Lt. Alfred Bergen Hutchinson of 5th N. J. Vols. (AI sketch drawn from tiny image on Ancestry.com)
These letters were written by Alfred Bergen Hutchinson (1840-1921), the son of George A. Hutchinson (1810-1885) and Ida Van Nest Bergen (1813-1851) of Trenton, Mercer county, New Jersey. Alfred enlisted on 19 August 1861 in the 5th New Jersey Infantry and was promoted through the ranks to 2nd Lieutenant of Co. D. When Alfred first enlisted, he entered in Co. E with his brother-in-law, Captain Henry Harrison Woolsey (1836-1864).
The 5th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Olden, Trenton, New Jersey, in July 1861, and was mustered in on August 22, 1861. It participated in a number of important engagements, including the Battle of Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Second Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg.
Alfred wrote all three letters to his younger sister, Sarah M. Hutchinson (1842-1897). Many more of Hutchinson’s Civil War letters can be found in the Special Collections of Chapman University. See Hutchinson & Woolsey, 1861-1888.
Letter 1
Addressed to Miss Sadie M. Hutchinson, Trenton, New Jersey
Camp near Falmouth April 14th, 1863
Dear Sister Sadie
This is a charming spring morning & I imagine I can see you all at Homedell walking about the yard, or some of you sitting in the house with windows hoisted. How I would love to be with you enjoying this splendid weather.
Last week we had a Grand Review. President Lincoln came down & reviewed several corps at the same time. I would give a great deal to have you see such a review. Although I have seen several Grand Reviews, it does not fail to awaken the ideas to the grandeur & vastness of the event. It takes hundreds of acres to give enough room for the troops. The ground is rather uneven & as far as we could see were the troops & flags—a perfect sea of men. You would hardly think there were so many men in the United States. The column passes the President by divisions front—that is, two companies abreast. In this way, regiment after regiment passes & hours are consumed or nearly a day passes & the one who reviews them is tired waiting for all to pass.
Your interesting letter came last night but I had been expecting it several days. You said you expected to hear of our moving every day. Your expectation will soon be realized for we are under marching orders. Our orders came this morning. Every officer & man are to carry eight days rations with them. What do you think of that? The men are ordered to leave nearly all their clothing with the Quartermaster & carry their rations in their knapsacks. The officers are to leave their extra clothing also & to carry their rations the best way they can.
The whole cavalry force left yesterday & also some infantry. It is expected that these forces will get in the rear of the enemy & then we will attack them in front. I hope we may be successful & capture & destroy the whole rebel force in Virginia. As we go out again, I feel the danger we must be subjected to, but God is my shield. I know if we call upon Him, He is ever ready to hear. His eye is upon us at all times, in prosperity and adversely, in security and in danger.
My chum, Lieut. Flannigan, will send on the order & his discharge & wishes father to draw his state pay & send it on by Adams Express. Put it in an envelope and direct it to Lieut. J[ohn] M. Flannigan, Co. K, 5th New Jersey Volunteers. Even if we move, the express company will keep it all safe until he calls for it. He wishes it sent without delay. Harry is well.
Now, dear sister, I must close. Give unbounded love to all the dear ones and I am as ever your own brother, — Alfred
Letter 2
[Camp near Falmouth] June 6th, 1863
Dear Sadie,
Yesterday our usual quiet was disturbed by receiving orders for a march. We packed up & the regiment formed line, then stacked arms in readiness to march at a moment’s notice. At night we received orders to take in our arms and be ready to move at daybreak in the morning. Morning came but we did not go & here we are now, waiting & not knowing what moment we will go.
Yesterday afternoon heavy cannonading was raging along the Rappahannock & our troops are crossing again. A part of the 6th Corps is over this morning. I hope & pray that we may meet with better success this time than heretofore. The crossing seems to be conducted about the same way it was last time. Part of the troops above and part below Fredericksburg. Now and then a cannon booms forth today showing that something is going on & that either one part of the other is not quite satisfied with the proceedings. I dare say we will cross in a day or so.
Hutch and Breasley were over here yesterday but they left rather abruptly upon hearing the army was on a move. When they left camp in the morning, all was quiet & their orders must have come in suddenly & must have started in a hurry for one of our men who had been over to the 6th Corps came home a little after noon & said the 6th Corps was crossing the river. Then Hutch and Breasley started in a hurry. They said their men did not want to go into another engagement & if called upon to go, threats of stacking arms were made as they think their time is out. They seem to think they will not go home before the 15th of June. Conn was well.
We were paid off a few days ago. I sent $80 home by Col. Cook, $30 to repay Marianna for that she sent to me by Harry. The $50 to be invested by father as he thinks best. Harry received encouraging news from Thirza a day or two ago. I sincerely hope she will continue to improve & if she goes out to Homedell, no doubt you all will soon be about again. I fear I will not be able to get home very soon as leaves of absence are not granted at all. However, perhaps after this move they will grant leaves again.
There is an establishment near our camp where they take Ambrotypes. Nearly all the officers of our regiment went over tis morning to get their pictures taken. I had mine taken. They are rather inferior work yet is it a pretty good picture after all, only I look so cross. A stranger would think me very ill-natured from my picture. I will send it on to you.
I received a letter from Annie V. C. yesterday. Harry is well. Before you receive this, we may be fighting desperately, or we may be in Richmond. With unbounded love to you all, I remain your loving brother, — Alfred
Letter 3
Brandy Station, Virginia January 2nd 1864
My dear sister Sadie,
Your delightful missive reached me this evening. It gave me great pleasure to hear that my loved ones at home were well and that they were all enjoying themselves to so great an extent. I think you all must have had a regular jubilee on Christmas. You certainly had presents in profusion. How I would have enjoyed being with you. I have been so very busy of late that I have hardly had time to eat or sleep. But today my most confining labors ceased. You know I am recruiting officer for Vetran volunteers. I gained fifty men & you ought to have seen the heaps of papers it took to muster these men. It seems to be absolute foolishness to make so many rolls, &c., but it had to be done & I did it. I feel richly remunerated for when I took the rolls up to the Division Headquarters today, I was highly complimented. The mustering officer said they were the most complete & neatest & best papers that had been made out in our whole division. I wrote nearly all CHristmas day but had time to partake of dinner for we had roast turkey. Almost all the officers were out of camp so Simon & I sat down and layed to & the proportions of Mr. turkey diminished perceptibly.
We live high on buckwheat cakes & sausage. We have everything necessary for our housekeeping apartment—bake iron, dutch oven, &c. Yesterday (New Years) we intended keeping open house, but we did not have satisfactory arrangements so we had New Years by ourselves until after dinner which was roast turkey again. After dinner, all the officers of our regiment excepting one, procured horses & away we went, a fine squadron of cavalry on a high horse to make calls. After dark we found ourselves in the camp of the 14th New Jersey, a full three miles from home. In every tent we visited, we were warmly received although it was utterly cold without & we were treated generously with hot punch, whiskey raw, whiskey sour, gin, brandy, cake, candy & varieties—especially of the drinking order. We had a grand old time. The fun was not in riding back to camp after midnight though. The roads were in a miserable condition, so rough that we were compelled to let our horses alk slowly the greater part of the distance & we all came near freezing. In fact, I did freeze one of my little toes.
The weather has not moderated yet for as I write, the ink freezes in the pen before it is transcribed on paper. I called on Gen. Mott the evening before he returned. He was pleasant & hospitable, more so than I ever knew him to be before. He gave me a synopsis of his visit home & all the news he possessed concerning Homedell. He had a tedious journey back, so many detentions. Col. Sewell is in New Jersey having been detailed as Superintendent of the drafting operations. I understand his headquarters are at Trenton. You must get a view of him. All of our men who reenlisted as veterans have gone home on furloughs of 35 days & we are somewhat lonesome. Six of my company have gone.
I judge from accounts reviewed that Conn is still favored with a goodly portion of your friendship, if I am forbidden to say love. He must have a lingering hope of retaining your heart yet or he would not continue his attempts. You say Ellie looks bloming this winter. How I would love to see her. Does she seem to have pensive moments at times while at our house? And you imagined she was thinking of me? Perhaps, could you look upon me at times, you might imagine the same thing & if you judged that I was with her in spirit, you would not be very far wrong. Ellie will not always be so reserved. When I come home to stay, she will change, I doubt not.
An order came out a few days ago stating that supernumerary officers could get a leave of absence of 35 days providing they would signify in writing their willingness to serve three years longer/ I think I might be called supernumerary now as I have only four men for duty, and receive the leave. But three years is too long a time to suit me to remain in Uncle Sam’s service, although 35 days at home just at this time is really a tempting bait. I will accept ten days leave in February & not bind myself further.
Sunday afternoon. I have just been re-reading your last letter & I must confess it makes me feel somewhat sober to contemplate the many pleasant times you are enjoying these holidays & here I sit missing all the fun. However, I am not cursed with a despondent or melancholy nature, than Providence, & am looking on the sunny side of events & let come what will. I’ll be gay & happy still.
It is quiet in camp today—too cold for preaching, but I have a stock of good religious papers on hand which afford a diversion of the mind from wars & rumors of wars, and besides, they are interesting, profitable, and pleasurable. So you see I am not entirely destitute. When does Harry expect to return. I hope (for his good & his wife’s) not this winter.
Sadie, will you please send me a ccatalogue of music for the pianom with the address of the firm. I want to send for some pieces to present to some of our mutual friends. It would be most desirable if you could procure one, from some firm in Philadelphia. I received a letter from Emily New Years day & took it as a precious present & the only one. In future I will be able to write oftener as the rush of business has subsided. I close by wishing you all a Happy New Year. Ever your fond brother, — Alfred
Without investing more time, I’m unable to attribute this letter to any specific family. The author was “Sam” and his wife was “Julia.” He wrote the letter from Reading—probably Massachusetts—and his mother lived far away—possibly in or near Rockford, Illinois. We know that Sam raised sheep and sold his wool to market. We also know that Sam did not share the Antislavery views of his Governor nor of the Lincoln Administration. There are other names mentioned in his letter that may be clues to the identity of his siblings.
The letter provides us with a viewpoint that was not particularly unusual among the northern population during the American Civil War. Clearly Sam would have voted for the Democratic Ticket advocating for peace on any terms—the Constitution as it was; the Union as it was. In other words, in 1864 he probably voted for George McClellan. Many began to believe that Lincoln was unequal to the task at hand. Sam most likely would have been a conscientious objector based on his religious beliefs though this did not exempt him from federal draft laws and he would have been compelled to pay for a substitute or face imprisonment.
This cartoon appeared in Harper’s Magazine in January 1863. It captures the mood of a significant segment of the northern population.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Reading [Middlesex county, Massachusetts?] March 1st 1863
Dear Mother,
How do you do? How goes the times this curious winter? We have had an open winter here without any sleighing—not one good day of sleighing yet & March is stealing upon us. We are well and trying to enjoy ourselves the best we can in this ungodly war. I call it so because the devil rules the whole thing & there is no prospect of peace as I see while Old Abe Lincoln is at the helm.
Peace is better than war anytime & in every place better in a family—better in a neighborhood. I had rather be called a coward than to fight & then be disapproved of God. If you can find any command of the Savior to fight, just write to me, the place, and do it quick. Peace is better under any circumstance whatever. Maybe you think me a Quaker & so I am in this respect. I think we are not converting the world very fast just now. We have always had peace & plenty under the old democracy & would to God we had it now.
Talk about honor—not one word of it. All they are trying to do is to build up the Abolition party & make money, and unless we stop soon we shall surely wreck on a rocky shore in a strange land. I do not know when I may be called. We hear that a law is passed to take just who they please. But most of the folks here think there will be some serious times about then. Yet we have some hope of peace.
We have picked up a few little notions to send you & you will find them at the Express Office in Rockford. Charges are all paid & you please to send us a letter with all the good news from your own family & all the rest that will entertain Sam & wife. My taxes this year were bout $13. We will have taxes enough to pay aside from three times as much to pay on all we buy. But such are the results of war.
Ellen, write won’t you? Mary C. & Henry owe us a letter & we want it too right away. I have not heard from Horatio & Edmunds in some time. If you have, please give me the news. Times are perhaps as they are with you. I am wintering about 100 sheep and hope to get a good price for wool & yet if the war would stop, I would willingly give it away. One of our neighbors was drafted & had to give $190 to get a man in his place. If a man does not want to make sure work of dying in 9 months, then he don’t want to go to war.
We have got an abolition Governor & that’s mean. I will send you a paper now and then if you would like it. I would have been glad to sent you some green apples but they would have froze. I will try and send you some in the fall if we all live so long. Express charges are high & it is not always sure to send by railroad companies. I should be glad to let you have a good many things if you lived anywhere near. Take things on th bright side & may all try to live so as to meet in the better land. Respects to all. So now good night. — Sam & Julia
The following letters were written in 1862 by 31 year-old Dr. David Williams Cheever (1831-1915), a graduate of the Harvard Medical School where he later taught [see biographical sketch]. Cheever wrote the letters while serving as a surgeon at the Judiciary Square Hospital in Washington D. C. during the summer of 1862. This hospital was sometimes called the “Washington Infirmary.” It consisted of “commodious frame buildings” erected on the square after the burning of the first infirmary in November 1861. The new buildings were opened in April 1862.
