These two letters were written by 49 year-old Lt. Mahlon Pitney Davis (1813-1876) of Co. K, 63rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He wrote both letters to his son, Mahlon “Oscar” Davis (1844-1862), who served as a musician in the same company and regiment. Oscar died of typhoid fever at the regimental hospital on 28 May 1862. Mahlon resigned his commission on 27 May 1862.
The 63rd OVI did not get organized until late January 1863 and then it was set immediately took the field and joined Major General John Pope in Missouri. At New Madrid, the 63rd was brigaded with other Ohio regiments in what became known as the Ohio Brigade. It took part in all the operations resulting in the surrender of Island No. 10.
Mahlon was married in 1838 to Lydia Ann Morrow (1819-1899). The Davis’s were enumerated on the family farm near Trimble, Athens county, Ohio, at the time of the 1860 US Census.
I could not find an image of either Mahlon or his son Oscar, but here is an Ambrotype of William Harrison Moore (1828-1894) who enlisted in the same company (Co. K) of the 63rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. (Harrison G. Moore IV Collection)
Letter 1
Addressed to Mr. Oscar Davis, 63rd Regt. OVI
[Hamburg, Tennessee] May 19, 1862
Dear Oscar. I am still at Hamburg in the hospital. I am on the mend. I have had no good chance to go home yet but I expect I can go before long as there has been no sick boats—or boats for the sick—a going to Cincinnati of any consequence. If I don’t get a chance soon to go home, I will come back to you as soon as there is a chance with team. I am well taken care of at the hospital. I have written one letter home but I have had no word from any of them. Neither have I had any word from you since Tom Dawson was in. He told me he saw you and I sent a dollar to you by him. If he has not given it to you, ask him for it—that is, if he has not given it to you. I would like for you to write to me and let me know how you are getting along. Direct your letter to Hamburg P. O., Tennessee.
Lieut. [Wesley S.] Tucker 1 of Fouts’ company [D] is here with me. He wants to go home but the doctor who is tending the ward won’t let him go home but he will let me on the account of my bad health. William Vore [Co. A] is attending in the ward or he is sick now in Ward No. 3. I want you to see Solomon Johnston. 2 Tell him that William Vore wants him to send his Descriptive Roll as he talks of going home. He wants Johnston to forward it on as soon as he can to Hamburg either by mail or any reliable person. You go and tell Solomon Johnston or show him these lines as it was Vore’s request for me to write.
Oscar, I want you to write to me as soon as you can conveniently. — M. P. Davis
[to] Oscar Davis
1 Lt. Wesley S. Tucker was commissioned 1st Lt. in October 1861 and resigned on 18 June 1862.
2 Solomon H. Johnston was a lieutenant in Co. A, 63rd OVI.
Letter 2
Hamburg [Tennessee] May 21, 1862
Oscar,
I am still here. I gain slowly. I have a diarrhea yet. It bothers me at night. I feel very weak but I am doing as well as could be expected. I have had no word from you or home since I saw Tom Dawson. I would like you to write to me at Hamburg or if the teams come, you might come and see me as a drummer. Mick would let you come. There is no guards or pickets to pass as some said if the fight goes on you run no necessary danger. The talk is here that there will be a big fight as Beauregard and all of the South are together at Corinth. I would like to go home but they tell me there is none going home now.
George Henry and E. Davis both got on a boat of sick passengers for St. Louis. I would like for you to write soon as you can or come and see me if you can get away with some teams as it is too far for you to walk. If you was to come, change your old coat for a new one as I am too tired to hunt the box. The box is in among the rest of the boxes. I took a short look for it the other day but did not find the box.
I would be glad to see you or hear from you. I add no more. Goodbye. — M. P. Davis
This incredible letter was written by William E. Vanauken, the son of John Vanauken (1810-1856) and Emmaleta Vredenburg (1804-1862) of Chemung county, New York. William enlisted at the age of 21 as a private in Co. D, 107th New York Infantry (the “Campbell Guards”) on 7 August 1862. At the time of his enlistment he was described as standing 5′ 7″ tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was promoted to a corporal sometime prior to 10 April 1863 and made sergeant on 5 March 1864. Unfortunately, William himself died in a similar fashion to what he described in the present letter at Dallas, Georgia, on 25 May 1864.
William’s Headstone in Marietta National Cemetery misspelled “Nanauken”
In his letter, William describes the maelstrom the 107th New York found itself in on the morning of 17 September 1862 near Miller’s Cornfield and the East Woods on the Antietam Battlefield. After making their advance, the yet untested regiment soon found itself hunkered down behind a fence on the Smoketown Road near Mumma’s Lane. Across the clearing before them, through the dense smoke of battle, they could just barely make out the Dunker Church and the West Woods beyond. On the right before them was Monroe’s Battery and to the left was Owen’s Battery, both under heavy fire from Rebel cannoneers. And when their right flank was threatened, the regiment was order to change front to meet the new attack, only to find themselves soon afterward prostrate again between two rows of Union artillery, every cannon belching out fire and canister as fast as it could be loaded. For four hours, the regiment lay pinned to the ground between the rows of artillery, one member of the regiment [Newton T. Colby] telling his father he “tried to get as thin as possible and felt somewhat like a pancake.”
Not all of the boys in the 107th performed as well as they thought they would under fire according to Willie Graham of Co. B. “I honestly think we have a great many cowards in our regiment. We have got a great many of the village loafers and whiskey soakers—great braggarts—swearing what they would do when they got there [on the battlefield] and when we did get there, them very boys was taken sick or skulking behind straw stacks.” [see 1862: William Graham to Libbie Graham]
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Richard Weiner and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Camp Third [Brigade] 1 September 27, 1862
Dear Brother and Sister,
I got your letter and was glad to hear from you. We are at Harper’s Ferry now. We are both well. Frank is reading your letter now. I have not seen Frank Vredenburg 2 since he was wounded. He is wounded in the hand. We are up on the hill a half a mile away from Harper’s Ferry. We can see the little village all the time. We went down to the Potomac this afternoon and went in a swimming and washed our clothes. We had a good time. When I got back, the mail had come in and there was jumping to get our letters.
Here is where John Brown was hung. The rebels was here and burnt the bridges to Harper’s Ferry. The engineer company has been here building bridges.
I am writing by candle light and I can’t half see. You need not be alarmed about the rebels coming up there for we give them one of the finest dressings that they ever had. The most of the talk now is that we have got them whipped now. They are a hard-looking set. Ez, I saw a good many of them giving their last prayer to God. I saw them gasp their last breath.
They had a battle here before we came and there was a [Union] General give up his men 3 and he is arrested now for it. That is when they burnt the bridge.
Ez, I went over the battleground the 3[rd] day and they was not half buried yet and they had all turned black. You could not have told your own brother if you had seen him. They reckoned that we killed two to one At any rate, I saw 40 of them in one place where our men had made a charge and there was only 5 of our men was killed there. That was an awful day. I was nervous to get into the fight but I would give my old hat and boots if I had been out of it. I tell you that it’s bad to see your companions dropping on every side of you.
When I first went in, the first thing that I saw was a shell come over my head and went about 6 rods beyond me and hit the ground and bursted and tore one boy’s leg off close to his body and tore one side off his head. He was the worst looking sight that anybody ever saw. I stepped over a good many dead bodies, some with their brains shot out and some with their legs shot off and such cries you never heard. Some of our boys [were] hollering, “Go in boys and kill the sons of bitches!” Horses was killed—lots of them. We saw one man with his horse. He was riding him and there come a shell and cut him in two and the horse ran away with his hind quarters on his back riding him as though he was alive and that looked hard. Ez, you can’t imagine nothing about it.
You must tell Bill Rockwell that Frank is wounded. I wrote a letter to Richard day before yesterday and two yesterday—one to Chloe and one to George Stanley. And tonight I got three letters—one from Richard and one from Emma Crandall. I will write a little more in the morning and let him know that I got his letter. I will write to Em in the morning so I will put them all together. That will be 5 letters. The mail goes out at 1 o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Frank got a letter from Rachel tonight. He is reading a newspaper now. Tell Jim he must take good care of the old fiddle. Rachel, kiss the children for me. This is all from your affectionate brother, — William Vanauken.
I heard that Melissa Crandall was married. I want you to write as soon as you get this. Goodbye. All my love to all of you.
1 I can’t be certain that I have transcribed the name of the camp correctly. It may have been “Third” Brigade, XII Corps, as that is the unit the 107th was part of at the time. After the Battle of Antietam, the 107th New York, 13th New Jersey, and the rest of the Third Brigade went into camp across the Potomac from Harpers Ferry on Maryland Heights, where they occupied a piece of farmland on a plateau on the west side of the ridge. They did not see action again until Chancellorsville.
2 Francis (“Frank”) D. Vredenburgh was 21 years old when he enlisted with William at Elmira in Co. D, 107th New York Infantry. Muster rolls indicate that he “deserted, no date, from hospital.”Frank was a cousin of William’s.
3 William is probably referring to Union General Dixon Stansbury Miles (1804-1862) who surrendered Harper’s Ferry to Stonewall Jackson’s men on 15 September 1862 giving up almost 12,500 prisoners. Miles was mortally wounded after calling for a ceasefire so probably avoided being cashiered.A commission was subsequently tasked to investigate the fiasco and concluded that Miles was probably a traitor and one or more subordinates were found at fault as well.
This unusual statement was written in 1832 by Walthall Burton (1807-1899) a planter residing near Woodville in Wilkinson county, Mississippi, in the early 1830s. Woodville was one of the earliest towns established in Mississippi. It was sited in the rolling hills just north of the Louisiana-Mississippi border in the southwest corner of the state on the Natchez Trace. The planter community centered at Woodville thrived on cotton production from the 1830s until the Civil War.
Burton was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, the son of Wilson Burton (1779-1825) and Eleanor Gray Bruce (1778-1862). He lived there with his parents until 1811 when the family relocated to Wilkinson county, Mississippi. When he was 19 years old, he became the overseer of a plantation near his parent’s home but by 1827 he was ready to start his own plantation near Woodville. It was on this plantation that he wrote the following.
The year following, 1833, he move to St. Helena Parish where he resided until 1849. Following the Civil War, Burton spent his time steamboating on the Atchafalaya river. He was married in 1827 to Theresa A. Terrel of Mississippi.
This statement appears to have been meticulously prepared as if it were intended as an exhibit in a trial, but I can find no record in the Woodville newspapers of either the described incident itself or a trial that might have followed.
[Note: This statement is from the personal collection of Rob Morgan and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Walthall Burton’s Pocket Book, Wilkinson, County, Mississippi—Woodville
Transcription
On Saturday, 26th of May, Wilson went to Woodville and was there informed by William Evans that my Boy Reuben 1 had brought an order to him and which he had taken up and wished to know whether it was good or not. Wilson came home and told me of the order and asked me if I had gave such an order. I told him that I had not and asked him in what way my name was signed. He told me that it was signed Wat Burten. I then realized that it was forged if it was intended for my name.
