This letter was written by Henry A. Jackson (1841-1862) of Co. A, 32nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI). Henry enlisted as a private on 12 July 1861 and was killed in action on Bolivar Heights near Harper’s Ferry on 15 September 1862.
I believe that Henry A. Jackson was the son of Isaac and Mary (Manful) Jackson of Augusta, Carroll county, Ohio. See also—1861: Thomas J. Hendrix to Miss Haskey.
A view of Camp Denison later in the war, showing the railroad and the Little Miami River.
Transcription
Camp Dennison September 7th 1861
Miss Tina,
It’s with the greatest of pleasure that I take my pen in hand to let you know that we are all well at present and are getting along well. We are all enjoying [ourselves] very well. We have a very nice camp. It contains five hundred acres and a very good well water. It is hard but very little. There is three regiments and a company of cavalry. They expect 23 regiments in the course of two or three days, We expect to stay here two or three months. I can’t tell when we can get to come home. Captain has promised to give us a furlough when James Watson comes back but I don’t know whether he can get a furlough yet or not. But he will if possible.
We are not homesick yet but our folks wants me to come home. If it was not for that, would not come for a year. We have good times here. We have made our bedsteads today and I think we will get along a great deal better. We have Mr. [Henry] Chain and Sam McClellan in our mess and they keep us boys straight.
The Miami River runs through our camp and we get to go down to it every day or two. Our Colonel went to Cincinnati yesterday to get our arms but he said that it was an Independent Regiment and he would not give us arms. If he does not after we get drilled, we will go in another state. We are only twenty miles from Cincinnati and only 18 miles from Kentucky. The railroad runs through our camp ground. The cars run through perhaps a dozen times a day.
The latest news is that Jeff Davis is dead and I guess it must be so for the papers say so every day. All I hate that the State of Ohio will not get his head. We did expect to get it but if dead, we cannot.
This picture is for you. It is not a god one but I could not get any better one. Please write soon as you get these few lines of scribbling and tell all the news. This is all at present. Please excuse bad spelling and writing. From your friend, — Henry A. Jackson
Direct to Camp Dennison, Ohio 32nd Regiment, Company A, in care of Captain Lucy. Yours truly, H. J.
This interesting letter was written by Andrew Jefferson Sagar (1830-1900), a son of William C. Sagar, Jr. (1800-1877) and Dolly Wheeler (1803-1880) of Steuben county, New York, who moved with his family to Virginia in the 1850s to farm in Fairfax county. Andrew married Hannah Atta Bentley (1843-1913) on 7 February 1861.
Sagar wrote the letter to Abram P. Pruyn (1836-1918), the son of Henry Pruyn (1812-1893) and Ann Putnam (1816-1888) of Auriesville, Montgomery county, New York.
Andrew’s letter provides us with a civilian account of the Rebel army’s occupation of Fairfax county after the Second Battle of Bull Run in late August 1862. As natives of New York, and Unionists in Virginia, the Sagars were not anxious to suffer through another rebel occupation as they had following the First Battle of Bull Run when there were no less than three rebel encampments on his property [See newspaper clipping below from the New York Tribune of 20 July 1861.] Andrew informs us of the rebel army taking several Unionist citizens as prisoners.
Andrew wrote the letter from Steuben county where he and his wife and parents took refuge for some time among relatives. In June 1863, he was still there when he registered for the draft. Land records show that he purchased the property in Fairfax county from his parents in 1865.
Transcription
Addressed to A. P. Pruyn, Auriesville, Montgomery county, New York
Cohocton [Steuben county, New York] November 30th 1862
Friend A. P. Pruyn,
You have been anxious undoubtedly to hear of our whereabouts & prospects since our reverse last August & I feel as though I had hardly done right in not writing to you sooner.
We are all well as usual now except bad color. We have had a pretty hard time of it but not as hard as many others. At the last Bull Run battle we packed a few things in an old spring wagon left by the rebel army, hitched on our team and started leaving all else behind for Washington but not till the fight had been going on all day up to four o’clock & the rebels were then in the woods near Germantown skirmishing with the 13th Massachusetts Regiment. We got as far as Mr. Demmings that night [and] next day went on to Washington & stayed there till the next Wednesday (just a week from the day we run) in hopes our folks would drive them back so that we could go home again but the prospects grew worse all the time so that we anticipated a raid into Maryland & the probably uprising of the sesesh in Baltimore & knowing our property was all gone, we concluded the sooner we were in the Free States the better so we started bag & baggage & were twelve days getting here. We got through all safe.
Mother’s health was very poor but she has recovered, but is not as tough as before the war. It nearly used her up. Father’s health is very good at present. It is hard to leave home & property all behind & run for life but I guess it was well we did for the rebels had possession of the [Fairfax] Court House that night & the next day captured Mr. Smith (of Flint Hill) & Mr. Thorn 1 & Mr. Brice. 2 They were in prison in Richmond the last I have heard from them. Mr. Thorn was caught at Mr. Terry’s, Terry getting under the bed & they supposing Thorn to be the man of the house, took him & did not search the house & Terry in his wife’s clothes escaped a few minutes after to the woods & got to Washington.
The most of our Yankee neighbors escaped, some with their families & some leaving their families behind. We left full forty tons of as good hay as ever was put in a barn, about nine acres of corn and potatoes on the ground, 4 acres of buckwheat, pork & bacon to last a year left by the army last spring, one barrel of flour not opened, 120 lbs. candles & soap enough for our use a year or more, and other necessaries in proportion & had to leave them all. We brot away the best of our bedding & our newest clothing. In fact, we took all we could carry and left all the rest—nearly all tools, &c. &c.—so you can imagine what a condition we are in to winter.
Our house was used as a hospital the last have heard from there & our out buildings very much injured & may be destroyed before this time.
I think of nothing more of importance to write at present. Please write to me soon and direct to Cohocton, Steuben county, New York.
Our respects to your family & all enquirers except Democrats. Yours truly, — A. J. Lagar
In the letter, it is stated that Rebels were in the woods near Germantown which is located at the lower right on the map.
