South Carolina Cavalry

1862: John Caldwell Calhoun to Andrew Pickens Calhoun

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The following letter was written by John Caldwell Cahoun (1843-1918), the son of Andrew Pickens Calhoun (1811-1865) and Margaret M. Green (1816-1891). John was born near Demopolis, Marengo County, Alabama, on his father’s plantation, July 9, 1843. He is the grandson of the distinguished South Carolina statesman John C. Calhoun, whose wife was Floride, daughter of John Ewing Calhoun, United States Senator for South Carolina, in the 7th Congress, and who died in 1802. His eldest son, Andrew Pickens Calhoun, was the father of Captain Calhoun, and one of the largest cotton planters in the South, before the Civil War, who devoted himself entirely to agricultural pursuits. 

In the fall of 1860, at the age of seventeen years, young Calhoun entered the South Carolina College at Columbia as a sophomore. In the subsequent spring of 1861 the Civil War broke out, and he immediately volunteered for the Confederate Army in a company of cadets, which hastened to Charlestown, where they arrived at the time of the bombardment of Fort Sumter. After the cadets were disbanded he proceeded to Columbia and joined Capt. Tom Taylor’s company, which formed a part of the Hampton Legion Cavalry, of which he was appointed Color Sergeant. He was, however, discharged on account of his extreme youth. Hastily returning to his home, he organized a fine cavalry troop of 160 men and was on his way to the front within one month of his discharge. His company was assigned to Adams Battalion, commanded by Major James P. Adams, and afterward merged into the Fourth Regiment, South Carolina Cavalry, under command of Col. B. H. Rutledge, which was one of the regiments composing Gen. M. C. Butler’s Brigade, and it was under this commander Captain Calhoun continued to serve until the end of the war. When Lee surrendered he returned to Fort Hill, only to find his ancestral home devastated, and the entire fortune of the family swept away, in addition to which was the recent death of his father, that imposed upon him the immediate care and support of his widowed mother, together with provision for and the education of his young brothers, Andrew, James, and Patrick, and sisters, Margaret, and Lucrecia. 

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Camp near Grahamville
July 3rd 1862

My Dear Father,

I received yours of the 29th inst. this evening enclosing a note from Andrew Stevens. I am not very anxious to get him in my company as I think he is a perfectly worthless fellow. He will have to meet me in Columbia on the eighth if he desires to join us. I have the privilege men where I can get them by reporting the same to Col. Preston, but as I think I can get better men than Stevens, I will let him meet me in Columbia. I wrote to Col. Preston some time ago about the conscripts. He told me I might pick them provided I came in time. I will be in Columbia on the 7th and remain a few days. If I can do anything for you, write to me at Columbia.

I only last eight (8) men of having my company full; but as our duty is very arduous, I intend to count my wagoner, farrier, blacksmith, and artificer, &c. which will allow me fifteen men more. I have received numerous application from Pickens and several from this place to join my company & have sent for some eight or ten men in Pickens. I cannot take these men from the Low-country as they do not get on well with our Up-country men. My company at present is very well disciplined & give me no trouble. Therefore, I am very particular who I take. I think I will get Dr. Bennett elected in Boggs place. He is a very nice fellow & a perfect gentleman. Boggs will resign before very long but I can assure you it is not from sickness. It is from pure cowardice. He is the most errant coward I ever saw.

I went to McPhersonville a few days ago to see [Colonel W. S.] Walker 1 as I like to be well acquainted with my commanding officer. He paid my company quite a compliment (he was here on a review during my visit home). He told me I had one of the best drilled and finest looking companies on the coast. He is a very nice man but very stern.

The news from Virginia has been very good but I am sorry to see by this evening’s paper that the enemy are holding their ground. It will really be bad if the enemy are not completely routed after the glorious beginning. Stonewall Jackson deserves immortal praise for getting in the rear of the enemy so quickly. I regret very much to see the death of Howell Tsarvant and Oscar Leiber; also that John Haskel has his right arm shot off.

There is great complaint in our portion of the army against General Pemberton & I hear that the people of Charleston are petitioning for his removal. He treated Generals [Nathan G.] Evans and [William D.] Smith very badly (which I suppose you have heard of) & it is believed by some that he is delirious. We are all enjoying fine health at present & doing well. Love to all.

Your affectionate son, — John C. Calhoun

To Col. A. P. Calhoun

1 Col. William Stephen Walker (1822-1899) commanded the Third Military District at McPhersonville, South Carolina, during the summer of 1862.

Assassin Sympathizer, Lincoln Assassination

1865: George Warren Campbell to William Harrison Campbell

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The following letter was written by George Warren Campbell (1830-1874), the oldest child of Samuel Graham Campbell (1797-1873) and Elisabeth Goings (1804-1882) of Selma, Delaware county, Indiana. George enlisted in Co. D, 84th Indiana Infantry in August 1862 and mustered out of the service in late July 1864, being transferred to Co. C, Veteran Volunteer Engineering Corps. He was married in 1850 to Sarah Amanda Snidow (1833-1922) and had at least eight children.