In his letters, Cheever mentions a colleague, Dr. Frank Brown—an 1861 graduate of the Harvard Medical School. Brown mentions Cheever in a 16 June 1862 letter I transcribed in 2014 (see 1862: Francis Henry Brown to Charles Francis Wyman) which reads as follows: “Yesterday while at dinner, we received orders for one or two surgeons from our hospitals to proceed immediately to a church near the station to take charge of a large number of wounded from [Gen’l James] Shield’s Division near Winchester. So Dr. [David Williams] Cheever and I hurried our two ambulances with nurses, boys, orderlies of all kinds, instruments, soup, coffee & brandy, & went full gallop for the place. We found on arrival by some negligence our orders had been delivered too late and we had to come back. The wounded had been carried to other hospitals.”
Though President Lincoln and his wife are frequently noted for their visits to various hospitals around Washington D.C. during the war, the specific account written by Cheever in his letter of 27 July 1862 is remarkable for its details on the President’s interactions with the soldiers and his impressions on both President and Mrs. Lincoln.
Dr. Cheever wrote these letters to his wife, Anna C. (Nichols) Cheever with whom he married in 1860.
Letter 1
Washington June 7th 1862
Dear Annie,
Your letter of the 4th I was very glad to get. I will answer business questions first. Please open my letters & send any of consequence only. I should like to have you call on a few of my best patients, as Robinson, Tomey, Hughes, & perhaps Smith, and say I left in great haste, but shall be back before a great while, Tell the Tomey’s, Hughes, & Smith’s that I left my business with Dr. Hodges, No. 50, Chauncey Street. All things if you feel well enough.
Please say to Mother that I have written John to send her a check for $100 which she can pay to Simpson & we can settle the balance when I come home. If she wants to communicate with Simpson, he lives No. 15 Kirkland St. leading out of Pleasant Street. But she had better wait for him to call, perhaps. If you want anything, no doubt your parents will attend to you. Please tell Mother also that if the carpet people press for pay, I will tell John to send her money to pay that also.
I had a letter from John lately. He says they are well and are going to Rockaway on the 18th. He has bought a pony and wagon for his children to ride there. Charles Emerson has left college and joined the New York 7th Regiment which is in Baltimore. So the war takes us all.
On Wednesday p.m. we had an arrival of 225 wounded, all at once, from McClellan’s army, so we had plenty to do & I was busy all the next day dressing wounds, &c. I have about 60 under my care now. Many flesh wounds—four with shattered hands, two shot through the bowels, and two through the lungs. It takes me all the morning to fix them. Besides which, as this hospital is under military law, we have in turn to be what is called Officer of the Day. This individual has to attend to the police of the house, sign passes for patients to go beyond the sentries into the town, put hose who come home after hours or drunk into the guard house, and to make two visits of inspection over the whole house & premises, kitchen, guard, &c.—one about noon and the other after 12 at night. All this besides doing medical duty. So we have enough on that day which comes ever five days.
We have an abundance of everything in way of clothing, lint, food and luxuries for the patients. They have been pouring in the last two days since the wounded came. We have now in the hospital 544 patients. With all these goodies come a host of sympathetic females who want to see and administer to the patriots—many from sympathy, many from curiosity—all kinds, good, strong, strong-minded, & impudent, from Miss Dix down. There are many excellent people. Many also who cannot understand that visitors to a hospital must be restricted to a certain hours—that sick men must have time to eat and sleep and be private sometimes, & not be a menagerie of curious & admirable wonders. The amount of flowers that are daily poured into the building is something astonishing. The wards are constantly fresh with garlands & bouquets of exquisite roses &c.
In all this, people’s feelings are to be appreciated, but it is sometimes overdone. The evening my wounded came into the ward, on looking round I saw a group of men and women giving them lemonade &c. They had got by the guard somehow, and on my asking if they had any friends among them, a young lady—an ethereal creature—replied, “We are all friends!!” in the most benignant manner. I told her I was about to have those men undressed & dress their wounds & perhaps she had better retire, which she did after having bid them all good night.
A good story is told of the wounded in New York. “What shall I do for you my brave man?” said a sympathizing female to one of the soldiers. “I need nothing, madam!” “But do let me do something. Shall I not bathe your brow?” “If you desire to very much, madam, but if you do, you will be the fourteenth woman who has done it before today.”
We have many interesting cases here of sickness and injury—some deaths. The hospital is a good one. Well ventilated and spacious. We have no other news to tell you. The weather now is delightful. I am glad you and the baby are so flourishing. Take good care of yourself. I expect the garden will present a curious appearance by the time I get home. Has the grass come up? or many flower seeds?
Write soon and remember me to Mother. Say that I have so much to do I cannot write to more than one. With much love, your husband, — D. W. Cheever
Letter 2
Washington June 16, 1862
My dear love,
Your letters of the 11th and 13th are received. I am very much obliged to you for them both. I have delayed one day in replying, both because I have been very busy, and because I wished to give the question about my returning a mature consideration. This I have done & have come to the conclusion to stay here. Such advantages as I now have are unequaled elsewhere and I consider it worth the sacrifice of a new family to remain & improve them. I know that you are well willing to endure my absence, and as long as things go on well with you and remain advantageous here, I shall stay up to a certain time. You may, therefore, say to the gentleman that I feel it my duty to stay here just now, and cannot limit myself to return on the 1st of July, though it is not improbable that I may be back early in that month. I am very sorry & have thought a good deal of it, but it is decided now. Don’t tell Mother.
The government is making vast preparations for wounded from the expected battle of Richmond. Yet is may not come. If things become uninteresting, I may be back in two or three weeks after all. I shall not stay after the 1st of August.
On Saturday, you will be glad to learn I did my first operation. It was tying the carotid artery which is ranked among the capital or more important operations, as those are called, who success or failure involves life. I got along very well for a first time and the result promises to be successful. The case was that is a man shot through the neck and face in whom bleeding came on & could be checked in no other way. Two days before, Dr. Page tied the axillary & yesterday one of the other gentlemen amputated and arm, all for secondary hemorrhage., which comes on sometimes when the wound begins to slough.
We work hard. Fortunately a cool day has made us all feel better today. It was very hot Saturday and Saturday evening. To give you some idea of how we are kept moving, I will give you my experience from Friday night to Sunday night.
Friday night at 12, I was called to check the bleeding of this man which I did for the time. Saturday I was called by my boy at 6.30 as I have done every morning, & in order to get through my work, I make my medical visit to a medical ward before breakfast, and my surgical dressing visit in the forenoon. While at breakfast I was called again to my bleeding friend, when we tied the carotid. Then I had to make my surgical visit and dressing to 40, which with the amount of suppuration & heat going on is pretty laborious. I was Officer of the Day also and had to sign papers and all passes for the men who wanted to go out, visit the whole house, and inspect every scullery, ward, water closet & settle rows with the cooks, put the drunks &c. in the guard house, write up a hospital record of my cases, make an evening visit to my wards & wind up the day by making the grand rounds through every room, all round outside, to the guard, &c. after 12 at night.
It was a hot, but moonlight night, & going along to one place, I found the sentinel asleep & succeeded in taking his musket away unperceived & carried it off which is regarded as a great feat. I had another sentinel posted & the sleeper locked up & then went to bed. I was very sorry for the poor devil, but it was my duty to do it. He will be punished somehow. Our guard is growing slack and we are going to have a new one.
Sunday morning at 6.30 again, [worked] hard until near 12 at noon when the weekly General Inspection come, and all the officers go round together, following the head one and inspect and poke out corners and behind beds and blow up and find all the fault necessary. The hospital looks nice Sunday, I assure you, and indeed every day. It is scrubbed and mopped daily. The only difficulty is in getting clothes enough & washed fast enough to change 500 men often enough as many are wounded, &c. The way we use up bandages and supplies would astonish you. 500 loaves of bread, a keg of butter, and a barrel or 30 dozen of eggs every day, and other things in proportion. We have an abundance.
Sunday I was late at dinner because I was called off to do something in the ward. At dinner came an order to send a medical officer with nurses &c., to dress 300 wounded in a church, just arrived. I was sent with Dr. Brown as assistant, but on getting there found only five who had not been removed to other hospitals. Those five I took here and had three in my ward to attend to that evening. Then I went to bed.
Now I am going out for a little walk—first time for two days. I am very well. Love to mother. Yours affectionately, — D. W. C.
Letter 3
Washington June 19, 1862
My dear little wife,
Here we are again, “Officer of the Day” and it is so hard to keep awake until 12 when one is tired that I am going to try the expedient of writing to you. Your welcome letter with the photography came duly to hand. I think one very good and have it pinned up over my table in my chamber. I am very glad to have even this memento of you to look at. I assure you, it is very pleasant to see when one is tired. It makes me feel very easy that you take my absence so bravely & that you are really getting along so smoothly. I trust you will continue to do so while I stay here.
I had a very pleasant letter from your brother Richard offering me any services in his power. I have answered it and also written to Demy [?] about the class supper. I don’t know of any other business that needs attending to now. Please keep me informed of how much I lose in calls, &c. and do not economize but make yourself comfortable.
I was going to tell you in my last of my experience in going to a church after wounded. We received orders to send an efficient medical officer at once with nurses, dressings, &c. to the church to take care of wounded. Dr. Page sent me with Dr. Brown as assistant, and three nurses, surgical fixings, a pail of soup, and one of coffee, &c. in an ambulance. As I have already told you, we found all had been removed but five, but we had a very ludicrous time removing them. We found a crowd extending out into the middle of the street composed mainly of ladies. Two of the patients were very sick. One laid out in front of the altar, one sitting up, and the next laid out on boards & mattresses laid over the tops of the pews. The persistence and wrath of that crowd against their being moved anywhere were astonishing. They wanted them kept there and to stay there & nurse them. All sorts of messes were around, including a huge saucepan with about a gallon of gruel. Wine and brandy were being poured into the sick in great profusion and the soldier who was sitting up with a ball through his arm began to feel so set up that he said he guessed he was well off where he was, and he would stay there.
I had two ambulances, stretchers, and a guard of six men with corporal. Those best off I put in the ambulance and had the two sickest carried up all the way by hand on the stretchers by the guard. The ladies besought me to leave them there for them to nurse all night, but finally yielded to my obedience to my orders, which told me to take all there were left to the hospital. All sorts of luxuries were forced upon the sick ones. Someone shoved a bed pan into our ambulance just as it started and one old lady tried to force upon me a bottle of lemon syrup with a rag stopper. However, off they went at last. I had to stay to see if any more were coming & detailed Dr. Brown to go up with the men on stretchers. Poor Brown! he had a sweet procession of citizens up through the streets of a Sunday afternoon following the cortege.
I stayed there two mortal hours & I answered about 500 questions in that time. There is no doubt these people were very kind & the soldiers have been shamefully neglected somehow. They arrived the evening before by railroad from Shields’ Division & no news of their coming being known, had to stay in the cars all night, or go into the church. All were fed by the citizens and many taken into private houses for the night. You have seen perhaps that the surgeon in charge of them has been dismissed from the service for alleged neglect. It is hard to say whose fault is was.
Congratulate me that I did a grand operation yesterday of amputation at the shoulder joint. It came out well & is thought one of the bigger operations—much more than a common amputation of arm or leg. I had the whole surgical staff to assist and a big fuss generally. There was no alternative for the man but amputation or death—gangrene having extended to within 6 inches of the shoulder.
Today Dr. Brown had a hemorrhage & may tie a big artery soon. So we go. We have received orders to hold all our convalescents & lighter cases ready to send away at any time to make room for others.
Love to all. Yours, — D. W. C.
Letter 4
Washington June 23, 1862
My very dear wife,
Your last letter is received. I was very sorry to learn that you were so disappointed about my staying longer away. Do not be unhappy; I know you will try not to. The time will soon pass when I shall be home again, and I trust we can have a very happy winter if we get things straightened out about a nurse, &c. The baby will have forgot what little he remembers of me ere long. He must change fast also. You have not told me whether he had much trouble in getting his two teeth. You must write all about little affairs which interest me in absence. I am very glad to know that Mother is so comfortably settled & likes her house. It will be very nice for next winter. Even Aunt Elizabeth too is becoming reconciled to it. Do you hear anything of Edwin? I am sure I would not ask.
Take much love, my darling, from me and be very sure I shall be happy with you once more, by and bye. Only think, next week is the 1st of July.
Meanwhile I feel that I am seeing and learning a great deal here. The surgical experience is larger than I could get in any other way. I have some interesting medical cases also, though those are chiefly typhoid, debility, & rheumatism. Nothing particularly new has occurred to me since I last wrote. I have another arm in prospect to operate on in a few days, and some smaller operations. Today we had a ligature of the subclavian artery by Dr. Brown, very well done. And tomorrow he amputates a leg. There are another arm and leg waiting for other gentlemen so you see we have enough to see and do.
