Category: Research Arsenal Spotlight

Research Arsenal Spotlight 6: James A. Durrett of the 18th Alabama Infantry

Posted on by Steve

 

James A. Durrett was born around 1840 to John Andrew Jackson Durrett and Anne (Beauchamp) Durrett. James A. Durrett, along with his brother Thomas Jefferson Durrett and cousin Henry Durrett, enlisted in Company E of the 18th Alabama Infantry in the fall of 1861. Even more amazingly, their mother, Anne Beauchamp Durrett also appears on the muster records of the 18th Alabama Infantry as the “matron” of the regiment. Her records indicated that she received pay through November 30, 1861.

Muster record for Anne (Beauchamp) Durrett listing her as Matron of the regiment.

While Anne (Beachamp) Durrett seems to have stopped serving with the regiment sometime in 1861 or 1862, her sons stayed on for the duration of the war and she is the recipient of some of James A. Durrett’s letters home. Our collection spans nine letters written from 1863 to 1865 as well as photos of some of the Durrett family.

James A. Durrett and the Battle of Missionary Ridge

The Battle of Missionary Ridge took place on November 25, 1863 and with it the Union army seized control of Tennessee and held Chattanooga which would soon become a major logistical hub for their armys. The Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg were forced to withdraw and a large number were taken prisoner, including James A. Durrett’s brother, Thomas.

In a letter  to his sister written on December 2, 1863, James A. Durrett detailed what he had learned about Thomas’s capture.

“I suppose you have heard the sad news of Tom’s capture before now. I know that a wise Providence has and will direct all things to be as they are, but I sometimes wish that I had been permitted to have shared his fate. I know that if alive, a long and tedious captivity and exile from home and all that is dear to him awaits him, but he can feel that he has done his duty, and that will sustain him in captivity — or death if need be. I will tell you all I have been able to learn about him.

When our Brigade went into battle it went into an ambush the Yankees had prepared and the first notice they gave of themselves was to pour a deadly fire into our Brigade from three directions. This threw us into confusion and a great many — seeing that they were flanked and nearly surrounded — started to run but being rallied by the officers, stopped and fought until the officers — also seeing the danger of being cut off — gave the command to retreat. Tom with eleven others of our company either not hearing or not wishing to obey such an order, stood their ground and while the rest made their escape, were surrounded. The rest is left to conjecture whether they continued to fight and were killed at their post (which I do not think probable), or, seeing they were surrounded and no chance of escape, surrendered.”

Although he was not directly involved in the battle, James A. Durrett had a close call of his own:

“I was not in the battle. I was detailed to hold the Colonel’s horse. Because I had no gun, my business does not require me to keep a gun, and as we were not expecting a battle even in the morning of the day it came off. I had no chance to get a gun, but I think I will be prepared for the next one. I came very near being captured — so near that I was obliged to throw away my knapsack and haversack and run about five miles. But I suppose I had better not tell that part of it as it is not military to throw away baggage on a retreat. I will close for tonight.”

Near Capture at Egypt Station

There is a gap in James A. Durrett’s letters lasting through much of 1864, though he is known to have been hospitalized at Jackson, Mississippi for much of the winter of 1864 and early 1865. On February 18, 1865, James A. Durrett wrote to a friend, Mrs. Marian Abigail (Fitch) Searcy, a former schoolteacher. He first detailed the much reduced state of his regiment saying:

“On returning to my regiment from the Hospital, I found it much decreased in number. In fact, but very few who went into Tennessee returned. Of my company, but two escaped capture — though strange to say, none were killed or even wounded — all captured [and] doomed to waste away their lives in Yankee prisons. Slowly and wearily the time will drag along with them, but then it is a soldier’s fortune and, as such, they will take it nor grumble at the hardship, but be thankful that life is spared to them.”

James A. Durrett then went on to recount his own close call with capture:

“I came very near being captured by a raiding party of Yankees after I left home the last time. I had got to Okolona, Mississippi, on my way to my regiment when the railroad was torn up thirteen miles above there by the raid. I joined a company and went back to Egypt Station, seven miles below Okolona. At daylight next morning, and while we were asleep, the enemy surrounded us. As soon as this was known, the company to which I belonged was ordered to get on the cars as an attempt was going to be made to run the train out and save it from capture. We ran out almost through the enemy’s lines, they firing at us all the way, and we returning it with interest. After making so bad an out in my first attempt to reach my regiment, I concluded to wait for a quieter time and remained in West Point, Mississippi, until my regiment passed on its way here.”

Death of James A. Durrett

A terse letter  written on April 3, 1865, by James A. Durrett’s cousin, Henry, revealed James A. Durrett’s grim fate during the Battle of Spanish Fort:

“Dear Cousin,

It is with painful regret that I inform you that Jimmy was this evening mortally wounded, being shot directly through the brain. He was wounded about four o’clock this evening. While standing in the ditches, he imprudently raised his head to look over at the enemy which was firing at our line. He is now at the field hospital and will be sent to Mobile tonight. As he had written the letter enclosed with this [dateline 22 March 1865], I concluded to send it to you with a lock of his hair.