1 Possibly Talmadge Thorne.
2 Matthew Bryce (1807-1863) was Unionist from Oakton, Fairfax county, Virginia. He died a prisoner of war in Richmond, Virginia, on 17 March 1863 at the age of 55.
I could not find an image of William but here is one of Sgt. Samuel Hamrick of Co. I, 38th North Carolina.
The following letter was written by William Daniel Henry Covington (1842-1927), a farmer from Cleveland, Rutherford county, North Carolina, who enlisted in late December 1861 to serve in Co. I, 38th North Carolina Infantry. He and Jacob Childers of the same company (mentioned in the letter) were both admitted into Hospital No. 2 at Petersburg on 31 January 1862 suffering from illness. Though Jacob returned to his regiment before the end of March and was subsequently killed in action at the Battle of Ellison’s Mill (Mechanicsville) on 26 June 1862, William was sent home on furlough shortly after this letter (with proper authority). Muster rolls do not indicate when he returned to his company though he was certainly with them by January 1863. He was sent to a hospital again in June 1863 suffering from rheumatism and was absent without leave from 25 July 1863 to 25 October 1863 at which time he returned again to his regiment. Despite his spotty service record, he was promoted to corporal in 1864.
On 8 May 1864, when the 38th North Carolina was fighting in Scales’ Brigade in the Wilderness, he suffered a severe concussion and was admitted to Jackson Hospital in Richmond.
William was the son of William Horace Covington (1775-1861) and Mary Rincie Green (1811-1902).
Transcription
Petersburg, Virginia March 29th 1862
Dear Uncle and Aunt,
It is with pleasure that I drop you a few lines to inform you that I am about well, hoping those lines may find you and family well. I am at Petersburg, Va., in the 2nd N. C. Hospital. There is only 12 of our company here and Jacob Childers just left. Uncle Howell is here. He is getting well. [Francis] Marion Hord is here. He has been very low but he is on the mend. I am going to the regiment in a few days if I don’t get no worse. I can’t get a drop of liquor here by no means at all. I have got use to doing without it and I don’t care now.
Tell Mother that I am about well. I am well treated here. I had rather stay here than anyplace I have been since I left home. I have no more news to write to you at this time. John Lattimore and Dick Wiggins is in the 1st North Carolina Hospital close to us. There is a Divins from the Burnt Chimney Company in the same hospital that I am in. He came here when Walker was at home.
You need not write to me until I get to the regiment for I expect to leave here in a few days. I will write you as soon as I get to the regiment. Then I will thankfully receive a letter from you at any time when you are disposed to send me one.
Your affectionate nephew, — W. D. H. Covington to his Uncle & Aunt.
This rare letter was written in pencil by Lorraine Walker Griffin (1834-1907), the son of William Lewis Griffin and Elizabeth Suttle of Forest City, Rutherford county, North Carolina. Lorraine enlisted on 1 Jun 1861 and was mustered into Capt. H. D. Lee’s Company, 6th NC Volunteers. This unit was later designated Co. D, 16th NC Infantry Regt. He was admitted to the Confederate Hospital in Winchester, VA on 1 October 1862 with a gunshot wound to his hand. He was transferred to Chimborazo Hospital, Richmond, VA on 3 Octpber 1862. He was furloughed for 60 days on 19 October 1862. He apparently did not return to duty when his furlough ended and was listed as awol in December 1862. He returned to duty by Feb 1863 and was present and accounted for through July 1863. He was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital again on 13 July 1863 with pneumonia. He was transferred to Camp Winder, Richmond, VA on 15 Aug 1863. He was promoted to 4th Sgt. on 1 October 1864 held the same rank when paroled at Appomattox, Virginia, on 9 April 1865.
In his letter of 26 May 1864, Lorraine describes the recent action of the fight at North Anna, 23-26, 1864.
Transcription
In Line of Battle near Hanover Junction May 26, [1864]
Dear Sister,
I take my pen in hand to let you know I am still alive but don’t know how long I may be alive for they are [ ] our entrenchments. We are well fortified. I have been in some hard fights and came through safe. I do pray to come through safe. Dear sister, I have never saw Mr. Green yet. He passed me one day and I looked for him but did not see him. His regiment has been in fights since then I can’t hear from him nor brother. They may both be killed.
We have lost 8 or 10 men out of our company taken prisoner—some killed. [In] the fight the other day we lost two men, one Crampton taken prisoner. Eli Gross was killed or taken one, I don’t know which. We charged the Yanks and got them to running and General [Edward L.] Thomas’ Brigade run, then our Brigade [Alfred M. Scales’ Brigade] was left alone. Then the 13th, 34th, 38th all run and left the 16th and 22nd by theirself. We fought two hours and go so near broke down we like never to got out. A heap did never get out for they was so tired to go.
The Yankees is [with]in about 1,000 yards of us. Our lines is about 35 or 40 miles long. They reach to Richmond, I expect. We will go to Richmond [illegible].
Sister, I received a letter from you the day before we started and was glad to hear from you and could not answer it but I wrote to you a few days before that. You spoke [illegible]… I have never wrote to her since I got back. Did she say for me to write to her and put it in your letter or not? I did not understand. Please tell me if she said so or not. I will never write to her till she makes her acknowledgements for not writing to me when I write to her. Miss Salley Gross has quit writing to me. We have quit forever.
Sister, this is no place to talk about the gals. I ought to be praying though I am praying every minute and hope my friends thinks of me in their prayers at home. Sister, I will close for this time—maybe the last letter ever I have the chance of writing to my beloved sister. I remain your brother till death. L. W. Griffin
The following letter was written by John R. Heafer (1845-1864), the 19 year-old son of John Heafer (b. 1820) and Nancy (b. 1826) who moved with his family from Charleston, Jefferson county, Virginia, to a farm in Bloomington, McLean county, Illinois in the 1850s. John was serving as a private in Co. B, 39th Illinois Infantry when he wrote this letter from Bermuda Hundred in July 1864.
He was carried on the muster rolls as “Hafter” which may explain why he can’t be found under his given name. Unfortunately he did not survive the war. He was killed along with many other comrades in his regiment on 13 October 1864 in the Battle of Darbytown Road. The Union advance was repulsed with heavy casualties and John’s body was left on the field.