Advertisement for store operated by James Jones in Woodville in April 1832
On the Thursday following I went to Woodville to see Evans about the order. I went to Evans’ house and saw Mrs. Evans who showed me the order. I told her that my name was forged to the order and enquired of her what kind of a negro it was that passed the order. She described the negro to the best of her recollection and said that he had a hat on that he told her he had got at Mr. [James] Jones’s. I then went to Jones and asked him if he had sold a boy of mine a hat. He said that he had but it was on an order of mine that he done it. I then told him that I had drawed no order on him at all. He then said that he had two orders on me passed by the same boy. I came home and on the next day I searched all of my negro houses and could find none of the kind of goods that was given me as a sample. I then went to my negroes and showed them the samples and asked if they knew of any person that has such clothes; one of them told me that Mr. Deloroches’ Ned had such them goods. I then went and seen Delroch and told him of it. He then said if Ned had passed the orders that Bird had wrote the orders, for Bird and the negro was very thick he believed. He told me to come back next morning and he would take the negro and search his house.
“The negro still denying the charge, we then resorted to means to make him confess. He stood out for some time…” Scene from Twelve Years A Slave.
The next day I went and took the negro and searched his cabin and found some of the goods, but the negro denied getting or passing the orders then. We then took the negro and carried him to Woodville for the purpose of seeing if he was the negro that passed the orders. We went to Jones’ first. Jones recognized the negro immediately and said that he was the very fellow that had brought the orders there. I then sent the negro to Evans’ which I was informed that Mr. & Mrs. Evans both knew on first sight and said that it was the same negro that brought the order there. The negro still denying the charge, we then resorted to means to make him confess it. He stood out for some time and [at] last said that Bird had given the orders to him and he did pass them. I told the negro then if he did not fix it so that Bird could be detected, that he would have to suffer. He told me that it would be very easy to do that if any person would go with him; that he could tell him anything that he could get to suit him and he would get another order from him in our presence. I and Mr. Evans then agreed to go with him on Saturday night.
Accordingly, I fixed myself and took my brother and Mr. Deloach and the negro and some meal and came to Woodville for the purpose of trying Bird’s innocence or guilt. Mr. Deloach & myself and the negro together went within fifty yards of Bird’s house where the negro laid the bag of meal down and told me and Deloach to stay until he came back. The negro the went to the house of Bird as he told us and had some conversation with him. We heard them talking but it was too far to hear what they said. After the moon was down and all fairly dark, the negro came to us again and told that Bird had agreed to take the meal but had made him promise not to say anything in our presence about the orders. I told the negro that he must talk about the orders in our presence. The negro then took the meal and we all three went to the house. When we got to the house, Bird was standing in his yard a scolding of his dog whenever the dog would attempt to bark at us.
The negro walked up to the palin and set the bag on the top of the palin & I walked in about 5 or 6 feet of the palin and stopped. Delroch stopped immediately behind me. After he had got the dog reconciled, he stepped to the fence immediately between me and him and commenced looking at me very close. I thought he wanted to see me good. I stepped up close to the fence where he was and laid my hand on the fence close to where he had his. He then looked at me good. He had looked at me for some time. He then turned his head to one side as if to look at Delroch which was immediately behind me. He looked at Delroach for some time. Then he went down the fence a few feet to where the negro was with the meal and laid his hand on the bag and said to the negro it is a very hard matter to trade now. Times is very squally. People watches very close. And then [he[ came back and took another look at Deloach & myself. He then went back and felt the bag. The negro asked him what he wanted. He said that he wanted to taste the meal but the bag was tied. The negro then untied the bag. There was some noise heard. Bird then stepped back against the side of his house and said some person was coming. I sorter squatted down against the paylen and asked Bird if there was any patrol about. He said he believed not—that he had heard no noise about lately. I expressed some fear of the patrol. He told me that they never came in that part of town—that he had got in that part of town on that account (all was still again).
Bird then stepped to the bag and took out some meal and put it in his mouth. The negro said to him the meal is good, sir, we stole it out of the mill yesterday. Bird answered yes, the meal is good. Then he asked how much there was. The negro told him a bushel. Then he asked the price. Ned told him 75 cents. Bird said the meal was high and asked me what Drake gave me for mine. Ned said 75 cents. He then said that Mrs. Conrad had bought some last Sunday morning at 62.5 cents and that he had offered the same negroes 75 cents for it right on that hillside (pointing to the hills east of his house) and he would not take that but went and took 62.5 cents from Mrs. Conrad. Ned then said I suppose Master you won’t give nairy order tonight. He said that he rather not. That there had been some noise about orders and he did not like to give any. Ned told him that that man’s master was a going away (pointing to me) and that he wanted to get an order for him—that he wanted to get some things before he went away and I told him that you had written some orders for me and I thought you would give him one. To that Bird made no answer. Ned then said that he can write and would write one himself but he was afraid. Bird then said it is a bad business. He then looked at me and asked if I could read. I told him yes, that I could read a little. He then paused a moment. I told him that I could write my own orders if I could spell well. I then said to him, Master, I wish you would give us an order tonight, if you please. He then said that he was willing to give the order but he could not write himself—that he made his wife so all his writing and she was asleep.
Ned then took the hat off his head and said to Bird. I got this hat with the order you gave me to Mr. Jones and it is a mighty good hat. Bird said I am very glad you got a good hat. Ned then said the stamped britches I got, you know I gave them to a runaway negro. I then said to Bird, Master, I wish you would wake up mistress and let her write the order for us now. He then said she is a bed and got a very cross child and if she gets up, the child will cry and make noise. I then said if you will get her to get up and write the order, we will go out in these weeds and lie down until you give us the sign and then we will come and get it. Bird said no he would not wake her and asked us if we could not come in the morning and he would have he order wrote for us. I told him that I had a mighty tight master—that he made me get up very soon of a Sunday morning and hunt up the stock and I had no chance to come in soon in the morning. Bird said that I could get the order any time that I would come next day. I told him that I wanted the order to come to town or that I could not get a pass and would have to slip in at a time when master would not be at home and it would hinder me to call and get the order and I would have but little time to trade in. Bird said that I could always get there and that he would have the order ready when we called for it in the morning. I then asked what time in the morning I could get the order. He said any time between daybreak and sunrise. I asked him then if there was no chance to get the order before daybreak. Bird said not that soon.
Ned then asked him if he would give us orders like them others. Bird said yes. Ned said you recollect he orders you give me on the 6th of May to Mr. Evans and Mr. Jones with my name wrote in it, Reuben, and Watly Burton’s name to it, for ten dollars. Bird said yes, he gave the orders but he did not write them—that his wife wrote the orders—that he could not write a bot. I then renewed my application for the order and told him if he would give us the order tonight, that I would slip him in something more some night next week that would better pay him for his trouble. Bird said I told you that I could not write and I won’t waker her up tonight to write it. Ned said can’t you write? Bird said, no, that his wife done all his writing and said she wrote the others.
Advertisement for the new store in Woodville run by David Armstrong, May 1832
At this moment we heard some beast cough. Bird said there is somebody a coming and started like as if he was a going in his house and said some person will come presently and I won’t stay here any longer. Ned said as Bird walked a little off we can get the order in the morning, can’t we? Bird said yes and turned and came back and went into the corner formed with a little room that project beyond his house and joins with the corner of the paylon near a door that leads into that rom or just between the room and house. He there leaned back against the wall of his house with his crutches in one hand and a hold on the side of the door with the other hand as if prepared to spring in at the door the moment he should see or hear anything that might affright him. Bird had in the course of our conversation about the orders taken the bag of meal from the fence and put it on a barrel and laid a board on it. We asked him for the bag. He asked us if we could not get the bag in the morning. I told him that master always sent to mill on Sunday morning and that was one of the mill bags and if the bag was not at home ready for mill, that there would be a noise. Bird said he would empty it then and started back from the door where he had so completely fixed himself that Ned then told him to write the order to Mr. Jones. He said yes but he did not like Jones much ad would rather give one to Armstrong [see adjoining advertisement]. He said Armstrong was a very fine fellow and his goods is cheaper. He then took the meal and hopped along with it in at the door above mentioned and emptied out the meal and gave us the bag at a different place from where he got it and gave us some water to drink. We then told him that we would be back in the morning to get the order, bid him farewell, and left him.
June 5th, 1832
— Wathall Burton
1 A Slave book kept by Burton indicates that Reuben & Amy were a couple and together they had the following children: Amstead, b. 1 December 1831; Edmund, b. 15 Jan. 1834; Delphine, b. 4 July 1836; and Mariah, b. 12 October 1842.
The following draft of a letter was penned by James William (“Jim”) Denver (1817-1892), an American politician, soldier and lawyer. He served in the California state government, as an officer in the United States Army in two wars, and as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from California. He served as secretary and Governor of the Kansas Territory during the struggle over whether or not Kansas would be open to slavery. The city of Denver, Colorado, is named after him.
Though a native of Virginia, and a staunch conservative Democrat, during the Civil War, Denver would cast his lot with the Union. He was appointed a Brigadier General in the Union army by President Lincoln in August 1861.
In the following two documents, Denver expresses his views on the deepening divide between the North & South from his residence in California in January 1861, some three months before hostilities erupted. The second document, written in June 1861, is his retrospective reaction to the dashed hopes expressed in his first document and includes the rationale for pursuing his personal course of action as a Union Democrat. The first document was clearly a draft and includes handwritten corrections by Denver. The finished letter was known to have been submitted to Harris because there is a reference to it in George C. Barns’ book, Denver, the Man, published in 1949.
Denver wrote the letter to his old friend, Patrick Henry Harris (1819-Aft1861) of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, who served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 16th Regiment of the US Infantry during the Mexican War. I believe the appellation of “General” was simply a term of affection for a former military comrade. In the 1860 US Census, Patrick was enumerated as a lawyer and later District Attorney in Butte county, California, where he had been in practice since at least the mid 1850s in partnership with J. M. Burt. The last record I find for him in Butte county is in 1862.
Transcription
Sacramento, California January 26, 1861
Gen. P. H. Harris, Sir,
At your request I proceed to give my views in regard to the troubles at present existing in the southern states of our Union and the course which I think ought to be pursued to restore harmony to the country. About these matters, I have no concealments and if anything I can say or do will contribute in any degree to the preservation of our government and the restoration of good feeling in our hitherto prosperous and happy country, I shall always be ready to respond. That we are surrounded by dangers the most threatening our country has ever yet encountered, no one will deny. So long as the government was in the hands of a great national party, there could be no real danger. But when it became evident that that power was to pass into the hands of a sectional party who entertained opinions hostile to what the other section of the country believed to be their constitutional rights, it it not to be wondered that the very foundations of the government are shaken.