I am, dear cousin, yours with great sympathy, — Henry Durrett”

The letter written March 22 was a happy one from James A. Durrett, sharing the news that many of his brigade had been exchanged and he hoped that his brother Thomas, already a prisoner for two years, would be among them.

One April 7, 1865, Anne (Beauchamp) Durrett received a more detailed account of her son’s death:

“I very much regret to have to inform you that your son James is dead. He died about dark on Monday evening the 3rd of this month from a gun shot received that evening near Spanish Fort, about fifteen miles below Mobile. The ball penetrated his forehead just below the edge of his hair and came out near the top of his head. The blow seemed to produce insensibility and he never spoke afterward, but continued to sink until death. Henry Durrett, who accompanied him to the field hospital, was present at his death…”

Thomas Jefferson Durrett later in life.

James A. Durrett was buried in Mobile, Alabama. His brother, Thomas, survived the war and was finally exchanged on May 23, 1865. Thomas passed away in 1924 at the age of 82. To read the full collection, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

We’d like to extend a special thank you to William Griffing at Spared & Shared  for transcribing and sharing these letters.

For more spotlights on our collection, check out our articles on Albert Henry Bancroft of the 85th New York Infantry  and Colonel Clark Swett Edwards of the 5th Maine Infantry.

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 5: Albert Henry Bancroft of the 85th New York Infantry

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Albert Henry Bancroft was one of five children born to shoemaker Jenson Bancroft and his wife Esther Susannah Batchelor in Ontario County, New York. Bancroft enlisted in the 85th New York Infantry on September 26, 1861, as a private in company B. He would later receive a promotion to corporal.

Our collection contains 62 letters, mostly written by Albert Henry Bancroft to his family, with a few other letters being written by his brother, William, who served in the 24th New York Cavalry, and a few by sister, Almira “Myra” Bancroft. The letters span from 1861 until his capture in 1864.

85th New York Infantry duty in Washington, D.C.

After its formation, the 85th New York Infantry was sent to do duty as part of the defenses of Washington, D.C. In a letter from January 14, 1862, Albert Henry Bancroft related an amusing story about his company’s somewhat unusual taste for meat:

“There was one or two companies out practicing with blanks and the train of mule teams — 6 mules in each team — come along and not liking the noise, they pricked up their ears and took French leave as though they were sent for and the way they went was not slow. One mule capsized and went under the wagon and all stopped and we thought we were going to have some fresh mule for supper but we were doomed to be disappointed for when the wagon was raised off from him, he was as good as new and the last I saw of him he was going along in his mule way rejoicing. But we all hoped him dead. We have eat so much mule beef that our ears are about 3 inches long and thrifty indeed. I am almost ashamed to look a mule in the face, and some of the boys are braying quite lustily, and all are tough and so am I.”

In a letter to his aunt on March 2, 1862, Albert Henry Bancroft conveyed his rather unflattering opinion of the city of Washington:

“ The inside of the building is mostly marble and of all kinds and colors and it does not seem as though the hand of man were capable of working out such wonders. One may travel all day and yet see something new at every turn, and here inside the walls of marble, it seems we are keeping our drones or fast men. We had better take the bees way of ridding the hive of its worthless members and hang them and then they would not be picking quarrels and the stand behind the fence ready to join the biggest heap and share their profits and cry, “didn’t we give it to ’em.” But the Capitol is all that makes Washington for there are more poor, rickety old houses and three-cent grog shops here than there ought to be in seven cities and anyone that visits the city must have a keen eye to get his money’s worth.”

Shortly after this letter was written, the 85th New York Infantry left Washington D.C.

Albert Henry Bancroft and the Battle of Seven Pines

Photo of Lieutenant Colonel Abijah J. Wellman who was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines.

The Battle of Seven Pines occurred on May 31 and June 1, 1862. At the time, it was one of the the biggest battles of the Civil War to date and resulted in large casualties to both the Union and Confederate armies with neither side winning a decisive victory. In a letter  to his sister written a few days after the battle on June 6, 1862, Albert Henry Bancroft wrote in great detail about his regiment’s role in the battle:

“The first indication we had of the enemy was a cannon ball—and then another, sounding more like a swarm of bees in a great hurry but doing no harm. This was about 11 in the forenoon. And then the order was to fall into line for the Rebs were driving in our pickets (which they had done the day before) and in five minutes our Brigade was in line and the 81st New York and 98th were sent out to support the pickets. They marched into a piece of woods which our men have been felling to prevent them from coming on to us and we were put in to the half-finished rifle pits for them to fall back on in case they were driven back. The 92nd [New York] was to the right of us and between us was a small fort with three small cannons inside and three out. We were in the pits nearly an hour before we saw anything of the enemy. In the meantime, those in front of us were hammering away at them and the little Brass Boys were speaking to them once in awhile but their balls had been kept too long and broke all to pieces when they got over into the woods. But soon we saw what was to pay. Those in front came running back beyond us and the obnoxious Rebel flag was seen bearing down upon us through the slashing when the Colonel said, “Take good aim boys, and let them have it,” and for the first time we drawed a bead on the Rebs and then they were more than 50 rods [275 yards] off, but they felt it. We loaded and fired as fast as possible and the canister shot was poured into them from the cannon but they still bore down upon us until within about 20 rods [100 yards] when what there was left of them turned and went back. But there was not one-fifth of them able to get back out of the two regiments that started out.