John wrote the letter to his sister, Sarah (“Sallie”) Heafer (b. 1844), the wife of William M. Steele, a former soldier in Co. A, 94th Illinois Infantry and a teamster working in Bloomington. He later became a minister.
I could not find an image of Robert, but here is a cdv of James S. Akehurst (1843-1864) of Pontiac, Illinois, not previously published to my knowledge. James served as a private in Co. C, 39th Illinois Infantry. He enlisted in October 1861 and was wounded on 20 May 1864 at Drewry’s Bluff, Virginia. The wound to his left arm was so severe it required amputation but the procedure did not save him—he died on 28 May 1864 at Hampton, Virginia. The news must have come as quite a shock to his wife, Elizabeth, who had promised to love and respect James “till death do us part” only three months earlier. James’ image was taken in front of a backdrop that features tropical type vegetation suggesting the cdv was probably taken in 1863 while the regiment was on the South Carolina coast. (Courtesy of Claudia & Al Niemiec Collection)
Transcription
Bermuda Hundred [Virginia] July 4th 1864
Dear Sister,
You letter came to hand in due time. I was very glad to hear from you. It was a good while since I heard from home. I am not very well at present. I have got a touch of the lung fever. I got over heated and caught cold a laying on the ground. I hope these few lines will find you all well. I am sorry to hear of Annie Pancake’s death. 1 She must have died very sudden.
This is the Fourth of July and a dry 4th it is for me. They are talking about opening on the Rebels this afternoon. There is not any fighting going on here at present. We have pretty good times to what we have had. I will have to stop writing for a while because I don’t feel well.
July 7th, Thursday. Dear sister, I will commence and finish this letter and I am better. I was very sick for a few days in my quarters and was getting worse until the doctor came to see me and saw me to the Convalescent Hospital. I am better now. The doctor says I have not got the lung fever. I guess I have got the pleurisy. I think I will soon get over it.
The weather is very warm here but it is cool enough in the hospital tent. You will have to excuse this writing as I have to lay on my side to write. I commenced this letter a few days ago but could not finish it. I told Ed[win] Wolcott to write me a letter because I thought I would not be able to write for some time but I guess I can a little yet. But you need not expect many.
There is good news here now. They are fighting at Petersburg. But we can’t hear anything from Grant. The rebels are deserting by hundreds. I have seen a good many go by here today. I will have to come to a close. My love to all. — John R. Hafer
P. S. Be sure and send the photograph.
Mr. John R. Heafer, Co. B, 39th Regt. Illinois Vols., 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 10th A. C.
1 Ann Marie Pancake (1847-1864) died on 20 June 1864 when she was 17 years old. She is buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington.
The following letter was written by Sgt. John K. Simon (1829-Aft1880) to his wife, Phebe (Birdsall) Simon (1830-1897). John served in the 5th New Jersey Infantry (Part of the Jersey Brigade). He enlisted on August 19, 1861, and mustered in as a sergeant in Co. D on August 22. He was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant on May 26, 1862 and later promoted to 1st Lieutenant on May 19, 1863. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in May 1864 and mustered out of the service on September 7, 1864.
The 5th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Olden, Trenton, New Jersey, in July 1861, and was mustered in on August 22, 1861. It participated in a number of important engagements, including the Battle of Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Second Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg.
[Note: This letter is from the personal collection of Greg Herr and was offered for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Camp Baker, Lower Potomac February 5, 1862
Dear Wife,
I take this time and opportunity to write a few lines to you to inform you that I am well and hope that you and the children are all well at home. I have not had a letter from home this week. The last one that I got was last Saturday and that was the one that William wrote and I have been looking for one all this week. I hope that you all will continue in good health at home. Kiss the children for me and tell them to be good children till Pa comes home.
I have been out making roads this last two days and I find it pretty hard work and we have to go about two miles to our place of work. We are all at it. I suppose there is about 35 hundred men at it so we will soon be done with it. I have not got my boots yet but I expect them every day now as the sutler has gone up to Washington on Sunday and he has not come back yet but as soon as he comes back, why I will get them.
Give my love to all the folks on there and tell them I am well and hope they are all the same. The rebels across the river keep firing at every boat that they see but they don’t do any damage to them as yet. The health of our regiment keeps very good owing to the weather.
That money I sent home I wish you would get gold for it and you can keep it better as there is no discount on gold but there may be on these treasury notes and if you can get gold without any trouble, why do so, I will write soon again and a longer letter as there is no fire in the Captain’s tent where I am writing this and it is cold here so good night and may God bless you and the children and me and all the rest of us is the prayer of your affectionate husband, — Sergt. J. K. Simon
On patriotic stationery bearing the mantra “Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and inseparable,” 21 year-old Eveline Maria Wiswell (1840-1922) penned the following letter from Searsport, Waldo county, Maine to one of her sisters. Eveline was the daughter of Joseph Warren Wiswell (1806-1890) and Martha True (1800-1888). In her letter, datelined 22 May 1861, Eveline describes the departure of two brothers to serve in Company I, 4th Maine Infantry. They were Joseph “Melvin” Wiswell (1842-1921) and John Baker Wiswell (1838-1909).
Lt. Melvin Wiswell, 14th Maine Infantry
Melvin was working as a railroad clerk in Searsport at the time of his enlistment. He joined the 4th Maine as a sergeant and was wounded in the Battle of 1st Bull Run. He was afterward discharged for promotion to be commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in Co. G, 14th Maine Infantry. He was transferred to Co. D when promoted to Captain. Melvin’s older brother John was working as a blacksmith in Searsport and though he apparently intended to join the 4th Maine, he must have changed his mind and not mustered in for he did not enlist until December 1863 in Co. B, 14th Maine (Melvin’s regiment). He would later rise to the rank of 1st Lieutenant of his company before mustering out of the service.
The 4th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was organized in Rockland in May 1861 and was mustered in on June 15, 1861 commanded by Colonel Hiram G. Berry.
