3rd New Hampshire Infantry, Port Royal, South Carolina

1862: Ralph Carlton to Alonzo Havington Sawyer

October 12, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

This letter was written by Ralph Carlton (1827-1862) of New Durham, Strafford county, New Hampshire. Ralph served as the Captain of Co. I, 3rd New Hampshire Infantry during the Civil War but was did not survive the Battle of Secessionville on James Island in South Carolina—where the regiment saw its first action on 16 June 1862. During that engagement, the regiment loss was 105 killed, wounded or missing. Capt. Carlton was shot in the left leg, which had to be amputated, but he died of his wound later the same day.

*Ralph Carlton’s Gravestone in New Durham, N. H.*

Ralph’s biological parents were John Folsom Cloutman (1804-1854) and Patience Tash Edgerly (1803-1894) of Strafford county. Ralph’s birth name was actually Erastus F. Cloutman and he served under that name in the 3rd Infantry during the Mexican-American War, and was married under that name in 1849 to Amanda M. Pearl (1832-1903), but sometime during the 1850’s he had his name legally changed to Ralph Carlton. Amanda gave birth to as many as seven children by the time Ralph entered the service in 1861 though they did not all survive infancy. In the 1860 US Census, Ralph was enumerated with his family of wife and four children in Farmington, New Hampshire, where he earned his living as a shoe cutter—a somewhat surprising occupation of menial labor given Ralph’s excellent penmanship and vocabulary which suggests a better than average education.

In the regimental history (p. 703), Ralph was described as a “fine-looking fellow, with flowing black beard, clear, black eyes and black hair.” He stood 5′ 11″ tall and had a commanding presence. “He was a popular man, not only at home, but in the regiment as well. He was the leader of the Farmington Cornet Band when he left for the war….In March 1862, Capt. Carlton having become sick, obtained a 60 days’ leave,” and returned home where he “somewhat” regained his health. On returning to his regiment, the steamboat (Oriental) he was on was shipwrecked off Hatteras and he and the other passengers had to be rescued by another steamer, resulting in a relapse of his health and he returned home once more. He did not return to the regiment until early June, just in time to participate in the Battle of Secessionville where he lost his life. One soldier who saw Ralph being removed from the battlefield wrote, “He was conveyed past us on an old door, mangled and dying. We had never seen such before. His white face contrasted strangely with his jet black hair and flowing beard.”

Ralph’s body was taken to Hilton Head and buried but soon after exhumed and placed in a metallic casket and sent North in charge of Musician Flanders of the Band. “Sad and solemn were the funeral services which took place at Farmington on 6 July 1862. The ceremonies were held in the Freewill Baptist Church.”

The letter reveals that Ralph wrote letters to the Boston Journal under the pseudonym “Santiago.” Unfortunately I have not been able to find any of these articles.

Ralph wrote the letter to Alonzo Havington Sawyer (b. 1827) who was appointed the postmaster of Alton during Lincoln’s Administration. He held the post for 22 years.

Transcription

*Addressed to A. H. Sawyer, Esq., Post Master, Alton, New Hampshire*

Port Royal [South Carolina]
March 8th [1862]

Friend Sawyer,

Yours of February 25th is at hand and I am pleased to hear from old Alton. I can’t promise you much of a treat in the way of news for you get our “movements” in the papers a devilish sight faster that we can make them, however I will endeavor to fill up the sheet with something if it is not very interesting. I send a letter to the Boston Journal at the time I send this and you can take a portion of that as belonging to you for I wrote it for N. H. folks. It is over the signature of Santiago as usual. I mention this so you can excuse me from mentioning the same things in this letter.

As for myself, I am sick. I have done no duty for six weeks. My complaint seems to be of a sort of billious nature which causes pain in the side, &c. I am going to apply for a “leave of absence” and if I obtain it I will call up and see the citizens of Alton and I want you to tell Maj. Savage to have the necessary arrangements made at the “Cocheco” [Engine Company] and of course I shall expect the Alton B[rass] B[and] to escort me from the depot. Where is “Am? I suppose he is in full blast.

Josiah Ingals Plimpton, 3rd N. H. Vols.
(Dave Morin Collection)

Well now, to affairs at Port Royal. 1st the “3rd New Hampshire” still remain at Hilton Head and are selected by Gen. [Thomas W.] Sherman to remain here permanently. Capt. [Josiah Ingals] Plimpton of Co. E is erecting a sawmill and will soon be getting out lumber with which to build barracks ¹ but although we are to have our headquarters here yet, we are not deprived of some of the fun for we go out on “secret service” once in awhile and get a sight of Pulaski and even Savannah occasionally. Seven companies of the regiment have just gone out on one of those errands and will be gone two days. My company don’t go this time on account of my being sick.

Capt. Miller of Co. B (from Exeter) is under arrest for a pretty rank offense, being no less than advising one of his men to desert and go home and offering to furnish him a change of clothes; also promising to furnish him with his pay from time to time as it became due which would oblige him (the captain) to make a false muster roll. These are serious charges and will cost him his commission if proved.

Our regiment is in good repute with Gen. Sherman and he has assigned Col. [Enoch Q.] Fellows to the responsible position of Commander of the Post and sent all the Brigadiers away to other places. Still the force under Col. Fellows is the largest of any as you will see by my letter in Journal. I think that if Savannah is taken and Gen. Sherman goes down there, he will take us with him for he seems to have a partiality for the 3rd [New Hampshire]. You will remember that when the latter named place is taken, it will be mostly accomplished with the Navy unless the present program is changed. but I have no idea that it will be attempted at present for we have not sufficient force to hold it provided the rebels should be driven down en masse into the Gulf States which seems probable no and we can take it from a large force about as easy as from a small one. But you may soon look for the fall of “Pulaski” for that little pile is doomed.

We have two drills per day—one a battalion drill, and one a company drill. Col. Jackson is now in command and is an excellent man.

In regard to contrabands, see my letter in Journal.

James W. Parker of Lisbon, N. H. served in Roger Carlton’s Co. I, 3rd N. H. Vols.
(Dave Morin Collection)

The weather is tip top part of the time but I tell you we have to catch it sometimes for we have a real “simoon” occasionally—the wind blowing a perfect gale and the sand flying like snow in winter. Then, tis now the rainy season and when it does rain, it pours.