The political issues of the past year belong to the past, and the crisis which I have so long feared and deprecated is upon us. The Democracy have been divided in this state because they differed as to the policy that ought to be pursued in order to avoid it, and upon the construction of the Constitution with reference to the Territories. The question now presented is not what shall be our construction of the Constitution, but how shall we maintain the integrity of the Union? To effect this, two modes present themselves. The one is to insist on the construction given by the Republican Party as to the powers of Congress over the Territories and the manner in which thy shall be exercised, and by physical force compel the submission of the southern people; and the other is to amend the Constitution in such a manner as to define specifically the powers of Congress over the Territories and over the question of African slavery.
The first carries with it war—civil war, as much more horrible than the civil wars of the times of Charles V, in all its consequences, as the energy of our people and means of destroying human life at the present day are superior to what existed at the time of the thirty years’ war in Germany. The physical resources of both sections of the country are immense and no one can even calculate upon the result of a resort to the sword. If the present movement in the southern states was confined to the politicians alone, we might hope to see them checked by the conservative masses of the people, but almost all accounts agree in representing the excitement in the popular mind as being far in advance of the mere politicians. All accounts agree too in representing the people of the South as being almost a unit on the questions now agitating the community. A resort to the sword would inevitably drive the border slave-holding states to take sides with the extreme southern states, which would at once and forever terminate this confederacy.
Suppose, however, those states should be conquered. What then is to be done with them? We cannot compel the people there to elect members of Congress. We cannot compel them to exercise any right which is secured to them by the Federal Constitution. How then are they to be governed? Congress has no power to supply a government. Even then in the event of a successful invasion of the southern states (which is hardly probable), the Federal Government would find itself in a worse condition at the termination than at the commencement of hostilities.
Our government is based upon and dependent on the affections of the people. Destroy the confidence and affections that attach the people to the government and it can no longer exist. Confidence cannot be secured by merely conforming to the forms of the Constitution while grossly violating its spirit. Neither can a great section of the confederacy composing a number of states, be coerced by military force to accept a construction of the Constitution which they believe will deprive them of their rights and deprive them of their equality in the government. A small community or even a single state might be compelled to submit and give but little trouble, for the opinion of their neighbors would force them to do so, but the case in point is very different.
Looking at the subject then from this point of view without finding any solution for our present difficulties, let us turn to the Federal Constitution itself. That instrument was framed by the patriots of the revolution and was the result of many compromises and concessions. After a trial, it was found to be defective and it was amended so as to meet the requirements of the times. Are we of the present generation less patriotic than our forefathers? Can we not imitate their example of moderation, of concession, or magnanimity? Are we incapable of upholding and maintaining that glorious inheritance—that monument of their wisdom, which has been so long the pride of Americans and challenged the admiration of the civilized world? Shall we throw away everything—shall we destroy the best government the world ever saw and bathe our hands in the blood of our relatives, our friends, and our neighbors, in quarreling over abstract propositions about a servile race? God forbid.
Let us then meet together in a spirit of harmony as did our forefathers, and by mutual forbearance and concession amend the Constitution so as to meet the emergency. I have an abiding confidence in the patriotism of the great masses of the people. The Constitution has been their pride and glory through life, and their fondest affections cluster around the stars & stripes—the glorious emblem of their country. The southern people (whether right or wrong it is not now necessary to inquire), think that their rights have been invaded by the people of the northern states by a misconstruction of the Constitution—by unfriendly legislation and by obstructing the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. Amend the Constitution & let the northern people remove these causes of irritation, and I have no doubt but the southern people would readily and patriotically respond, for they know as well as we do that united we are a great people, while if divided we would be as nothing in the affairs of the world.
The more ultra of the Republican Party I know strongly urge coercion, and seem to forget that their own conduct in passing heir Personal Liberty Bills (thus nullifying a provision of the Constitution and a law of Congress), differs only in degree from the conduct of the people of the South, while those of them here who are most noisy for such measures only a few years since took the law into their own hands and set the state authorities at defiance; but I doubt not there is a conservative element even in the Republican Party strong enough and resolute enough to throw aside false philanthropy for the African race in order to preserve this government for the white race. It is not to be expected, it is true, that those men who have been for twenty years struggling to bring the country to its present condition will be willing to yield anything, but those who have assisted them in the heat and excitement of a political canvass will pause before taking a step which must finally plunge us into civil war.
California occupies a position in the Union at this time that would very well justify her in presenting herself as a mediator, and she cannot in my opinion pursue any other course with safety. Among our population is to be found representatives from every state. The great mass of the people are eminently conservative/ They love their old homes, their old friends, and they love their whole country/ There are few among us who would regard with any kind of favor a proposition to dismember the Union and I apprehend there are not many who would be willing to have the state take part in a war in favor of the North against the South, or of the South against the North, for such an act would surely bring civil war to our own homes.
I would cling to the Union as long as the Union has an existence, but I would not engage in a fratricidal war which would result in the destruction of the Republic. By pursuing the course indicated, I believe our government can be preserved, and any other course I am certain will be its destruction. These are great emergencies when the strongest governments must yield to the force of circumstances. Such a crisis is upon us now and it remains to be determined whether we will yield to reasonable demands or adhere to abstract propositions and destroy our government.
You will observe that I have confined myself to the examination of the single proposition—the best means of preserving the government under existing circumstances, and being clearly of opinion that an attempt at coercion by military force would be impracticable and disastrous in its results. I am in favor of peaceable compromises and reasonable concessions.
Very respectfully your obedient servant, — J. W. Denver
June 1861
The foregoing was written at a time when it was believed that everything could and would be settled peaceably and by the adoption of some compromise. The South as, however, chosen to precipitate a bloody contest by the uncalled for attack on Fort Sumter and other hostile acts, thus taking the first step to initiate practically the doctrine of coercion. So long as they desired a full and complete recognition of their constitutional rights, I was in favor of an unequivocal settlement and authoritative declaration of the same; but when they declared their intention to set aside the Constitution and endeavored to destroy the Union of the States and the best government the world ever saw, I could see but one course left for any man who really had the good of his county at heart. No matter how much he may condemn the fanaticism of the north (which has been the chief cause of our troubles), he cannot approve the rebellion of the South.
My lot must be cast with the Constitution and Flag of my country. I acknowledge no divided allegiance. I am amenable to the laws of the State or municipality within which I reside, but my allegiance is due to the National Sovereignty which is represented by the President of the United States.
All the troubles heretofore predicted loom up in still greater magnitude than at first, but the die is cast and we must accept things as they are presented to us. I have done all that it was in my power to do to save my country from plunging into the gulf into which it is falling, and have, therefore, not to reproach myself with any dereliction of duty on that score. In the future I will endeavor to act as earnestly and disinterestedly as in the past, and trust to the kindness of al All Wise Providence to open the eyes of those deluded men who seem for the moment to have got control of affairs, but who heretofore have been known only by their turbulence and hostility to all government.
The following letters were written by Henry Spencer Murray (1840-1874), the son of William Murray (1803-1875) and Ellen Maria Matlack (1809-1895) of Goshen, Orange county, New York. Henry’s father was a former US Congressman, representing New York’s 9th & 10th Districts in the US House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855. Two of the three envelopes were addressed to Henry’s older brother, William Matlack Murray (1838-1897), a tinner by trade.
Major Henry Spencer Murray, 124th New York Vols.
When the Civil War erupted in April 1861, Henry was rushed to the defenses of Washington D. C. with the 17th New York State Militia. They later guarded Baltimore. In the fall of 1862, he raised a company (Co. B) for the 124th New York Volunteers and entered the service with them as their captain. Part of the Army of the Potomac, the 124th New York participated in the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 where Henry was wounded and captured but afterwards paroled.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, both the Colonel (Ellis) and Major of the 124th New York were killed and Henry was promoted from the rank of Captain to Major and assigned to duty at the Camp of Paroled Prisoners at Annapolis, Maryland where he remained until regularly exchanged in January 1864.
After he rejoined the regiment, he was again wounded and taken prisoner in the fighting at Boydton Road on 27 October 1864. This time he was sent to Libby Prison where he remained until the end of the war when he was finally discharged. He never fully recovered from the effects of his first wound and he died at Goshen on 6 March 1874.
Though he does not speak of it in his letter of 22 November 1863, Henry married Sarah Dunning at Goshen on 10 November 1863 while home on furlough.
Letter 1
Addressed to William M. Murray, Goshen, Orange county, New York
Camp Parole September 13, 1863
Dear Will,
Hon. William Murray
I wrote Father last week after I answered yours and although I have nothing new to write, do so far dear Father may think I don’t write enough.
I doubt whether an exchange will be effected soon, a pretty good sign being an order from Secretary Stanton granting furloughs of thirty days to all Maine men who go home to vote at the election Tuesday.
I am going to speak to the Colonel [Francis M. Cummins] tomorrow again about my going home. He promised me when I spoke about it before that I might go some time this month as soon as an exchange is effected but as it appears dubious about it coming off this month, I am in hopes he will allow me to go anyway.
I take back all I said in my last about Charlie Everett not answering my letter as since then I have received a good long letter from him. Remind Miss Murray that I have not heard from her in some days. Remember me to all the boys who enquire for me.
Love to all, — H. S. M.
Letter 2
Camp Parole October 14, 1863
Dear Mother,
I have received your announcing Will’s good luck and also yours of Sunday. I knew nothing of the draft coming off or of the soldiers being in town until I learned of it from your letter as I have received no papers of any kind in a great while. I am sorry Will is drafted, although I knew it would be so as it is our family luck. It does seem too bad that A. S. & E. B. should escape. Henry Murray sent me a list of the conscripts. Twll Will when he writes that i want to know who was in that Draft Insurance concern & how many of them were caught. Was that Sawyer Frank’s son?
Excuse me if I am a little incoherent in my writing as I am slightly excited over some news that Colonel just gave me. He has approved & forwarded my application for twenty days & says there is no doubt of its going through all right. I’m afraid my luck is changing.
I sent $650 home by Express Monday & sent Father receipt by same day’s mail. Love to all. — H. S. M.
Letter 3
Camp Parole November 22, 1863
Dear Will,
I have not written you since I left home but Mrs. M has done my correspondence & has written two or three times now. I can’t plead business as an excuse for I have not had enough to do since I came back to keep a moderately smart man at work over five minutes. All I have to do is to sign my morning report & then lay off the rest of the day.
We are boarding at a Mr. Welch’s opposite the camp—a very good place but strongly secesh. I expect the old man & I will have a blow out one of these days if he talks very strong. I have written to Bob & last night was down to the train to see if he was on board but I guess the rain or some other cause (probably some other) kept him at Washington.
The Colonel has not returned. When he does, we are going to make a dead set on him and either have him fortify us against being reported absent without leave from our regiments by an order of detail from the War Department or else send us to the field. As we stand now, we are in a rather delicate situation.