But there was fresh troops ready to take their places and we saw that they were coming down on us on both sides and in the center and that the cannons were deserted and the horses nearly all killed and wounded and floundering in their harness. Our Lieutenant Colonel [Abijah J. Wellman] was wounded and the Colonel [Jonathan S. Belknap] no where to be seen and the Major [Reuben V. King] also had got out of the way or somewhere else and the regiment gave away for a moment. When remembering that we had no orders for doing so, we rallied into the pits again and with a shout of defiance we poured in the leaden storm, doing fearful execution, but they swarmed on all sides and we had to run or be taken prisoners. We fell back across our camps and there met reinforcements and from that time until dark, we were fighting anywhere we could see Rebs. But there was a fault somewhere. If Couch’s Division had supported our left as he should, we never need to have been driven from our camp and lost everything. But the battle is over. Our dead are buried. Our wounded are cared for. The enemy are driven beyond our camps and we can draw any signal from it we see fit. But it was a bloody field.”

Albert Henry Bancroft gave an additional account of the battle in another letter  written on June 25 presenting many of the same details.

The 85th New York Infantry at Plymouth, N.C.

Illustration of the capture of Plymouth, N.C. by Confederate forces from Harpers Weekly 24 December 1864 via Library of Congress.

In May 1863, Albert Henry Bancroft and the 85th New York Infantry moved to Plymouth, North Carolina where they would serve for a large portion of the war. Writing to his sister, Albert Henry Bancroft described their new location:

“We are all well and over head and ears in work digging, chopping, and picket duty. Our brigade is all the troops that are here and the duty will be heavy for awhile until the place is fortified. Plymouth has been a nice place for a small one but the best buildings are burned and some of the brick buildings pierced for rifles which makes the place look military. The streets are all lined with shade trees and soldiers quarters where the elite once lived. We are outside of the town in new tents raised with boards 4 feet high—4 in each tent. We have brick walks in front of the tents, one walk right in front and one the whole length so [sketch of parallel lines I I I I I I] and the corners are sodded over and all say they look nice. So you see we are comfortable.”

In April, 1864, Confederate forces led a successful attack on Plymouth, driving back the Union forces and leading to the surrender of the garrison at Fort Williams. Albert Henry Bancroft was among the soldiers captured on April 20, 1864 and was held at Andersonville Prison until his death in August 1864.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to William Griffing of Spared & Shared for his tireless work in transcribing and sharing these documents. You can read the full collection of letters and thousands more with a Research Arsenal membership.

Check out more of our spotlights like this one on Colonel Clark Swett Edwards of the 5th Maine Infantry and John L. Hebron of the 2nd Ohio Infantry.

 

 

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 4: Colonel Clark Swett Edwards and the 5th Maine Infantry

Posted on by Steve
Clark Swett Edwards via Library of Congress.

This week our spotlight is on the Clark Swett Edwards Collection, a group of 25 letters written by Clark Swett Edwards throughout his service in the 5th Maine Infantry. Clark Swett Edwards helped form the regiment as a captain of company I, before being promoted to Major, then Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel, eventually being awarded the brevet rank of Brigadier General.

Clark Swett Edwards and Company I, 5th Maine Infantry

Clark Swett Edwards was born in 1824 to Enoch and Abigail (McLellan) Edwards. Prior the war he operated several trading businesses in Maine and married Maria Antoinette Mason, to whom he addressed many of his letters in our collection. At the start of the Civil War, Clark Swett Edwards began recruiting a company in his hometown of Bethel, Maine which became known as the “Bethel Rifle Guards.”

The Bethel Rifle Guards were then mustered in as Company I of the 5th Maine Infantry, with Clark Swett Edwards as their captain. Clark Swett Edwards’ brother, Bryce M. Edwards, also served as a private in company I.

Throughout his service, Clark Swett Edwards kept a close eye on the Company I and often lamented its ever dwindling numbers of the original enlisted men.

While his letters to his wife did not discuss the specifics of the many battles in which his regiment fought, he frequently shared with her small anecdotes of camp life, as he did in this letter  from August 9, 1861:

“One little circumstance I thought I would write you. It is this. In Company F, a lady by the name of [ Mrs. Albion R.] Stewart came from Lewiston here to see her husband. He stood in his camp door night before last and the first he knew of it, she stood before him. They told me he stood like a ghost for a minute and then she fell into his arms. There were but few dry eyes around the camp for a few minutes. She is here yet. The quartermaster gave up his tent to them and they have it yet. She left Lewiston alone and came on here without his knowing it.”

