Tag: Civil war letters

Research Arsenal Spotlight 21: Richard Ransom and the Chicago Mercantile Battery Light Artillery

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

Richard “Dick” Ransom was born in 1842 to Daniel Ransom and Lucy Edson (Lake) Ransom of Woodstock, Vermont. By the 1860s, Richard Ransom was living in Chicago working as a printer. On August 7, 1862, he enlisted in the Chicago Mercantile Battery and was mustered in on August 29, 1862. The battery was organized by the Chicago Mercantile Association.

Richard Ransom’s letters begin in December, 1862 while the Chicago Mercantile Battery was in Memphis, Tennessee.

Richard Ransom and Sherman’s Yazoo Expedition

On December 14, 1862, Richard Ransom began a letter to his family telling them about his current situation in camp. At the time, Union forces were massing in large numbers in preparation for Sherman’s Yazoo Expedition, where the General would bring a large number of troops down the Yazoo River in hopes of breaking through Confederate defenses and bringing the Union closer to seizing Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Richard Ransom’s concerns were less concerned about the battle to come and more concerned with what the large number of troops meant for soldiers’ daily rations, as he explained in his letter:

“We can draw no soft bread at all here now. There is such a large army here, it cannot be baked for them. There has a large army concentrated here since we went away—some say about 30,000 and some say as many as 60,000. And this evening I heard that no boats were allowed to return up the river [and] that all boats that landed here were taken possession of by Government for the purpose of transporting us down the brook—even all the small boats. So you may not get any news from here for some time.”

In a letter written December 25, 1862, Richard Ransom detailed some of the destruction left in the wake of the expedition, by soldiers sneaking off to burn towns as the ships sailed south:

“Tuesday, 23rd, we went as far as Gaine’s Landing, Arkansas, and tied up for the night. The place was begun to be burnt before dark and kept up all night and in the morning but one or two houses were left. Gen. Smith ordered that the men that set the fires be tied hand and foot and thrown into them or if the fire was burnt out when they were caught, he would throw them tied into the river—and if one was caught before two o’clock in the morning, he should be hung and one was caught and brought in and he told him he should be shot at two o’clock next day. But before the time came, he told him he might go—that Gen. Sherman had pardoned him and gave him a good talking to but let him go.”

Richard Ransom and the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou

Sketch of Chickasaw Bayou via Wikimedia Commons.
Sketch of Chickasaw Bayou via Wikimedia Commons.

On December 27, 1862, Richard Ransom wrote home informing his family that he had likely caught the measles:

“I have a few minutes more before the mail leaves us and I must tell you how I get along. I believe I wrote you in the other letter that I felt ague-like. Well, I have got no better but am able to be around and help myself as well as ever, but I expect to have the measles. There has been a man lying on deck three or four days who has them and some of our boys knew it so we have been much exposed. If I do take them, I know what to do. Keep warm, and shall not be kept out on deck as that infantryman was. He was taken to the hospital boat this morning.”

Richard Ransom was also frustrated with the leadership of members of the regular army, which he felt were too soft on Confederate forces:

“I can but distrust the loyalty of all the old “regular army” officers. Gen. A. J. Smith now has about 20 secesh prisoners on board this boat and they are fed at the cabin table on hot rolls, beef steak, &c. &c. while we boys have to eat on hard tack or pay fifty cents a meal. Some of them are also allowed staterooms.”

Included in the same letter but written on January 3, 1863, Richard Ransom then gave an account of the disastrous Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. Richard Ransom prefaced the summary with the warning, “Where we have been and where I have been and what we have seen in the past week had made me wish to be at home.”

The troubles began with the unloading of the battery from two ships which left a mess of confusion. Ransom described it:

“I will give you a diary of the week. Saturday afternoon, December 27th, we passed a lot of gunboats &c. anchored at the mouth of the Yazoo and the transports of our Division went up the Yazoo River between ten & fifteen miles where we found the balance of the transports of our fleet having all been unloaded and the troops put out towards Vicksburg—through the swamps—and we could occasionally hear a cannon shot and sometimes a sound which I supposed was the mortar boats in the Mississippi River, shelling the city.

Our two guns were got off the “Des Arc” and the drivers brought the horses up from the “Louisiana” and we joined the rest of the battery—and the Louisiana was unloaded and we had everything mixed up on the levee in such a shape as never was known before. The battery could not have been got ready for action in less than five hours. We had orders to be ready to march in the morning at seven o’clock with two days rations of “hard tack” (nothing else to take) and only take one blanket and no baggage. Everything was to be left in camp and all the sick to guard it. Then I was a little afraid because I had not been well enough to unload the boats and hardly to carry my own baggage ashore—and was growing weaker all the time—had eat nothing for two days—had a fever and was afraid of the measles and didn’t think they would let me go. The firing was kept up in the distance and news of all sorts was flying about.”

Eventually the Chicago Mercantile Battery arrived near the fighting and Richard Ransom resumed his account:

“We finally stopped in the woods I should think about eight miles from the boats, and nearly north of Vicksburg—the city being in sight from a short distance from us, and we could “hear the bells.” Where our guns were planted down on the “river bottoms” in the woods, the water marks on the trees for high water was eighteen feet above the ground and was so for the whole distance back to the Yazoo. Where we lay there we were only about a mile west of the Mississippi and the fighting was between some of our big guns on the west of us and some batteries across a bayou, on the hills, which we must take to get into Vicksburg. I believe that our artillery beat them on Sunday morning and the infantry all were drove into Vicksburg, and we had the hill. Here Morgan L. Smith was wounded leading a charge across the bayou where the men hesitated to go. He got a bullet through his belt in front and it lodged between two bones in his back and he had had to give up command of the 2nd Division. Then our A. J. Smith took his place and Brig. Gen. Burbridge took this—the 1st Division.

Before noon we heard a good deal of heavy firing of infantry—volleys and single shots—and finally it all ceased, and not much more was heard till next morning, though an occasional big gun would start us a little, for we lay where they could shell us all to pieces from Vicksburg.”

At this point Richard Ransom’s health had deteriorated substantially because of the measles and he was forced to go to the hospital to recover. On January 3, he received word that they were to withdraw:

“Soon Sergt. [Pinckney S.] Cone came and I found out that the whole army was going to be drawn back and put on the boats before morning—quietly and in order. [Frank S.] Wilson’s Section was to start at 12 o’clock, [James H.] Swan’s at 2, and [David R.] Crego’s at 4 o’clock. All the caissons started together as soon as the order was received, and the boys tell me that the pickets came in and the last of all the infantry ready to step off about half past three. But orders were orders and they had to stay till 4 o’clock without any pickets beyond them, and then too, the pickets who came in reported that the rebels were building bridges across that bayou we had been fighting over and probably intended to cross and attack us in the morning. There was nothing came in behind our two guns but one regiment of infantry and they report that rebel scouts followed right behind us clear in to the edge of the woods but not out on the cornfield between the woods and the river. So you see we covered the great retreat.”

Richard Ransom in the Hospital

Steel Engraving of Mrs. Mary Livermore from 1867.
Steel Engraving of Mrs. Mary Livermore from 1867 via Wikimedia Commons.

Even as Richard Ransom recovered from the worst of the effects of the measles, he remained weak and in the hospital, though he was always quick to reassure his family that he was not as sick as they feared. He also tried to avoid the doctors and medicine as much as possible, believing that it would make him sicker, as he described in a letter dated March 22, 1863:

“My cough is all gone and I am so to speak “quite well”—though weak. I still keep away from the doctors and everybody who says anything to me about it advises me so to do—at least to take as little medicine as possible.”

On March 24, 1863, Richard Ransom received a discharge for disability due in no small part to the efforts of Mrs. Mary Ashton (Rice) Livermore, who was down visiting the hospital on behalf of the Sanitary Commission. He described her efforts in a letter dated March 20, 1863:

“Mrs. Livermore said she was bound to take me home with her. She knew she could get me discharged from the service and she should do it. I got certificates of disability and got the papers properly started and gave them to her and she will do what she can about getting them through headquarters. The disability consisted (so the certificate says) of “chronic pleurisy & chronic enlargement of the spleen.” The examination I went through to get the papers was—really—none at all, and the certificates were given as a favor to one of our boys—Charles H. Haight, who is very intimate with the Drs. and has a good deal of influence with them. So you see that really, I am not entitled to them, so you need not borrow trouble and think I am so very bad off.”

After the war, Richard Ransom lived for a time in Denver before later moving to Milwaukee where he lived at the Northwest Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. He died on April 3, 1917.

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

If you’d like to read more of Richard Ransom’s letters, or see thousands of other Civil War letters and documents, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

You can also check out some of our other Spotlight collections like Biddle Boggs of the 80th USCT Infantry and associate of General Frémont and Varnum Valentine Vaughan of the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry.