George wrote the letter to his brother, William Harrison Campbell (1838-1912), who enlisted in Co. K, 19th Indiana Infantry on 29 July 1861 as a first sergeant and was promoted to 2nd, then 1st Lieutenant during the war. The 19th Indiana was, of course, part of the famed Iron Brigade or “Black Hat” Brigade. He was discharged for medical disability in October 1863 on account of the wound he received in the right hand while fighting Pettigrew’s North Carolinians in the afternoon of July 1st above Willoughby Run near Gettysburg.

ASSASSIN SYMPATHIZERS FACE PUNISHMENT.—Not all Union men mourned the loss of their leader. The Nashville Press described this image shortly after it was taken on April 15, 1865. “We saw a photograph yesterday of ten men who were arrested at Chattanooga on Sunday last for expressing pleasure at hearing of the death of President Lincoln,” reported a correspondent, who added, “Upon the breast of each was a tin plate with the words ‘Assassin Sympathizer’ painted on it.” The men were sentenced to labor on the streets in Chattanooga by day while wearing the placards, and by night they were confined in irons.

The Press also identified the men. They were a mix of soldiers and contract employees. It is unclear if the names listed by the Press match the actual order, left to right, in the photo: Government employees E. Jones, R.C. Jones and James Martin; citizen S. Moxley and blacksmith C.G. Moxley; and 18th Ohio Infantry privates Cyrus Leight, Henry D. Metzer, David Alspaugh and Moses H. Matheny. The soldiers were all late war recruits: Leight, Metzer and Alspaugh were substitutes who mustered into Company K during the last week of March 1865. Matheny mustered into the regiment in February 1864, making him the veteran of the group. The four men eventually received honorable discharges. They also hailed from the same state as U.S. Congressman Clement Vallandigham, the leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats, and a powerful opponent of the Lincoln administration.

A fragmentary period pencil inscription on the back of the mount notes that a lieutenant presented the photograph to a major general.

Albumen by an anonymous photographer. Paul Loane collection.

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Chattanooga, East Tennessee
May 2, 1865

Dear Brother Will,

I received your kind letter of April 12th a few days ago. The reason I did not answer sooner was owing to my not having stamps nor could I get any until yesterday. I should have liked to have been sporting with you. I have [not] had a squirrel hunt since last summer and you know I did not make it pay very well then. It is a wonder some of the young soldiers of Linnville did not offer their services to sit up with you the evening you killed the goose. They are certainly not very neighborly about that place, not so much so as they were a few miles south of there about thirteen years ago [when] I killed my first wild turkey in Missouri and some of the young ladies offered to sit up with me. That was owing perhaps to their being better acquainted with me than you.

We were rather jubilant over the fall of Richmond and Petersburg, the surrender of Lee’s army. It is hardly necessary for me to tell you that the death of our President cast a gloom over every thing with the exception of a few Rebels and butternuts. There were a few Rebs collected together at a house near the camp of Co. I of this regiment the evening of his death and having quite a jubilee over the sad intelligence, but their rejoicing was of short duration. Co. I went for them as soon as they found out what they were at, thrashed the men and sent them to the military prison, turned the women out of doors and fired the house. There were a few men who bear the name of soldier that rejoiced at the death of the President; such are now working on the most public streets of Chattanooga (or at least all such that [are] near this place) with a ball and chain attached to one foot, or rather ankle, and a card tied to their back with these two words, “Assassin Sympathizer” printed in large letters on them so that every person that can read or spell may see for what they are working there for. They ought to have their heads shaved and be drummed out of the service.

Since the surrender of [Joseph E.] Johnston’s Army, things look more cheerful and we are trying to think we will be mustered out soon, probably before the fourth of July next. However, I am not taking much stock in it. As to finding a location for you where it will not cost so much to live, I think that would be hard to do here unless he was in Government employ and that is about played out for they are discharging all government employees about here.

I believe I have written all the news. I saw my old regiment pass through here about a week ago enroute for Nashville. The boys thought they were going home. Lucy Campbell tells me to send you her respects. Give mine to Porter and Albert Sawyer. This leaves me well and hope it may find you the same. Hoping to hear from you soon, I close. As ever your affectionate brother, — G. W. Campbell

to Will H. Campbell

5th Texas Infantry, Battle of Antietam

1862: W. B. Powell to an Unknown Officer

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The following letter was written by W. B. Powell, a private in Co. D, 5th Texas Infantry. This regiment was organized in 1861 and fought with the Army of Northern Virginia throughout the war. In his letter, Powell informs us that he survived the Battle of Sharpsburg in which his regiment fought, being part of Hood’s Texas Brigade commanded by Col. William T. Wofford. Students of the Civil War will remember that it was Hood’s men who were thrown into the battle on the Confederate left just as the fight was reaching its zenith and blunted the Union attack. The 5th Texas lost 4 killed and 62 wounded out of the 175 men taken into battle. Later, when Hood was asked where his division was, he replied, “Dead on the Field.”