We are getting thinned out somewhat now and have been ordered to have all convalescents ready to be sent away at any moment so that we can accommodate at a few hours notice some 300 new patients. As a specimen of the great preparations government is making in expectation of a great battle, the Surgeon General has just informed the Secretary of War that he has ready then thousand of beds in regular & temporary hospitals. They say government will take all the Washington churches.
This great battle may end in a retreat of the Rebels instead of a fight. A few weeks must decide it. They say McClellan is now reinforced by McDowell and others with 50,000 men. The issue cannot run on far into July without a result of some sort.
We see very little of Washington outside of the Hospital. It is the dirtiest place you ever saw. And walking out one of those very mild, delicious summer evenings they have here is changed from a pleasure to a pain by the constant succession of smells at every step. There is no drainage or scavenger departments, and hogs run about under the arches of the Capitol. The air is somewhat miasmatous, and all take precautionary doses of quinine every few days to keep off the chills & fever. We are all very well.
I forgot to tell you that I went to see the Navy Yard the other day. It is particularly interesting in the manufacture of shot, shell, balls and finishing of cannon &c. We saw many big cannons and mortars, like those used on the Mississippi & at New Orleans. We saw 150 pounders swinging round in the air in great cranes as easily as a feather, and noiseless machinery slowly boring and rifling them. We saw a machine which presses musket balls out of cold lead at the rate of some 60,000 a day, and also a like one for Minié balls. Hot shot and shell were being poured out of molten iron into moulds by the hundreds together. Here you realize something of the gigantic scale on which war is now conducted and with what missiles.
The weather here is comfortable. We live well but the cooking is not extra. We have just had a great tin can made to make beef tea in by the gallon—a great things for the patients. Write soon. Give love to all and tell Mother she must read all my letters even if she does not receive any.
Yours very affectionately, — D. W. Cheever
Letter 5
Washington Sunday evening, June 29, 1862
My very dear wife,
Your letters are all received and I have been trying several days to answer them, but have really had not a moment when I did not feel too tired out to write. You may excuse me when you learn that we are temporarily very short handed of surgeons—one having been sent with McClellan’s army and the other, Dr. Brown, having gone to Boston for a week’s furlough to see his wife who is sick. So we have only four to do the work of six, and besides, have to be Officer of the Day every three days. As usual, I take the biggest slice of work, having 5 wards to carry on instead of two, but I have made two amputations out of this little dodge, one of which—an arm—I did yesterday, and the other—a leg—I took off this afternoon. Both are doing well. I may say I lamed them by the work I have done. Within the last fortnight I have taken off a finger, removed three of the bones of the foot, tied the carotid, and done three amputations, one shoulder joint, one arm, and one leg—4 capital operating & 2 or 3 minor ones.
Within the same space of time, other gentlemen here have done 4 amputations, tied two large arteries, and removed sundry fragments of bone, making in all in this hospital 7 amputations and three large arteries, besides lesser operations in two weeks. At all of these I have assisted so you see we have had lively work with surgery, besides receiving 50 new patients who were sick.
Dr. Alfred Haven did his first operation—amputating a leg—three days ago and got along very well. The big boys have got in the way of coming down to criticize the youthful operators, and yesterday I had a distinguished audience composed of the Medical Director of this District, the Medical Inspector, and other dignitaries. One of our number, the next day after his operation was witnessed, was ordered to take charge of another hospital, and yesterday the same compliment was paid to me. But I am very glad that Mr. Page got me kept here where I had much rather stay, for the officer in charge of a Military Hospital has a very laborious time with official and executive duties & less chance & time to practice himself.
Calvin Gates Page, Harvard Class of 1852 (from the 1922 Yearbook).
Dr. [Calvin Gates] Page 1 sends his compliments to you and says that I am not going back until the war is over, or he will put me in the guard house, wives and babies to the contrary notwithstanding (he having heard of the expected event from Mrs. Page). Never fear but I shall be back in August. I thank you very much, darling, for writing so as to make me feel very easy about home. You are a true wife and my little love comme toujours [as ever]. I shall be only too happy to see you again. And I send home your photography with great regret & a protect that I have another at once for I shall miss it very much.
I have had a letter from Aunt Elizabeth today who is tolerable. She wants you to visit her and says everything is ready, &c. I would try to go for a few days if possible & you feel well enough. Also, I advise you by all means to go to New Bedford if you are confident of bearing the journey well, and if it will amuse you. It is steady hot here but I am very well. I am delighted to hear about Mother and Edwin. I have written to her. You must have a funny garden going on. Tell Rauffer not to set you on fire the 4th of July. I have no doubt the baby is very fine now.
We hear tonight of a considerable battle before Richmond which must bring on a general engagement in a few days or end in a retreat. We had two come in today wounded in the skirmish of Thursday. We hear of Dr. Crehove [?] that he has done extremely well and that his officers, he having been displaced by the return of Dr. Revere, were so anxious to keep him that they got him made their chaplain, or really a medical assistant, I suppose, under that name and rank.
Be very careful not to hurt yourself if you go away, and if you anticipate a fatiguing trip to Saugus, do not go. Think how dreadful that would be. With much love to all & the most to you, I remain your affectionate husband, — David W. Cheever
P. S. In the Boston Med. & Surgical Journal for Thursday last (June 26th) is published a letter I wrote Dr. Dale about the hospital. 2 It is published nearly opposite the Adams House. Your brother might get it for you.
1 Calvin Gates Page, Sr. (1829-1869) was a practicing physician in Boston when the Civil War began. He was married to Susan Haskell Keep (1830-1895) and was the father of three children at the time he offered his services as a surgeon at the Judiciary Square Hospital. In August 1862, he was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon in the 39th Massachusetts Infantry and served until mid-November 1863.
2The letter appears below:
Letter 6
Washington July 3rd 1862
My darling love,
Your letter has been received & I believe answered, and tomorrow I look for another. As usual I take the night of being Officer of the Day to write you. Many of our patients being convalescent now, we have not so much to do. Nor have we had any operations since I wrote. One of the gentlemen, however, expects to amputate tomorrow. Dr. Brown, I hope, saw you in Boston. He was to call Tuesday afternoon & will bring me news of you tomorrow or next day. I asked him to call on you.
One of our number who went to the Peninsula returned so we are not so short-handed. Meanwhile, however, Dr. [Calvin] Page has been sent off to the army before Richmond on Tuesday night at an hour’s notice. He wanted me to go with him and tried to have me & I would have given a good deal to be there now, but it was refused on the ground that it would not do to weaken the hospital staff anymore & that I should soon be needed & have more than I could do here. So I was ordered to stay and shall endeavor to do my duty.
We expect to have our hospital cleared of convalescents & to take in at least 300 wounded by and bye. We have now some vacant beds & shall probably receive 50 wounded tomorrow or next day. 1,000 are expected daily.
Dr. [Alfred] Haven, having been the longest in the hospital, was left in charge in Dr. Page’s absence, and in an office requiring no little labor, anxiety & fuss, I am thankful I have not got it. Things go on very well so far. Dr. Page has gone down in the nick of time & will probably find plenty to do. We hope he may be back in a fortnight but cannot tell.
Apropos of having appointment the other day, the morning he was put in charge, we were at the Surgeon General’s Office where we saw the immortal Cole of Boston, bigger than life, and surveying the Great Officials like a Prince. He asked Dr. Haven where he was, and learning of his new appointment, said at once, “Oh yes! We heard of that in Boston, and were much pleased.” “But,” said Dr. Haven, “I was only appointed last evening.” “Well,” replied the never-failing Cole, “Some friend must have telegraphed it then!” Query? When? to Boston and back to Cole in Washington?
Everything is in such an uncertain state about the war, and the air is so full of rumors that it is hard to get at the truth. But everybody fears—and indeed, I am afraid it is too true—that McClellan’s army has sustained a great reverse. It is certain that there have been four days severe fighting, on Thursday, Friday, Monday & Tuesday (yesterday) and that the slaughter has been great on both sides. The killed and wounded cannot but be numbered by thousands & the Great Army has fallen back 10 or 12 miles. How many of these poor devils have been left on the field in the enemies hands we cannot tell.
Dr. Edward Perry Vollum (1827-1902), Medical Inspector in McClellan’s Army of the Potomac during the Peninsula Campaign. McClellan told him just prior to the Seven Days Battles that he could “go into Richmond any day he chose.”
Dr. [Edward Perry] Vollum, the Medical Inspector of McClellan’s army, who had just come from the war and went back Tuesday night taking Page, said, “You will have hot & bloody work and no sleep, night or day.” Through the same source I learn that McClellan told Vollum last week before these battles, & he told us (only one remove, you see), that he—McClellan—could go into Richmond any day he chose. Is it not strange—war is very uncertain. This will prolong it I fear another year, and then comes up the old trouble of [foreign] intervention. So the President’s call for 300,000 more men looks the same way. Yet this evening there are brighter rumors about McClellan’s having gained a victory yesterday. We must wait events. Meanwhile, keep well and contented as you can & wait for your loving husband, — D. W. Cheever
Letter 7
Washington July 10, 1862
My own sweet love,
I do not know that I have anything to say to you this evening except to tell you how much I love you and long to see you. Poor little darling, how lonely you must be sometimes. Wait. Time will soon pass away and then you will have me once more. I miss your photograph very much & think it a pity you took it away before I came home. I believe it is six weeks tomorrow since I left you, walking down Fourth Street. Does it seem longer?
Today we have cool weather after great heat. Most of my 60 officers have got furloughs to go home and have left the hospital so I am waiting for another filling up. Besides, I have given one of my wards to Dr. Brown so that I retain only my original two wards. All this gives me more time. We are kept trotting trying to get our pay. I have been three times and am going again tomorrow. When I get it, I shall send you some.
I sent today a little package by Adam’s Express to you which you may think to be jewelry, but which contains morbid specimens which I wish to keep safe. Please open the cover and see if the little bottles are all right. If not, the contents are to be put in a bottle of alcohol and water half and half. The box also contains dry bones which are safe enough.
I am going to endeavor to make inquiries about Adj. Merriam tomorrow; I have been unable to before. I was sent today to see a sick Rebel prisoner in a private house amid secesh sympathizers. He was quite a good looking fellow but kept very mum.
Tomorrow I expect to have an important operation. Dr. Brown also has one.
My little darling, I am glad you get along so bravely and that people take care of you. I hope you have regular meals & eat enough and that everything goes on quietly in housekeeping & you have no worries or alarms. My own love, take care of yourself for my sake, for you must always love me as I do you, my dear wife. Do not fear our being happy in each other once more. For I love you now then times more than two years ago. You are part of me & my life. Kiss me good night, my dearest love, and dream of me till you have me once ore. — D. W. C.
P. S. Remembrance to all hands.
Letter 8
Washington July 19, 1862
My darling,
Your last dear letter is received. I am afraid I have delayed writing a day or two longer than usual this time but you must forgive me. I am very glad to learn that you continue to throve with the baby. John writes me hoping you may be able to meet them in Saugus. I hope you will not undertake it, for I think it too great a risk to run. I hope you or Mother may have a little visit from Annie.
I am sorry the time has seemed so long to you since I have been away. I too begin to wish for hime and you. And it will be but a very short time now, ere I shall be with you once more. Then I trust we shall have a while of quiet time together. Home will seem very luxurious, I expect.
I have comparatively light work now. So many of our wounded fell into the enemies hands that we exceed in accommodations what we need. Washington is said to have 2,000 spare beds now in its 17 hospitals. We are not full and we have more lightly sick than wounded. Yet something turns up occasionally. Dr. Page amputated an arm on Thursday & yesterday I took off a leg. I do not see prospect of more wounded just now, which is perhaps as well for me as I am coming home.
I have done a pretty good share of work since I have ben here—perhaps my share for this season. Good night my dove. Excuse more, I am so sleepy. Believe always in my passionate love for my dear little wife whom I will soon kiss. Love to all. — David W. Cheever
Letter 9
Washington Tuesday evening, July 22, 1862
My very dear wife,
Your letter of Sunday is received. Fear not that anything will detain me beyond the early part of August. I must wait here long enough to make out my two months so as to draw my second month’s pay. This will end the 2nd of August & I shall then come straight home. This will be in about ten days. Meanwhile, take specially good care of yourself and let me hear often from you. I begin to feel a little anxious to get home to you myself, and with you shall count the days. I shall be very glad to get somewhere where it is not quite so hot, and to have the luxuries of civilized life.
We have comparatively little going on here now though I had to amputate an arm at a few minute’s notice yesterday morning. We learn now, however, that all our wounded in the rebels’ hands are to be given up and forwarded to various hospitals. There must be several thousand of them and I should not be surprised if we were to be filled up with them in the course of a fortnight. This will not affect my course, however. I have today sent my resignation to the Surgeon General to take effect on the 1st of August. I am inclined to think that the rebels have grown more humane or more politic in their treatment of prisoners & wounded. I enclose the Congressional Report of the Atrocities committed at Manassas. These I do not doubt because I have conversed with intelligent people present in that battle & on the field afterwards who represent things quite as bad as the report does.