Clark Swett Edwards as a Field Officer

Clark Swett Edwards was promoted to Major on August 28, 1862 and to Lieutenant Colonel on November 1, 1862. Despite this, he remembered his men from company I and kept a special interest in them. In a letter  written December 28, 1862, about a month after his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, he wrote about the situation of some of the men in company I and the problems with military bureaucracy:

“I will now write you the news of the camp. [Rufus Crockett] Penley of my old company died this morning of consumption here in our camp hospital. He was a fellow I enlisted in Portland when at Camp Preble. The poor fellow sent for me to come and see him a few moments before he breathed his last. He thanked me for my kindness to him while under my command and requested me to see that his folks received the pay due him from government. I took him by the hand and bid him a last farewell. It caused a tear to dim my sight but such is life. I think he has gone to a happier land than this. The poor man should have gone to his home in Portland months ago but this red tape and want of promptness of actions is fatal in many cases. I sometimes feel that great injustice is done to the poor soldiers in holding them when the surgeon knows he will never be of service to the government but it is the same as everything else. There is a lack in almost every department of energy. I have yet some discharged from Co. I since I left it and am making an effort for others which I hope will be successful. I feel sad at heart when I look back on my old company and think of what it once was but few are now in it that once filled its ranks. Some are discharged for disability; others are now sick in hospitals around Washington; some in convalescent camps; while others have gone to their last resting places among the dead. It is anything but pleasant for me to look back and I almost shudder when I look or reflect on the future. But I must drop this and look on the brought side.”

During this same time, Clark Swett Edwards’ brother, Bryce Edwards, was also sick in the hospital. After many months he would be discharged for disability as well.

On January 18, 1863, Clark Swett Edwards was worried about the future battle plans for his regiment and feared that they would be sacrificed in service of General Ambrose Burnside trying to regain ground lost after the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. The offense, known as the “Mud March” was a failure and was General Burnside’s last major action as commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Sketch by Alfred Rudolph Waud of the Army of the Potomac near Falmouth, Virginia on January 21, 1863 via Wikimedia Commons.

Contributing to the march’s failure was the awful weather, which Clark Swett Edwards detailed in his letter, as well as his determination to do his duty despite his own misgivings:

“Last night it froze hard enough to bear my horse anywhere in the roads so you can judge how it is with the poor soldiers. And still the prospect is a fight soon. We are now under marching orders and I think it must be over the river but I dread the consequence as the army is disheartened. Burnside is bound to cross the river at this place and to retrieve his loss but all the generals are opposed to it so you can judge of our prospect. It is heart sickening, I can assure you. But I shall do my duty regardless of others, or at least I think I will now, but no one can tell till after the fight is over. I feel for others as well as myself. I know if a fight comes off now, that the wounded must suffer greatly, but then I will not borrow trouble as it comes soon enough. The sick of my regiment I sent away this morning to Aquia Creek but as the hospital tents were not ready to receive them, so they only went a mile or so and were sent back. I ordered to send them in the morning again but this moving the sick this cold weather is awful.”

Clark Swett Edwards Hopes for a Star

Towards the end of his service, both Clark Swett Edwards and his wife, Maria, were hopeful that he might receive a promotion to general, despite the long odds against them. The referred to this potential promotion as a “star” in reference to the uniform insignia.

On December 6, 1863, Clark Swett Edwards referenced his wife’s desire to see him promoted:

“ I know you are wishing to see me one peg higher but it will take some political influence to bring that about. But one thing sure, I will never be beholden to anyone at home for a promotion in the army. I know I have done enough to have a star, but there is to many Big men sons in the army for me to rise higher. I still see puff in the eastern papers for myself, some in the Bangor papers [and] also in the Massachusetts papers, but they will do now if I get no more. I presume you see a great many but not all.”

In a letter from January 27, 1864, Edwards was less optimistic:

“You speak of the Star. I am not expecting it. I learn there were six hundred names before Congress at this session and out of that number, five has been appointed—four for Black Regiments and one in the [Regular] Army. There is a great many Colonels whose commission dates from sixty-one while mine dates only back to sixty-three, so you see my prospects is poor. If I should get it, it would be for my exhibiting good conduct.”

Clark Swett Edwards mustered out with most of his regiment on July 27, 1864. The veterans of the regiment who stayed were transferred to the 7th Maine Infantry. On March 13, 1865, Edwards received a brevet promotion to brigadier general for gallantry in action. He died in his hometown of Bethel in 1904.

We’d like to thank William Griffing of Spared & Shared for his tireless work in sharing and transcribing these letters.

To access all of the Clark Swett Edwards Collection as well as thousands of other letters, photos, and other documents, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership here.

Looking for more spotlights on our collection? Check out the story of John L. Hebron of the 2nd Ohio Infantry or the letters of Alfred Washington Ellet, the commander of the US Ram Fleet.

Research Arsenal Spotlight 3: John L. Hebron, 2nd Ohio Infantry Collection

Posted on by Steve
Photo of John L. Hebron in 1863.

While serving in the 2nd Ohio Infantry, Company G, as a bugler, John L. Hebron wrote hundreds of letters home to his family. These letters offer a valuable insight into the mind of a Union soldier who served from September 1861 to October 1864 as well as the movements and actions of his regiment. The letters of the Hebron collection begin in September 1861 and continue through the end of August, 1864.