On the evening of September 18, 1862, the day after the Battle of Sharpsburg, Gen. Lee withdrew his troops a position behind the town and marched three miles to a shallow ford on the Potomac River near Shepherdstown, Virginia. Before the rebel army could withdraw completely into Virginia, a rear guard engagement occurred on September 19th and in addition to numerous casualties, there were many soldiers captured, including Powell, who we learn was too sick to march and so was detailed to remain behind as a nurse to other wounded Confederate soldiers and was consequently taken prisoner with them.

Moore Hospital on Main Street in Richmond, Virginia—originally a tobacco factory owned by George Harwood, then a prison for Union soldiers, then a Confederate hospital.

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Moore Hospital
Richmond, Virginia
October the 27th 1862

I write this to inform you that I am here sick. I went through the Battle in Maryland, thank God, and did not receive a wound and when our army fell back from Maryland, I was detailed and left in Shepherdstown in care of some of our wounded. I was there 5 weeks and during the time I was made prisoner and paroled. I was sick all the time I was there. I suffer great pain in my back and my heath is fast declining and it appears I cannot get a furlough and I am very anxious to get home as I cannot be doing anything for my country if I was able and don’t know when I will be exchanged. I wish you would come down here and get me away if you please. If you come, you will find me at Moore Hospital on Main Street about half mile below the American Hotel.

Please come but if you cannot come, write me as soon as you receive this. Direct your letter to Gen. Hospital No. 24. I hope you will come. Yours truly, — W. B. Powell

11th Alabama Infantry, Battle of Williamsburg

1862: Abner Newton Steele to Ellen C. (Thomson) Steele

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This letter was written by Abner Newton Steele (1826-1862) while serving as 1st Lieutenant in Co. G, 11th Alabama Infantry. Before enlisting with the North Port Rifles, Abner had prior military experience during the War with Mexico having served as the First Sergeant of Co. A, Mississippi Regiment Rifle Battalion.

Abner Newton Steele (courtesy of Jeff Thomson who posted image on Find-A-Grave)

At the time of the July 1860 US Census, Abner was employed as a merchant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, having previously operated a plantation near Columbus in Chickasaw county, Mississippi. Enumerated in the household with him was his wife, Eleanor (“Ellen”) Caroline Steele (1825-1906), age 33, his three sons, Richard (age 7), Frank M. (age 3), and John C. B. (age 1 month), and two girls, Isabella (“Bell”) Vaughan (age 16) and Mary J. Vaughan (age 14).

The 11th Alabama was organized in June 1861 at Lynchburg, Virginia, under Colonel Sydenham (“Syd”) Moore. By January 1862, they were attached to Cadmus Wilcox’s Brigade and fought under him at the Battle of Seven Pines, the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, and finally at the Battle of Frazier’s Farm (or “Glendale”) where Abner Steele, leading Co. G, was killed with 48 other men of the 11 Alabama in hand to hand combat with Federals defending two artillery batteries. Incredibly, eight of the ten officers leading companies in the 11th Alabama were killed in the bayonet assault at Frazier’s Farm.

See also—1861: Abner Newton Steele to Eleanor Caroline (Thomson) Steele published on Spared & Shared 20.

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Addressed to Mrs. E. C. Steele, Plum P., Tuscaloosa county, Alabama

Camp 16 miles below Richmond, Va.
May 11th 1862

My dear Ellen,

I am happy to inform you that I am alive and well. So is Peter and all the North Port boys. We left our fortifications at Yorktown on yesterday a week ago and have been on the march up to yesterday. We have made a halt and are now in battle array but I can’t say whether [Joseph E.] Johnston intends making a permanent stand or not. If he does not here, it is not far to where he will. It is supposed that the Yankees under McClellan are in hot pursuit of us with a large force and close in our rear.

We had an engagement with them at Williamsburg the day after we left and repulsed them with heavy loss. Also another near West Point with a like result, The 11th Alabama Regiment was not in it but close by and held as a reserve to reinforce if necessary. We lost several gallant officers at Williamsburg—Col. [Christopher Hayes] Mott of the 18th Mississippi and Major Forney of the 10th Alabama were among the killed. 1

Our retreat has been managed with the greatest skill of any one known in the world. It has given the whole army a great deal more confidence in General Johnston and I believe now that the army we have here can whip any army the Yanks can bring against us and I think in a few days we will have a chance to try it against the flower of the North.

You must watch the papers and see our movements. Our regiment is now in General Howell Cobb’s Brigade and in Major General Magruder’s Division. I seen nearly all our army here and it is a sight to see it. I can’t say how many men we have but enough to keep the Yanks out of Richmond.