[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Greg Herr and was offered for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Transcription
Searsport, Waldo county, Maine
Searsport, [Waldo county, Maine] Monday evening, May 22, 1861
My dear sister,
John and Melvin have left us. Went this afternoon in the boat. Gone to Rockland to join the regiment there. I don’t know how long they will stop there. Some say they will leave for Washington a week from next Wednesday but they may not leave so soon. This company is called one of the best in the regiment. They belong to the 4th.
You cannot begin to imagine how lonesome and bad we all feel. I never knew mother to feel so bad about anything before. She was very much opposed to their going, but all she or anyone could say was of no use—they were so determined to go. John thinks he can do better than if he stayed at home but I am afraid he will not be so well off as he would be even in this dull town. Mel goes as a private. He some expected to be clerk but I don’t know whether he will or not.
There has ben quite a stir getting the soldiers ready—the ladies making the shirts and work bags. They have not got all the shirts done yet. Alice Nichols 1 made a short speech when the work bags were presented this morning. She stood on the sidewalk in front of Smart’s Block. Capt. Nickerson made a speech thanking the ladies and then they marched in front of [Amos H.] Ellis’s [grocery & dry goods] store [on East Main Street] and were presented with testaments. They are all well provided for.
When they went, the wharf was crowded. Everyone was there excepting mother and I. I wish you could have been here to have seen them before they left. 2 We shall expect them up from Rockland on a visit. Orrissa talks some of going there to see them. Mary Ellen, Lizzie, Mrs. Nickerson, and some others are going Thursday. Jim Fowler has gone. He was expecting to sell out to Black, but Whitcomb objected. Whitcomb hires the girls and has Chadwick for cutter and pressman. They some hope Jim will come back but if he does not, Whitcomb and Chadwick will carry on the concern.
Thursday morn. I did not have time to finish this before so I have left it until now. Ellen came home yesterday. The hats were very pretty but they are both entirely too small for me, but I am in hopes I can swap mine for a larger one if they have any down here. I am ever so much obliged to you for it for I had been wishing for one all the spring. I do wish my head was not so large.
We had a letter from [sister] Abby. She is very anxious to get here before the boys go, so the girls have written her to come right off for fear the regiment should start. We shall look for her next week and we all think you had better come and go back with her. I don’t think there is much doubt but what she will come. I am in a great hurry for sis is waiting for the letter to carry down so please excuse all the mistakes. — Eveline
Unveiling of the Civil War Soldier’s Memorial in Searsport in 1866.
1 Possibly Mary Alice Nichols (1834-1916), the daughter of Capt. Peleg Pendleton Nichols & Mary Towle Fowler of Searsport. Alice married Benjamin Carver Smith (1834-1908) in June 1864.
2 The men were transported to Rockland aboard the steamer M Sanford and arrived at Camp Knox, on Tillson’s Hill, northeast Rockland, Knox County, Maine, in the afternoon on 20 May, 1861.
The following letters were written by Pvt. Adin F. Cowles (1831-1914) of Co. B, 8th Illinois Cavalry. In the 1860 US Census, 23 year-old Adin Cowles was enumerated in the household of John Gilkerson of Genoa in DeKalb county where he was identified as a farmhand. When he enlisted at ST. Charles, Illinois, as a corporal in September 1861, he gave his birth state as New York and he was described as standing 5′ 7.5″ tall, with black hair and grey eyes. He was the son of William and Caroline Cowles of Ithaca, Tomkins county, New York.
I could not find an image of Adin but here is Charles Henry Palmer of Pecatonica, Illinois, who served in Co. M, 8th Illinois Cavalry.
The 8th Illinois Cavalry served the duration of the war, and was the only Illinois cavalry regiment to serve the entire war in the Army of the Potomac. They also aided in the hunt for John Wilkes Booth and served as President Lincoln’s honor guard while he lay in state under the rotunda. Lincoln gave them the nickname of “Farnsworth’s Abolitionist Regiment” when he watched them march past the White House.
During the Gettysburg Campaign, the 8th Illinois Cavalry was in the division of Brig. Gen. John Buford. They deployed west of Gettysburg on June 30, 1863, under the command of Colonel William Gamble, and waited for oncoming Confederates that arrived early the following morning. The first shot of the subsequent battle was fired by Lieutenant Marcellus E. Jones of Company E, who borrowed a carbine from Sergeant Levi Shafer and fired at an unidentified officer on a gray horse over a half-mile away. The 8th, along with the rest of the brigade, performed a fighting withdrawal toward McPherson’s Ridge, delaying the Confederate division of Henry Heth for several hours and allowing the Union I Corps to arrive.
Letter 1
Headquarters Alexandria, [Virginia] February 11, 1862
Dear Brother,
Yours dated the 3rd reached its destination the 8th to find me still enjoying good health as usual… There is a good deal of sickness among the soldiers and there is some regiments that the whole of them are reported on the sick list with the measles and small pox and typhoid fever, &c. I can assure you that it is hard times &c. There is not a day passes but there is someone laid in their last resting place, &c. If the weather don’t change soon, there will [be] hard times for the sick for every place is full and they have had to remove the sick from here to Philadelphia to make room for others.
It has rained or snowed most evert day for the past month and I think that I never see such times since I can remember. And was I to tell you one half the suffering that I have sen, you would hardly believe what I say and had I not witnessed [it] myself, I could not believe that there was half the suffering that there is among our men. And I tell you that it looks hard to see men in the prime of life sink to the grave and many a poor fellow has given his life for his country with regret that they was not permitted to fill a soldier grave on a field of battle. And if I am called on to give my life, I hope that it may be where the balls fly the thickest. Then if I lose my life, I am content. There is nothing that I dread as sickness for if a soldier once gets in the hospital, he gets completely discouraged and gives up entirely and that is one reason that so many die.
You spoke of some of the regiments being discharged. That was the report here but I don’t think that they will disband our regiment for the reason that ours is considered the best and the only one that has got the complement of arms and they expect big things from us. And another reason is that we are the only drilled cavalry here so they say. Everyone that I have heard give us the praise of being the best men that has been here.