We don’t get any of the luxuries you mention unless we purchase them of the sutlers put up in tin cans! Please tell Miss Young is she is at your place now that her brother has got well and returned to duty. Our regiment have lost by death in all 17 men. My company has lost two—one from Wakefield and one from Winchester. There are many more things I might mention but as I intend to go up to New Hampshire soon, I will wait and give you a verbal account of affairs. Remember me to Maj. S.; also to Hon. Daniel and Charles Mooney and in fact to everybody who loves the Stars and Stripes.

If I go home I shall arrive not far from the first of April. The 4th New Hampshire are with Gen. Wright but are doing nothing that I can hear of. Yours truly, — Ralph Carlton

[to] A. H. Sawyer, Esq.

“Organized at Concord, N.H., and mustered-in for three years on Aug. 23, 1861, the 3rd New Hampshire Infantry was uniformed in “New Hampshire cloth,” considered to be of “a better shade [of grey] than that of the other regiments.” The frock coats and pants were of gray doeskin made by the Harris Mill at Harrisville, Cheshire County, and supplied by Lincoln & Shaw, of Concord, at a total cost of $9,505. The frock coats issued to the 3rd New Hampshire Infantry were patterned after the 1854 U.S. Army frock coat with 9-button front, 2-button cuff, and rear skirts with two buttons at waist level. Collar and pointed cuffs were plain. Pants were also plain for all enlisted ranks. Non-commissioned officers’ sleeve stripes were a light color, likely sky-blue. Havelock caps issued to this regiment were described as “of dark brown mixed stuff, with a stiff visor and cape.” Brass company cap letters cost a total of $62. This corporal has a spear-pointed knife and Model 1849 Pocket Colt revolver tucked into his waist belt. He holds one of the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled muskets, with fixed bayonet, supplied to the regiment by jeweler George W. Drew of Concord, N.H.“
*Sixth-plate ruby ambrotype by an unidentified photographer. Ron Field Collection.*
[See Military Images Digital]

[It should be noted that by the time this letter was written in March 1862, the 3rd New Hampshire Infantry were no longer wearing their state-issued grey uniforms. They did, apparently, wear their old grey uniforms when on fatigue duty. See 1862: Arthur Sidney Newsmith to Annie Nesmith, letter dated 22 March 1862 from Port Royal, S. C.]

¹ In February, 1862, Capt. Plimpton was detailed at Hilton Head to build a saw-mill, and had several men assigned to him as carpenters for that purpose. The spot chosen was near Drayton’s Plantation, not far from camp and close to the river (Broad). This service continued several weeks. There were several men from the Third New Hampshire detailed to work at this saw-mill.

Pennsylvania Homefront

1861: Kenzie Allen Lovell to his Friends

October 11, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

This letter was written by Kenzie Allen Lovell (1841-1923), the son of Amon Lovell (1802-1850) and Wealthy Houck Baird (1816-1907) of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. Mentioned in the letter is his brother Albert G. Lovell (1839-1934).

At the time that Kenzie wrote this letter in 1861, he was employed as a school teacher but the following year he enlisted in August to serve 9 months as a first sergeant in Co. E, 122nd Pennsylvania Infantry. In 1870, he was still living in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, earning his living as a lawyer. He was married in 1865 to Mary G. Lease (1845-1928).

Kenzie’s letter speaks of the outrage exhibited by the Northern populace—particularly by the students in his school—when the Massachusetts Militia were attacked by southern sympathizers as they attempted to pass through Baltimore on 19 April 1861.

*Massachusetts Militia attacked while passing through the streets of Baltimore (Monument City).*

Transcription

Tuesday, 3 p.m., June 25, 1861

My dear friends,

Your most welcome epistle reached its destination a few evenings since and to all such, I respond with the greatest pleasure. I am sorry to hear that you do not intend coming to the Normal [school] till next spring, but am glad that you have not abandoned the idea entirely. I can’t say whether I will be here then or not but I want to remain next winter at least. If I am, you will not see me.

I suppose old “Harmony Hill” Seminary is now closed up and left to commune in silence with those large oaks around it, or, mayhap ’tis still frequented by a group of “little ones,” more eager for play than study. In your next, please let me know when my successor closed and how he succeeded. Let me know also where Mr. Solliday is; whether he has left Maryland or not.

The school here is not now as large as it was at the commencement of the term, many having left at the close of the first quarter. There are now only about 300. The war excitement had a great effect upon the school this spring, and many students left their books to handle the musket and sword. May success attend them where traitors are to be crushed.

When the news reached the school that the Northern troops had been attacked in Baltimore, it created intense excitement, and had it it been in their power, the proud Monumental City, disgraced by its treasonous inhabitants, would have been reduced to ashes. This I give you as an illustration of the effect which that ignominious attack upon our troops had in the school, and the illustration will apply in general to the whole North, from Pennsylvania’s southern boundary to Maine, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

It is now begun, however, and were a hero of the Revolution permitted to visit America at the present unhappy period in her history, he could not but weep to think that our once happy Republic should so soon fall a victim to civil strife—strife inaugurated by traitors whose foul deeds would make an Arnold blush. But enough of this; it pains me to behold it, much more to picture it to others. I anxiously await the result, and think that ere six months more roll around, Gen. Scott—who is the Union’s support—will have proved that the “Southern Confederacy” is only a phantom and that Republicanism is not a failure.

I am happy indeed to read such sentiments as are expressed in your letter, and to think that while evil influences surrounded you, you did not yield to them, but still remain the same that you were when we last conversed together in my study at Mr. Kline’s. In your next, please tell me if you can what Mr. Kline’s sentiments are about the present national issue.

Brother Albert, I believe, is still in Maryland, I think, however, he intends coming to school here before long. I suppose you are about beginning to cut your grain crop, for it is some earlier than ours. I would like to go into the harvest fields about two weeks if I thought I could endure it. I am confident if you intend going to school any place, you will find it vastly to your benefit to attend the institution because it has been prepared and is now endowed by the State to train teachers.