The 2nd Ohio Infantry in 1861

The 2nd Ohio Infantry was originally formed as a three-months regiment and mustered into service at the outbreak of the war in April, 1861. Although John Hebron did not serve in the three-months regiment, he enlisted in the three-years regiment on September 10, 1861.

John Hebron’s first letter  to his family in the collection comes from Camp Dennison, Ohio, just one week after enlisting on the September 18, 1861. He assured them that his regiment had enough food and mentioned some of the other regiments passing through the camp:

“We have a good time of it down here. We had big bonfires down here last night. There was an Illinois Regiment come along hungry and we got them their supper. They were the 24th [Illinois]. Two regiments left here on Sunday for western Virginia — one zouave regiment and the 32nd Ohio.”

In early October, 1861, the regiment was engaged in battle for the first time at West Liberty, Kentucky. John L. Hebron wrote home  about the skirmish to his mother:

“I now sit down to write you a few more lines after the war [battle] of West Liberty. We started from Camp Garrett Davis on Tuesday at 2 o’clock p.m. and marched all day and all night. Early in the morning we met the enemy about 200 strong. They fired first without doing any damage. Then we tore down a fence and got in a field and throwed a shell among them which scattered them in every direction. They all broke for the hills. Then we marched about a hundred yards and then throwed two shells into the town about a half mile distant. We thought there was more in the town. The inhabitants fled in all directions.

The cavalry went after the soldier secesh and killed 6 or 7 of them while they only wounded one of the cavalry — a lieutenant. One of our company received a flesh wound in the arm while another had a ball go through his coat on top of his shoulder. None of the rest of the companies had a bullet come near them. The secesh heard that we had only 75 men and they had an awful frolic on the head of it. They left blankets, their grub, and everything else. They thought they were going to take us right away but they was sold.”

John L. Hebron’s Animosity Toward General Don Carlos Buell

Major General Don Carlos Buell via Wikimedia Commons.

In the summer of 1862, the 2nd Ohio Infantry was serving under General Major Ormsby Mitchel whom John L. Hebron had grown to like along with the rest of his division. General Mitchel had recently captured Huntsville, Alabama, for the Union army and Hebron attributed jealousy over that success to General Don Carlos Buell coming down hard on the men of his division. In a letter  from July 20, 1862, Hebron wrote:

“ I see the papers are giving Mitchel’s division thunder on all sides — something he don’t deserve at all. The whole division was down on him at one time but now they like him so much the better. I guess Old Buell didn’t like it because Mitchel got another star on his shoulder. The citizens around Huntsville made a poor mouth [complained] to Buell how Mitchel has used them and Buell is now giving them our rations and feeding us on half rations. Old Mitchel told them [the citizens] he wouldn’t allow the stores to open till his trains could go through to Shelbyville without being fired into and it was nobody but the citizens that done it. And they tried to burn the bridges and fired into the cars when they were full of soldiers every chance they could get. [In retaliation,] Old Mitchel burnt down some of their houses and the people in Huntsville will spit in a soldier’s face now. We all were down on Mitchel because we thought he was not hard enough on them but Old Buell won’t make much by feeding us on half rations for the hogs and sheep look very saucy at us and we have to shoot them for fear they will bite us for we know they are secesh. And [we] don’t like to leave them lay around to stink so we eat them.”

Two days later John L. Hebron had even harsher words for General Buell:

“Dave Laizure just came from Huntsville last night. He was shot through the foot above the big toe some 2 or 3 weeks ago but he has got able to walk now. He says that Buell is giving all the sugar and nearly all the other rations to the citizens and we are living on half rations. He says the negroes are going around with wheel barrows of flour and meat. He [says] the citizens are stepping around with their revolvers and knives and a guard can’t say a word to them. If the government don’t do something with Buell soon, some of our division will for he was shot at by one of the 10th Ohio and shot through the hand and there has been a good many threats made. I believe he is as bad as Old Jeff himself.”

Battle of Stones River

The battle of Stone River or Murfreesboro’ sketched by A.E. Mathews, 31st Regiment, O.V.I. via Wikimedia Commons.

The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was fought between December 31, 1862 and January 2, 1863. The Battle of Stones River resulted in a Union victory, high casualties on both sides, and the withdrawal of the Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg.

During the battle, Lieutenant Colonel John Kell of the 2nd Ohio Infantry was killed and the regiment was credited with capturing the flag of the 30th Arkansas Infantry regiment. John L. Hebron was present for the first day of the battle and even helped to transport the 30th Arkansas flag, as he described in a letter to his mother after the battle:

“On the morning of the 31st [December], our division to the front or away back through some cedar bushes that was so thick you could hardly see 10 steps ahead of you. We went through them about ¼ of a mile and maneuvered there a few minutes and then fell back in order that we could get a better chance at them. We went about 400 yards from the woods and stopped and layed down as the rebs had followed us and were firing on us. On they came towards Terrill’s Battery which was at our right. Our regiment let them come till they was pretty close [and] then let them have it — and the Battery gave them grape and canister and just mowed them down. They dropped their flag  and run like scared sheep.

