Q of the Week (2021-22)

Questions & Answers

[NB: for older posts, please see the Older Q of the Week (2019-20) page.]

The 1 July 2022 entry, immediately below, is the last Question of the Week on this website. However, new weekly postings will be appearing on the Civil War within Illinois page of this website. Please click on that page tab for more details. And, as always, thanks for reading.

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Musket technology (added 1 July 2022)

If the musket was the primary soldier weapon during the Civil War, how much did it change through the course of the war?

Humboldt, Tennessee, November 17, 1862, to father

the boys have to keep there gunes and selvs clean I hant saw but one body louse yet since I left I Weigh 175 pounds and active as and [any] farmer the boys dont truble me and more for they have got a quainted with me my gun shoots 1000 yds I can shoot her where I Want to

—Private John Laingor, 54th Infantry, Shelby County

According to Boatner, anything less than a cannon was considered “small arms” during the Civil War, and that would include muskets.[1] “At the outbreak of the war the Federals had 300,000 smoothbore muskets and 27,000 rifles in the arsenals still in their possession.”[2] Similar to rifled cannons, rifled muskets had a spiral groove to improve the accuracy and distance of a fired projectile, such as a lead bullet from a musket. Smoothbore muskets were part of an earlier era but also were still used during the Civil War, especially during the first year or so.

Mound City, Illinois, December 2, 1861, to brother, David

last sunday in the guard house, three off our soldiers were shot for trying to b[r]eak out. a mistake two Soldiers and one Citizen one Soldier from Company D. got his leg shot so badly that it has to be taken of[f] he was shot between the knee and ankle joint. a fellow from our Company had two buck shot in you know what. he is not seriously wounded and will be well in a few days. the Citizen was shot with a musket directly through the knee joint and his leg and is shivered all to pieces his leg was taken off imediately and it is though[t] that it will kill him.

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

In Private Swales’s letter, the soldier who “had two buck shot in you know what” (maybe in his “arse”) implies that he was shot with a smoothbore musket. Often, such muskets were loaded with a cartridge containing black powder, paper (i.e., the cartridge container), a lead ball, and a few smaller balls of buckshot. This was often called “buck and ball.” The buckshot would spread when shot, somewhat like from a shotgun, increasing the odds of hitting a target, say within a phalanx of advancing enemy infantry soldiers. Smoothbores were especially lethal within 200 yards but, beyond that, the buckshot lost too much velocity to be effective.

ten miles from Atlanta, Georgia, July 7, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

I know my letters, are few and poorly written but I can do no better when in the rifle pits with the rebels picking away at me with “minnies”

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

To take advantage of rifled muskets, the ball or bullet that became common in the Civil War was the Minié ball, named after its French inventor. (Civil War soldiers often referred to them as a “minie” or “minnie,” as Corporal Crawford did.) The Minié ball was made of soft lead and had a conical shape. When the ball was loaded and fired, the lead expanded into the spiral-rifled barrel. Thus, the Minié ball could be projected more powerfully and truer than a ball from a smoothbore musket. A Minié ball fired from a rifled musket had an effective range of 300-800 yards.

Springfield, Missouri, November 10, 1862, to “My Dear Adah”

we are to exchange our guns this evening for the Springfield Rifle the guns that we had are not worth much

—Private William McMullen, 94th Infantry, McLean County

Camp Quincy, Illinois, September 19, 1862, to father, Robert D. Taylor

We are armed. equiped ready for marching or battle. We have Enfield Rifles which are good to close 900 yards. Our drill master hit a board the size of a man with one of them. 800 yards and that is good shooting.

—Private Benjamine Taylor, 84th Infantry, McDonough County

Nineteen-year-old Private McMullen clearly saw the advantages of a rifle musket over a smoothbore. Two of the more common Civil War rifled muskets were the Springfield and the British-made Enfield, both which had similar bore diameters. The Springfield rifle musket, made at Springfield, Massachusetts, was about five feet long, weighted nine pounds, and could be fitted with a bayonet. The Enfield was similar and had an effective range of about 1,000 yards. It was popular among both the Union and Confederate soldiers as a small-arms weapon of choice.

Rifled muskets changed the nature of warfare even if it took Civil War generals a while to adjust their tactics accordingly. For example, soldiers advancing over long, open fields were in small-arms range much longer with rifle versus smoothbore muskets (e.g., no waiting to see “the whites of their eyes” before firing).

Gallatin, Tennessee, May 1, 1863, to mother

We were marched on board a train . . . and moved off in the direction of Louisville. After passing Franklin about 27 miles from Gallatin and as we neared a thick growth of woods the train suddenly stopped and bang- bang- bang, went firearms in the woods near by. Quick as lighting a roar of musketry from the boys followed the first fire. . . . The devils had displaced a rail, but the engineer discovered the break in time to stop the train. . . . there were about 35 of them = they were within 20 or 30 feet of the cars. 5 of our Regt were wounded = two mortally—having since died. Also a little drummer boy had his leg shattered by a ball.

—Sergeant Major Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

An unfortunate consequence was surgeons had to adjust dealing with wounds caused by the soft-lead Minié balls. In a way, they were almost like explosive bullets upon impact with human bodies. They tended to shatter bone and shred flesh and muscle, which was more destructive, generally, than being hit with buck and ball from a smoothbore. “Shivered all to pieces” was how Private Swales described it in the second quotation, above. Thus, surgeons often amputated Minié ball-hit mangled limbs as a life-saving measure.

Here was a close call.

Lafayette, Tennessee, February 6, 1863, to sister

I had a very narrow escape yesterday which I will Relate We have to get up at 5 Oclock in the morning and form a line of battle and stack arms, and leave them in line until day light. we had just stacked arms and Recd the order to break Ranks, and I started to go to my tent and as I was passing a stack of guns on the left of the Company I saw that they were falling down I jumped out of the reach of the bayonets. They were falling towards me, and just as they struck the ground, one gun went off. I was not more than six feet from the muzzle. And the ball passed through my left boot leg just at the top. And it took pants lining and all slick and clean off of my knee I took out a piece of my pants about as large as a silver dollar, Right on my knee pan. It was a pretty close call. The surgeon said that if it had hit me there at all I should have had to had my leg amputated. I enclose a piece of my pants that the ball cut out.

—Captain Frederick A. Smith, 15th Infantry, DeKalb County

[1] This is according to Mark M. Boatner III, The Civil War Dictionary, revised edition (New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 1991), 766, which is part of an entry on “small arms of the Civil War.”

[2] Boatner, Dictionary, 767.

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J. A. C. McCoy update (added 24 June 2022)

An Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library librarian wrote to me that their information about “I. A. C. McCoy” has been updated. In fact, it turns out his first name is James.

This soldier is one of the 165 appearing in my book. Here is my original brief biographical sketch for him.

I. A. C. McCoy (SC2700)

McCoy was working in a ward at a Mound City, Illinois, hospital when he wrote a six-page letter to a “Dear Friend” on April 5, 1864. McCoy most likely was from Illinois or Indiana, as he made reference to both the Copperhead uprising in Charleston (Coles County) and friends in Henryville, Indiana. He complained of “intercostal neuralgia,” which, among other things, affected his writing ability. McCoy also expressed opinions about Abraham Lincoln’s reelection chances and referenced southern Illinois.

I suspected he may have been from Indiana, because he was writing to a friend in Indiana. However, there are many Illinois soldiers with the name of McCoy, so it was possible he may have been one of them. Also, the one letter in the collection was written from Mound City (near Cairo), Illinois.

Further recent research on this small collection (SC2700) by the librarian uncovered that McCoy was indeed from Indiana. His name was discovered to be James A. C. McCoy, a physician, from Clark County, Indiana. This county is in the southern portion of the state and across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. In 1860, it appears that McCoy lived near Henryville, which is in the northern part of Clark County. Both of his parents were from Kentucky, and James was born in Indiana in 1827. He was thirty-four years old in October 1861 when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Company D of the 49th Indiana Infantry Regiment. However, about three months later, McCoy became an Assistant Surgeon and subsequently was assigned to the hospital at Mound City, Illinois.

After the war, Dr. McCoy lived in Indianapolis and then later in Washington state, where he practiced medicine. He died of pneumonia in 1898, at age seventy-one years, and was buried at the Tacoma Cemetery in Tacoma, Washington.

My sincere thanks go to the librarian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library who uncovered this additional information and alerted me about it.

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Artillery at the Battle of Harpers Ferry (added 17 June 2022)

In your recent postings, you have given some examples of the artillery’s roles at various battles. However, most of them also involved naval artillery. Were there any land battles where field artillery proved to be decisive?

Yes, there is one battle in the first half of the Civil War that particularly comes to mind: the Battle of Harpers Ferry. I have written about it before for Question of the Week (September 2020), where I provided Private Winthrop Allen’s descriptive letter about the battle and the 12th Illinois Cavalry’s subsequent escape from the place. I will provide the Harpers Ferry portion of the letter again, but this time with annotations related to the use of artillery and how it impacted the outcome of the battle.

(What I recall about the letter itself is that Private Allen’s handwriting was exceeding small, likely because he was trying to fit the rather long story of his Harpers Ferry experiences onto a few sheets of letter paper. Private Allen noted he had only one stamp, which may explain why he wrote so diminutively. Here is my transcription of the letter, for better or for worse. Some words simply were nigh impossible to decipher due to his cramped-word writing.)

Greencastle, Pennsylvania, September 17, 1862, to brother-in-law, Mr. William A. Tunnell

[on top of the page, squeezed in . . .] I have but one stamp left and if my friends wish me to write they must send me some for it is not likely they will pay us until matters become more settled G [smudged/illegible; may be his initials or name]

Dear Sir –

I wrote a few lines to father this morning but supposing I should not have time to write full particulars of our Skeddaddle from Martinsburgh [Martinsburg, (West) Virginia, about 20 miles to the northwest of Harpers Ferry] through Harpers Ferry to this place. I closed before I finished and without stopping to tell you how we had to burn all our tents and baggage, our Quartermasters and commissary stores and leave M [Martinsburg] with nothing but ourselves, our horses and wagons (empty) and of our arrival safely at Harpers, for all of which we consider ourselves particularly fortunate I will try to write what took place after our arrival at H [Harpers Ferry] on the eve of the 12^th. Being without tents we camped on the open fields within the batteries and after such a hard ride during the day as might be expected we slept soundly The next morning we arose with the sun [and we were] hungry. We having nothing to satisfy it I prepared to take a look at the place and its fortifications — but having but little time to look about, I only passed through and what I write may not be true in every particular. The principal part of the city is situated along the banks of the river, beneath a high bluff. It has but one street which runs the full length of [the] place and principal business of the place in terms of [the] place was mostly kept up by the government at the arsenals which are now in ruins. the Baltimore and Ohio R. R. is also on the virginia side and is built on trestle north over the river. The Chesapake & Ohio Canal follows the mountain on the maryland side. As you are aware the Shenandoah river enters the Potamack here which then passes through the Blue Ridge, and as Jefferson says, it is worth a trip across the Atlantic to see it as seen from the Bolivar H[e]ights it is truly a grand site —. By the junction of thease two rivers there is three hights. the highest is the Maryland [Heights to the northeast] which is some 900 feet above the level[?] of the river the next is the Virginia accross the Shenandoah [It is unclear but he may be referring to the Loudoun Heights to the south of Harpers Ferry.] On the Maryland hights was many intrenchments and Batterries, built on purpose for their it is said that one had a battery of 4 fif[t]y pounder Parrott siege guns and 1 onehundred twenty four in[ch] siege gun besides several field batteries on the side facing the Ferry was a battery of 50 pounder Parrotts which commanded this approach by the river up and down.

[“One of the keys to any defense of Harper’s [sic] Ferry was a powerful battery – two 9-inch naval Dahlgren rifles,[1] one 50-pounder Parrott rifle, and four 12-pounder smoothbores – halfway up the heights and sited to cover the approaches to the town from the south and west.”][2]

but the principal deffences were on the Bolivar hights [to the west] in view of the Ferry — here was three battries consisting of about 40 guns connected by intrenchments and rifle pits. thease were on the virginia side and considered impregnable.

The morning after our arrival we found that we had quit one besieged place only to fall into another. for it was found late at night that the enemy had followed us from M [Martinsburg] and now the place was blockaded on all sides, and were preparing to attack our batteries on the Maryland hights At about 6 oclock a. m. on the 13^th the attack commenced and was continued until about noon when our men gave way and fled, having spiked [i.e., ruined] the guns and crossed over the Ferry —

[Sears describes “when our men gave way” in the following passage. The 126th New York Infantry had been in the service for three weeks. They were ordered to the crest of Maryland Heights to fend off two Confederate brigades coming from the north (the back of Maryland Heights). “The battle opened with a spatter of skirmishing fire, and the Yankee pickets came running back, shouting the alarm. Suddenly there was a crash of heavy volleys and the unnerving sound of Rebel yells . . . The rookies of the 126th had not imagined it would be anything like this, facing unseen foes . . . who seemed to know a great deal more about fighting than they did.” They tried to form a battleline at their breastworks behind them. The Confederates “delivered another withering volley, and one of the bullets caught [the 126th’s] Colonel Sherrill in the face, inflicting a ghastly wound. Seeing their colonel writhing on the ground was too much for the green troops, and the 126th broke again, this time in complete rout.”][3]

we still had possession of the battery of 50 pounders facing the Ferry and the enemy was shelled during the afternoon at intervals until dark. When the firing ceased and thing[s] wore a gloomy aspect, for it was known sinc[e] that if then [the] enemy had any heavy guns they would be placed on the maryland hights. the key to the whole position, and we could not dislodge them – also that they could place their batteries on the virginia hights [Loudoun Heights] without from of b[e]ing disturbed, and our fears proved true for the next morning found the rebels busily engaged erecting a battery on the Virginia hights –

[Confederate general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson sent two brigades that “arrived at the foot of Loudoun Heights. His patrols cautiously made their way up the slope and to their surprise found the crest unoccupied. Of the three areas of high ground commanding Harper’s [sic] Ferry, only Bolivar Heights now remained in Federal hands.”][4]

Our batteries began playing on them at an early hour the next morning but could not effect much b[e]ing constructed almost altogether for deffense in the other direction. The enemy kept displaying signals during the afternoon, and at about 12 they opened upon us. the first shell came right into our camp and produced quite a panic among both horses and men – the latter having unsaddled – and men preparing to eat dinner, but fortunately did not burst the next horror bursted, and covered several of the boys with dirt and dust and killing a horse of one of the other companies but you may depend there was no waiting for orders then. some saddled some left without horses, arms, or any thing and all ran for the trenches for dear life, The shells following thick and fast, whiz, burn[?] burst, and blubbers It was laffable after it was over but pretty serious while on hand The boys all declaring they had rather face “double grand thunder and lightening” than those shells from this time they kept up a severe fire upon our [cannon?] batteries until five oclock when their fire slackened and at last ceased when it was found that they were advancing on both flanks Towards the Batteries on Bolivar heights after some pretty severe skirmish fighting the enemy appeared in battle order advancing in great [numbers?] upon our left but were repulsed almost as soon as they appeared in sight by the fire of our infantry and artillery it is supposed with considerable loss In the meantime their whole line advanced within a mile and a half of our works and then they stoped and the firing ceased for the night The cavalry forces being of no use in defending the place it was determined [that on September 14] about sun down that they should leave and accordingly at about 8 o’clock they were all assembled at the ferry with no baggage, ambulances, sick &c. to encumber them prepared to cut their way out if necessary to a safer place, especially as it had been determined that, if the enemy planted batteries on the Heights, to surrender the place next morning

—Private Winthrop Allen, 12th Cavalry, Greene County

And that was what pretty much was happened the next day, on 15 September. At the “break of day . . . the quiet was shattered by a tremendous bombardment, the thunder of the guns reverberating through the valleys. The Rebel batteries on Maryland Heights and Loundoun Heights poured in shells from above, but the heaviest and most destructive cannonading came from Jackson’s guns taking the Federal lines on Bolivar Heights under fire from front, flank, and rear. The return fire was erratic and ineffective, and sputtered out shortly before eight o’clock. Jackson’s infantry was preparing to storm the works when a horseman appeared within the lines, waving a white flag.”[5]

In this engagement, the Confederate field artillery that had been maneuvered onto the heights overlooking Harpers Ferry made all the difference in subduing the Union defenders, and Jackson’s infantry was spared the trouble of having to make an assault.

Overall, the loss of Harpers Ferry was a Union embarrassment due to a poor defense (albeit in a tough place to defend) led by Colonel Dixon S. Miles, a Mexican War veteran, and it was a grand accomplishment for General Jackson’s Confederates. There were roughly 12,000 Union soldiers made prisoners. From Harpers Ferry, Jackson rushed his troops to join the battle at Antietam on 17 September.

[1] Dahlgren guns were rifled cannons and primarily used by the navy. They had a distinctive “soda bottle” barrel profile and were designed to have the most metal where the gun produced the most pressure while firing. Mark M. Boatner III, The Civil War Dictionary, revised edition (New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 1991), 218. However, like at Harpers Ferry, some Dahlgren guns were used by land-based artillery batteries.

[2] Stephen W. Sears, Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam (Boston: Mariner Books, 1983), 122.

[3] Sears, Landscape Turned Red, 123.

[4] Sears, Landscape Turned Red, 124.

[5] Sears, Landscape Turned Red, 152-53.

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Civil War weaponry: artillery (part 2) (added 10 June 2022)

In your book, there is a letter quotation regarding the Battle of Shiloh that mentions “mangled by our grape & cannister shot.” Was that fired from cannons? What other sorts of projectiles were shot from Civil War cannons?

In this post, I will describe some of the cannons that shot the larger projectiles during the Civil War. My intention is to focus mainly on field artillery.

[I need to preface my response with a caveat: I am far from being any kind of Civil War weaponry expert and likely never will be. In fact, the only thing I can think of currently on my bookshelves that might be of use here is Boatner’s Civil War dictionary. Thus, much of my response will come from some of its pages.[1]]

“My War Experience,” presented April 12, 1888, in Chicago, Illinois, at a veteran reunion

“our” Battery, consisted of four twelve pound Napoleon guns, brass pieces, and two ten pound steel parrott guns

—Lewis Lake, former private, 1st Light Artillery, Winnebago County

The 12-pound smoothbore, muzzle-loaded Napoleon cannon was “the basic artillery piece of the war, on both sides.”[2] Technically, there are three basic types of cannons: mortars (that fire a high arcing projectile), “guns” (with a relatively flat trajectory), and a howitzer (with a trajectory between mortars and guns). The Napoleon is considered a howitzer. Most Napoleons’ barrels were cast of brass. Its maximum range was a little over 1,500 yards, “but its maximum effective range was between 800 and 1,000 yards.”[3] It could shoot all the various types of shot I had described in part 1 (i.e., last week’s posting). It could be particularly lethal at close range.

“The standard field artillery pieces of the Civil War, used on both sides, were: the 6- and 12-pounder guns; the 12-, 24- and 32-pounder howitzers; the 12-pounder mountain howitzer; the 12-pounder Napoleon gun howitzer; the 10- and 20-pounder Parrott rifles; and the 3-inch Ordnance gun. All of these were muzzle-loaders.”[4] The rifled cannons were “constructed with spiral grooves to spin its projectile and give it a more accurate flight.”[5] (Both cannons and muskets could have spiral-rifled barrels. “Rifle,” here, is not to be confused with its more common meaning of “a weapon fired from the shoulder.”)[6]

Parrott rifles were an example of the cast iron artillery pieces, which were far less numerous than the various brass ones (especially among the Union batteries). “To make a gun barrel strong enough to withstand the greater pressures required in rifled artillery, Parrott’s system was to heat shrink a heavy wrought-iron band around the breech, where the pressures were greatest.”[7] Some Parrott rifles had a range of about two miles. However, they were not always popular among the artillerists as the barrels could burst from firing. They also were heavier than most artillery, requiring eight horses to transport them, versus six horses for the more ubiquitous Napoleon pieces.

Mortars were a somewhat different sort of artillery, used to lob explosive shells into an enemy position, such as a fortress. Generally, mortars were used as siege weapons. Here is an example describing mortars used at the siege of Fort Morgan, near the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama.

Fort Morgan, Alabama, August 18, 1864, to wife, Ruth

our men are working day and night putting up heavy guns in full view of the rebel fort [Morgan] . . . it is a very strong place, we have got them entirely surrounded[8]

—Private Almon Morrow, 94th Infantry, McLean County

Private Morrow wrote again a few days later: “the General says when we get all the big guns ready to operate we can listen to the music, we have heard enough now to remind us of [the siege of] Vicksburg.”[9] On 22 August 1864, the bombardment began. “Once the mortars acquired the range, nearly every shell landed within the fort . . . The batteries cease[d] firing at night but the mortars continued and about 9pm a fierce fire broke out inside the fort burning the citadel and barracks.”[10]

Mobile Point, Alabama, August 23, 1864

The army and navy batteries . . . opened on the fort [Morgan] yesterday morning, since which time the enemy have not been able to fire a shot from a heavy gun, so completely were they silenced. . . . Much of the property inside the Fort has been destroyed by our mortar shells, the buildings inside being mostly burned or still burning.[11]

—from “Mac” and printed in the Bloomington Pantagraph, September 12, 1864, presumably written by a soldier from the 94th Infantry, McLean County

Finally, here is a description of an artillery bombardment at the Battle of Island No. 10, near southern Missouri, on the Mississippi River (28 February to 8 April 1862). There was a steady bombardment by the Union ships during this period by cannons on gunboats and especially mortars on rafts.

camp near New Madrid, Missouri, March 25, 1862, to wife, Sarah

We arrived here a week ago Last Sunday & found all Quiet when we Got here. the Battle had been fought & the Town Evacuated when we arrived. altho it was not much of a Battle they were Bombarding for four days & the fifth day they Evacuated the place & took Refuge on Island No 10, where they Commenced fortifying & as soon as our Comodore found it Out went down with his Gun Boats & mortars from Cairo & Commenced Shelling & harrassing them so that they Could not make much head way at fortifying. but our mortars kept Constantly Shelling them them there [?] until they were Compelled to advance with a flag of truce to our Lines & Beg of us to hold on until they could Bury their Dead, & one of our men that was a witness to the Scene Says the Ground there was Literally Strewn with Dead bodys, an awful Sight to behold. But all this time our Gun Boats Lay out of reach of them & we played on them with our Largest mortars & Lay out of their reach. unfortunately one of our Large Guns Bursted & killed one man & wounded Several more. . . .
our Doctor & Steward Quarters down near our Camp & Comes up Night & morning to the Hospittle which is a farm house & the Steward Said when he was up this morning that there was Some talk of a Battle today down to Point Pleasant about twenty miles Down the River from New Madrid where our men are Stationed with an Efficient Siege Battery to Stop Rebel Gun Boats from passing up the river. the Guns were sent down there Since we arrived here, & when the men were mounting the first Gun a (32 pounder) three Rebel Gun Boats hove in Sight & before they Got the Gun mounted the Boats Came up & opened a fire upon them, & our men ranged the Gun that they were at work at & Braced it up as well as they Could, Loaded & returned their fire & kept firing until they Sank one of the Boats & disabled the other two & they two put back down the river

—Private David Gregg, 1st Light Artillery, LaSalle County

[1] Mark M. Boatner III, The Civil War Dictionary, revised edition (New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 1991). There is a main entry titled “Cannon of the Civil War” but also more specific entries, such as “Canister” and “Parrott Gun.”

[2] Boatner, 119.

[3] Boatner, 578.

[4] Boatner, 120.

[5] Boatner, 700.

[6] If you would like to see images of some of these artillery pieces, this link is not a bad place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_artillery_in_the_American_Civil_War

[7] Boatner, 621.

[8] Letter transcription from William Iseminger, From McLean to Mobile: A History of the 94th Illinois Infantry Regiment Volunteers, 1862-1864, “The McLean Regiment” (Columbia, SC [IL?]: publisher not identified, 2022), 190.

[9] Iseminger, 94th Illinois, 191; letter from Almon Morrow to wife, Ruth, August 22, 1864.

[10] Iseminger, 94th Illinois, 191.

[11] Iseminger, 94th Illinois, 191.

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Civil War weaponry: artillery (part 1) (added 3 June 2022)

I need to preface my response with a caveat: I am far from being any kind of Civil War weaponry expert and likely never will be. In fact, the only thing I can think of currently on my bookshelves that might be of use here is Boatner’s Civil War dictionary. Thus, much of my response will come from some of its pages.[1]

Camp Morgan, Mound City, Illinois, October 9, 1861, to brother, Dave

who thinks of the horrors of the Battle field and does not flinch at the thoughts of it the Bravest of the Brave will do it in spite of there heroism the man never drawed the sweet breath of life that could face the cannon mouth without flinching from it. they can boast and brag all they will but let them try it on once and if they dont get up and howl, I will treat to the lager beer, aint that fair?

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

What roared from the mouths of cannons was certainly worth flinching from! The typical Civil War smoothbore battlefield cannon could shoot canister, “grape,” and solid shot (listed from smallest projectile to largest).

Camp McClernand at Cairo, Illinois, November 10, 1861, to wife, Diza

[in describing the Battle of Belmont, Missouri] often was when the bullets flew like hail, and the grape and canister shot tearing limbs from the trees – but was unhurt.

—Quartermaster Lindorf Ozburn, 31st Infantry, Jackson County

headquarters of the 93rd Illinois Infantry [probably late 1863, or 1864], to Illinois governor Richard Yates

the [regimental flag]Staff Shattered by a canister shot in the charge of Tunnel Hill Nov. 25, 1863 [part of the Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee].

—Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Buswell, 93rd Infantry, Bureau County

Canister shot consisted of “small cast-iron or lead balls (bullets) or long slugs, set in dry sawdust, that scattered immediately on leaving the (cannon’s) muzzle.”[2] The canister part – essentially a tin can of the right diameter or caliber – contained the small metal balls. Canister shot was used as short-range ammunition (most effectively within 100-200 yards) and particularly against an enemy’s approaching infantry. It could have the effect of shredding “limbs from trees” or mangling human bodies. Sometimes in defensive desperation, it was double-loaded and called “double canister.”

“My War Experience,” presented April 12, 1888, in Chicago, Illinois, at a veteran reunion

We returned to the line in time to take position, when [Confederate] General Frank Cheatham[‘]s division massed in our front, came steadily forward – all the while we were giving them double shotted canister.

—Lewis Lake, former private, 1st Light Artillery, Winnebago County

Lake mentioned this in reference to action on 22 July 1864 near Atlanta, Georgia, and just before his battery was surrounded and captured.

Grape shot (or, grapeshot) was “a number of iron balls (usually nine) put together by means of two iron plates, two rings, and an iron pin passing through the top and bottom plates.”[3] In other words, the grape-sized balls were held together in clusters before being shot. It was similar to canister but with fewer and larger projectiles. It also had a further effective range, of about 1,000 yards. Both canister and grape shot were particularly effective against massed infantry. Grape also could be double-shotted.

Luray, Virginia, June 12, 1862, to cousin, Mrs. Theoda S. Fulton

[describing the Battle of Port Republic, Virginia, 9 June 1862] we arrived in due time and planted our Batteries they came on and forced us back and crossed with a large force and mad[e] an attempt to annihilate us – on they came and we though small in number stood fast our Batteries making fearful havoc in their ranks with showers of Grape shot our boys charged and recharged with the Bayonet driving them at all points

—Private Ransom Bedell, 39th Infantry, Cook County

The largest projectiles were single cannonballs (or, solid shot) and shells. Shot contained no explosive or powder. It was used for battering, such as against forts or ships.

onboard steamer Thomas E. Tutt, in Mississippi, January 19, 1863, to mother

[regarding action at Fort Hindman or Arkansas Post] It is really remarkable and unbelievable; however, I have seen it and am convenienced. Of two 100-pounders standing in casemates by the fort (Arkansas Post, which we took), one of the same was pierced in the middle by a cannonball. In other words, 7 or 8 inch thick cast iron was penetrated like a feather. The other was hit on the mouth so that its upper lip dissolved and the whole cannon made a backwards somersault. The casemates still bear many traces of balls. The former consisted of a log house in which the walls as well as the roof were made of 3-foot thick wood faces. Along the front there was a 6-foot thick end wall and the roof was also covered with railroad rails. But the [projectiles] were so effective on the roof and against the sides that they broke through the iron rails a great deal as well as the wooden walls, and probably also delivered the secesh cannoneers quite unpleasant boxes on the ears.
But enough of this. Our gunboats have proven that they are extraordinary machines for destruction and death. If only our “old Abe” had a few more gunboats.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

In the above, the cannonballs were shot from a ship at a fort. Here is an example from fort to ship.