Briggs is recovering slowly from his diphtheria and Durkee is suffering from chills & fever, in bed one day and up the next. They had been sick all the while I was gone and besides had had a difficulty with the surgeons in account of Brigg’s calling in a citizen physician instead of employing one of them. They were glad enough to see me, I tell you.
I understand the Young Christian’s prayed for the “happy couple” on Tuesday night at the Academy prayer meeting. Just tell him for me that I will hire a regularly licensed “praying man” to do mine for me. Love to all, — H. S. M.
I have not been able to nail down the identity of the soldier who wrote these letters though I believe he served in the 2nd Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and that he was either from or had spent time prior to the war in Delaware county, Ohio.
He wrote most of the letters to Martha J. Carpenter (1837-1921), the daughter of David Cooley Carpenter (1805-1886) and Sarah Cleveland (1809-Aft1880) of Berkshire, Delaware county, Ohio. Martha married Charles Pierson (1831-1901) in McLean County, Illinois on 10 February 1869. They resided in Decatur, Macon county, Illinois.
Letter 1
Camp 2nd O. V. C. Winchester, Kentucky April 13th 1863
Dear friend Mattie,
Your kin favor of the 5th is at hand. I was glad to hear from you but wish I could have gotten it before I left so as to seen your photograph. We left in quite a hurry after the orders came and have been on the march ever since every day so that we have little time to write or do anything else.
What a loss to the community is caused by the draft of such a man as Dr. Davenport. I dislike his appearance very much. I should have been glad to visit you again before we left had it been possible. Received a letter from O. G. Daniels who said that he was waiting for a letter from you with great impatience. Have you heard from him lately?
Where we go from here I do not know but have orders to report to Stanford if it is not countermanded before we get there. We seem to be a desirable regiment to have as we have had orders to report to no less than 5 generals since we got to Kentucky.
Our mail will reach us if directed to Lexington to follow the regiment. Shall I not hope to get another from you soon containing a photograph of you? My greatest regards to your people and Charles when you write. Excuse haste and write soon to your true friend, — Ernest.
Letter 2
Addressed to Miss Mattie J. Carpenter, Delaware, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio March 17th 1864
Dear friend Mattie,
How do you do this evening? I should dearly love to take a seat by your side and have one good long visit rehearsing the past two years as our visit last, one year ago last winter seemed too short and one years seems a long time now to look ahead. But it does not seem long since the great excitement caused by the firing upon Fort Sumter, and yet at that time if we had thought that this war would have been protracted three years, we would have been almost discouraged, and perhaps would not have felt like entering upon the great work of human slaughter with the same eagerness with which the heart of the Great American People seemed to have been inspired. I think it is well in this case as it is in many, and I might say almost all that we did not know for now success seems to be almost certain which with a less hearty cooperation would have been the cause of the downfall of our great and beloved Republic. I think all have reason to feel encouraged for if the rebels could not advance upon us while so many of our troops were home, what will be their fate when our Veteran Soldiers get back to the front? They are en who have been often tried and seldom found wanting.
We have been very busy this week but are not quite as near through this case as I had hoped we would be by this time when I last wrote you. Probably will not close the whole case this week, but certainly must finish at first of next, I think from present appearances.
Our regiment went into Camp Cleveland today, I suppose, and I am now quite anxious to be with them now and shall hope to soon. Did you tell me you knew Colonel McElroy?
I attended the Italian Opera last night which was elegant, I thought. I wished you could be there many times during the evening. Tonight there is a grand concert at the Melodeon Hall and if you was here, we could go and I think you would enjoy it some more than you did at Columbus last, or one year ago, winter.
It will be very pleasant for you if your folks come to Delaware to live. May I hope to hear from you again very soon? Every your friend, — Ernest
Letter 3
“U. S.” H___ Harrisburg, Pennsylvania July 7th 1864
Dear Mattie,
I have only time to say one word which is due in way of an apology for not answering your letter sooner. I found it here on my return from Baltimore and would gladly have answered ere this but on account of the near approach of the Rebels to this place. We have had all we could do for over a week now. This morn the streets are filled with men, horses and cattle from the country all eager to escape the dreaded presence of their Rebel neighbors.
Accept many thanks for the letter, Program, &c. you contained. I would dearly have loved being there with you. Excuse haste. Please write. — Ernest
Will Mattie excuse stationery. Also I hope to be able to write a more respectable letter next time.
I could not find an image of Charles but here are four members of Co. H, 20th Ohio Volunteers; Downs, Quackenbush, Ohl, & Wonder (Al Niemiec Collection)
The following letters were written by Sergeant Charles (“Charlie”) Darwin Carpenter (1839-1925), the son of David Cooley Carpenter (1805-1886) and Sarah Cleveland (1809-Aft1880). Charlie’s father was a stone cutter turned farmer in Berkshire Township, Delaware County, Ohio. He wrote most of the letters to his sister, Martha J. Carpenter (1837-1921). Martha married Charles Pierson in McLean County, Illinois on 10 February 1869. They resided in Decatur, Illinois. Some letters were written to his brother Corwin (“Cor”) Carpenter.
Charlie served in Co. D, 20th Ohio Infantry, enlisting as a private on 24 September 1861 when he was 22 years old. He was made a corporal a couple of weeks later and promoted to sergeant on 15 May 1862. Charlie was mustered out of the service as the first sergeant of his company on 28 September 1864 after three years of service.
After the war it appears that Charlie took up farming near Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois and married Hanna Maria Cravath (1846-Aft1920) on 3 July 1872. Maria was the daughter of Myrtillus and Polly Cravath of Pittsfield, Michigan; later Bloomington, Illinois.
The couple eventually relocated to Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas, where Charlie became a nurseryman. His last residence (1910) before retirement was in Parsons, Kansas, where he worked as a teamster for a dairy. He is enumerated in the 1920 Census residing in the household of his son, Ernest Fay Carpenter (1873-1852) in Center Township, Vernon County, Missouri. Ernest was married to Agnes D. Estes (1873-1953). Pension records suggest that Charlie died in 1925.
Letter 1
Addressed to Miss M . J. Carpenter, Galena, Delaware county, Ohio
Fort Donelson, Tennessee February 18, 1862
Dear folks at home,
It has been so long since I have heard anything from you that I thought I’d just drop a few lines to let you know that I’m all right. The boys are all well. Of course you know all about our leaving Cincinnati. We went down river about 480 miles to Paducah, went to bed and next morning found ourselves going up Cumberland river to the fort where we are now. The gunboats were playing on the forts finely when we got here. They were not long in silencing the guns at the fort but then the work was not quarter done. The fort is as strong a one as the rebels have and then their entrenchments extended about five miles down the river. They would come out and fire on our men and then retreat to their ditches. We had a force of about fifty thousand here. I can’t tell anything about the rebel force.
One thing certain, we have got ten or twelve thousand prisoners for I have seen them. Our regiment is going down river with them. Co. B is on board a boat now expecting to start every minute. We have about twelve hundred on board. They are going to Cairo or St. Louis.
If I was at home, I could give a description of the fort and the fight but I can’t do it now. We were not in the fight. We were held in reserve for a charge bayonet but they surrendered before it came to that. We were held so close that the balls whistled around our heads some but we didn’t have any of the fun.
The loss was heavy on both sides. Can’t tell what it is. We have Buckner & Johnson are our prisoners, sure. To attempt a description of the battlefield would be useless. Dead rebels & horses piled around without number. It was enough to make anybody sick. The rebels fought like madmen but our men were too much for them. The rebels stacked their guns Sunday morn. They had a large amount of prisoners and ammunition which is in our possession.
Letter 2
Camp near Pittsburg Landing May 7th 1862
Sister Mat,
I received yours & mother’s good letters on the 5th and would have written immediately but could not do it. We were camped out towards Corinth when I got it and before I’d got it half read, our regiment was ordered back to the old camp. So we won’t be in the fight at Corinth at all. I have been on duty so much that I couldn’t write before. Last night was the first night’s sleep I’ve had out of three but that don’t happen often. My health is good—better than it has been this time of year for two years.
Of course you have heard of Ed Perfect’s death by way of Ken Sherman before this time. He was sick some time. I would have written and sent by him but thought I might as well send one by Orleans as by him for when we asked him how our folks were, he said didn’t know; he had not seen any of them. We boys thought that was rather mean in him so we didn’t send any word by him. The letter that you & Cor wrote, I never got. Don’t much wonder that you were sick. Your tramp was nearly equal to some of our marches. I wish I had been with you. But never mind. I expect to be up there to fish before long. I’d like to see you all once more, you had better believe.
I have got the appointment of sergeant in the company so I shan’t have as much to do and will get $17 per month. I should have seen Daniel’s brother but we had to move in such a hurry the other day that I couldn’t do it. His regiment was camped about one half mile from us. Give my respects to O. G. when you write to him. You must excuse this short letter for we expect to get our pay in a day or two and then I shall write again. Tell the boys that I think if they want to keep a pet, they’d better keep a pig or a calf though I suppose a fox is a very valuable animal when he is tamed. Give love to all the folks and believe me as ever, — Charley
Mother, you seem to doubt some whether I am well or not. I don’t know as there is anything the matter with me but consumption—and that is consumption of crackers and coffee. If you think I need any medicine for that, you can send some but I don’t think I need any. You wanted to know how about my clothes. I have drawn a new blouse and the other day found a new pair of pants where a regiment had left in a hurry. They were first rate ones, so you see I am well enough off for clothes. My boots are good yet.
Doc Beech is assistant surgeon in our regiment. I hadn’t seen him to speak to him yet as he has been here but a short time. The boys are all well but John D. He is not very well.
Letter 3
Camp Shiloh May 25th 1862.
Dear Folks at Home,
I just received your good long letter about two hours ago and if ever a fellow was glad to get anything, I was to get that. Was glad to hear that you are all well. My health is good—better than it generally is this time of year. The boys are all well that are here. John Dustin left us sick about two weeks ago. Haven’t heard from him since. Presume he is in a hospital on the river somewhere. Should thought he would have written home before this time.
We are still camped where we were when I wrote last. Are having quite easy times now. Don’t know when we will have to start though. I hope next time we move, it will be towards old Ohio but don’t want to go till they all go and I think that will be before long. Would like to have slipped in while Uncle Joel, Grandfather & Grandmother was there and had a good time with you all. Think it is kind of funny Grandfather can’t be contented there, but I guess he will be better off in Vermont. Hope Grandmother won’t go.
You wanted to know what my duties were now. I can hardly tell you now. Will tell you all about it when I get home. Our orderly has been sick and I have been acting in his place about two weeks and have been pretty busy. (Don’t want you to say anything about it. Folks will think I am conceited you know.) Am glad you are getting so you can walk to town so easily because you know I won’t know how to do anything but walk when I get back.
How I should like to hear some music this afternoon. I think about it every night about dark—just about the time you always play so much. Just play some for me when you sit down some night. I see they still keep having parties yet. Should think they would play out before long.
