The following letters were written by Pvt. Amos Gorrell (1837-1928) of Co. A, 18th Ohio Infantry. Amos was the son of Amos Gorrell, Sr. (1804-1890) and Leah Wollen (1800-1873) of Ross county, Ohio. Amos wrote the 2nd letter to his brother, Joseph Wollen Gorrell (1839-1914) who later (16 September 1864) enlisted as a sergeant in Co. C, 178th Ohio Vols. He married after the war and eventually moved to Blackwater, Missouri.

Amos does not say how he was wounded (and neither does the regimental roster) but my assumption is that he received the wound to his arm at the Battle of Chickamauga who was fought a couple weeks prior to the date of this letter.

Gorrell wrote the 2nd letter from General Hospital No. 19 which was housed in the Morris and Stratton Building at No. 14 Market Street near the corner of Clark Street.

[Note: The following letters are from the personal collection of Greg Herr and were transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Letter 1

Tullahoma, Tennessee
July 31, 1862

Dear friends at home,

I have been waiting for a letter from home for the last month but no letter comes. The last letter that I received from home was dated the 6th of June. And I have come to the conclusion that you have either become very negligent about writing or the mails are miscarried so that I don’t get them. But all the other boys gets letters from home. I write two letters at Athens, two at Fayetteville, and one at Battle Creek and sent 45 dollars home but have not heard from any of them. And I thought I would write again and still live in hopes.

Since I wrote to you last, we have been most of the time on the go as usual. Wereceived an order from Gen. Buell when we was at Battle Creek to go over the mountain to Tullahoma and take possession of the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad and hold it for the safety of our army demanded it. We left Battle Creek on the 13th and marched over the Cumberland Mountain to Cowan Station on the railroad which took us two days. The weather was pleasant and we got along very well. And as rattlesnakes are plenty in those mountains, we killed two large ones on our last days march. One had 13 rattles and the other 11.

After we arrived at Cowan Station, got supper and laid down for the night. There was an order came to our Colonel telling him that our forces at Murfreesboro had been attacked by the rebels and for us to march immediately to Decherd for there was but a small force there and they expected an attack there in the morning. So we aroused from our beds on the ground, loaded up, and marched to Decherd which was about 6 or 7 miles further. We reached there about two o’clock in the night and stood picket guard from that till morning. This was trying the grit of a soldier pretty well. There was several of the boys give out but I was one of the number that stood it pretty well. We was not molested by any of the rebels that morning and left there the next day and come to Elk Springs where we stayed about a week and built a fortification for the protection of the railroad bridge across Elk River.

Six companies of our regiment left there on last Friday night about 10 o’clock and marched to this place. The other four companies was sent back to Cowan Station the next day. There reason we was ordered off from Elk Springs in the night was an attack was expected at Tullahoma but it was a failure as usual. There is always some of the rebel guerrilla parties lurking about to keep our forces on the look out for an attack but they never attack unless they have a decided advantage.

There was a force of about 1,000 of our men went down to Manchester on last Saturday. They found about 1500 barrels of flour, 1,000 bushels of wheat, and about 10,000 lbs. of pork and bacon which had been stowed away for the support of the rebel army. Our men took possession of it and will hold it, I think. There was a report came up from there on Sabbath morning that our men had been attacked at Manchester and the rebels was trying to get their flour and meat back. Our regiment and two pieces of artillery was ordered to that placed forthwith to fight, not particularly for the Union, but for the flour and meat. We was on board the cars and down there in a short time but the attack was made by a band of rebels only on our outpost pickets. As they had a force much larger that our pickets, they took some 10 or 12 of our men prisoners and dashed off in a hurry, not giving any time for a battle. Some of our men are now in pursuit of the rebels which are encamped down about McMinnville so that is their harboring place. It is to be hoped they (our men) will be successful in catching them.

The dash made upon the men at Murfreesboro (which I mentioned in this letter) I suppose you have got a full account of before this time but I will give you a short sketch of it as we have it here.