Cairo, Illinois, April 7, 1864, to friend, Mr. Tailor Ridgway

there was a big boat tried to run by here yesterday with contraband goods on her and our boys got in to the fort and opened a sixty four pound cannon on her and I tell you she bawled they shot at her three times and she came to shore a howling. and they arrested her captain and put him in the guard house. that is what a fellow gets for trying to be a rebel, to his country. there is a great many boats runing now and they are doing a big business.

—Corporal Jeremiah Butcher, 122nd Infantry, Macoupin County

Shells were hollow projectiles containing powder meant to explode via a fuse. The fuse had to be set and the shell would explode while in the air or after hitting the ground, causing the fragmenting shell casing to become shrapnel. However, “this type of projectile was rather ineffective because of poor fuzes [sic] . . . and because the black powder bursting charge did not properly fragment the cast-iron ‘shell.’”[4] Nevertheless, here is an example where the shell properly exploded.

onboard steamer Thomas E. Tutt, in Mississippi, January 3, 1863, to “Dear mother”

[at the battle of Chickasaw Bluffs] But one hollow ball, indeed it was a lucky shot I think, otherwise a master shot, came just as about 6-8 pioneers were sent ahead to move a tree about 30 steps from us away from the levee and had just gotten to the work. It lay on the tree for a moment in the middle of the small party and then sprang open with an explosion that knocked both legs off one of the pioneers and sent them far apart. It injured another severely on the lower body, who will probably also be dead. It wounded a lieutenant who commanded them and also three or four others less severely. A large piece of the shell about a pound in weight buried itself in the head of Charles Becker, cousin of the one who lost his leg near Pea Ridge. He was immediately dead, as the entire upper head was separated from the lower part. Naturally, he was very disfigured, but still his suffering was short or not at all, for he gave no sound, twitched a muscle; better so than mutilated.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

It is difficult to understand the reasoning for sending such a detailed description to one’s mother of an effective cannon shell shot amidst soldier! It this case, the shell landed while the fuse was still burning and subsequently exploded.

Another type of ammunition was chain shot. This consisted of two balls connected by a chain (or alternatively, connected by a bar). This was “designed for use against masts and rigging of ships.”[5]

I should note that there were nine common calibers for cannons in the Union army regarding the use of canister, grape, solid shot, and shells. I will end with just a few words about specific types of projectiles (of which, Boatner lists ten by name). For example, a Hotchkiss projectile has “three parts: the body, an expanding ring of lead, and a cast-iron cup. The iron cup pushes against the lead ring when the gun is fired, forcing the lead into the rifling of the gun.”[6] Types of cannons, such as those with or without rifling, will be covered in next week’s posting of part 2 about Civil War artillery.

onboard gunboat Romeo, at the Junction of Tallahatchie and Yalobusha rivers, March 17, 1863, to mother

The rolling of [our] cannon thunder, the echo of the same, the hissing of one, the howling of the second, the explosion of the third ball all continued without ceasing until midday. We went to eat and enjoyed our meal while the music sounded.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

[2] Boatner, 119.

[3] Boatner, 354.

[4] Boatner, 738.

[5] Boatner, 135.

[6] Boatner, 411.

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Promoting the book (part 2) (added 27 May 2022)

Since your book came out a few years ago, do you still do book promotions (besides on the website)?

I am going to address this slightly differently than what I wrote in last week’s posting (part 1).

In a real way, I am a partner with the publisher, Southern Illinois University Press, in promoting the book. So, I sometimes team up with them when an opportunity arises. For example, I have been at the SIU Press tables at the Conference for Illinois History on a few occasions to sign books. Or, more recently, I have recorded two podcast segments connected with SIU Press (see a Memorial Day-related example, below). Personally, I believe having and working with a good, reputable publisher is especially important when it comes to promotion. If you partner with a small publisher, or self-publish, then there is a necessity for the author to also be a tireless self-promoter.

I also have done at least three radio promotions (that I can recall) related to the book: one was live and two were prerecorded. (Embarrassingly, I remembered only afterwards that I failed to mention the title of the book during the live broadcast.) In any case, I enjoyed those opportunities to speak to unseen listeners.

In last week’s posting, I mentioned the beer-tasting event where I had a microphone for about ten minutes to say a few words about the book. I used only three prepared Illinois Civil War soldiers’ letter quotations related to beer or alcohol, but I had pre-printed them and gave them to three different attendees to read aloud during those ten minutes.[1] Make no mistake about it: people were there for the alcohol festivities and I was very much a side-show, except for my brief time with the microphone. Nevertheless, I sold ten books that evening, which was all I had brought for the occasion. I like to think those purchases were based on the merit of the book, and less to do with people drinking and having money, but who knows.

Here is a link to a brief Memorial Day-oriented essay that offered an opportunity to mention the book in the ending credits. It happened to be published yesterday (26 May 2022).

https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/these-honored-dead/Content?oid=15184302

To sweeten it, the newspaper editor added a generously-large image of the book’s cover. That addition tilts this example towards the ideal end of the promotional spectrum.

As a final example, earlier this month, I was asked by SIU Press to do a brief podcast “spot” for their “Inside the Blanket Fort” as part of Blanket Fort Radio Theater. You can find this series of BFRT podcasts here: https://news.wsiu.org/podcast/inside-the-blanket-fort It likely will be posted on a Thursday in June. The podcast spot has been excerpted from the following 4 January 1866 newspaper article from the Illinois State Journal, published in Springfield. In it, there are strong elements of why there is, now, a national Memorial Day, even though this was written and delivered well before there was a day set aside for regular, organized commemorations dedicated to the Civil War dead. And obviously, the following speech was delivered to soldiers who did not die in the Civil War, yet the author reminds them that the nation has obligations to its past soldiers, both living and sacrificed.

*****

Dinner To The Invalid Soldiers At Camp Butler.—The patients in the hospitals at Camp Butler were the recipients of a sumptuous dinner on New Year’s, provided for them by the surgeons there in charge. It was a very pleasant occasion to all concerned, and the soldiers especially will long retain it in their memories. After the repast, the following address was delivered by Miss Carrie C. McNair, who has had charge of the special diet department of the Camp. Miss McNair has endeared herself to all the patients, and her address was received with every manifestation of respect and affection.

SOLDIERS: I wish you all a happy New Year; and as you are about to return to your homes, to the presence of the dear ones left behind, I pray God to bless you all. And after three long years of weary marches and hasty bivouacks; after standing as a wall of living fire before your country; may you all reap your reward in long, peaceful lives, surrounded by plenty and kind friends.

I know that all these comforts and blessings will be appreciated by these war-worn veterans before me. I think I can share in your anxiety to “get home” and mingle once more in the quiet duties of a citizen’s life, and can imagine the solicitude those you are expecting to meet have felt for you these terrible years of civil strife, and sometimes think they have shared as much the burden of the war as if they had borne the dangers of the field. Who can tell the number of sleepless nights of a patient wife, the anxiety none but a mother’s heart has known, or of the prayer offered by an affectionate sister.

Soldiers, you are to return to all these. The blessings so long deferred have come, and as I write in the fast waning hours of the old year, my thoughts turn from my own friends and kindred to those with whom I have been so long associated, and whose patient endurance of suffering has taught me many lessons.

As I look back upon the past four years, they seem like a fearful dream, from which we must awake and find all returned to us as before; but, alas, the mourning garb, the crowded cemeteries, the maimed forms of our heroes, assure us only too well that it is a fearful reality. As a nation, how can we repay you for all you have done for us. I feel that I owe you much, and trust I shall ever remember the debt of gratitude I owe each one of you.

As I have looked upon those lying on their couches, suffering from sickness, terrible wounds and mutilated limbs, cheerfully, bearing it all bravely, enduring agonies untold, and even in their dying moments expressing their devotion to the ever glorious stars and stripes; and as I read of the cruelties inflicted upon our prisoners in Richmond, Andersonville, and other places, I could not but feel a sort of reverence for the man who bore the name of soldier, though sometimes I have felt sorrowful, indeed, when I have seen them in a condition in which they must have forgotten their obligations to their friends and country. But those have been rare instances, comparatively, and I thank you, soldiers, for the kindness and courtesy shown me by your comrades, and now regret that I could not have done more when the opportunity presented, for the brave ones of our Union army, though I thought I did all time and strength would allow. I feel that it is so little when you have done much for us all, helped to sustain the best and noblest Government the world ever saw, and which shall last for ages as a witness of your courage and fidelity, blessing the whole world by the example of the sustaining power of a State founded upon the principle of Republicanism.

Through danger, privation and sickness you have proved your loyalty to the flag of the free. As I contrasted in my mind the difference in the state of the country now and a year ago, I could but think we have cause of gratitude to that Great Being who has mercifully and wonderfully preserved us a nation. And when our beloved President was rudely stricken down by the assassin’s hand, how calmly the ship of state moved on with a new pilot at the helm.

We cannot forget those whose lives have been offered up on the altar of liberty. May their memory ever be sacred to us, and by our interest and care for the orphan and widow of the soldier, prove that we are not unmindful of their claims upon us.

A grateful nation will ever point with pride to the hundred battle fields gory with her patriots’ blood, and exultingly ask other nations to vie with her in instances of dauntless courage and unflinching heroism. Belmont, Donaldson [Donelson], Shiloh, Wilderness, Gettysburg, and hundreds of others, will pass down to generations yet unknown; and as they reap the blessings of those victories, they will look back with a patriotic pride to their ancestors who so nobly came forward to uphold the Government of the United States in her time of peril.

I beg your pardon for thus long trespassing upon your time, but as this will be the last New Year we will meet in these relations to each other, I could not forbear saying these few words to you, trusting that you will each bear with you in all the future battles of your lives the kind remembrance of one whom you met in your soldier life.

May all the blessings of Peace and Christian faith be your portion.

[1] Maybe it goes without saying but I will say it anyway: I avoided the quotations of soldiers’ recollections of resulting drunken mischief and the like.

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Promoting the book (part 1) (added 20 May 2022)

Since your book came out a few years ago, do you still do book promotions (besides on the website)?

Yes – now and again, I am asked or given an opportunity to pitch my book. In the past, I have done a number of in-person promotions at museums, history conferences, and Civil War Round Table groups, to name a few. (I was even invited to read a few Illinois soldiers’ quotations from their letters about experiences with liquor, when I was at a brewery’s rollout event for a new beer.) I have a mental list of “elevator speeches” and talking points that I usually can expound upon at a moment’s notice.[1] Some of these are on other pages of this website.

In addition, whenever I have a Civil War-related article published, usually there is a sentence or two about the writer. Those often start like this: “Mark Flotow is the author [or editor] of In Their Letters, in Their Words . . .” I also have business cards with an image of the book’s cover on one side. (They also serve as reasonable bookmarks.) I have given away at least 500 of those in the past two years.

Whenever I get the opportunity, I enjoy hearing (or reading) readers’ reactions and thoughts about the book. I definitely am sometimes surprised by them, probably because I have such an ingrained perspective as the author/editor. In any case, readers’ feedback has broadened, and sometimes deepened, my insights about Illinois soldiers and sailors during the Civil War era.

Earlier this month, I was asked by Southern Illinois University Press to do a brief podcast “spot” for their “Inside the Blanket Fort” as part of Blanket Fort Radio Theater. You can find this series of BFRT podcasts here: https://news.wsiu.org/podcast/inside-the-blanket-fort It likely will be posted on a Thursday later this month. The roughly three-minute script follows.

*****

In Their Letters, in Their Words: Illinois Civil War Soldiers Write Home is a themed social history book and was written, essentially, by the soldiers themselves.

How did this book come about?

In 2013, I was looking for a book like this one, but I was unsuccessful. At the time, I was writing poems to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. So, instead, I decided to scour Illinois soldiers’ personal letters to understand the mindsets, speech, and everyday life of those who had lived (and shaped) the war era. I wanted to know what was important in their world and how they might express their thoughts to others. Part of what came through was how soldiering during the war affected their perceptions and opinions.

I started from scratch and simply read soldiers’ original letters at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. I gradually mastered reading and transcribing scrawled cursive writing in ink (and sometimes pencil) on 150-year-old paper. Those heartfelt letters, originally sent to family, friends and sweethearts, became my portals into their private thoughts and lives.

I was fascinated by what I found, and I began sharing my readings with a select group of friends and colleagues, who mostly were neither historians nor those who had an interest in the Civil War era. I ended up writing forty-six essays, one each week, and sharing them with my far-flung group through email. They also became fascinated. And let’s face it – there is a certain allure to reading other people’s mail. Those essays became the seeds of the current volume. Thus, I wrote the book I originally had sought in 2013.

The book features 165 Illinois soldiers and over 500 topically-arranged quotations from their combined letters. Chapter titles include: A Lifeline of Letters; Managing Affairs from Afar; Seeing the Elephant; and Southern Culture through Northern Eyes. Since the readers gain an intimate knowledge of the individual letter-writers, it concludes with a brief biography for each soldier appearing in the book.

In the end and at its essence, it is about all soldiers, in all wars. The book’s dedication reads: “To Illinois’s soldiers and sailors, past and present.”

Here is a brief extract.

[written from a] camp near Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 24, 1863, to wife, Hattie

During the last two days we got nothing to eat except a little coffee & a very small allowance of hard bread so of course when we arrived here everybody was tired & hungry & cross yet when I found two letters from you awaiting me I forgot all & was soon never in a better humor in my life. . . . Certainly no tired hungry footsore man felt sooner at ease with mankind generally & was sooner fast asleep than I & let me assure you that at such a time no one appreciates the fact that he is “remembered at home” more fully than the soldier

—2nd Lieutenant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th [Illinois] Infantry [regiment], [from] Christian County

One does not have to be a Civil War aficionado to feel the appeal of the book. Nevertheless, I was honored and humbled that it was recognized by the Illinois State Historical Society with the Russell P. Strange Memorial Book of the Year award for 2020. I hope you will have the opportunity to enjoy the book as well.

*****

[1] An “elevator speech” is a business pitch that fits into the time it takes for a typical elevator ride.

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Unmarked Civil War graves (added 13 May 2022)

With Memorial Day being a few weeks away, do you know how many Civil War soldiers are buried in unmarked graves?

Many Civil War soldiers, still, lie in unmarked graves or at unidentified locations. Of course, their collective magnitude is an unknowable number.

“Pensive on Her Dead Gazing”[1]

Pensive on her dead gazing I heard the Mother of All,
Desperate on the torn bodies, on the forms covering the battle-field gazing,
(As the last gun ceased, but the scent of the powder-smoke linger’d,)
As she call’d to her earth with mournful voice while she stalk’d,
Absorb them well O my earth, she cried, I charge you lose not my sons, lose not an atom,
And you streams absorb them well, taking their dear blood,
And you local spots, and you airs that swim above lightly impalpable,
And all you essences of soil and growth, and you my rivers’ depths,
And you mountain sides, and the woods, where my dear children’s blood trickling redden’d,
And you trees down in your roots to bequeath to all future trees,
My dead absorb or South or North – my young men’s bodies absorb, and their precious precious blood,
Which holding in trust for me faithfully back again give me many a year hence,
In unseen essence and odor of surface and grass, centuries hence,
In blowing airs from the fields back again give me my darlings, give my immortal heroes,
Exhale me them centuries hence, breathe me their breath, let not an atom be lost,
O years and graves! O air and soil! O my dead, an aroma sweet!
Exhale them perennial sweet death, years, centuries hence.

*****

Through the lens of Walt Whitman’s poem, it is a number of dead, and their locations, only “the Mother of All” – or, God – knows. “O years and graves” – where are they all now?

At the Battle of Arkansas Post (9-11 January 1863), a former Illinois soldier recalled the burying of the dead.

from “My Civil War Memoirs and Other Reminiscences” (1935)

we gathered up the wounded for both sides and put them on hospital boats to send them to hospitals to be cared for by the doctors and surgeons. Many of them had to have their legs or arms cut off, or their bodies probed to find lodged bullets, such is the horrors of war, next we gathered up the dead of both sides. placing them in different places according to which side they belonged to. The Rebels we buried with their heads next to the Rebel Fort and their feet to the south toward the arkansas river, we dug a long trench about six feet wide and three or four feet deep laid them in, and covered them up with dirt, our men we took out about a mile in the woods northwest of the Rebel Fort, we dug a seperate grave for each one, placed the bodies in the graves and spread a rubber blanket over them and filled the graves up with dirt.

—former Sergeant William R. Eddington, 97th Infantry, Macoupin County

During the Civil War, it was common for the victors to see to the wounded and the dead. (Sometimes, both sides participated in caring for their own wounded and burying their own dead, under a flag of truce after a battle.) Often, the enemy’s dead were buried in trenches or other mass graves, without identification, to expedite the process as much as possible.

Graysville, Georgia, March 22, 1864, to wife, Grace

last Sunday myself and several officers of the regiment took a ride over [the] battle field of Chic[k]amauga we went over the whole field and of course we took a special interest in the parts where our regiment fought the trees in some places are Cut down so much by the artilery that it looks as if a tornado had swept over the field, all the trees and stumps are pluged all over with bullits it is astonishing to think that any one could have come of[f] safe without being hit, at the place where we made the last stand the ground is Covered with Cartridge papers which in itself shows how desperate the struggle must have been, all the buildings that were on the field had been burnt down by the exploding shells every thing looked desolate, every hundred yards you would come upon a little graveyard where the rebels had been buried with head boards giving the name of the men regiment &c. our own men were Covered over where they fell they had dug a ditch about six in[“ch”? – damaged, missing paper]es deep on each side of the body throwing the earth over it, that was all they did for any [of] our men that most of the bodies they left without burial, our own troops had to do it after the Battle of Missionary Ridge, when we again got possession of the Battle field of Chic[k]amauga,

—Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Raffen, 19th Infantry, Cook County

Another Illinois soldier distinctly remembered the post-battle mass-interment process, well over a year after its occurrence.

Corinth, Mississippi, August 7, 1863, to sister

At the battle field of Shiloah [Shiloh, Tennessee] they took big government waggons, and hauled the dead men together, the same as you would haul hay up north, the wagons would hold about 25 or 30 men, and they would put from 6 to 8 loads in a place It took a week to get them all burried.

—Private Almon Hallock, 15th Cavalry, LaSalle County

It is no wonder there are likely many tens of thousands of unmarked graves from the Civil War. In addition, there were instances, like after the Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, where unlocated dead soldiers were not buried at all. Of course, not all soldiers who died in combat were upon large-scale battlefields.

camp south of Nashville, Tennessee, November 8, 1862, to wife, Julia, and children

yesterday morning a band of forty or fifty [guerrillas] came darting into the road from among the hills to take or destroy what they supposed to be the rear train of our army but it happened to be the train of the division in advance of us and our advance pounced [on] them quicker than lightning killing seven and wounding several more. we just passed on and left them laying on the road side dead for some one that might chance that way to throw some dirt on Just enough to keep them from stinking us as we pass for they are not worthy a decent burial.

—1st Lieutenant Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

In some locations, where soldiers had been buried in farmers’ fields, their mortal remains were plowed (up, under, or otherwise scattered) in subsequent years. And I would be remiss regarding this broader topic if I did not mention the many soldiers who did have marked graves yet were never associated with the Civil War, either as someone who died during the war or survived as a veteran. Currently, there also are the numerous markers and monuments to the “unknown soldier(s)” from the Civil War, which are fitting reminders in their own way.

Prior to the Civil War, it was the duty of the Quartermaster General’s office to see to soldiers’ burials. The volume of the Union Civil War dead resulting in officially amending that responsibility to the commanding officers. There were no “dog tags” or other required individual-soldier identifications carried at all times. Suffice it to say, there were many instances where individuals were not identified at the time of burial, especially after battles.

Given all of the above, how can we now honor the Civil War dead, especially those whom remain unknown or unlocated, besides through decorating their resting places with flowers or otherwise commemorating their sacrifices, on Memorial Day?

As a direct consequence of the war’s dead, the Lincoln administration created the first national cemeteries. By the end of the war, three of those were in Illinois: Camp Butler, Rock Island, and Mound City (on the Ohio River). Post-war, there soon were efforts by the U.S. Government to better organize and create more cemeteries dedicated to Union soldiers. Additional national cemeteries were often near former battlefields or hospitals. National efforts to recognize the Confederate dead did not occur in earnest until the twentieth century. Initially, those energies were focused on Confederates who had died while in Union hands, such as at prisoners’ camps and hospitals. Prior to that, private, southern-based organizations were formed for reburying and organizing the Confederate dead.

Whether reburied in 1865 or 1905, it was often wellnigh impossible to provide a name for many soldiers. One estimate I saw suggested that at least half of those reburied were never identified.

Currently, there are about 160 national cemeteries (NC), with the vast majority of those under the authority of the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The Department of the Army has two national cemeteries: Arlington NC, and the Soldiers’ Home NC in Washington DC. The National Park Service oversees fourteen national cemeteries.

In Illinois, there are nine national cemeteries which, I believe, have at least some graves of Civil War soldiers.[2] Those are: Alton NC (established 1948), Camp Butler NC (1862), Confederate Mound at Oak Woods Cemetery (Chicago, 1903?), Danville NC (1898), Mound City NC (1864), North Alton Confederate Cemetery (1867), Quincy NC (1868), Rock Island Confederate Cemetery (1863), and Rock Island NC (1863). And of course, there are Illinois Civil War soldiers’ gravesites at other cemeteries throughout Illinois, as well as those buried in cemeteries in other states, including states established long after the Civil War ended.

In terms of honoring the Civil War dead and how the massive numbers of soldiers’ deaths impacted their memorialization by family members and others, I recommend Drew Gilpin Faust’s book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008). In particular, relative to the topic of this posting, I suggest reading chapter 7, “Accounting: Our Obligations to the Dead” (pages 211-249).

Finally, although Whitman’s poem was originally written before there were national recognitions of what became to be known as Decoration Day, to honor soldiers – South and North – by “decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion,”[3] I would suggest “Pensive on Her Dead Gazing” is a fitting soldier tribute for Decoration Day (Memorial Day). “Lose not my sons” is part of Whitman’s cry for remembrance “centuries hence.” The many battlegrounds where soldiers’ “precious precious blood” was lost are thus consecrated earth, streams, trees, airs, and mountainsides, whether they be with or without marked graves. While I truly respect and honor all soldiers in their graves on Memorial Day, I think Whitman’s poem is an appropriate way to remember and cherish all those Civil War soldiers who lie without graves or without recognition, wherever they might rest across our nation.

[1] Walt Whitman, Civil War Poetry and Prose, Dover Thrift Edition, republication from selections of Drum-Taps (1865), Sequel to Drum Taps (1866), and Leaves of Grass (1891–92), (New York: Dover Publications, 1995), 38. Whitman wrote “Pensive on Her Dead Gazing” in 1865.

[2] Or, they contain at least Civil War veterans.

[3] Robert B. Beath, History of the Grand Army of the Republic (New York: Bryan, Taylor & Co., 1889), 90. Note that a day dedicated to the decoration of Civil War soldiers’ graves did not originate with the GAR, but this Union fraternal organization built on that idea by suggesting, in 1868, that May 30th of each year be dedicated to that pursuit.

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Camp Butler named after whom? (added 6 May 2022)

In other postings you have stated that Camp Butler, near Springfield, was named after William Butler. Is it possible the camp was named after General Benjamin Butler, who was well-known during the Civil War, including in 1861?

I have entertained this question, albeit in person, on a few past occasions. I think it is worth stating a few words about both Major General Benjamin Butler and Illinois Treasurer William Butler during the Civil War.

Already by May 1861, President Lincoln had appointed Benjamin F. Butler as a major general within the volunteer army. (Prior to the war, Butler was a Massachusetts lawyer and a pro-southern Democrat.) While sympathetic to Southern states’ rights, he viewed secession as treason and sided with the Union even before war hostilities ensued. He also had been active in the leadership of the Massachusetts militia prior to the Civil War. In May 1861, he and his new army recruits successfully occupied secessionist-leaning Baltimore, which in turn helped to secure nearby Washington DC. His early exploits earned him his major generalship, as well as some fame in the national press.

Later in May, he was ordered to take possession of Fort Monroe, at the southern tip of the Virginia peninsula as well as the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. He was able to do so and quickly expanded Fort Monroe’s defenses. Despite subsequent military blunders by Butler near the fort in Virginia that June, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands for the rest of the Civil War. In addition, during his time at Fort Monroe, he independently decided that slaves who came into the Union lines from Viriginia were not subject to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and instead considered the slaves as contraband of war. In a way, he was ahead of the Lincoln administration regarding the status of Southern slaves relative to the war. Some of Butler’s contraband thinking was incorporated into the First Confiscation Act of 1861, which became law in August.

Also in August, Butler-led army and naval forces captured Confederate forts Hatteras and Clark on the coast of North Carolina. The popularity of those victories, which were not long after the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run, led to the Lincoln administration having Butler spearhead soldier recruitment efforts in his home state of Massachusetts shortly thereafter.

Since Camp Butler, near Springfield (IL), was so-named by early August 1861, I will end my brief biography of Benjamin Butler at this point. Much of the above did garner B. Butler a certain amount of national notoriety, such that many people in Illinois knew who he was relative to the Union’s war efforts. (Parenthetically, I should add that by the end of the war, B. Butler would be well-known for both his military and war-related administrative missteps. Despite his pre-war state militia involvement, his lack of military skills was evident during the Civil War on a number of occasions.)

William Butler (1797-1876) was an Illinois Treasurer (1859-1862) and longtime Sangamon County resident. He also served as the Sangamon County Clerk to the Circuit Court from 1836 to 1841. W. Butler was also a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. Butler had assumed some of Lincoln’s debts when Lincoln was a new representative in the Illinois legislature and, for a few years, Lincoln took his meals with the Butlers in Springfield, starting in 1837.[1] In addition, Butler had been active in getting Lincoln nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1860.[2]

In April 1861, Illinois Governor Yates sent W. Butler with a letter to President Lincoln expressing Illinois’s support for raising troops for the Union armies. It read, in part:

Our people burn with patriotism and all parties show the same alacrity to stand by the Government and the laws of the country. Illinois is a unit, and will be true to her former reputation for courage and patriotism.
Please answer by messenger, Mr. Butler.[3]

Thus, W. Butler was directly part of the Governor Yates administration’s efforts to raise and organize recruits for the federal war efforts.

However, there is also indirect evidence that W. Butler had connections that may have led to the military post being named in his honor. While there appears to be no existing Illinois government or U.S. military records relating to how and why the initial site of Camp Butler was selected (at Clear Lake, about six miles northeast of Springfield), Butler would have been well-qualified to suggest potential sites for a large recruitment and training camp. In addition, Butler had briefly owned the Clear Lake property. He had bought it at public auction for $10 in May 1847 and sold it privately to Strother G. Jones for $100 in April 1848.[4] So, Butler, having moved to Sangamon County in 1828, was well-connected to people throughout the area and, having been a County Clerk, knew the local lands and properties.

In short, there is no reasonable doubt that Camp Butler in Sangamon County was named after the then-current Illinois State Treasurer, William Butler, as was stated in a Springfield newspaper.

“Camp Butler.”

The camp at Clear Lake is to be named Camp Butler, in honor of our worthy State Treasurer. Gov. Yates and the Adjt. General are busily engaged in arranging for the formation of the regiments, and the accepted companies with their regimental organization, will probably be published tomorrow. Col. Hick’s independent regiment, of Marion county, is to arrive on Tuesday. The independent regiments already formed will all be in camp before the close of next week. The regiment of cavalry, hithertofore ordered to rendezvous at Bloomington, is to go into Camp Butler.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, August 2, 1861.

[1] Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life. 2 vols (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:130.