I believe I have written all of importance and shall close. Please write soon. You will see this letter has been written in haste. Direct as before. Sincerely yours, — K. Allen Lovell

72nd Illinois Infantry, Fort McPherson, Natchez, U. S. Colored Troops

1863: Edward Alexander McConnell to Edward McConnell

October 11, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

This partial letter was written by Edward Alexander McConnell (1844-1867), the son of emigrants Edward McConnell (1805-1878) and Charlotte McGlashan (1813-1889) of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois. At the time of the 1860 US Census, 16 year-old Edward was working as a clerk in Chicago. After the war, Edward married Susannah Richards Colehour, who gave birth to their only child four months after Edward’s death in February 1867.

*I could not find an image of Edward but here is Azel D. Hayward who also served in Co. B, 72nd Illinois Infantry* *(Randy Hayward Collection)*

During the Civil War, Edward enlisted as a private in Co. B, 72nd Illinois Infantry (the “First Chicago Board of Trade Regiment”) in August 1862. He was promoted to corporal in June 1863 and to sergeant in September 1863.

In his letter, Edward writes a paragraph on the Black troops in Natchez in September 1863 and of the construction of a new fortification there on the north side of town. On July 13, 1863, Union troops arrived in Natchez and “established the Union Army headquarters at the Rosalie Mansion. By August of 1863, more U.S. Colored Troops began residing in Natchez. A large number of black men that enlisted were from Natchez or had left plantations in surrounding areas such as Franklin County, Jefferson County, Wilkinson County, etc. During the Fall of 1863, the soldiers began working on the construction of a fortification named for General James Birdseye McPherson. There were over 3,000 colored troop soldiers who served in the six regiments at Fort McPherson. These regiments included the sixth U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, 58th U.S. Colored Infantry, 70th U.S. Colored Infantry, 71st U.S. Colored Infantry, 63rd U.S. Colored Infantry, and the 64th U.S. Colored Infantry.” [The Story of the Natchez US Colored Troops by Inesha Jackson]

*The Union Battlements of Fort McPherson, encompassed the United States Marine Hospital*

Transcription

*Addressed to Mr. Edward McConnell, Chicago, Illinois*

Natchez [Mississippi]
September 22, 1863

Dear father,

It has been over a week since we have received any mail and as I expect several letters from home, I will write you one now while I have an opportunity and so save writing so many when the mail comes.

John and I are both enjoying excellent health and we hope you are all well and in good spirits. The weather for the last three or four days has been quite chilly—very similar to our fall weather in Chicago. We have all sent in requisitions for more woolen blankets as the nights are now getting quite cool. There is not much doing here worth writing about.

All the troops except our regiment have been moved out of the city and are encamped in the timber two or three miles off. All the colored troops here numbering five or six thousand have been uniformed and equipped. They look first rate in their new clothes and are very proud of them. They are all kept at work on the fortifications which are going to be strong and extend around the city.

The rebel works at Vicksburg will bear no comparison to those that are to be built here. In the first place a ditch fourteen feet wide and ten feet deep with almost perpendicular sides (the earth being so solid that there is no danger of its caving in) is dug. The earth that is thrown out is formed into a breastwork twenty feet broad and five high. About every half mile a fort containing four heavy siege guns is to be built commanding the ditches of the breastworks. Even if a force of the enemy succeeds in getting into the ditches, they can be swept out with grape and canister before any attempt could be made to scale the works. The works are to be about six miles in length and extend entirely around the town. They will probably be finished in a couple of months as a very large force is kept at work on them.

I suppose you have seen Charles Wales of our mess sometime ago. Julius Hahn another of our company you will probably see before you get this. He went up on a special furlough from Gen. McArthur about ten days ago. He had been an employee of his for three years.

Our First Sergeant E[than] T. Montgomery is going up in a week or so on a special furlough. He will call and see you while he is in Chicago. I do not think there will be any chance for either John or I to get home this year. No more furloughs are to be granted till all who are home return which will probably be a month or more. By that time the fall campaign will probably be commenced and the granting of furloughs stopped.

I hope the war will be closed soon so that we can get a permanent furlough. All the citizens I have spoken to yet would be glad to have the state come back in the Union. There are about a hundred deserters from the rebel army. Some of them have [rest of letter missing].

137th New York Infantry

1863: James Stoddard Hyde to Susan (Beach) Hyde

October 11, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

Though unsigned, I feel confident this partial letter was written by James Stoddard Hyde (1844-1864), the son of George Hyde (1808-1890) and Susan Beach (1821-1898) of Hyde Settlement, Broome county, New York. According to the Hyde Genealogy, George and Susan (Beach) Hyde had five children: John C. (b. 1841), James S. (b. 1844), Mary F., (b. 1846), Lucy C. (b. 1848), and George H. (b. 1850). James was a grandson of Major Chauncey Hyde—a Revolutionary War veteran and a major of militia—who settled near Lisle (Hyde’s Settlement), Broome county, New York, in the late 1790s.

James was 18 years old when he enlisted at Binghamton to serve three years in Co. E, 137th New York Infantry. He mustered in as a corporal but was returned to the ranks prior to June 1863. Throughout most of the war, the 137th New York Infantry served in Gen. Geary’s “White Star” Division. James was known to be with his regiment at Gettysburg when they played a pivotal role on the night of 2 July 1863 in repulsing the Confederate attack on the previously abandoned works on Culp’s Hill. They were on the extreme right flank of the Union lines that night. Stretched at double interval, there were times when they were taking fire from three sides. [see James S. Hyde Diary, 3 July 1863, NCWRTC]

Falling ill on the Atlanta Campaign, James was sent to a hospital in Nashville where he died of disease on 17 August 1864. He was buried at Nashville.

*Repulse of General Johnson’s Division by General Geary’s White Star Division*, by Peter Frederick Rothermel, 1870.

Transcription

Aquia Creek Landing, Va.
Co. E, 137th N. Y. S. V.
February 11th 1863

Dear Mother,

I have got a tent again now. It is raining out of doors but is very comfortable in here. Mr. [Clarendon B.] Taft ¹ & Mr. [Levi] Perce ² are both sick. Taft has the rheumatism very bad and Perce is completely worn out. He (there is considerable going on here) has had several fits. His discharge papers are being made out. Taft will probably be discharged. They have been with the drum corps for some time. Frank Rulison ³ & Albert Spafard ⁴—they are both good, honest, steady men. We built our tent about four feet high with logs and dug into the ground one foot and covered it with our shelter tents. We have a good fireplace and stick chimney. There is no stones in the ground here so that it makes good plaster to stop the cracks.