It was while charging on us that [Lt.] Col. [John] Kell was killed and Waty Nichols, William Dunn, and Elijah Matlock was wounded. Somebody picked the [dropped] flag of the rebs up and gave it to Gen. Rousseau and Gen. Rousseau gave it to Major McCook for the 2nd [Ohio]. He said they took the flag. Major [Anson G.] McCook gave the flag to me and told me to keep it till the fight was over so I took the flag and put it in the ambulance and went to gathering of wounded for that is the musician’s job in battle.”

Conclusion

John L. Hebron and the 2nd Ohio Infantry went on to fight in many more battles including the Battle of Chickamauga as well as the Atlanta campaign. Miraculously, Hebron never received a single wound in battle and was mustered out on October 10, 1864, returning to his home in Ohio and remained in the state until his death in 1914.

With nearly 150 letters as well as photographs of John L. Hebron and his family, the collection is a fascinating and detailed look at one Ohio man’s service during the Civil War. We would like to extend a special thanks to William Griffing of Spared & Shared for his work in transcribing and sharing the letters.

Join the Research Arsenal  today to view all these letters and thousands more by Union and Confederate soldiers and their families.

Looking for more spotlights on our collection? Try reading about the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery in the Chester Chapman letters or the US Ram Fleet in the Alfred Washington Ellet letters.

 

 

 

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 2: Alfred Washington Ellet, the US Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade

Posted on by Steve

 

The US Ram Fleet

Line engraving after a sketch by Alexander Simplot showing several ships of the US Ram Fleet, published in “Harper’s Weekly”, 1862, via Wikimedia Commons.

The US Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade served an important role in the Union army countering Confederate forces operating on and near the Mississippi River. The US Ram fleet was initially formed in March of 1862 under the command of Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr. Somewhat unusually, the US Ram Fleet was under control of neither the army nor the navy, and instead reported directly to the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton.

As the name suggests, the US Ram Fleet was made up of a collection of steamships fitted with rams designed for crashing into other ships and thereby sinking them. The US Ram Fleet was created in response to the successful actions of the CSS Virginia in sinking both the USS Cumberland and the USS Congress on March 8, 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.

In November of 1862, the Mississippi Marine Brigade was formed as a supplement to the US Ram Fleet, incorporating infantry, cavalry, and artillery units which would be transported by the fleet. Despite its name, the brigade was not part of the US Marines at any point. Both the US Ram Fleet and Mississippi Marine Brigade continued to serve directly under the Secretary of War until their disestablishment in August 1864.

The Ellet Family

Besides Colonel Charles Ellet, a number of other Ellet family members made up the command structure of the US Ram Fleet including Charles Ellet’s son, Charles Rivers Ellet, his nephew, John A. Ellet, and his brother, Alfred Washington Ellet. Also present was Alfred Washington Ellet’s young son, Edward.

Colonel Charles Ellet died from blood poisoning from a wound received at the First Battle of Memphis in June, 1862, and command of the US Ram Fleet then fell to Alfred Washington Ellet. Eventually raised to the rank of Brigadier General, Alfred Washington Ellet wrote a series of twelve letters to his wife and family back home in August, 1862, which are all available to read in the Research Arsenal’s Alfred Washington Ellet Collection, made possible through a partnership with Spared & Shared.

In these letters, Alfred Washington Ellet gives a frank view of the politics surrounding the US Ram Fleet, as well as numerous updates about his son Edward, who served with the fleet for a time as well as about his nephew, Charles Rivers Ellet, who would later go on to command the Mississippi Marine Brigade.

Edward “Eddy” Ellet

Edward Carpenter Ellet was born in 1845, the son of Alfred Washington Ellet and Sarah Jane (Roberts) Ellet, and was not yet 17 when he accompanied his father on the US Ram Fleet. Alfred Washington Ellet spoke very highly of “Eddy” and his bravery in letters home to his wife, telling her:

“I wish that you could have seen him [Edward] as he stood on that deck firing his pistol into the port of the rebel monster. Few men ever did a deed so daring yet so coolly. After firing five times, one barrel stopped. He stepped to my side, took a fresh cap from out of my pocket, capped the pistol and deliberately fired his last charge into the open port as we were passing. Show me an act of cooler self-possession if you can.”

1904 Drawing of the CSS Arkansas by R. G. Skerrett via Wikimedia Commons.

The “monster” referred to in the passage above is the Confederate iron-clad ship CSS Arkansas. On July 22, 1862, the US Ram Fleet encountered the CSS Arkansas outside of Vicksburg. The Queen of the West of the US Ram Fleet rammed the CSS Arkansas but failed to sink her. It was likely during this fight that Eddy fired at her.

Plans for Taking Vicksburg

In a letter to his wife dated August 4, 1862, Alfred Washington Ellet detailed his own plan for taking Vicksburg and expressed frustration at it not being implemented.