The courier starts to the office immediately and I must close. Don’t be uneasy about me. I am in excellent health and in fine spirits. Remember me to the little boys. My respects to all. In great haste. Yours truly, — A. N. Steele

Direct your letters to Richmond, Va.

1 Col. Mott was indeed killed at the Battle of Williamsburg but Major William H. Forney was wounded in the right arm and taken prisoner. He was exchanged on 31 August 1862 and returned to his regiment where he was wounded once again at the Battle of Salem Church on May 1863. He was left on the field with multiple wounds at Gettysburg, captured again, and exchanged in August 1864. He finished the war as a Brigadier General in William Mahone’s Division.

27th Alabama Infantry, Fort Henry, Paducah, Kentucky

1862: Robert Lewis Bliss to Susan (Collins) Bliss

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The following letter was written by Robert Lewis Bliss, Jr. (1843-1908), the son of Robert Lewis Bliss, Sr. (1803-1872) and Susan Collins (1807-1885) of Florence, Lauderdale county, Alabama. Military records are sketchy but it’s clear that Robert enlisted as a private at Florence, Mississippi on 24 December 1861 and that he was recruited by Capt. [T. A.] Jones whom he mentions in this letter that was datelined less than a month after his enlistment. He was initially in the 27th Alabama Regiment but that he was captured at Fort Donelson but escaped and rejoined the remnants of other regiments who were organized into the 33rd Mississippi Battalion and later served as an Ordnance Sergeant in various organizations. After fighting in the Battle of Franklin in late 1864, Robert transferred to Forrest’s Cavalry Corps.

Though he was a private, Robert had excellent handwriting and at the time this letter was written in January 1862 he was probably serving as the company clerk. Most likely he and Capt. Jones were tenting together. Danville, Tennessee, where this letter was penned, no longer exists. It was permanently flooded with the creation of Kentucky Lake, but it stood near present-day McKinnon. Located on the Tennessee river, it became a location of strategic important because of the railroad bridge and the siting of a rebel commissary and hospital near the landing. It was located about 10-15 miles upriver from Fort Henry.

This letter pertains to the expedition by Flag Office Andrew Hull Foote who assigned the Lexington and the Conestoga gunboats to move from Paducah up the Tennessee River along with the transport, F. W. Wilson, carrying 500 infantry troops and artillery on 16 January 1862. On the 17th, the flotilla stopped just below Ft. Henry to fire on a suspected masked battery and at Fort Henry, though they were too far away to have any effect. The flotilla then withdrew to Aurora and the troops disembarked. For the next couple of days, the two Union gunboats probed the area near the fort and exchanged a few shots with the fort and a Confederate gunboat and then withdrew, concluding that the fort could be readily taken by Grant’s forces should he obtain permission from Halleck to proceed. [Source: Union Gunboat Action on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, 1861-1864, by Lowell L. Getz]

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Danville Landing
January 19, 1862

Dear Mother,

A few days ago a runner came in from Paducah with a dispatch sewed up in his bootleg stating that a large force was preparing to march up the rivers Tennessee and Cumberland. Yesterday morning between 3 and 4 o’clock, the alarm was beat and the adjutant came to our tent and cried out, “Capt. get up—the devil’s to pay—the Yankees are coming!” It did not take long to dress. We were marched out to an old field where those who had no guns were ordered to return to camp to pack all things portable and to cook as many things as possible for it was thought probable we would have to abandon our position, having no fortifications and being very poorly armed, I was on the list of those who had no guns and was sent back and made manager of the camp. I had everything packed and made ready.

Two or three boats came up from Ft. Henry. All the negroes were sent up the river and all the sick were put on two other boats. Just as they were about starting, Capt. Jones ordered me to go with them and to take charge of our trunks and his negro. We left there between 9 and 10 p’clock. Two gunboats had been in sight of Ft. Henry and fired about twenty times. The scouts reported that they were landing in large force twenty miles below. On this boat were about 60 men sick and nurses. Dr. [Edward] McAlexander 1 came up this morning and reported no fight yesterday but that they expected an attack this morning had it not been for a very heavy rain which fell last night and still continues.

The enemy had landed 2,200 strong below. Our men had put all their baggage on board the “Smith” and if compelled were ready to be transported to Ft. Henry. They slept on their arms all last night. I am very well with the exception of being half starved. I did not want to come up here but Capt. Jones would not let me off. In a great hurry, — R. L. Bliss

We are now at the Tennessee [railroad] bridge but may have to go further up. — R. L. B.

1 Edward Asbury McAlexander (1833-1870) was a physician from Gravelly Springs, Lauderdale county, Alabama. He was the Colonel of the 27th Alabama Infantry.

21st New York Cavalry

1865: Richard G. Ketchum to Jesse W. Ketchum

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The following letter was written by Richard G. Ketchum (1832-1872), the son of John Ketchum (1798-1886) and Sarah Groome (1796-1873) of Bristol, Ontario county, New York. Richard wrote the letter to his younger brother, Jesse W. Ketchum (b. 1841).