You say you do not see how the deserters get by the guard, Well there is a great many things that you will never know nothing about unless you come down here. Camp guard is completely played out with us. We have not had any camp guard since we left Bolivar that amounted to anything. There is a guard around our camp sitting on the stumps but they have not got any orders. The guard is kept so as to have one in case of a fight among the boys, or anything like that. Then after they get by the picket, which is not a very hard job, they are free to go whichsoever way they may choose, unless they should happen to run onto patrol guard. It is a very easy matter to desert if anyone wants to do so.

At Bolivar we used to run the guard anywhere we chose. We would go past his beat when he was not looking at you. There has not any deserted from this regiment for some time.

We moved our camp a few days ago from one hill to another. Before we had a splendid view of the river but now we have a “splendiferous” view for many miles each way. The river is said to be five miles wide here. There are about 100 boats in sight all the time. There is a round knoll about 80 feet high between us and the river where the Rebs had two pivot guns planted which blockaded the river.

I was mistaken about the 27th & 12th Regt. being in the 9th Army Corps. It took four days for them all to get started. I noticed one man standing on the boat (I did not see the 89th until they had got on board) and someone told me it was Capt. Brown. I did not know him. I did not see him but a few moments. They had a very nice steamboat to go out on.

31st. You must excuse my writing so much with a pencil. We are practicing now all our spare time. We do not have to go on fatigue duty so the Colonel has ordered us to practice 8 hours each day since we got our tents built. We had not practiced at all before since we have been here. We go out of camp, build a good fire, sit around it and tell stories.

Lieut. [Frederick M.] Halleck ⁵ returned home (we call this home) a few days ago. He said he saw my father, brother, & sister. Said that you were all alive and well so far as he could see. I received a good long letter from [sister] Mary (No. 18) last night. I am very glad to learn that you received the check all right and hope you will get the money on it. But we hear here that they will not cash them at Bright’s.

The 12th Army Corps is only a short distance from us up Aquia Creek a mile or two. I saw Gen. Slocum & Geary a few days ago. There were up here to see the elephant. If there is anyone in Hyde Settlement that would like to know something about war, just send them down here with a pass. You can go anywhere from Washington free. It is only a few miles from here out to the front where Hooker’s Army is. There you will see some soldiers. This place, four months ago….[rest of letter missing]

¹ Clarenden B. Taft was 37 years old when he enlisted as a musician in Co. A, 137th New York Infantry on 16 August 1862. He was discharged for disability on 14 March 1863 at Acquia Creek Landing, Va.

² Levi Perce was 43 years old when he enlisted on 16 July 1862 as a musician in Co. A, 137th New York Infantry. He mustered out with a disability on 14 March 1863 at Acquia Creek Landing, Va.

³ Frank Rulison was 33 years old when he enlisted on 16 July 1862 at Conklin to serve as a musician in Co. B, 137th New York Infantry. He was wounded in action at the Battle of Chancellorsville on 3 May 1863.

⁴ Albert Spafard was 37 years old when he enlisted on 16 July 1862 at Conklin to serve as a musician in Co. B, 137th New York Infantry.

⁵ Lieut. Frederick M. Halleck was 22 years old when he mustered in as a 2nd Lieutenant at Binghamton on 19 August 1862. He was promoted to 1st Lieut. of Co. E on 18 April 1863 and discharged in June 1865.

33rd North Carolina Infantry

1863: John D. Fain to Susan (Martin Hair) Fain

October 10, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

This letter was written by John D. Fain (1841-1865) who enlisted on 1 June 1861 as a private in Co. C (“Warren Rifles”), 12th North Carolina Infantry. He was wounded on 28 June 1862 during the Seven Days Battle and hospitalized in Richmond for a time. He was detailed by General Iverson as a clerk for Maj. Payne, Quartermaster, in the spring of 1863. On 23 November 1863, just a couple of weeks after this letter was written, he was transferred out of the 12th North Carolina and commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in Co. C, 33rd North Carolina Infantry. He received a gunshot wound again, this time in the left thigh/hip, on 6 May 1864 in the Wilderness and returned to his regiment near Petersburg on 31 August 1864. Sometime early in 1865 he was made Captain of his company, his rank backdated to July 1864.

Capt. Fain served the entire war, rising in rank from private to captain, but he did not live to see the end of the conflict and return home to his mother. On 1 April 1865, the brigade in which the 33rd North Carolina was attached fell under a continual bombardment. Early the next morning, Grant launched his attack on the thinly manned North Carolina regiments and though they fought desperately, they were compelled to fall back until they broke. In the same fight that resulted in the death of Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill, Capt. Fain was mortally wounded. He was standing with a group with other officers when “that unmistakeable thud” was heard and Capt, Fain “fell heavily forward…He begged us to take him off the field, but it was impossible to do so at that time. In five minutes he was dead. I never knew a purer man. He was the soul of honor—so gentle, so manly, so heroic that no one could help loving him. We held the inner line of works until night, when Petersburg was evacuated, and we began our last retreat.”

John was the son of John Fain (@1800-1856) and Susan Martin Hair (1804-1881) of Island Creek, Granville county, North Carolina. John was an 1860 graduate of the University of North Carolina. In the 1860 US Slave Schedule, John’s widowed mother was listed among the slaveholders in Granville county and she owned 52 slaves.

Transcription

*Addressed to Mrs. S. M. Fain, Wm. Buruga, Granville, North Carolina*

Camp 33rd N. C. S.
December 6th 1863

My own dear mother,

I received your kind letter in line of battle the other day and I seize really the first opportunity I have had of writing to you. We were drawn up in front of the Yankees almost a week. I had scarcely reported to Col. [Clark Moulton] Avery for duty before we received orders to march and I have just been relieved from duty as “Officer of the Guard,” so you see how busy I have ben. I find Col. Avery a very fine, genial man and I have been assigned to the company of his brother whom I like very much. Everything here moves like clockwork and there is a great cordiality among the officers. I had some few acquaintances among them, and they have treated me always very kindly and gentlemanly. There is no intercourse between officers and men and nearly all officers cooks are white men detailed for that purpose. As a general thing, the entire brigade is made up of the best fighting material I ever saw. All soldiers in the true sense of the word.

We had fortified ourselves very securely when we were threatened by the enemy and they pushed very closely upon us. It was very exciting—the skirmishers would sometimes be driven in and we would all rush from our fires to the breastworks. The sharpshooters from our brigade killed several of the blue….