[2] Butler was one of several Illinoisians who assisted Judge David Davis at the Chicago Convention; Burlingame, A Life, 1:602.

[3] Letter from Richard Yates (and additionally signed by Lyman Trumbull, Gustavus Koerner, William Butler, Jesse K. DuBois, and O. M. Hatch) to President Lincoln, April 17, 1861, in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), ser. 3, vol. 1, 80-81. Since W. Butler was a friend of Lincoln, Butler was sent in person to the White House to deliver the letter and meet with the president.

[4]Sangamon County Recorder of Deeds Office, Deed Record Book Z (p. 443) and AA (p. 467), Genealogical Society of Utah, microfilm, 1981, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C95K-S9L7-R?i=176&cat=330737 and https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C95K-S92Q-J?i=490&cat=330737

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Early Camp Butler letters (added 29 April 2022)

Regarding the two major training camps in Illinois – Camp Butler and Camp Douglas – Butler, near Springfield, was established first. What did the earliest letters written from Camp Butler say about soldiers’ lives there?

The Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Museum in Springfield, Illinois, has two of the earliest Camp Butler letters I have come across.[1] Both were written within the first month of the camp’s operation. (Camp Butler first opened on 2 August 1861.)

Here is the first of the two letters. (My thanks to Chuck Hill of the GAR Memorial Museum for access to his transcriptions of these two letters.)[2]

[Letter image courtesy of the GAR Memorial Museum Archives, Springfield, Illinois.]

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, August 30, 1861, to wife, Harriet

Dear wife I take the Present opportunity to inform you that I [am] well at this time and hope that these lines may find you in good health and as comfortable situated in mind as the present circumstances will permit. we reached Camp butler Thursday [29 August] about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and was sworn in as soon as we got on the encampment we have not been examined as yet but expect to be to Day we have Elected our officers Capt Shead [Shedd] first Lieutenant N B [Nathaniel R.] Kirkpatrick [and] second [Lieutenant] frank [Francis G.] Burnett we expect to leave here next monday for cairo or some other camp but we would like to stay here for it is a pleasant place but we have to go where we are sent. My dear wife I want you to Cheer up and be of good Cheer. Remember me with your Prayers that if we should not see each other here below we
[p.02]
[in] this world we may meet where we shall not be disturbed by war. we had a pleasant trip we left judge Hoagland son on the road at Avon between Galesburg an[d] Macomb in MeDonna [McDonough] Co. Ills there was another left at Camp point we have 99 men in [the] company at this time as we are not likely to stay here you need not write till you receive another letter I will close at this time my love to the friends
I remain your affectionate
Companion till Death
R R Crist

—Private Robert R. Crist, Company A, 30th Infantry, Mercer County

According to the 30th Illinois Infantry’s regimental history, it was organized at Camp Butler August 28, 1861, with Colonel P. B. Fouke, commanding.[3]

Robert Russell Crist (born 4 June 1820, in Ohio), a blacksmith from Aledo, in Mercer County, was 41 years of age when he joined the 30th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Crist had married Harriet Wood (22 April 1847) in Ohio; they had no children.[4] He was mustered into the infantry the day he arrived at Camp Butler (29 August 1862), but wrote “we expect to leave here next Monday for Cairo or some other camp.” It turned out his future traveling information was good, as he and much of the rest of the regiment apparently left for Cairo perhaps on that Sunday (1 September). That meant the regiment was going to be trained at or around Cairo instead of at Camp Butler. Some other regiments were also at Camp Butler during his brief stay. For example, on 31 August, there were 3,910 soldiers reported as present at Camp Butler.[5]

At about this time, two Springfield newspapers reported on activities at the camp.

“Camp Jottings.” Camp Butler, Thursday Evening.

Friend local:–There is scarcely anything of interest to speak of as having occurred in camp today. In the forenoon Col. Reardon’s regiment left for Carbondale. In the afternoon, the following companies arrived: From Mascoutah, St. Clair county, Samuel Shimminger, captain, from Logan, Edgar county, Captain Jason B. Sprague; from Mercer county, (98 men,) Capt. Shedd. Besides these I understand that some companies are expected in the evening, but as I have no time to wait for them you must call at the adjutant general’s office and ascertain their names and number. . . .
The scenery at the camp wears the same appearance still. Drilling, marching and counter-marching, at appointed intervals, go on, and the tramp of uninstructed soldiery makes its noise as I write. There is a refreshing breeze throwing the smooth waters of the lake into ripples. The soldiers, such of them as have been able to procure a pass, are luxuriating in the comfort of a bath, the noise of the fife and drum is echoed through the trees from the far off extremities of the camp to its picturesque surroundings. In a word the encampment looks the personification of animated, jovial life.

—Illinois Daily State Register, August 30, 1861. [bolding added]

“Arrived Yesterday.”

Capt. Davidson’s company, from Macoupin county; Capt. Jason R. Sprague’s, from Edgar; Capt. Warren Shodd’s [Shedd’s], from Mercer, and four companies of Col. Hovey’s Regiment, arrived in camp yesterday.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, August 30, 1861. [bolding added]

Both of these articles confirm parts of what Private Crist wrote in his letter, as well as that Camp Butler was a busy place. Besides the comings and goings of the various companies and regiments, the Register article gives a sense of some of the camp’s usual activities, such as drilling and the sounds of “the fife and drum.” One might question if Camp Butler was “the personification of . . . jovial life” but, if nothing else, the novelty of it all likely was still part of the soldiery’s sensations, at the time. Private Crist also seemed favorably impressed and stated: “we would like to stay here for it is a pleasant place.” Soldiers could bathe in nearby Clear Lake, and the weather was agreeable regarding the tented living quarters at early Camp Butler.[6]

“Camp Jottings.” Camp Butler, Friday Evening.

The camp presents no new feature today. Everybody seems to be pursuing the even tenor of his way. The machinery of the camp progresses, and in all its details would seem to be perfect. We have had no arrivals since my last, nor yet any departures. I understand that the following companies, belonging to Colonel P. B. Fouke’s regiment, have received marching orders, to leave for Cairo on Sunday, to join Gen. McClernand’s brigade: Capt. Thomas G. Marckley’s company, Capt. I. P. Davis’ company, Capt. Harlan’s company, Capt. Rhodes’ company, Capt. Shedd’s company, Capt. James R. Wilson’s company, Capt. Thomas McClurken’s company.

—Illinois Daily State Register, August 31, 1861. [bolding added]

The above article states that Crist was scheduled to leave for Cairo on 1 September. In addition, the 30th Illinois’s regimental history stated that on “September 1, 1861, moved to Cairo, Illinois, and was assigned to Brigadier General John A. McClernand’s Brigade — Brigadier General U. S. Grant, commanding District of Cairo, and Major General John C. Fremont, commanding Department of Missouri.”

Here is Crist’s second letter in this collection.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, September 1, 1861, to wife, Harriet

Dear wife I take my pen in hand to inform you that I am well at this time and hope that these few lines may find you and the folks well generally as I told you in my other letter we got into camp on thursday afternoon [29 August] and was marched up to headquarters and was sworn in immediately we was examined the next Day and there was seven of our company sent home. we left judge hoaglans [Hoagland’s] son on the r[o]ad he got sick and T Bridgford left us at camp point so that we only had 99 men that got into Camp beside the musitions [musicians] the train run into a drove of cattle kild one cripled five 5 more but Done no other mischief. we was cheered by all along the road so that we had a Cheerful time but my heart burst for those that I left behind but I Dont regret comeing as yet I have good mess mates we have Prayers night
[p.02]
and morning and the arrangent is to have a Blessing at the table the same as if we was at home. Our Company takes the praise of being the best Company that has ever been in Camp Butler we have the best music and the most Civil men that is in camp N R KirkPatrick is first Lieutenant [and] Frank G Burnett second [Lieutenant] they are both good men and our Captain is beloved by every man in the Company he is Doing all he Can to pr[o]mote us and we are Doing the same for him we Dont know how long we will say here we had orders yesterday to go to Cairo but was countermanded this morning. I would just say for the satisfaction of mrs long that henry Bistline[7] [Company A, from Aledo] is well and has a good lot of boys with him. we got our shoes socks one pair of Drawers one shirt and our other accoutrements [We are] ready to march at any time when cald on we had preaching last night and expect a sermon to day they are calling the Congregation together at
[p.03]
this hour there was a great stir in Camp last knight ther was two regiments left this morning they had a noisy time of leaving there is some verry rough people in this place there was 3 regiments and 500 men left the day that we arrived in camp there is a large amount of men in this place. our Capt has wrote to Col. Wm Previs to send him 12 men to [fill] out our full Company as soon as possiable I must close. I remain your most affectionate Companion in life
Direct to Camp Butler
to the care of Capt Shedd
30^th regiment Ill volunteers of light Infantry
R R Crist

the men that left this morning Came back at no[o]n
Sept 4^th I would just [say] that we are in Cairo we are all well at this time and all in good spirits Direct your letter to Cairo in care of
[p.04]
Capt Shedd of the 30^th regiment of Ills volunteers

—Private Robert R. Crist, Company A, 30th Infantry, Mercer County

Crist stated that at Camp Butler they “got into camp on thursday afternoon and was marched up to headquarters and was sworn in immediately we was examined the next Day [30 August] and there was seven of our company sent home.” Usually around the time of being mustered into the military service, a physician briefly examined each recruit. One might be rejected (“sent home”) due to illness, physical deformity (e.g., missing fingers, limp), or poor eyesight, as examples. Especially during the first months of the war, some potential Illinois soldiers were rejected as being too old (but also sometimes as too young if clearly under age eighteen years). Private Crist at age 41 in August 1861 still made the cut.[8]

While at Camp Butler, Crist wrote: “we had preaching last night and expect a sermon to day they are calling the Congregation together at this hour.” Coincidently, regarding that same Sunday, this appeared in a local Springfield newspaper.

“Camp Jottings.” Camp Butler, September 1st.

Preaching.— There is any number of itinerant preachers engaged in the zealous pursuit of promulgating the “word” among the troops today. Although I have heard many of them, I must confess to the sin of obduracy [i.e., stubbornness]. None of them possess the eloquence, or, more properly, the inspiration which can alone sway the reckless run of thought and latitudinarianism which pervades a camp of citizen soldiers.

—Illinois Daily State Register, September 2, 1861.

In short, “citizen soldiers” represented a mixed bag regarding religious resolve. In fact, later in this same newspaper article, the author described “a swindling operation” in reference to an impromptu horse race, with its numerous bets and side bets, all apparently on a Sunday. However, Private Crist in his letter wrote: “I have good mess mates we have Prayers night and morning and the arrang[m]ent is to have a Blessing at the table the same as if we was at home.”

Did Private Crist still arrive at Cairo on 1 September, as generally stated in the regimental history? It is unclear from his postscript on 4 September, which said “that we are in Cairo” but not when they arrived. Earlier, in this same letter (written primarily while at Camp Butler), that “we had orders yesterday to go to Cairo but was countermanded this morning [1 September].” The following newspaper article had some additional information regarding the 30th’s departure from Camp Butler.

“Camp Jottings.” Camp Butler, September 2.

Friend Local:–Our encampment presented quite an animated appearance this morning, as seven companies of Colonel Fouke’s regiment marched out of camp to the inspiriting music of the fife and drum, for the Jamestown [train] station, en route for Cairo, to join General McClernand’s brigade. By the way, I see by this morning’s Register, that you have been led into an error by somebody who knows too much, in stating that the troops alluded to, left on Sunday night. They struck tents at seven o’clock this [Monday] morning. Two other companies attached to this regiment, and stationed at Camp Duncan, Jacksonville, have received orders to proceed to Cairo, where they will be joined by the tenth company belonging to the regiment, and already arrived at that point. The boys on leaving camp were cheered lustily by their late comrades, and seemed delighted at the near prospect of going into active service.

—Illinois Daily State Register, September 3, 1861.

Thus, it seems, Private Crist may have carried his letter, written primarily on 1 September, with him to Cairo on 2 September. He then, apparently, added his 4 September postscript and mailed it after that from Cairo.

Typically, for soldiers going from Camp Butler (at Clear Lake) to Cairo, they would march the two miles or so to Jamestown (now, Riverton), board a train on the Great Western Railroad headed east, and then transfer from the Great Western to the Illinois Central Railroad at Decatur. During the Civil War, the southern terminus of the Illinois Central was Cairo, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Presumably, in September and October in the Cairo area, the 30th Illinois Infantry Regiment was training and drilling before being deployed for further duty elsewhere. According to its regimental history, on 22 October the soldiers took part on a muddy scouting mission near Columbus, Kentucky.[9] Subsequently, the regiment, including Co. A, took part in the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, on 7 November 1861.[10] About three months later, the 30th Illinois participated in the capture of Fort Henry (6 February 1862) and the battle and siege of Fort Donelson (11-16 February), both in Tennessee. Robert Crist was killed at the Battle of Fort Donelson on 15 February. Private Crist and First Lieutenant Nathaniel R. Kirkpatrick were two of five Co. A. soldiers killed at Fort Donelson.

Crist’s wife, Harriet, survived Robert and she married (10 September 1864) Brown Laughlin, also of Mercer County.[11] Harriet died in 1894, at about age 68 years.

[1] Harriet Crist Papers, 1861-62 (2018.527), GAR Memorial Museum Archives, Springfield, Illinois.

[2] Please do not reproduce the transcriptions or the Crist letter image accompanying this posting.

[3] Jasper N. Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, rev. ed., 8 vols. (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., 1900), 2:537. Crist is listed as “Croist” among the privates in Co. A.

[4] Harriet Wood was his second wife. Crist was previously married (about 1841) to Sarah McBurney, also in Ohio.

[5] Based on Consolidated Morning Reports for Camp Butler; Military and Naval Department (Civil War): Morning Reports, August 1861-April 1865, Illinois Secretary of State Archives, 301/046.

[6] Interestingly, an article appeared in the Journal on 31 August 1861 about the forming of a new organization called the “Ladies Springfield Soldier’s Aid Society” for the purpose of “furnishing necessary supplies to our soldiers, during the winter months.”

[7] Private Henry Bistline subsequently was killed at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, 7 November 1861.

[8] For the entire Civil War, the median age of Illinois soldiers was about 23 years (at the time of enlistment or original commission).

[9] Reece, Report of the Adjutant General, 2:537; Alvan Sample, A history of Company “A”, 30th Illinois Infantry (1907), 1-2.

[10] Sample, Company “A”, 2.

[11] My thanks, again, to Chuck Hill for his research regarding Harriet’s remarriage.

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Election speculation in 1864 (added 22 April 2022)

Prior to the 1864 national election, did Illinois soldiers think Lincoln would again be president?

Chattanooga, Tennessee, October 24, 1864, to sister

I suppose there will be a great deal of excitement concerning the election. I think however the fears & doubts of the “Copperhead” fraternity will be effectually removed in a few days, if they will only exercise a little patience. As I presume there is hardly a doubt existing in the minds of the loyal people as to who will be our next president I say with a large Majority of the Soldiers Hurrah! for Uncle Abe, and the Administration! I think he is sure of an abode in the “White House” during the next 4 years and that little Mac. will be obliged to stand out in the cold! with his Copperhead friends at that!!

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

For Illinois and the rest of the Union states, the 1864 national Election Day was 8 November. During the prior months, even Abraham Lincoln was not very sanguine that he would defeat the Democratic Party nominee George B. McClellan for the presidency (“little Mac” in Dillon’s letter). Lincoln’s gloomy opinion was based mainly on the lack of important victories by Union armies in the summer of 1864. In some states like Illinois, the political landscape had changed since Lincoln’s 1860 successful election. In the 1862 elections, the Democratic Party retook the majority in the Illinois legislature.[1] In addition, in 1864 the national Republican Party was split into two factions: the National Union Party, which nominated Lincoln, and the Radical Democracy Party, which initially nominated John C. Frémont.

army field hospital, Georgia, June 22, 1864, to wife, Millie

I am not surprised to find the Copperheads supporting Fremont. If the Chicago Convention will only nominate him I shall gladly rejoice. I have not many fears however, who[ever] that convention puts up, for I fully believe that Lincoln will beat the concentrated forces of all other parties.

—Assistant Surgeon William Allen, 9th Infantry, Bond County

“Copperheads” was a reference to the “peace Democrats” or those who would appease the Confederacy by allowing them to become a separate, independent nation.

Massard Prairie, near Fort Smith, Arkansas, July 22, 1864, to Mr. David McCormick

I understand that you have some copperheads in old Schuyler [County] but I hope that you will condemn them at the ballot box this fall, for it is time for union men to stand firm and do their duty their motto should be to do and encourage others to do the union men can elect Abraham. Lincoln. and Andy Johnson if they do their duty all the soldiers want is the reelection of Lincoln he is the first and only choice of the union Soldiers they think he has done his duty well and they are willing to fight under him in prefference to any one else the Soldiers are nearly all for Lincoln here they condemn Fremonts cours[e] in the strongest terms

—Sergeant John Philips, 6th Kansas (Union) Cavalry, Schuyler County

However, during the summer of 1864, potential Lincoln backers among the Illinois soldiery ultimately saw McClellan as Lincoln’s main presidential opposition.

camp near Atlanta, Georgia, July 21, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

And if our friends at home, Did I Call them friends? I take all back and call them our enemies such as those that met and formed the “Indiana Democratic Convention.” If these men would only keep quiet this thing would soon be settled. But listen to C. T. Coberly of the “Terre haute Journal” he says “any good Democrat, who wants to defeat Abraham Lincoln will stand on any platform that will beat him. and By the Eternal we will unite on any platform that will defeat him.” It is hard to hear Resolutions like these passed in a state that has sent out so many brave boys to the rescue of our much beloved land

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

A few weeks later, Crawford felt no better on the topic of Lincoln’s re-election.

near Atlanta, Georgia, August 2, 1864, to father

I tell you this party business is played out with me, and with all in the army. Now Brother Willie said in a letter that he was a Lincoln man. But still he was more of an antislavery man than old Abe, and would rather vote for a man that would do away with Slavery let come what would. now this may do men at home but it is far from being the voice of the army. Now do you not think Candidly that Lincoln is freeing the slaves as fast as the people will bear it? . . . Now what would it amount to if Abraham Lincoln would issue a proclamation declaring every Slave free from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean on the west, from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico in the south would they have any more freedom? not a bit of it till our forces took possession It would only give us a devided north and God knows that, that is divided enough now. But then what is the use to fill paper with this stuff. But what I say I say it from principal, and if wrong, honestly wrong[.] you say public opinion is changing fast. on that subject well let it change.

—Corporal James Crawford

Some soldiers felt the Confederacy was attempting to somehow game the outcome of the election in favor of the Democrats by limiting the Union armies’ progress as much as possible in 1864.

convalescent camp at Marietta, Georgia, August 26, 1864, to father

the rebbles are trying to hold untill after the presidential election their hopes are that the north will elect some pease man who would help them in there cause so says prisoners that say that there will be war up north this fall if there is i hope it will be fatal on the copperheads side they are the fellows which has prolonged this war as long as it has lasted

—Private John Reeve, 8th Missouri (Union) Infantry, Peoria County

Rome, Georgia, September 30, 1864, to cousin, Phoebe E. Lease

there is A gooddeal of talk About the election here in the army which shall be the next president some thinks if Mc[Clellan] is elected the war will come to A Close soon and some thinks the other way if lincoln is that the rebbles will quit fighting but I think there wouldnt be very much differance for I dont think the election will have much to do with it for they cant fight much longer from the way things looks now I think the western army is A bout played out now the troops is coming back from the front and stringing Along the rail road there was six regiments come here at this place day before yesterday they come from the front the front they say there hant [are not] any reb hardly out there

—Private Jacob Lyon, 50th Infantry, Pike County

Once the Radical Democracy Party’s platform became clear, Frémont withdrew his candidacy on 22 September. This greatly diminished the chances of the Union (previously, Republican) Party having votes split between two of their former presidential candidates (Frémont in 1856; Lincoln in 1860), which might have allowed McClellan to win the election. Also, on 2 September, General Sherman’s army captured Atlanta after a protracted campaign. This victory alone likely buoyed Lincoln’s election chances.

Some Illinois companies and regiments took pre-election straw polls to see how the results might go if the soldiers were allowed to vote.

Atlanta, Georgia, September 29, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

There is a good many bets being made on the Coming Election. we took a vote in our Regt. There was 2,65 for Lincoln and 26 for McClellan and 21 that did not Vote. some were too young some from some cause and some from another would not Vote C^o,s D, G, & H went unanimous for Lincoln Co A had 6 McClellan Co B 12 Co I, 3 which Co,s gave the other 5 votes for McClellan I do not know.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Acworth, Georgia, October 15, 1864, to sister, Lou[isa] A. Nelson

Father wanted to know how the solders felt about the Election they think that they had aught to have a vote. I think that if the soldiers has not got any thing to say of who shall Be at the Head of the gov that no one has. I do not know more than “3” but what would vote for Abe [i.e., all but three would vote for Lincoln]

—Private William H. Nelson, 59th Infantry, Knox County

Regarding the 1864 election, each Union state’s constitution determined whether soldiers could vote by an absentee ballot or by proxy. The states that did not allow the soldiers to vote in either of these manners were Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon. Thus, Illinois soldiers in the field either managed to get a furlough during early November to return home and vote or, for the vast majority of them, remained away from their homes and could not vote.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, October 8, 1864, to sister, Sarah Kyger

The soldiers are almost unanimous for Old Abe. We will have to take our’s out in fighting as we will not be allowed to vote.

—Captain Tilmon Kyger, 73rd Infantry, Vermilion County

Hospital #3 at Nashville, Tennessee, November 12, 1864, to uncle, Sergeant Levi Otis Colburn of the 51st Infantry

I would have like to have voted for Lincoln & Johnson but I could not afford to take a 20 day furlough for the sake of voting I think they are both just as good as elected they are a long ways ahead as far as I have seen the returns of the Election.

—Private Samuel Walker, 51st Infantry, Cook County

Ten days later, Private Walker wrote again to his uncle about the election.

Nashville, Tennessee, November 22, 1864, to uncle, Sergeant Levi Otis Colburn

Billy returned from his furlough yesterday. he came verry near missing his vote for he did not get home untill about Nine oclock the day of the Election. he voted the whole union ticket without a scratch. . . . A good many of the boys that was furloughed from here to go home to vote has returned. And from what they tell me about the Cars being crowded to overflowing I am verry glad that I did not take one [a furlough], even if I would have had free transportation. The folks at home gave me Thunder over handed for not takeing one.

—Private Samuel Walker, 51st Infantry, Cook County

However, the election in Illinois resulted in a much weaker showing for Lincoln than if the vote had been among just the soldiers.

U. S. General Hospital No.1 in Quincy, Illinois, November 25, 1864, to friend, Lewis Trefftzs

the Election went off very Calm in my part of the Country but my town ship went for Mc Clellan by 30 Majority.

—Private Martin Culler, 73rd Infantry, Adams County

Statewide, Illinois’s 16 electoral votes went to Lincoln, who received about 54 percent of the popular vote to McClellan’s almost 46 percent. Lincoln’s “home” county – Sangamon – gave McClellan a majority of its votes. In the end, the Illinois soldiers’ votes did not affect the state’s presidential results. Only a minority of them were able to get home to vote but, even if none of them had, it would have made no difference in the state’s presidential outcome.

Indiana had about the same percentages (54/46) as Illinois, also for Lincoln. New York’s 33 electoral votes went to Lincoln, but he won it by a small margin: 50.5 percent for Lincoln versus 49.5 for McClellan. McClellan won in only three states: Delaware, Kentucky, and New Jersey.

[1] This was also the case in Indiana.

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Diarrhea and dysentery among the soldiers (added 15 April 2022)

In a recent posting, you mentioned a soldier named Crawford who perhaps had chronic diarrhea or dysentery (4 March 2022). What did soldiers write regarding these sorts of illnesses? Would it not have been a topic too delicate to broach in personal letters?

Nashville, Tennessee, August 4, 1863, to cousin, John

one of our Co was discharged a few days ago. he was the fatest man in our Co when we came out, but is now reduced to a mere skeleton by his chronick Diarrheah.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Regarding diarrhea as “a topic too delicate,” in the following excerpts from Illinois soldiers’ letters there were at least some who shared personal struggles regarding this illness with their spouses, offspring, mothers, fathers, and a variety of other relatives. That said, Corporal Crawford, quoted above and whose love letters I featured earlier this year, seemed to have hidden his condition from his young girlfriend, Lizzy Wilson, back in Randolph County.

“Chronick Diarrheah” was certainly debilitating in many cases. To clarify a little, dysentery is a term that covers a number of inflammatory gastrointestinal and colon-related causes, including from bacteria, parasites, protozoa, and viruses. Diarrhea refers to watery, loose-stools and/or frequent bowel movements, which during the Civil War often were due to dysentery. Chronic diarrhea was frequently a direct symptom of some causes of dysentery, where diarrhea could intermittently occur over a period of weeks, months, or even years. Bowel movements related to dysentery could contain blood and mucus, and it was sometimes referred to as the “bloody flux.”[1]

Fort Heiman, Kentucky, May 24, 1863, to daughter, Mary

I have bin unwell for a few days with something like the Bloody Flux. am taking medison tonit [medicine tonight] and will have to set up late to take it. so will write you while I set up. it will pass the time writing to you easier

—Chaplain James Woollard, 111th Infantry, Marion County

Perhaps relating to its sometimes-chronic nature, Chaplain Woollard wrote about it again more than a year later.

Salem, Illinois, October 8, 1864, to the Reverend W. H. H. Adams

Dear Brother . . . I have had a long hard spel of sicknes was taken with Flux on the 20,^th of June during the Battle of Kinnasaw [Kennesaw] Mountain [in Georgia] on the 26 of June was sent to the Hospitle at Rome some 40 miles back thear about the 8^th of July I took Tyfoid Feaver, and for a time it was thaught I was near my end but god rasd me up & on the 9^th of Aug^t . I had sofar Recoverd that the surgon gave me a sick leave of absence and advisd me to come home till my helth would improve . . . but I am still in feable helth have not suffisently recoverd to return I continue verry weak.

—Chaplain James Woollard

At the time, Chaplain Woollard was nearly sixty years of age. By the following month, he did receive a discharge due to his chronic illness. It read, in part: “I hearby certify that I have this day made careful examination of Chaplain James B. Woolarnd Chaplain of the 11^th Regt Ills Infantry and find him Still laboring under general Debility and Chronic Inflamation of the Bowels . . . D. H. Green, M.D.” and was dated 9 November 1864.

camp near Wartrace, Tennessee, July 28, 1863, to sister

poor water is felt sooner than anything else It sends men to the Hospital by dozens in a few days and many of them from there to their graves

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

The bacteria and parasites, for example, that could cause dysentery were all too common and endemic within soldiers’ camps. Poor sanitation, misuse or nonuse of the soldiers’ “sinks” (i.e., latrines), infrequent or no handwashing, and close contact with infected individuals could all lead to the spread of dysentery. These conditions are readily imaginable in prisoner-of-war camps, in both the North and the South, but dysentery also could occur in training camps in Illinois.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, September 27, 1862, to wife, Sallie

there are some of the 91^st are very sick and some of them will most undoubtly die we have plenty to eat now our diet is Bakers bread pickel pork and beef sugar and coffee molassas rice potatoes homony rice onions & cabbage . . . I have been very sick with the diearea

—Corporal Thomas Pankey, 91st Infantry, Greene County

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, September 27, 1862, to brother, James

the worst we have to get along with is the watter which isent as good as the fox river watter and is bad for diahriea there being a good many cases of it now

—Private Cyrus Randall, 124th Infantry, Kane County

It may be more than coincidence that the above two soldiers wrote about diarrhea while at the same camp on the same day!

Cairo, in southern Illinois, had a somewhat foul reputation as an unhealthy environment when large numbers of soldiers were concentrated there.