Congress has at last adjourned and we are freed from a very disagreeable set of visitors. Washington continues as dirty and as uninteresting as ever. Last Sunday afternoon I took a walk over Long Bridge into Virginia. It is a forlorn looking structure about a mile long, partly old and made of earth and bricks, and partly wood and modern. It is none too wide for two carriages to pass each other, and you may judge how it may be adapted for the passage of an army. That part of Washington, the bridge, and the Virginia shore near it, are all poor and wretched and desolate. And it seems strange that so contemptible a locality should have riveted the attention of 20 millions in intelligent people so long, or that so much of money & life should be thrown away to reclaim such a country.
The Long Bridge from the Virginia shoreline; US Capitol at far right. Ca. 1863
From the bridge the view is full of historical objects—Arlington house, Arlington Heights, Forts Albany & Corcoran, and various camps shining far off on the hillsides. Part of the 14th Massachusetts were on guard at the bridge. From here there was also a fine view of Washington, and one could judge what an opportunity the rebels had of contemplating the White House, the Capitol, &c. when they occupied the opposite shores. In the center rises above all the unfinished Washington Monument—a sad example of the incompleteness of the National structure begun by Washington.
There is nothing else new. I hope Mother and John & Annie may be together in Saugus next Sunday. Before long I shall see my dear little wife and baby again. Till then, wait as quietly as you can, my dear love. I hope that we shall have a happy & quiet winter, unaffected by things outside. With love to all. I remain affectionately your husband, — D. W. Cheever
Letter 10
Washington Sunday evening, July 27, 1862
My own love,
As I am Officer of the Day, you will expect the usual letter. I hope to get one from you tomorrow.
Drs. [Alfred] Haven and [Frank] Brown were suddenly ordered to the Peninsula yesterday to take down a party of nurses. We hope they will be back in a few days so we have a little more to do again.
Newspaper drawing depicting Lincoln’s visit to the Depot Field Hospital near City Point, Va. (Courtesy New York State Library)
Yesterday we had a visit from the President & wife. 1 They came in very quietly, dressed in mourning, & the President went round & shook hands with each of the 400 patients. Quite a job. 2
Mrs. L[incoln] is quite an inferior appearing person. The President is tall & ungainly & awkward. His face, however, shows extreme kindness, & honesty, & shrewdness. He went round with great perseverance, & seemed to like to do it, though it must be a tremendous bore. His wife says he will do it at all the hospitals. There are some things comical about him but he has proved himself so far above his party & the time in firmness, honor & conservatism that I do not wish to say a word against him. They had a very plain carriage & attendants.
Today we had preaching in the hospital in the afternoon, which went off pretty well. There are many rumors about Jackson’s being at Gordonsville with a large force, & being about to make a demonstration on Washington. It would not be surprising if they did.
My little dove, do you want to see me? I hope you will have me next Sunday. What will you do? Don’t get too excited & get into mischief. I will try to write again. Yours with everlasting love, — D. W. Cheever
2The hospitals were sometimes part of the afternoon rides taken by Mr. & Mrs. Lincoln. One observer noted: “Mr. Lincoln’s manner was full of the geniality and kindness of his nature. Wherever he saw a soldier who looked sad and ‘down-hearted,’ he would take him by the hand and speak words of encouragement and hope. The poor fellows’ faces would lighten up with pleasure when he addressed them, and he scattered blessings and improved cheerfulness wherever he went.” [Source: Charles Bracelen Flood, 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History, p. 101.]
This letter was written by John M. Thornton (1838-1917), the orphaned son of Charles Thornton (1790-1856) and Frinda Severance (1801-1849). He wrote the letter to his sister, Elizabeth Olivia (Thornton) Davis (1834-1876), the wife of Henry Lafayette Davis (1826-1900). In 1860, when he was 22, he was enumerated in the household of James Harper of Poultney, Rutland county, Vermont, where he was employed as a farm hand.
John would have been 23 when he enlisted in the late summer of 1861 to serve in Co. I, 5th Vermont Infantry.
When John was 78 years old, he “committed suicide by hanging himself with a rope in the barn at the home of Mrs. J. N. Thomas in Forestdale where he boarded.” He was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery in Brandon, Vt.
The 5th Vermont was brigaded with other Vermont Regiments in the “Vermont Brigade” and made their camp near Lewinsville, Virginia, late in 1861. They spent the winter in canvas tents. (Vermont Historical Society)
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Camp Griffin camp near Lewinsville south of chain bridge 3 miles November 28, 1861
Dear Sister,
I thought that I would write and let you know that I am not quite as well as usual. We are a great many of us sick here. They die off pretty fast. There has seventeen died out of this regiment.
We had a Grand Review the seventeenth [should be 20th] of this month. There was between eighty and a hundred thousand men here that day. We saw McClellan and Uncle Abe was there with his body guards with him. One of them fell off from his horse but he was not hurt much. They was saluted from all directions by the soldiers. Uncle Abe rode with his hat in hand. The Prince of Paris [Prince de Joinville of France] was here that day. He had the most splendid horse that I ever saw. He [the horse] was a very prompett [?] fellow. He was milk white. He had black eyes. He was an easy traveler and the Prince was an easy rider.
The Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac was held at Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, in eastern Fairfax County on 20 November 1861. Among those in attendance was President Abraham Lincoln. (Harper’s Weekly)
We stayed there most of the day, then we came home. We were pretty tired. The next day we went out on a scouting and traveled five miles farther but we did not see anything of them. We stayed there till most night, then we came home again. We saw lots of brush tents that the rebels had encamped in. There was loose straw that had been stored to dry which they had been drove from their brush houses which was too bad cause the weather was not cold enough to freeze them to death.
You must give my respects to [ ]. This likeness was taken in cloudy day and it don’t look very well for that reason. I have sent some money to the Bank of Rutland, I received a letter from [brother] Francis and he sends me a paper every week. I received your letter from Henry [Davis] all safe.
We have not moved yet and the weather is pretty cold here now [to be] in cloth tents. We are holding Thanksgiving here today but we have no turkeys. Write as soon as you get this. From your affectionate brother, — J. M. Thornton
The following declaration was made years after the war by Brutus Junius Clay (1808-1878) who represented Kentucky in the 39th Congress from March 1863 to March 1865. He was the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture so naturally had reason to be concerned about the Cotton growing industry. In this statement, Clay “makes oath” that in January or February 1864, he went with Col. Robertson Topp (1807-1876), a Memphis lawyer, who made huge investments in real estate and agricultural ventures prior to the secession of Tennessee and naturally lost heavily as a result of the war. Clay claims that it was Col. Topp who convinced Lincoln to change his Administration’s policy on the sale of cotton early in 1864.
Historian Gabor Boritt argued: “The good Whig Lincoln saw commerce as a glue that bound the Union together. Throughout the war he showed much more leniency toward trade across hostile lines than did Congress, not to mention the military. Immediately after the firing on Sumter.” According to Boritt, “As Lincoln shifted the tactics of his peace work in 1863, cotton came to play an increasing role in his thinking. He tried to be careful, recognizing inherent dangers in his policy, fearing an atmosphere where ‘profit controls all,’ even the army. Nonetheless by early 1864 he prepared a careful program with the aid of Chase, and others, that invited Southern planters, for three years unable to freely market their cotton, to take the oath of allegiance and sell their product to government agents for twenty-five percent of its market value. They were to receive the rest of their purchase price after the war, provided they had remained loyal to the United States.” [Source: Gabor Boritt, Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream, pp. 243-244]
The document resides in Burrow Library in Memphis.
Transcription
[Brutus Junius] Clay, a citizen of Kentucky, makes oath that whilst he was a member Congress in January or February 1864, he went with Col. Robertson Topp of Tennessee to introduce Col. Topp to the President. Col. Topp’s object was to get from the President permission for the owners of ten or fifteen boats then lying up the Red River to come out of that river and engage in trade without being liable to seizure or confiscation. Also to be permitted to load those boats with cotton and bring that out to market.
These propositions from Col. Topp lead to a lengthy and intensely interesting conversation between the President and Col Topp, occupying two hours or more. The President detailed at length the reasons and views entertained by himself and cabinet, especially with regard to the policy then pursued in reference to cotton. Col. Topp in reply stated that the war had cut off the usual article of export—cotton, [and] that gold was being exported in the place of cotton. That if that character of trade, shipping specie to pay for imports was permitted [ ] for a considerable time, its effect would be seen in disastrous [ ], financially and commercially. He stated that if cotton was let in, each bale of cotton would be a sterling bill of exchange for its [ ] value in Liverpool, and to that extent, serve to prevent the export of specie, and in addition, serve the great manufacturing establishments which would be compelled to import cotton or cease operations.
After Col. Topp finished with his views, which seemed to strike the President with great force, I remember that the President after he had walked the floor for some ten or fifteen minutes absorbed in contemplation, turned around and addressed Col. Topp, saying, “The views you have presented are striking and forcible. They are very different from those entertained by a majority of my cabinet. I am not prepared to say they are not the right views. On the contrary, they strike me as correct.
I had thought we were done with there cotton questions in our cabinet consultations. You make me change my determination. I will bring them up again.”
I remember as we were about leaving, Mr. Lincoln asked Col. Topp if he was acquainted with Chase. Upon being informed that he was, he said to him, “Do me the favor to call and see him in the morning and present to him the views you have presented tonight. Chase understands these matters.”
I remember of being informed by Col. Topp that he had called on Mr. Chase as requested, and that he reported Mr. Chase as having said how concerned in all that Col. Topp urged, and that if he had the power, he would give him authority to bring out every boat in the [ ] states.
After this the policy of giving out permits and searching out purchasing agents was adopted. I have always thought they resulted from the forcible views presented by Col. Topp. Col. O. H. Burbridge of Kentucky was present at that conversation and one or two others whose names I have forgotten.
The following letter was written by Brig. General Thomas Howard Ruger (1833-1907). In 1854 he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and then embarked on a long and distinguished career in the military. After a brief commission with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ruger practiced law in Janesville, Wisconsin. In June 1861, he was assigned as lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Wisconsin Regiment, he rose to the rank of brigadier general, commanded a contingent in the Rappahannock maneuvers, and aided in the containment of the 1863 New York draft uprising. On November 30, 1864, he was promoted to major general for his admirable service in the Battle of Franklin. After serving as colonel of the 33rd Infantry in the U.S. Army, Ruger again was commended for his courageous service in the Battle of Gettysburg and was commissioned a brigadier general. On January 17, 1868, Major General George W. Meade, commander of the 3rd Military District, forced Governor Charles J. Jenkins out of office. Meade then appointed Ruger to serve as Governor of Georgia, a position he held until June 28, 1868. The following year, Ruger was appointed to supervise a board of U.S. officers in Atlanta, examining the qualifications of select members of the Georgia Legislature. From 1871 to 1876, he served as the superindent of the U.S. Military Academy, and was the commander of the Department of the South and West, serving until 1885. Two years after being promoted to major general, Ruger retired from active military duty. Governor Thomas H. Ruger died on June 3, 1907.
This letter to his wife was penned a couple of weeks after the Battle of Antietam and after having been introduced to President Lincoln who visited the battlefield afterward. Ruger’s impression of the President was not exactly favorable though he postulated correctly that history would be a better judge of the man. “Exact justice of opinion will be more surely found among thinking, candid men after the present condition of things has passed away and the results are seen,” he wrote.
Transcription
Camp near Maryland Heights, Maryland October 3d 1862
My darling wife,
I did not get the expected letter from you today but hope for one tomorrow. I have not had one for several days. You know I look for a letter every two or three days. You have so much time that you can write often.
The weather has been very pleasant for the past few days but I expect we shall have rain before long. The fall campaign the papers talk so much about and which I think will be made unless made very soon and quickly ended, will be made during the fall rains, of the beauties of which from what you saw last winter you can form a pretty good opinion. There may and probably will be considerable pleasant weather yet. If we are on active duty during the winter, there will necessarily be much suffering, however successful we may be. I am willing to undergo the privations of a campaign if at last I return safely to my darling little wifey, but it would be very pleasant to pass this fine fall weather with you and little Patey. I hope another fall will find us nicely situated without any war or rumors of war to disturb the quiet enjoyment of our home life.
You little sweetie. I often think of the pleasure of being once more with you for good and all, and hope I shall be before many months. I see no way of ending this war but to fight it out, and for me but to do my duty hoping to be brought safely through it to enjoy the society of my wifey all the more for the long separation.
All is quiet now, but how long the quiet will continue, I cannot even conjecture. The speculation of the papers are of no account. There are but two or three probable courses for us to take but which of them will be chosen, I can’t tell. Of course I have my views on the subject of what is or appears to be the best plan.