I saw Mr. Anderson before I left the 12th [Regiment] and was very much pleased with him. I should like to see him often but I only [ ] him when I expected orders daily to join the 33rd. I think him a young man devoted to his Master’s cause and what [ ] so worthy of faithful service as the Lord our God?

I am truly sorry that you made so little corn. I hope your wheat will enable you to pass through the year. You write again about the box. I received the contents excepting these I mentioned as lost and the books. I saw nothing of them except the Greek Testament. I should be very glad to have some good drawers [this] winter but white shirts will not answer. I think I need another undershirt and a shirt like those you sent me. Our washing days are so uncertain that a single change is not sufficient.

I trust this will find you all the servants and our friends well. How have Julia, Aunt Polly, and Mr. Evans gotten [along]? I thank you, mother, for your noble advice about my duty. I shall strive to perform it well. I am still wearing a jacket but I expect to have a full uniform shortly. As you may suppose, I have lately had little opportunity of reading my bible but I pray nightly to God and an invocation is often on my lips. Pray for me, mother, and may God shield you from every ill.

I have seen Miss Bettie’s little brother and I think I must drop her a few lines though you know it is all nothing—just a friendly letter. Who, mother, is the suitor for cousin Watkin’s hand? Boyd or Tany? Both acceptable I presume. My thanks to all my friends for their good wishes. I believe I have still many friends around Waynesboro.

I met an ambulance driven from Ewell’s Corps as we returned from our sortie and he said that like us, they had returned to their old quarters after the retreat of the enemy. I go on picket tomorrow in command of my company, Lt. [Willoughby F.] Avery being witness as a court martial. My kindest regards to the servants and Uncle William’s family, Aunt Holly, Mr. Evans, and all my friends. I will write much more frequently this winter. My God have you in his holy keeping is the prayer of your affectionate boy, — John

American Home Missionary Society, Antebellum Illinois, Antislavery Movement

1843: Romulus Barnes to Lucien Farnum

October 10, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

This letter was written by Rev. Romulus Barnes (1800-1846), the son of Daniel Giles Barnes (1752-1814) and Sarah Webster (1767-1830). Romulus was married to Olivia Denham (1807-1887).

Romulus was born in Bristol, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale College in 1828. After graduating from the Yale Theological Seminary in 1831, he moved to Illinois where he began to preach. His wife was from Conway, Massachusetts, and she attended Holyoke Seminary under the tutelage of Mary Lyons.

Romulus and Olivia were partners in their ministry on the Illinois frontier. Under the auspices of the American Home Missionary Society, the couple faced danger together as they carried the message of anti-slavery into a land that was largely inhabited by pro-slavery (or at least anti-Black) settlers. They were ostracized by neighbors and by many of the churches. On one occasion Olivia was severely wounded by a stone thrown at her by a pro-slavery mob while her husband delivered an anti-slavery sermon. After the death of her husband in 1846 leaving her with eight children, Olivia carried on her work alone.

Romulus wrote the letter to his brother-in-law, Rev. Lucien Farnham (1799-1874), the first pastor of the Congregational Church in Batavia, Illinois, who was married to Louisa Denham (1804-1833). Louisa’s brother, Butler Denham (1805-1841) was married to a woman named Eunice Storrs (1809-1899). When Butler died in 1841, Eunice took Owen Lovejoy (1811-1864) as her second husband.

[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Roy Gallup and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Transcription

*Addressed to Rev. Lucien Farnum, Batavia, Kane county, Illinois*

Washington, Tazewell county, Illinois
January 23, 1843

Dear Bro. Farnum,

Not long after you was here I made up my mind to leave this place. The church generally appear friendly to me & the Elders have frequently expressed the opinion that no more can be raised in this community without the sacrifice of principle, for any man that can be obtained, than for me. However this may be, one thing is certain—they do not do enough for me to justify me in continuing my labors under such a variety of discouragements.

What will be my duty, I know not. I cannot feel it to be my duty to go into a log cabin with my family as we did when our family was small. I cannot consider it to be duty to place my wife where her labors will be greater than they are at present. If you know of any place where we could be useful, please inform me. We should be glad to move early in the spring.

I am happy to inform you that we are at present in the midst of a very inter-revival in the neighborhood of Mr. [Moses] Morse‘s. For several weeks past, I have preached there every Sabbath & for the last three of four weeks. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the congregation has been very manifest. Some five or six have expressed hope in Christ & last evening ten or twelve new cases of seriousness were manifest—all youth from the age 12 to 23 or 24 years. Our prayer is may the work be carried on with great power.

Last week we received a letter from our friend in Conway [Mass.]. Their health was good as usual. They said that they wrote to you some time last summer but had received no answer. They were anxious to hear from you. My wife unites with me in love to you & yours. The children also wished to be remembered to their cousin Louisa. Please write soon.

Very affectionately yours, &c., — R. Barnes

Causes of War---Slavery, New York Homefront, Patriotism in the North, Presidential Election of 1864, Rochester, New York

1862-64: Dwight Whitney Marsh to his Family

October 10, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

*Rev. Dwight Whitney Marsh in later years*

These two letters were written by Dwight Whitney Marsh (1823-1896), the son of Henry Marsh (1797-1852) and Sarah Whitney (1796-1883) of St. Louis, Missouri. Dwight had several siblings; those mentioned in these letters include, Calvin “Waldo” Marsh (1825-1873), Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) Willard Marsh (1829-1882), and Clarissa (“Clara”) Dwight Marsh (1834-1899) who married Samuel Watkins Eager, Jr. (1827-1903). Dwight’s father was an attorney in St. Louis at the time of his death in 1852 at the age of 53.

Dwight was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and graduated from Williams College in 1842. He studied theology at Andover Theological Seminary in 1842-3, and then taught school in St. Louis, Mo., from 1843 to 1847. He continued his theological training at Union Theological Seminary and graduated in 1849, after which he was ordained and sailed in December 1849 from Boston to Mosul, Turkey, as a missionary for the A. B. C. F. M. In 1852 he returned to the U.S. and married 19 October 1852 to Julia White Peck of New York City. He then returned to Mosul where his wife died in August 1859. He finally returned to the U.S. in 1860 and began a lecture tour on missionary life. He was married on 21 August, 1862, to Elizabeth L. Barron in Rochester and then accepted charge of the Rochester Young Ladies’ Female Seminary where he remained five years. While there, he also preached for the Wester House of Refuge. He then went on to serve in the pulpit of various churches in the midwest before his death in 1896.