There is considerable excitement here on account of a minister that preached here last Sunday and he was requested to pray for the Union and he refused to so our men arrested him as a traitor. There was a good deal of stir here last night as near as I can learn. Our men set fire to the printing office & burnt it up. They tried to make the soldiers work the fire engines but they run off in another direction and let it burn. The cut the hose a’most to pieces and refused to put it out and if the folks in Alexandria don’t keep still of their disunion talk, there [will] be an example of some of them. There has been an order full to arrest anyone that speaks disrespectful to our soldiers or against the Union. I expect that the whole town will be burnt if they don’t keep still. There is lots of traitors here and we intend to clean them out.
I was out on a scout yesterday and we went within hearing of the enemy’s camps and we could hear their drums beat for reveille. Our pickets have been advanced of late. I don’t think that there will [be] anything done for some time for it would be almost impossible to move our artillery in this mud for I could hardly get through a horse back. I heard from [brother] Dexter 1 a few days ago. He said that [his wife] Ellens’ health was very poor and he did not expect that she would live long. And as near as I can learn by what he wrote, that he was having hard times. My sheet admonishes me that I must close. Give my love to Caroline and Ida and accept a share from me and please answer with speed. Give my likeness to Ida if you receive it in this and tell her that I shall try and come and see her if my life is spared.
Love, from your affectionate brother, — A. F. Cowles
Yours found me in poor health. I took a very bad cold and the doctor said that if I wasn’t careful, I would have a longer run of fever. But I think that I have mastered it this time and you know that I am in for killing or curing. I did not spare the medicine, I assure you. I shall probably return to duty in a few days. There is a great deal of sickness in our regiment and I understand that they are a going to discharge all those that are not fit for duty. There is to be a flag presented to our regiment tomorrow by the Ladies of Alexandria in behalf of our soldierly conduct and for Union principles and their loyalty to our government and I think the traitors will find that we are not to be insulted with impunity as others have been.
General ontgomery had tried his best to get us moved from here. He went to Washington and reported that we were a regular mob and got orders for us to leave and our Colonel ordered us out to headquarters and we had good luck to get sent back and I tell you that there was a rejoicing when they found that we was going to stay here. They say here that the 8th Illinois has done more for this place than any regiment that has been here. I tell you, there was a rejoicing when we heard of our glorious victories that has taken place on our still glorious soil of the far distant West [of Tennessee]. It still continues to storm most every day and you can imagine what the going is. There is nothing of importance a going on. Our regiment is ordered out tomorrow at 6 o’clock and I expect there will be [a] brush somewhere but I am not able to learn.
I think that this war must soon be brought to a close. Then I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you all again. Now dear brother, I must close for my hand trembles so that it [is] hard work for me to write. I hope that this may find you all in good health. Give my love [to] Caroline and kill little Cary for me and excuse haste and please answer soon for it gives me great pleasure to hear from you.
From your ever affectionate brother, — A. F. Cowles
Direct the same.
Letter 3
Brooks Station, Virginia May 30, 1863
Dear Brother,
I take my pen in hand to again scribble a few lines to you hoping that they may find you all well. My health is first rate. I haven’t felt so well in a long time as I do at present. We have been very busy lately. We have not stayed any two days in a place for the past fifteen days. You probably have seen the mention in the papers of our raid. 1 We captured lots of horses & mules and took over a hundred prisoners & a number of smugglers and shipped over seven hundred negroes. Taking it all together, we have made a very good drive. We naturally made the secesh squirm when we took their negroes. It does me good to hear them beg, I tell you. We did not handle them with kid gloves, as the saying is. That played out. They have brought this thing on. They have got to take it. I wish they would go at it and wind the thing up for I for one am tired of war. I sometimes almost wish that I had never lived to see this time but we must endure till the end and I hope that it is close at hand for we have glorious news from the West.
There is not much going on here at present but I think thre will be soon. I did not get your letter till we got back and I hope you wil excuse me for not answering sooner. I will for the want of time enclose Dexter’s last letter.
My love to all, yourself included. In haste. Your brother, — A. F. Cowles
To W. S. Cowles
N. B. Please answer soon. Please let me know where Levi Newman is for I would be very glad to see him or hear from him. — A. F.
I will enclose five dollars in my letter for Ida as a keepsake as she might prize it very much as I got it from a Reb. Tell Ida she must not wait for me to write for I cannot hardly get time at present for we have so much to do, it keeps me on a jump. I remain your ever affectionate brother, — A. F. Cowles
1 This is probably a reference to Stoneman’s 1863 raid that was conducted in conjunction with the Chancellorsville Campaign.
I could not find an image of Rob but here is a cdv of Christian Hedges who served as the captain of Rob’s company.(Iowa Civil War Images)
These letters were written by Robert (“Rob”) M. Kepner (1838-1929), the son of Samuel Kepner (1811-1862) and Elizabeth Haslet (1815-1845) of Marengo, Iowa. Rob was “a young Iowa farm boy when he enlisted in Co. G of the 7th Iowa Infantry. On October 4th [1862], the second day of the Battle of Corinth, the regiment was fighting near Battery Powell. With the regiments on either side of them retreating, the 7th held their ground until ordered to fall back and the brigade reformed around them. Sometime during the desperate fighting Robert was shot in the face. Robert kept up an active correspondence with his younger sister but he always avoided the gory details that might frighten her. When he mentioned his wound he as often as not made light of it. He broke the news by telling her, “I have got a slight introduction to something less than a pound of Sesech lead in the face. I was struck by a miney (sic) ball in the left cheek just above the mouth—the ball striking the bone and glancing, lodged in the back part of the cheek, making rather an ugly, though not very painful wound. I am doing finely, and you need not feel the least uneasiness about me.”
There were several hospitals in Corinth, as well as the larger hotels and warehouses, which had been pressed into service to treat the wounded. Oddly, because his wound was not serious, Robert was sent to Pittsburg Landing and then put on a steamboat headed north. The boat docked at Mound City, Illinois and the wounded were off-loaded into the massive Mound City Naval Hospital. “There is about 1500 hundred sick and wounded in this one building here. I shall be perfectly sound in a week or two. I don’t think I shall be badly disfigured by the scratch, there will be a small scar, but as I had not a great deal of good looks to spare, I cannot say as this has helped my looks in the least.”