How is my wifey this fall? Do you dread the cold weather the coming winter as usual. I would like it very much if you could be with me this winter but that will not be possible if we are actively engaged in campaign. You must pass away the time in writing ever so many letters to me. Since we have been here and I have got pretty well rested, the comparative quiet after so long time of continued activity gives me more time to think or perhaps I should say more thoughts come of things not connected with immediate duties, and you may be sure you are in my thoughts many times a day. Today I have been pretty well engaged writing, getting things in shape after the long time when even necessary writing could not be done. I see that there seems little prospect of the draft being made in Wisconsin to fill up the old regiments. It seems as if we never will learn wisdom. It is of much greater importance to fill up the old regiments than to raise so many new ones. Every officer who has given his opinion, everyone whose opinion is worth much, has decided in favor of the policy of filling up the old regiments, but still it is not done. The new regiments are composed of good material but the officers are for the most part deficient in military knowledge. It would not be a matter of so much importance if there was plenty of time as last year for bringing the new troops into a state of efficiency.
You will find people who say that they don’t need it and a great deal more such twaddle, but it would be a hard matter to convince anyone who had had opportunity for seeing the thing tested, that raw troops are as good as drilled & disciplined troops. No one but an ignorant person on that subject at least would suppose so. There are plenty of men, however, who claim to be intelligent who contend for that and many other about as absurd things in this war.
I sent you two hundred and fifty dollars by Express. You will doubtless have received it before this reaches you. If not, ask your father to enquire at the Express Office. How do matters go on at home? About as usual I suppose. For yourself attending to the usual daily duties and cares, visiting some returning calls, going down to the store, talking over matters with your mother and Hattie, talking a great deal to Patey and watching her girlish pranks, thinking a great deal about Howard, reading the papers for war news, watching for a letter from me and hoping that all this may end and you will soon be in your own house with your husband. The picture makes you a very loving wife and is somewhat flattering to myself, but it is true, is it not wifey, you little sweet. Just imagine a good kissing.
You see I have written quite a letter. I almost forgot to tell you that the President was here yesterday. I had the honor of being introduced and hearing him tell several stories. You have heard of the Presidential inclination for stories. Old Abe is a good man but darling, not a great man for these times, which latter remark may be somewhat objectionable as implying that what is great under some circumstances may not be under others. Perhaps President Lincoln has done as well, all things considered as anyone would. The fact is, Helen, we cannot judge as truly as people will who are not actors in, and witnesses of the present scenes. Exact justice of opinion will be more surely found among thinking, candid men after the present condition of things has passed away and the results are seen.
Give my love to all. Take good care little Patey, three years and a half old by the time this reaches you, which outs me in mind of the day three days from now. Would I not like to drop in for a visit. Write often, very often, darling. With very much love, your affectionate husband, — Howard
The following letter was written by John Booton (“Boot”) Hill (1841-1913), the son of William Alexander Hill (1817-1873) and Judith Frances Booton (1822-1909) of Madison county, Virginia. Shortly after Virginia seceded from the Union, Boot enlisted on 23 April 1861 at Madison Court House to serve in the 7th Virginia Infantry. It wasn’t long before he was elected the captain of Co. A. He was later detailed to Beauregard’s Headquarters at Manassas and in the Pay Dept. of the State of Virginia. during the war, mustering out as a Major.
As indicated in his letter, Boot was residing in New York City before the war began, apparently employed as a clerk for his uncle, Major Henry Hill (1816-1866), who was the Army Paymaster of New York at the time. Henry’s resignation from the US Army was announced on local New York papers in June 1861 when he decided to cast his lot with the Confederacy.
Beneath the weight of historical significance, Boot’s letter documents the arrival of President-elect Abraham Lincoln and his entourage in New York City on 19 February 1861, en route to Washington D. C. for his upcoming inauguration in early March. While numerous eyewitness accounts of Lincoln’s arrival in New York City exist, few of them—such as Boot’s—display the disrespectful mockery of his appearance and contempt for his assumption of the presidency.
Hoping to capitalize on the crowd coming into New York City to see the President-elect, P. T. Barnum announced in advance that his museum would be exhibiting “The Great Lincoln Turkey”—alleged to be a forty pounder—that would be presented to Lincoln on Inauguration Day. New Yorkers were invited to come to the museum to not only see the turkey, but to “use its windows and balconies to observe Lincoln’s departure from the city.” [Source: The Demon of Unrest, Eric Larson, page 246.]
[Note: This previously unpublished letter resides at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond, Hill Family Papers, 1787-1945).]
Transcription
Paymaster’s Office New York [City] February 20th 1861
My dear sister,
Your kind letter came duly to hand, but you certainly kept it at home two or three days after it was written. I think ’twas dated the 6th and mailed the 9th. But I’ll pass over this if you will promise to do better in future.
“Old Abe” has come at last. I tell you his “brethering” are making a [good] deal of fuss about him and the “Prince of Rails” (his son Robt). 1 I saw the “old fellow” at a distance and was told by some that were close to him that his portrait is far better looking than he. If that be the case he is very handsome—over the left. You may form some idea of his looks by simply calling to mind Mr. Isaac Vernon who is a finer looking man than “Abe.” He’ll do now, won’t he?
I’ll leave him now and tell you of something else. I went in Barnum’s Museum yesterday and saw the “Turkey” that “Abraham” is to have for dinner on nthe 4th proximo. It is very fat. I hope he’ll enjoy it as much as I would of smaller size at pa’s table in company with you all. I must not dwell upon this point because I’ll excite your desire to see me unintentionally.
The paymaster that is most likely to succeed us is one of “Abe’s” company. His clerk came down this morning to get some letters that had been forwarded to the care of Mrs. Leslie. I do not care how soon we are relieved, I assure you. I wish it could be tomorrow or by the 1st of March at furthest. I must not be impatient. If I knew when it would happen, I could make an arrangement with the “Preserving Vegetable Co.” in this city which would be profitable to me, if I would go to St. Louis direct. Now don’t get mad, you dear sister mine, I would be making something by the operation and you must not fret if I do not see you soon after we are ordered from this post. I could go to St. Louis, make arrangements there for shipping the articles, at the company’s expense, mind you, or upon such terms as would pay me well, and then return home for a mont or so, if we get a stay of orders. I do not know that Uncle H[enry] will apply for “stay of orders.” It will be governed by circumstances, I suppose.
But enough of this. I have not left New York yet and do not know when I shall. you need say nothing of this out of the family. I shall not enter into any arrangements without consulting “Pa & Ma,” also Uncle H.
I, of course will not entertain such a thought as this, if the Union dissolves and Virginia goes South as she will do. If she doesn’t, I will. Don’t you think I am right. I reckon you don’t think much about it and more about your French, &c. &c. I hope you do. Well, give my love to all. Kiss them all for me and believe me your fond brother, — Boot
To Miss Hill, Glendalough, [Madison] Virginia
1 Robert Todd Lincoln—“Bob” to his family and friends—was dubbed the “Prince of Rails” during his “Railsplitter” father’s 1860 campaign for president, after a visit to this country by England’s Prince of Wales. Robert was a prince who would never ascend to the throne.
The following diary was kept by William Elmer Potter (1840-1896), the son of James Boyd Potter (1796-1865) and Jane Barron (1798-1855) of Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey. After attending public schools, William attended Harmony Academy where he remained until 1854. He then became a pupil at the West Jersey Academy during its first session, under the tutorship of Professors Snyder and Stevenson, but in October of 1857, having determined upon the law as a profession, entered the office of Hon. John T. Nixon. He remained until September 9, and the same month became a student of the law school of Harvard University. From this school he graduated in January, 1861, with the degree of L.L.B., and in September of the same year entered the junior class of Princeton College.
In July 1862, William put his collegiate studies aside and accepted a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in Co. K, 12th New Jersey Infantry and mustered into the service of the United States as such Sept. 4, 1862. He was promoted to a first lieutenancy of the same company and regiment Aug. 6, 1863, and to the captaincy of Company G Feb. 4, 1864. Capt. Potter became brevet major United States Volunteers for meritorious services, May 1, 1865, by promotion of the President of the United States, and was, in 1866, commissioned aide-de-camp to Governor Marcus L. Ward, of New Jersey, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, upon whose staff he served for three years.
During this period Col. Potter was present in the following engagements: Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Auburn, Bristow Station, Blackburn’s Ford, Locust Grove, campaign of Mine Run, Morton’s Ford, Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Crater, Deep Bottom (second engagement), Reams’ Station, Boydton Road, assault and capture of Petersburg, Rice’s Station, and Appomattox Court-House. By an order from headquarters, Twenty-fourth Army Corps, in company with five other officers, he was detailed to deliver the colors surrendered by Gen. Lee’s army, seventy-six in number, to Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, of the War Department, at Washington, which ceremony occurred on May 1, 1865. He was the only New Jersey officer present on this occasion.
During the period of time that William recorded the page of the diary presented below, he appears to have been living at home in Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey, and working as a clerk in the county court house, possible for the sheriff’s department.
[Note: This diary is housed at the Princeton University Library but has not been previously transcribed and published. See William E. Potter Diary, 1859-1862]
Transcription
Monday, February 11, 1861—As usual at office. Evening call at Mrs. Reeds. She at present is in Newcastle. See Mr. & Mrs. B. F. E. Call at Dr. William Elmer’s. Ladies not at home. Call at R[obert] S[hute] Bucks’. 1 See the young ladies. Invite me to Dancing Party at their house tomorrow evening.
Tuesday, February 12—Nothing occurs. Receive today from Messrs. Cromelien & Co. account against Joshua C. Surran to collect if the thing be possible, which query? Nothing happens of moment. Do not go up to R. S. B.’s to the little assemblage this evening. Have some reading to do.
Wednesday, February 13—Day passes as usual at office. Evening call at Jonathan Elmer’s. Meet Miss S. H. B. Play backgammon and other games. Have most pleasant evening.
Thursday, February 14—Nothing unusual occures. “Sociable” meets this evening at H. B. Lupton’s. Do not go however. Play game of chess with Frank in which I am beaten. Tennessee has gone for the Union by a majority of more than fifty thousand. The home of Jackson has again proved her devotion to the Union which he loved so well. Weather most unpleasant. Walking miserable. Evening damp and disagreeable. The winter climate of South Jersey is most uncomfortable.
Friday, February 15—Day as usual at office. Nothing of importance.
Saturday, February 16—Nothing occurs worth noting. Read anatomy, &c.
Sunday, February 17—Mr. A. Bunn preaches in church in morning. Go to hear Mr. ]Joseph W.] Hubbard [Presbyterian Church] in evening. Good sermon.
Public Ledger, 19 Feb. 1861, page 3
Monday, February 18—Morning at office as usual. Read case of Arnold vs. Mandy, 1 Halsted, concerning rights of Riparian owners. Afternoon at 4 pm leave in steamer Patuxent for Philadelphia in company with C. M. R., J. H. Elmer, and others. Quite a party joins us at Greenwich, all intent on same purpose with ourselves—namely, to see Mr. Lincoln, our Executive-elect, at Trenton or Philadelphia. The passage in the boat, being a night passage, was not of the most pleasant description. The weather was quite cold and the windward side of the boat agreed with the weather. I got an hour or two’s sleep, however. We arrive in Philadelphia about 5 a.m. Elmer, Riley, and I go to the Union Hotel and to bed. Sleep until about 9 a.m. In morning call on Thompson at his offfice. Evening go to see [James Edward] Murdock play in “Elder Brother” at Walnut St. Theatre. Splendid elocutionist.
Wednesday, February 20—Morning stroll about the city. Afternoon at 3 p.m. leave Kensington Depot for Trenton. Here we find most of our Cumberland Party who had gone up in the morning train. Evening, visit those celebrated rooms of Camden & Amboy Company, Nos. 10, Trenton House, and 7, American House. Am introduced to E. H. Stevens, Esq., General Cook, Hon. T. Jones Yorke and other worthies of like or lesser ilk. Many amusing things occur during the evening and we have on the whole a very lively time.
1 Robert Shute Buck (1802-1877) of Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey, was apprenticed to a miller at an early age. At 23, he entered politics as a Whig and was elected to the office of county sheriff. He then entered into the manufacture of bone buttons, and in 1836, entered into the iron business—the Cumberland Nail & Iron Company. He was married to Caroline James and their children included Sarah (“Sallie”) Buck, born 1838, and Clara Reeves Buck, (b. 1843), both mentioned in the diary pages that follow.
Thursday, February 21—Only limited number of tickets having been issued to admit persons to the Capitol, there was of course a great demand for them. Through the kind assistance of F. F. Patterson, Esq., we were admitted as a Special Reporter, on the platform close to the chair of the President of the Senate. Adjoining me were the Philadelphia Committee who had come thus far to meet Mr. Lincoln.