Letter 1

Osburn House
Rochester, New York
Thursday, August 21, 1862

My own ever dear sister Lizzie,

I am very sorry that our marriage comes off so suddenly that you & Mother could not be present. I think of you all much. It is now about noon & we are to be married at 3:30 & at 9 shall be at the [Niagara] Falls if all goes well. We have a charming day & I wish you were here to share in our delight. How often in this life our affairs move differently from our anticipations. I think we are about to be happy; but only our Maker knows what trials of sickness or partings are in store.

We are in war times. I think I never saw a city so stirred with enlistment excitements as this day. A regiment has just gone & 15 tents are camped on the pavements in the very heart of the city & the roll of the drum calls not an ordinary crowd. At 3:30 stores are closed & the strength & enterprise of the city is at work & will meet with wonderful success. They will probably avoid any resort to drafting in this county.

Coming from New England here, having heard Parson Brownlow ¹ here, I think I can safely [say] that the North is wholly in earnest & will give promptly all that the government asks. This interest grows with every friend that falls & does not for a moment falter at any reverse. This is a great country & I am getting more & more proud of it. Should you come from St. Louis here, you would breathe a purer air & feel a new patriotic thrill & exult in living where to be living is sublime. “In an age on ages telling.”

“We shall have no lasting peace till we are ready to do something in the name of God & liberty for the slave. There clanks our chain.”
Rev. Dwight Whitney Marsh, 21 August 1862

Lizzie, I hope you & Clara all all at home will not think that my heart loved you any the less for the happiness of my new relations. I think that I love each of our dear family with a true & abiding love. I want your sympathy & your prayers. At St. Louis, where tiresome abounds, you must feel sad & discouraged at times. We shall have no lasting peace till we are ready to do something in the name of God & liberty for the slave. There clanks our chain.

Do give my best love to Anna & Clara & Sam & Waldo & kiss the children. When shall we meet? I cannot go to St. Louis for the present. I shall have to go look after Charlie again, as soon as October 1st, if not sooner. I shall try to write more at length soon. I hope Katy will not forget “Uncle Dwight.” Remembrance to all friends.

Your ever affectionate brother, — Dwight

¹ William Gannaway Brownlow (1805-1877) was a preacher in the Methodist Church and a Tennessee newspaper editor. A Unionist despite owning slaves himself, Brownlow criticized the Confederacy even after Tennessee seceded. He was briefly imprisoned by the Confederacy at the beginning of the war. After leaving the state, he began a lucrative lecture tour in the North.

Letter 2

*Addressed to Mrs. Sarah Marsh, Care of S. W. Eager, Jr., Esqr., County Clerk, St. Louis, Mo.*

Rochester, New York
Saturday, November 12th 1864

My own dearest Mother,

Your kind letter written just before election came yesterday & now we can rejoice & thank God together. This state and Nation are safe. God has heard the prayer of thousands of His creatures. He has been very gracious & to Him be all glory & praise. The world does surely move on towards the glad day when truth shall no longer be trampled down in the streets. The Nation, by God’s inspiring decree & influence, has asserted the heaven given rights to live notwithstanding rebels in arms & traitors at the polls would have assassinated the nation.

*Rochester Female Seminary—pillars repaired in 1864*

I am almost too happy in the defeat of the intriguer [Horatio] Seymour & hardly less in that of the weak tool McClellan. I think McClellan was a well-meaning little coxcomb—fooled to the top of his bent by larger and meaner men. The sun has set upon [Samuel S.] Cox & [Alexander] Long & poor Fernando [Wood] has not even traitors enough in New York [City] to elect him. All lovers of liberty & truth must rejoice in the result of last Tuesday’s election. I have some curiosity to know how [brother] Waldo voted. I hope that he is under good influences. I want very much from time to time to hear just how he is situated.

Lillie & Miss Eaton are well. Were they in the room, he would no doubt send love.

Our school continues full. We have about eighty. We had lately a singular case of theft by one of the girls of silver spoons & we were obliged to send her home. She was only fifteen & lived some thirty or forty miles away.

Please tell me any news of the dear ones in Racine. Love to them too if you write.

We have been repairing considerably. Clara will remember that the pillars in front of the house were very shabby. We have had them freshly covered and they look now very well indeed. We have expended over $200 in repairs since Mr. Eager & Clara were here & they would no doubt notice great improvement, This change has been essential to be decent.

*Rev. Augustus Walker and his bride, Eliza Mercy Harding—Congregational missionaries to Turkey*

Mr. & Mrs. [Augustus] Walker ¹ of Diarbekir made us a very delightful visit of nearly a week—only it was too short. We put on Turkish dresses on Wednesday afternoon & the young ladies had quite a treat. One day the girls took a vote & found 58 for Lincoln to 12 for McClellan, & besides the teachers all for Lincoln.

Our city (I am sorry to say) gave some 80 majority for Little Mac. He must feel very small. Little Delaware was just large enough to vote for him.

Old Kentucky started wrong in this war (only half loyal)—that is, loyal with an if—and she has suffered & may suffer far more for it. I hope she will consult her own interests well enough to give up slavery. It is idle to attempt to maintain it longer & will only delay what is inevitable.

Please give much love to Waldo & Mr. Eager & all their families, kissing the little ones for me. Thank you for remembering & writing to me on my birthday. I see God’s hand more the longer I live & I hope am grateful for His goodness & love. Every affectionately your son, — Dwight

¹ Rev. Augustus Walker and his wife, Eliza Mercy Harding, were missionaries to Diarbekir, Turkey, where they spent 13 years. They had six children, two of whom died in Turkey. Only one child, Harriet, was born in America during a furlough. In 1866 the Reverend Augustus Walker died of cholera in Turkey, and Mrs. Walker returned to America with their four children.