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 20: Biddle Boggs, Lt. on Gen. John C. Frémont’s Staff

Posted on by Gloria Wickman
1st Lieutenant Biddle Boggs of Company H, 80th US Colored Troops Infantry.
1st Lieutenant Biddle Boggs of Company H, 80th US Colored Troops Infantry via findagrave.com.

Biddle Boggs was a rather unique character in history, serving in both the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. He was born in 1822 to Andrew Boggs and Sarah Talman (Biddle) Boggs of Saltsburg, Pennsylvania.

In the 1850s, Biddle Boggs came to California and was a close friend and associate of John C. Frémont, who he frequently mentioned in his letters and much admired. At the time Biddle Boggs was in a legal battle on behalf of mineral rights on Mt. Ophir against Merced Mining Company, a fight he was making covertly on the behalf of John C. Frémont’s interests. In a letter written September 12, 1856, he informed his sister of his current employment:

“I am now working for Col. Frémont and have been since last April. I have charge of some rich quartz veins. They are not working them now so I have nothing to do. Well, there is nothing like working for a President though I have not had but twenty-five dollars since last April. They pay my board so I do not need money at present and don’t spend any. I am saving up to go home.”

Biddle Boggs and the Civil War

Illustration showing the death of General Turner Ashby at Good’s Farm.
Illustration showing the death of General Turner Ashby at Good’s Farm via Wikimedia Commons.

After attempting to obtain a commission in the winter of 1861, Biddle Boggs was finally accepted into service as Quartermaster Agent in February, 1862, in Cincinnati, Ohio. In April, 1862, General John C. Frémont had him transferred to his staff in the Mountain Department in Wheeling, Virginia.

On June 14, 1862, Biddle Boggs wrote a letter to family telling them of the recent exploits of General John C. Frémont’s forces, including the death of the Confederate General Turner Ashby at Good’s Farm. Biddle Boggs had a close call of his own, as he related in the letter:

“I received your letter some days ago and would have answered it sooner but have been busy fighting. All our boys came out safe. I had my horse killed under me with a shell. It went through his hips & into the ground on the other side, but did not explode. I was not hurt. Monroe & Tom were in the thick of the fight but none of their company were killed or wounded. Our loss in killed & wounded was about 500 or 600. I do not know the enemy’s loss—supposed 1200. We drove them across the river; they burnt the bridge so we could not follow them. So we fell back to this place to get supplies as we fought them on our last ration. We killed their famous Col. Ashby—or rather General Ashby—and many of their officers. We counted 200 of them killed in one field.”

Biddle Boggs also discovered that he had family fighting in the Confederate army.

“I have been back with a flag of truce to Harrisonburg [Virginia] (they occupy that place with their cavalry since we came down the valley to this place) and had quite a talk with some of the rebel officers. They told me they knew cousin Frank J. Boggs. He is a major in the rebel army at Richmond now. So you see, we have kin on the other side.”

Biddle Boggs closed with a grimly optimistic note that his family shouldn’t worry about him eating as “there is plenty of dead horses if nothing else” and for the moment they had “plenty of beef, have bread, coffee, & rice now and plenty on the land.”

Biddle Boggs and the 80th US Colored Troops Infantry

In May, 1863, Biddle Boggs was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was now a lieutenant what would become the 80th US Colored Troops Infantry. The regiment was under the command of Colonel Cyrus Hamlin, who was a son of Vice President Hannibal Hamlin and, like Biddle Boggs, Cyrus Hamlin had also been serving on the staff of General John C. Fremont. One of the soldiers in the regiment, Corporal Henry Demas of Company H, after the war became one of Louisiana’s longest serving African American politicians, serving as both a state house representative and later a senator from 1870 to 1892.

One May 18, 1863, Biddle Boggs wrote a letter to his sister detailing the recruitment for the regiment and the ongoing siege of Port Hudson, which he believed would soon come to an end. In actual fact, the siege lasted until July 9.

“You see I am down south and on the Mississippi River. We are about 25 miles below Fort [Port] Hudson which is yet in the hands of the Rebels. Our gunboats & mortar boats have been humming at them every day for a while & almost every night for 2 or 3 hours since the 8th of this month. We—from our camp—can hear it quite plain. Some nights they fire so heavy, it wakens me up. We can see the bombs when they burst up in the air and see the flashes of the cannon on dark nights. This is just near enough to be comfortable, but it must break the rest of the Rebels and keep them awake. I do not know how many have been killed or wounded or whether any of our side. I have not heard of any.

We are getting some recruits for our regiment (200 now). We will take Port Hudson this week. Then we will be able to get recruits faster as they can get in from up the river. I hear the cannon at Port Hudson 8 o’clock a.m. They have just commenced. Let them bomb away.”

Biddle Boggs and John C. Frémont

Photo of General John C. Frémont.
Photo of General John C. Frémont.

On March 10, 1864, Biddle Boggs was still serving as a 2nd Lieutenant in Company H, of the 80th US Colored Troop Infantry, which at that time was known as the 8th Regiment Corps d’Afrique. He wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, Joseph Wheldon, which revealed his continued close connection with John C. Frémont:

“I had a letter from Mrs. Frémont wishing me to go to New Orleans to see the General’s niece, Miss Nina Frémont, who was there to see her mother. Mrs. General Banks called and took her to a ball on the 4th. I went also. It was a big affair—too large for me, but I held my hand with the best of them and went them some better.”

In the same letter  Biddle Boggs also expressed his hopes that John C. Frémont would receive a presidential nomination in the upcoming election:

“I have nothing to write about. I hope the Republicans will nominate Frémont for next President and elect him. I find he has many friends in the Army who think he is the man for the times, and think also that he ought to have a command and would be glad to serve under him. We want men of energy and he has.”

The final letter by Biddle Boggs in our collection was written July 11, 1865. The letter opens with a full circle moment for Biddle Boggs, once again at place in his military service where he had been 20 years previously during the Mexican-American War and at a new milestone in his career:

“Here we are “Lou” and I on “Red River” at the place I swam it in 1846 on my way to Mexico. Our regiment is stationed here doing post duty. I am A. R. Quarter Master & Ordnance Officer of the post. Received my commission as First Lieutenant in 80th Colored Troops from Washington City today.”

The “Lou” referred to in the passage was Biddle Boggs’ wife, Mary Louise (Hayward) Boggs, whom he married in 1864 in Louisiana.

Biddle Boggs concluded his letter with a short note about the recent execution of the conspirators in the Lincoln assassination:

“Hurrah for Andy Johnston for hanging Mrs. Surratt and all other assassins. It saves trouble and sends witches where they belong—to Old Nick. Who would want to be in Heaven with assassins.”

Biddle Boggs died in 1886 and was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery.

We’d like to give a special thanks to William Griffing of Spared & Shared for sharing and transcribing these letters.

To read all of Biddle Boggs’ letters and access thousands of other Civil War letters and documents, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

If you enjoyed this article, check out some of our other recent collection spotlights, like Varnum Valentine Vaughn of the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry  and George P. Jarvis of the 3rd Ohio Infantry.

 

 

 

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 19: Varnum Valentine Vaughan 53rd Massachusetts Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

Varnum Valentine Vaughan was born in 1826 to Doctor Hubbard Vaughan and Azubah (Shaw) Vaughan of Prescott, Massachusetts. He married Lavonia King in 1847 and was working as a farmer in Salem, Massachusetts when he enlisted as a second lieutenant of Company E, 53rd Massachusetts Infantry on September 13, 1862 for a period of nine months service.

The seven letters written by Varnum Valentine Vaughan in the Research Arsenal collection were composed between February and April, 1863, while he was on detached duty in Carrollton, Louisiana.

Varnum Valentine Vaughan and Carrollton, Louisiana

1863 map of Camp Parapet, Louisiana where Varnum Valentine Vaughan spent time on detached service.
1863 map of Camp Parapet, Louisiana where Varnum Valentine Vaughan spent time on detached service. via Wikimedia Commons.

After being organized in the fall of 1862, the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry moved first to New York before taking a ship down to New Orleans, Louisiana in January, 1863. The regiment arrived in Carrollton on January 30, 1863 and did service there until March 6, 1863.

The first letter in our collection was written by Varnum Valentine Vaughan on February 7, 1863, with additions made on the 8th and 9th as well. In the letter he mentions that he has been separated from his regiment without any idea of how long it will be:

“I find it rather lonesome here away from the regiment and wish myself back with them again sometimes. I rather expect to go back to it soon but do not know certain what my duty will be. However, I will make the best of it wherever I am placed.”