Richard served late in the Civil War, joining Co. H, 21st New York Cavalry in the fall of 1863. From the letter we learn that Richard was detached from his regiment working as a teamster for the General Hospital at Frederick, Maryland, where he imagined himself the beau idéal of Frederick. Perhaps the war had narrowed down the bachelor pool a bit.

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Addressed to Mr. Jesse W. Ketchum, Cheshire, Ontario county, New York

USA General Hospital
Frederick, [Maryland]
June 19th 1865

Dear Brother,

This morning I received your kind letter. I was glad to hear from home once more. So I must come home before long as I like to stay so well and they—the people here—as well as Dr. Helsby, think so much of me that they don’t want me to go yet. They say they can’t get along without me, So the girls are trying hard to nab me for a husband. There is forty leven of them after me. Yesterday two girls came in and enquired for me, but another girl had me to her house. She is [a] very steady girl too, and [a] hard working one. She is so small that I could carry her home without setting her down and not get tired. She loves me better, or she loves me stronger than any other girls do.

There is another one whose father is so rich that he won’t work and her mother is so fat that she tales off all her clothing but her shimmy and hoops as the weather is so warm. This girl is only thirteen years old and she is as big as Mary. I took her age at twenty-six. Now I think I better leave here. I can tell you plainer when I come home about all this.

I hardly know what to do to work here in harvest or come home. I shall write before I start. I think of going to Pennsylvania to see Minnie and her brother as he has come home from a reb’s prison. He was as large as John but now he only weighs eighty lbs. they say and it will be six months before he is like he was once. I will send you a letter from them to me if I can find it. I have so many letters, I shall have to burn most of it before I leave.

It is raining hard now only a big shower. I have bought some goats that I am is going to take home if I can. I gave three dollars for old, nanny goat and three for two kids. I have been well ever since last September. We got some goats then so I think it is their stink what keeps me well. You can smell them as soon as they get to camp. Then you will be sure to know that I am there. I guess (clean your nose). I have to drive a four horse team for the people here next Saturday to a spree. They say it’s the last ride with me.

Well Jesse, I must close this hoping to be home soon. Then we can have a long chat about Frederick. I goes out in the country most every day some. Part of this county is beautiful—so nice that I would like to live there. I wish I had five thousand dozen chickens down here. I could sell them in Baltimore for one dollar per pair no larger than doves. Is not that high? The people here in the country gets thirty cents apiece for them. Beef is twenty cents a lb. That is why chickens are so high. I buy for Dr. Helsby most every day as I goes in the country some twenty miles out and back the same day. I must stop. Square off, So goodbye, — Dick

2nd Vermont Infantry, Battle of Chancellorsville

1863: James Dion to Mary Ann (Monney) Dion

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The following letter was written by James Dion, a native of Quebec who emigrated to the United States and enlisted as a private in Co. D, 2nd Vermont Infantry on 13 August 1862 and served until 21 April 1865.

A post war tintype of James Dion

During the Battle of Chancellorsville, the 2nd Vermont was part of the Vermont Brigade led by Col. Lewis A. Grant in Albion Howe’s 2nd Division of John Sedgwick’s Sixth Corps. It was the 6th Corps that drove Jubal Early’s troops from Marye’s Heights on 3 May 1863—the day before this letter was penned. Only two Mississippi regiments, the 18th and 21st, under Brig. Gen. William Barksdale (1,200 men and eight guns) defended the rebel entrenchments.

After attacks on the flanks were repulsed, Sedgwick boldly decided to attack the center of the line—hard and fast—believing the lightly held, though strongly fortified position could be overrun if his men fixed bayonets and did not stop to reload as they charged up the slopes. He arranged for the assault to be made in three lines, the first composed of the 7th Maine, and two battalions of the 21st New Jersey and the 33rd New York. The 2nd Vermont was in the second line along with the 6th Vermont and the 26th New Jersey. The third line included the 3rd Vermont, 6th Vermont, and the rest of the 21st New Jersey.

In fifteen to thirty bloody minutes in the late morning of May 3, Sedgwick’s troops achieved their objective but lost 1,100 men in the process. This letter was written from the camp of the 2nd Vermont the morning after the battle before the regiment was marched out on the Orange Plank Road into the Wilderness where lead elements of Sedgwick’s Corps had met resistance at Salem Church the evening before.

We learn that in taking the rebel works, many of Early’s men left behind their knapsacks that were plundered by the 6th Corps. James’ letter informs us that he recovered the rebel stationery from a “napesaque” left in the earthworks.

Though written in French, fortunately James’ letter is short enough—and simple enough—that I can make out most of it, more or less.

This letter was provided to me for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by Sherrie Westmoreland, who is his 3x great granddaughter. She informs me that James was married to Mary Ann Monney, a Swiss immigrant. Her father, Pierre (Peter) Monney was shot and killed at the Battle of Spotsylvania where James was also shot—twice—and taken prisoner. He then survived imprisonment at Andersonville.