Mr. Lincoln and part of his suite entered about 12:15 and was introduced to President of Senate who welcomed him in a short address. Mr. Lincoln in a finely modulated voice replied, speaking of his early interest in the revolutionary struggle in New Jersey, &c. in a speech of between five and ten minutes in length. His is a very tall man, standing if I am not mistaken about six feet three inches high. His countenance bears the impress of grave and earnest thought, as well as of great coolness and determination. But when he begins to speak, how his whole face lights up with one of the most pleasant and heartfelt smiles that we have ever seen. I pray the Supreme Being who presides over the destinies of nations, and old individuals, that this grave, earnest, thoughtful, determined man, may prove, if need be, a second Washington to our Country. If there be anything in physiognomy—and experience has proven that there is—he is the man for the present crisis.
Mr. Lincoln dined at the Trenton House. Our party left Trenton at 1:32 p.m., arriving in city about 3:30 p.m. Elmer, Riley, and I go to Continental. Mr. Lincoln arrives in Philadelphia about 4 p.m., and at Continental about 6 p.m. makes short address from balcony to vast crowd assembled in front of Hotel. Evening receives citizenry in parlor of Continental. I retire early—i. e., about 12 p.m.
Friday, February 22—This morning at sunrise, Mr. Lincoln raised American flag to staff over Independence Hall. I do not go on account of crowd. Start for home at 9 a.m. Riley and Elmer do not go. In stage, W. G. N., P. Luellam, E. M. Hood, and others. Have quite lively ride. Stars & Stripes floating at crossroads. Cheer them in one or two instances as we ride by. Arrive home about 3:30 p.m. Evening attend Celebration of Washington Society of Andeton, in their Hall at Hotel of E. Deor’s & Son. Quite a large number of their friends present. President of Society, J. Leslie Lupton, reader of Washington’s Address, Henry Jordan; Orator of evening, William Cox. Cox speaks very well. Short addresses made by Judge Elmer & Rev. Mr. Hubbard. After which we adjourn to the dining hall where we partake of elegant collation. After drinking the regular toasts, in response to a personal toast, I make the Society a little speech. Adjourn at 21 o’clock. One hundred and twenty-nine years ago this day, George Washington was born. Would to Heaven that the same fraternal feeling pervaded our land today as existed at the hour of his death.
Saturday, February 23—Nothing occurs. Evening call on H. M. E.
Sunday, February 24—Nothing happens.Church at Dr. Jones, twice.
Monday, February 25—Nothing happens. See H[enry] T. Ellett of Mi[ssissippi]. Has been appointed Postmaster General to Southern Confederacy. Reward of treason. Will find it a barren scepter.
Tuesday, February 26—J. J. Reeves leaves en route for Cambridge today. I should like very much to visit the old spot once more.
Wednesday, February 27—Nothing happens of importance. Weather remarkably warm and pleasant.
Thursday, February 28—Nothing happens. Mr. Lincoln seems to be very favorably received at Washington. The personal qualities of the man are gaining him many friends.
Friday, March 1—Brother Robert in company with others starts for Washington to be present at the Inauguration, Nothing occurs.
Saturday, March 2—Morning as usual. Afternoon the same. Evening call at Dr. Eben Elmer’s in company with Loring Kirby, Esq.
Sunday, March 3—Church as usual. Morning at Jones’. Evening at Hubbard’s Nothing happens.
Monday, March 4—Day of Inauguration of new government. Through vigilance of General Scott, everything passes off quietly, whatever may have been the event otherwise. One of the most important days in the history of the government. I trust it may be the herald of a glorious and universal dawning of peace and prosperity throughout the land. Evening attend party at R. S. Buck’s given in honor of eighteenth birthday of charming Miss Clara. Young ladies look remarkably well.
Tuesday, March 5—President Lincoln’s inaugural arrives today. It is eminently conciliatory, though firm in its tone, and seems to be received with favor by men of all parties. He takes the position that he will invade no state, but that he will collect the revenue and hold, occupy and possess the property of the United States. The address is characterized by great ability, as well as conciseness. Its general effect cannot be anything but pacific.
Wednesday, March 6—Day nothing happens. Evening call at Miss H. M. E.’s.
Thursday, March 7—Nothing occurs. Southern papers are endeavoring to consider Lincoln’s Inaugural a declaration of war. One thing is very true, that as Mr. Lincoln’s remarks—there will be no war unless the government is attacked. If humanity is to be disgraced, civilization checked and Christianity overshadowed, by an internecine war upon this continent, it should be the prayer of the good in all lands, in light or darkness, on the battlefield or in the councils, that God will defend his unalterable right. And who can doubt that such right lies upon the side of the government.
Friday, March 8—Hon. Jno. T[hompson] Nixon returns from Washington last night. Today finish [John Henry] Stephens’ [book] on Pleading[in Civil Actions]. Commenced February 25, 1861 being third time that I have red it. Evening at home.
Saturday, March 9—Day as usual. Nothing happens. Weather March-like. Write letters to R. G. Thompson and to Father. Evening call at R. S. Buck’s. Miss Clara entertains me, Sallie being out. Have a pleasant evening.
Sunday, March 10—Morning attend Mr. Hubbard’s church. Mr. Davis of Deerfield preaches good sermon. Evening Dr. Jones.’ Rumored that small pox is in town. H. E. Hughes, Esq., has the varioloid. I was vaccinated last Thursday.
Parton’s Vol. III on Andrew Jackson considered by Atlantic Monthly to be the “best biography” written in the country.
Monday, March 11—Day as usual. Do not feel very well in morning. Think that I do not exercise enough. Evening at home. Read [James] Parton’s Jackson, Vol. III., Grote’s Greece, Vol. I. Jackson’s life gives one a good insight into the political history of the country from 1823 until Jackson’s death. The critics call it the best biography written in the country. Vide Atlantic Monthly for March.
Tuesday, March 12—Day as usual at office. Evening at home. Read Parton’s Jackson, Grote’s Greece. Nothing occurs. Rumored that troops will be withdrawn from Fort Sumpter. Trust that it may be incorrect.
Wednesday, March 13—Morning at office. Afternoon meeting of congregation to decide whether we are to enlarge our old church or not. Decided so to do by vote of fifty-two to fourteen. Old subscription collected under former vote of congregation to build church on west side of creek, ordered to be annulled. Parties who paid their money in, ordered to be paid back. Amusing scenes occurred. Weather warm. Evening lecture Dr. Jones. Call afterwards in H. M. E.
Thursday, March 14—Morning as usual. Also afternoon. Day damp and cold. Nothing occurs during day. Yesterday made a most solemn vow. Evening pleasant “Sociable” at Mrs. W. G. N.’s
Friday, March 15—Day as usual. Nothing of importance occurs. Evening call with Loring Kirby, Esq., on Miss Lillie Sheppard. See herself and sister Jennie. Have pleasant chat. Afterwards call at R. S. B[uck’s]. See the two young ladies [Clara & Sallie]. Home.
Saturday, March 16—Day as usual. J. B. B[owen] returns from Philadelphia with degree of M. S. Evening call at Dr. Wm. E’s. Have not been able to read much by gas light for some days. Eyes are growing weak, I fear.
Sunday, March 17—Morning Mr. Davis of Deerfield preached at Dr. Jones’ church. Most excellent sermon. Finest by far that I have heard since my return home. Evening go to hear Mr. Hubbard.
Monday, March 18—Day as usual. Cold and in afternoon comes on to snow with every appearance of hard storm. Evening at home. J[ohn] T[hompson] Nixon leaves for Washington.
Tuesday, March 19—Snow several inches deep this morning, with every appearance of continuation. Sleighs out. Afternoon, Jno. B[uck] Bowen 1 calls after me with horses & sleigh to go sleighing with the Misses Buck. Good time but poor sleighing.
Wednesday, March 20—Morning at office. J. S. M. quite unwell. Quite busy drawing declarations, &c. &c. On looking over Curtis’ History of Constitution a few days since, with a view to ascertain Hamilton’s views on our Constitution, found that in the convention he stated his opinion to be (Vol. II, page 113): 1st, That he believed the British Constitution was the best form of government the world had then produced, citing the praise bestowed on it by Hecker “That it is the only government which unites public strength, with individual security.” 2nd, That he was equally convinced that none but a republican form could be attempted in this country, or would be adapted to our situation. 3rd, That he proposed to look to the British Constitution for nothing but those elements of stability and permanency which a republican system requires, and which may be incorporated into it, without changing its characteristic principles. Curtis gathers this summary of his opinions from the Brief of Hamilton works, Vol. II, 409., collated with Madison’s Report and Judge Yates’ Minutes,
Since Wednesday last, it has been a dark week with me. I a great trouble pressed me down. I trust that a kind and merciful God may cause it soon to pass away from our family. It is said, in old tradition, that there is a ghost in every house. This may be the mere embodiment of the idea that every family has their own peculiar subject of anxiety and distress. This last week, I shall always remember as a sad period. It has witnessed for myself, however, a most important resolution. God help me to keep it.
1 Dr. John Buck Bowen (1839-1888) was the son of Dr. William Smith Bowen (1802-1872) and Martha Hawthorn Buck (1814-1847) of Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey. John later served as an Assistant Surgeon in the 34th New Jersey Infantry.
The papers today bring the news, which is some measure rumor has forestalled, that the orders for the evacuation of Fort Sumpter have at length been issued. This will be received with sorrow by many, and can be justified on the ground that if it is done as a military move only.
Thursday, March 21—Day as usual. Snows all morning. Quite wintry for this time in March. Evening call with Jno. B. B[owen]. at Dr. Wm. Elmer’s. Also at R. S. B[uck’s]. Not able to read on account of eyes at night.
Friday, March 22—Morning as usual at office. Nothing happens of very much importance. Evening call at Charles E. Elmore’s. See himself and wife. President Lincoln has appointed Mr. [William Lewis] Dayton Minister to France. This has deservedly caused great rejoicing in New Jersey.
Saturday, March 23—Day passes at office, Nothing unusual occurs. Read Williams Exec. as usual. Afternoon in company with Jno. S. Mitchell, ride out to Wildwood. Visit Railroad which begins to assume the appearance of a reality. Evening at home.
Sunday, March 24—Church at Dr. Jones’ morning & evening. Nothing happens of importance. Sermons dullish. Weather clear.
Monday, March 25—Day as usual. Evening with article of Chronicle on the “Defect in our Government.” Take ground that its great defect is the want of internal strength. Do not read much this evening. Receive letter from Thompson.
Tuesday, March 26—Day as usual. Call on Miss Sallie B[uck] Have very pleasant evening. Nothing occurs today of importance.
Wednesday, March 27—Day as usual. Evening attend little company at Jno. B. Bowen’s. Quite a number there. Seem to enjoy themselves, one and all.
Thursday, March 28—Day as usual at office. Still reading, William’s Executors. Nothing important occurs. Evening “Sociable.” Meet at D. P. Elmer’s. I attend. Pleasant evening. Moonlight walk afterwards.
Friday, March 29—Pleasant weather. Sunshine prevails for once at least over the storm. Morning nothing occurs. Evening call in H. M. E. Lizzie L. & Maggie, Elmer call. Pleasant evening. Affairs of our Nation grow no better. The present position of an American citizen is, that he is secure under the protection of his government, all over the world, except within the borders of the United States. A loyal citizen may be murdered in South Carolina, and by the state authorities too, for expressing his allegiance to the United States, and our general government cannot punish the offenders.
Saturday, March 30—Morning as usual. Nothing happens of interest. Evening spent at Sarah’s. F. F. Westcott, Esq., of Cedarville being there. Also Miss Sallie H. B[uck]. Pleasant evening.
Sunday, March 31—Morning church at Dr. Jones.’ Take dinner at Sarah;s with F. F. W[estcott] After dinner walk out with him as far as Shiloh Bridge. Evening church at Dr. Jones.’ Have resolved today if possible to enter Princeton College in the summer. I shall regret it all my life if i enter upon the duties of my profession without a collegiate education—not that a collegiate education is indispensable to success, but because the want of it must in the nature of things, be severely felt through life. One does not feel that confidence in himself that he otherwise would. At least, such is my experience. I do not feel entitled to demand of Father, after all his kindness to me, this additional favor, but if he will send me, I will most gladly go.
Weather pleasant today, though windy as usual. Tomorrow is April 1st. The month of March has slipped by most rapidly—so rapidly indeed that it seems that one can hardly realize that it has come and gone.
Monday, April 1st—Morning as usual. Speak to Father concerning my going to college. He says he will take time to consider it. I do not know what decision he may give, but hardly think he will refuse me when he sees that I really desire to go. Rainy day. April begins in a cool, disagreeable mood.
Receive today, pamphlet from J. J. Reeves, Esq., containing Parson’s discourse on Constitution of United States delivered before Law School, March 7, 1861, as introduction to his course on Constitutional Law. Evening home.
Tuesday, April 2nd—Pleasanter than yesterday. At work nearly all day writing Sheriff’s Deeds. Evening at home. Read Parton’s Life of Jackson. Is an admirably written biography giving an insight into the political history of the country which I have obtained nowhere else.