In the same letter, Varnum Valentine Vaughan also described the fortifications of Camp Parapet, upriver from New Orleans, which had been built and then abandoned by Confederate forces and were now occupied by Union troops:

“Well I must tell you about the Parapet. It was thrown up by the rebels under the direction of Beauregard. The dug a ditch about twenty feet wide and the dirt they piled up on one side nearly square. It is made zigzag like Virginia fence and is seven miles long. Runs from the river to Lake Pontchartrain and the rebels thought Burnside was coming to New Orleans from this way and was prepared to give him a cool reception. But when they saw him coming up the river, they were much amazed and those that saw it say the rebels were frantic with fear and the way they left things here goes to show how much they were disappointed.”

Varnum Valentine Vaughan’s Carrollton Quarters

By March 17, 1863 the rest of the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry had moved on to conduct operation in the area around Port Hudson. Varnum Valentine Vaughan remained on detached service at Camp Parapet in Carrollton, Louisiana. In a letter to his wife he gave an account of the quarters in which he found himself staying which were quite pleasant:

“You say you would like to look in and see how I am situated. You may. I live in a very pretty house in the southwest corner. It is about six rods from the river, and the highway runs between. There is a piazza in front which is to the south & towards the river. It is very pleasant to sit here and see the steamboats pass up and down the river. For furniture we have one bedstead (and bed) which is old style and at least ten feet high, posts six inches square, and is covered over the top with a sort of meeting house or something. I don’t know what to call it. The bedstead is made of black walnut and cost $100 dollars at least. We have a camp bedstead also on which I sleep, two writing desks, table, stand, five large armed chairs, & a looking glass.”

He had similar praise for the food they received:

“For food we get about what we have a mind to buy. We have tea, coffee, bread, beans, rice, potatoes, ham, eggs, fish—salt & fresh, oysters, & most anything but fresh beef, pies & cakes. Pies & cakes we can get but they are not my kind. I have not tasted of pie more than three times since I left New York & shall not again until I get back & if I could get hold of some of your pies, well the thoughts make my mouth water so I will drop the subject.”

The 53rd Massachusetts Infantry and General Banks

CDV of General Nathaniel Banks with Officers at Fort Williams, Louisiana
CDV of General Nathaniel Banks with Officers at Fort Williams, Louisiana.

While Varnum Valentine Vaughan was serving on detached duty, he kept informed on the movements of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks’ forces and the engagements of his own regiment, the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry.

In a letter dated April 19, 1863, Varnum Valentine Vaughan wrote his family an update about General Banks’ recent successes as well as his frustration at being stuck on detached service with very little to do:

“General Banks is doing pretty good business this last week & if he keeps on, will redeem the good opinion which some of his friends had nigh lost. In the expedition they have captured 15,000 rebels, several gunboats, and a large amount of horses, cattle, and mules, beside sugar, cotton, and other things too numerous to mention. I am thinking I should like to be with them for a while at least and no doubt I shall go somewhere before long as I do not have anything scarcely to do here. I have been very anxious the last week. I get tired doing nothing.”

On April 26, 1863 Varnum Valentine Vaughan wrote another letter to his family giving them more information about the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry:

“I expect to be released from this place soon and suppose I shall go to the regiment sometime but they are some two hundred miles from here now & they will not furnish transportation to them so I shall not expect to be with them yet for awhile. They have had a hard time. Our regiment had lost up to the 18th, 4 men killed and 8 wounded. Many were sick & no doubt will suffer much. I suppose the expedition is doing a pretty good business and is driving the rebels at every point on their route. And should they cut off the supplies from Port Hudson and Vicksburg, those places will soon be in our possession. The restoration of our country and establishment of the government—also the destruction of slavery—would be great achievements. But O what a cost. Is there any who sympathize with rebellion that realize these things?”

Port Hudson was finally captured by Union forces on July 9, 1863 after a lengthy siege that had at last exhausted the Confederate’s supplies. The 53rd Massachusetts Infantry soon after returned to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to serve out the rest of their nine months term before mustering out in early September, 1863.

Varnum Valentine Vaughan mustered out with the rest of the 53rd Massachusetts Infantry. He passed away on July 15, 1885 and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery, New Salem, Massachusetts.

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

To read all of Varnum Valentine Vaughan’s letters, as well as access thousands of other Civil War letters and documents, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

If you enjoyed this article, check out some of our other spotlight collections like George P. Jarvis of the 3rd Ohio Infantry and Robert Alexander Garner of the 21st South Carolina Infantry.

Research Arsenal Spotlight 18: George P. Jarvis of the 3rd Ohio Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

George P. Jarvis was born in 1842 to Leonard R. Jarvis and Susan (Thomas) Jarvis of New England, Athens County, Ohio. He also had a sister, Leonora Jarvis, born in 1850. George P. Jarvis served as a corporal in Company C of the 3rd Ohio Infantry, first in enlisting in the 3 months version of the regiment and then afterward enlisting for three years.

In our collection, we have eight letters written by George P. Jarvis during his service with the 3rd Ohio Infantry during 1862 and 1863. The first letter was written May 13, 1862, from Huntsville, Alabama, where George P. Jarvis was already suffering for the effects of the warm, southern climate, which he described to his family:

“The weather is very hot here now although it is only May and the Devil only knows how hot it will be next month. I think, however, that six or eight months will close this thing up.

Everything looks beautiful here as the season is quite forward. Corn is in some places waist high while in Ohio they can’t be more than just planting. Cotton is coming up finely and planters say looks well. I would not know anything about it if not told. The planters are generally very rich here — some of them own as many as six hundred slaves.”

In the same letter, he also described a letter written by a Confederate soldier serving in Hindman’s Legion, which he found and forwarded to his parents:

“The enclosed letter is one that I picked up. The writer, it seems, was a member of Hindman’s Legion — the same we shelled at Bowling Green. It seems from his letter that they were not whipped, they only ran to prevent such a catastrophe. He is wrong as regards the number killed as there was not a person killed during the whole cannonade. It will give you a pretty good idea of Southern intellect.”

George P. Jarvis in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Letter written by George P. Jarvis from Murfreesboro showing writing both horizontally and vertically across the page.
Letter written by George P. Jarvis from Murfreesboro showing writing both horizontally and vertically across the page.

In February of 1863, the 3rd Ohio Infantry was doing duty at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. George P. Jarvis had been away from the regiment for quite some time after being wounded at the Battle of Perryville in October, 1862. Upon his arrival he was very satisfied with the fortifications around Murfreesboro, writing:

“I wish I could give you an adequate idea of the strength of the fortifications here but I cannot. In the first place, I could not if I dared, and in the second place, I dare not if I could. Suffice it to say that should the enemy attack us here with the recent acquisition of forces we have received, they would most certainly be defeated.”

He also went on to describe the current state of the area around Murfreesboro and Nashville after prolonged fighting, and how much it had been ravaged by the war since he had last seen it:

“Last night Dan and I went over to the 18th Ohio and stayed all night. Had a very pleasant time. Got back this morn at ten o’clock. I was surprised to find the appearance of the country so materially changed from what it was one year ago or even since last Autumn when we passed over the country last. Then the fences were all up and everything betokened a thriving and industrious people. Now the whole aspect is changed. There is not a fence to be seen between Murfreesboro and Nashville and everything shows plainly the devastation and ruin that has been visited upon it.  Yet such is the fortune of war while the people of our own neighborhood — which by the way is not the most wealthy position of creation — are living in comparative opulence and ease, the people of this country — a county which in civil times ranked among the highest for wealth, opulence, and industry — are many of them wanting the most common necessities of life, and many are living on what in former times their own slaves would have denounced as unfit to eat. Would you like to have the war brought to your own door? I know well what your answer is. For my part, I would rather serve in this army for the term of my natural existence than have you suffer for one short six months the privations and trials of having a hostile force in your midst.”

The 3rd Ohio Infantry Captured by Confederate Forces.

The 3rd Ohio Infantry participated in Streight’s Raid in late April and early May, 1863 and were nearly all captured outside of Rome, Georgia on May 3, 1863. At the time, George P. Jarvis was serving as a clerk in the hospital, and consequently was one of the few not captured. In a letter written May 18, from Corinth, Mississippi, he expressed his belief that his regiment would soon be exchanged and reunite. Humorously, he believed that this would likely lead to him being sent home temporarily to save the government money while the regiment reorganized:

“Suppose I should be at home soon. Would it not surprise you? It would not me since I know that our entire regiment is captured with the exceptions of the twenty-two that are here now. They will of course be paroled and go to Columbus and of course there being so few of us will be ordered to join them, and the Gov. — not wishing to pay our board bill while we are doing nothing — will send us home. Now do not make up your minds to see me for this is only my opinion, but just consider me as absent till my time is out and then if I get home before, why! you will be disappointed, that’s all.”

George P. Jarvis in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Headquarters of Provost Marshal, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Headquarters of Provost Marshal, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The final letter written by George P. Jarvis in the Research Arsenal collection is datelined from Chattanooga, Tennessee and was written on October 10, 1863. By this time the 3rd Ohio Infantry had been exchanged and reorganized before being sent back out to duty.