Camp Defiance, near Cairo, Illinois, August 29, 1861, to brother, David

I dont think I can ever get use to this nasty river water it is so yellow it looks like Piss and tastes worse I have had the Military Shits for a day or two and feel weak dont let any body read this if you d[o] I will clean you out

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

Bird’s Point, Missouri, December 26, 1861

My Dear Wife
With a weak hand I attempt to address you on last Sunday morning I received yours of Saturday 21st and felt very well but during the day I took the diarrhea and have had a very severe spell and now while I write I am lying in my bed wrapped up with my blankets

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

Bird’s Point is across the Mississippi River from Cairo, to the south, and during the Civil War this area served as an overflow assembly point for some of the Union’s early-war military expeditions.

Dysentery was a serious, debilitating disease that hampered many a regiment’s effective fighting strength.

Helena, Arkansas, August 14, 1862, to father

Williams Radcliff looks as if he had been drawn through a [k]not hole, and had most of his flesh rubbed of[f] from him. Willie Reed looks thin & gaunt. they have the Diarrhea & Swamp feaver.

—Private William Marsh, 13th Infantry, Will County

Here is a brief comment from an Illinois physician’s point-of-view.

Marietta, Georgia, August 23, 1864, to wife, Clara

I lost a patient this morning – my first loss – with camp Diarrhoea – a 1^st lieut. The funeral takes place at six – within a few minutes now. I shall attend My sick list [which] is larger now than at any time before, altho’ this should & would be a healthy place if the dead mules & fetid matter about town were thoroughly removed.

—1st Assistant Surgeon James Gaskill, 45th Infantry, Bond County

Sometimes the best thing that could be done was to send the soldier home to Illinois to recuperate.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 8, 1863, to wife, Jane

I dislike the Ide[a] of going Home & leaving the men here ) [sic] But if my Diaree gets no better I must have a leave of absent for a while or Resign I am Sorry for those men who ar sick & has to stickitout Cannot get Home.

—Captain John Dinsmore, 99th Infantry, Pike County

Captain Dinsmore, as an officer, at least had the option of resigning and then (once accepted) heading home to recover. The enlisted men did not have that possibility and thus “has to stick it out” and “cannot get home.” Here is an enlisted soldier example.

Springdale Church, Mississippi, July 23, 1863, to wife, Celina

it has been my misfortune to be sick I have had a long turn of the Bilious Diarhea with some chills the same as I was last fall at Helena when Entirkine was there I am sometimes better & sometimes worse again I am now some better again I thought that I would get a Furlough & come home if I could get one I consequently applied for one The Commander said that he had no authority to grant any without the Regimental Surgeon Certificate stating the my disease was of such a character that he thought it impossible for me to recovery my health if I remained here. I would not ask the Surgeon for such a Certificate

—Private Jonas Roe, 5th Cavalry, Clay County

Captain Dinsmore did try to stick it out for a few more months.

camp at Carlton, Louisiana, September 15, 1863, to wife, Jane

My old Gal I will write you a fiew this Morning I am tolerable helth only I, am not entirly well of the Diaree some times tolerable well &, then it Starts a gain, &, I, have the piles [hemorrhoids] very bad of times. I, am stratning up the, Business of the Co & then, I, will Come home. I, think I, will stay. I, hate to leave the boys but, I, Positivly do think more of you & your Little. Co. than any other in this world, &, I, must take Care of my Self &, you if posible

—Captain John Dinsmore, 99th Infantry, Pike County

Everyone in the army could be a potential victim of dysentery, including the physicians.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 8, 1864, to wife, Millie

I have just got up to day from an attack of Dysentery – am weak but am improving fast. . . . two more surgeons came to help us yesterday I do not wonder that soldiers are neglected so often for it is impossible for one man to care properly for more than 100 sick men a day much less for 350 as I have had to do for the last two weeks.

—Assistant Surgeon William Allen, 9th Infantry, Bond County

Having had it himself, Assistant Surgeon Allen likely had a better appreciation of the seriousness of dysentery.

army field hospital, Georgia, June 20, 1864, to wife, Millie

I have 144 beds to take care of. It is as much as I want. Have to be constantly on hand. This dysentery which prevails down here – a man may be better for several days and then take bad and die in four or six hours if not attended to in time. It seems that I never saw any intense diseases at home; at any rate, we have the pure articles here and no mistake.

—Assistant Surgeon William Allen

[1] For a more through discussion of diarrhea and dysentery during the Civil War, see Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine (New York: Routledge, 2015), 85-7.

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Ethnographic approach to studying Illinois soldiers (added 8 April 2022)

On your website, specifically the “Seven Secrets of the Book” page, you wrote that you used an “ethnographic approach” to studying Illinois Civil War soldiers. What does that mean? Why did you take that path in putting together your book?

Traditionally, an ethnography is an anthropological method for studying and describing a culture or a society. As a technique, it usually requires an anthropologist (or, a sociologist) to embed or immerse oneself within a culture or some other cohesive, perpetuating social group.[1] As part of that process, the anthropologist uses “informants” who are members of that culture, as well as participant observation, to seek out explanations and to serve as an avenue to understanding a culture’s inherent components, such as kinship and family structure, politics, social interactions, and religion. Constructing an ethnography for a culture is relativistic, meaning it is an attempt to understand a culture from within itself and, as much as possible, not use the observer’s own culture to compare or define the other’s components and structure. It also can (and should) provide contextualization, meaning an understanding of the external factors and influences that impact cultural characteristics.

In the case of studying Illinois Civil War soldiers as a subculture (i.e., as a distinct part of the larger mid-nineteenth century U.S. Euro-American society or culture), I was wanting to understand and visualize the larger world through the soldiers’ eyes, albeit via their letters and their words or descriptions (and hence the title of the book). Of course, Illinois soldiers took their own cultural upbringings with them into the Civil War military, but their soldiering experiences transformed them, and did so usually as a group instead of just as individuals. Here are three examples of ethnographic constructs applied to the soldiers’ subculture.

Social Structure – In a very basic sense, the concept of culture represents a people’s approaches and concepts to surviving and perpetuating in their environment. During the Civil War, a key component of that was the military “social” structure, where much of that was determined by military organization. When in the field, an individual soldier’s closest companions were his tentmates or messmates. These were people whom a soldier relied on in a number of ways and, in a real sense, whom improved the individual soldier’s survival chances. The next level up might be the company, and often those in a particular company were from the same area, town or county in Illinois. Then, at a higher level, there would be the regiment.

Here are an enlisted soldier’s and an officer’s descriptions of how they looked out for each other on a day-to-day basis.

Rolla, Missouri, February 18, 1862, to mother

There is eleven men in a tent. We have a good cook stove in our tent which cost us $15.00. one man in the mess cooks, for which we pay him .50 cents a month We have an old tent filled with straw for a bed tick. it of course lays on the ground, but the straw does not get very damp. we are very comfortably situated.

—Private William Marsh, 13th Infantry, Will County

Camp Steele, Mississippi, December 17, 1862, to mother

The only thing I regret is that our officer’s mess or boardinghouse probably has to end if the order is strictly carried out, and there is nothing left but for us to eat with the companies. That would be no misfortune, for I did that earlier as a sergeant and will do it just as well as a lieutenant. We always make everything as comfortable and pleasant for ourselves as possible. Now if the most comfortable is very uncomfortable for us, I will still gladly send myself into it because it can’t be helped. Besides, we have it significantly better than those who carry their entire possessions around their necks.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

In the above descriptions, Private Marsh and Lieutenant Kircher were explaining to their mothers back home how they organized their cooking (as a group). I am speculating here, but it is quite possible their respective mothers asked something like “who typically does the cooking?” Thus, the mothers were asking as if ethnographers and the soldiers were answering as if informants. In this scenario, the soldiers likely gave frank, honest answers regarding their individual situations. In my position as a writer, it is as if the mothers asked a question I would have asked if I could have traveled back in time more than 155 years to hear and record the soldiers’ answers.

I am oversimplifying the ethnographic process, yet my point is it can be an approach to organizing and understanding how one thinks about the Illinois Civil War soldier’s world (as well as how to organize chapters in the book). If nothing else, one can appreciate how valuable soldiers’ letters can be to grasping the underpinnings of the social history of the Civil War.

Politics – This can be couched at different levels, from local (personal, say within a regiment) to national (in reference to political parties and movements). Here are two Democratic party examples.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 8, 1863, to wife, Jane

you will Ceap [keep] to your Self such as you think proper thare is a grate dissatis faction in the Regment in regard to what is going on you said you was a stronger Democrat than ever I am a bout the Same, But a little more confirmed & Mor Oposed to the Abe Lincon gang As, I, under stand all those who does not a gree with, Abe, & his gang ar Cauled Coper Heads If that is a Coper Head, 3, Fourths of the Men in the Army are Coperheads
If the Conscrips up thare is no beter than those down here the[y] had better Ceap them thare thare is some here who run at the Champion Hill Fight, &, Caused other good men to Suffer Thawillnot do to bet on What is the use to draft Coperheads to fight. Coper Heads, I, Donot believ any such stuff as those men being Disunionist or Sesesh

—Captain John Dinsmore, 99th Infantry, Pike County

Captain Dinsmore wrote about national politics and conscription, and how that impacted fighting in Mississippi.

Camp Yates at Springfield, Illinois, June 21, 1861, to brother

you knew that I was for the constitution & the Union & the enforcement of the Laws, and that the South was in for despotism and a disolution of the union . . . you must be for the Union or against it. and you knew that I was [missing word or words due to manuscript damage] of Douglas principals who was ever crying for the constitution & the union. you said that no democrat would go in to this war but some soft heads. . . . [sic] well if you called Douglas, Robinson, Alen, Morison, Grant, Logan, & Critington [General Thomas L. Crittenden] of Ky. soft heads, why then the democratic party has always been soft heads.

—Private George Dodd, 21st Infantry, Edgar County

While politics played an important role, it hardly ever was the sole reason why someone became a Civil War soldier from Illinois. In that same vein, personal politics interacted and was intwined with soldiers’ families’ backgrounds, beliefs, and social spheres. The larger ethnographic point is a component like politics cannot (or should not) be viewed or understood as a stand-alone component within any culture, as the above examples suggest.

Religion – Soldiers’ spiritual beliefs, of course, varied before they were in the military, but there also were various reactions and impacts regarding their beliefs while being a soldier. Some strengthened their faith or relied on it in reaction to war experiences, and others seemed to lose their religious habits.

Warren County, Mississippi, July 15, 1863, to wife

Celina I still have the same faith I always have had since the war commenced that the Rebel & Copperhead Traitors will finely be distroyed that they are nothing but bands of Robers theives & cut throats & that the God of heaven will surely destroy them I thank God that Slavery that great curse of our country is whiped out & that the Spirit of the Declaration of American Independence written & proclaimed by Tho^s Jefferson in 1776 will be felt by the descendants of Africa

—Private Jonas Roe, 5th Cavalry, Clay County

camp near Otterville, Missouri, January 19, 1862, to wife, Hattie

our very worthy Chaplain condecends to tell us what will become of the poor sinner if we don,t repent which of course is listened to with attention by all & as soon forgotten as heard—The morals of the men in camp (as is the case with all armies) rather loose & I find that men whom I had supposed were the best of men & citizens at home are very often, guilty of the grossest immoralities out here—indeed the army is the best of places to find out men

—1st Sergeant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

In summary, I used a retroactive application of the ethnographic method. As plentiful as they are, Illinois Civil War soldiers’ letters have limited scope. Some topics are seldom written about or in little detail, such as sexual behaviors. And I am unable to ask follow-up questions to individual writers.

One positive point to doing a retroactive ethnography through uncensored letters is the observer or writer cannot have the unintended effect of influencing the culture’s participants’ answers. That is, a participant observer, who normally asks questions of and interacts with informants, impacts the answers and interactions when the informants sympathize, resist or otherwise cooperate with the (outside) observer. Again, each of the soldiers writing home were, in a sense, being individual informants when they explained or expounded upon military and social norms within their mess, company, or regiment to “outside” family members, friends, and significant others.

Other researchers using an ethnographic approach might come to different or similar conclusions, including when applied to just Illinois Civil War soldiers. This is not a negative point, but rather to say: the more ethnographies, the better. Additional ethnographies allow for studying similarities and differences, which may suggest regionalization or show variations among states. For example, there were some noted differences between Union soldiers from the Western versus the Eastern states (or, at least individual soldiers have stated that). What may have contributed to those perceived differences? Interestingly, author Bell Irvin Wiley concluded through his two landmark books that the lives of Confederate and Union soldiers had more similarities than they did differences.[2] In 1952, Wiley wrote: “the two were so much alike that the task of giving this book [on “Billy Yank”] a flavor and character distinct from The Life of Johnny Reb has at times been a difficult one.”[3]

In many cases, surviving Civil War soldiers experienced life-long transformations (e.g., as evidenced by participation in the Grand Army of the Republic and similar post-war organizations). For this reason, and so many others, the study of Illinois Civil War soldiers as a mid-nineteenth-century subculture is a valuable social history endeavor.

Finally, regarding the book itself, I whittled down my sample to 165 Illinois soldiers’ letters collections to include as my retroactive “informants.” I generally have chosen not to mention the term “ethnography” in describing the book, because I wrote for an audience much broader than social scientists. Nor did I organize the book as a traditional ethnography.

However, I did include a somewhat ethnographic-themed chapter called “Northern Culture Through Southern Eyes.” In it, I used Illinois soldiers’ writings about their observations of life in the Southern states. Many of these soldiers were experiencing Southern lifeways for the first time and, as they wrote, were also reflecting back on their own Northern lifeways. In that book chapter, I described it this way: “Illinois Civil War soldiers commented in their letters about Southern citizens, their lifeways, and the war’s impact. Few Illinois soldiers had visited Southern states prior to the war. The cities, climate, ingrained slavery, and even language differences elicited observations and comparisons. Soldiers’ perspectives changed and broadened during the course of their military travels. Many carried strong biases—they were there to fight a rebellious enemy, after all—while others were more open-minded about Southern culture.” Overall, I found that Illinois Civil War soldiers’ letters were like a windfall of social insight for a period long past.

[1] Up until roughly the 1960s, ethnography was primarily within the discipline of anthropology among the realm of the social sciences. Subsequently, it has diffused and been used in other fields, such as sociology and psychology.

[2] Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (1943) and The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union (1952).

[3] Billy Yank, 13 (1971 reprint).

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Packages from home (added 1 April 2022)

Other than small items in letters, what sorts of things did Illinois soldiers request from home while deployed within the Southern states?

Probably the most requested item from home was postage stamps. However, those could be sent to soldiers inside regular letter envelopes, besides being in packages.

Fairfax Court House, Virginia, January 17, 1863, to sister

It had benn so long I should a riten before but I could not get Postage stamps I recieved your leter of Jan I wish that you or Freem would send mee a half of a dollers worth of stamps and when payday comes I will send you the money and If It never comes then I will cheat you out of It

—Sergeant Ashley Alexander, 12th Cavalry, Winnebago County

During a portion of the Civil War, a writer in a regiment could print “SOLDIER’S LETTER” on the envelope and it would go without postage. However, for the recipient, it was like getting a “postage due” letter and that person was obligated to pay the (normally) 3 cents postage. Related to letters, stationery was sometimes requested from home.

convalescent camp at Marietta, Georgia, August 26, 1864, to father

the sutlers sell every thing here very high you can’t get any thing for less than than [sic] a quarter[.] cheese is 75 cents a pound ever thing thing [sic] else sold acording they ought not to be alowd to sell their stuff so high i have a notion to have you to send me a quarter of a reame of note paper that would be 5 quirs [quires; 1 quire = 24 sheets] i can sell part of it and double money on it . . . good paper at the settlers [sutlers] is 75 cents a quire

—Private John Reeve, 8th Missouri (Union) Infantry, Peoria County

“75 cents a quire” works out to about 3 cents a sheet of paper, which is approximately the same as the postage! The larger point here, perhaps, was often the soldiers thought the sutlers sold their goods, such as writing paper, at usurious prices. Somewhat ironically, Private Reeve felt he could do the same thing to his fellow soldiers, if his father would send him some writing-paper he could in turn sell.

Not surprisingly, then, soldiers often requested items from home they would otherwise have to pay a high price for from a sutler. Here is another example of a soldier asking for something from home that he could sell for more to his fellow soldiers.

Nashville, Tennessee, February 10, 1863, to uncle, W. C. Rice

I did not send home any money last pay day and I have a notion to keep all of it next payday. I can make a great deal off of it here. I wish you would get Rapp or some other man to make me a pair of first rate hip boots. . . . I do not want any thing but the very best of material put in them. get them double upper and double and thick soles. I suppose from what I hear they will not cost more than 6,50 there They would bring $13,00 here. The boys are buying grained leather boots of very poor material for 10,00 and 12,00 They do not last 3 months.

—Sergeant James Rice, 10th Infantry, Henderson County

Newspapers and magazines were popular items requested from home.

Rolla, Missouri, January 18, 1862, to father

I received the letter & package, which you sent to me, yesterday. Reading mater is something that we feel the want of, more than most any thing else. If you could have seen how those magazines were seized hold of when I opened the package, & heard the questions, may I take one of them, you would have seen how your present was appreciated.

—Private William Marsh, 13th Infantry, Will County

camp near Whiteside, Tennessee, December 8, 1863, to wife, Anna

Dont forget to send me some Quincy papers Dont Mr Powers take one at the house? If so just do up two or three together & send them two or three times a week. You cant imagine how much I should prize them.

—Chaplain Hiram Roberts, 84th Infantry, Adams County

Newspapers were significant to soldiers for several reasons. Among them, perhaps as the most important, it kept the soldiers connected to home and the rest of the nation, which helped humanize them in a way and beyond just being soldiers. That is, they envisioned their soldiering as temporary and ultimately as an impediment to getting back to their previous occupations and lives. In addition to and building on the above, soldiers scanned the newspapers for national news and signs that the war was being prosecuted toward a successful ending. Again, the sooner the war concluded, the sooner the soldiers could return home. Otherwise, reading was a good way to pass the time and break up the sometimes monotony of being in the military.

Gallatin, Tennessee, March 20, 1863, to brother, John

A box about the size of a candle box will probably contain all the articles [requested from home] = stuff it well with readable magazines &c – to fill up the vacant space – Perhaps your friends would send us some = you do not know how much we thirst at times for reading matter.

—Sergeant Major Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Even with all the “vacant space” filled up, not all boxes arrived with their contents intact.

camp near Franklin, Tennessee, April 26, 1863, to brother and sister

I received that Box and a letter . . . but somebody had thrust something sharp pointed. from the hole it made in the side of the Box I should think it was a flat bayonet, into the side of the Box and Breaking the ink bottle which was situated on the opposite side. . . . About one third of the Eggs were broken . . . we have not eaten that cake yet but Iguess we will try it for dinner. We certainly thank you from the bottom of our hearts and stomachs to[o]

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Some months later, Corporal Taylor wrote home again about another “care package” he received that contained some inappropriate items.

camp near Estell Springs, Tennessee, April 26, 1863, to sister, Isabella

There is one thing she [Mary, another sister] has not learned yet and that is how to pack abox and what to put in it she piled in Potatoes and Onions into every crack and fissure and they were all hot & rotten and rotted the eggs and came near spoiling the cheese. . . . We also received something designed I suppose for other use besides eating. That is treating some of our closest friends with. Well it may come handy some time, and we are very obliged for your Kind care and thought fulness, but you may rest assured that we are not much in need of it, and that, that lousy letter you saw in the Gazette of Aug 8^th is part of it at least a Mess of lies. And I pity the writer for he must be so terribly dirty and lousy, that he thought every body else must bein the same fix.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Apparently, sister Mary sent soldier James some sort of de-lousing concoction prompted by an article she read in a Lake County newspaper that suggested lice were a common soldier complaint (which it could be). In any case, this was a rare “thanks, but no thanks” after receiving a package from home. And, not surprisingly, not all food traveled well through the mail or the various express services of the Civil War era. Part of the reason for this was due to the unknown length a package would be in transit, which could vary from several days to several weeks or more.

Here is a more typical example of food sent to a soldier and being well appreciated.

camp near Otterville, Missouri, January 28, 1862, to friend, Mrs. Harriet Stoddard

it was while I was sick that I received your box of presents and Mrs Peets Can of fruit and Comfortable [i.e., “comforter,” a quilt perhaps] which I was very glad to get then, for at the time I was sleeping a lone at the time, and the Clothes was rather thin The fruit went very well to take the Medicine with. Your Aples were very good you better believe. I would roast them so they did not hurt me any as quick as I got them I divided with the boys in the mess. they relished them as well as I did. the mimce pie, I did not wait to get well before I pitched in to it I ate one piece and gave the rest of it to the boys, and they said it was the best pie they had ate in Mo and I thought so to. the Cakes they went pretty well. they were all very thankfully received. I thank you and Mrs Peet very much for these little luxuries that you have sent to me.

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry, Morgan County

However, there were limits, both practical and mandated, regarding what “luxuries” soldiers could have.

Camp Steele, Mississippi, December 16, 1862, to mother

I had to send back the books, of course, as a shirt or pants is worth more to me at the moment than half a library.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

On the march, enlisted soldiers, especially, had to carry with them all their personal items. Food from home was popular because it was consumed, often on the day it arrived, and was readily shared among messmates. Newspapers, too, were often shared and were lightweight as well. Clothing could be welcome, yet soldiers were restricted by having to be in uniform. Liquor from home (or, from local sutlers) was generally prohibited.

Finally, even though the following was shipped within Illinois, it shows how things from home were so quickly missed by the soldiers.

Camp Defiance, near Cairo, Illinois, May 30, 1861, to Katey

Wife as Mr. Carmer had many other packages & boxes for our camp he could not bring yours with him but sent it by express, & my dear I had only 1.20 cts & it just took it all to pay the charges. but such a fine big cake was worth 3 times the am’t & I cut it for supper, gave each one a slice in my mess & have a large piece left, wife I have no doubt you would of been pleased, could you have been a little mouse when I set it on the table, such praises the boys did give it you better believe, & now for my say, It was the prettyest cake that I have seen or tasted in Camp since I have been here.

—Soldier “Andrew,” unknown Illinois unit, presumably from Illinois

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Soldiers on U. S. Grant (part 3 of 3) (added 25 March 2022)

Ulysses S. Grant seems to have been the most popular Union general. What did Illinois soldiers think of Grant?

[Nota Bene: Grant’s 200^th birthday is 27 April.]

After Grant’s successful Chattanooga campaign and the culminating victory at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, he was promoted to the highest rank he would receive during the Civil War. On 2 March 1864, president Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general, a rank previously held by only George Washington. This put Grant in command of all the Union armies.[1] Grant’s popularity among the Northern populace was soaring in early 1864.

Athens, Georgia, February 27, 1864, to wife, Millie

The Veterns will not get to vote from Ills but all the Soldiers in this department will go for Lincoln in preference to any other man & I should think that any man who is not a political scoundrel would prefer the same. I dont think Grant would run & I know that no other man will beat Him (Lincoln). I do not believe that there are any abler men for the position than Lincoln

—Assistant Surgeon William Allen, 9th Infantry, Bond County

During the Civil War, General Grant was dedicated to his military duties and thus did not willingly promote himself politically, including not becoming a candidate for the presidency in the 1864 national election.

camp near Rossville, Georgia, April 4, 1864, to “Brother & Sister,” Mr. and Mrs. Owen P. Miles

Time is passing fast again, and ere many days the clash of arms must come again, and I trust it will be for the last time. If General Grant succeeds in taking Richmond I do not think the Rebellion will hold out much longer. With the right on our side we must succeed, and I have no fears of the result. . . . Deserters are not coming in quite so fast at present. We will have to have another fight first I presume and if we succeed in giving them a good threshing again, I think it will make a good many of them feel tired of war again. I wish they would all desert, but that will not happen, for they are I presume about as stubborn as we are, and hate to acknowledge themselves whipped by Lincoln hirelings and small fisted farmers.[2]

—Captain Amos Hostetter, 34th Infantry, Carroll County

General Grant’s “Overland Campaign” in Virginia began with the Battle of the Wilderness (5-7 May 1864). Grant’s losses were greater than those of Confederate general Robert E. Lee’s army, but Grant kept pressing toward Richmond.

Washington, DC, May 13, 1864, to friend, Miss Lovina Eyster

[regarding the Wilderness] The news from Genl Grant on the front is glorious. he seemes determined to fight it out with Lee before he leaves him . . . our losses have ben very heavy . . . [yet Grant is] bound to go ahead[,] all seem to have the strongest confidence in their brave and galant leader. it cannot be possible that the Enemy can hold out much longer if their loss has ben as heavy as ours

—Sergeant Reuben Prentice, 8th Cavalry, Ogle County

General Lee’s lesser losses, in a way, were more costly given the South’s declining ability to replenish its armies’ ranks. The next battle in the campaign was at Spotsylvania Court House (9-21 May), where casualties on both sides were somewhat higher than at the Wilderness. Again, Grant pivoted his forces from that battle and headed further south toward Richmond, and Lee, likewise, did the same to intercept him.

on the flagship Autocrat at Yazoo City, Mississippi, May 20, 1864, to friend, Miss S. A. Moore

we have encourageing nuse [news] from the Army of the potomac Grant appears to be doing things up after the old stile they all appear to think down here he will play the same game on Lee he did on Pemberton at Vicksburg

—Private John McDonald, Mississippi Marine Brigade, Will County

Private McDonald’s reference to “the old stile” meant what Grant’s army achieved at Vicksburg versus Pemberton’s army the previous July. Namely, Grant would battle the Confederate forces toward the city and then commence a siege. When McDonald wrote this, a siege of Petersburg (and nearby Richmond) had not begun but it was coming.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 10, 1864, to sister, Mrs. Ellen E. Hudson

we have news from Grant up to the 2^nd inst [i.e., June] and from Sherman to the 25^th of May[.] from both the news is good and I sincerely hope the beginning of the end of the Rebellion is drawing near[.] I have confidence in Grant and Sherman and I know that they are the right kind of men to end this war sometime for they will not lay around all summer within cannon shot of the rebs without fighting them and hard knocks is just what it is going to take to wind up this affair [i.e., the war] for nice talk and “Strategy” is just about played out

—Sergeant John Burke, 5th Cavalry, Randolph County

Grant’s army suffered its own “hard knocks” through a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Cold Harbor (31 May – 12 June), east of Richmond, at about the time Sergeant Burke was writing his letter. At the conclusion of the battle, Grant once again pivoted his army southward and this time crossed the James River. This strategic positioning allowed Grant’s army to threaten Petersburg, an important Virginia railroad hub, and to begin a siege-like military operation. In the coming months, Grant gradually extended his lines westward, eventually threatening Confederate supply routes to Petersburg and Richmond. This took many months to achieve, with the siege lasting through March 1865. Using Burke’s words, it was essentially this “Strategy” that “played out” Lee’s army, which led directly to the closing of the Civil War in Virginia.

camp near Gravel Springs, North Carolina(?), February 25, 1865, to sister

if all of our Gens. had pulled to gether as Grant and Sherman have, the war would have ended ere this.

—Sergeant Henry Newhall, 4th Iowa Cavalry, Adams County, Illinois

One of the reasons for president Lincoln promoting Grant to lieutenant general in March 1864 was so the combined Union armies would pull together and attack simultaneously to limit the Confederacy’s ability to shift its military forces from one front to another in response. In General Sherman’s case, his army had been advancing through the Carolinas (January – April 1865) while Grant was extending his siege lines south of Petersburg.

Goldsboro, North Carolina, April 9, 1865, to brother and sister

the war seems to be drawing to a focus or an end we have had cheering news now for Several days Grant is Giving the rebs the de_ l [devil] We have emptied the hot beds of South Carolina and Grant of Virginia this Springs Campaign will end it

—Private Pyrrhus Glancy, 16th Infantry, Mercer County

In fact, the day Private Glancy was writing this (9 April), Grant was accepting Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, after’s Lee’s army attempted to escape westward from Richmond (starting 3 April).

Fairfax Court House, Virginia, April 13, 1865, to wife and children

There is a great excitement prevailes throughout the camp in regard to the surrender of Gen. Lees army we just came in from a scout when we heard of the Glorious news of the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Gen Lees army of Northern V^a to Gen Grant. We had been out on a four days scout, (the whole regiment,) and was on our return, and when within about a mile of camp, we heard of the news and an order was given for the column to cheer, and if I ever heard the woods ring it was then. the following day which was yesterday was a ginerel review, and a salute of two hundred was fired on the occasion in honor of the victory.
The battery of six 12 pounders was about 28 minutes in firing 200 guns. the ginerel opinion is that peace will soon follow and the boys will git home.