On November 10th, Robert, no worse for his ordeal, wrote to his sister again to assure her he was again “doing finely” and had returned to his regiment at Corinth.” [Source: Shiloh National Military Park]
Rob wrote some of his letters to his sister, Ellen Elizabeth Kepner (1842-1923) who would later (1866) marry James Henry Mead of Marengo, Iowa. Mead served in Co. E, 24th Iowa Infantry during the Civil War. It should be noted that Rob had a brother named Daniel S. Kepner (1840-1862) who was killed in action at Antietam while serving in Co. A, 14th Indiana Infantry. It should also be noted that though all the records I have found on Rob show his name to be Robert, for some reason he signed his named “Robbin” on this letter.
[Note: These letters are from the private collection of Greg Herr and were offered for transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by express consent.]
Letter 1
Bird’s Point [Missouri] [Mid] November [1861]
Dear Sister,
I received your letter today and was glad to hear from home once more but sorry to hear that Father is not so well. I am enjoying a reasonable portion of health at this time though I have felt somewhat down in spirits when I studied over the disaster that followed the Battle of Belmont. 1 However, it is not quite so bad as I stated in my other letter as many supposed to be killed were merely taken prisoners though that is pretty near as bad.
I had a letter from [brother] Dan [14th Indiana] a few days ago. He was well and he thought perhaps they would come to Kentucky pretty soon. It is rumored that our regiment will go to St. Louis in a few days to recruit. I think they will go from there to some point in Iowa as they cannot recruit out of there own state, they might about as well send us home as we are of no account till our companies are filled up again. There is only about 50 men in our company and only 25 of them fit for duty.
I wrote a letter about three weeks ago and sent some $15 dollars in scrip to Father but I have had no account of it yet. I begin to feel a little uneasy lest it has been miscarried or been detained in some other way. I want you to write whether you have got it or not that I may feel satisfied on the point.
It seems to be a noted fact that out of 12 of our boys who went to the hospital, but one or two have come away. John Zahast is still there and is not any better. He would not stand the trip were he to start home.
But I believe I have not much more to write. Therefore, I will bring this short epistle to a close but remain your affectionate brother till death. — R. M. Kepner to Miss E. E. Kepner
1 “The battle of Belmont was a bloody day for the Seventh. The regiment went into the fight with eight companies, number 410 men, Two companies-K and G-being detached as a fleet guard, were not in the fight. The regiment lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, 237 men. It was on this field that the gallant and lamented Wentz fell, with many other brave officers, viz: G. W. S. Dodge, 2d Lieut. Co. B; Benjamin Ream, 2d Lieut. Co. C; Charles Gardner, 2d Lieut. Co. I. Col. Lauman and Major Rice were both severely wounded, as were also Capt. Gardner, Co. B; Capt. Harper, Co. D; Capt. Parrott, Co. E; and Capt. Kitteridge, Co. F. It was in this fight that Iowa officers and soldiers proved to the world that they were made of the right kind of material, and added to the luster of our young and gallant State. On the evening of the 7th of Nov., 1861, the shattered remnant of the Seventh Iowa arrived at Bird’s Point, remained a few days, and were then ordered to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Mo., to rest and recruit. This terminated the first battle of the Seventh Iowa.”
Letter 2
Steamboat Landing, Tennessee March 19th 1862
Dear Sister,
I now avail myself of a few moments spare time to write to you. Although I have wrote several letters within the past month, I have not sent them yet as I expected to get some postage stamps but have failed to do so which will account for my send them unpaid.
I am enjoying reasonably [good] health just now—better than I did when we left Fort Donelson. I received your letter of the 2nd of this month some time ago but I have failed to answer it until the present time. There is not very much going on here. There is a good many troops congregated at this place. We are now about one hundred and fifty miles above Fort Henry on the Tennessee river and about 30 miles below Florence, Alabama.
There has been some fighting around in the neighborhood since we have been here but nothing very serious. I believe that I have given you about all that I can think of at present. I am sorry to tell you that John Brown fell overboard a few days ago and was drowned. Every effort was made to save him but he sunk to rise no more before a boat could get to him.
I will try to write again in a day or two. No more from your brother, — Robert Kepner
To Miss Mary Kepner
Letter 3
Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee March 20th 1862
Dear Sister,
I sit myself down on the ground to pen you a few lines this morning which is very beautiful and spring-like. The trees—some of them—are in full bloom and the flowers begin to appear. But our situation is such that we do not appreciate the beauties of nature nor hardly welcome the return of spring. We came off the steamboat on which we had been living for the past week yesterday and are encamped on a high bluff on the bank of the river. It is a very pleasant place and reminds me very much of the bluffs of Indiana.
The 8th Iowa Regt. came up here a day or two ago and I had the pleasure of seeing Dan Talbott and the rest of the boys from that neighborhood. They were all well and hearty except Thompson. He does not look quite as well as he use to. He says that he likes the war over the left.
I do not know as I can think of much more to write as it is about the same thing over with us except the different scenes in the country that we travel over, and there is not anything in them either to interest or amuse. The inhabitants mostly all leave their homes as we approach and every thing that is of any use to the soldier is then carried off or destroyed leaving the country entirely waste.
But I will bring this to a close hoping it may find you all enjoying the blessing of health. From your affectionate brother, — R. M. Kepner
to Miss Elly Kepner
N. B. You must not blame me for sending this unpaid as we cannot get any postage stamps down here. Yours, — Rob
Letter 4
Camp at Monterey, Mississippi May 8, 1862
Dear sister,
I received your ever welcome letters on yesterday and was truly glad to hear from you and to hear that you was all pretty well. I am enjoying a pretty good share of health at this time. In fact, I have been in good health for some time.
We still remain in camp about 6 miles from Corinth and I think we should have made a move on that place before now had it not been for the recent heavy rain which have made the roads impossible for artillery or wagons. 1 I cannot say as to whether there will be much of a fight there or not but rumor seems. to indicate not as it is pretty generally reported here that the secesh are evacuating the place. But if they have not, I think they will pretty soon under an escort of Gen. Halleck’s. I think they will get liberty to make a tower in some of the northern states unless they take a trip south pretty soon.