There was the 1st Kentucky Battery of Artillery, part of the 9th Michigan Regiment and the 1st Minnesota Regiment at or near Murfreesboro to guard the place as we have some sick soldiers there in the hospital. There was a force of about from 5 to 7,000 of rebel cavalry, or mounted infantry, made a dash in on them in the morning before daylight, taking them entirely on surprise. And as the 1st Minnesota Regiment was about a mile off on the opposite side from which the rebels came in, the rebels took most of the others prisoners before they could get to their assistance. They then dashed upon the 1st Minnesota Regiment and after a short fight, took the regiment prisoners. The part of the 9th Michigan & 1st Kentucky Battery it is said fought gallantly considering the chance they had. I said the 1st Kentucky Battery but there was only four pieces of it there. They shot away all their ammunition and was taken also. There was about 20 of our men killed and 80 wounded. Their loss is not known. This was a good haul for te rebel guerrillas.

Various changes are taking place in our army. Gen. Mitchell is sent off it is said to Virginia. There are various rumors but I don’t know for certain what for, Brig. Gen. Smith has command of the 3rd Division, all the Brigades and Regiments about here are divided into various parts guarding what they have got and several officers of our Brigade are undergoing a court martial for some of the outrage of the 8th brigade at Athens. There is some newspaper correspondents of Gen. Buell’s army that appears to be out of news and have went to gathering up rebel reports about the 8th Brigade and writing them to the papers. But as I belong to this outrageous 8th Brigade & Gen. Mitchell’s Division, I always have a word to say in its favor. There is one thing certain, there is no Division in the army that has done as much hard service and to as good a purpose with so few men as Mitchell’s Division. And as it happens, this 8th Brigade has been in front of the Division all the way through.

Mitchell’s Division captured provision enough at Bowling Green to feed the entire Division one month. After this, they made for Huntsville, building railroad bridges and preparing transportation as they went for the whole Division. Went to Huntsville, took possession of the rebels most important railroad and held it and took 300 or 400 prisoners at the same time. Now they have to be scandalized by some mean correspondents for a small outrage at Athens. And as I was an eye witness to the whole affair, I have a right to tell my story about it. When our regiment first went to Athens, our officers stationed guards all over town and not a cents worth of property was allowed to be touched by our soldiers. But the citizens began to come to our Provost Marshal with a very long smooth face on to get passes, pretending that they wanted to go to mill or to the country to get provisions for their families. They got their passes but instead of going on their pretended business, they went and informed the rebels of our small force, that we had no artillery, and that our regiment was scattered all over the neighborhood and along the railroad for guards and it would be a good chance to drive us from the town. This was told us by prisoners that our men took at Athens but they would not tell their names and when the rebels came in, the citizens gathered up their shotguns, mounted their horses, and assisted the rebels all they could, waving their secesh flags which they had hid under their beds. And when we was reinforced by our Brigade and went back and run the rebels off, our boys (and Col. Turchin, our Brigade commander) was affronted at the course the citizens had pursued and the boys broke open their stores and took what they wanted but did not injure the person of any of the citizens and Col. Turchin did not try very hard to stop the boys from getting what they wanted.

I did not favor the policy myself and took no part in it, not because I regretted to see the property destroyed, but because the innocent had to suffer with the guilty. We have some had boys amongst us no doubt but they are for putting an end to to the rebellion. And Col. Turchin says he can whip more rebels with his Brigade than another other Brigade in the service. Col. Turchin has been court martialed but they could not make anything out against him and he has got a commission as Brigadier General and says he will have no brigade only the one he had before. The colonels of all the regiments that was at Athens are undergoing court martials at Huntsville. I hope they will all come off right. The health of our regiment is tolerably good. My health is very good & all the Hooppole [boys] are well.

