball", 9th New York Heavy Artillery

1864: Peter Baggerly to Isabelle Spangle

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The following letter was written by Peter Baggerly (1841-1925) of Savannah, Wayne county, New York, who enlisted as a recruit in March 1864 to serve in Co. G, 9th New York Heavy Artillery. He was described at that time as a 5 foot 10 inch tall, brown-haired farmer. He was wounded on 15 March 1865 before Petersburg and was transferred on 27 June 1865 to the 2d N. Y. H. A.

Peter was the son of Hezekiah Owen Baggerly (1814-1891) and Olive Dewey (1817-1902). After the war he married Margaret Sibley (1846-1930) and lived out his days in Clyde, Wayne county, New York.

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

Peter’s letter was written on stationery with the poem titled. “How the Veterans Broke Up Jeff Davis’ Ball.” It celebrates the defeat of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Gettysburg.

Fort Foot
Sunday, April 10th 1864

Dear Friend,

As I had a spare time, I thought I would let you know where I am stationed. I suppose you have heard that I was in the army. Well I am well as usual and hope you are ditto. We are fourteen miles south of Washington on the Potomac river on a bluff about 100 feet above the river. It is a very nice place and have nice times. There is only five companies here. We have good victuals and good clean barracks and good straw beds to sleep on.

I have seen some of the boys from around Clifton. I saw Mike and George Kipp and some others from around your community. But enough of that.

How does Olin get along married? I suppose by this time he has been down to our town but I was not there to wait on him. I would like to have been home. I would had some fun with him. I will bet he got lost before he got home. You must take care of him till he can take care of himself. But enough of him.

Now if you will think this worth answering, I should be happy to hear from you and more than that, I want your photograph and when I get some, you can have one if you wish. You must excuse my writing this sheet wrong side up as I did not see it till it was too late to prevent it. Answer soon. So goodbye for now. From your friend, — Peter Baggerly

To Isabel Spangle

P. S. Don’t you let Uncle Harrison’s folks know that I wrote to you before I wrote to them or Robert’s folks.

Direct to Mr. Peter Baggerly. Co. G, 9th Artillery, N. Y. V., Washington D. C.

9th New York Heavy Artillery

1864: Cyrus B. Tanner to Mary Augusta (Quick) Tanner

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I could not find an image of Cyrus but here is one of Patrick O’Toole who served in Co. I, 9th New York Heavy Artillery. (Ancestry.com)

The following letter was written by Cyrus B. Tanner (1834-1893) while serving in Co. L, 9th New York Heavy Artillery. It was addressed to his wife, Mary Augusta (Quick) Tanner (1836-1911) who was at home on their farm northeast of Brutus in Cayuga county, New York with their two young children, Frank and Hetti. Cyris was the son of Seldon Bulkley Tanner and Polly Wheaton.

When Cyrus enlisted on 17 November 1863 at Auburn, he was described as a 29 year-old, 5′ 7″ farmer with hazel. eyes and light hair. He was discharged from the service on 29 May 1865 having just previously spent time at Satterlee Hospital in Philadelphia.

After the war, Cyrus relocated his family to Iowa, where he engaged in Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) activities and secured employment as a hired man at a hotel situated merely a block from the State House. The hotel was previously owned by John Crummey but acquired by the Schaedler family, who prudently renamed it from the “Crummey House” to the “Schaedler House.” Tragically, Cyrus’s life came to a sorrowful end, as detailed in the following newspaper notice under the heading, “Died Because of Drink”:

The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 21 July 1893

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

[Washington D. C.]
January 1st 1864

Dear Wife,

I take my seat once more to write you a few lines once more to let you know I am well and hope you are the same. It is 10 o’clock [a.m.] and up to this time everything is very dull. It rained all day yesterday so it is all mud today. I thought my box would of been here so I could of had a good time if I was all alone but it is too late. I think I shall get it tomorrow night or Sunday morning.

There will be 75 men transferred from this company into other companies in two or three days. I expect to be one so you hadn’t better write any more until you hear from me. If I do leave the company, I think of going into Co. E. They are four miles below Washington on the Potomac River. There is four companies of this regiment there. The other eight are here guarding four forts. If I go there, I shall be just as safe as I would be here. The place is called Rose’s Bluff.

I will send you a paper next Monday. We were mustered for our pay yesterday but the company is not organized yet.

6 o’clock [p.m.] This has been a long lonesome day to me. It was all mud this morning but it is froze up now. The wind is blowing very hard now. It is the coldest I have seen it this winter. I have sent John two letters this week and this will make two I have sent you. I have got one letter from you and one paper and a letter from John. If you knew how I have worked it to write this letter, you would excuse poor writing. I will give you a sample. We have got moved in our barracks. They are 20 feet wide and 100 feet long and here is 150 men. Some of them feel pretty good and some of them feel a little worse for too much drink. Well, I forgot to tell. you about my writing. I have set down a part of the time and wrote on my leg. I have stood up a part of the time and held my paper in my hand, and to finish I am laying down on my bed.

All at present from your faithful husband, — Cyrus Tanner

Co. L, 9th N. Y. S. V. Artillery, Washington D. C.

I will write again next Sunday.

January 2nd. 6 o’clock morn. I thought I would write and let you know that I didn’t freeze up last night but I tell you, it was hard work to keep warm in bed. Everything is froze as hard as it can be this morning. I can’t write anymore for want of time. — C. T.

Tell Franky there is his New Year’s present.