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Fredericksburg, Virginia
May 4, 1863

Dear woman, I am writing you a few lines to let you know that I am in good health and I hope my letter finds you well as it leaves me. Dear woman, we were in battle four days. Yesterday our regiment charged bayonets on a rebel fort and we took it. They were taken quite quickly without time to take their knapsacks and I found this paper that I took out of a knapsack.

Much respect to all the family. Kiss Emma for me. Farewell. I kiss you with all my heart. I don’t have time to write at length. I don’t have the time. Farewell.

I miss you. Your husband for life, — James Dion

John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln Assassination

1865: Emma E. Davis to William Sidney Gray

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This letter was written by Emma E. Davis (1842-1927) of Strafford county, New Hampshire, the daughter of Alfred Davis (1819-1898) and Chloe Parker (1822-1902). We learn from the letter that Emma was working as a store clerk in Boston during the last year or two of the Civil War. It appears she must have married Jacob Childs (ten years her senior) sometime shortly after this letter was penned and lived out her days in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Emma wrote the letter to her cousin, William Sydney Gray (1836-1907) of Stratford, Coos county, New Hampshire. “Sydney” was the oldest of six children born to Thomas Gray (1810-1882) and Olive F. Davis (1810-1895). Syndey enlisted August 1862 to serve in Co. F, 12th New Hampshire Infantry. He was wounded slightly in the head at Chancellorsville and again at Chapin’s Farm.

Emma expressed shock at the news of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and marvels that she saw the benefit performance of J. Wilkes Booth at the Boston Museum a year earlier.

[Note: This letter is from the Sic Parvis Magna Collection and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

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Adressed to Mr. William S. Gray, Washington D. C., Co. F, 12th Regt. N. H. V., Point Lookout, Md.

Boston, Massachusetts
May 28th 1865

Cousin Sidney,

As I was looking over some of my letters this afternoon (it being so stormy that I could not attend church), I happened to take up your last and stopped and read it, and if I recollect right, I have not answered it. And having nothing particular to do this afternoon I thought to spend a few minutes in answering it.

I suppose you are truly glad that your time expires soon. How many happy hearts there will be when those brave soldiers come marching home. I am truly thankful that this “cruel war is so nearly at an end.” It seemed as news came over the wire that Lee had surrendered that our whole land was filled with rejoicing. Boston was all excitement. All places of business were closed and all the Military and Fire Companies of Boston and the adjacent towns marched through the principal streets and bells were rung and cannon fired.

The 10th of April was a day long to be remembered in Boston. But it seemed that their rejoicing was soon to be turned to mourning. The morning of the 15th I shall never forget. As I went to the store everybody looked so sad that I wondered what could be the reason of it. Upon entering the [store] I asked one of the salesmen why it was everyone looked so sad. And they said, did you not know that our President had been killed. I could hardly believe it. But upon opening the paper, I found that it must be so. And upon returning home that afternoon the buildings were everywhere draped in mourning. Such a sad sight as Boston presented that week will be long remembered.

It seems dreadful that such a good man as Lincoln was should die by the hand of the assassin. I saw J. Wilkes Booth a year ago this month in the Museum. That was the only time I ever went to the Museum. It was his benefit evening. It was a tragical performance. It hardly seems possible he could ever have committed such a crime as he personated that evening.

Advertisement appearing in the Boston Evening Transcript, Friday, May 20, 1864

But I suppose you will want to hear of something else so I will leave that. I presume you knew that Augustus had again enlisted for three years in the 17th US Regulars—the same regiment he was in before. He enlisted the 14th of March. I was home this spring and stopped one day. I had a letter from home yesterday. They are all well at home. Augustus is in a Recruiting Office in Dover, and expects to stop there this summer. Edwin & Charles are grown up now, nearly as large as Augustus. Lizzie is a great girl and Frank and Rubie say that they wish Emma would come home and stay. I hardly think I shall go there to stay again although Father thinks I ought to come home and stay this summer.

My health has been very poor this spring. I have sometimes thought I should not be able to work but they think they cannot spare me at the store. I suppose you are expecting to come home in a short time, as the story is here that all soldiers whose time expires this year will come home next month. If you come through Boston on your way home, please call at 25 Federal Street and see me. Or if it is in the evening or on Sunday, you will find me at 75 Brighton Street, Boston. I do not board in Chelsea now. Please excuse all mistakes writing, &c., and answer as soon as convenient and direct to Emma E. Davis, 25 Federal Street, Boston, Mass.

By the [by], I have a present from the ladies in the room. I am Overseer Officer of a photograph album and I have reserved a place for your picture in it. I have got three soldiers pictures in it now but I fear you will say, “I wish Cousin Emma would not write so long a letter to me so I will close.” Remember and call to see me when you go home. From your cousin, — Emma E., 25 Federal Street

How do you suppose Uncle Jeff likes his headquarters now?