Wednesday, April 3rd—Morning clear and bright. Have placed today in the front part of this diary the remarks of Alexander H. Stephens, V. President of the revolutionary government in the South, concerning the principles upon which said government is founded. He abandons the old untenable ground that slavery is a national institution, and lays down the proposition that under the new government, slavery is recognized as the fundamental basis of the government. He says, “that the prevailing ideas entertained by Jefferson and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. These ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man. That slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and moral condition. This, our new government, is the first in the history of the world based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth.”
Such is the testimony of Alexander H. Stephens, the leafing statesman of the South. The government of the United States is founded upon the eternal basis of Freedom, the revolutionary government has for its base and cornerstone the principle that human bondage is the only true condition of a perfect government. It has taken the world six thousand years to make this discovery at all, and we trust it will be longer than that ere it abandons one inch beyond its present position. The two governments are before the world, one based upon freedom, the other on slavery. Can there be any doubt concerning their future history?
Wrote to James J. Reeves at Cambridge. Evening spend with Jno. S. Mitchell at his house. We read Carlyle’s Essay on Burns—a most beautiful production. Pass an unusually pleasant evening.
Thursday, April 4th—Day opens finely, clear and bright, with just sufficient breeze to make the atmosphere bracing. How one’s pulse beats upon a morning like this when walking in the open air. How bright the future seems, how clear is the brain. So much does our intellectual, yes, even our moral feeling depend upon our physical condition. Ill health makes many a misanthrope, while on the other hand, a sound physical organization, and an abundance of animal spirits, enables many persons to exceed the great mass of their fellows in pursuits for which intellectually speaking, they are by no means peculiarly fitted. Evening attend the exhibition of the students of West Jersey Academy in Grosscup’s Hall. On the whole, the students perform well. My nephew, Boyd. N., declaims well. Bridgeton Brass Band makes its first appearance in a public meeting. They were only organized about the middle of November last and already are quite proficient, playing some thirty tunes. the Hall was much crowded with the friends of the Academy and everything passed off pleasantly.
Friday, April 5th—Morning as usual at office. Nothing happens. Afternoon 4:45 p.m., walk up to Tumbling Down with Oring Kirby. In coming down on Race side, see some ladies waving handkerchief on other sie to which we reply by waving our own. Take tea at W. G. N.’s. Evening pass at R. S. Bucks with Miss Sallie. Clara absent.
Saturday, April 6th—Morning office as usual. Pleasant day. Afternoon at office. Write letter to George T. Slack, Esq., at Cambridge. Papers today bring us the news that Government is preparing to assert and defend its rights. It has the sympathy of the civilized world and the support of eighteen millions of freemen. God grant us all the disposition, the heart and hand, to play a patriotic part in the coming struggle. Mail today to W. Cromelieu & Co., 721 Market Street, Philadelphia the account against Joshua Surran, Esq., sent me some time since for collection. Surran having no property, and not paying, it is impossible to do anything with it. Evening call with Miss S[allie] H. B[uck] and Lillie S. Very pleasant evening.
Sunday, April 7th—Church at Dr. Jones’ morning & evening. Good sermon in morning. In evening after church walk with C. M. R. as far as Academy. Nothing occurs important.
Monday, April 8th—Morning dull and cloudy. At office as usual. Evening attend the Sabbath School Concert. Afterwards walk out with H. M. E. and make a call at her house.
Tuesday, April 9th—Father gives me no answer as yet with regard to my entering college in August. Very perplexing to know what is my fate.
Wednesday, April 10th—Let this day be marked with a white stone. Father today told me to go to college if I so desired. How kind it is in my Father thus to offer me every advantage. I shall do my utmost to improve the opportunity thus given me. I feel assured that I can appreciate a college course at this time much better than ever before. Read 1st Volume of Williams’ Executors to page 267. Here most probably will begin an interruption on my legal studies. I lay them temporarily aside with regret mingling with my pleasure. I have enjoyed the study of law since my first entrance in it more than any study which I ever pursued. I feel that I have only entered the outer courts of the great temple of jurisprudence, but even here, I can discern how fair is its architecture, how magnificent its proportion’s. Evening studying at home.
Thursday, April 11th—Study morning…Evening at home.
Saturday, April 12—Morning study at home. Read thirty lines…After dinner, walk down to the wharf to witness launching of the new schooner. Through some accident, she does not go off. The papers today bring us the tidings that the rebels opened their fire upon Fort Sumpter. The war commenced upon Friday last, Who, oh who, knows the ending thereof?
Sunday, April 13th—Nothing of importance happens.
Monday, April 14th—All excitement. Fort Sumpter surrendered, or rather was evacuated after forty hours continual bombardment. The excitement in Philadelphia is terrible. All united for the government. President issues a proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand of the militia of the United States to suppress the insurrection. Response being made all over the country.
Tuesday, April 15—Excitement increasing. But one feeling in the North—to support our flag at all hazards!
Wednesday, April 16—Excitement still increasing. Volunteer companies being raised constantly. New York appropriated three millions of money and is to raise thirty thousand volunteers.
Thursday, April 17—No particular news. Excitement intense.
Friday, April 18—Massachusetts regiment arrived in Philadelphia.
Saturday, April 19—Start this morning for Philadelphia in early line to Glassboro. Arrived in Philadelphia about 10 a.m. People greatly excited about the attack made by mob in Baltimore upon Massachusetts troops. Several of Mass. troops killed. They fire upon mob killing a number. Pennsylvania troops also attacked. Being unarmed, they are forced to return to Philadelphia. The attack upon the unarmed troops has greatly excited the Philadelphians as well as the whole country. The North has become so fully aroused that nothing but the omnipotent hand of God can stay their vengeance. Evening walk about the city with Thompson and John B[uck] Bowen. J. B. B. spends the night with me at hotel.
Sunday, April 20—Morning walk about city. Afternoon go with Thompson to Jno. Chambers’ church. Evening go with Thompson and Bowen to hear Wadsworth. No being in his pulpit, we do not stay. Great excitement at Continental [Hotel]. Meet Robert there.
Rumor of arrival of three hundred thousand improved arms from Europe. Philadelphia presents today almost the appearance of a vast military camp. The public squares full of troops drilling the whole day through as also were the various [ ].
Monday, April 21—Morning do errands about the city. Afternoon at 3 p.m., start for home. Arrive per New Jersey Railroad and Glassboro stage, about 8 p.m. Find that a large meeting was held in Bridgeton on Saturday evening. Resolved to raise funds to support the families of volunteers. Company is being raised. Numbers already fifty-six men. Greatest excitement in Bridgeton that I have ever seen.
Tuesday, April 22—At home all day. Nothing of importance except the military excitement. Was measured while in the city for coat at Ethan Thompson’s. Vest & pants. At parties at southeast corner 6th & Market. Frank unwell.
From April 22nd to May 11th. Most stirring period in our country’s history. Troops called out by President. Three hundred thousand men arriving in North. Cannot recount in this diary the events.
Wednesday, May 8th—Today presentation of flag to “Cumberland Grays” by ladies of Bridgeton too place. P. T. Jones, Esq., of Philadelphia, made address in behalf of ladies. I received it on part of the company un few remarks. Grosscup’s Hall crowded. See Chronicle of May 11th.
From May 11th to June 23—Great events occurring in country. Make one or two visits to Philadelphia.
June 24, Monday—Start for Princeton to be examined for admission to Junior Class. W. E. Lufton also. J. Leslie, Superintendent for Admission to Sophomore. I stop at Philadelphia, go to Trenton at 6 P.M. Meet them there having returned from the examination.
Tuesday, June 25—Am today examined by Prof. Cameron in Greek…Latin…Mathematics. Am admitted.
Wednesday, June 26—Pass to Princeton with W. Elmer & friends. Commencement today.
Thursday, June 27—Stop in Trenton. See grand review of three regiments of volunteers at Camp Olden by Gov. Olden and staff. Stop at Continental at Philadelphia.
Friday, June 28—Reach home. Nothing new.
…..
Wednesday, July 17—Meet Wm. Keighler, Esq. of Baltimore on cars. Find his views have changed since last winter. Now almost if not entirely secessionist. Arrive in Washington at 6 p.m. Put up at Ebbitt House, not being able o get into Willard’s. Evening pass in room of Messrs. [John Thompson] Nixon and [John L. N.] Stratton. Army of Union made advance on Fairfax today.
Thursday, July 18—Pass in visiting Patent Office, Capitol, etc. In Congress, Mr. Nixon introduced us to Emerson Etheridge, [Robert] Mallory of Kentucky, Col. Crittenden of do. [Charles] Delano of Mass., Frank P. Blair of Mo., &c. Etheridge most agreeable conversationalist.
Friday, July 19—Visit Alexandria, now occupied by our troops. Deserted city. Houses closed. Grass growing in streets. Secessionists plenty but silent. Three secessionists in a Slave Pen taken night before at Bulls Run. Return to Washington, hire hack, and cross Long Bridge into Virginia. Visit Forts Runyon, Albany, and Corcoran, Arlington House, headquarters at present of New York 8th commanding beautiful view of Washington and the Potomac. Return to Washington, visit Capitol. Evening spend with Messrs. Stratton and Nixon.
Saturday, July 20th—Start for W at 4:15 a.m. Reach Philadelphia at 10:30 a.m. Start for Bridgeton at 3 p.m., arriving at home much pleased with visit at 7 p.m.
Sunday, July 21—Nothing of particular importance occurs in Bridgeton.
Monday, July 22nd—Learn that great battle occurred yesterday between our forces and the rebels. Our army after driving enemy before them until 4 p.m. were repulsed. Enemy was too much exhausted to pursue or else were not aware of our condition. Great slaughter on both sides.
Tuesday, July 23—Troops pouring into Washington from all directions. Gen. McClellan has been sent for from Western Virginia and will assume command at once. The country seems to be recovering from the first alarm, and considers our repulse in the light of salutary lesson. It appears that with a force of at most fifty thousand men under McDowell, we attacked 90,000 in their entrenchments. No wonder that we did not succeed. Yet even under these disadvantages we were nearly victorious. If the reserve of 18,000 men under Col. Miles had been ordered up promptly, we would have gained the day, for at the very time we retired, the enemy was falling back along his whole lines.
From Tuesday, July 23 to Wednesday August 13th, nothing of importance occurs to me personally. Great events are occurring with such rapidity in the country at large that I find it impossible to chronicle them here. Time passed principally in boating, riding, loafing, and other like employments. Impossible to study on vacation and under a July sun.
The letter below was written by John Deering, Jr. (1842-1915), the son of Capt. John G. Deeering, Sr. (1806-1875) and Mary Downing Bachelder (1806-18xx) of Saco, Maine. John, Jr. started at Bowdoin College in 1860, but then joined as a private in Co. K, 13th Maine Infantry in December 1861 and served until 16 August 1862. He had to leave due to a disability, no doubt related to an accident while working as a clerk in the partially constructed custom office at New Orleans. According to his biographical sketch in a family history, he fell through a scuttle in the custom house roof and dropped thirty feet, but somehow managed to survive the fall.
The Maine Democrat, 17 June 1862
Following his discharge, he worked for a time in the Treasury Department and earned a degree from the Columbia College Law School in 1866. His obituary, published in the Lewiston Sun on 1 December 1915, claims that he “saw the assassination of President Lincoln and heard the last speech by the President, made from a window of the White House three days before he was shot…He was employed as a clerk in the Treasury Department at the time and continued in that department more than 15 years.”
By the time of the 1880 US Census, John had left his government job and returned to Saco, Maine, where he practiced law and worked as a pension agent. He married Lizzie H. Chase (1844-1894) in August 1866.
[Note: This unpublished letter resides in the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond. See Stacy Family Papers, 1802-1889, 51 items. Mss1ST124a.]
Transcription
Washington [District of Columbia] January 10, 1865
Dear William,
That you have not ere this received a reply to your letter of December 6th proves two facts—viz: that everybody at all times does not get his just dies in this world, and that I am not a punctual correspondent. But I always have a reason for what I do and what I fail to do, and in this case, I must say that for a month past, I have not been able to write or study. It has seemed a moral and physical impossibility for me to write a decent letter and so I have deferred what is usually a very pleasant task. I feel a reaction now, and hope in the future to do justice to all my correspondents whose number is not great.
I have been in the enjoyment of my usual health since last I wrote you, and find that the climate here agrees with me much better than that of New England. The weather thus far has not been cold, and we have had but very little snow—but considerable rain. Today it has been raining very hard—the torrents pouring down as I have seen them at home some dark, gloomy night in October or November. In fact, the whole season of winter here is more of autumn than winter judged by a Northern standard. For the most part, the ground is bare, and we never lose that peculiar scent of dead leaves which is so characteristic of November at home. The ground is not frozen except for a very few days as the mud conclusively shows. Not much skating and—O miserrimum omnium—no sliding downhill, so dear to our youthful hearts. So, on the whole, give me a Washington winter—mud and all—and you are welcome to the sub-zero temperatures of Maine.
