The following partial letter was written by Hannaniah Wilcox Hemingway (1841-1931) who datelined it from Springfield, Illinois, where the 2nd Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery was being organized in the summer of 1861. He contends that the company would be designated Battery A, but in fact it was ultimately designated Battery G. At the time of his enlistement, he was a farmer from Ogle County, Illinois. He served the span of his three year enlistment and was discharged December 3, 1864. For a summary of Battery G’s war experiences, see “A Short History of Battery G” by Sean Tedrick at Battery G, 2nd Light Artillery.

When he enlisted at the age of twenty, Hannaniah was described as standing 5′ 7″ tall, with gray eyes and brown hair. His parents were Josiah Hemingway (1801-1879) and Lydia Bartholomew (1793-1881) of Tompkins county, New York. In 1867, after he returned home from the war, Hannaniah married Jane Crozier Thompson (1839-1915). The couple were living in Chicago in 1880 where Hannaniah was working as a dentist. Jane’s brother George E. Thompson (1841-1912) was a 1st Sergt. in Co. C, 16th Michigan Infantry. The couple eventually settled in Kankakee, Illinois.

See too the letters of Cyrus Marble Cummings who also served in Battery G, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery. They were transcribed and posted on Spared & Shared 22 in March 2021.

Transcription

….concluded from fourth page.

Our sleeping apartment consists of a row of bunks along each side of the building forty-eight in number, three high, and eight long, and two rows of such which is capable of holding ninety-six men. I bunk with man from Dement by the name of Asy Rice, as fine a man as ever was. There is some (and most all of them) as good boys as you ever saw. We are Company A of the 2nd Illinois Regiment of Artillery and a better drilled company does not exist in Camp Butler (I should of said Lincoln Barracks, which [is] the name of our barracks). ¹

I have seen A. Lincoln’s residence and an odd looking house it is too. ² But I must close my letter for all the boys are up and they are singing and making so much noise that I scarcely [know] what I am about.

Write soon and write all the news you can think of for it will [be] acceptable. I was a going to write to Malvina instead of you yesterday, and then I thought that I would wait a day or two. Goodbye. Give my love to all and save a part for yourself. With address you will find me H. W. Hemingway, Lincoln Barracks, Springfield, Illinois, in care of Captain F[rederick F.] Sparrestrom, 2nd Regt. Artillery

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¹ The Lincoln Barracks were constructed at Camp Butler six miles outside of Springfield. The site was idea for its high ground and level parade-drill area. It was named Camp Butler in honor of William Butler who assisted Gen. William T. Sherman in selecting the site.

² One wonders what Hannaniah meant by odd looking. My hunch is that it looked odd because of the way it had been built in phases. It was originally a one-story cottage and then went through renovations in 1846, in 1849-50, in 1853, and then in 1855 a second story was added. There were yet two more remodels in 1856 and in 1859.