Antebellum Illinois, Galena, Illinois, Slavery

1837: Charles Smith Hempstead to William Hempstead

October 9, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

This letter was written by Charles Smith Hempstead (1794-1874), the son of Stephen Hempstead (1754-1831) and Mary Lewis (1757-1820) of St. Louis, Missouri. Charles was married in 1838 to Eliza Barnes (1799-1880). He wrote the letter to his younger brother, William Hempstead (1800-1854) who lived in St. Louis with his wife Sarah Augusta Bouton (1815-1844). Charles & William had a sister named Sarah Hempstead (1789-1858) who was married to Elijah Stuart Beebe (1785-1822)—a saddler & harness maker in St. Louis. An older brother, Edward Hempstead (1780-1817) was a delegate to the US Congress as a representative from Missouri Territory from 1812 to 1814. The Hempstead family were close friends with the Thomas Hart Benton family of St. Louis.

Charles was an early resident of Galena, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where he had a law practice with U. S. Congressman Elihu Benjamin Washburne. He came to Galena in 1829. He was elected the city’s first mayor in 1841. He partnered with Washburne from 1845 until 1852. Described as “a quiet, dignified, urbane man, and an able lawyer,” Charles practiced his profession until past middle life, when “he devoted his entire attention to his private affairs. He was a promoter of the Galena and Chicago railroad, the first road to be constructed west of Lake Michigan, and was one of its board of directors for many years. He served in the civil war as a paymaster and was one of Galena’s early mayors. His two sons, Edward and Charles, became prominent citizens of Galena, and both moved to Chicago and engaged, the first named in the lumber business, and the second in the practice of his profession as a physician, in which he became distinguished.”

In his letter, Charles speaks of his slave Tom and of his desire to see him placed in a free black community in the country somewhere. That Charles was a slave holder is certain. Cornell University Library houses a Certificate of Manumission for a mulatto woman named Mary and her ten year-old son Augustus who came into his possession in 1836 and were manumitted in 1845.

*Charles S. Hempstead’s Brick Home at 611 South Bench Street in Galena, Illinois*

Transcription

Galena [Illinois]
February 23rd 1837

Dear William,

*Charles S. Hempstead served as one of the commissioners appointed by the Illinois General Assembly selling shares for the Mississippi & Rock River Canal Company in 1838*

I received your favor 13th inst. by due course of mail. Respecting your interest in Milan, I will write to [John] McNeil to try and sell one or two shares of interest at the rate he sold & to clear myself of H. S. B. & one or two other liabilities. I would sell a part of my interest also although now is not the time to sell for Mr. [Charles] Oakly & partner in that place are waiting for some other [ ] before they will offer lots in the place for sale—such as a canal to unite Rock river with the Mississippi to terminate in [ ] below the town. Those men have been all winter at Vandalia to effect a law for that purpose.

I will attend to the estate matter you have set up and I am pushing my town lots & other business to be [ ] to leave by 15th or 20th next month for St. Louis. Edw. Beebe has not arrived here yet. Our rivers are yet firmly frozen & in probability of a breakup to await boat before 4 or 5 weeks.

We have nothing new here. Times [are] dull. Nothing stirring. No speculation this winter. All of our speculating citizens are East, operating there. The Iowa Copper Mines ¹ of Aubry & Mills have been sold to a C. in Philadelphia 3/4th for $75,000, Dr. Miller, one of the purchasers, but we hear poor Mills will not live to enjoy any of it.

You ask what is to be done with my Tom. I wish you would send him to the country somewhere. Are there no free black men with whom he could live? If you cannot do anything with him till I come down, let him be and I will attend to him. As to family matters on this side of the river, we all are well—and also on the other, and the fear of her husband & others have been happily relieved. Dr. McKnight’s wife—who has a fine daughter, & mother & child doing well—at my home. We are all as usual, and among yous and your wife’s friend in town. I believe we are all well.

Please remember us affectionately to all the family & believe me ever & affectionately yours, — Chas. S. Hempstead

¹ The Iowa Copper Mines were located about one mile from Mineral Point in Wisconsin Territory, and about 35 miles from Galena.

57th Illinois Infantry, Corinth, Mississippi

1862: Augustus Charles Barry to Friend

October 9, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

This letter was written by Augustus Charles Barry (1829-1917) of Wyanet, Bureau county, Illinois, while serving as the captain of Co. K, 57th Illinois Infantry. He was mustered into the regiment on 26 December 1861 and resigned his commission on 20 June 1862 after six months service.

*I could not find an image of Barry but here is one of Linas van Steenburg who also served as a captain in the 57th Illinois Infantry*

At the time of the 1860 US Census, Augustus was enumerated as a boarder in the household of station agent David T. Nichols of Wyanet, Illinois. His occupation was given as “attorney of law.” He was the son of John and Eunice (Sweet) Barry of Brookfield, Madison county, New York. He was married to Catherine Ettie Miller in May 1867 and she may have been the “Dear Friend” to whom this letter was addressed. While many of his siblings settled around Elgin, Illinois, Augustus eventually moved to San Francisco, California where he died in 1917.

The 57th Illinois Infantry was raised in the fall of 1861 and was composed of five upstate companies and five from downstate—a situation that was ripe for discord among the leaders of the organization if not the men. The Colonel and Lt. Colonel did not get along and officers below them were often compelled to pick sides in this confrontation. Though he does not say so in his letter, perhaps Augustus resigned in part because of the growing antagonism among the officers. He was long gone from the regiment by the time charges of cowardice were levied against Col. Silas D. Baldwin by Lt. Col. Frederick J. Hurlbut with specifications that dated as far back as the Battle of Fort Donelson in which the 57th Illinois barely even participated. Since he was no longer a member of the regiment, Augustus was not called upon to testify but he appears to have been strong friends with the Lt. Col. and the Regimental Surgeon suggested he may have sided with the prosecution. To read more on the Court Martial of Col. Silas D. Baldwin, readers are referred to Richard P. Dexter’s JSTOR article, “Col. Silas D. Baldwin: Guilty or not Guilty? A Case of Command Influence?”

[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Greg Herr and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Transcription

[Camp near Corinth, Mississippi]
June 5th 1862

Dear Friend,

I wrote you a few words some time ago when I was in the hospital. At that time I had not received a word from you but soon after I got quite a number of letters which ’tis needless to say has been a fund of enjoyment for a long time.