In his letter, George P. Jarvis described some of the situation outside of Chattanooga as he awaited another clash with the Confederate Army:

“Matters at the front seem unchanged. They still appear to occupy the same ground they have occupied all along since the battle, and for the past two or three days they have shown no disposition to shell us. A part of their force is nearly in plain sight. I saw them today. They seem to be throwing up new works in the position they now hold. And they are so very near us that with some heavy guns they might do us considerable damage. Several times their sharpshooters have thrown minnie balls whizzing about our ears but no one hurt yet from them. One contraband was killed and one soldier wounded the other day by shells, but I don’t know but that I spoke of this in a previous letter. You ought to be here and see them sometimes. They look quite well at a distance, but in this case “distance” surely “lends enchantment to the view.” I had much rather behold them at that distance than have them any closer. They have a peculiar way of making themselves very unpleasant visitors.”

George P. Jarvis also boasted about the high opinion some of the Confederate Forces of Longstreet’s Corps held of the 3rd Ohio Infantry saying:

“The men of Longstreet’s Corps were very greatly surprised when they came here and found that we did not run at the first fire and those of them that I have seen say there is a vast difference between fighting us and the eastern army. They don’t call us Yankees at all. We are the “western men” and those of the eastern army are the ‘yankees.’”

In June, 1864, George P. Jarvis mustered out of the 3rd Ohio Infantry with the rest of the regiment. He went on to enlist as a quartermaster sergeant in the 18th Ohio Infantry in November, 1864 and served until the end of the war, finally mustering out for good on September 4, 1865 with the rank of 2nd lieutenant.

In 1873 George P. Jarvis married Roxavilla Beebe. He passed away in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on July 30, 1920.

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

To read the rest of George P. Jarvis’ letters and access thousands of other Civil War documents, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

Check out some of our other spotlight collections like Robert Alexander Garner of the 21st South Carolina Infantry and Andrew Jackson Clark of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry.

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 17: Robert Alexander Garner of the 21st South Carolina Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

Our focus this week is on a collection of 14 documents related to Robert Alexander Garner of the 21st South Carolina Infantry. Robert Alexander Garner was born in 1843 to Charles Wesley Garner and Winifred (Parrott) Garner of Darlington, South Carolina.  The collection begins with one letter written before the start of the Civil War, in December, 1860, and another from September, 1861, shortly before he enlisted in the 21st South Carolina Infantry.

Writing on December 19, 1860, Robert Alexander Garner told his sister about some of the home news from Philadelphia, South Carolina. His letter paints a picture of a life untroubled by the war which was soon to come and change everyone’s lives forever:

“As I have neglected answering your letter so long, I will answer it today as it is raining and I have nothing else to do. It has been raining all day and looks very much like snow. We have had snow aplenty ever since last Friday night, but it is about all melted this morning.

Joe and myself have Just got through washing out our guns to take a hunt tomorrow. We went out the other evening and killed seven squirrels and one partridge, and could have more if we had time. Julia Sue and Jane is stuffing sausages today for Christmas.

Mr. Warren is learning Mr. Jordan how to take types [daguerreotypes or ambrotypes]. I expect Pa will sell his chemicals to him. He went over today to get them from him.”

Robert Alexander Garner and the 21st South Carolina Infantry

In November, 1861, the 21st South Carolina Infantry was organized. Robert Alexander Garner enlisted in Company B of the regiment, under command of Samuel Hugh Wilds. The company was also known as “Wild’s Rifles.” Throughout his letters written in 1862, Robert Alexander Garner is mostly concerned with small updates about camp life and the men serving alongside him.

In a letter written on February 14, 1862, Robert Alexander Garner shared some rumors he heard about Union troops landing at the mouth of the Santee River in South Carolina, as well as his opinion on one of the other captains in the 21st South Carolina Infantry:

“Captain [J. W.] Owen’s and seventy-five of his men [from Co. K] are gone to guard Pee Dee Bridge. We heard that the Yankees had landed at the mouth of Santee. Miller is quite sick with the measles. He has just sent for me to go over and see him so I will close for tonight.

Saturday morning. Miller is some better this morning than he was last night. Stockton made him go out yesterday and sweep the street. Said he was lying up pretending that he was sick when he was not and he commenced getting worse right off. All or the most of Stockton’s men says he is the meanest captain on the field.”

In a short letter written on April 19, 1862, Robert Alexander Garner told his father about a flag that had been presented to the 21st South Carolina Infantry, saying, “ The ladies presented our regiment a flag the other day—think a quite pretty [one]. On one side is a hornets nest and cannon. On the opposite side is the rising sun.”

The 21st South Carolina Infantry at Petersburg

Petersburg fortifications like the ones shown here were once manned by soldiers of the 21st South Carolina Infantry including Robert Alexander Garner.
Outer line of Confederate fortifications, in front of Petersburg, Va. captured by 18th Army Corps, June 15, 1864.

In the Spring of 1864, the 21st South Carolina Infantry was moved to Petersburg, Virginia after having been stationed near Charleston, South Carolina for quite some time. For Robert Alexander Garner, this meant a shift to very hard fighting. Unlike his earlier letters focused more on camp life, in 1864 Robert Alexander Garner’s correspondence was focused on the battlefield.

On May 8, 1864, Robert Alexander Garner wrote to his father about some of the recent fighting in front of Petersburg, Virginia:

“We landed here Friday evening about three o’clock and ordered in line of battle. Met the enemy about half past four. Fought them about an hour. I think we gave them a decent thrashing. They retired with much confusion. We lost three killed and about twenty wounded from our regiment the twenty-fifth, which numbered (600) six hundred together. The Yankees carried off their dead and wounded except five dead and wounded. We went after dark and found them. Colonel [Robert F.] Graham was in command of our forces. The Yankees force was very heavy. Looked like there was about seven regiments. Yesterday they pitched again about eleven o’clock [and] continued until about three o’clock.

Our company and Capt. Owens’ was not in it yesterday. We were thrown out as skirmishers but the regiment was in it all and suffered a good deal. [Lt.] Col. [Alonzo T.] Dargan was killed. Col. [Robert F.] Graham got two wounds. Capt. [Hannibal] Legette got two or three wounds. Capt. [J. A. W.] Thomas was wounded. [1st Sgt.] Evander White was killed. This is about all the names I have learned yet the loss on both sides is heavy. They [have] taken the railroad from us once but we charged them and taken it back again. We hold the battle ground.”

Ten days later, Robert Alexander Garner wrote to his father again with a grim update about the recent Battle of Drewry’s Bluff which saw the 21st South Carolina Infantry take heavy casualties:

“Since I wrote to you last I have seen hard times and I’m afraid will see worse soon. We left Petersburg last Thursday [12 May], went about 6 or 7 miles on the Richmond road to our fortifications and made a stand there. The enemy came up that night. Had some fighting Saturday and Sunday between the pickets. Monday morning [16 May] by ten we charged on their fortifications, drove them out of them, killing, wounding and capturing numbers of them. I never saw the like of dead and wounded before. I don’t know their loss—only what I have heard. Have not seen any account of it in the papers yet. We will get it today or tomorrow, I guess.

The general opinion is that their loss is not less than five thousand killed, wounded, and prisoners. Our loss is not more than five hundred. We have followed them [with]in three miles of their gunboats in the James River. Very heavy firing going on now between the pickets now. I think General Beauregard intends on advancing on them again today. I hope if he does, we will give them another decent beating as we did Monday.

Our Brigade was cut up badly although we captured five pieces of artillery from them (our Brigade). Jeff Davis was there during the fight. Our company had 5 killed—Lt. [John L.] Hart, Mr. Coats, Caleb Beck, Robert Haguewood, Joe Rhodes; and eleven wounded—Jesse Parrott (thigh broke—think it will have to be taken off), Harrison Kelly in leg (since amputated), James Kelly in arm, Joel Harrell in arm, W[illiam] Stewart [in] hand, E[mory] Galloway [in] foot, W. [Blackman] in thigh, Ed[ward] DuBose [in] foot, [Augusta E.] Guss Law [in] face, W[illiam] Beck [in] thigh [unreadable] and heart [or breast?]. A. J. [Rhodes].”

The letter was written on a torn piece of paper printed for making monthly returns, illustrating the shortage of paper that was common in Confederate regiments.

Robert Alexander Garner and the Battle of Cold Harbor

Confederate lines at Cold Harbor, Virginia. Robert Alexander was killed during the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 6, 1864.
Confederate lines at Cold Harbor, Virginia.