Daniel Bishop is dead (as I suppose you have heard). He died at the hospital at Shelbyville on about the 1st of July, I think. I don’t know for certain. I believe his disease was pronounced consumption. Daniel was a fine boy and well thought of in the company by every person. I seen a man that tended to him in the hospital. He said he was perfectly willing to die and died easy and calm as a summer’s morning. I cannot help blaming our officers for the way Daniel was treated. He wanted a furlough to go home and seemed in pretty good spirits as long as he thought there was any prospect of getting homer. But our officers was careless and let him lay in his tent till he was too weak to reach home. But I have no doubt that he is free from all his troubles.

George W. Bishop is unwell. He has never been very well wince he got over the measles. He is trying to get leave to go home. Whether he will succeed or not, I cannot [say]. I fear it is the consumption that is working on him and he[will] go as Daniel went before very long.

We have fine growing weather here at present. Corn is growing fine and has the appearance of a good crop. The railroad and railroad bridges are all repaired between Nashville and Stevenson and the cars are running through every day. Well, I have written all that I can think of at present so no more. But remain yours truly, — A. Gorrell

Write soon. Write often and write great big letters. Direct as before, — Amos Gorrell

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Letter 2

General Hospital No. 19
Nashville, Tennessee
October 7th 1863

Dear Friends at Home,

This morning finds me seated in the 2nd Ward of a large hospital which contains between three and four hundred sick & wounded soldiers; most all of them are of the latter class. Some are lying in their bunks unable to help themselves, some hobbling about with canes and crutches, some walking about with their heads tied up, others with their arms in slings, &c. But I believe the most of the wounded are getting along as well as can be expected. Some few in the ward above us has got the erysipelas in their wounds which is a very bad thing. There is no cases of it in our ward yet.

My wound is doing as well as can be expected, I believe. The swelling has most all left my arm and it has been mattering pretty freely for several days. The wound is beginning to heal and I think in the course of a month or so, I will be able to give the rebels a few more rounds from the Enfield rifle.

We are in a place where we are well taken care of. The doctor visits us everyday and our wounds are dressed twice a day. This hospital is kept clean and in good order. I have not heard any reliable news from the regiment since I came here. I wrote a letter to the company several days ago but have got no answer yet. I forgot to tell you in my last letter that I had formed an acquaintance with a man in the 11th Michigan Regiment by the name of Philson [Filson] who says he is a brother-in-law of Uncle John Fouty. He says that Aunt Letty Fouty is dead—died about 18 months ago. He says that Uncle John lives about 15 miles from Fort Wayne. I forget the county in Indiana. He says that he (Uncle John) is now a Methodist preacher and is doing well. He says that he owns a good farm & is in good circumstances. He also says that he is acquainted with a good many of the Gorrells in Indiana. He says there is one by the name of O. I. Gorrell in some Ohio regiment [but] he didn’t remember the number of the regiment. He says that John Gorrell’s son (Huffett) follows public lecturing a good part of the time. He was acquainted with Uncle Jessie Gorrell. Says he still follows preaching. He says there was some one of the Gorrells (he thought it was Uncle Jessie’s son) that was a chaplain in some Indiana regiment and had died in the army. This man (Philson) lives in Michigan close to the Indiana line. He married Uncle John’s sister.

The news about town is nothing of much importance as far as I know. Read the letters from a correspondent of the Chicago Journal on the first page. It is a pretty good description of the scenes on a battlefield. The truth of it, I was eye witness to a good deal of. There has been arrangements made (as you will see in the Union) for the Ohio soldiers at Nashville to vote. I think we will give Brough a good heist although we have been disarmed by the enemy’s bullets (but not without disarming fully as many of the graybacks). I think we will march out an Invalid Corps which will e able to disarm a large number of the able bodied Valandinghamers at the Ballot Box. I have received no letter from home since I came here. Write soon. yours truly, — A. Gorrell

Direct to Hospital No. 19, 2nd Ward, Nashville, Tenn. — A. Gorrell