1st North Carolina Artillery, Battle of Gettysburg

1863: Tilman Jenkins to his Parents

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The following letter was written by Tilman Jenkins (1840-1864), the son of David and Elizabeth (Hogans) Jenkins of Gaston county, North Carolina. Jenkins enlisted as a private in Co. C (Capt. Joseph Graham’s Battery), 1st North Carolina Artillery in the fall of 1862. They were attached to Poague’s Artillery Battalion in the summer of 1863 when Tilman scratched this message to his parents during the Battle of Gettysburg just as the artillery duel began in the afternoon of July 3rd. Tilman survived the battle but was killed instantly when he was struck in the forehead by a Union artillery round near the Mule Shoe in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on 12 May 1864. He was survived by his wife Margaret (Prather) Jenkins and two year-old son Nathan.

Graham’s Battery arrived on the field at Gettysburg late in the evening of the 1st day and planted their Napoleons on what is now West Confederate Avenue. They were not brought into action on the second day. On the morning of July 3rd, they opened on the Union position on Cemetery Ridge but soon ceased firing when they drew a concentrated fire on their position. They later took part in the cannonade that preceded Pickett’s charge but never used the 12 pound Howitzers which had an even shorter range than the 12 pound Napoleons (all smoothbores bronze guns). In Jenkins’ letter, however, he mentions being detailed to bring up ammunition for their “rifled cannon” which leaves one wondering what he is referring to. The answer may be found in a report by Jenkins’ captain, Arthur B. Willliams, Co. C, who wrote that Major Pogue offered them a “three-inch rifled cannon” that “had been captured during the afternoon on the left” which they could exchange for one of their inferior guns. They used it on the 3rd day of the battle but did not have much ammunition for it which might explain why Jenkin’s was detailed to the rear to get more ammunition for this gun. [See Capt. Joseph Graham’s Charlotte Artillery on Civil War Talk.]

Transcription

Gettysburg, Penna.
Grahams Battery
July 3, 1863

Dearest Mother and Father,

I take pencil in hand to deliver to you both my sincerest affection and to let you know that I have yet survived this horrible place. We arrived July 1st about two miles from this place and engaged the enemy who seemed to be everywhere. Gen. Longstreet arrived near two and a half in the afternoon and engaged the enemy upon a hill along our right flank on the second day. Many good men left their lives on the bloody ground including young Jacob. The sight was as terrible as could be imagined and the anguish of both men and horses was liken to drive a sane man mad. Cousin John was brought from the field without his face or legs having felt the wrath of a Yankee shell that burst next to him. Oh the horror!

Blood coats the fields and flies are all over us like the demons of Hell. I do not know how men can do to one another what they did today and ever sleep again. Last night we slept upon the rocky ground, and got no rest from the moans of those who lay dying still yet on the fields before us. The guns of the devils has now awoke as the sun is approaching half past noon. The cannon are thundering all around liken to a great storm to approach.

I am detailed to bring up ammunitions for our rifled cannon as the bronze guns have no effect on the yankee bastards. I wish them all to die in hell for what they do and to suffer forever their unjust and unholy cause. If I live through this day, I will find a way to tell you I am still alive. Pray for us, Mother, and never give up our holy cause we are dying for. 

Your affectionate son, — Tilman Jenkins

Address Company C, 1st N. C. Light Artillery, CSA

Virginia Homefront

1862: James McCally to Helen (McCally) Pitkin

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The following letter was written by James McCally (1786-1872), the son of Capt. James J. McCally (1746-1810) and Elizabeth C. Watson (1764-1834) of Pendleton county, Virginia. When James wrote this letter in January 1862 from his home in Clarksburg, Harrison county, Virginia (now West Va.), he was a widower, his wife Penelope Williams (1795-1858) having passed some three years previous. He was still practicing medicine at the time of the 1860 US Census but in 1870 he was described as a retired farmer.

James wrote the letter to his daughter Helen McCalley (1833-1882) who married George Edward Pitkin (1826-1878) in Jackson county, Missouri, in 1858. Apparently Helen and George’s first child—Charles F. Pitkin (b. 1860) suffered from chronic catarrh. Helen’s husband George E. Pitkin was the assistant auditor of the Missouri River, Fort Scott, and Gulf Railroad in 1878 when, in a drunken stupor, “blew his brains out at the office of the company in Kansas City.”

Also mentioned in the letter was Virginia McCally (1823-1874) who married Judge George Hay Lee (1806-1873) after his first wife died in 1839. The wedding of Hugh Holmes Lee (1836-1869), one of the children of the Judge’s first marriages, is described. Hugh was married to Mary Marsh Criss (1843-1906) on 25 December 1860.

Finally, Penelope Rachel McCally (1818-1897) is mentioned. Rachel was married in 1840 to Thomas Ramage (1811-1861).