Robert Alexander Garner’s final letter in the collection was written on June 4, 1864, in the midst of the Battle of Cold Harbor. He datelined it from the “Lines of Gen. Lee’s Army” which was then engaged in defending the city of Richmond, Virginia, from the Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant. In his letter, Robert Alexander first gives a summary of the fighting so far and the losses the 21st South Carolina Infantry suffered. He concluded with a description of the recent fighting and his hope for the future:

“The Yankees made a charge all along our lines yesterday. Tis reported that they were defeated all along the lines but I don’t know how true it is. I can speak for the lines in front of us; they were driven back with a big loss. I think we will keep Old Grant out of Richmond yet. I went by home as we came here. Stayed five days as we have to go to work on entrenchments. I will have to close. Let me hear from you soon.”

Tragically, Robert Alexander Garner was killed in battle on June 6, 1864, just two days after this letter was written.

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

To read the full collection of these letters, as well as access thousands more letters and Civil War documents, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

If you enjoyed this spotlight, check out some of our other features on Andrew Jackson Clark of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry and David Walker Beatty of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry.

Research Arsenal Spotlight 16: Andrew Jackson Clark of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

Andrew Jackson Clark was born in 1837 to Melzar Wentworth Clark and Sabina Hobart (Lincoln) Clark of Hingham, Massachusetts. Before the Civil War, Andrew Jackson Clark worked as a painter and was a volunteer fireman. He first served in the Lincoln Light Infantry (also known as Company I of the 14th Massachusetts) at the outbreak of the war for three months. He then served in Company H of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry and during that service composed the twenty-eight letters in our Research Arsenal collection.

Andrew Jackson Clark first enrolled in the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry on October 9, 1861. His letters in this collection begin on December 13, 1861 while in Annapolis, Maryland and mostly pertain to matters at home as he waits for his regiment to be sent out. In a letter from December 14, 1861, he gave a brief account of his camp and the vicinity:

“On our extreme is the camp of the D’Epineuil Zouaves. Nearly opposite is the 51st Pennsylvania which is trimmed up with arches and festoons of evergreens & flags, & looks like a vast amphitheater arranged for some great holiday. On the left are the camps of the 25th & 27th Mass., & the 8th & 16th Conn., all trimmed in truly [royal] style. Then while guard mounting or on dress parade on their numerous parade grounds with the bands a playing, the scene is truly beautiful—especially in the eyes of a soldier.”

The 23rd Massachusetts Infantry and New Bern, North Carolina

Scenes of New Bern, North Carolina where the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry was stationed.
Illustration of the Burnside Expedition including scenes of New Bern, North Carolina from Harper’s Weekly April 19, 1862 via University of North Carolina.

By June, 1862, the 23rd Massachusetts had been assigned to provost duty in the city of New Bern, North Carolina. On July 27, 1862, Andrew Jackson Clark wrote  home to his sister Ada about an incident of their regiment being fired on while acting as guards in the city and their manner of revenge:

“The monotony of the past few weeks has been somewhat disturbed within the past few days. Some fiends in human flesh have under cover of dark & stormy nights taken the advantage & fired upon several of our sentries which are stationed on the corners of the streets in different parts of the city. Double guards were posted & every attempt was made to ferret out the villains who perpetrated these diabolical acts. On Thursday night the guard on post [ ] of the 3rd District was fired upon & an arrest was made in the following manner. The guard was posted as usual while a second sentry [hid] himself and his arms in the vicinity. In this way he surprised & arrested a person who was prowling around there. A pistol & a large dirk knife was found upon his person. On Friday night the guard [Michael A. Galvin] on Post 5, 3rd District, was fired upon and shot through the fleshy part of his thigh (he belongs to Co. C of Glocester). Col. Kurtz instantly turned out the whole guard and went up there & arrested seven persons that night. A negro who was secreted nearby saw the flash of the gun which proceeded from the door of a large two-story house opposite.

The next morning without giving them any previous warning, the whole regiment armed with arms, axes, ropes, &c. marched up there & surrounded the house, placed everything in it out in the street, turned out the women & children & then commenced the work of destruction of all the property on the place. They leveled the house with several others which were connected with it, tore down the fences and out buildings, cut down the fruit trees, destroyed the products of a nice kitchen garden, leveled a splendid field of corn, and in fact, destroyed everything of value belonging to the estate. It was some fun for the boys maddened by the numerous attempts at their lives. The regiment went in with a will and worked like tigers until everything lay in ruins. A large crowd of citizens & soldiers were present & saw the just chastisement administered. It was not severe enough for the men—or fiends, for they do not deserve the name of men who will thus attempt to murder & assassinate the guards who are stationed about this city for the sole protection of the citizens & their property. They deserve to be hung at the nearest lamp post & should they be caught in the act, they will not meet with a much better fall to further their infernal designs. The street gas lights have several times been extinguished. A small field piece now sits half loaded in front of the guard house & should they attempt it again, they will get blowed to where they belong with little warning.”

In the same letter, Andrew Jackson Clark provided an update of the incident written on July 29:

“Since writing the above, I learn that the fiend who fired upon & shot the sentry was arrested Sunday morning & thrown into jail. He will have a trial & probably he may be hung. A thorough search has been made & arms of all description have been found secreted in different parts of the town consisting mostly of rifles, double & single barreled muskets, &c., besides powder & balls. Most of them were loaded. A splendid rifle & a double-barreled gun was found in the house from where the shot was fired Friday night. Both were loaded. There has been no more firing since then.”

Andrew Jackson Clark reflects on recruitment and the treatment of soldiers

In a letter from September 14, 1862, Andrew Jackson Clark wrote to his brother, George Clark, some of his thoughts about the government’s various bounties and incentives to get more men to enlist in the army. While he understood the need for more soldiers quite clearly, the poor treatment of soldiers whenever they returned home during furloughs, and the government’s methods to prevent desertion during that time, left a sour taste in his mouth:

“I don’t know what to make of this government & the people at this time. They offer every inducement to men to enlist, paying them exorbitant prices as bounty money & getting a better class (as the paper says) for their money. Yet they treat the men who have stood the brunt of a year & a half’s campaign like criminals or worse. Should a soldier from the hardships he has had to endure get sick, broken down and perhaps discouraged, get a furlough from his surgeon and goes home to recruit his exhausted strength, the minute he steps his foot in Northern soil a price is set upon his head, hunt him down [and is told] he has no business here—send him back to face the rebel bullets without one word of consolation from his friends. Should they live in a neighboring town & he should attempt to visit them, the police will be put upon his back & he will be arrested like a common felon. Some sneaking coward will give them the wink & get five dollars for his trouble should he be taken prisoner & let off on his parole. He must be confined—yes, held a prisoner by our own government far from the friends he has earned a right to see, whose benignant smiles & tender care he needs to refit him for active service. Oh, consistency, thou art a jewel. I have long wished to speak of these things & call them to the mind of the people in their true light but I find I am inadequate to the task.

It would break the patriotism of a man whose love of country was as strong & unbending as steel itself to see the harm of all the things heaped upon the poor soldiers of the army of the Union. Did I not know I was doing my duty, not to individuals but to my country so far as lies in m power, humble though it may be. Did I not believe that we are right & through the mercy of God will triumph over our enemies who seek to tear down as fair a government as ever existed (& if it is right conducted can do a great deal of good to suffering humanity), I should grow sick at heart & despair of any good coming out of this sinful world. I should wish myself dead before I had enlisted in the U. S. service. But I will say no more. I do not dare to write the truth as it exists. Suffice it that as long as I retain my health & strength, I shall struggle against the enemies of my country wherever they exist until this rebellion is ended. Should I be called upon to sacrifice my life in her defense, I shall die knowing that I have done my whole duty.”

Return of Andrew Jackson Clark and the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry

Image of Fortress Monroe. Andrew Jackson Clark was quarantined on ship outside of the Fort while awaiting their mustering out.
Image of Fortress Monroe. The 23rd Massachusetts was quarantined on ship outside of the Fort while awaiting their mustering out.

Though he battled some sickness throughout his service and toward the end of his term was working at a nurse at the US General Hospital in Hampton, Virginia, Andrew Jackson Clark remained healthy enough to serve out his original three year term and be discharged with the rest of the members of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry that did not reenlist. On their way home, they faced a delay due to an outbreak of yellow fever in New Bern which forced their ship to be quarantined off of Fortress Monroe. In a letter dated September 30, 1864, Andrew Jackson Clark wrote to his brother about the delay:

“I expected to answer your letter in person but am prevented from doing so by an unforeseen delay. Here we are on our way home after an absence of three years delayed for ten days why what, you will ask. Why we are in quarantine. Have we got the yellow fever on board? Not a bit of it but it is in Newbern, therefore every vessel hailing from the woebegone place is ordered in quarantine.