—Private Reed Davis, 8th Cavalry, Kane County

Indeed, Private Davis and the rest of the 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment was mustered out at Washington, DC, that June. However, the Union’s Virginia victory crescendo of 9 April was quickly followed by the deep trough of president Lincoln’s mortal wounding at Ford’s Theatre and his death the following day (15 April).

Even after the Civil War portion of Grant’s military career was over, Illinois soldiers and many others in the North would long remember his contributions to bringing a long, bitter war to a conclusion that preserved the Union and ended slavery. His popularity continued long enough to be the Republican party’s successful presidential candidate in 1868, when Grant was elected as the youngest president, at that time, at age 46. He was reelected in 1872 and served a second term as the nation’s 18th president.

[1] After the Civil War, Grant was promoted by Congress to full general, which was a newly created rank, on 25 July 1866.

[2] “Lincoln hirelings and small fisted farmers” was a reference to the manual laborers of the North defeating the chivalrous Southerners, or the social class superiors being “whipped by” the inferiors. This likely was meant as a somewhat snarky comment by Captain Hostetter.

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Soldiers on U. S. Grant (part 2 of 3) (added 18 March 2022)

Ulysses S. Grant seems to have been the most popular Union general. What did Illinois soldiers think of Grant?

[Nota Bene: Grant’s 200^th birthday is 27 April.]

Likely due to his previous victories at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, General Grant was not relieved of his command after his retreat from north-central Mississippi in the early winter of 1862/63. In the spring of 1863, Grant tried a different approach to Vicksburg, albeit an inherently risky one.

La Grange, Tennessee, June 5, 1863, to “Respected Brothers, Mother & Sisters”

I ‘spect we will go down to Vicksburgh to assist Gen^l Grant. O what an old heroe he is. “Honor to whom honor is due” and all honor and favor to the brave and vigilant.

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

At the time of Dillon’s letter, Grant had executed his bold Vicksburg operation and, although complete success was another month away, it was plain to see that it would only be a matter of time before the city fell into Union hands.

After some abortive attempts during the first three months of 1863, Grant decided on a southern approach to the citadel that was Vicksburg. To do this, he had to get his army and its initial supplies to the south of the city. In April, Grant marched his army along the west, and somewhat swampy side of the Mississippi River floodplain, past Vicksburg and 40 miles further south, to Hard Times Landing, Louisiana. On 16 April, Union Rear Admiral David Porter’s flotilla of boats, including gunboats and supplies in transports, daringly made it past the Vicksburg defenses at night and subsequently rendezvoused with Grant at Hard Times. By the end of April, those boats were used to ferry over Grant’s army of about 40,000 soldiers to Bruinsburg, Mississippi, to start his land operations toward Vicksburg.

Moving generally to the northeast from the river, within two weeks Grants’ forces battled at Jackson, Mississippi, before turning west to Vicksburg. Jackson had been an immediate object to discourage additional Confederate troops from reaching Vicksburg for defensive purposes. Two days later (16 May), the key Battle of Champion’s Hill was fought against Confederate general Pemberton’s forces from Vicksburg. Ultimately, the tide of the battle went Grant’s way and after that it was a race between the two opposing armies to get to Vicksburg’s defensive works. Two days later, Pemberton’s forces had tried to slow the federal army’s advance with little success and, on 18 May, open battlefield fighting essentially stopped and it turned into a siege.

A few days later, Grant’s early assaults on Vicksburg’s entrenched soldiers were failures. However, no other Confederate army arrived to relieve the city’s defenders. In the end, Pemberton’s army at Vicksburg was starved out. Shortly thereafter, Private Dillon wrote another letter home that described the day of victory.

near Jackson, Mississippi, July 14, 1863, to “Dear & Beloved Mother & Sisters, Friends all”

on the morning of the 4^th of July it was stated authoritatively that Vicksburgh had fallen and had delivered up the Ghost, with all the images of the triumphantless traitor and destroyer of happiness, and trampler of the glorious liberties of a happy nation. During the pre-noon of the 4^th Gen,l Grant fired his signal Guns over one of the greatest of victories ever achieved on the American Continent, and in memory of the birth-day of American Independance!

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

July 4th, 1863, was a glorious day for the Union, especially in combination with the victory at the conclusion of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which occurred the day before. This marked one of the turning points of the war. President Lincoln had said, “See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key. . . . The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.”[1]

near Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 15, 1863, to wife, Celina

Gen. Grant has accomplished a big thing here he has taken all together over Forty thousand [actually around 30,000] Prisioners at Vicksburg & its vicinity & perhaps has killed and wounded fully as many more he wiped the Enemy handsomely in every Battle We have lost our thousand of as brave & good men as the world ever produced Fathers Mothers wives sisters brothers & children are left by thousands to mourn of children husbands brothers & Fathers – They should realize that they gave their lives in a righteous Cause The cause of humanity. They died for their & our beloved country may their memories ever live in the breasts of American people

—Private Jonas Roe, 5th Cavalry, Clay County

With this long-in-coming victory, Grant’s stock as a military leader rose again.

Memphis, Tennessee, July 25, 1863, to sister, Addie Tower

found Genl Grant and his officials very pleasant men to do business with. The Genl Himself is one of the most plain unassuming men [I] have met. does not put on half the agony of some of our Lieutenants, although to-day he is the largest man in America, but four. Earthly fame is uncertain and fortunes wheel is on a turn.

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

The circumstances are unclear how Private Cottle may have crossed paths with General Grant, but Cottle’s description rings true.[2] Someone who knew Grant better described him this way: “His eyes of a clear blue; forehead high; nose aquiline; jaw squarely set, but not sensual. His face has three expressions; deep thought; extreme determination; and great simplicity and calmness.”[3]

Grant’s success at Vicksburg earned him a further promotion: Major General in the U.S. or Regular Army on 16 October 1863.[4] He was soon thereafter assigned to take command at Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the Army of the Cumberland was bottled up by Confederate general Braxton Bragg’s army after Union general William Rosecran’s forces suffered defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia (19-20 September 1863). The Union army’s situation there was unpleasant, to say the least, before and at the time Grant reached Chattanooga on 23 October.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 8, 1863, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

So well, we are all, O.K. in Camp when we can get enuf to eat. This Army has not drawn full Rations but four days Since the Battle [of Chickamauga] and then we onely drawed full Rations of hard Tack I tell you that I never knew what it was to want untill Since the Battle Company C in our regt killed A dog and eat it the other day beefs heads sell for 50 cts apeace and the Boys skim all the beefs tails and make Soup of them this is a fact we cannot buy eny thing for love or money. at Murfreesboro the time of the Battle I eat mule Soup thought that was pretty hard but I have eat worse then that hear. . . . I tell you that the Rebels have got ous [us] in A tight place they shell ous from the front of lookout mountain every day but they dont do much hurt I think Bragg will wake up some of these fine mornings and find himself in A trap. I have had the pleasure of seeing some of them Eastern ducks (Hookers Armey) I have seen Gen. Grant and Gen. Jo. Hooker they are good looking men I hope that we will get Rosecrans back

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

Grant had replaced Rosecrans with Major General George H. Thomas as the commander of the Army of the Cumberland. However, Private Holton’s letter excerpt well-captures the results of the Union army’s supply line woes during that time at Chattanooga. And along with Union general Hooker’s portion of the Army of the Potomac arriving in the area, Confederate Bragg’s position was put under pressure.

First, the supply line issue was remedied shortly after Grant’s arrival at Chattanooga by leveraging the Confederates away from the Tennessee River (27 October 1863), which allowed Union steamboats to reach the besieged city. In mid-November, Union general William T. Sherman arrived with a portion of the Army of the Tennessee. The Union’s Chattanooga campaign started in earnest with Thomas’s Army of the Cumberland forces taking Orchard Knob (23 November 1863) near Bragg’s forward center. The following day Hooker’s troops battled while scaling Lookout Mountain, which was an important part of Bragg’s defensive works on his left flank. Meanwhile Sherman’s forces crossed the Tennessee River on Bragg’s right flank. With the towering Lookout Mountain defenses abandoned, Bragg concentrated his forces along Missionary Ridge in his center. The Chattanooga Campaign culminated with the Battle of Missionary Ridge (25 November 1863).

While the Union armies on the flanks were somewhat stalled in their progress, the attack of Thomas’s army facing Missionary Ridge in the center went differently.

headquarters of the 14th Army Corps, Chattanooga, Tennessee, December 3, 1863

My Dear Mollie [Chapman]
Your tremendous letter of Nov. 7th was received,—as I wrote in my last.— just upon the eve of a battle. In that last letter I told you that we had whipped Bragg and that I was unhurt. I also promised to give you a description of the battle but now that I undertake the task I find it almost impossible for me to express in words the impressions made upon my mind be the terrible but splendid spectacle!
[in describing the battle from recently captured Orchard Knob . . .] Hooker was now ordered to follow the rebs, across Chattanooga valley and strick [strike] them on their left flank by going around by way of Rossville. The rest of the line from the centre to Hooker was moved round parallel to Mission[ary] Ridge. It took Hooker until afternoon to get into his new position. Meanwhile – Sherman, on our extreme left had begun his work at about 8 o’clock in the morning and was fighting desperately all day. Many an anxious glance was thrown towards the part of the ridge where Hooker was to make his assault and all were anxious for the time to come, for all wanted to go to the assistance of Sherman’s brave fellows! At last orders were given for our lines to move up nearer to the rebels and for our skermishers to drive the rebels into their long lines of entrenchments at the foot of Mission[ary] ridge. It was gallantly done, and Gen. Baird’s Division of 14^th Corps (ours) was ordered to assault the enemies works to create a diversion in favor of Hooker who could be heard opening his part of the game. Gallantly those noble men charged across the open field which separated them from the enemy, amidst a perfect storm of shots and shells! They have taken the entrenchments! Here they were ordered to stop. But – no. the balls were flying too thick! They could not stop and live! And absolutely without orders they charged on up the hill! A thrill of anguish past through every frame! “They are lost”! cries Gen. Grant – “Send the whole corps after them”! But long before the order could be carried to the anxious troops – a shout that shook the earth went up from those devoted comrades and forward they rushed upon what seemed to be inevitable destruction! Onward and upward sped those intrepid soldiers! Backward fly the astonished and frightened rebels! Oh! how beautiful those stary flags looked as they fluttered up that steep mountain side covered with bristling bayonets and cannon! What an anguish of suspense we endured [as part of Grant’s battlefield headquarters on Orchard Knob], who stopped at the foot of the hill and watched our lines getting nearer and nearer to the top [of Missionary Ridge] where the final – fierce and bloody struggle must take place! Now the wounded begin to come down! Not, however, crying and groaning with the pain of their wounds – but exulting in the glory and honor they had won on that bloody hillside! No uninjured comrades help their wounded fellows to the rear! No! as long as a man can climb, he must push on for the glorious end – which all now plainly see. – No[w] the top is gained! Do they pause to await the arrival of their slower comrades? No! every man pushes forward into the very mouths of the fierce cannon and with a cheer slay – capture or drive away the rebel artillerists! The enemy, completely “dumb foundered” – fly and our victorious boys start down the hill after them! The victory – the most glorious of the war – is ours! Now rise the soul stiring cheers that tell of gallant deeds accomplished! – “Say, Major, we’ve got 3-4 or 6 – guns how many have the others got?” and such remarks greet every staff officer as he rides swiftly along through the disordered ranks. Yes – we’ve got not only 6 but 56 guns and countless numbers of prisoners and the enemy is every where fleeing in disgrace and terror from the hills they boasted the “yankees” could never take!

—Major David Norton, 42nd Infantry, Cook County

Even though Major Norton emotionally wrote this to a lady friend he was trying to impress, the completeness of the victory can be readily imagined. The result effectively ended Confederate operations in Tennessee and opened Georgia for General Sherman’s Union forces to battle their way toward Atlanta the following spring.

Meanwhile, in early 1864, another promotion was in line for Grant.

[END OF PART 2]

[1] Speaking strategically, President Lincoln stated this to David Dixon Porter long before the Siege of Vicksburg occurred. David Dixon Porter, Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (New York: D. Appleton, 1885), 95-6.

[2] Private Cottle, perhaps due to health issues, spent a fair amount of his military career in detached service, including working in the Memphis, Tennessee, post office sorting military mail.

[3] Written on 8 March 1864, from: David W. Lowe, Meade’s Army: The Private Notebooks of Lt. Col. Theodore Lyman (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006), 107.

[4] He previously was a major general in the U. S. Volunteer Army. Being the same rank in the Regular Army constituted a more permanent position with more authority.

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Soldiers on U. S. Grant (part 1 of 3) (added 11 March 2022)

Ulysses S. Grant seems to have been the most popular Union general. What did Illinois soldiers think of Grant?

[Nota Bene: Grant’s 200^th birthday is 27 April.]

Opinions varied about Grant, depending upon the period and circumstances of the war. Here are several quotations from Illinois soldiers’ letters relative to the Civil War general who became the nation’s eighteenth president.

camp on the Big Black River, Mississippi, April 8, 1864, to nephew, Dennis Cooper

the Restoration of the Governmt minus Slavery is not cheap even at this price [;] a poor beginning for us yet a glorious future awaits us . . . Gen Grant when he served two years as Brevet 2^nd Lieut . . . [Grant and others] have proved that evy [every] man is the architict of his own fortune

—2nd Lieutenant John Dille, 76th Infantry, Iroquois County

A second lieutenant himself, John Dille knew a little something about general Grant’s history. Indeed, Grant graduated in the second half of his class at West Point in 1843 and thereafter started his military career as a brevet second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry. He saw action in the Mexican War and, like several other officers who were part of the U.S. military then, that experience led to a commission in a state volunteer regiment at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.

Camp Yates, Springfield, Illinois, June 21, 1861, to brother

I will now proceed to tell you something about the camp life. we are now pinned down to pritty strict orders, orders quite difrent from that what we had at Camp Grant. Since we have been in camp here, there has been one man shot & one man gagged for disobeying orders evry man has to be out in uniform on duty or dress paraid, or he has to go to the gard house. we have all got our uniform & our months wages.

—Private George Dodd, 21st Infantry, Edgar County

Already that April, Grant’s military credentials (and a good word from Congressman Elihu B. Washburne of Galena, Illinois) earned him an appointment as a military aide to Illinois Governor Richard Yates. However, in mid-June the governor assigned him to command a regiment raised in east-central Illinois and which had a previous colonel who was lax as a military disciplinarian. Colonel Grant found that “the application of a little regular army punishment” went a long way in remedying the 21st Illinois Infantry’s discipline issues.[1] Private Dodd made a reference to “Camp Grant,” which was in Mattoon and had been serendipitously named after U. S. Grant when, as a state recruiting officer, he had mustered in the soldiers there on 15 May 1861.[2]

Subsequently, he became Brigadier General Grant in August and soon thereafter appointed commander of the District of Southeastern Missouri. That early November, Grant gained experience at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, where his command fought to a draw, essentially. While Grant is not mentioned in this (condensed) letter, Quartermaster Ozburn wrote a good overview of the action.

Camp McClernand at Cairo, Illinois, November 10, 1861, to wife, Diza

it was said we was destined for a little town on Mo side of the River (Belmont) we lay all night about Eight miles above. next moving at day light was on the way down the river again. we landed about 3 miles above Columbus on the Mo. side with 3500 men, immediately was formed into line of Battle, and felt our way along for about one mile. when we was formed into line of battle sent out Skirmishers and found the Southerners well posted and ready to receive us. . . . the fight became general and continued so until the Southerners began to retreat towards their Camps which was done in good order keeping up the fire until, the northerners came within range of the guns from Columbus, when they gave the camp up and flanked right and left up and down the river leaving their camp to the Northerners. then the Batteries began to play on our men, when they in turn began to retreat which at first was slow in order, but became more and more uncontroleable, until, all was in a mass of confusion. . . . [soon afterwards] at the time we was going aboard of the boats. . . . [and] Mr Secesh came up and commen[c]ed fire on us. while a portion was yet on the bank, myself among them we rushed for the boat. (I was riding) the boats commen[c]ed shoveing off I tried to rush my horse on but, the Staging was droping off the Bank. I left my horse and took to my heels, and got aboard by this time the fire was general from the Boats and the Bank, and the gun boats was all that Saved us from being shot like hogs. . . .
the Battle is over I think I seen more that was going on than any man on the ground, . . . but was unhurt. the Victory or Defeat I will leave for the papers to decide

—Quartermaster Lindorf Ozburn, 31st Infantry, Jackson County

Regarding the retreat to the boats on horseback, Grant mentioned his own experience while mounted. “The captain of a boat that had just pushed out, but had not started, recognized me, and ordered the engineer not to start the engine; he then had a plank run out for me. My horse seemed to take in the situation. There was no path down the bank, and every one acquainted with the Mississippi River knows that its banks, in a natural state, do not vary at any great angle from the perpendicular. My horse put its fore feet over the bank without hesitation or urging, and, with his hind feet well under him, slid down the bank and trotted aboard the boat, twelve or fifteen feet away, over a single gang-plank.”[3] Here, Grant seemed to be giving most of the credit to the horse but, throughout the war, he proved to be an able equestrian.

Neither side had gained a lasting military advantage at Belmont, and Grant returned to Cairo, Illinois, his base of operations at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In February 1862, Grant’s expeditionary forces captured two Confederate forts in Tennessee: Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River and, more grandly, Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. At the latter, his forces captured 12,000 Confederates, sending a sudden surge of prisoners north into the Union, where most were placed in make-shift confinement camps, including in Illinois. After these twin victories, he was promoted to Major General.

In the second half of March, Grant led the Army of the Tennessee up the Tennessee River to encamp near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, as a prelude to beginning military operations against Corinth Mississippi. However, Confederate general Albert Sydney Johnston’s army struck first, taking the federals nearly completely by surprise on the first day of the Battle of Shiloh. The fighting was fierce, and it was a near thing by the end of the first day, with the Confederates close to routing the federals. Overnight, Union reinforcements arrived, and the second day was the opposite story, with the Confederates routed and retreating back to Corinth. Initially, Washington DC and the rest of the North were elated with the news until the cost of the victory was known. The Battle of Shiloh resulted in high casualties: roughly 11,000 for the Confederates and 13,000 for the Union (killed, wounded, and missing). Grant’s leadership at Shiloh came into question from critics both high and low.

Tiptonville, Tennessee, April 16, 1862, to wife, Ellen

The Battle at Pittsburgh appears to be the most exciting thing now and a great deal of Censure is laid upon Genl Grant for allowing himself to be surprised by the enemy and driven back The fact of the business is that Grant was drunk at the time of that attack (I suppose) and had neglected to post his Pickets for the last two days previous to the attack. . . . The consequence was that our men were thrown into a panic and it is the greatest wonder in the world that the whole Army was not captured. If the thing is as it has been represented, then Genl Grant is responsible for all the life that was lost at Pittsburgh and should be tried by Court Martial and hung or shot. He came very near being dismissed for Conduct at the Fort Donelson fight. It is said he was drunk there and came very near losing the Battle by mismanagement. And what in the name of Common Sense even induced them to reinstate him is more than I can see.

—Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Miles, 47th Infantry, Tazewell County

Rumors of Grant’s drunkenness, which lingered from his pre–Civil War days at Fort Humboldt in the Oregon Territory, were recirculated. After Shiloh, President Lincoln was pressured to remove Grant from his command, but he famously retorted: “I can’t spare this man; he fights.”[4]

In the fall of 1862, Grant was back in command of forces that moved into northern Mississippi in an attempt to ultimately take Vicksburg, on the Mississippi River. During this campaign, his long line of supply, particularly through northern Mississippi, was vulnerable. Successful cavalry raids and attacks by Confederate generals Earl Van Dorn at Holly Springs, Mississippi (20 December 1862) and Nathan Bedford Forrest in Tennessee (destroyed railroad and telegraph lines in Tennessee, mid-December) convinced Grant to pull back his army to Tennessee that winter.

camp near the Tallahatchie River, Mississippi, January 4, 1863, to wife, Hattie

As we get no mail of course we get no news & our camp life here is as dull as it can well be & only relieved now & then by guard duty or by a forage out in the country which is already relieved of nearly everything eatable & some of the citizens are upon the point of Starvation so that in several cases they have been obliged to come to our camps for relief – where of course they got but very little – Gen^l Grant in a late order says that if starvation must come upon either the citizens here or the soldier that then the citizen must bear it – & no doubt some of them will suffer – which would not have been the case had they not destroyed the R.R. – We have all sorts of reports in camp & I know it would make folks at home laugh could they hear the men speculating about the war – Some days we hear that peace is made & that Vicksburg, Richmond & several other places are taken & then everybody is laughing & in good spirits about going home -, but perhaps the next day we hear that our men are getting whipped everywhere & that there is no prospect of the war,s closing for years to come & then every body is cross & out of humor while there is no small amount of swearing done at the seeming awkward slowness of our Genl^s – As for myself I don’t believe anything now until I actually see it – or at least – hear it from a source that cannot be contradicted

—1st Sergeant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

With Grant’s army put in check in the Western theater of war, combined with a dismal federal defeat in Virginia at the Battle of Fredericksburg (13 December 1862), the Union and its military entered a gloomy winter. Shumway’s letter reflected that mood: low local food supplies due to the war, destruction of parts of the railroads, and despair about “the seeming awkward slowness of our Genl^s.” Grant did not resume his Vicksburg campaign, in earnest, until April 1863.

Holly Springs, Mississippi, January 8, 1863, to sister, Addie Tower

As far as I can judge Grants expedition into Mississippi has proved an entire failure. Cannot see that he has accomplished anything, except to carry off their cotton, drive off their stock, and otherwise empoverish the country through which his army passed. While they destroyed the Rail Road in his rear cutting of his communications and destroying several hundred thousand dollars worth of Government property. Grants entire army except this division (the fourth) is now withdrawn from the state. quite a large po[r]tion of it has gone down the river

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

Private Cottle wrote this about the same time as sergeant Shumway’s letter, and he expressed similar sentiments. Cottle’s last statement – “quite a large portion of it has gone down the river” – likely refers to General Sherman’s portion of Grant’s army. When Cottle wrote this, he did not realize that Sherman had been soundly defeated at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou (27-29 December 1862), north of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Perhaps due to the Confederates’ raiding and supply disruptions, Sherman himself was unaware that Grant was pulling back his troops to Tennessee, making the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, in retrospect, somewhat unnecessary.

[1] Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, 2 volumes (New York: The Century Co., 1895), 1:195.

[2] There is an Illinois State Historical Society marker at 17^th and Broadway streets in Mattoon commemorating this event. There is a separate marker for Mattoon’s Civil War Camp Grant.

[3] Grant, Memoirs, 1:226.

[4] Alexander K. McClure, Abraham Lincoln and Men of War-Times, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Times Publishing, 1892), 180.

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One soldier’s love letters (part 4 of 4) (added 4 March 2022)

It seems some Illinois soldiers tried wooing from afar through their personal letters to lady friends and potential fiancées. There is an interesting example in your book of a Civil War period courtship; were there any other interesting examples?

At the conclusion of the previous posting on 25 February, James’s regiment had participated in a series of battles as part of the Atlanta Campaign. In the following letter, James described some of the battle aftermath in Georgia.

Kingston, Georgia, May 20, 1864

Our loss has been very heavy the dead in many places covering the ground for acres, but the rebel loss is much heavier. in there retreat they left a great many of there dead and wounded behind. . . .
here, only one great consolation is that our mail follows us. I had three letters today and read them while on the skirmish line laying behind a log to keep the Rebs from shooting me. . . .
Lizzie you said that some one had told when home, that I had showed your letters. well I pity him poor fellow, for it is a falsehood. he will have his Reward. Please say who he was and who he told this to and I promise that I will never mention this to any one but you as I dont care for it at all. . . .
I wrote to you on the third and 11^th of this month and then again today. I do not know whether they reach you or not I have heard that they were stoped at Nashville till this Campaigne was over. this I think is a good thing as some information might be sent that would be of use to the enemy

—Corporal James Crawford

Sharing information (or not) from Lizzy’s letters with fellow soldiers was a theme being repeated here. His concluding statement – “some information might be sent that would be of use to the enemy” – from soldiers’ letters is interesting, but it was an unfounded fear. Civil War soldiers’ letters were uncensored by the military (with prisoner-of-war letters being a notable exception). If the Confederates, for example, captured a sack of Union mail, they likely would go through the mail, albeit looking for “greenbacks” or other valuables. Even if they wanted to find military information from the soldiers’ mail, it would take them days to go through it all and then much of the military intelligence would be common rumors or mistaken information. It would have been mainly a waste of time and resources for an army to censor its own out-going Civil War mail.

near Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 20, 1864

today our Regt is the front line and under continual fire all the time I have fired 50 rounds and now sit down to rest, behind the works to rest and will write you a few lines while resting. . . .
But How changed the scene since this time last year. then I was at home enjoying the company of friends and relatives one year ago (day after tomorrow) I was at home [waiting to be, or shortly after being, exchanged as a parolee]. the night I spent with you, that night I never shall forget. No, amid the shouts of the victorious and Shriekes of the wounded, my mind will often turn to that night. . . .
no more But remains your affectionate &^c [&^c = etc.] James G. Crawford

—Corporal James Crawford

Part of this same letter contained descriptions of the fighting near Kennesaw Mountain (which culminated in a battle on 27 June). Around this time in his letters to Lizzy, instead of something like “best respects to all friends much love to you from your affectionate lover,” James wrote “your affectionate &^c” where the “et cetera” meant lover and so forth. Perhaps James was more pressed for time during the Atlanta Campaign as a reason for his shorthand sign-offs, or this was for him more of the “same old, same old,” since he had been writing to her for almost two years at the time of this letter.

The following letter was written the day before the Battle of Atlanta.

camp in front of Atlanta, Georgia, July 21, 1864

—Corporal James Crawford

One of the most frustrating things for Illinois soldiers was the lack of unified support back home for their efforts and personal sacrifices in putting down the rebellion. Many soldiers in their letters expressed their reactions to what they perceived as sympathy for the Confederacy, some of which came to their attention through newspapers sent from home. Also in this letter, James mentioned how fatiguing the Atlanta Campaign had become among the soldiery. Not surprisingly, that likely had an effect on the timeliness of the mail.

near Atlanta, Georgia, August 18, 1864

the last letter I received from you was on the 20^th of July. it is now nearly a month and I have almost given up hope geting any more But I feel it to be my duty to continue to write a few lines to you when circumstances will permit. Has [As] you remember Lizzie you said in a letter I received, on or about the 20^th of Jan^y that if I never received another letter from you to rest assured that you would still prove true and still be my sun. Now with this assurance I can write often very often and feel happy if your letters do not Come as often But do not understand that I do not wish to see your letters, not by any means, for nothing affords me more pleasure to pruse [peruse?] a letter from you . . .
[added in small writing at the bottom of the page]
Aug 19^th 64
The rail road is reported torn up at, we hear Dalton, and from this, as some other cause there is no mail tonight and may not be for several days so I will close we have orders to move at a minutes notice. and if mail was to come tommorow I will not get to send this off. from yours JGC

—Corporal James Crawford

Confederate general John Bell Hood had been elevated to command the Southern forces (Army of Tennessee) near the close of the Atlanta Campaign. Once Atlanta fell, general Hood decided to take the remainder of his army north to Tennessee in an attempt to draw off Union general Sherman’s troops from the Atlanta area. What happened instead was a portion of Sherman’s army was sent back to assist in the defense of Nashville, while the bulk of them were used, starting in mid-November, to march southeast through Georgia to the port city of Savannah. While Hood’s army headed northwest to Tennessee, they destroyed Union army infrastructure, such as parts of the railroad, between Atlanta and Chattanooga. Dalton, mentioned in James’s letter, is about thirty miles southeast of Chattanooga. In the more immediate term, James’s regiment remained in the Atlanta area.

12 miles southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, August 29, 1864

It is all true that I get the news from another source, but still a letter from you is none the less appreciated on that account. no: rather I long to get one from you, and always prize it above all others I received. . . . I only mean that there are kind friends at home that have not forgotten me.