The letter contains a great description of James McCally’s heritage (the surname sometimes spelled McCauley) as well as his views on the war in 1862.

Transcription

Clarksburg, Virginia
January 3rd 1862

My dear Helen,

I received your affectionate and kind letter of the 24th ult. (Christmas eve) on yesterday & I will first reply to that part of it relating to our correspondence. There must have happened a failure of the mail. You did not receive two of my letters—the first promptly acknowledging the receipt of the box containing Dody’s clothes. I informed you of the fact, and how well they fit her and how well they pleased her, and of the other fact I think that there was some little delay in consequence of the box being directed to the care of G. Hoffman for it seemed to me strange that anything addressed to our house should be sent to the care of anyone else. I who have lived here upwards of fifty years can hardly be so obscure as to render it necessary to direct a package to my little granddaughter to anyone else.

Next, how I gave the Gum Ammoneack. Well, I seldom have given it & lately not at all. It is not now much used but it is thought it has some good effects in chronic catarrh. The way to prepare it is as follows, Zake of Amononcac 2 drams, which is a quarter of an ounce, and water half a pint, rub in a mortar, the amoniac with the water gradually added until they are thoroughly mixed, then strain through a thin cloth in order to remove impurities. This is called Lac. Ammonieaci. The substance called Ammoniack generally comes in a dirty condition & ot is pretty difficult to get it clean. The best way for you to do is to buy say a quarterer of a pound & pick out two drams of the gum. The dose of the milk thus prepared for a grown person is a table spoonful. Your baby I suppose might take a common tea spoonful. I have but little confidence in it though it has been used as a medicine from high antiquity.

Now I must say something about your dear little Charra Joe. She is in most excellent health and happiness & grows fast enough to make a woman exactly like her mother in body & mind. She is acknowledged to be the most apt & talented child amongst us. I undertook to learn her to write & you will see a specimen in her letter to you. The way I done it was to write a line of a comic song & she would copy it, then another line, and she copy until we would write the whole song in this way. And then another song, and whilst she was highly delighted she learned to write. The letter you will receive is every word of her own diction, and writing. The way that was done was she wrote the letter herself on a sheet of this paper on which I now write, but she had generally left too much space between the words, so I copied it placing it on the paper & on a sheet the size of the one sent. She then drew it off again as you will receive it. It is directed by her as you will see. I am sorry I don’t write myself a better hand, for I find she is copying my hand almost exactly. This plan has had the advantage of learning her to read writing which she does with very considerable facility. She reads print remarkably well. I often get her to read pieces in the newspaper for me in the dim of the evening when I cannot well see, and she does it very satisfactorily. She is growing, I think, very handsome. The skin is smooth and her countenance very radiant, particularly when she is in a good humor which is her wont.

Your sister Virginia is at home with her fine baby. I was there last night. She sends her love to you & instructed me to say that she intends to write to you that her baby Grace Darling is very much like Maud was when a babe. I think her health is quite as good if not better than usual under similar circumstances. I think Judge Lee’s health good although he has had two attacks of gastritis (inflammation of the stomach) and is not yet quite over the last one which I think he brought on by eating a little too much & drinking a little too much wine at his son’s infare, who was married on Christmas Day evening and the infare at Lee’s on the next Friday. The entertainment at Cress & at Lee’s were certainly as fine as I ever saw. Hugh married Mary Cress, the 4th daughter. There is one single older than her & two younger. Aaron Cross has six daughters.

Your sister Rachel’s health is not good. She was dangerously ill two or three weeks ago but has got better. I have not seen her.

Tell Mr. Pitkin to give me his views on the disastrous affairs of the U. S. I wish I could give him mine to my own satisfaction. I am a native of about the middle of Virginia. My blood is full anglo-saxon. My grandfather Henry McCally was born in Scotland, married an English woman by the name of Aspy, and settled in Ireland in the linen draper business where my father was born who was raised a cabin boy at sea until he became a captain in the British Navy, which office he resigned on the approach of the Revolution in the United States Colonies and married in Virginia Elizabeth Watson, the daughter of the brother of that Bishop who wrote the apology of the bible in answer to Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason.

My grandmother was Margaret Hunter, a daughter of one of the Doctor Hunter’s of English medical fame so that I am of that stock of men that would rather lose their lives than liberty. I am in favor of the call of a convention of the People of Virginia and their amending the Constitution of the US and submitting it to all the states and with those states who ratify the Constitution thus amended unite, be they north, south, east, or west, and to dissolve with all who refuse. And that this amendment shall open the territories to the settlement of all the people of all the states, slaves or no slaves, and that no state shall ever come into this Union thus formed or reformed who prohibits the holding of African slaves except the states which now exists, and that they shall not harbor or admit the immigration of either free or runaway negroes, and that none of them shall allow negroes the right of suffrage.

Well, my dear child, my own dear daughter, I have filled my sheet. Excuse its errors and may God bless your pure heart. — J. McCally

to Helen