The regiment has not been in Newbern and most of it not within ten miles of there. Had we come five days sooner (which but for the want of a little spunk in our officers we might have done) or had we come by the way of Beaufort, North Carolina, or had not taken any citizens aboard, we might have passed all right. But as it is, I don’t see but we have got to stop here on a crowded transport with constant exposure of the men to bad air, wet dampness, &c. which is enough to bring on the fever if nothing more. Here we have to get to lie for 8 days longer. Possibly we may get off before that time as every exertion is being made to that effect. At any rate to be put ashore somewhere where we will be alright. To make the matter worse, a man belonging to Co. F died last night of consumption and his body still lays in the long boat alongside because no one can go ashore until someone comes out to us.”

When the quarantine ended, Andrew Jackson Clark mustered out of the 23rd Massachusetts Infantry on October 13, 1864. He returned to civilian life in Massachusetts and in 1869 married Evelina M. Caine. He passed away in 1927.

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

If you’d like to read more of Andrew Jackson Clark’s letters, as well as thousands of other Civil War letters, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

You can also check out some of our other recently featured collections, like David Walker Beatty of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry and Alfred Homer Johnson of the 30th Georgia Infantry.

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 15: David Walker Beatty of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

This week we’re going to focus on a collection of 48 letters written by Private David Walker Beatty of Company K, 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry. David Walker Beatty was born 1844 to parents Samuel Brown Beatty and Susan M. (Walker) Beatty. He had at least seven siblings.

David Walker Beatty mustered into the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry on August 1, 1861. In October, 1861, his father, Samuel, enlisted in Company E of the 57th Pennsylvania Infantry. While beyond the scope of this spotlight, the Research Arsenal also contains an archive of over 40 letters written by Samuel Brown Beatty to his wife, Susan. In Samuel’s letters, David Walker Beatty was frequently referred to as “Walker.”

The 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry at Washington

Civil War era Newspaper Vender and cart at Culpeper, Virginia in 1863.
Newspaper vender and cart at Culpeper, Virginia in 1863.

David Walker Beatty’s letters begin in September, 1861 while still in Pennsylvania. By October, 1861, the regiment was full and had been sent down to Washington. The 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry was under the command of Colonel Alexander Hays and the captain of David Walker Beatty’s company was Charles W. Chapman.

In a humorous letter to his mother written on October 12, 1861, David Walker Beatty addressed the newspaper’s propensity for exaggeration:

“I see it stated in the Pittsburgh papers that Col. Hays’ Regiment has all been killed and taken prisoners. We knew nothing of it until yesterday [when] we happened to see the Pittsburgh papers with an account of it. The paper stated that on the 5th we went down to the river to take a wash and the Rebels came on us and killed and took us all prisoners—what they did not kill, they took prisoners. That is a great story and no doubt many will believe it but it is too big a story to be true. On last Saturday the Colonel marched us all down to the river to take a wash but we seen no rebels. If we did, they were disguised for we did not know anything of the great defeat until we heard of it in the paper. You need not be scared about any such reports as that because we will not be killed without making some effort to save your lives. If the rebels get that close to us, we will know something about it and if they come in force, you may expect to hear of a battle.”

A couple weeks later David Walker Beatty learned his father had enlisted in the army and was quite upset and worried about it. He wrote about his fears to his mother in a letter  dated October 27, 1861:

“I received a letter yesterday from Father dated Camp Curtin, October 24th, and was much surprised to hear of his being in the army and I felt very sorry for you. I do not see how you are to get along with such a large family to support. You never can get along without there is some better fix than when I was at home.

Mother, why did you let him go? You ought to have used all means in your power to have kept him at home. He had no business to go when there is so many that have no family to support and could leave home far better than he could. I think he will rue it yet. He said in his letter he has no cause for complaint yet but after he has been in the service about two months, he will find out a thing or two that he does not yet know. But he may stand it better than I think he will. Still, a man like him has no business in such a place as this.”

David Walker Beatty and the Battle of Seven Pines

The Battle of Seven Pines, also called the Battle of Fair Oaks, took place between May 31 and June 1, 1862. During the battle, both David Walker Beatty and his father Samuel Brown Beatty were part of the First Brigade of General Philip Kearny’s Third Division of the Third Corps.

David Walker Beatty gave a brief account of the battle to his mother in a letter dated June 2, 1862:

“We have had a big fight [Battle of Fair Oaks] and I suppose you will be a little uneasy about me but the most of us are safe. The battle came off on the 31st of May and the 1st of June. We gained nothing the first day but the second day we drove them back.

Our regiment was not in the fight the second day. Our regiment lost one hundred and forty men in killed, wounded, and missing. There was none killed in our company that we know of. There was three wounded and there is five missing yet. We suppose they are taken prisoners.”

A couple weeks later, David Walker Beatty wrote about the present duty his regiment was doing as pickets, and his belief another battle was near:

“We are now acting as a reserve for the pickets. We have been out since yesterday morning and will be here till tomorrow morning. It is pretty hard business as we do not get sleeping very much on account of the firing among the pickets. They are firing nearly all the time. We thought last night that we was going to have another battle as there was an attack made on our pickets and it continued nearly all night but our boys held their ground and captured about two hundred prisoners.

We were in the rifle pits all night and what little sleep we did get we had to sleep with our guns beside us. We had to get up about a dozen times on account of the heavy firing on the picket lines and the whole of our Division was moved up to the front in expectation of a fight. We are today stationed about a hundred yards in front of the rifle pits among some fallen timber and are waiting patiently for the Rebs to attack us as Sunday is their fighting day. We never make any attacks on Sunday.”

As it turned out, David Walker Beatty only had to wait a few more days. On June 25, 1862 the Battle of Oak Grove commenced.

Death of Samuel Brown Beatty

Surgeon W. H. Worthington of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry
Photo of W. H. Worthington, a surgeon of the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry until his transfer to the 99th Pennsylvania Infantry in February, 1862.

In the winter of 1862, Both the 63rd Pennsylvania Infantry and the 57th Pennsylvania Infantry fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg. At the time, David Walker Beatty was already in the hospital suffering from chronic diarrhea and did not participate in the battle.

In a letter from December 23, 1862, David Walker Beatty informed his mother of the sad results of the battle:

“I came here just the day before the fight commenced at this place and was therefore not in the fight. Our regiment was engaged but did not suffer very much. The 57th [Pennsylvania] suffered a great deal. Father was wounded in the leg but I guess not very severely. I did not see him after he was wounded. He was sent away to Washington to the hospital. The doctor of the 57th tell me that his leg will soon be well.”

Despite the optimistic prognosis, Samuel Brown Beatty had trouble recovering from his wound. Additionally, David Walker Beatty’s own condition continued to deteriorate. On January 25, 1863, he wrote wishing he could visit his father:

“I was very sorry to hear that Father is so poorly. I wish I was where I could get to see him. I should like to see him get home. I hope Uncle David will get him home if he can. Mother, I do not think you had better try to go down to see him unless you think there is no possibility of his getting well.”

After hearing of his father’s passing in early February, David Walker Beatty wrote a letter to his mother about the loss and imploring her not to apprentice out any of his siblings regardless of circumstances:

“Again I seat myself to write a few lines to you in answer to a letter which I received from you yesterday evening giving me the sad news of Father’s death. I heard of it several days ago and I feel very sorry but I hope he is better off. I hope he has gone where pain and sorrow are no more. Mother, bear up under the great affliction as well as you can. Was he buried at Salem or at Coolspring? But Mother, what do you intend to do. Will you try and keep the family at home yet or not? But one thing I want to tell you—don’t you bind out any of the children, whatever you do. If you have to let any of them go, let them go free.”

Tragically, this was very likely the last letter David Walker Beatty ever wrote. He died three days after it was written, on February 7, 1863 and was buried at the Soldiers’ Home cemetery in Washington, D.C.

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

If you’d like to read more of David Walker Beatty’s letters, or any of the thousands of others in our collection, you can do so with a Research Arsenal membership.

You can check out some of our other spotlight collections like Alfred Homer Johnson of the 30th Georgia Infantry and a photo album of members of the 25th Ohio Infantry.

Research Arsenal Spotlight 14: Alfred Homer Johnson of the 30th Georgia Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

This week our spotlight is on a collection of five letters related to Alfred Homer Johnson who served as a private in Company F of the 30th Georgia Infantry. Alfred Homer Johnson was the son of Handy William Johnson and Frances Matilda (McKneeley) Johnson and was born in Griffin, Georgia. During the war, Handy William Johnson was part of the 2nd Georgia Reserves, while four of his sons, including Alfred Homer Johnson, also joined the Confederate army.

Alfred Homer Johnson first enlisted for one year in Company C of the 39th Georgia Infantry on September 25, 1861. Around May, 1862, he enlisted for the duration of the war in the 30th Georgia Infantry, this time in Company F. Two of his brothers served in the same regiment: James Archibald Johnson and William Gilben “Gip” “Dill” Johnson. A third brother, O. Sidney Johnson, served in the 3rd Georgia Reserves until also transferring to Company F of the 30th Georgia Infantry in May, 1864.