Gill & I went on a tramp the other day and of all the looking girls & women that I ever saw, that took the lead. All they have to eat is corn pone and buttermilk. Well, I just wish you could be down here and see some of them. We are right in the meanest part of the state. It’s a perfect wilderness of woe. But I will have to stop for it is almost time for dress parade.
Got your picture safe and sound. Think it is a splendid one. I wouldn’t take a small farm for it. I am going to send the old one back and I want you to be sure to keep it for me for I have carried [it] so long that I want to keep it for it has been the rounds sure. Now write very soon—all of you. Tell Father I want him to be ready to go west when I get back. Love to all. Good bye. From Charley C.
26th. Cor, I couldn’t finish my letter yesterday so I will do it this morn. The company have all gone out on picket this morning. Think you are getting along finely with your work. Tell Matt I would like to have a drink of milk from that durham of hers. The orderly & I are going out fishing this afternoon. I just thought I would write a little this time.
Letter 4
Grand Junction July 21st 1862
Dear Folks at Home,
I received your letter dated July 8th on the 17th and was glad to hear from home. You may know I intended to answer it yesterday but our company had to go out on a foraging expedition. Had a good time. There was fifteen wagons and about 100 men to guard them. Got them all loaded with new hay. You see we give them an order on Uncle Sam and then if they can prove that they never helped the rebel army and are good Union men, they will get their pay for their things. If not, they can whistle for it.
We are expecting an attack from rebel cavalry every day, but I guess we are enough for them. I know now the reason why I didn’t get your letters any better. That train that started from Memphis for Grand Junction was run off the track by the rebels, and they got a large mail in their possession that was for our brigade. So I suppose that has gone up the spout.
It is very warm here but I suppose not much warmer than it is up there. I think you must be enjoying yourselves first rate—plenty of good fruit though I guess we are a little ahead of you in that line for yesterday we had plenty of peaches, melons & apples. You must have had gay times the Fourth [of July]. I should like to have been there very much.
12 o’clock p.m. I have been to the pond to bathe. Got back, ate dinner and will write a few lines more. Gill is on picket duty today. Zeph has gone up to town. Bruce is sitting here fighting flies. It is very hot but we don’t seem to mind any more than we would at home. The Galena boys are very healthy. There are only five excused from duty by the surgeon in our company. We have got tanned so that we look like so many Indians. Don’t know whether it will ever get off or not. Don’t care.
Am sorry John D. don’t like the army any better. I suppose he don’t put on a very bright face about it. Hope he has got a discharge anyhow. Several of the boys have got back that went home on sick leave. I never thought John would come. Give him my respects and tell him that we are all as fat as pigs and bound to see the show over with or die in Dixie. Love to all. Goodbye. From your Brother
Cor., how do you get along these warm days? Suppose you are through cutting wheat by this time. Glad things looks so well up there. Hope there will be an abundance of everything for once. We have plenty of green corn and fruit. You must have had grand old times the fourth. It was as dry as a chip. Mat, I am obliged for this paper. I have a little here. Why can’t you slip down sometime and see a fellow a little while? But I must stop. So good bye. — Charley
Letter 5
Bolivar, Tennessee September 28th, 1862
Sister Mat,
It has been so long since I’ve had a letter from home that I don’t know what to make of it. Haven’t heard a word since Cor. wrote. I don’t blame you for I suppose you have written but if us boys don’t get a letter from home every week, we get very impatient. I do for it’s mighty little that I hear from there unless it comes directly from my own folks. That accounts for my impatience. So you see ,you’ll have to write pretty often or I shall lose track of everything. I am enjoying excellent health at present which is about as much as I can ask while I am in the service.
We have had big times since I wrote last. If I should undertake to give you a history of our tramp, it would take two or three sheets of paper. We went to Corinth via Jackson, from there down to luka where Price was. But we were about three hours too late. The bird had flown. We were only about four miles from there at the time of that hard fight between Price and Rosecrans’ men. We hurried up to help them, but were too late. Better believe we had a sweet time. It rained most of the time—no tents, sleeping on the wet ground, hard crackers, raw meat and coffee, &c. &c. Well, in fact it was what you might call a pleasure trip in a soldiers’ life. But then the war will soon be closed now. Abe is going to free the niggers. (It will be closed over the left though) and then we will be at peace again I hope.
Our regiment has been out on two foraging expeditions since we got back here. Had a train of teams about three miles long. Loaded them mostly with corn. The way us boys went for sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chickens, and such things was a caution. Got enough to last us a good while. We are living now on the top shelf. Have tomatoes & bread cooked every meal. We had turkey for breakfast, tomatoes & sweet potatoes for dinner and don’t know what we shall have for supper.
But to change the subject, how do the forlorn ones get along since their men went to war? Pretty lonesome I expect. Suppose you hear from Hem now & then. How does he like it? He has an easy place. He couldn’t help liking it. Oh yes, did you ever get the things that Gill, Zeph, & I sent? We sent them to Lewis Center by a fellow that was discharged from our company. His name was William Kellar. The things for you were all marked. If you get them, please tell me. I must stop for it is most dress parade time. Write soon. We get a mail every day now. All write. Love to all. Good bye. From your brother, — Charley
Letter 6
Bolivar, Tennessee October 12th, 1862
Dear Folks at Home,
I received your letter dated 5th this morn. We were just falling in for inspection and had to wait till that was over. I was mad I tell you, but got it tonight quick when I got a chance. Never was so glad to get a letter as I was to get this one. Glad to hear that you were well but sorry that Scott is sick. I know how it goes when he has the chills. Hope he is well by this time.
My health is good. I am not as fleshy as common as a matter of course, and I am glad of it, but I never enjoyed better health in my life. We have been marching a good deal lately. That takes the flesh off some. Since the first of September we have marched about four hundred miles and slept fifteen nights without tents. Some of the time it rained like fury. We were at luka, but not in the fight. Were also at Matamoras near Corinth. Got in there about three hours after the fight. We always seem to get back to Bolivar again. Just got back last eve from a tramp into Mississippi. Went down below Grand Junction to burn a railroad bridge—burned that and a water tank. Then went across to La Grange (a very pretty [village] on the Memphis R. R.) and stayed all night. Returned last eve to Bolivar.
You see we are after old Price—he running regular Missouri style. You know about how we’ll have it while we have him to deal with. I wish the 96th [Ohio] boys were down here. Perhaps they would find out what soldiering is for. They don’t know anymore about it more than you do. You spoke of getting a letter from Brad. I didn’t know anything of it until sometime after and didn’t care about sending much word by him anyhow. When we left Corinth for luka, he was left behind not very well and then he can find a good deal more time to write than I can. You know some folks always have plenty of time to do everything. Perhaps I’ll learn to take time too, but I can’t find time to do any more than my duty here and that I must attend to sure. Brad has always had a good many correspondents, but I guess it don’t amount to much.
Looking for [Joshua L.] Dunlevy every day now. I am not suffering for the things though. They will be very acceptable. How I should like to have been up there to help eat that turkey. Guess we had some fowl too. Eat all the chickens and turkey we could carry while we were out the last time. Tore down five or six bee hives for one man that were full of honey. Eat just all we wanted. Guess I must take another sheet.
Mother, I must write you a few lines before I stop or else I wouldn’t think I had got through. I am thinking that you worry too much about me. I don’t want you to because if anything happens to me, I shall let you know it. I am glad you didn’t send the shirt & socks for I have got as much as I can carry now and I will need them worse when I get home. Those cotton shirts you made me are as good as ever. That was good advice you gave me about taking care of myself. I do it as well as I can under the circumstances and that you know wouldn’t be any too good part of the time. There is a nice run close to camp and I visit it pretty often to wash my face, neck and feet. I should like to be up there in time to get some strawberries but don’t expect that will be hardly possible. you must excuse these short notes for I have had so much on my mind for a week or two that I couldn’t think of anything hardly. Give my love to Grandfather, Grandmother, and all the rest. From C. D. C.
Letter 7
Monday Morn October 13, 1862
How do you all do this fine morning. Ell & I have just been up town on some little business. Saw them start off with the prisoners that were taken out at Matamoras. There was bout three hundred of them. Have gone to Holly Springs for exchange. There was some from most every state in the South. Pretty hard-looking fellows too. They say they are coming back here in a few days with guns in their hands. We told them to come along, we’ll give them the best we had in the shop. The ladies too made a great fuss over them. Told them to hurry back for they didn’t want the Union flag hoisted over their houses. I believe they beat the northern ladies for patriotism anyhow.
You say [Joshua L.] Dunlevy is there yet? I suppose he has had a good time. He has done just as any of us would—didn’t care whether school kept or not, so he had a good time at home. Glad you got that box. It was not of much account though. That picture is a very poor one. It is natural but it was taken by a poor artist. It looks just about as black as I am. I was taken in Bolivar.
Oh yes, you wanted to know something about Bolivar. Well it is a very pretty town—a county seat, three churches, a good court house, five or six stores, some splendid dwellings, and a few goof-looking ladies but they are about as severe as hen’s teeth. The majority of the inhabitants are niggers.
I should like to have been there to attend [James J.] Herron’s funeral. He was a good fellow and liked by every man in the company. He was a brave fellow and died like a soldier with his face to the enemy.
I was not a bit surprised to hear that Uncle Joel & Hannah had parted. If I was in his place, I would give here a nice little sum to get rid of her. Hope Hem & M. W. will have a good time writing to one another. I guess the thing has about played out here.
But I must stop. It is most mail time and I want this to go out today. Mat, that piece of your dress—I shall keep it—is very pretty. I’l write again in a few days to the boys. Goodbye, — Charley Carpenter
Letter 8
In camp on Yochnapataffa River [Little Tallahachie River?] December 17th, 1862
Brother Cor.
I received your good long letter on the eve of 14th and was very glad to get it, I assure you. Sorry that you are all so unwell. Hope your throat is well by this time. My health is good. The boys are all well. I couldn’t find a man to go to surgeon’s this morning. I would have answered this before this but the next day after I got it, was sent out with the teams after forage and it rained all day too. I never got so wet in my life. It took me about two days to dry out, but I am all right now. Got a big sack of sweet potatoes while out so we have been living pretty well for a few days. Wirz & Ed Allen have just got in off picket bringing chickens, potatoes, &c. Then we have driven in all the cattle, sheep & hogs there is in the country and are killing them every day. Our fires we make of rails. You can’t find a rail in the country where our army has been.
We are encamped on a small stream about forty miles below Holly Springs near the Mississippi Central R. R. It is a beautiful place with plenty of wood & water. They are repairing the railroad between here and Holly Springs. When that’s done we expect to move on again. They all seem to be enjoying themselves up there–having oyster supper and even sucks. Hope they will keep it up for they have not much else to do while we are down here fighting for them. I think such lubbers as those had better be at home with their ma’s.