—Corporal James Crawford

near Atlanta, Georgia, September 29, 1864

By the time this letter reaches you you will be enjoying yourself at the Fairs, Sanitary as Agricultural. I wish you a happy time, with many kind friends to greet you. When there think of me. And always Remember that although we are far from each other my heart is always with you and if from this day till the day I die I should neve[r] see you or hear from you I will never forget you. I am very sorry Lizzie that your letters have Ceased to Come, or if they do Come they are no[t?] far apart, that it almost seems as if you had forgoten me. do write oftener. . . .
There is a good many bets being made on the Coming Election. we took a vote in our Regt. There was 2,65 for Lincoln and 26 for McClellan and 21 that did not Vote. some were too young some from some cause and some from another would not Vote C^o,s D, G, & H went unanimous for Lincoln Co A had 6 McClellan Co B 12 Co I, 3 which Co,s gave the other 5 votes for McClellan I do not know. . . .
the rail road is cut in three different places between here and Chattanooga the Telagraph wire is also gone up. the last dispatch that came says that the Rebels had a corp[s] of Inft, and a large Ba[t]ch of Cavalry in our rear. Now this is true then our fall Campain = if there be any = will in all likelihood be in the rear.

—Corporal James Crawford

These are excerpts from the last two letters from James to Lizzy in the Crawford letters collection. However, he did write to his parents and brothers during the remainder of his army enlistment, which went until June 1865. Here are some excerpts from those letters that describe the rest of James’s military experiences. In this next quotation, James described the winter quarters he shared with a few of his fellow soldiers.

Pulaski, Tennessee, November 16, 1864, to mother

I was in hopes that I Could have sent you some “Green Backs” before this time but as yet there is no sign of them. true we have signed the Pay Rolls but are not paid on them yet. and I assure you I have no Idea when we will get any But I keep Cool about it you see there is one Consolation every day makes the pile larger . . .
we have very Comfortable Qurs [quarters] at this place our house is about ten by seven in the far end of it is our bunk made across ways of the building it is about 3 feet wide in front of this we have a Bench to sit on then in the front of the house is the Chimney built of rock and Brick and a door and morover the door is hung on Hinges of leather. we also have a plank above the fire place for a mantle Board. Our ornaments on this is plates Cups Coffee pot and the like.

—Corporal James Crawford

James’s 80^th Illinois Infantry Regiment was part of the forces Sherman sent back toward Nashville. (Pulaski is about 70 miles south of Nashville.)

Nashville, Tennessee, December 1, 1864, to parents

on the 23^d ult [November] at midnight we evacuated Pulaski the Rebels being tolerable well round us and Came to Columbia a distance of about 33 miles the rebels close after us there we staid over two or 3 days when [Manuscript damage – we?] again got flanked, and left there [MS damage – on?] the night of the 29^th Coming to Franklin a distance of 28 mile with out stopping to rest or Eat. the rebels got so far round us this time as to take part of our train and[?] cut of[f] the rest[?] we beat them to Franklin about two hours Tempory works were hurriedly Constructed and here the rebels Come on our left. massed for the charge the[y] made repeated attacks on our lines but were driven back with terrible los[ses?] they took our works at one place but were not allowed to hold them long. so close did they come at one time that some of them were stabed through with the bayonet the Rebel loss is supposed to be between 5 and 6,000 while ours is much lighter last night we moved out at the dead of night and Come safe to this place the Rebels followed us pretty [MS damage – close?] for a while but have not showed themselfs at this place yet. “we are ready if they come” This is a grand affair to get safely back. Hood’s army being three times as large as ours Rosecrans has arrived at this place with about 60,000 troops so look out Hood! You seem to think that I start out to soon after being sick I think so too. but this is not like home when the Horn blows fall in, we fall in. When I left Pulaski I started with three doses of blue Masse in me and a dose of salts in my pocket and Carried my knapsack and marched at nights and make works in the day time, and I am not well yet! but am recovering slowly

—Corporal James Crawford

James was re-counting the (second) Battle of Franklin (30 November 1864), which was where Hood’s Confederate army engaged Union forces under Major General John Schofield.[1] At that battle, Hood committed a large portion of his army to either destroy the Union army or prevent it from reaching its defensive fortification in and around Nashville. As James described, the Confederates were unsuccessful and also suffered heavy losses. James’s estimate of “Rebel loss” was approximately correct.

James also stated his parents thought “that I start out to[o] soon after being sick.” He also wrote having had “three doses of blue Masse.” Blue mass or calomel was composed of mercurous chloride and used to treat both constipation and diarrhea as well as dysentery. A potential side effect was mercury poisoning, and the benefits of blue mass often were less than its dangerous side-effects.[2]

Huntsville, Alabama, March 11, 1865, to parents

But since I Came to this Camp and for some time before that I have had very poor health I have just had quite a severe attack of “dysentery” but I believe I am recovering a little the Dr. did,nt give me any medicine yesterday as today and that is a good “omen” . . . But to tell the truth I have seen very few right well days since last October, although very few have known it.

—Corporal James Crawford

Clearly, James had been suffering from a debilitating illness and it is possible it had been dysentery or chronic diarrhea all along. Chronic diarrhea could last for weeks, months, or even years, and it was fatal in about a quarter of the cases during the Civil War.[3]

Greeneville, Tennessee, April 7, 1865, to brothers

I thank you most sincerely for the money you proposed sending if I wished to come home, but am happy to be able to say that I am in tolerable health again and will I think stand it very well till my time expires. the fact is I dont want to come home till my time is out.

—Corporal James Crawford

Greeneville, Tennessee, is west of Knoxville. Subsequently, James was mustered out on 10 June 1865 at Fort Harker (formerly named Fort Negley), near Nashville, Tennessee.

It is somewhat curious why James wrote to his brothers in April that “I don’t want to come home till my time is out.” Did he need the additional corporal’s salary? Did he need to recover more fully recover from his long-term illness? Or, was he simply committed to staying with the army until he would be normally discharged?

In this Crawford collection, James’s last letter to Lizzy was written near the end of September 1864, perhaps about the same time his illness began. This could simply be a coincidence. Perhaps he wrote some or maybe even many letters to Lizzy during the period of his protracted illness and they were not saved or otherwise not part of this donated letter collection. In short, one cannot conclude that James and Lizzy stopped writing to each other during this period, or that James was trying to hide or downplay his illness relative to Lizzy.

James received his final pay and discharge from the army in mid-June 1865 in Springfield, Illinois. I do not know exactly when James arrived home and saw Lizzy again. Among the letters and papers of the Crawford collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is an 11-page typed manuscript that represents James’s autobiography, composed in 1922 and which James had written in a small book. In it, James parsimoniously stated that “When the war was over I returned to my old home and resumed work in my father’s farm till November 16, 1865, when I was united in marriage to Martha Elizabeth Wilson of the same County in which I lived.” Prior to that statement, his autobiography included nothing about Lizzy nor anything about their courtship. Perhaps that was something too private to expound upon in 1922. Perhaps between June and November 1865, James was still regaining his health or he needed to earn more money before marrying Lizzy. It is simply unknown. In the “Dear Lizzie” book, it was expressed this way by Ethel Crawford Parker, one of James’s daughters: “true to the words in his letter of Aug. 20, 1864, they did ‘meet and all was explained satisfactory’” once James returned home.

In the remainder of his brief autobiography, James mentioned his health and his growing family. The couple initially rented a farm in Randolph County. “I had incurred some debt in getting teams, farming, farming utensils, etc and hoped and expected to raise enough to feed family and stock through the year besides paying off the debt incurred, but it was ordered differently . . .” He sold out of farming and took a job in the city. However, he later missed farming and James, Lizzy, and a baby moved back into the countryside. However, the “Ague [malaria] being very prevalent in the country and I suffering from it month after month . . . my wife and babies . . . set [out] . . . westward landing in Kansas, January 6, 1870, [James was] broken in health and fortune.” He arrived there first, followed by Lizzy and children in April, after James had tried different jobs and looked for housing. He was elected as a local Constable, which provided a minimal living wage. He found work among the various lumber companies in the area. In 1889, he became the Postmaster of Burden, Kansas, which is about 40 miles southeast of Wichita. Picking up his story around the mid-1890s, “my wife and I worked mutually together to raise our family comfortably and give them a high school education. The children were now beginning to enter manhood and womanhood, begining to choose life’s partners. Soon three daughters-in-law were added to our family then a son-in-law, following in close order came another daughter-in-law and lastly another son-in-law. Grandchildren soon invaded our home and it seemed only a little while till great grand children were prattling on our knees. One by one the children left the old home, building nests of their own engaging in various activities with much success, leaving us just as we were when married in 1865.”

This is James and Lizzie on the day of their 50^th wedding anniversary, in Kansas in 1915. (Author’s image of photograph, courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.)

Lizzy died in 1922, and James, according to Ethel Crawford Parker, died “on September 10, 1934, at the age of ninety-one years, being at that time the last remaining member of Co. G and also of the 80th Regiment, Illinois.” James and Lizzy were both buried at Highland Cemetery near Winfield, Kansas.

[1] James Crawford was part of the 80^th Illinois Infantry Regiment, which at Franklin was part of the Fourth Army Corps (commanded by Major General David S. Stanley), First Division, 3^rd Brigade.

[2] Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine (New York: Routledge, 2015), 58.

[3] Schroeder-Lein, Civil War Medicine, 86-7.

———————————————————————————————————————

One soldier’s love letters (part 3 of 4) (added 25 February 2022)

At the end of my 18 February posting, James had survived the Battle of Chattanooga, but was missing being home for Christmas in 1863. In early 1864, James wrote about a baker in Tennessee.

Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, January 9, 1864

Dear Lizzie . . .
we have some gay looking galls [gals] on this hill! There was one they Call jane that dose the most of our baking that can just do things up according to style! It is now the whole go among the boys when they draw flour to hear one say to the other, are you going down to Jane,s to get your flour baked. I think if you only saw her once you would get jealous right away, and be afraid to trust me away here, but you must excuse me if I do say a little about the girls some times as I must get some thing to fill my paper with.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

In the above, “the whole go” roughly means “the thing to do.” In some of his previous letters “to fill my paper,” James would copy some song lyrics or include a bit of poetry that Lizzy may have liked. I doubt she would have enjoyed reading about “going down to Jane’s,” even if James wrote it in jest.

This framed daguerreotype of Corporal James G. Crawford was taken around August 1863, when he was 20 years old. His brass buttons and “80” cap insignia may have been hand-tinted by the studio that created the original image. (Image by author; daguerreotype courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.)

Just ten days later, James wondered if Lizzie was okay.

Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, January 19, 1864

I think there must be something wrong or I should have had a letter from you before this time. . . . no letter from you since the one as of the date the 26^th of Nov – 63. and Cannot imagine what can be the matter. . . . Lizzie you must be sick or some wonderful change must have taken place, . . . Dear Lizzie if you have stoped writing through offence, please let me know where in the error lies. If I get no answer to these few lines I must stop writing as I may only be imposing on good nature. . . . I have to receive a letter from you above any one on earth.

—Corporal James Crawford

Like most Illinois Civil War soldiers, James suggested it could be his correspondent’s fault or circumstances, instead of the vagaries of the wartime postal service, as the reason for presumed missed letters. Perhaps that is because he had a better chance of influencing the former compared to the latter?

James found himself writing back to Lizzie later that same day, backpedaling a bit.

Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, January 19, 1864

Lizzie,
you must excuse me for being so fast in supposing you to be offended. I expect I will have to take back about one side of the letter written today as I have just received your letter of Jany first. It has been fifteen days on the road being mailed the 4^th . . . I assure you I felt all right when I found that you were all well. . . . It is now late and all the boys on picket are fast asleep except the sentinel on post. I write this by the light of the fire as Candle is played out, just now at “our house” [i.e., shebang or hut, in winter quarters]

—Corporal James Crawford

As Valentine’s Day approached, he mentioned that some of “the boys” were in a jovial mood.

Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, January 25, 1864

I got uneasy about it and had to say something, but do not get offended at that [earlier letter], as [“]offence taken through letter is hard to remedy”. . . .
some of the boys are preparing “mock Valentines” to send somewhere about that time, while some are reading the [news]papers some playing ball &c . . .
It appears from the Chester paper [local newspaper from Randolph County, IL] and also from other sources that, The young folks that I am acquainted with are all going to get married or have already done so. It is laughable to hear the boys when any marraige is announced. they will aloud, well there,s my gall, gone at last. I wonder why she couldent wait on me. I have not saw account of “my girl” being married yet some one will say, while another will tell him to hold on he seen her “advertised” in the Chester Papers . . . I say: make hay while the sun shines; for when the soldiers get home the sun will cease to shine as far as they – the boys at home I mean, – are concerned.

—Corporal James Crawford

Regarding “mock Valentines,” James was likely referring to Valentine’s cards or verses that were farcical or even caustic in terms of personal messages. (How caustic? I invite the reader to put “vinegar Valentines” into an Internet search-engine for some examples.) “The boys” could have been writing these cards lampooning Valentine’s Day out of boredom or spite (or both).

On the day before Valentine’s Day, James sent some charitable words to Lizzie over something “amiss.”

camp near Blue Springs, Tennessee, February 13, 1864

you said to forgive you for the way you have acted. Well I assure you that if you have done anything amiss, I must heartily forgive you But Lizzie I never thought you wronged me in the slightest. what I said I said entirely without thought . . . as it was foolishness in me to do so. Now Lizzie about this thing of re-enlisting dont trouble yourself about that, for I alwa[y]s finish one contract before I make another. so I will serve my 3 years before I aggree to serve 3 other years.

—Corporal James Crawford

By now, dear readers, you probably have noticed a pattern of overreaction and retraction on either James’s or Lizzie’s part. Again, bear in mind, these are young people likely in love for the first time, far apart, during a civil war, and waiting many days (and sometimes weeks) in between sent-and-received missives. What could possibly go wrong?!

camp at Blue Springs, Tennessee, March 16, 1864

you talked of the soldiers behaving so bad [perhaps on furlough at home]. I was sorry to hear this but not in the least surprised. if you had seen as much of the soldier as I have seen you would not be in the least surprised. but I am willing to say that our Reg^t is as clear of drinking as any in the service you said that if a soldier drunk you wanted him to stay away from you. I heartily aggree with you in this as habits contracted in the army are hard to leave of, and will be apt to bring the individual to ultimate ruin.

—Corporal James Crawford

Suffice it to state that alcohol use and alcoholism were not uncommon among Civil War soldiers. Later in this same letter, James wrote more romantically.

camp at Blue Springs, Tennessee, March 16, 1864

Now about that lock of hair, well to be candid about it I Cant send it this time. you may think this strange but I have just been to the barbers, and am minus locks. not that I deny you the favor no not by any means, but then I Cannot produce the article! But, though I can[n]ot grant this request yet.
While the soldiers life I,m leading
And thy smiles no more I see
In my brightest midnight visions
Oft I dream dear one of thee
How my sad heart beat with rapture
How my bosom thrilled with bliss
When on that still summer,s evening
I received your farewell kiss.
———————————————–
Yet once more I hope to meet thee
When my soldiers life is o,er
and in friendships name to greet thee
As I have in days of yore
————————————
But I guess I’ll have to get another piece to finish with [end of page]

—Corporal James Crawford

Again, couples exchanging locks of hair, when apart, was a romantic and mutual reminder of their love. It also was something physical that might be worn in a locket, say. Except in James’s case, he was asked at an unfortunate moment, having just had an army haircut. So, he tried to ameliorate the moment with some quoted poetry . . . and then ran out of paper. James likely found the poem in a magazine or newspaper. (I have seen other instances where Illinois soldiers quoted or included poems in their letters to loved ones at home.)

Perhaps because of the sometimes-long lag between sent-and-received letters, James and Lizzie seemed to get stuck on some of the same awkward topics.

Blue Springs, Tennessee, April 4, 1864

Now Lizzie you seem to doubt my word when I say that I have never showed your letters to any one again you said you did not expect that lock of hair when you asked for it because you had never asked for but two things off me and the lock of hair you had not got and this other I cant answer for myself how long it was before I sent it. yes Lizzie I can do it. . . .
you also say that I might be excusable for not sending that lock of hair now Lizzie without some excuse I could not withhold anything from you. now Lizzie I can not at all [get] angry at what you have written as that will do no good but let me ask you privately yes Lizzie let me whisper it to you as a friend and lover do you not think you did me a wrong useing the expressions you did toward me. Remmember Lizzie that harsh words are like the hail which beat the herbage to the ground. Kind words cost but little. so then Dear Lizzie let me beseech you always to use them and you will never be sorry for it. never let a cross word be passed between us . . .
you know that I promised to send you a likeness as soon as I come out this last time the first opportunity I did so. and never thought that what I said about the lock of hair would be taken as disdain as I would not have said it!

—Corporal James Crawford

Meanwhile, Lizzie found a way to continue her education.

Blue Springs, Tennessee, April 20, 1864

I was glad to learn that you were going to attend school this summer. It is certainly the best thing you can do, and you will never have reason to repent going.

—Corporal James Crawford

In an earlier letter, it seems that Lizzie may have been doing some teaching, perhaps at a local grade school in Randolph County.

One of James’s letters was about his involvement in the beginnings of the Atlanta Campaign, which culminated in the Battle of Atlanta in July 1864.

near Dalton Gap, Tennessee, May 11, 1864

Dear Lizzie
your favor of the 29^th ult. [ult. = ultimo, meaning “of the previous month”] came to hand monday night and you have no idea how much good it done me to read it. you may wish to know in what situation it found me well, it found me on the battle field, where I am at the present time. Standing with the trusty musket in hand our accoutrements on musketry firing in front cannonading on the right, and many other things to excite the nerves of the strongest man. But here comes a letter from some one dear to me, and lying down to escape the enemys bullets or shells, I can hear kind words whispered to me from home.

—Corporal James Crawford

What a nice image James pens here! Despite all the battlefield ruckus, Lizzie’s letter transported his mind to the serenity of home. This statement helps put into perspective how valuable it was for soldiers to receive letters from home, and especially from loved ones.

However, the Atlanta Campaign had begun in earnest and James would find himself in more battles, when there was less leisure time for writing to Lizzie. In the next and final installment of this series, war will have a wearing effect on James, as it did on so many combatants, including the soldiers from Illinois.

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One soldier’s love letters (part 2 of 4) (added 18 February 2022)

These are images of the daguerreotypes of James Garvin Crawford and Martha Elizabeth (Lizzy/Lizzie) Wilson in 1863 and 1862, respectively. They are from the cover of a 1978 self-published book (by a descendant of James) titled “Dear Lizzie” and it contains transcriptions of all the letters in the “Crawford collection” in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s holdings, which were donated by the family.[1]

In the 11 February posting, James had popped a question to Lizzy just before he departed to rejoin his regiment in St. Louis, after having been a prisoner of war for a brief period. Here is his reminder to Lizzy about that moment.

Schofield Barracks at St. Louis, Missouri, June 25, 1863

But I must close this letter as news are scarce, and to write what is termed love letters is a thing I am not in the habit of doing. be sure and answer this as soon as Conv[en]ient and let me know what Conclusion you have Come to Concerning what I asked you on the night we parted. and if it only Comes in the affirmative how happy I will be. give my respects to all friends. I send my love to you no more but remain yours affectionately
Jas G. Crawford

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

As a reminder, Lizzy would have been age seventeen in June of 1863. Was it a marriage proposal? Or, was it something a little less, such as a pledge to be true to each other until James could come back after his military duty was completed? Also, had he spoken to Lizzy’s father about any marriage intentions? If not, that could be a reason why it might not have been an “official” proposal.

His regiment was sent to Nashville, Tennessee, where he wrote about how he had spent the 4th of July listening to the singing of patriotic songs and a reading of the Declaration of Independence. He also mentioned war progress and thoughts about home afterwards.

Nashville, Tennessee, July 13, 1863

there is plenty of rebel soldiers brought in every day. I think from all appearances this rebelion is nigh [at] an end. God Grant that this may be the case. and may our prayers be that he will give Victory to the right. if it was over and all get to return home how many fo[u]nd mothers and loving & faithful wives, would press there loved ones to there bosoms and exclaim, the last is found and them that were dead are made alive. . . .
you must excuse all blunders and every fault as there is no chance to write here. today I am writing with a rock for a table, and it is not a very nice thing.

—Corporal James Crawford

Later that same month, something Lizzy had written to him made James feel more amorous.

Nashville, Tennessee, July 24, 1863

it tickles me considreble to hear of [James’s friend] Baird, saying if I Could get as good looking girl as Lizzy wilson, he need not be discouraged. . . . here I will state that it was not only your beauty that I adored. For as the Poet says, I knew fulwell the folded snake Beneath the rose its bed, Could make [perhaps referring to Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” – “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”] – I had known many girls and went often with them but never have I seen one that there ways and maners pleased me like yours do. I loved you from the first time I ever seen you and promise that that [sic] love shall be growing stronger every day and will do all in my power to make you happy, through life.

—Corporal James Crawford

The “make you happy, through life” bit, makes it seem like his above question was one about spending their lives together. And possibly he was trying to encourage an affirmative answer here? But also, possibly, she had not given an answer to James yet. If that was the case, it may have been that it was not within her power to give an answer. Conceivably, that answer had to come from Lizzy Wilson’s parents, and her father in particular.

In the meantime, they still had their tokens of mutual affection.

[probably from] Nashville, Tennessee, August 5, 1863

Dear Lizzy
I here send you the likness that I promised when at home and I think this one is very true. you Can either wear it out ward or wear it next your heart as you see fit, or lay it away and keep it for my sake.

—Corporal James Crawford

At Nashville, there would have been ample opportunity for James to have his picture taken. James would have sent a “carte-de-visite,” which was a relatively inexpensive, small image mounted on card stock. Its 2.125 × 3.5–inch size would have easily fit into the letter envelopes of the day. In his next letter, he made a suggestion regarding his image.

Nashville, Tennessee, August 5, 1863

the one [picture] I sent to you you can either wear or lay it past just as you please if you do wear it, I would ask of you to wear the pin outward an[d] the likness next your heart.

—Corporal James Crawford

By 17 August, James was already writing back to Lizzy, after hearing from her, that she was pleased with his “favor” to her. However, by the following month, apparently Lizzy had fallen ill.

Fort Negley near Nashville, Tennessee, September 6, 1863

Dear Lizzy I hope when these few lines reaches you that you may be restored to your wanted health and stren[g]th, and the sickness may be entirely removed from that Community. . . . Believe me to be your true lover affectionately James . . . Crawford

—Corporal James Crawford

Apparently, she had recovered and ten days later he reported receiving a gift from Lizzy.

Camp on Crow Creek, Alabama, September 16, 1863

Joseph Ta[y]lor [fellow Co. G soldier from Randolph County] arrived last night, bringing with him your gift. I was truly surprised to see it. I would here say something about the favor shown me, but pen cannot tell how I appreciate the present sent by the dearest one to me on earth. accept the warmest thanks, and the best wishes of an ever true lover Dear Lizzy you said when I get your likness not to brake it, but look at it and think how Cool I acted with you when at home if I did it was not out of any hard feeling or ill will toward you. by no means, the only nights I was absent from home I was with you, and would have been oftener had Circunstances permited as for writing sweet letters is Concerned I cannot say much about that. I expect my letters may seem very dry to you, but you must look over all errors and pick out the best pieces.

—Corporal James Crawford

Joseph Taylor may have been home on furlough and able to deliver her picture to James directly. Nevertheless, James felt obliged to explain, somewhat apologetically, how he acted last June at home after being paroled and exchanged. While it is unclear if it was the case here, sometimes things written in jest (or sarcastically) in letters are missed or misunderstood by the recipient. Were his letters “sweet” enough for Lizzy? Regarding that, James did give some good advice: overlook the bad statements and “pick out the best pieces.” In a way, sometimes that is what love is about: ignoring the bad and treasuring the best in a person.

Camp on Crow Creek, Alabama, September 25, 1863

news are very scarce here at the present time but as this is the only way that we have of Conversing with each other I will try and write to you often, and you will have to excuse short letters as I cannot get enough to fill the sheet every time [sheet = 4 5×8” pages, which is one 10×8” sheet folded in half] . . .
[as part of his letter closing] believe me to be your true and affectionate lover

—Corporal James Crawford

In their minds, even if days passed in between, exchanging letters was “Conversing with each other” during the mid-nineteenth century. As for his objective “to fill the sheet (of paper) every time,” generally it was somewhat of a mild insult to a letter recipient not to see the paper filled with writing. That is, it implied the writer did not have the time to write or have much to say. Also, while three cents postage may seem like an insignificant amount to us now, then it was not insignificant. For example, if a soldier with the rank of private wrote and mailed one letter every day for a month, that would be 90 cents in postage. A private’s monthly pay was $13, so 90/1300 = roughly 7% of the soldier’s salary.

Camp on Crow Creek, Alabama, September 30, 1863

your likness that I received with joe Taler [Taylor], was a very true one but not so true as the first one that I received. still I prise it a great deal more as I know it is now mine. whereas when I received the other I had my doubts of ever winning your love, and afraid lest some one might step in and only leave me the minature.

—Corporal James Crawford

Ugh – James maybe was being too honest about stating “thanks for this latest picture but it is not as good as the previous picture of you.” It might have better helped his cause of “ever winning your love” if that had remained unstated in his letter. Also interesting is his use of the phrase “leave me the min[i]ature,” which simply means “lost her heart and was just left, forlornly, with her picture.” His phrase may have been a bit of a play on words regarding the mid-nineteenth century courting parlance “of given the mitten.” This expression means a potential male suitor is symbolically given a cold, gloved hand instead of a warm actual hand to hold. Perhaps think of this as “given the cold shoulder.”

Sure enough, James found he needed to add some clarity about his loose “likeness” remarks.

Camp on Crow Creek, Alabama, October 7, 1863

Do not think me offended in the slightest that what you said about your likness or letters only I thought I could hardly let it pass without Comment. I am not very easy offended about anything when the the [sic] truth is spoken as it was at that time. so we will let that pass as one of the things that was

—Corporal James Crawford

The next day, James wrote to a cousin and made a comment that would be best if it never found its way to Lizzy.

Camp on Crow Creek, Alabama, October 8, 1863, to a cousin, John

Now about that girl question which you are always sure to talk about – and I think it hardly right to let it pass without Comment. you said that as we were gone in defence of our Country that you beleived it your duty to Cheer & Comfort those that mourned for absent ones that’s right John thats bravery to dip in when we cant help it. but never mind all I Can say is i’ve seen the day! but this dont trouble me like the State of our Country is in. this is the great topic of the day after our goverment is saved then time enough to think of ‘Women’

—Corporal James Crawford

True, cousin John had written about a girl in which John was interested but, at the same time, James certainly was up to his eyebrows regarding Lizzy. But soon thereafter, writing to Lizzy again, he admitted he sometimes gets too agitated when writing to her.

near Bridgeport, Alabama, October 16, 1863

Lizzie you say you wonder if I think of you as often as you do of me. yes, Lizzie I expect I do as there is never a day passes over my head but I think of you, and many times at night when all nature has gone to repose But if you judge from my letters you may think far different, as some times when I sit down to write to you my mind is entirely on the state of our Country . . . when I think of such things my feelings are very bad and excited when they ought to be cool and kind, when writing to one I love so dear.

—Corporal James Crawford

James sometimes responded to Lizzy’s worst fears.

camp near Bridgeport, Alabama, October 30, 1863

Dear Lizzy, it seems strange to me you, think I will be killed in the first engagement with the enemy of course I stand my chance and may fall it is true, but we should never look on the dark side of the picture we must hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. But if I was sure that I would fall amid the slain, should I falter? Never . . .
And although I have left you thus alone still I am not destitute of feeling, but Can love you with the tenderest love, a lover is capable of bestowing on the object of his affection.

—Corporal James Crawford

Here, James may have been buoying up himself before a battle, as well as Lizzy at home. And, as in most of his letters to Lizzy, James used the “L” word freely. Again, most Civil War soldiers with wives and significant others at home did not directly state their love, nor often . . . or, alternatively, such letters may have been the ones tossed into the hearth at home to forever keep tender thoughts private.

