The following letters from a private collection were written by Joseph King Fenno Mansfield (1803-1862)—a career army officer who was killed at the Battle of Antietam. Mansfield grew up in Middletown, Connecticut, and entered West Point when he was only 14 years old. He graduated 2nd in a class of forty in 1822. Advancement came slowly in the peacetime army and he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1832 and captain in 1838. During the Mexican–American War, he received a brevet promotion to major for the action at Fort Brown, Texas, on May 9, 1846. He was wounded in the leg at the Battle of Monterrey, and he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel for his actions there. He was appointed a brevet colonel for the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847. After the war he was promoted to colonel and Inspector General of the U.S. Army on May 28, 1853. It was while serving in this capacity when he wrote the first letter from Fort Dalles in Oregon Territory in 1858.
At the start of the Civil War, Mansfield commanded the Department of Washington (April 27 – August 17, 1861), and was promoted to brigadier general on May 6, 1861. General-in-chief Winfield Scott recommended Mansfield for command of the volunteer army being raised in Washington D.C. that spring, but the strong political influence of Treasury Secretary Chase resulted in the command going to Irvin McDowell instead. Mansfield was not considered the best choice due to his relatively advanced age (58). In the second letter, written from Fort Monroe in Virginia in November 1861, Mansfield makes it clear he felt snubbed and attributes it to his lacking political support in Washington. [See Irvin McDowell: The Most Unpopular Man in America by Michael C. Hardy]
On the morning of September 17, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam, Mansfield personally led the XII Corps into the ferocious fighting near the East Woods. Spotting the 10th Maine Regiment firing into the trees, Mansfield mistakenly believed they were hitting their own men and rode to the front line to order them to halt. Moments after the soldiers convinced him they were indeed engaging Confederate forces, Mansfield was mortally wounded in the chest by a rebel bullet. He died the following morning, becoming the oldest Union general to fall at Antietam. He was posthumously promoted to major general of volunteers for his gallant service and is buried in Middletown, Connecticut.
Both of these letters were written to William Mansfield (1829-1908), the youngest son of his brother Henry Stephen Mansfield (1786-1851). William was married in Columbia, Tuolumne county, California, to Sally Ann Burt in July 1857 where William was employed as an engineer managing water delivery to the placer and hydraulic mining operations in Tuolumne county. William died in an industrial accident in 1908.
The monument erected on the Antietam battlefield by the State of Connecticut in 1900 honoring Joseph K. F. Mansfield. This photograph was found with the two letters along with the newspaper clipping announcing its dedication.
Letter 1
Fort Dalles, Oregon Territory
24th October 1858
My dear Nephew,
Your letter of the 18th September came to my hands here on my return from Walla Walla. I am gad to hear from you. It was my intention to have written to you on my arrival in San Francisco but I left there immediately for Fort Vancouver and reached that place on the 21st September and proceeded immediately to Walla Walla. It is now impossible for me to say if I can visit you or not, nor when I shall be in San Francisco. I shall leave here on Wednesday next for Fort Vancouver and thence expect to go into Puget Sound; after which into the Willamette Valley. The season of the year is against me & I can make no calculations as to my movements precisely. I can only say I shall be glad to see you before I leave the Pacific Coast.
I was agreeably surprised to learn from you that you were married so pleasantly & had already an infant daughter. I should like much to see your wife & her friends. You must make my affectionate regards to your wife. Your brother Joseph I believe by this time has left Middletown for Slateswill [R. I.] to do better than he did in Middletown. Jared is in Boston & in the Western Railroad Depot. I suppose they all write to you occasionally.
I shall be glad to hear from you always. You can address me in San Francisco & my letters will be forwarded to me.
The weather here is quite cold at present & I hope soon to be in a warmer place. The Indian War is at an end.
I presume you will make California your home now that you are married. I must close. May God bless you & your wife & add to your lives many years of happiness.
Your affectionate Uncle, Jas. K. F. Mansfield
[to] Mr. William Mansfield, Columbia, Tuolumne county, California
Letter 2
Fort Monroe, Virginia
10 November 1861
My dear Nephew,
I have received yours of the 22nd September and was glad to get a line from you.
I am now in command of a camp here of some 5 regiments but unable to do anything of moment as yet.
Things go on not very flatteringly at Washington, yet very safely as there is no fighting, but an enormous number of troops. Something must be done soon. It is time the Potomac was opened & it must be before long. I don’t think much of the talents of our Secretary of War and General Scott’s age has kept things back for a long time. Gen. Scott & McDowell are the persons who planned the Battle of Bulls Run. I wash my hands of it entirely.
After that they sent for Gen. McClellan & he is a man of talents and will no doubt do very well. As for myself, I have never received any favor from the powers that be & although I have succeeded in all I have undertaken at Washington, yet favorites have been brought forward & I have not had my true position. Frémont has had his day & although I was entitled to his place, yet it has been withheld.
My time has not yet come but will, I trust, soon. As soon as this war will be closed, then the people will begin to think for themselves and we shall, I trust, be brought back to our common good without regard to humbugs & politicians.
They wished to send me to California & I was ordered there but it is at this time the last place I should desire, and it is too far from my home. Chance prevented that more & here I am. 1
Your friends are all well & my family still reside in Middletown.
Make my best regards to your wife & family & friends. May the Great God who knows all things & can do all things preserve you & keep you from harm & lead you in the way of life everlasting.
Your affectionate Uncle, — Jos. K. F. Mansfield
to Mr. Wm. Mansfield, Columbus, California
1 Early in 1861, the Lincoln Administration considered sending Mansfield to California to take command of the Department of the Pacific which was commanded by Brig. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, suspected of being disloyal to the Union given his strong ties to Texas. But Scott prevailed in his arguments for keeping Mansfield in the East as one of the few experienced officers he could trust. Scott sent Bull Sumner to California instead.
Spared & Shared 23 