Our Division was reviewed on yesterday by Gen. [Thomas A.] Davies. The commander, General Halleck was also present on his old bay horse. I tell you, it was quite a lively time and beat any 4th of July you ever saw. There was twelve Battalions of infantry and four of cavalry and to a looker on, they presented a truly grand appearance. I was not [there] myself as I was on duty but then I was where I could see the whole performance and enjoyed it much—better than if I had been in.
We are having it pretty rough now being on duty every other day and sometimes every day. The days down here are very warm and the nights cool so that we can sleep pretty comfortably. But I have nothing more to write this time so I will close by hoping that this war will be speedily ended and I have the unspeakable joy of meeting you all at home is the wish of your sincere brother, — Rob M. Kepner
to Miss E. E. Kepner
1 “On May 4 and 5 torrential rains pelted the area, turning the roads into ribbons of mud. A number of bridges were swept away by normally placid streams turned into raging. torrents.” Source: Siege and Battle of Corinth.
Letter 5
Camp near Corinth, Mississippi June 2, 1862
Dear Sister,
I received your letter a few days ago and was very glad to hear that you were all well. I am pretty well at this time notwithstanding the weather is very warm and we have been marching around considerably. We are a few miles south of Corinth now, the rebels having evacuated the place. Our forces are in pursuit of them but do not know whether they will overtake them or not. It seemed to have been the plan of the Commanding General to have attacked the rebels about the 30th or 31st of last month. As it was, however, our forces occupied Corinth on the morning of the 30th, the last of the rebels having left early on that morning. I am unable to say what their intentions were for leaving the place as they were pretty strongly fortified and appearances indicated that they had no lack of anything to eat. There was great quantities of flour, sugar, and molasses that was scattered over the ground. They seemed unwilling that we should enjoy the benefit of these luxuries without some difficulties.
There is a great deal dissatisfaction manifested among our soldiers on account of the secesh leaving here. Everyone is disappointed in not having a fight. We had made long preparations and done everything with the calculation of having a fight that it seemed almost a disappointment that we should not have. Besides, we will undoubtedly have to make long and forced marches in pursuit of them which will cause a great deal of suffering and cannot find scarcely any water in this section. Some citizens of Corinth who still remain seemed highly rejoiced when our troops marched in. They were unable to give up any reason for the rebels leaving the place. they stated that it was generally befeared that this fight would have decided the fate of the C. S. A. There is a flying report that the rebels are making for Richmond. If that is the case, there will be a call for one or two of our divisions to be sent there.
But I will bring my letter to a close sincerely hoping that we have fought our last battle. Your affectionate brother, — Rob
Letter 6
Camp in the field near Corinth, Miss. Sunday, June 8th 1862
Dear Sister,
As I thought you would be anxious to hear from me as often as possible, I have taken the present Sunday morning for doing so. I have nothing strange or important to write as the war seems pretty near dried up in this section. We are near a small town by the name of Booneville about 30 miles from Corinth. We have to move our camp about every day and progress a little farther into the South. Everything is so quiet here that you would hardly suppose that a rebel army had so recently been routed and scattered over the country.
The weather is pretty warm though we have had no real hot weather as yet. Health is pretty good among the soldiers at this time.
I should like very much to be at home a few days about this time but I expect it will be some time before I am granted that privilege. There is several of the boys of our company who were sick in the hospital have been sent to Keokuk. I almost wished I had been one of them. I think if I should get that near home, I would make an effort to get the rest of the way. I may get home pretty soon and again, it may be some time but I hope the time will be short until I can again greet all the friends at home. It is just harvest here and when I see the yellow grain shocked in the field, it makes me think of the god spread plains of Iowa. I would willingly change my musket for to follow the reaping machine though I never used to like the business.
Our present camp is in one of the beautifulest little groves you ever saw and it makes me think so much of a [Methodist] camp meeting to see the tents and soldiers scattered around in all directions. I only wish it was camp meeting instead of the present reality but I shall meet affairs as they come and close for this time. From your true and affectionate brother, — Robbin Kepner
to Miss Elly Kepner
N. B. Give my love to grandpa and ma Mead. — Rob
I send you some very patriotic verses. Them’s my sentiments exactly.
The following letters were written by Pvt. Jesse W. Shaw who enlisted when he was 20 years old in Co. F, 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI) on 15 August 1862 for three years. He was discharged on 26 April 1865 for wounds received 11 months earlier in the Wilderness.
I could not find an image of Jesse but here is Joseph Whetstone of Co. A, 126th OVI (Ohio History Connection)
The 126th OVI was organized in September under Colonel Benjamin F. Smith and moved the same month to Parkersburg, West Virginia, and then to Cumberland, Md. It guarded the B&O Railroad during the winter, and in the spring of 1863 operated against guerrillas in West Virginia. In June the Regiment returned to the vicinity of Martinsburg and was severely pressed by the advance of Lee’s army, but escaped to Harper’s Ferry and afterwards moved to Washington City. It soon re-joined the Army of the Potomac and operated in Virginia under Grant. It took part in the battles of Snicker’s Gap, Opequan, Fisher’s Hill, the Wilderness and Petersburg, and joined the pursuit of Lee until the surrender. The Regiment was mustered out June 25, 1865, and lost during its term of service over 500 men in battle.
Letter 1
Headquarters 126th [Ohio] Regt., Co. F Camp Martinsburg April 15, 1863
Dear Cousin,
It is with pleasure that I attempt to write you a few lines in reply to your last letter. It was received with the greatest of pleasure. I am glad to inform you that our regiment is improving fast. The regiment is nearly one third larger than it was in the winter season. The regiment is a little more like it was at first. We did not think that it would recruit up as well as it has. It looks like a full regiment to what it did a while [ago]. We still have plenty of picketing to perform yet but the health of the regiment is much better than it was, so we have not quite so much guard [duty] to perform as we had some time past. But I must say that there is plenty of it yet. But there was a while that were on every other day. That, I think, is often enough. But the guard [duty] has been reduced a little. That is alright for there were more guards than there was any use of. There is too much duty at this place for one regiment to perform. There is no infantry troops here but the 126th. It is the only regiment that performs the duty.