Was very sorry to hear of Mr. Allen’s death. Don’t see what they will do now. Hem will get a discharge I suppose. There, I hear the Captain calling for “Co. D” to fall in so I must stop and see what is going on.
3 o’clock p. m. Well, we have been out on a scouting expedition. Co. D & Co. E. went out about 4 miles and back again already. Saw no rebs. Eat some turnips but didn’t see anything much worth taking. Gen. [James W.] Denver’s Division is encamped on our right. We went to their picket. But I must stop for drill and I want to fix up our tent a little better this afternoon. Wirz, Ed A., Frank P., Ame Mounts, Lee Sherman, Gill & I bunk together. We have some gay times you can bet. If anything new happens here I will write. Want you to write just as often as you can. Love to all of you. Hope this will find you all better than when you wrote. Good bye. From your brother, — Charley
P. S. Direct to Holly Springs, Miss.
Letter 9
Memphis Tennessee February 6th, 1863
Sister Mat,
I received your letter of January 26th on the 31st—the first for four weeks. Perhaps you can imagine how anxious I was to hear from home but don’t believe you can. It makes me so mad to think that I don’t get all your letters that I can hardly contain myself. But its nothing when a fellow gets used to it. I should have been more prompt in answering but had just written a day or two before yours was received.
My health is good. Galena boys are all very hearty. We are having a pretty good time here. Don’t have a great deal to do and get to go up to town quite often. 3rd Division is being clothed and fitted out (I expect for down river). General Logan says his men can’t fight until they get good warm clothes. When they get them, they can help take Vicksburg. The snow is about an inch deep here and it freezes every night like fury. Co. D don’t suffer much for all have brick fireplaces by our tents. Gill, Ame Mounts, Len Sherman & I bunk together. Wish you could see our rig. We have a floor in our tent and a large fireplace in one end of it (one of our own make) and we can keep as warm as you please. Have been drawing new tents (the wedge). Guess they are better than the “dog tents.”
February 8th. You see I have made quite a jump here, but I’m glad of it for I received your other letter yesterday dated January 12th so I didn’t lose anything by waiting a day or two. I am sure you don’t get all my letters for I most always write two for every one I get. Glad that Jud has got home. Hope he will get a discharge. Think it’s quite strange they should have an aid society meet at Nic Arnold’s. I do hope that their donations will benefit some poor soldier but am sorry to say that our regiment has never had much good of them. Perhaps others have.
The 32nd [Ohio] are encamped close to us. Have seen all the boys from that country. Lieut. Adams, I suppose, has resigned. Does he contemplate going into business at Galena? I perceive he is up there quite often. Very pretty present he made you. Think I shall send you my photograph before long. Wish I was up there today to hear your new music. There is no good music store in town or I would send you some. It is quite muddy or I should attend church. Guess I’ll wait till next Sunday.
I have sent you a record of our company. The boys were all getting them and I thought perhaps you’d like to see names of all the boys. I know I shall value it highly if I ever get home. Sometime when I send some money home, get it framed. If it ever gets there. Please tell me whether any of you get that money or not that I sent. Write very soon all of you. Good bye. From your brother, — Charlie
P. S. Tell mother I think her head is clear on the war question. She looks at it in the same light that I do, and the majority of the northern soldiers think the same. Tell her to write more next time. Has D. E. W. called yet? Give him my best respects. Love to all.
Letter 10
Memphis, Tennessee February 8th, 1863
Brother Cor.,
How do you do this morning? All right though I hope. Suppose you attend church Sunday up in North America as the niggers call it. But you see here we have inspection, dress parade, &c. &c. the same as any other day. We have a chaplain now. He is a good man too. Preaches every Sunday (when it don’t rain). Don’t see but what you are enjoying yourselves as well as need be, going to parties. I’m glad of it too. I’m afraid though that the girls will lose all their feelings for soldiers. I hope not though. Do you and Scott go to school? Who is your teacher? Scott, do you rabbit hunt any this winter? I wish I was there to go with you a few times. How does Tray & Spry get along? Both of you write a good long letter next time.
Cor., if I get hold of a reb gun, I will be sure to send it to you. Love to all. Good bye. — C. D. C.
Letter 11
Camp near Vicksburg June 7th 1863
Sister Mat,
I wrote a letter a day or two ago but having a chance to send word directly home I thought I must write a line or two. Norton T. Longwell ¹ of Eden has got a furlough. He belongs to our company. Has been Col’s ² orderly ever since we have been in the service. Is a good little fellow too. I believe he gets to go home on account of his father’s illness.
My health is good. The only thing we can complain of is it is very hot here. We are lying in sight of the rebel forts. It’s of no use for me to try to tell you anything for you can see it all in the papers. If you don’t take Harpers Weekly, get one occasionally. He has an artist here. He draws some faithful sketches. I have seen some of them in the paper.
Drawing by Harpers Weekly artist of Vicksburg Siege
We have been drawing new clothes. Feel somewhat better. Tell Father I would like to have him get me another pair of boots. The boys are nearly all going to send and they can all come in one box. Nort says he will bring them through for us. I want a pair of light kid-lined all through, with heavy soles. Get them made where he did before, if possible. My boots are not worn out yet but will be by time I get another pair.
Nort Longwell is going in a few hours so I can’t write much. I have so much to do that I can’t write much at a time anyhow. Write often. Love to all. Good bye.
From, — Charlie Carpenter
The other boots were just the right size.
P. S. Mat, please send a towel or two. Can’t get any good ones here. Mat. Please send me a few postage stamps if you can as well as not.
¹ Norton Thurston Longwell (1842-1930) was the son of Ralph S. and Elizabeth (Thurston) Longwell — early residents of Berkshire, Ohio. Norton T. was the tenth of a family of thirteen children. One who was a surgeon in the army with the rank of Major, and died at Camp Chase. Norton enlisted in Co. D, 20th O. V. I., and served three years; he was Orderly on the Colonel’s staff throughout the war. After the war, “Nort” return home to a farm of 164 acres situated north of Eden. In 1867 he married Ella E. Hyde (b. 1848), the daughter of Udney and Olive (Hunter) Hyde.
² The Colonel of the 20th Ohio at the time was Manning Ferguson Force (1824-1899). Force was born in Washington, D.C., where his father, Peter Force, was the mayor. He attended Harvard College until 1845, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1848. The following year, Force moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and began his law practice. Colonel Force’s 20th Ohio bore the brunt of the Battle of Raymond, Mississippi, in the Vicksburg Campaign. Osborn Oldroyd related the number of casualties from the 20th Ohio to his commander: “I took the roll-book from the pocket of our dead sergeant, and found that while we had gone in with thirty-two men, we came out with but sixteen – one-half of the brave little band, but a few hours before so full of hope and patriotism, either killed or wounded. Nearly all the survivors could show bullet marks in clothing or flesh, but no man left the field on account of wounds. When I told Colonel Force of our loss, I saw tears course down his cheeks, and so intent were his thoughts upon his fallen men that he failed to note the bursting of a shell above him, scattering the powder over his person, as he sat at the foot of a tree.” After the war, Force returned to Cincinnati, where he became a justice of the Superior Court of Cincinnati. He also authored several law books and became a prominent writer as well as a lecturer. [Source: Wikipedia]
Letter 12
Vicksburg, Mississippi September 3rd, 1863.
Sister Mat,
It may seem rather hard that I have not written before, but it was only because I couldn’t do it. I received a good long letter from you & Cor[win] on the 21st of last month just as our division had got ready to start into Louisiana on a big tramp. Started to the boat about an hour after I got it. Was glad to hear from you two.
We just got back last eve. Had a very hard trip too. Traveled about a hundred miles by river and 175 miles by land. Went out on Bayou Macon and Washita River. Saw some beautiful country and some miserable. Plenty of bear, deer, rattlesnakes, and almost everything else you can think of.
Found Lieut. Humiston here when I got back. He had a letter for me. Was so glad he visited you. He said he had a very pleasant time at our house and heard some good music. By the way, he plays some on the violin, piano, melodeon. Did he play any for you? Well, he is a pretty good fellow. He said he didn’t hardly know how to get along with you for you tried to make him promise to give me a furlough and he couldn’t do that very well. I never asked for a furlough but once and then I got it and I think it will be just so when I ask again. I could have had a furlough before this time, but to be gone just thirty days from camp and have the distance to go that we have to get home, it will hardly pay. It would only be an aggravation. Lieut. says he thinks there will be a chance between this and Christmas if I want to go.
There are a great many absent on sick leave but as my health is always good, I don’t come in on that you know. If I live, look for me in about one year. I’ll be pretty apt to take a leave about that time for good. Was sorry to hear that Jud’s health is so poor. Give him my respects when you see him and tell him I will write him soon.
You wanted to know whether I had a good visit or not with Lieut. Very good. He has just been down for me to go up and help him make out muster rolls, so you see I’ll have to finish this some other time. I meant a portfolio like yours—only perhaps little larger.
How do copperheads thrive up there? I should think that so many soldiers going home would keep them Union. I guess Vallandigham will stand a poor chance. I know he would if he had the soldiers to depend on. Think you must feel quite patriotic when you and the boys ran out to hurrah for [John] Brough when Townley and band were passing. I glory in your spunk. It is time the ladies took in hand. The men seem to be afraid of those fellows. It wouldn’t do for them to hurrah for a rope to hang Grant [in effigy] before one of our boys for their lives would have to pay for their folly. The ladies up there had ought to go armed and then say and do what they pleased. That’s the way they do here (some of them). Have you seen Capt. Hills yet? If you and Cor[win] would go to Del. and him and wife you would have no cause to be sorry, I assure you. But I will stop. I want to write some to Mother this eve. Love to yourself and all the rest. As ever your brother, — Charlie D. Carpenter
9 o’clock p.m. Mat, enclosed you will find a photograph. I want you to keep it for me. I shall want it when I get home. He is a member of Co. D and a particular friend of mine. His name is Charles Weisner—a first rate fellow too. Used to go to school in Delaware.
Letter 13
Vicksburg, Mississippi September 14th, 1863
Brother Cor[win],
I don’t want you to get mad now because I haven’t written to you before. I thought I would [write] to one at a time and you would hear from me oftener. Not feeling very bright this morning. You needn’t be surprised if this is a very uninteresting letter. I did not sleep more than a half hour last night on account of the infernal mosquitoes. So after roll call, I laid down to take a nap. The boys didn’t know where I was so I lost my breakfast. But the sleep done me more good than that would. You can’t sleep a bit here without covering up your face, feet, & hands, and then these darned mosquitoes will bite you through two thicknesses of cloth. You can’t imagine how thick they are.
My health is very good. It is very hot here yet but I hope it won’t stay so all winter. I haven’t seen any cold weather since I left home and you had better believe I would like to be where there was plenty of snow and ice for about six months. We can get a drink of ice water once in a while for a dime but that don’t do a fellow much good. But then there’s a “better time coming,” I hope.