“I think that nothing is so important as to open this river and nothing much easier to be done if we can only procure some concert of action. Vicksburg can be taken in two hours if they would only do as I proposed near a month ago to [Admirals] Farragut & Davis. Let these gunboats be pushed right up to the batteries at close quarters and silence them with grape and canister. Their guns are all exposed. And I will engage to land five hundred men and passing under our own fire, spike every gun before the enemy could know what I intended. Our boats would of course elevate their guns as I approached the forts so that their fire would still pass over me and fall so as to prevent the enemy from advancing from behind. This thing could be accomplished so quick, commencing at the upper fort and taking them in succession that it seems strange that it has not been accomplished. I have talked with Davis repeatedly about it but he fears to bring his boats to close quarters. [As] for myself, I want to see more close quarters fighting. We have stood off from these villains long enough and now I want to see them “crowded to the wall.”

Ellet also added,

“I tell you that all that high falutin idea of southern chivalry is played out entirely with me. I have had too many balls whistle by my ears aimed by some lurking villain who took good care to keep out of sight for me to entertain any longer any refined notion about the way of carrying on this war. I am now for crushing out this rebellion if with it the life of every traitor, man, woman and child in the South should be made a sacrifice of, and the whole country made a desert waste. Let us fight the thing out with clean hands and without gloves.”

As it was a shot by a sharpshooter that led to the death of his brother, Colonel Charles Ellet (who was also the only Union casualty if the First Battle of Memphis), it is easy to believe that that incident hardened his views.

In the end, Vicksburg was not taken by the Union army until July 1863, after a long siege. Alfred Washington Ellet’s plan of attack proved to be too risky to attempt.

Relations with the Army and Navy

After the unsuccessful fight against the CSS Arkansas, Alfred Washington Ellet had considerable anxiety about how the incident would be portrayed in the press as well as his position of leadership as head of the US Ram Fleet. In a letter  dated August 10, 1862, he was finally much relieved in that area:

“[Charley] brought me the gratifying intelligence of the favorable light that my recent fight was looked upon by the people East, and the manner that the whole affair was set before the public by the press. I have felt extremely anxious upon this subject knowing how easy it was to crush me by an unfair statement even of facts, but of this I have no longer any apprehension. Secretary Stanton evidently intends that I shall have full justice and I rely upon him. I mentioned in my last that he says that he ‘will present my name to the President to be nominated for Brigadier General.’ This is sufficient evidence that he does not blame me for the late failure.”

He went on to tell his wife that she should not speak ill of other commanders, saying,

“I do not want you to express the feelings to others that your letters exhibits towards the commander in writing to me. I have fought my way into a position that I have nothing to fear from them, and the country has everything to gain from the knowledge that a cordial state of feelings exist between the commanders of the two fleets.”

Actions on the Yazoo River

In late August, 1862, Alfred Washington Ellet and the US Ram Fleet traveled up the Yazoo River successfully seizing and destroying large quantities of Confederate goods and ammunition. Describing the seizure Ellet said:

“We landed under the fire and found that we had got a prize again. The guns were not yet in position. Four heavy siege guns were lying by the side of their carriages, two brass field pieces, their mountings all laying close by, tons and tons of ammunition, shot, and shell in the greatest abundance, barrels and barrels of powders and quantities of “fixed” ammunition in boxes for the field piece, and 20-lb howitzers. We all went to work immediately to save what was of value to us and destroy the balance. We rolled all the solid shot into the river and the powder likewise. All the valuable prepared ammunition we took on board. The small cannon we also got on board, but we could not handle the large ones and were consequently obligated to burst them. So you see we have frustrated the little plan of this enemy for our future benefit. They must look out for more guns and another supply of ammunition before they can dispute our passage of the Yazoo at Hayne’s Bluff.”

The fleet was able to return safely with the prize and continued to act through out the war until its eventual disestablishment in 1864.

Conclusion

The twelve letters of the Alfred Washington Ellet Collection give valuable insight into the mind of the man behind the US Ram Fleet at a time when he had only shortly taken command of it. With the US Ram Fleet operating outside of the direct command of the army or navy, special care had to be taken to ensure cooperation and planning, as well as smooth personal relations between the various commanders. The letters also reveal the strong presence of the Ellet family in the US Ram Fleet and the close family ties between them. You can read the twelve letters in full on the Research Arsenal.

We’d like to give a special thank you to William Griffing of Spared & Shared for his work in transcribing and sharing these letters.

Looking for more spotlights on our collection?

Try reading about the Chester Chapman Letters.

 

 

 

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 1: Chester Chapman Letters

Posted on by Steve
1st Connecticut Artillery at Fort Richardson.

This week were spotlighting a collection of over 70 letters on the Research Arsenal, made possible through a partnership with Spared & Shared. These letters were written by Chester Chapman of Montville, New London, Connecticut during his service from 1861 to 1865.

Chester Chapman’s Service in the 4th Connecticut Infantry and Reorganization into the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery

Chapman enlisted in the 4th Connecticut Infantry on May 22, 1861 and was assigned to company D. In an early letter written on August 29, 1861,  Chester Chapman wrote to his wife, Martha Loretta (Williams) Chapman about the conditions of the food in his camp at Frederick, Maryland.