We have begun to drill this spring so I suppose they will have us to drill this summer also but I think we will not keep it up quite so regular as we did the last summer. I suppose it will be kept up as long as we stay at this place.
The town ladies come to camp every nice evening to see us on dress parade. There is most sure to be some every evening of dress parade. The citizens want this regiment to stay here all summer. We have had several pretty nice days this spring but we have had a good little bit of rain this spring. This is a very wet day here and it appears as though it will remain ugly weather for a while but it is very changeable here. It is hard to tell one day what it will be like the next one. It being close to the mountains, is very changeable weather. There was one or two days that was very hot but the people say that it will get five times as hot after a while. If it does, it will be pretty warm weather for us soldiers for we thought that those few days was warm enough, but we are between the mountains [and] there is mostly a breeze.
It is rumored in camp that this regiment will be separated and placed as guards along the railroads but it is only a report. It may be that it is true or it may not be. There was twelve hundred prisoners of our men went through here the other day. They were going to Camp Chase. They were taken in Tennessee. The while brigade was taken—surrounded by about twenty thousand rebels. 1
Thomas Crawford met with an accident the other day [when] he was placing the relief guard at their post. He was walking down the railroad. There was a bridge he did not know of. It was so dark that it was imperceivable. He fell some eighteen or twenty feet. It broke his leg in two places. I believe he is getting along as well as could be expected.
Well, Tenna, I have not much news to write so I will close but write soon. No more at the present. — Jesse W. Shaw
1 These paroled Union soldiers being transported by traIn to Camp Chase to await exchange were surrendered to Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest near Brentwood, Tennessee on 25 March 1863. The Union forces were commanded by Lt. Col. Edward Bloodgood who surrendered 800 men with very little resistance. Major General William S. Rosecrans was disgusted with the lack of fight and had Bloodgood court-martialed for cowardice. In a letter dated 9 April 1863 at Martinsburg, Lt. Rufus Ricksecker of the 126th OVI, wrote his folks that “Day before yesterday there was a long train went by of ‘Paroled Prisoners’ passed here; they stopped about half an hour; after the train had left I understood some of the 51st Ohio were along, I did not get to see any of them. This evening another one passed coming the other way with Rebels. I suppose they are going to be exchanged, they did not appear to like the idea very much, as they said they were so much better fed in the North.”[Source: The 126th Ohio Volunteer Infantry]
Letter 2
New Creek, Virginia May 17, 1863
Miss Tenna Caskey
Well Tenna, I thought that I would answer your letter which I received some time ago. We left Martinsburg April 26th. We took the train and rode to New Creek. There we stayed until morning and then was ordered to march to Greenland Gap. We went within 7 miles from the Gap the first day. We were all pretty well tired out [after] the first day’s march. There was 50 or more fell back and come up on the wagon train. We had the creek to cross about 30 times. It kept us wet all the time but we at last stopped for the night. We then got our supper and laid down to sleep. But we did not sleep very much for we were all wet.
We were ordered to march at four o’clock. We then proceeded for the Gap. We arrived at the Gap about 5 o’clock but found no rebels there. They had left but they had a pretty smart fight with 80 of [James Adelbert] Mulligan’s men. They fought 21 hundred of the rebels for five hours. The rebels charged on them three times but were repulsed every time. The 80 men were in a little fort. The rebs dismounted and went around the mountain and come down on them from the top and run them out but they were too spunky to give up so they run to an old Meeting House that stood close by. The rebs set the house on fire but they kept them away as long as they had plenty of ammunition but they run out. The last load they shot was their ramrods. Then threw their guns in the fire and surrendered. 1
The dead was all buried when we got there. The dead horses was lying around plenty. I saw the graves of part of the dead. There was two houses that stood close by that had 25 wounded and killed. They [the rebels] lost 80 killed and wounded. Only one of Mulligan’s men was killed at the time but there was two or three wounded and one died since. There was guns lying around on the ground but I did not pick any of them up. I thought that I had enough to carry for fifty cents per day.
Then we were ordered to follow them. We then proceeded 8 miles farther up the Alleghany Mountains. We arrived at a place by the name of Mt. Storm. There we lay two days. We had not been there long before we heard that the rebs was marching that way. Then the next thing was to prepare for them. We fortified with logs and stone the best we could and waited awhile for them but they did not come. We were then ordered back to New Creek. We had not got quite there until we received the dispatches that the rebs was going through the Gap. Then come the hard times. It was a pretty hard march in the forenoon but it was a harder one in the afternoon. We then started back to the Gap. We were as tired a lot of boys as ever I saw but we arrived there about sundown. We then formed our regiment in as good a position as we could which did not take no little time for they were pretty well scattered along the ways. We then built some fires and got our suppers.
Then come the time for picket to go out and we had already marched 30 miles. I for one had to go on picket. So had John. We were on the same post. I presume if the rebels had come we would not have run very much for we were too tired but we were not disturbed. We were there three or four days and then were ordered back to New Creek. But we had another hard march to perform. We marched 16 miles in the afternoon. We camped for the night 7 miles from New Creek Station. It was then raining. I used to think it was pretty hard for the soldiers to pay out after night in snow or rain but I have experienced right smart of it myself the last month. We are now at New Creek.
Well, I will have to close for this time. Write soon. Direct to New Creek Station, Va., Co. F, 126th Regt. O. V. I., in care of corporal Walton.
— Jesse W. Shaw
1 On April 25, 1863, about 1,500 Confederate soldiers under General William “Grumble” Jones advanced through Greenland Gap, a scenic 820-foot-deep pass in New Creek Mountain in Grant County. Jones’s Confederates clashed with 87 Union soldiers, who’d taken positions in a local church and cabins.The Northern troops held off several assaults over four hours of fighting. After the church was set on fire, the Union forces finally surrendered. The Union side lost two killed and six wounded, while the Confederates lost seven killed and 35 wounded.It was the beginning of what would become known as the Jones-Imboden Raid, an ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful bid by Confederates to disrupt the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and weaken Union control in what would soon become the new state of West Virginia. For a good summary of this engagement at Greenland Gap, readers are referred to an article by George Skotch (2018) entitled, “To the Last Crust and Cartridge.”
Spared & Shared 23 