You said when you wrote that you had had one mess of green corn. The corn here then was all ripe. Some of it was put in the cribs. Here you know they never cut their corn nor husk it either. Just strip it off the stalk. Then strip the leaves and stack them. You never see any hay here.
You spoke of your health being poor. I’m very sorry to hear it. Hope you are well by this time. I should think a fellow ought to feel pretty well to hold his own with those copperheads up there. I suppose they are a little more quiet than common and they will be more so after the election. Let them hiss. The day is soon coming when they will have to bow to the will of “Lincoln’s minions.” Then they will be sorry that they opposed this war. Their punishment will be a sure one and severe too. It will be remorse of conscience and that is certainly the worst they could receive. I don’t see how they can look a soldier in the face. Those fellows must have felt pretty [big] that passed our house on road to Del., marshaled by Townley, hurrahing for Val and for a rope to hang Grant. It makes my blood boil to think of it. I told the boys here about it. They said they would have given anything to have been there with their muskets and fired a volley or two into them. Genl. Grant is worshiped by his men here and they wouldn’t hesitate much to shoot a man that hurrahed for a rope to hang him. Tell Scott that every opportunity he gets I want him to hurrah for U. S. Grant. And if they ask him why he does it, tell them he does it for me. If they don’t like it, they needn’t ride. They can walk. But enough of this.
I am much obliged for the “local news” you gave me. (About the young folks I mean.) I should liked to have been a mouse about the time you & Mat were having the talk about the girls. Now I don’t pretend to know much about these things as we don’t speak to a white woman once in three months (or a black one either). But I can’t see any harm in your going with the girls some. And about the pin feathers. Guess that don’t make much difference to the girls for probably they are in the same fix. Then I think you must have shed yours some time ago. You said you was going to see a girl when you finished your letter. Who was it? You needn’t be afraid to tell me for of course I’ve no objection. I think it all right. But I must stop. Now Cor[win], I want you & Scott to write me a long letter when you get this. It is the third one I have written though. Enclosed you will find two songs written by some of the boys down here. I thought perhaps they would suit you songs & Scott pretty well. Love to all at home. Write soon. Tell Good Mat I will look for one from her about twice in a while. — Charlie C.
Letter 14
Vicksburg, Mississippi October 5th, 1863
Sister Mat,
It has been such a long long time since I received a letter from home that I thought I must write a little. The last one was dated Aug. 26th. That one I received by O. H. Just think of it—five long weeks without a word from home. The other boys get letters often. Why can’t I? This is the third one (the fourth I believe) since I received one from home. Well, if I don’t get one in a day or two, I guess I’ll have to write to someone else. I believe I can find someone that will write.
My health is good—never was better. The boys are all well, I believe. We are enjoying very pleasant weather now. Expect we’ll get it after while. We live in hopes that they will leave us here this winter. Don’t know how it will be yet. Sherman’s Corps has all left to reinforce Rosecrans. Glad it wasn’t us for I shouldn’t like much to spend a winter up in that country. I do hope our troops will be successful there for I think that is going to decide the length of the war—that, and the election.
I received a letter from Joel P. yesterday. Shall answer it in a day or two. My respects to him if you see him. Lieut. [Joshua L.] Dunlevy’s wife [Mary (Torrence) Dunlevy] is here. She made a very narrow escape on the river. The boat she was on burned about fifty miles above here. They had to jump into the water about two hundred yards from shore. She managed to save herself some way. Don’t hardly know how. There was about thirty lives lost. When D.’s wife gets home I want you to see her. You will like her very much I know. She is a very pretty woman. Now I only wrote this note to let you know that I was alive and that my P. O. address was Vicksburg, Mississippi, and I would be more than glad to hear from you often. Love to all. Good bye. Please don’t forget that you have a brother in the army. — C. D. Carpenter
To Mattie Carpenter
Letter 15
Vicksburg, Mississippi December 17th, 1863
Sister Mat,
Zeph[ania Cook] returned yesterday and I received such a good long letter from you & Scott that I am tickled to death most. Had been looking for a letter several days but I was just as glad when it came. The things came through all right. We had the cake for supper [and] sausage for breakfast. All decided that the cake was very nice indeed. Sausage and butter too. We all know how to appreciate such things now, I do believe. The cook is going to boil the cabbage for dinner.
I know that Zeph had a good time. Have been talking to him most all time since he got back. He is the only one that ever went home and back that could tell me anything that I wanted to hear. He is well posted, I think. Says the best music he ever heard was at our house. Mat & Cor. got Mrs. Kenniston through safe, I believe. Haven’t seen her yet.
I am enjoying the best health so you see your dream hasn’t come to pass yet. I dream about home almost every night. It’s always something good though. Never mind it’s only eight or nine months more. Then, if we all live, we will have some good times yet. Don’t suppose I would know any of the young ladies in Galena now. Could get acquainted I guess. have to learn to dance now as you are all dancers. Zeph says you are the best dancer there was at the party. Galena must be coming out, sure enough.
There is quite an excitement here about enlisting [as] Veterans. Not one of Co. D will go — not but what we are just as patriotic as ever. But we are bound to see some of those cursed Copperheads drafted first. Another thing is they are giving new recruits just as much for enlisting as for old soldiers. Now that won’t work with us. If after serving “Uncle Sam” almost three years and suffering what we have we are not worth anymore than a “raw recruit,” why we are worth just enough to serve our time and then go home and let them draft. That’s the way to raise an army now anyhow. They hadn’t ought to allow another man to volunteer. Get soldiers by a draft every time I say. Then a Copperhead is as like to go as a Union man. I do hope that Congress will annul that $300 Exemption Act the first thing they do. I want to see the rich and poor shoulder the musket together. No man should have a chance to show his cowardice by paying over three hundred dollars (although some of them would it be worth half as much as their money). I believe the latter are a great deal more patriotic than the men. Perhaps I am mistaken but think not.
What an awful thing it was to let John [Hunt] Morgan escape. ¹ Don’t believe there was a bit of need of it. Should suppose that Union men would begin to open their eyes by this time and not be duped by Northern traitors any longer. But it is dinner time and my sheet is full so I’ll quit and commence on another one.
Give my love to Hattie & Mattie Allen for me. Mat, I don’t want my pictures to be scattered around the country if it can be helped (around Galena, I mean). When the artist gets through printing for you, tell him to stop.
[unsigned]
¹ Confederate cavalry raider John Hunt Morgan escaped from the Ohio State Penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio, on 27 November 1863.
Letter 16
Columbus, Ohio June 8, 1864
Dear Mother,
I was not gone as long as I expected to be so thought I’d write you a few lines to let you know where I was. We only went as far as Davisville, Kentucky. Was gone four days. I received a letter from Mat and the boys since I returned. My health is good. Have just been detailed to go to Vicksburg. Will be gone until about the first of July so you’ll not hear anything more from me until I return.
Capt. [Arthur] Humiston is going. So is “Snook.” I thought I’d just as leave travel on the river as to stay here in these old barracks this hot weather.
Oh yes! I heard some Galena news that you never told me. A gentleman told me yesterday (no one from Galena) that Gill Hoover had been getting into a scrape with one of the “fair ones” at that illustrious place. I was not at all surprised. The girls must be in a very bad way indeed, I think.
You see I’ll have to close this. With much love, I am as ever, — C. D. Carpenter
This letter was written by Cyrus W. Meek (1828-1864) to his wife Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Jane (Rector) Meek (1835-18xx) of Smith Grove, Warren county, Kentucky.
Cyrus was drafted on 19 September 1864 as a private into Co. F, 26th Kentucky (Union) Infantry but he did not survive the war. He died of disease of measles/erysipelas at Paducah on 24 November 1864.
The black outline of the paper edges on the envelope and the decorative artwork on the letter may have been added post-death, marking this as Cyrus’ last letter before his death two weeks later.
Transcription
Smith Grove, Warren county, KY
[Paducah, Kentucky] November 6th 1864
I seat myself with pleasure to write you a few lines to let you know I have had the measles very bad but I am getting better. If I don’t take no backset, I will be up in a few days. I have had very good attention paid to me but I would drother had you with me than any body [else].
I can’t write much this time, Betsy Jane. I study a heap about you and the children. I want you all to do well. I know I expect your fare is better than mine but that matters not.
My regiment left this morning to go back to Louisville. I am still in the hospital at Paducah. The name of the place I am in is the Post Hospital. I want you soon as you get this letter to write to me. I haven’t had the scratch of a pen from you yet. I want you to write whether my letters came to hand or not that had some money in. As I have to write lying down, I must close my letter.
Betsey Jane, write to me how all the things is getting along and how Calve & Charley is learning. Direct your letter to Paducah Post Hospital.
The identity of the Confederate soldier named “Ralph” who penned this letter has not been confirmed. His home appears to have been Shelby county, Tennessee, and it is believed that he was originally a member of the 154th Senior Tennessee Infantry Regiment (1st Tennessee Infantry), Capt. J. H. Edmondson’s company. A notation in his muster records indicate that early in 1862, Co. B became a company of sharpshooters in Gen. Preston Smith’s Brigade, and then on 25 February 1863, it was assigned as a part of Co. F, 11th Tennessee Cavalry.
I could not find an image of Ralph but here is one of Pvt. Whitmell Ransom of the 11th Tennessee Cavalry
“Ralph” was not a particularly common name at the time and there was only one by that name in his company—Ralph M. Butler. Ralph was 21 years old when he enlisted for duty in May 1861. Family records are scarce but one indicates he died in 1863. However, I found a Ralph M. Butler in the Memphis City Directory in 1866 and 1867 who was employed as a bookkeeper and later as a salesman for the William Jack China Company. I’m inclined to believe he is the author as his handwriting was actually quite good—suitable for a bookkeeper. Additionally, Ralph’s service record indicates that he was detailed for a time as a hospital steward in 1862 and in the following letter, he states that he had been left behind to care for the wounded. He also mentions having received a letter from “Addie” who was probably his sister (see footnote).
Ralph’s father was Elias C. Butler who married Mary Turley in Davidson county, Tennessee, in 1838. By 1860, Elias has relocated from Tennessee to Batesville, Arkansas, where he was a merchant. Ralph was enumerated there in his father’s household at that time.