Shall I write you a little about the celebrities of Washington and their doings? If so, here goes. New Years day (Jany. 2) the President of the United States had a reception, according to custom. I was there and shook the hands of the graceful Chief Magistrate, wished him a Happy New Year, to which he replied in a few kind words, and came away with the prayer in my heart, “Long live Uncle Abe!” Last night he had another reception but I had a prior engagement and couldn’t honor him with my presence. Last Wednesday night, Mr. Lincoln and wife were at the Theatre, and I walked out close by them, and had a good long look at their various points of beauty. The conclusion there arrived at was this: They are both better looking than their pictures—especially Mrs. Lincoln. I do not call the President a bad-looking man, and think Mrs. Lincoln decidedly good-looking. “Our honored Chief Magistrate” has a sad, despairing expression of countenance, which almost tempts you to cry. Anyone that sees him cannot help feeling a sympathy and regard towards him. That at least was my experience, and others speak in a similar strain.
Edwin Forrest as Hamlet
I have also seen Vice-Admiral Farragut and wife, Secretary Staton and wife, Gens. Hancock, Meigs, Custer, Casey, nearly all the Senators and Representatives in Congress, and many other eminent men. But the greatest of them all, to my mind, is Edwin Forrest, the great tragedian, who is now acting at Ford’s Theatre. There is something sublime and most wonderful in that man’s power. He hasn’t his equal on the stage in Europe or America. Of course I cannot describe his points of excellence, but in respect to physical development, power and compass of voice, and expression of countenance, he far exceeds the highest ideal that I had ever formed in imagination. I have seen him in all his impersonations thus far, as “Damon” in Banim’s drama of “Damon and Pythias”—a classic story, familiar to us both; as “Richelieu” in Bulwer’s play of that name; as “Othello” in Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name; and as “Macbeth” in the grand tragedy of that name by Shakespeare. Tomorrow night he plays Hamlet—the chef d’amour of “the myriad minded Shakespeare.” I am a great lover of the dramatist of Avon, and therefore of the renderings of his works by such an actor as Forrest.
I was in Congress twice last week, and heard speeches from various gentlemen both of the Senate and the House, among which was [Glenni William] Scofield’s reply to [James] Brooks’ speech, and the witty, crushing reply of Brooks. This Brooks is James of the New York Express, and in my opinion the best speaker in the House. I do not approve of the principles of the Copperheads but I cannot help admiring the eloquence of some of their champions. 1
Hon. Lyman Trumbull of Illinois
The best speaker in the Senate, to my view, is Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, a scholarly, logical man, whose every word and gesture counts. Charles Sumner can do the “heavy” eloquence better, but is not so ready and sharp and penetrating as Trumbull.
So much for others, I can say but little for myself. I have studied considerable Latin, some French, and have read considerable, but not methodically. Have made some advance in the study of Elocution—my favorite pursuit—and read some law. But as far as the knowledge of a profession is concerned, I am almost as far in the rear as four years ago.
I have been transferred from the Loan Branch to another Bureau of the Treasury—the Second Auditor’s—at my own desire, and am now an Examiner in the latter office. I like as well as before to say the least. My business is to look into the accounts of Army Office and report as to their condition for settlement.
Accept my best wishes for yourself and family. Remember me to Lucy and believe me yours sincerely, — John Deering, Jr.
Direct to Second Auditor’s, Treasury Department
1 This repartee between Scofield and Brooks is covered in the New York Times edition on 7 January 1865.James Brooks (1807-1873) represented NYC in the House of Representatives for seven consecutive terms, moving from the Whig to the Democratic Party and an outspoken critic of the Lincoln Administration. He died in office in 1873 while under scrutiny and formal censure for attempted bribery in connection to the Credit Mobilier scandal.
This incredible letter was written by John Fales (1841-1918), the son of John Smith Fales (1800-1861) and Charlotte Leland (1807-1850) of Sherburn, Middlesex county, Massachusetts—both parents dead by the time this letter was written in September 1861. He wrote the letter to his older sister, Charlotte Adelaide Fales (1832-1908), mentioning too a younger brother, Charles Leland Fales (1843-1902) who was serving in Co. B, 16th Massachusetts Infantry. From enlistment records we know that John stood 5′ 9″ tall, had brown hair, light eyes, and a fair complexion.
John wrote the letter while serving in the 3rd Light Artillery, Battery E, of the US Artillery (Regular Army)—commonly referred to as “Sherman’s Battery.” His enlistment was recorded as 17 April 1861 and his battery was mobilized and placed in a defensive position near Arlington Heights in late May. At least two of the guns were stationed at Pearl’s farm “north of the wagon road, half a mile east of Ball’s Crossroads” by early July. They were attached to William T. Sherman’s Brigade 1 of McDowell’s Army at the time of the Battle of Bull Run—their participation described by Captain Romeyn B. Ayres, who commanded the Battery at Bill Run, in the following after action report:
LIGHT COMPANY E, THIRD ARTILLERY,
Camp Corcoran, Virginia, July 25, 1861.
SIR: I have the honor to report the part taken in the battle of the 21st instant by this battery.
The battery advanced in the morning with the brigade to which it was attached—Col. W. T. Sherman’s—on the center route upon the front of the enemy’s position. The battery operated from this position at times upon the enemy’s batteries and troops as occasion offered. About noon I started with the brigade, as ordered, to cross the open ground, the run, and to rise the bluff, with a portion of the battery, one section being detached at this time, operating upon a battery to the left. On arriving at the run it at once was apparent that it was impossible to rise the bluff opposite with the pieces. I sent an officer immediately to report the fact to Colonel Sherman and ask instructions. I received for reply that I should use my discretion.
I immediately returned to the central position. I remained at this point, operating upon the enemy’s guns and infantry, till ordered by General Tyler to cover the retreat of the division with the battery.A body of cavalry at this time drew up to charge the battery. The whole battery poured canister into and demolished them. The battery moved slowly to the rear to Centreville.
I will add, that the coolness and gallantry of First Lieut. Dunbar R. Ransom on all occasions, and particularly when under fire of three pieces, with his section at short range, when the battery was about to be charged by a large body of cavalry, and also when crossing a broken bridge in a rough gully, and fired upon in rear by the enemy’s infantry, were conspicuous. The good conduct of First Lieut. George W. Dresser, Fourth Artillery, was marked, especially when threatened by cavalry, and at the ravine referred to above. Second Lieut. H. E. Noyes, cavalry, was energetic in the performance of his duties.
I lost four horses killed on 18th; two horses wounded on 18th; seven horses on 21st; three caissons, the forge, and a six-mule team and wagon (excepting one mule), on the 21st. I sent all these caissons, &c., ahead when preparing for the retreat, to get them out of the way. The fleeing volunteers cut the traces and took the horses of the caissons.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, — R. B. AYRES, Captain, Fifth Artillery, Commanding Company E.
Battery E, 3rd US Artillery (“Sherman’s Battery”) as it appeared on its return from the Battle of Bull Run (New York Historical Society Museum)
John datelined his letter from “Arlington Heights” on 5 September 1861. He indicates that the battery was near Fort Corcoran. More precisely the battery was positioned a quarter of a mile soutwest of W. Ross’ farm Rossyln.
Before the Civil War ended, John would enlist twice more in his country’s service. After his three years in Battery E, US Artillery, he reenlisted in Co. E, 60th Massachusetts Infantry on 16 July 1864 and served until 30 November 1864. Following that he reenlisted again in the 3rd Massachusetts Artillery and served until 1868. His military records indicate he was wounded once—at the Battle of Olustee (Florida) on 20 February 1864. In his later years, John worked in Boston as a locomotive fireman—a job that no doubt gave him the cataracts that plagued him in his later years, not to mention his loss of hearing.
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Megan Lynn and was transcribed and researched by Griff for publication on Spared & Shared with Megan’s consent.]
Transcription
Addressed to Adelaide Fales, South Framingham, Massachusetts
Arlington Heights [Thursday] September 5th 1861
Dear Sister,
As I have a little time today, I thought I would write & let you know that I am safe & well. We are here in the same place but we have just got orders to get ready to move. I do not know where we are going but I expect we are going to advance on to Fairfax.
Mr. Lincoln reviewed us last Monday 2 & after the review he came to our camp & examined our rifle cannons. 3 He thanked us very kindly for our gallant conduct at the battle of Bulls Run & when he went away he went up to where our cook was getting dinner & took a brand of fire & lit his cigar & sit down and had a long talk with our captain. 4 He is a very pleasant talking man. Anyone would not think he was President of the United States if they did not know who he was.
One of the 24-pounder guns in Fort Corcoran (LOC)
The 18th Massachusetts Regiment came over here from the city. 5 The Massachusetts soldiers are the best looking soldiers here. All the regiments here are at work every day. They are throwing up breastworks here in all direction & mounting heavy guns. Fort Corcoran has 8 guns which carry a 68 lb. ball & four 24-pounders. This fort commands the road from Georgetown to Fairfax & the Potomac. You can see all over the city of Washington. Our battery is about a quarter of a mile from this fort. It is large enough to hold 1500 men. I have got a picture of this fort but it does not look exactly as it does now.
I have not heard from [brother] Charlie yet. I do not know whether his regiment is in the city or not. We have got a large balloon here in our camp. He went up yesterday to take a look at the rebels. He could look right down onto them & see what they were doing. After he had been up a little while, the rebels fired a cannon ball at him but they could not reach him. He had ropes fixed to a large tree so that he would not blow away. 6
I have not anymore to write now. Remember me to all the folks. I am your affectionate brother, — John Fales
Footnotes
The Cecil Whig, 17 August 1861
1 The celebrated Battery E of the 3rd US Regulars was led during the War with Mexico by Thomas West Sherman and it was often referred to as “Sherman’s Battery,” even when it was lead, as it was at Bull Run, by Capt. Romeyn B. Ayres. Adding greater confusion, the Battery was assigned to the command of Col. William Tecumseh Sherman just prior to the Battle of Bull Run.Ayres was at Old Point, Virginia, until 7 July 1861 when he was ordered to Washington to take command of “Sherman’s Battery.” His was the only artillery unit to save all of his guns from the battlefield and even brought off two others. Ayres was transferred to Philadelphia to recruit for the 5th US Artillery shortly afterward. [Daily National Democrat, 20 September 1861]
2 “Last Monday” would have been 2 September 1861. According to the Lincoln Log, Lincoln and Secretary Seward reviewed the 2nd & 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiments of Gen. Rufus King’s Brigade [NY Times, 3 September 1861].
3 Sherman’s Battery went into the fight at Blackburn’s Ford and Bull Run with four smoothbore cannon—two 6-pounders and two 12-pounder field howitzers, as well as two 10-pounder Parrott rifles as a reserve. The Parrott rifle was still somewhat of a novelty in 1861. It was developed in 1860 and were easily recognized by the wrought-iron reinforcing band wrapped around the breech. They were simple for the gun crews to operate and could be mass produced inexpensively.
Capt. John H. Hamilton(1823-1900)
4 Though it was Capt. Romeyn B. Ayres of the 5th US Artillery who temporarily commanded the battery at Bull Run, by early August 1861 the battery was commanded by Capt. John H. Hamilton, West Point Class of 1847. Hamilton had received his promotion to captain in late April but he was in San Francisco at the time and he did not arrive in Washington D. C. until after the Battle of Bull Run. In short, it would have been Capt. Hamilton who enjoyed a cigar with President Lincoln, not Capt. Ayres.
5 The 18th Massachusetts was mustered into federal service on 27 August 1861 with eight companies. They were ordered on the 3rd of September to cross the Potomac and report to Gen. Fitz John Porter. They set up their camp near Fort Corcoran on ground previously occupied by the69th New York. Later in September they were moved to Hall’s Hill, then the outpost of the Union army.
6 Thaddeus Lowe’s newly created Balloon Corps was quite active prior to and after the Battle of Bull Run. On the day of the battle the balloon was accidentally ripped on the way to the battlefield so they were foiled in their ascension that day, but three days later, Lowe made an ascent at Fort Corcoran to look for an indications of a march on Washington by the Rebel army. Later that same day, he ascended again to check the Confederate bivouacs at Manassas and Centreville. To gain higher altitude for a better view, Lowe asked for the tethering cables to be released and the balloon drifted toward Alexandria where he was actually fired upon by Union troops thinking the Rebels were attacking by air. A number of ascents were made near Arlington Heights during August 1861 to keep an eye on the Rebel army’s movements. It was on August 29th at Ball’s Crossroads when Lowe’s balloon “Union” was fired on by a Rebel cannon commanded by Lt. Thomas Rosser of the New Orleans Washington Artillery from their position on Munson Hill. Though Fales could not have known it at the time, the Confederates attempted to send up its own “spy balloon” at Munson’s Hill on September 4th but the bag ripped before it could get off the ground. On September 5th, the date of Fale’s letter, it was reported that Union generals Irvin McDowell and Fitz-John Porter went up in Lowe’s balloon, and McClellan did likewise on September 7th. [See Arlington and Fairfax Counties: Land of Many Reconnaissance Firsts, by Dino A. Brugioni, published in Northern Virginia Heritage]
A map of the area and localities mentioned in the letter and footnotes.
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