The 30th Georgia Infantry in South Carolina

View of Charleston, South Carolina.

The first letter in our collection written by Alfred Homer Johnson on April 8, 1863. By this time he had already been serving in the 30th Georgia Infantry for about a year. His brothers, James Archibald Johnson, and William Gilben “Gip” Johnson were also serving with him. His youngest brother, O. Sidney Johnson, was about 15 years old and still to young to join the regiment.

The 30th Georgia Infantry had already served duty in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. At the present moment they were part of the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina. And in his letter, Alfred Homer Johnson wrote that he expected a fight soon:

“We are well. I hant got any news to write—only we are here waiting for a fight. We are expecting to be ordered to the battlefield every hour. The Yankees has 9 ironclads inside of the bar now and 40 standing just below the bar now and 75 transports down in the river. That is the news we get out here. I don’t know how true it may be.

We left Gip at Savannah. He is well. We will go back to Savannah just as soon as the excitement is over here at Charleston.”

Despite Alfred Homer Johnson’s fears of an imminent battle, the 30th Georgia Infantry was soon removed from Charleston and sent to Mississippi. It was there that he faced a much more trying moment at the Battle of Jackson.

Alfred Homer Johnson and the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi

Illustration of the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi by A. E. Mathews of the 31st Ohio Infantry via Wikimedia.

In May of 1863, the 30th Georgia Infantry was stationed in Mississippi and facing off against General Ulysses S. Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign. In between the Union Army and Vicksburg was the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and Confederate Forces under command of General Joseph E. Johnston.

Believing that the city could not be defended, General Johnston had his forces withdraw, and his rear guard clashed with Union forces on May 14, 1863. In a letter written on May 23, Alfred Homer Johnson detailed the battle to his parents and the whereabouts of his brothers serving with him:

“There has been a fight at Jackson. We was there in time of the fight. I can’t say that we was in it although all of the boys think we was in it. It is true we was on the battlefield. I only shot three times and if they had come in sight of me, I would have shot more but I wanted to see them. The [buns?] and balls fell very thick around us. I was not scared a bit—more than if it had a been hail. James was not there in the time of the fight, nor Gip. I sent him off in the rear. The Yankees would have taken every one of us if we’ens hadn’t got away just as we did. General Johnston did not intend to fight there. Our force commenced retreating in the night before the fight came next morning. We was left there to hold them in check so our force could get away.

We lost everything we had at Jackson—our clothes, knapsacks, and blankets. We hant got anything, only what we have got on. We lie on the ground every night by the fire. I done about as well with[out] blankets as I done with them. We will get some clothes and blankets I reckon before long. We have been marching every day since we have been here through the mud and it has been raining a great deal. The water is bad and hard to get.

The Yankees got three of our company—William Johnson and William Willis and Arch Head. It is some spoken that Head let the Yankees take him on purpose. I can’t say whether he did or not.”

Death of O. Sidney Johnson

In July, 1864 tragedy repeatedly struck the Johnson family. A short note sent to Handy Johnson at that time revealed grim news about three of his four sons in the Confederate Army:

“Mr. Johnson,

I will send you a word about your boys. I brought a letter from Lieut. J. M. Wise last night. Dilly are wounded in the foot very bad—left foot. Alfred in the face. Sidney are dead. He died on the 30th of June in Atlanta. — L. J. Foster”

Alfred Homer Johnson was wounded during the fighting at Kennesaw Mountain on or around June 27, 1864. His brother, O. Sidney Johnson, died from disease. William Gilben “Dilly” Johnson’s wound in the foot was recoverable, and he not only survived the war but lived until 1920.

On July 14, 1864, Alfred Homer Johnson had recovered enough from his own wounds to write to his family about the sad loss:

“Dear and beloved Mother and Father,

I seat myself to drop a few lines which will inform you of my troubles that is inflicted on me. The solemn and sad news that has come to my ear is this—that I have lost one of my brothers. I heard today that Sidney is passed from time to eternity. Oh! that the poor boy is better off than he was before. He departed from this life to another world. I was impressed that the poor boy could not stand a camp life. I hope the poor boy is better off. I hope he is where there is no war and trouble to be with him.

— Alfred H. Johnson”

Alfred Homer Johnson survived until the end of the Civil War, but finally succumbed to his wounds in 1866. His brother, James Archibald Johnson, also died of wounds received earlier on September 7, 1864.

You can read more of the Alfred Homer Johnson’s letters as well as letters by his brother, James Archibald Johnson, with a Research Arsenal membership.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to William Griffing of Spared & Shared for his work in transcribing and sharing these documents.

If you enjoyed this spotlight, you might want to check out some of our other features, like this post on a photo album of the 25th Ohio Infantry and our collection of letters by Rufus P. Staniels of the 13th New Hampshire Infantry.

 

Research Arsenal Spotlight 12: Rufus P. Staniels 13th New Hampshire Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman
Photo of Rufus P. Staniels via findagrave.com.

Rufus Putnam Staniels was born in 1833 in Chichester, New Hampshire to Charles Herbert Staniels and Elizabeth N. (Johnson) Staniels. He enlisted in Co. C of the 13th New Hampshire Infantry as a private in August, 1862, and was mustered in as a second lieutenant in the same company. On February 20, 1863, he was appointed first lieutenant of Company H. Rufus P. Staniels wrote most of his letters to Selina Aiken Cook, whom he married after the war on November 28, 1865. The vast majority of the letters in this collection were written during 1864, though there are also a few from 1862.

Changes in the 13th New Hampshire Infantry

While Rufus P. Staniels joined the 13th New Hampshire when it was first formed in 1862, by February, 1864 it was undergoing some drastic changes in the men that made it up. In a letter  to Selina Cook dated February 5, 1864, he outlined a few of those changes. The first of the changes was the addition of substitutes into the service, some of which were very unreliable, as Rufus P. Staniels described:

“One of the men of old “H” came in to see me last night (one of the subs). Said he had lost every cent of his money ($76.00). Another sub, his tent mate, got it away from him by gambling. He did not even pay the sutler whom he owes I found today $15.00. He wanted to know if there was not some way by which he could get his money back again, but the one who won it from him went away yesterday A. M. & we have not seen him since — presume he has deserted. The introduction of these subs & new recruits into the regiment has changed it very much & not for the better.”

A second source of changing personnel was that many of the regiment’s initial soldiers and non-commissioned officers were leaving for appointments as commissioned officers in the various US Colored Troops regiments that had begun forming.

“Quite a number of non-commissioned officers & privates from this regiment have been up to Washington and been examined for positions as officers in negro regiments & the most of them have been successful, receiving appointments as captains, & 1st and 2nd lieutenants. I think as many as a dozen have already received appointments from this regiment. One of the sergeants of old “H” went up the other day & got an appointment as captain. The orderly sergeant is going up the first of the week to be examined.”

In a letter from February 18, 1864, Rufus P. Staniels related another story of substitute who was coerced into enlisting under promise of a bounty that never fully materialized and wanted to get his discharge.

“He says that when they arrived at Concord, he went to a saloon together with the man who had engaged him & also met another man there. Was invited to drink liquor several times but refused and was finally told by them that business was dull & he had better enlist & he finally yielded on condition that they should pay him $275.00. They paid him $175.00 & told him they would pay the other hundred in ten days since which he has seen neither men or money. And what they did pay him was stolen from him a few days after coming into camp. His age is 16 last May but he gave it as twenty through their influence. So you can see by this the manner in which many of the subs were obtained last fall. He is a pretty smart boy, wholly uneducated, & seems disposed to do his duty & is not very anxious to get out of the service — only on account of his mother, he says. I do not think they will succeed in getting his discharge.”

Rufus P. Staniels Wounded at Cold Harbor

Stereoscopic view of Cold Harbor Battlefield.

On June 1st, 1864, Lieutenant Rufus P. Staniels was severely wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor. While advancing with a line of skirmishers, he was struck in the right clavicle by a minié ball which shattered the bone and lodged in the lower part of his right lung. There is a long account of Rufus P. Staniels’ injury in the regimental history  of the 13th New Hampshire Infantry based on letter he wrote in 1887 to the book’s author, S. Millet Thompson.

Salina Cook received a rather alarming letter a few days after the battle, written by Quartermaster Sergeant Charlie Ames of the 13th New Hampshire Infantry.

“Miss Cook,

At the request of Lt. Staniels I write you a few lines this morning to inform you of his safe arrival here in the hospital. In a recent engagement upon the 1st of June at Cold Harbor during a charge made by the 2nd Brigade he received quite a severe wound in the right shoulder which prevents him from writing you, but do not give yourself any uneasiness concerning him — his wound is not dangerous, has been dressed and is doing nicely. He is in the best of spirits & sitting near me on the bed. He will doubtless go from here to some general hospital in a day or two and requests me to say that he will write to you again as soon as he is located. The 13th N. H. lost quite heavily. The Col. was slightly wounded by a spent ball. Two Captains & two lieutenants wounded. Number killed about 15, wounded 50, missing 15.”