The following letter describes Streight’s Raid in Northern Alabama. A summary of that raid, entitled Spring 1863: Forrest Halts Yankee Raiders, was published by the University of Alabama in 2013 which reads:
Map showing the route of Colonel Abel Streight as he made his way towards Rome, Georgia
The spring of 1863 brought Yankees into Alabama once again, but this time, rather than occupying towns, the federal troops were bent on raiding the state and destroying Confederate supply lines. Union troops, led by Gen. Abel D. Streight, began their journey in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in April, where they separated from Gen. William Rosecrans’s army. From there, Streight and his men headed along the Tennessee River toward Alabama. They aimed to cut through northern Alabama on the way to Rome, Georgia, and there blow up the railroads that carried Confederate supplies to Chattanooga. Unfortunately for the Union army, the expedition was a disaster from the beginning. Streight’s soldiers, who were trained as infantrymen, were given mules to carry them over the mountains of North Alabama. At first, using mules seemed a fine substitute for the lack of horses, but the animals–true to their reputation–did not cooperate and slowed progress. The raiders soon became known as the “Jackass Cavalry.” If temperamental mules did not cause enough difficulties, Streight’s men also had to deal with Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, perhaps the best cavalry commander of the Confederacy, who was already famous for his brilliant fighting in North Alabama and the Tennessee Valley. From the beginning, the Union army’s plan had been to deceive the Confederates into thinking that Streight’s raid was part of a larger raid on the Tennessee Valley. Initially, the federals were successful in their trick, and Forrest headed to Tuscumbia, where Union troops under the command of G. M. Dodge had invaded on April 24. Quickly, however, Forrest figured out that the fighting in Tuscumbia was nothing more than a decoy, and he set off across Alabama in pursuit of Streight. On the last day of April, Forrest and his 600 cavalrymen tangled with Streight’s 1,500 soldiers on Sand Mountain. Over the next few days, the Confederates chased Streight’s raiders through the northern part of the state. The Yankee soldiers destroyed Confederate property and captured Gadsden, Alabama, but they were eventually defeated before they reached their destination of Rome, Georgia. On the morning of May 3, 1863, Forrest and his men caught up with the exhausted Union soldiers near the Alabama-Georgia border. Although Forrest arrived with forces only half the size of Streight’s, the Confederate general believed he could trick his foe into surrendering. Knowing that Streight would only be able to glimpse the Confederates through the trees, Forrest ordered his artillery section to march in a circle. To the Yankee commander, it appeared that Forrest’s forces were much larger than they were. Forrest demanded unconditional surrender and insisted that he had “enough [men] to whip you out of your boots.” With that, Streight surrendered his men near Lawrence, Alabama. He and his men were taken to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, and Streight remained there until he escaped in February of 1864. Meanwhile, Forrest was lauded throughout Alabama and other portions of the Deep South for protecting Confederate supply lines from destruction.
Readers are also referred to a newspaper account of Forrest’s “Exploit in Georgia” published in the Daily Dispatch on 13 May 1863, and an article entitled Streight’s Raid by Keith S. Hebert of the University of West Georgia.
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Cody Cummings and was transcribed and published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Danville, Alabama May 23, 1863
“Loved Ones at Home”
I wrote you a letter on the 1st of April at Spring Hill, Tennessee, which I sent by hand to within a short distance of Memphis to be forwarded the first opportunity. I again have the same opportunity of sending you a few lines by a friend who will endeavor to reach the home of his father who lives near Horn Lake. His name is Mr. Morrison. You can write me a letter immediately (and I want a long one) and send it out to his house and it will reach me by the same means that I send this.
“As we are an erratic set in the erratic branch of the service & under an erratic General (Maj. Gen. Forrest), you may not be surprised to hear of us being any and everywhere at once…”
— Ralph M. Butler, 11th Tennessee Cavalry, May 1863
You may be somewhat surprised to hear from me at this point, but as we are an erratic set in the erratic branch of the service & under an erratic General (Maj. Gen. Forrest), you may not be surprised to hear of us being any and everywhere at once as our means of locomotion is very good. I set forth in my last letter everything concerning our transfer from infantry to cavalry.
We have been stationed on the extreme left of Bragg’s Army which rests at Columbia for past several months, ever since the battle of Murfreesboro. We were ordered down into North Alabama by Bragg on the 1st of May to hold in check an advancing column of the enemy under General Dodge five thousand strong. We met him with our Brigade—numbers about two thousand—and repulsed them and drove them back to the Tennessee river; in the interim a brigade of the Yankee cavalry under Col. [Abel Delos] Streight was making a flank movement going around us & over the mountains of North Alabama & evidently making for the “interior” of the Confederacy. We started in pursuit of them, they having nearly 100 miles the start, on the 5th day of the chase, we came up with & engaged them at Day’s Gap of Sand Mountain in North Alabama. 1 We had a brisk fight of about two hours & the enemy again retreated, we following in close pursuit & kept up the race for several days, skirmishing hourly with them, until they entered Georgia & reached within twenty miles of Rome.
Finally we overtook them & General Forrest demanded an unconditional surrender which they finally agreed to in surrendering 300 to less than 450—our boys having to fall out all along the way on account of their horses being tired out. Their mission, they confessed, was to penetrate to the heart of our country, destroy the vast amount of stores at Rome, Atlanta, & Chattanooga. Forrest is the acknowledged “Cavalry Lion” of the service & has just been promoted. Capt. Forrest was seriously wounded—also two others of our company, and I was left here with them. The command has gone back to our old place Columbia, Tennessee, where in the future you will address your letters until further orders.
I am in excellent health & believe the cavalry service is much more healthy that infantry and I am sure it is by far the safest. An average cavalry fight would be considered nothing more than a skirmish in infantry, but the cavalry are always fighting and in the saddle on “scouts.” The service is much harder than infantry and the duties more numerous.
Have you heard anything from brother recently? I received a letter from Addie 2 & U____ dated 2nd March. Have heard nothing since.
I have not heard from Jas. McCrea for some time. The last I heard was he was still with Maj. Young [?] in Alabama. “Wash” was with them & well.
Heard anything from the servants? Did they leave voluntarily and when?
I would like to fill up the balance of the paper with something but do not know what to write about & the person by whom I send this is urging me to hurry so I close by sending my love to you all & with the request that you all write me by my friend as here before directed. Write every opportunity. — Ralph
Address your letters care of Col. [ ] Edmondson, General Forrest’s Division, Columbia, Tennessee
1 The Battle of Day’s Gap took place in Cullman County near Sand Mountain. During this fight, Streight’s men thwarted Forrest’s attempt to surround him from the rear with a series of charges led by the 73rd Illinois and 51st Indiana. Undeterred, a few hours later Forrest resumed the attack upon Streight, whose men dismounted and occupied a ridge along Hog Mountain in preparation for what they incorrectly believed was a larger force. Again Streight’s men repulsed several assaults and then resumed the march at an accelerated pace.”
2 Ralph Butler had a sister named Margaret Adelaide (“Addie”) Butler (1839-1913) who married Samuel Jack (1835-1926). The couple were married in 1864 and lived in Memphis after the war.
The following letter was penned by 19 year-old Martha Rebecca (Payne) Russell (1844-1924), the daughter of Harmon Payne (1819-1900) and Sarah Esther Hotchkiss (1820-1907) of New Haven county, Connecticut. One source gives the date of Martha’s marriage to Charles E. Russell (1840-1920) as 1 September 1862 though it appears the couple were living together prior to the June 1860 US Census in Hartford with a 6-month old daughter named Mary. Charles was employed as a “carriage trimmer.” During the war, when her husband was in the service, we learn from the letter that Martha earned a living hiring herself out as a housekeeper.
Martha’s husband volunteered in Co. A, 20th Connecticut with several other young men from Prospect. The company was raised in July 1862, and placed under the command of Colonel Samuel Ross, a former Regular Army officer. With him becoming brigade commander soon afterwards; for most of the war the regiment was commanded by its Lieutenant Colonel, William Wooster. Wooster was a businessman in civilian life and more popular than the stern disciplinarian Ross. The regiment became part of the 1st Division XII Corps and had its baptism of fire at the Battle of Chancellorsville. On May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville, the unit suffered heavy casualties as they and other units of the XII Corps bore the brunt of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson’s surprise assault.
Martha’s letter to her cousin Augusta Baldwin (1846-1866) in Naugatuck was written in the days following the battle of Chancellorsville when she had yet to hear of his safety. A final page added to the letter shares the latest news received from the front.
Transcription
Addressed to Miss Augusta L. Baldwin, Naugatuck, Ct. Care of Monroe Terrell
[Prospect, Connecticut] Monday eve, May 11 [1863]
I am at last seated to answer your long-neglected letter. I thought of it everyday but when I first received it I was cleaning house and now, Oh! me the fighting seems to me I shall go crazy for the 20th Regiment was in the battle. I have seen only the death of two from that company but quite a number from other companies. I have not known nor done anything for the last week. I cannot work. It makes me just about sick. I forget what I am doing half of the time. Made up my beds yesterday morning without putting on any sheets and that is just about the way I work. I pity anyone that has got any friends in this war. It seems awful to me to have so many lives lost. I can tell you I am not much of a Republican. Be you?
Augusta, I cannot write so I will bring my letter to a close hoping to hear from you soon. You must excuse me for not writing more. If you knew how I felt, you would not blame me for writing such a short letter.
Yours in haste, — Martha
I could not find an image of Charlie but here is Pvt. Henry Cornwall of the 20th Connecticut Vols.
Augusta, I will try and write a little more as I have a few moments. In what regiment is Ellen’s husband in—with the nine-month’s men, is he not? And your brother L[ouis], where is he? and is he well? I suppose if my folks could hear Charlie was dead, they would rejoice with exceeding great joy as the first words mother said to me after we were married was, “I hope he will die or never come back.” Was not that a comfort to me? Think I cannot bear to think of the thing but still I am afraid what news I shall have. It is two weeks since I have heard from him—two weeks this morning since they marched. Now do write to me soon for I am very lonesome and sad. Such times I never see in my life as the last week has been. I wish I could see you. Give my love to all inquiring friends if I may chance to have any in that vicinity and reserve a share for yourself. Excuse writing and mistakes. Write soon, sooner, soonest. From your cousin, — Martha R. Russell
I advise you not to go to Waterbury to doing housework to be made nigger of for the big bugs. I have had enough of it. Don’t say anything to anyone what I wrote about my folks for they would hear of it and only make matters worse. Bad enough at the best, I think.
Oh! Augusta, I have just finished [writing] your letter but Henry has come in and brought me a letter. It is from my dear Charlie. He has been in battle but come out all safe & sound. He says Frank Matthews 1 was hit by a ball and that Fred Williams, 2 John Platt, 3 & Jim Blakeslee 4 are missing. Whether taken prisoners or killed, he does not know. I do hope they will fetch back. I cannot help but think of poor Mrs. Henry Platt. I pity her from the bottom of my heart and the rest too. I cannot be thankful enough to think Charlie is all safe. I wish the rest were. — Martha
1 Sergeant John “Frank” Matthews of Prospect, CT, was wounded on 3 May 1863 and was discharged for disability on 15 May 1864.
2 Frederick H. William of Prospect, CT, died on 27 May 1863 of wounds received at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
3 John H. Platt of Prospect, CT, survived Chancellorsville but was wounded later in the war on 19 March 1865 and discharged for disability on 22 June 1865.
4 James (“Jim”) Blakeslee of Prospect, CT, was transferred to the Invalid Corps and died in a hospital on 30 April 1864.
Spared & Shared 23 