I am gaining slowly but hope soon to take the field. I would not let our surgeon [Dr. James Zearing] send me back to the river but followed close to the regiment and am now in the old camp formerly occupied by Generals Price & Van Dorn and more recently by our forces. The rebels left their tents just as they had used them and left a large quantity of provision, camp equipage, &c. The provision was partially destroyed although we found a large quantity of sugar and molasses of the finest quality all right. Our men have have moved out about fifteen miles to a place called Danville and we got a report this morning from a deserter that some five miles further on at a place called Boonville the rebels have made a stand in strong force and will probably offer our forces battle—especially if they are commanded by Beauregard. I hope they will give us one more square stand-up fight and then I think they will be fully satisfied to go home and call the war a mistake on their part.

I would have come home two weeks ago but I had made a solemn promise that I never would come to Bureau County again sick if I could help it. I want to have a visit next time when I am in good health.

This is one of the finest camping grounds I have seen situated on a ridge of hills affording a fine view of the country to the south and west. Corinth is a very pretty village with quite a number of houses built in good taste surrounded by trees. Beauregard burned the railroad depot and some large storehouses around it which gives that part of the town rather a desolate appearance. I suppose a vast amount of property was destroyed. The storehouses were filled with provisions and ammunition beside the public square had been filled with military stores of every kind and burned with almost everything valuable in the town.

I think of offering my resignation and shall certainly do so if I don’t improve a good deal in ten days from now. I am just able to ride in an ambulance and shall follow the regiment tomorrow. If I could take part in one more good sharp fight, I could leave the service with a clear conscience and I don’t know but I could now. I don’t want you to understand that I want to risk my life but there are certain things that we estimate higher than life. I have heard it said that the troops who fought at Pittsburg [Landing], fought for their own safety and it required more courage to deliberately attack the enemy. I don’t believe it, but just for my own satisfaction I have often thought I would like to try it before I left the service.

We have had a great deal of sickness in our army but much less than the rebels. They have suffered fearfully as shown by their daily reports found in Corinth after they left and also by the reports of all the deserters from their camp. It is getting very warm and the sickly season will soon be here. I almost dread going further south for the cypress swamps of Southern Mississippi will sweep off more of us than Beauregard and all his rebel crew. I sincerely hope that the war will soon terminate so that we can come home without being sneered at even by our enemies.

Give my kindest regards to you family and write as often as you can. Yours truly, — A. C. Barry

4th Georgia Infantry, Gettysburg Campaign, The Immortal 600

1863: William Wilcox Hulbert to his Uncle Alfred

September 27, 2022 Griff Leave a comment

*Lt. William W. Hulbert, 4th Georgia Infantry*

This mid-June 1863 letter was written by Lt. William Wilcox Hulbert (1838-1911) of Co. D, 4th Georgia while passing near Williamsport, Maryland, on the Gettysburg Campaign. The letter, which is signed “your affectionate but rebel nephew,” represents a communication between Hulbert, who was originally from Connecticut, and his Northern relatives. Flush from their victory in May at the Battle of Chancellorsville (at which Hulbert was promoted to 1st Lieutenant), Lee’s Confederate forces were on the move northward. Williamsport, which is just south of the Pennsylvania border, offered Hulbert yet another chance to send a letter without having to mail it across enemy lines. This campaign would culminate two weeks later at the Battle of Gettysburg, in which Hulbert’s unit fought.

The 4th Georgia Infantry had one of the most illustrious records of any Confederate unit, fighting at 24 battles from Seven Pines all the way to Appomattox Court House (see History of the Doles-Cook Brigade by Henry Thomas). Lieutenant Hulbert himself had a particularly distinctive war history. After being captured at Spotsylvania while in command of the sharpshooters of his 4th Georgia Infantry, he became one of “The Immortal Six Hundred.” These 600 Confederate officers refused to sign a loyalty oath to the North so that they could be paroled and consequently languished in prison. On 20 August 1864, angered by Southern treatment of Union prisoners, the North deliberately chose the 600 to be taken to Morris Island, at the mouth of Charleston harbor, where they served as a human shield to the Union forces of Gen. John Foster who were under attack by Confederate forces. After suffering through 45 days on Morris Island, the weakened survivors were sent to Ft. Pulaski where they continued to be mistreated and starved. Hulbert was paroled on 15 December 1864. The Immortal 600 continue to be honored for their adherence to principle under the most adverse circumstances (see The Immortal 600, Surviving Civil War Charleston and Savannah by Karen Stokes, or The Immortal Six Hundred, A Story of Cruelty to Confederate Prisoners of War by Maj. John Ogden Murray.

*Jacket Cover to Karen Stokes’ book, The Immortal 600*

William was the son of Abijah and Maria Wilcox Hulbert. The family moved from Berlin, Connecticut, to Atlanta, Georgia, when William was a young man. Before the war, he began his career with the Express Company where he remained throughout his entire life except for the four years he passed in the Confederate Army. When the began, Hulbert was running messenger into West Point on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. The West Point Guards was one of the crack military companies of the state before the war, and when Georgia cast her lot with the seceded states, the West Point Company tendered its services. Within a short time that company found itself in the Fourth Georgia Regiment, which was attached to the Doles-Cook Brigade, one of the first bodies of Georgia Troops to go to the front in Virginia.

[Note: This letter is from the personal archives of Richard Weiner and is published on Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Transcription

Bivouac near Williamsport, Maryland
June 15, 1863

Dear Uncle Alfred,

You doubtless will be surprised at receiving a letter from your rebellious nephew—especially at this time, but having an opportunity, I could not help writing you a few lines to let you know how we are getting along. Father, mother, and Clara are well and still living in Augusta. Edgar is at work for the Southern Express Co. at Atlanta. Uncle Edward is the express superintendent. His family are well. We have not heard one word from you or any of the rest of our relatives since war broke out. I have sent messages to you by prisoners that are paroled. Mother is very anxious to hear from you and Aunt Mary.

I have been in service now for over two years. Enlisted as private and now I hold a commission as 1st lieutenant, Co. D, 4th Georgia—Dole’s Brigade. I have been in several battles commencing at the battles around Richmond, ending in Chancellorsville. Was wounded through the left arm at Antietam, which disables me in one arm. This my 2nd visit to Maryland.

Now uncle, please let our relatives in Buffalo and Greenwich know what you do about us. Give my love to Aunt Mary, Katie, Frank, and our East Berlin relatives, Grandmother, Cousin Laura, &c.

Your affectionate, but rebel nephew, — W. W. Hulbert.