James wrote about various circumstances prior to the Battle of Chattanooga (fought in late November), such as talking with enemy pickets and being on near-starvation rations. In a December letter, he had some descriptions of the battle itself, which saw him come out on the other side unhurt. He wrote the following shortly after Christmas.

Falling Water near Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, December 27, 1863

when we got into camp on that night [referring to a previous letter] we were tired cold & hungry and badly worn out. so you will see I was not in a good humor to write to any one, but felt it my duty to let you hear from me if it was not very sweet. Dear Lizzy, I hope you spent a happy Christmas. I would have given, considerable to have been with you on that day. to have spent a merry Christmas evening with you would have been a pleasure, but as it is we will have to be contented.

—Corporal James Crawford

Not surprisingly, there was a tinge of frustration regarding their circumstances and thus “we will have to be contended” for now. However, there was a bit more frustration to come in 1864 and 1865 for this young couple.

More about Crawford’s love letters will be posted next time in part 3, on 25 February.

[1] My transcriptions here differ slightly from the letters transcriptions in the “Dear Lizzie” book. Capitalization, punctuation, and other editing was applied to the results in the book, and I have shown, as accurately as I could, exactly what I saw and read in the original letters.

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One soldier’s love letters (part 1 of 4) (added 11 February 2022)

There are several that come to mind. One that is rather well documented and goes on during some of the worst fighting of the Civil War is James Garvin Crawford and Martha Elizabeth Wilson. Throughout their exchange of letters, James was always James (or Jas) G. Crawford in signing his letters and he addressed Martha as “Lizzy” (or, Lizzie) throughout.

In a short 1922 autobiography, written about twelve years before he died, Crawford reflected on his pre-Civil War life. He was born in 1843, four years after his parents had emigrated from Scotland and were living near Sparta, Illinois, in Randolph County. Quoting from his autobiography:

In August 1861 I enlisted in what proved to be Co. F, 10th Mo. Infty, my father being bitterly opposed to my enlistment, forbad my going and being only 18 years of age I obeyed. In August 1862, I again enlisted in what became Co. G, 80th Ill. serving two years and ten months, when I was mustered out with my Regt. at Nashville, Tenn, on the 10th day of June 1865. The regiment to which I belonged was in active service during the entire time having participated in 22 engagements and many skirmishes . . .[1]

In the autobiography, Crawford mentions nothing about his courtship with Martha Wilson, but fortunately many of his Civil War-era letters bear witness to their budding and strengthening feelings for each other. However, what is missing is their status as friends or if they were more romantically involved prior to the war. In the following early-letter excerpts, the reader will be able to decide that standing for him or herself.

This is from the first letter in the collection.

[probably from] Camp Centralia, Illinois, August 16, 1862, to friend, Martha Wilson of Sparta, Illinois

Dear Lizzy
. . . yesterday we passed examination. six of our companie were thrown out amongst them was that fellow that had your sash on down at the party. the rest of us are sworn in to the servis the second time and canot get out of the city without a pass. when I left you that day in sparta my heart swelled with emotion. only I did not like to seem sorry as I know it would make you feel worse. . . .
No more at present But remain your friend & well wisher
James G. Crawford

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

It is possible there were no earlier letters because they still could have seen each other in or around Sparta until Crawford and rest of his company or regiment were sent to Camp Centralia, a little more than 40 miles away. In the above excerpt, note that some other fellow “had your sash on down at the party,” which may have been a “going-away” event for the new recruits from around Sparta. Read into that what you may. Crawford said he was emotional about their parting but played it cool, for her sake, as her “friend & well wisher.” Again, read into that what you may.

Ten days later, he wrote and included the following, apparently last-moment addition.

[probably from] Centralia, Illinois, August 26, 1862

[upside down in top margin] you must excuse me for writing so soon but the reason is that I wanted to answer yours before I destroyed it as there is no chance to keep one here without standing a great chance to have it read with [or “by”?] some other one Dear Lizzy

—Corporal James Crawford

The best way of keeping personal letters private while in the military was to burn them after being opened and read. Fortunately for us as latter-day readers, Lizzy Wilson, at home, saved the letters she received from James.

In a following letter, James stated, in a somewhat backhanded way, he was staying loyal to Lizzy.

Camp Centralia, Illinois, September 4, 1862

I have not seen one good looking gall [gal] up here and have never spoke to one since I left you in sparta the day I left home a day never to be forgoten by me the day I parted with my Parents my brothers and sisters and all the ones I loved but mabe [maybe] never to meet again . . .

we had a visit from Alex Suddlison[?] day before yesterday he said he would like to stay I told him he ought to stay at home and attend to the girls he said the girls did not care anything about the boys at home at all but there mind appeared to go with the soldiers

—Corporal James Crawford

In his comment regarding “a visit from Alex,” James seemed to be buoying himself up by understanding that “the girls did not care anything about the boys at home” and were thinking of the soldiers who had left home. Perhaps he was hoping Lizzy would respond that was true, at least from her perspective.

In this next letter, James related a story about how some of the soldiers in his column suffered sunstroke during a prolonged training march. Later in the letter, he asked for a favor from sixteen-year-old Lizzy.

Camp Buell, near Louisville, Kentucky, September 17, 1862

well lizzy, I am getting along as well as can be expected. the only thing that troubles me the least is the girl I left behind me. if I only had her lik[e]ness or, a lock of hair or some thing that I Could rember her by I would [illegible] you. so I will ask you one thing and if you grant the request I will never forget you while I live: that is, would you send me your Picture if I send you the money. if you will please let me know in your next [letter].

—Corporal James Crawford

“Likeness” means picture. Sending something as a physical remembrance, like a picture or “a lock of hair” was, in perhaps our way of thinking, the equivalent of “going steady” or “an item” (and remembering James was about nineteen when he wrote this). In short, it represented a small commitment, on both their parts, to ask and receive such keepsakes. And from a soldier’s perspective, each was small, easily carried, and could be kept close as a personal item.

In the following letter, James has an interesting closing after having been on overnight picket duty.

camp near Louisville, Kentucky, September 29, 1862

I must bring this short letter to a Close as the letter carrier is just going to start out. be sure and write soon and give me all the news about the [local] fair, and excuse all blunders as I feel as sleepy as if I had been sparking all last night.

—Corporal James Crawford

“Sparking” means courting. Is that what James sometimes used to do with Lizzy? Or, wished he had done? Or, more boldly, wanted to impress upon Lizzy that was something he used to do with others? While this seems like an odd statement, perhaps his point was he was simply thinking amorous thoughts when writing to her. Most soldiers, including James, tried to make good impressions at the end of homeward letters by stating something upbeat, tender, or personal. Some writers were better at it than others. Plus, as James admitted, he was fatigued and trying to quickly finish his letter before the outgoing mail was taken.

Almost a month later, however, he made a bolder statement to Lizzy.

Lebanon, Kentucky, October 25, 1862

I have stoped all coresponding with any other young lady but you so I expect to recieve letters from you in good part and in love, as I loved you before I left home but, ten times more since you sent your likness and I am certain I can never love another as I do you. many is the time that I think of you when lying on the cold ground at night trying in vain to sleep.

—Corporal James Crawford

What had happened since the end of September? Firstly, he received her “likness” or picture. As I mentioned above, that was a sign of commitment, even if unspoken as to exactly how much. Secondly, James implied he had been writing to “other young” ladies, perhaps. Had he been playing the field, so to speak, prior to this point? It is hard to say, at least through this one collection. Finally, he expressed his love and, since leaving her behind, it was now “ten times more” due to her reciprocation and sending her picture.

But there was something else that happened which may have impacted James. On 8 October 1862, the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky occurred. Earlier in this same letter to Lizzy, James described what he had seen of the battle. “we were stationed on the top of the hill and could see every thing that was going on we could see our poor soldiers falling by the dozen. after the fight I went over the battle ground. and oh what a sight the dead the dying and the wounded some with there legs or arms shot off, some lying dead on the field. I seen the body of John Wilson, lying on the field he was an uncle to the Huddleson boys . . .” Especially because it was his first sight of a battle, it likely underscored for him the fragility and preciousness of life . . . and maybe also of love. (I do not know if John Wilson was related to Lizzy Wilson.)

Meanwhile back home, Lizzy had attended a local fair with a mutual friend of James’s.

Cave City, Kentucky, November 2, 1862

I received your letter to day and I assure you that it was a welcome visiter you appeared to think that the letter that I wrote at Louisvill was rather dry. . . . fo[r] such a letter I could not write to one that had never wrangled me in the least and one that I loved so dearly you seemed to think that it was on account of you and Alex going to the fair together. but not so Lizzy far from it . . . you appear to think that I have been writing home to some of the boys about you this I never did and I expect I never will. . . . and mabee I mentioned you once to him [a friend] in a letter Privately but this is all. . . . if I have ever said or done anything that has offended you in the least I ask to be forgiven and promise never to mention either you or anything that you have wrote or may write. you said that I might be insulted at what you had wrote but no Lizzy I feel that what you said was not from any ill feeling toward me

—Corporal James Crawford

This seems as if it was a mild kerfuffle. Yet it underscores the imperfection of communication or “conversing” by letter. What is written in a letter and sent, whether carefully thought through or written in haste, can be difficult to unsay or walk back. In the above excerpt, James seemed to have crossed a line about mentioning his relationship with Lizzy to a mutual friend back home.

James sent Lizzy a letter written on Christmas that, for the most part, described how the regiment spent part of the day in merriment. Here was his closing to a letter he sent her a week before Valentine’s Day.

camp at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, February 7, 1863

Best respects to your father & mother and all friends much love to you no more at present But Believe me to be your friend and lover James G. Crawford

—Corporal James Crawford

“Lover” is a rare word among Illinois Civil War soldiers’ letters. It is rather forward, generally, but from this point on, James uses it in several more of his letter closings to her. Undoubtably, Lizzy was keeping her letters from James strictly private.

And speaking of secrets . . .

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, April 6, 1863

I got your letter a few minutes ago and as we are going on a secret Expedition and one, the Major says is full of danger. I thought that I would drop you a few lines as it might be the last time I may have the opportunity of writing to you.

—Corporal James Crawford

James’s last statement turned out to be rather prophetic. A following letter explained why.

Camp Parole at Annapolis, Mayland, May 18, 1863

till now over six weeks since I wrote to you. and since that time I have been in two or three fights and taken prisoner by Brig Gen Forest about 3 miles from the Ga line. . . . going through Russleville and stopping at mount hope . . . on the 30^th they Commenced shelling our rear. . . . that night about dark they turned our left and opened a cross fire on our Reg. doing us great damage . . . I got a slight wound on my right hand, but not doing any damage . . . after the fight we had to retreat and leave our dead and wounded on the field. . . . [having been on the march] he [the enemy] came up with us when feeding next morning at 10,⁰⁰ oclock he had one Brigade ahead of us a battery on either side of us and about our number behind us and our amunition wet. we could do nothing so surrendered . . . they took us to Rome [Georgia]. there they took our blankets Canteens Haversacks oil clothes pocket knives watches Cups and overcoats leaving us nothing to protect us from the Cold. there they Paroled us and sent us on to atlanta we lay there 3 days and nights and oh how Cold it was and no rations but about 1½ Crackers a day from there they sent us to Richmond and then to our own lines.

—Corporal James Crawford

During the Civil War, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest became known for his swift cavalry raids. In late April 1863, James’s 80^th Illinois regiment was part of a Union raid led by Colonel Abel Streight to disrupt railroad supplies south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. On 30 April, Streight’s command was intercepted by Forrest’s Confederate cavalry and the Union raiders were eventually surrounded and captured. (Unlike James Crawford, Colonel Streight was able to escape from the officer’s prison in Richmond, Virginia, and make his way back to Union lines.)

In James’s case, however, paroling prisoners during the Civil War involved two basic steps: sending the captured soldiers back to their own lines with the understanding that they could not bear arms until officially exchanged, and the former prisoners being held at a parole camp where they could perform non-combat duties while waiting to be exchanged (through a paper process) with like or similarly-ranked soldiers from the opposing side. This is a grossly simplified explanation on my part, but suffice it to say that parole-and-exchange was not guaranteed, where the alternative was to languish in a prisoner-of-war camp behind enemy lines. So, in that sense, James was lucky. For a number of complicated reasons, the Civil War parole process mostly broke down in 1863.

I cannot deduce how long James languished in parole camps, like the one at Annapolis, although it could have been as long as a month. Apparently, captured soldiers from the 80^th Illinois regiment were allowed several days leave or furlough after being officially exchanged and before having to report back to the reassembled regiment. That means, through the whims of war, James was able to spend some otherwise-unexpected time with Lizzy at home. They apparently had some things to discuss, in person.

Schofield Barracks at St. Louis, Missouri, June 25, 1863

after I left you I went home and got ready to start, bid good bye with the folks at home and left . . . I was the second of our Co that had reported [at the barracks]. . . .
Dear Lizzy many a time while siting alone I think of our parting, with sorrow but still mingled with gladness sorry because I had to leave you and my many friends at home, but still glad that I was able, and Counted worthy to go and fight in so just a Cause.

—Corporal James Crawford

James was simply been telling Lizzy he had to leave her once again because of his military duty (which was for three years or the duration of the war, which ever came first). Yet apparently, while together in Sparta, there was a certain question put to Lizzy to which James was hoping for an affirmative answer.

More excerpts from Crawford’s love letters will be posted next time, on 18 February.

[1] Typed autobiography in: Letters of James G. Crawford, not catalogued (78-49), Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois.

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Outdoor soldiers (part 2) (added 4 February 2022)

It seems that, generally, soldiers lived outside the entire war (say, after perhaps living in barracks during an initial training or recruitment camp). Once in the field, were soldiers basically camping outside all the time, such as living in tents or sleeping under the stars?

Stewarts Creek, Tennessee, July 5, 1863, to “Kind Folks at Home”

Two old citizens were in our office (tent) this afternoon. . . . Their conversation is sometimes interesting.
I asked one of them how much warmer it would become here.
Answer == “Oh, a heap”!

—Sergeant Major Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

camp near Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 24, 1863, to daughter, Alice

your very Kind and long looked for letter was received yesterday after noon and was very glad to hear from you it found me in pretty good health though very much woren down from fateigue marching we have just returned from Jackson have been out 20 days without tents or any of our Camp Equipage we had one blanket apeace and our haversacks and have been out 20 days in this fix was 4 days marching out and 3 days Coming in. in these hot days of July that withe the rough living come very near useing us all up the distance to Jackson is 50 miles from here there is a good many of our boys sick.

—2nd Lieutenant Troy Moore, 32nd Infantry, Madison County

In my previous posting, I concentrated on cold weather conditions while living outside. This time, I will focus on hot conditions, especially in the South during the summer months. Just as Illinois soldiers could freeze to death, they also could succumb to excessive heat.

Memphis, Tennessee, July 27, 1862, to cousin

Moved forward to Grand Junction arrived thie [there] June 15^th remained in that vicinity till July 17th when we took up the line of march for Memphis arriving here on the 21^st having been on half rations since starting. The weather was intensly hot several soldiers died of sunstroke . . . when we entered the City of Memphis we were almost naked a great many being barfooted others without Breeches – I had nothing on but Drawers shirt & Cap. The appearance of our Regt caused some of the “Fair sex” to smile as we passed, but little did we care. we have seen tolerabl hard times.

—Private George Reese, 28th Infantry, Fulton County

It is not surprising that soldiers shed clothes while marching. However, items like warm coats, for example, could be discarded and never seen again.

camp near Triune, Tennessee, June 3, 1863, to sister

[during a warm day] After we had Marched about an hour westopped to rest and then you ought to have seen the ground when westarted again. Knapsacks, Blankets, shirts, drawers, stockings, coats and some[?] few overcoats lay scattered around in profusion. What a harvest there would have been there for the “Old Clothes man”. And all along the route it was the same. we were the second regiment and Idont know what like in [it] must have looked when the last division had passed. Every fewrods you could see something getting ahoist into the brush by the road side and Isuppose they will lay and rot there unless the beloved population should pick them up and if they do Iwould advise some of them to wash them before they wore them.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Soldiers were expected to have proper uniforms, so when autumn settled in, they would need to (re-) purchase warm jackets and such. Regarding the following prices, bear in mind a Union private in 1865 received a monthly salary of $16.

Huntsville, Alabama, March 12, 1865, to brother, Hector

Clothing has took a wonderful rise in our Department of late. Coats are now12,25 $,cts Hats 2,25 $,cts Pants 5,90 $,cts shirts 2,32 $,cts and every thing in proportion. the old price used to be Coats 8,25 $,cts Hats 1,80 $,cts Pants 3,10 $,cts and shirts 1,59 $ cts So you will at once see that there is a tremendous rise in clothing But I Can see nothing Positive about raising our wages.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

As shown in the Reese quotation, earlier, a combination of exertion in hot weather could be deadly.

Camp Buell, near Louisville, Kentucky, September 17, 1862, to friend, Lizzy Wilson

to our surprise we were marched [back] into Louisville, then up and down the principal streets till wearied and exhausted the men were ready to fall down and die. he (the General) then turned us about and made us start out for our camp again. this was trying on our men, some fainting fell in the streets and we had to pass on and leave them to the mercy of some citisen. others were sun struck and fell dead in there tracks. the loss out of this Reg is 6 dead and about fifteen that the doctor says will not get better and then for what purpose was all that done. that is one thing that I do not know unless it was to gratify the passion of our Gen.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Part of living outdoors in the summer was exposure to pesky and sometimes disease-carrying insects.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, August 5, 1862, to Sallie, “my dear beloved wife”

I am very well at present the weather is very warm at this place the watter is very bad and there is some two hundred of the 91^st unfit for duty the weather is very dry and it is avery uncomfortable place the knights is cool but there is more musketoes here than I ever seen in any place before and they bother aperson so bad during the night that it is almost imposible to rest this a great old place. there is any amount of snakes Alligators froggs & swamps here

—Corporal Thomas Pankey, 91st Infantry, Greene County

The officers were not immune to the insects either.

Tiptonville, Tennessee, April 16, 1862, to wife, Ellen

The weather is very warm here and the Mosquitos are getting to be very thick, and I presume that before long they will be harder enemies to resist than the Secesh themselves.

—Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Miles, 47th Infantry, Tazewell County

camp near Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 13, 1863, to daughter, Alice

I feel pretty well now and improving evry day it is very Warn [warm] here and while we was down at Grand Gulf I thought in my soul the Flies would Eat us up

—2nd Lieutenant Troy Moore, 32nd Infantry, Madison County

Finally, here is a contrasting set of circumstances about the weather.

Camp Quincy, Illinois, September 19, 1862, to father, Robert D. Taylor

A soldiers life is a hard one, exposed to heat, cold and rain and sleeping on the hard and sometimes damp ground and the enormous load a soldier has to carry, his gun, cartridge box, knapsack crammed full, haversack and canteen all combined weighs 60 pounds. All of this is designed to use a fellow up, but I am not sorry that I enlisted for it is my duty to fight for the Glorious Old Flag under which you and I have enjoyed many liberties and blessings.

—Private Benjamine Taylor, 84th Infantry, McDonough County

Private Taylor wrote this about a month after joining the army and without having left Illinois (yet).

Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, July 21, 1864, to wife, Clara

I’ve almost fell in love with this climate or of this locality with the exception that some of the days or a part of them are a little too hot, it is the most pleasant climate I have ever been in. I think it is owing to the mountains Marietta (2 miles below us) is, or has been a beautiful little town of – say 12 to 1,500 inhabitants & was a favorite summer resort for people living further south on the level lands. The evenings are bland – rather I say delicious – But oh! the flies – house flies, dog flies or ox flies or whatever they should be called. One needs 3 hands to eat with – or rather 2 to fight flies with & the other one to steal what he eats away from them But they go to roost at dark, so we sleep well.

—1st Assistant Surgeon James Gaskill, 45th Infantry, Bond County

I think it is worth noting that, as a surgeon, Gaskill had much less marching and perhaps less equipage he had to personally carry when the army was on the move. Nevertheless, he pointed out if living outside one must take the good with the bad.

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Outdoor soldiers (part 1) (added 28 January 2022)

Cave-in-Rock, Illinois, December 3, 1861, to friend, Miss Lizzie Simpson

Soon after landing we pitched our tents on the high bluff above the cave, and collecting some fuel we soon after had some dinner. Night now came and with it a merry time among the boys for they had all the whiskey they wanted and that was no small amount. Some of them are not done spreeing yet. When we awoke Monday morning the Snow was falling thick and fast, and continued to do so until after noon, partly covering our tents. It has been very cold ever since yesterday morning and there is a good prospect of more snow. Oh; what a time we are having. this must be soldiering.

—1st Sergeant William Browning, 27th Infantry, Pike County

The short answer is, yes – most of the Illinois Civil War soldiers lived and slept outside a good ninety-five percent of the time. There were exceptions, and it partially is dependent on how “camping” might be defined. Even at established Illinois training and recruitment camps, which may or may not have wooden barracks, these were not necessarily enviable living or sleeping quarters. Here are three examples. The first one is a newspaper article about cold conditions at Springfield’s Camp Yates.

The Reported Cases Of Freezing At Camp Yates.—Rumors were flying about the city on Friday morning last, to the effect that at least two men had been frozen to death at Camp Yates during the preceding night. During the day the story grew in proportions, the number of men frozen having increased to three, five and even as high as seven. But the contradictory character of the reports, taken with the fact that no information confirmatory of either version had been received at the office of Assistant Provost Marshal General, Col. Oakes, stamped the whole story, in the estimation of those who made inquiry in the proper quarter, as totally unreliable. . . .
The purport of the information . . . is, that no cases of freezing, terminating fatally, had occurred at Camp Yates. Maj. Norton reports that all the men slept in barracks on Thursday night except three, who applied for permission to sleep in a tent. . . . the only serious inconvenience was from being crowded—there being nine hundred to one thousand men in a barracks intended for only about seven hundred. There was some inconvenience felt in the hospital from the want of stoves, which had been called for, but not obtained. The cases of freezing has been confined entirely to the frosting of ears, etc., which has occurred as frequently, perhaps, among an equal number of men not in the military service.

—Illinois State Journal, 4 January 1864

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, March 1, 1864, to friend, Mary K. Kuhn

I have such a mean place to write it is hard to get at it we came to camp Butler yesterday walked from camp Yates . . . It is the most profane place ever I was at I hear more swearing here in one day or in one hour than I ever heard in my life I think I will like it pretty well when we get south I think I will like it better when we get regament togather than I do now I do not like the Barracks as well as I do the tents

—Private Joseph Denning, 2nd Cavalry, LaSalle County

Camp Lyon, Bird’s Point, Missouri, February 3, 1862, to wife

Cairo is not much of a place, not as large as Carlinville. It has some few very fine houses, but is as muddy as blazes. Assoon as we arrived at Cairo we got our goods off the cars and took them aboard the steamer Chancellor which was lying waiting at the wharf. then went aboard ourselves, and steamed across the river through the ice to Bird’s Point. We stayed on board the boat till morning. We were awfully crowded and nearly froze . . . It snowed sleeted and rained, all day. . . . Our quarters are made of logs and covered with cypruss boards. . . . We like our quarters much better than those we left at Camp Butler. We are having splendid times

—1st Sergeant Daniel Messick, 32nd Infantry, Macoupin County

The main outdoor exception, perhaps, was when companies or regiments were able to go into “winter quarters” when deployed in the South. In short, these quarters were what soldiers constructed when they expected, rightly or wrongly, to be in one place for several weeks or longer, due to winter weather.

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, December 14, 1864, to P. W. Thomson and family

I am sitting in my Chebang [shebang] one that I built as Roy was not able to help it is four feet wide and seven feet long has a good fire place and is built of rough boards and no cracks battened but it is the best one in camp

—Private Edward Lapham, 36th Infantry, Knox County

A shebang is a small hut built by soldiers with scrounged army and/or stolen local materials, such as tent portions, crates, fence boards, fixtures, etc. Here is a detailed description of one.

near Cleveland, Tennessee, February 6, 1864, to sister

In the East end [of their winter shanty] we put up two bunks, one above the other, about 3 ½ feet wide and although we had just the soft side of a board under us Iwarrant you weslept assound as you do upon feathers, especially after we had beenon picket. N.B. Lewin and Ihad the Top Bunk. On the south wall close by our beds hung 3 guns 3 sets of accoutrements Haversacks and canteens. In the Corner by the [stone] chimney was two shelves one on above the other. The lower one held our dishes, the upper one our books, papers, portfolios &c. On a shelf over the fire place stood our little pails in which we made our coffee. Our pipes and tobbacco for part of our household are smokers. to the right of the fire place was the door which was nothing more nor less than the folding shutter of a country store which we confiscated. On the North side close to the eaves hung the fourth gun and equipments. and under it at the proper hight was the other half of a shutter, screwed tothe wall by the hinges, thus making a very convenient folding table. An iron messpan in Camp Kettle, and bake Oven or skillet stood under and constituted our Cooking apparatus.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

They were meant to be snug, although sometimes cramped, and a place to get out of the worst of the weather. A shebang or shanty was something that, even if remotely, soldiers could call home.

Clear Creek, Arkansas[?], November 30, 1863, to sister

We are still floating along in the regular old fashion, with little or nothing to vary for dull monotony of camp life, with occashional letters from home, which I asshure you are very welcome indeed . . . Gloomy indeed would be a soldiers life if he never received letters from the loved ones at home. if you could only step into our cabins in the evening after we have received our mail, you would freely realize of how much importance are to the hapiness of the soldier. After reading their letters, you could see them gathered groupes arround their fires untill late hours of the night and the one theme will be of home, in evry one will have some story of home, or some home scene to describe

—Sergeant Henry Newhall, 4th Iowa Cavalry, Adams County, Illinois

Otherwise, soldiers lived outside, sleeping in tents or directly under the night sky. Especially after 1862, soldiers were expected to carry their own two-person tents.

camp near Franklin, Tennessee, May 1, 1863, to brother and sister

We have turned over our large tents now and got small tents that just holds two they are called shelter tents, we call them Dog tents. They are little bits of things furnished with buttons and holes and fixed so as to fix onto eache other

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Bolivar, Tennessee, April 9, 1863, to friend

we got the Dog Tents [“pup tents”] as we call them. Which are the next thing to no tent at all. I will just give you a short description of them. they are made of thin cotton Each tent 6 feet sq by six bunking together, leaving two for the gable ends They cover an aera of Terra firma 6 ft by 11½ and when we have no plank, to raise them off the ground they are in the center just 4 feet So you need not be surprised to see some hump shouldered men when this war is over Some of the soldiers say they wont vote for any man that is in the war Department for any office Because they invented such tents.

—Corporal William Kincaid, 106th Infantry, Menard County

During cold weather, tent or no tent, it was challenging to stay warm, especially at night.

Paducah, Kentucky, December 14, 1861, to brother and sister

we had snow and very Cold weather about a week ago and then we suffered when we was on Picket Gaurd 4 miles from Camp and 24 hours at a time without being releived and no fire allowd at night to keep your-selfs warm but lay down side of a tree untill day light. I can tell you there is no fun soldiering in Cold weather there was lot of the boys got frost bitten and feet frozen

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Infantry, Madison County

Nevertheless, the soldiers tried to make the best of it amongst themselves.

Holly Springs, Mississippi, January 8, 1863, to sister, Addie Tower

When we were all gathered around the fire at night scrubbing up our guns and knives, fancied myself a member of some band of Pirates or Brigands. Seemed like some wild tale I have read discribing some lone cave on a far off Island where some band of Robbers were wont to assemble to divide their plunder and recruit their strength for darker deeds. The course laugh, the glittering steel, the oaths, the snatches of wild song, everything to make the picture complete. tis hard living but will not destroy the pleasures of this social feast by picturing dark scenes.

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

Hot weather during the summer had different challenges, which I will cover in part 2 of this theme.

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Keeping awake (added 21 January 2022)

Clearly, whether in the middle of an active campaign or just on overnight guard duty, soldiers got fatigued or sleepy. How did soldiers stay awake or otherwise fight fatigue during perilous times?