On the 9th of June, 1864, Rufus P. Staniels was able to write a short note to Salina of his own:

“I arrived here last night in good condition. My wound is pretty painful but I think is doing well. We are resting good here. I shall try & start for home in a day or two. I would love to be there now. Please do not give grounds for any uneasiness. Excuse brevity.

Yours as ever, — Rufus.”

Rufus P. Staniels’ Promotion to Captain and Service as Assistant Adjutant General

On July 15, 1864 Rufus P. Staniels was promoted to captain of company H, though he remailed in the hospital. After several weeks recovering from his wound, Rufus P. Staniels paid a visit to his regiment on July 31, 1864 which he then detailed in a letter to Selina on August 3, 1864. He was met with a grizzly sight of wounded men from both armies being left on the field while commanders tried without success to arrange for a flag of truce to remove and care for them:

“On Sunday [31 July] I started out again as our regiment had not come in & found it after awhile occupying the front line of works & directly in front of the ruins of the fort. The reb lines run along about 25 to 35 rods [140-200 yards] in front & on a line with the destroyed fort. The field between the two lines was literally strewn with the dead & wounded which had been left upon the field & in some places near the fort they lay in piles. Several flags of truce went out from our line during the P. M. & were met midway between the lines by a reb truce & our officers made every effort to arrange for the burial of the dead & care of the wounded, but for some reason or other it could not be satisfactorily arranged & consequently the wounded men still left to suffer until agony from hunger & thirst & the scorching rays of the sun. When the flags were out, it was of course a signal for a cessation of hostilities & we would mount the works & look over the field & at the rebs & the rebs would look at us. The smell of the dead was very offensive & it was enough to make one sick at heart to look over that field & see the poor sufferers moving their handkerchiefs or caps & trying to drive away the flies & we could well imagine the condition of their wounds. I believe that early in the morning they had run out a flag of truce & had supplied some of them with water & our boys observed several instances where the rebs carefully raised & gave water to our wounded negro soldiers who had been left upon the field.”

After the visit, Rufus P. Staniels returned to the hospital to continue his recovery. On November 19, 1864 he was appointed as an Acting Assistant Adjutant General for the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 18th Army Corps. He mustered out on June 21, 1865 and died January, 4, 1890.

We’d like to give a special thanks to William Griffing of Spared & Shared for transcribing and sharing these documents.

The full collection of Rufus P. Staniels, as well as thousands of other Civil War letters and documents can be accessed with a Research Arsenal membership.

If you enjoyed this article, check out some of our other spotlight collections like the US Cavalry Returns and the collection of letters from Edward Horatio Graves of the 10th Massachusetts Infantry.

Research Arsenal Spotlight 10: Edward Horatio Graves and the 10th Massachusetts Infantry

Posted on by Gloria Wickman

Edward Horatio Graves was born in Easthampton, Massachusetts in 1839, the son of Horatio Nelson Graves and Martha (Arms) Graves. His father died in 1852. The Research Arsenal collection contains 24 letters pertaining to Edward Horatio Graves. 9 were written by Edward Horatio Graves to his mother, and the remaining 15 were received by Graves from his family and friends. The letters begin in 1857 and end in June 1864.

Edward Horatio Graves enlisted in the 10th Massachusetts Infantry on June 21, 1861. He served as quartermaster sergeant before being commissioned as a lieutenant in 1863. He corresponded frequently with his mother, Martha (Arms) Graves, his siblings, and with a few different women friends.

Enlisting in the 10th Massachusetts Infantry

Edward Horatio Graves’ first letter to his mother was written on June 26, 1861. In it he describes his arrival at his regiment’s camp and the less-than-stellar accommodations they were provided, though his spirits were still high:

“We arrived here Sunday noon and marched immediately to Hampden Park where we have remained ever since. As soon as we arrived we commenced making preparations to sleep and get some straw and placed in our Bunks. I am now quartered in what used to be the Barn occupied by the horses at Horse Shows.”

The enlistment ceremony also saw some excitement, with several volunteers getting cold feet and being dealt with in a harsh manner:

“When we were sworn in we being the right were sworn in first and the N. Adams Company when their turn came to be sworn in some fifteen backed out and you ought to have seen the rest of the Co. take those poor men and strip their uniform off and drum them out with scarcely no clothing at all on and one man a kind of ring leader they shaved half his hair and whiskers off and then drummed him out without any hat. I felt sorry for him but he ought not to have volunteered his services.”

In the fall of 1861, the 10th Massachusetts Infantry was stationed at Brightwood in Washington, D.C. The regiment saw many of its members suffering from fever, and two women came to them from Massachusetts to aid in the hospital as nurses.

One of the women, a widow by the name of Anne Sophia (Clapp) Merrick, seems to have been known by Edward Horatio Graves, and is mentioned by him in a letter to his mother written on October 22, 1861, but the exact nature of their relationship was never revealed. Martha (Arms) Graves does refer to a “Mr. Bigheaded Clapp” in one of her letters, which is likely some relative of Anne Sophia (Clapp) Merrick. Mrs. Merrick was held in much higher esteem than her male relative:

“Mrs. Merrick is very much liked and I believe she is pleased with her position. I have not as yet claimed any relationship and shall not until I am placed under her charge which I trust I shall never be. I have been unusually healthy but we have been quite sickly here having had the Typhoid fever and about ten have died.”

Photo of Mrs. Anna Sophia Merrick and Miss Helena Wolcott, two women who served as nurses for the 10th Massachusetts Infantry in the fall of 1861. via Archive.org

Edward Horatio Graves in 1862

In August of 1862, the 10th Massachusetts Infantry was stationed at Harrison’s Landing, where Edward Horatio Graves wrote to his mother about some recent excitement in an August 3rd letter:

“We were aroused the other night about 12:00 by a furious cannonading coming from the River and the next morning I found upon enquiring down by the wharf that the Rebels had erected several batteries across the James River for the purpose of destroying the transports in the stream but the Capts of the transports had presence of mind enough to raise their lanterns to the top of their masts and thus deranged their fire and their shots went over some of them falling into the camp and doing some damage. Killed 8 or 10 men and several horses. Our heavy siege guns soon silenced them and yesterday when our forces went over they found that the Rebs had skedaddled and left several of their artillery which proved that they were in a hurry. It created some excitement necessarily as we thought that it might be a blind to draw our attention while they attacked us in front. All our reconnaissances have failed to find the enemy in force yet and many are the conjectures as to where they have gone.”

By the end of the month, Edward Horatio Graves had fallen ill and wrote to his family from the hospital:

“My Dear Mother,

Your kind letter came duly to hand and found me flat upon my back.

I was brought here to this Hospital 4 days ago in an ambulance completely worn out with our retreat from Harrison’s Landing. We left Harrison’s L. on Friday and I was comparatively well when we started but was seized with a sudden faintness and was obliged to leave my horse and get into one of the Baggage wagons where I stayed until we got to Williamsburg.”

Battle of the Wilderness

Camp of the 10th Massachusetts Infantry near Washington, D.C.

By 1864, Edward Horatio Graves had been promoted to 1st lieutenant of company K. In May, 1864, the 10th Massachusetts Infantry fought in the Battle of the Wilderness and Edward Horatio Graves was seriously wounded.

Martha (Arms) Graves wrote to her son on May 31, 1864, after hearing that he had been wounded. Her letter reflects her strongly religious nature:

“I hope you are very thankful as we are that “that bullet” did not take life. It was sent by an unerring hand. There was no chance in the matter at all and now don’t forget that your spared life is a consecrated life from the first I have only asked your life that it might honor God. You have nobly honored him in serving your Country Suffering bleeding for Freedom the second best gift of God to man. We believe our nation will be justified by its own blood. Let us believe that the blood of Jesus Christ can purify us + that is the highest honor we can give to God.”

Edward Horatio Graves replied to his mother’s letter on June 2, and gave her a few further details on his health:

“You see that I am still here and I cannot see much improvement yet although I am now able to sit up 5 minutes to a time which will tend I think to strengthen me. I have strong notion of coming home as I am how would that do. I don’t suppose you could have two invalids in the home at the same time but I have got so tired and sick of the place that I think it hinders me from getting well as fast as I might. The Dr. told me this morning that he did not think it would harm me much to go.”

Despite his serious wound, Edward Horatio Graves eventually recovered and returned home. He passed away in 1880 at the age of 41. To read the full collection of letters, sign up for a Research Arsenal membership.

Learn about other collections in our spotlight such as James Webster Carr of the 2nd New Hampshire Infantry and Asa “Frank” Chester of the 20th Illinois Infantry.

 

 

 

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