“I am writing everything that I can think of. The boys are eating supper and they want me to let you know what they have got for supper. They have got boiled rice, which is little less than half done, and boiled water seasoned with oak leaves for tea, sweetened with molasses. I had rather eat it than drink it. So I am a going to wait until they stop eating, then I am a going to eat some of the molasses on a piece of bread. We have just half enough to eat and very bad treatment. Do not let anyone see this for if they should find out what I have been writing, they would take me up as a secessionist and God knows I hate the sound of the name.”

In September, 1861, Chapman received word that his regiment would be converted to artillery and the unit was soon after designated as the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery, under the command of a new Colonel, Robert Ogden Taylor. Chapman wrote to Martha of the news saying, “We are to be artillerymen and have got to hold an advanced position on Arlington Heights for we are the first three-year’s men so we are to be put ahead of the rest. Our new Colonel [Robert Ogden Tyler] is one of the best of men for he tried to have the men have their rights.”

Chester Chapman’s Sickness and Battle in Virginia

Chapman spent many of the following months sick, moving in and out of the hospital depending on the amount of strength he had. He worked some as a nurse and cook in the hospital before going back on regular duty with his regiment as they traveled throughout Virginia. In June of 1862, he wrote from Cold Harbor about the current doings of his regiment and the grisly conditions they faced.

“We are on a hunting expedition, we have been all over Virginia after the rebels and only got up with them once and then they almost got us in a trap before we knew that they were in sight.

There is nothing that will kill a man like this for we had to walk thirty miles one day and then run for two hours over the battlefield where we could not step in some places without stepping on a dead man and Norman Smith slept with one and kept punching him with his elbow to make him move and did not know that he was dead until morning.

We buried 25 North Carolina men in one grave. Some of them was killed so sudden that they fell just as they stood. One man lay with one hand on his gun and the other on the ramrod a trying to load it. One poor fellow had the top of his head shot off. This war business is hard when one has to walk all day to do two or three hours fighting and then have to sleep on the battle ground all night.”

Chester Chapman’s Capture and Imprisonment at Richmond

During the Seven Days Battles in 1862, Chester Chapman was taken prisoner by the Confederate army. In July 1862, Martha Chapman received a letter  from another man in Chester Chapman’s regiment, Albert Sperry, stating that Chester had been captured and was currently a prisoner in Richmond, Virginia, working as nurse. Sperry expected that Chester would soon be released on parole.

On August 8, 1862, Chester Chapman was finally able to write what had become of him.

“As I have got clear of the rebels and back to my company with nothing else to do but write, I will let you know how I have been. I have been sick with the scarlet rash for about two weeks and besides all that, I have been in a Richmond prison for five weeks. I got taken at the hospital on the 27th of June by Jackson’s troops and carried to prison and fed on bread and water—and sour bread at that. But I am well at present, thank God, and hope that you are the same.”

Chester also wrote some of the deplorable conditions the sick and wounded endured.

“I wish that I could describe to you the horror of the battlefield. The one where I was was nothing to what some of them is. I went on to it a week after the fight and there lay poor men with no legs, some with broken arms, and some with all one side of their heads shot off and no one to help them for our doctors all run and the rebel doctors had as much as they could do to take care of their own men. I have seen poor men die that would have got well with a very little care for their wounds would get fly blown and the poor men would be eat up with maggots when a little cold water would have cured them.”

Chester Chapman’s Reenlistment as a Veteran and Service Until the End of the Civil War

1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery at Fort Richardson

Chester Chapman reenlisted as a veteran on November 3, 1863 and was promoted to corporal in January 1864. For much of this time there are no surviving letters between Chester and Martha. Martha came down to visit him briefly in April of 1864 and he wrote her detailed directions on how to arrive as well as a pass she could show the guards in order to be allowed on to Fort Richardson after meeting with the Provost Marshal in Washington.

Chapman’s regiment served for a time at Bermuda Hundred and in a letter from June 5, 1864, he described what it was like to be under constant shelling.

“They have been trying to see how many of us they could kill, I guess, for they have been shelling our works very hard. It makes me feel funny to have them pieces of iron fly past and burst on all sides and all a fellow can do is to trust to the Lord and let them come. When they come over, they cry furlough for about fifty time and when they burst they cry discharge.”

After the end of the war, Chester Chapman spent several long months waiting to be discharged. He once again served in the hospital and on July 14, 1865, he wrote to Martha expecting to be mustered out soon.

“I have some good news for you, and I hope that it will prove true. If it does, I shall be at home before winter for the news is that the whole of the army of the Potomac is to be mustered out except Hancock Corps. But I think that I shall stay for if I have been put on General Detail here, I shall have to stay till this hospital is broke up.”

Conclusion

The letters between Chester Chapman and his wife, Martha (Williams) Chapman paint a vivid picture of Chapman’s service throughout the Civil War. Though he spent much of his time in the hospital either suffering from illness or working as a nurse, he also faced many harrowing days on the battlefield. The full collection of letters highlights many more episodes we were unable to include here, and may be accessed through a Research Arsenal membership. We’d also like to give a special thanks to William Griffing for his tireless work in digitizing and transcribing Civil War letters at Spared & Shared.

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