Exhaustion was a critical condition regarding a person’s or regiment’s fighting strength or even serviceability. An individual’s adrenaline only lasts so long and could even add to fatigue in the longer run or cause loss of sleep later when sleep was needed the most. Bear in mind, this was before there was widespread use of narcotics in North America, such as cocaine, nor was there speed, steroids, or even cannabis (all of which might be found among soldiers during the twentieth-century war in Vietnam).

“On Picket Guard” near Gallatin, Tennessee, December 4, 1862, to “Dear folks at Home”

We will remain out, I suppose, until to-morrow morning. . . . I have been gathering & cracking hickory-nuts and walnuts, and also (I must own it,) I played several games of chequers with a friend of mine. . . . We have a fire built of rails (there is a good supply near by) around which we sit & fry our crackers, and crack nuts, and make & drink our coffee.

—Corporal Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

The Civil War Union soldier’s most common fatigue-fighter was caffeine, as found in strong coffee. John D. Billings, the author of Hard Tack and Coffee, explained the importance and role of coffee among the Union soldiers.

If a march was ordered at midnight, unless a surprise was intended, it must be preceded by a pot of coffee; if a halt was ordered in mid-forenoon or afternoon, the same dish was inevitable, with hardtack accompaniment usually. It was coffee at meals and between meals; and men going on guard or coming off guard drank it at all hours of the night, and to-day the old soldiers who can stand it are the hardest coffee-drinkers in the community, through the schooling which they received in the service.[1]

More to the point of why coffee . . .

I began my description of the rations with bread being the most important one to the soldier. Some old veterans may be disposed to question the judgment which gives it this rank, and claim that coffee . . . should take first place in importance; in reply to which I will simply say that he is wrong, because coffee being a stimulant, serves only a temporary purpose, while the bread has nearly or quite all the elements of nutrition necessary to build up wasted tissues of the body, thus conferring a permanent benefit. Whatever words of condemnation or criticism may have been bestowed on other government rations, there was but one opinion of the coffee which was served out, and that was of unqualified approval.[2]

Sidestepping arguments of nutrition and the like, I will add two other benefits of coffee. Simply put, coffee helped soldiers stay safely hydrated. That is, they were taking in fluids that had been boiled, which killed or eliminated many water contaminants.

Allatoona, Georgia, June 8, 1864, to sister, Sarah

I think we will have better times while we remain here for we will draw plenty of hard tack and last night we drawed sour crout potatoes & pickles, and we draw the same to night and we draw plenty off coffee I have got so I drink two quart a day one for breakfast and one for supper. and it [is] nothing for me to eat the fatist sow belly now without cooking it and very often glad to get it

—Private David Treadway, 14th Infantry, Cass County

What constituted “strong” coffee? Here are similar examples from two soldiers in Tennessee, written about one year apart.

Fort Henry, Tennessee, February 26, 1862, to friend, Henry Yates

Such a time as we had there can neither be immagined nor described. It needs a practical demonstration. Wood was scarce and mud and water in abundance. drill was out of the question dress parade a farce and the eatables do’nt mention ‘em. “Hard Tack” and side meat predominated washed down with coffee strong enough to float an iron wedge.

—2nd Lieutenant Ira Merchant, 28th Infantry, Scott County

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, February 12, 1863, to sister, “Bell”

our coffee generally strong enough to swim an iron wedge

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Here are some other coffee descriptions, including the first one also from Corporal Taylor.

camp near Wartrace, Tennessee, July 4, 1863, to sister

On a march Ican drink a quart of it [coffee] black and bitter without milk or sugar, and it tastes sweet as honey from the comb to a tired and hungry soldiery.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Mainly due to the Union naval blockage of the Confederacy’s coastlines, coffee became a rare and valuable commodity in the South. Thus, it could be traded for other items soldiers might want or need.

Nashville, Tennessee, November 18, 1862, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

our boys are healther when they are on the march, then when they are laying in camp I am getting fat as a hog living on hard crackers & coffee; we draw big rations of coffee we have got about 6 poungs [pounds] on hand now we have traded coffee for fluor and meal every chance we have had.

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

Confederate soldiers sometimes had to find or make coffee substitutes, usually from local plants. Once in a while, Illinois soldiers did the same, but it very likely did not taste the same as coffee-bean coffee.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, March 3, 1862, to sister and brother

I like solgerren if it want for the dand living it is Bread & meat & meat & Bread & a litel bark coffee wonse [once] a day. I think if I evry get out I will [k]now now to apreciate a womern to coock & to eat any thing & call it good

—Sergeant Ashley Alexander, 12th Cavalry, Winnebago County

Regarding other stimulants, drinking alcohol was common among Civil War soldiers. Many surgeons or doctors kept various forms of drinkable alcohol for medicinal purposes, such as whiskey or brandy. (Soldiers also drank cider and beer, if available.) As far as the Union Army was concerned, alcohol was thought to fight fatigue and protect against exposure to the elements.

Alcohol was a key ingredient of Civil War medicine, both North and South. In its straight beverage form, such as whiskey, alcohol was considered, both by doctors and civilians, to be an important stimulant, in a positive sense. Whiskey, brandy, sherry, wine, cordials, or whatever other liquor happened to be available was used in small doses to strengthen patients suffering from debility, fever, shock after being wounded or operated on, scurvy, depression, and other weakened conditions. Alcoholic beverages were seen as a tonic. Even soldiers in the field, who were not sick, were supposed to receive an occasional whiskey ration to keep them in good health.[3]

Not surprisingly, the consumption of alcohol was much abused by common soldiers and officers alike.

Washington, DC, November 24, 1861, to friend, John Hoffer, and sister, Emma Tobias

They are so strict and now that they want [won’t] allow the sutlers to bring eney thing out to the Army, only what the officers call for. I think if the Government would reduce the officers pay about 40 dollars per month it would be a [damn] good thing. As it is they have to much money. they can buy whiskey by the barrel, and play big ingen [big Indian chief?] all the time. Oh what a curse some of these bugs are to this government.

—Private William Tobias, 8th Cavalry, DuPage County

Big Black River, Mississippi, December 27, 1863, to brother

Our Gens. gave orders to ishue three rations of whiskey to the Soldiers on Christmas day The soldiers and officers wer most all drunk and nothing but fights and rows all day and night I wish they would dismiss our Gens. for ishuing such orders I never wanto see an other Christmas while I am in the army if they let the soldiers have whiskey In our Regiment they got up a Temperance plege and over two hundred si[g]ned it

—Private Cyrus Randall, 124th Infantry, Kane County

More generally, it was the posted guards and pickets on duty who had to stay alert for any enemy incursions so the rest of the army could safely rest. Fellowship and coffee were perhaps their two biggest assets toward staying awake.

Lebanon, Kentucky, October 25, 1862, to Lizzy Wilson

you can tell Alex Baird or any other young fellow that wants to volunteer that now is the time as they can get to dig all day and stand up awake [on picket duty] all night.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

With guards and pickets properly posted, soldiers learned (or, where exhausted enough) to be able to sleep almost anywhere.

camp near New Franklin, Tennessee, May 3, 1863, to sister

You seem to wonder how we manage to sleep so soundly in close proximity to an active and Vendictive enemy. Well weget used to it. And then the men in our Regiment are a pretty cool set of fellows.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

And, ultimately, it was coffee with breakfast that helped them become alert the next morning.

Camp Hunter, near Ottawa, Illinois, October 21, 1861, to “dear friend,” Lizzie Denning

at breakfast we have coffee, a large tin cup ful to each man

—Private Samuel Kuhn, 4th Cavalry, McLean County

[1]John D. Billings, Hard Tack and Coffee (1887; New York: Time-Life Books, 1982), 129–30.

[2] Billings, Hard Tack and Coffee, 121–22.

[3] Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine (New York: Routledge, 2015), 5.

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Keeping clean (added 14 January 2022)

Some of your descriptions of camp life make me wonder how dirty or filthy everyone must have gotten. How did soldiers keep themselves and their clothes reasonably clean?

There is no doubt that hard campaigning left soldiers tired, soiled, and the worse for wear.

camp near Pulaski, Tennessee, November 5, 1864, to sister

It has been a long time since I wrote you a letter If i reccolect right we were at Atlanta. We left there a month ago after the Rebels, when they made a raid on our rear and have marched about 350(?) miles and rode about 80 on the cars so you will see that there was no time for writing. I will give you no particulars about military matters, only that we have had a hard time. No fighting but sore feet and desperate dirty shirts.

—Private Benjamine Taylor, 84th Infantry, McDonough County

Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 10, 1863, to brother, Lewis

Lew[,] last night is the first time i slep[t] with my Pants of[f] for nearly 3 month[s]

—Private Charles Beal, 11th Infantry, Marion County

Helena, Arkansas, July 15, 1862, to sister

to give you an idea of the fatigue of the march I will only say that for two weeks I did not take off my clothes or the saddle of my horse the weather was very hot and I drank water that before I entered the army I would have been ashamed to offer to a hog

—Private John Burke, 5th Cavalry, Randolph County

Regarding cleanliness, there was a difference, mainly in opportunities, between training camps in Illinois versus field camps while deployed in the South.[1] For example, at Camp Butler in Illinois, there was the nearby Sangamon River for soldiers in which to clean up. In his personal diary, Private Thomas Clingman of the 46th Illinois Infantry Regiment wrote “Had a washing frolic in the lake” (28 September 1862). This occurred at Camp Butler when it was located next to Clear Lake, in Sangamon County. A few months later, after Camp Butler was relocated closer to railroad tracks, then-Corporal Clingman wrote this entry: “[Private William] Barnds[2] and I went to the Sangamon River where we heated water and washed some of our clothes. Snow still remains on the ground” (4 January 1863).

Even in Illinois, some locations were more challenging than others when it came to keeping tidy.

Cairo, Illinois, April 7, 1864, to friend, Mr. Tailor Ridgway

they have got a kind of dirt Machine here filling up the streets. and I tell you it needs it for it is a very low place.

—Corporal Jeremiah Butcher, 122nd Infantry, Macoupin County

Camp Mound at Mound City, Illinois, October 17, 1861, to brother, Dave

the company has been [doing?] fatigue duty to day filling up a big sink [latrine] in the rear of our barracks – it makes some of the Boys awful mad because they have to work at diging and hawling dirt.

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

For some men, prior to being soldiers, washing was somewhat foreign to them, meaning they had to learn a new skill.

Gallatin, Tennessee, February 18, 1863, to friend, Miss Sallie E. Thornton (“Martha”)

I am cook this week and I can hardly have time to rite any. I have to bake biscuit for 16 men every day it is considerable trouble. they are putting up a post bakery here it will be done soon then we will get soft bread . . . it is [Pvt.] John felton[’]s turn to kook next week we cook [a?] week about we will be independent if we ever get home we can cook & wash first rate.

—Private William Cochran, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

camp near Corinth, Mississippi, May 25, 1862, to wife, Mary

you enquire about the amount of clothes I have got and the way I wash them I have bought One Hat $1,87 one cap & cover, 63 cts One Uniform Jacket $5⁸¹ Two pair of Pants at 4 each (8,00) 1 Blouse coat 2¹⁵ Two Shirts 1,76 cts Two pair of Drawers 1,00 Two pair of socks 52 and pair of boots 3,33 One Overcoat 9,75 One Blanket 2,95 the whole amounting to Thirty Seven dollars and Eighty cents . . . you want to know how I wash my clothes I do it with soap, water and a little elbow grease how would you like to see me over the washtub?

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

Some soldiers managed to get others to do clothes washing for them.

New Iberia[?], Louisiana, November 5, 1863, to wife, Jane

We have two or three Negroes in the Company to Cok &, Wash for the men. I, have one all the time, to, Cook &, Wash & Pitch & Strike my, Tent. I, have an Other, Bob the best one that, I, have hade yet Heis a splendid Cook & young

—Captain John Dinsmore, 99th Infantry, Pike County

Note that Dinsmore was a captain and could better afford to hire someone to do domestic chores.

Washington, DC, November 24, 1861, to friend, John Hoffer, and sister, Emma Tobias

Hed Colley [Private Herbert Colley] is a very good soldier. when he is in camp he often comes and gets my kittle and goes to washing for others. Some days he makes 2 dollars and some days three dollars. He gets ten cents to wash a shirt and ten for drawers twenty five cts for breeches and five for a pair of socks.

—Private William Tobias, 8th Cavalry, DuPage County

One way or another, clothes washing got done, even if it was on an as-needed or occasional basis.

Franklin, Tennessee, April 15, 1863, to sister

You want to know how we do our washing, well Ill tell you. I heat a kettle of water get a tub, or something, and wash them out well in good soapsuds for Uncle Sam furnishes plenty of that material. then put them in a kettle and boil them awhile with plenty of soap. then wash them out well, rinse them out in clear cold water and hang them out to dry. That is my Modus Operandi varied a little at times according to circumstances.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Regarding personal hygiene, it also was a necessity that could (or should) not be ignored.

Lake Providence, Louisiana, March 14, 1863, to brother

I am well except the itch that is popular here at least we all have it and dont pretend to deny it. and another luxury we have occasionly that is grey backs or in other words body bugs or lice though they have not bothered me yet but I see a good many of the boys seting round picking them of[f] just for past time.

—Corporal Lewis Trefftzs, 81st Infantry, Perry County

Sometimes potable water was in short supply and any sort of washing had to wait.

Helena, Arkansas, July 22, 1862, to sister

good water is hard to be found on our march we suffered mor for water than anything else on every plantation there is generely two or three wells which might have afforded us tolerably cool water but our enemies would break the buckets and fill up the wells with logs and dirt on our approach leaving only the muddy swamps and Bayou’s along the road this water was perfectly hot and almost putrid for the secesh would drive hogs and cattle into these places and then shoot them and leave them to season the water for us to drink but it was the only chance for us and it was rendered palatable by a burning sun and dust that flew so thick that sometimes we could not see the horses on which we rode

—Private John Burke, 5th Cavalry, Randolph County

Given Private Burke’s descriptions, it is easier to understand the following watery opportunity.

camp near Bridgeport, Alabama, September 11, 1863, to sister

the most pleasing – soothing, and best feelings I have had lately was when I went head first beneath the clear, cooling, refreshing, and lastly butnot least leastly, cleansing waves of the broad Tennessee, and sported for nearly an hour in its soft waters. You may think I am talking nonsense but there was 3 or 4,000 thousand, tired, weary, dusty, dirty sweaty blue coated nephews of Uncl Sam who thought the same thing. And I believe we would have went in had the opposite shore been lined with Butternut riflemen such is the eagerness to get to water after such a march as we had yesterday.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Here is another soldier who relished a post-battle dip.

camp near Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 24, 1863, to daughter, Alice

if the old 4^th had not made that grand charge we would of come out all right but so it was we was to many for them and Jo. E. Johnston got fritened and gathered in the Knight sit [set] the city on fire and Left next morning we went in pell mell and soon the city was full of union soldiers Pearl River runs along the East Side of Jackson it is a very pretty little River about the size of Ocaw [Okaw? This may be a comparative reference to Illinois’s Kaskaskia River.] very nice clear water I had a nice bathe in it. we destroyed a great deal of Rail Rode stock there.

—2nd Lieutenant Troy Moore, 32nd Infantry, Madison County

Although we, as readers, maybe take water for granted, whether it be for washing or drinking, the soldiers assuredly did not underappreciate it.

camp near Mexico, Missouri, August 4, 1861, to wife, Julia, and children

Oh how I have wished a thousand times for only one good drink of water out of our well. if I ever live to get home you can bet I will know how to appreciate good water and Vi[c]tuals and kind friends yet I must say that with all the hardships I have to endure it is not realy as bad as I anticipated it would be but it is bad enough God knows the best of it

—1st Lieutenant Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

[1] For this posting, I am omitting prisoner-of-war situations, where opportunities for improving personal hygiene were either slim or none.

[2] Barnds is (mistakenly) listed as “William H. Burns” in J. N. Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, rev. ed., 8 vols. (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., 1900), 3:365.

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Love letters (added 7 January 2022)

Given that soldiers took pains to protect the privacy of their letters, what were their love letters like to spouses and significant others?

Athens, Alabama, December 13, 1863, to Millie

My Dear wife . . . I hope to get six or eight letters from you when the mail comes it has been over two weeks since I got any & I am anxious to hear from your [you] dear wife I am hungry for a letter from your precious hands – I do not know what I should do if I had not my dear wife to think about & talk to – I now fully realiz how much I love you how strong a hold you have on my very being & it is a comfort to know that I have a jewel which I think so much of & prize so much. I love to love my dear darling wife & O how much I long for the time when we shall be again together

—Assistant Surgeon William Allen, 9th Infantry, Bond County

As perhaps in the case with Assistant Surgeon Allen, absence could make the heart grow fonder, or/and he was feeling the pangs of not being in each other’s company. On the one hand, a soldier wanted his loved one(s) back home to know how much he was missing his betrothed, paramour, or family members. However, he also may not want to strike a tone of being over-wrought or in some sort of emotional agony through his letters. Some soldiers were careful what they wrote because, once sent, those written words were hard to take back, or to change their characterization or connotations.

Like in so many aspects of life, people had different styles. Some soldier letter-writers expressed their love briefly yet deeply.

Birds Point, Missouri, September 3, 1861, to wife, Mary “Em”

Tell A.H.B. too Rite [because] this leter must do for all for i can not rite too all Nothing more But remain your Affectionate husband til Death

—Private Benjamin Best, 40th Infantry, Wayne County

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, April 1, 1862, to wife, Hattie

I was reflecting to day, that, even now while we are married, & consequently each bound in some measure to respect the wishes & to bear with the failings of the other yet even now I am hardly acquainted with you, fondly as I love you.

—1st Sergeant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

When Shumway wrote this, he and Harriet had been married less than two months. Some others expressed their love more indirectly.

Marietta, Georgia, September 12, 1864, to wife, Clara

Now that the news has reached me I feel the uncertainty gone [about his wife’s health]. But to think of your being sick & I not with you is worse. I try not to worry . . . How I wish I could comfort you some. Words are but meagre things especially when put on paper. My darling wife do not keep back your condition from me in any respect.

—1st Assistant Surgeon James Gaskill, 45th Infantry, Bond County

Morris Island, South Carolina, October 4, 1863, to wife, Mary

I will go to bed to dream of you.

—Captain Chauncey Williams, 39th Infantry, McLean County

Some other writers were even more emotive, and this could be especially the case given the life-and-death realities and other uncertainties of war.

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, April 13, 1862, to “My Dear and Beloved Friends”

I was shot this day one week ago near the middle of the day [at the Battle of Shiloh]. Ball entering a little forward of the hip joint and passing out on the front of the thigh a little above the knee joint. I shall not attempt to give you a description of occurrences and affairs in this country un[t]il I see you.

I desire you to take good care of the babes. Let mother keep little Charlie and the caring for the younger one. I wish some of the girls to take care of it till further notice and arrangement is made. The loved little creature. I hardly know how best to manage it, for its greatest prosperity. dont let it suffer for any attention. I must close because I am wearied give my highest feelings of respect & love to Pap McCluer and the remainder of the family. I hope to be able to be with you before the elapse of many days.

O may the Lord take us all in his precious care I must subscribe myself your affectionate & afflicted Brother

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

Washington, DC, May 23, 1861

My own darling Kitty [Carrie Spafford],
If anything should happen, Darling just accept this assurance, the only thing I can leave you—The highest happiness I looked for on Earth was a union with you. You have more than realized the hopes I formed regarding your advancement, and I believe I love you with all the ardor I am capable of. You know my darling any attempt of mine to convey an adequate expression of my feelings must be simply futile. God bless you, as you deserve and grant you a happy & usefull life & us a union hereafter. P.S. Give my love to mother & father (such they truly were to me) and thank them again for all their kindness to me. I regret I can make no better return for it—again good bye God bless you my own darling.

Truly your own,
Elmer

—Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, 11th New York Infantry, formerly of Winnebago and Cook counties

This letter was written the day before Colonel Ellsworth was killed in Alexandria, Virginia, becoming one of the first notable Union deaths of the Civil War. His body would lie in state at the White House prior to being buried in his home state of New York.

Some soldiers simply wanted those back home to know they were being chaste while being far away.

Camp Centralia, Illinois, September 4, 1862, to friend

Dear Lizzy [Wilson] . . . I have not seen one good looking gall [gal] up here and have never spoke to one since I left you in sparta the day I left home a day never to be forgoten by me the day I parted with my Parents my brothers and sisters and all the ones I loved but ma[y]be never to meet again

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Washington, DC, June 16, 1864, to friend, Miss Lovina Eyster

[I will] not give my heart to any of these little Dixie Gyspyes

—Sergeant Reuben Prentice, 8th Cavalry, Ogle County

Was this a real wartime concern? Given that prostitution flourished during the Civil War at soldier gathering places, such as at Springfield and Cairo, Illinois, and Washington DC, it was very much a reality. Also, consider this verse from a preprinted letterhead on a piece of soldier stationery dated October 7, 1861.

You are going far away,
Far away from poor Jeannette;
There’s no one left to love me now,
And you too may forget.
With your gun upon your shoulder
And your bayonet by your side,
You’ll be talking to some fair lady
And be making her your bride.

Here is a portion of the letter upon this same sheet of paper.

Paducah, Kentucky, October 7, 1861, to wife, Mary “Em”

I would like too hear from hom if, Freddy is well or not. I hope he is well and wont have the chils eny more for he has shurely had his share long a go – when i herd he was sick I would have given eny thing in the world if i could have bin there. Then, and just, then, I Rude or Regretted that, I ever, volunteered or left hom. But, I, have allways thought and do yet think it is a just cause and one that will make any good and true citison feel proud of. Who could stand with his arms folded and see our glorious liberties trampled opon, Which, our fore, fathers, Fought for. We have enjoyed that glorious Privilage of liberty and now – while life will last we shall stand firm for the union – If, we do not enjoy it our – wifes and children, I hope, will. If, it should be our lot too fall on the Battle field It would not be a disgrace too our Friends, or children. If it had not have been for the god forsaken, Rebbels we now might be setting By our fire sides, and enjoying our selves with our wives and, children – it is not the case with us now But, I, hope god will speed the time when we will all get home and we still will enjoy the glorious liberty of Freedom.

—Private Benjamin Best, 40th Infantry, Wayne County

Loved ones also meant what was home to soldiers and what they were missing, in many and various ways, while being away and at war.

Raleigh, North Carolina, April 20, 1865, to Nellie

My Own Dear Wife,
Can you realize that this great & bloody struggle is over? = Well, I cannot. It seems hardly possable, and yet, it is true, thank God, and these hundreds of thousands of Soldiers are about returning to their homes and their loved ones. The war is ended, and Peace we will have soon, if our authorities at Washington will say so. . . .
Arrangements are being made to send the troops home as soon as negotiations are closed. I will not be home I think before June, that will be as soon as we can get our accounts with the Gov. settled. = Well, now it is about time for me to begin to think of what I am going, to do, when I get home. I am making no money here and if I dont change my associates when I get home I wont make any when I get there. I tell you My Dear, I want to quit this kind of living. If you dont spend as much money as the Gen. and staff you are not a “fine officer” & as the old addage reads “those that dance must pay the fiddler” it holds good here. If a man serves on the staff, of a General, rides his horse, & lives good it takes all his money, and twice all if he could get it, and I will be mighty glad when I get home, with you, for there I will be where I will know what to do. I will tell you much my dear when we meet. I am tired of the army, & gladly will I change, for a home, a wife somebody to love, and for some body that loves me. Tell John to wait for me, before going West, = Dear Nellie we will soon be happy I hope. God Bless you. = I will try to do right and make you happy. = Good night.

—Captain Albert Blackford, 107th Infantry, DeWitt County

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[31 December 2021: Happy New Year to all; there will be a new posting on 7 January 2022.]

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Army mules (added 24 December 2021)

There is an expression that is something like “as stubborn as an army mule.” What was the reputation of mules during the Civil War?

It is possible this expression originated (or, became more popular) during the Spanish-American War (1898). I suppose it is derived from the more generic “as stubborn as a mule.” In any case, there were plenty of Illinois soldiers who mentioned army mules in their letters, partially because they were so ubiquitous as beasts of burden.

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, February 12, 1863, to sister, Isabelle

from Danville to Louisville . . . we made quite a respectable show on the road between 5 & 6,000 men with a train of about 250, 6[–]mule wagons taking up the road for a distance of full five miles

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

They were valued for their “mule power” in hauling seemingly endless wagons loaded with supplies. In that role, they were a commodity coveted by the enemy for their own usage.

Marietta, Georgia, August 9, 1864, to wife, Clara

Yesterday morning 7 teams & about 40 men were gobbled [i.e., captured by the enemy] while out about 2 ½ miles from town foraging. I believe pretty much all the men were retaken & the teams were with it exception of some of the best mules which the rebs took with them.

—1st Assistant Surgeon James Gaskill, 45th Infantry, Bond County

Cairo, Illinois, September 11, 1861, to wife, Jane

we are hearing camp news every day some of it is true and some of it we can not relie upon, but is true that the union men took 3 boats from the rebles they are in Ca[i]ro now there is afine lot of horses and mules and cattle here that the[y] took from them

—Private James McIlrath, 31st Infantry, Saline County

Valued as they may be, mules were simultaneously looked down upon and pitied by Illinois soldiers. They also could be the butt of jokes. Here are two examples.

Hospital #3 at Nashville, Tennessee, November 24, 1865, to uncle, Sergeant Levi Otis Colburn of the 51st Infantry

You say you think of sending me an old condemned mule to sleep with well (Sir) I am much obliged to you, but I think I can wait Six months longer and then I think I can get something in the shape of a feemale woman to sleep with, which I think will be a little better than a mule.

—Private Samuel Walker, 51st Infantry, Cook County

Camp Baird, near Danville, Kentucky, January 20, 1863, to sister

I believe if some fellows were to stay in the army 8 or 10 years they would be as stupid as any set of mules you eversaw, and neve use their reasoning faculties any more than if they never had any. Such is one of the effects of Soldering.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Of course, the soldiery, especially the privates, easily saw the parallels between themselves and mules as something like expendable Army fodder within an immense military machine. They both, at times, probably felt like the lowest of the low. However, it would be an elevation, of sorts, if mules merely led “a dog’s life” (e.g., difficult, boring, unhappy).

camp near the Tennessee River at Bridgeport, Alabama, November 18, 1863, to mother

The region is really, really very beautiful in places. But for a farmer it is not an Illinois by far. It is remarkable that where the ground doesn’t consist chiefly of gravel and sand in the valleys the way is boggy and marshy, so that our pioneers always had to spend a lot of time before our trains were able to pass. . . . Now we are finally here and survived everything; praise and thanks be to God that a human can stand much more than a mule or a packhorse. This is evidenced by the many wounded quadrupeds that adorn the route on both sides and that make it highly unpleasant for our noses.

—Captain Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

That “a human can stand much more” is questionable! Consider this quotation within a book passage in reference to the Siege of Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, where the line of supply started in Bridgeport, Alabama, and ran through the daunting hills and rutted roads of southeastern Tennessee.

“But what pen can portray the suffering and abuse to which the poor, patient, long-suffering army mules were compelled to submit to. . . . Starved, and overworked, when they became utterly exhausted and unable to perform any more labor, they were either shot or turned out to die of starvation, and themselves became food for the buzzards that continually circled and swooped above and about the line of our route.
Yes, when the mules were turned out it was to starve and die for in a range of miles among those mountain barrens, enough of even wild bunch grass could not be found to make one good feed for a hungry mule.
Mules would sometimes lie down in the harness completely discouraged, hearts broken perhaps, and no whipping or coaxing or pulling on the bridle and twisting of the tail would induce them to make a single effort to rise. And all that could be done was to remove the harness, pull them out of the way, and abandon or shoot them.
And thus it was that the number of dead mules along the route increased day by day, till the road sides became literally lined with dead mules.”[1]

This perverse route is how supplies were moved to the Union forces at Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, prior to opening the so-called “Cracker Line.” That occurred when the Confederate units along the Tennessee River were leveraged out (on 27 October 1863), which then allowed a relatively easier water route of supply to the city. With the above near-impassable land route in mind, I include here a poem by an Iowa infantry soldier, although he likely had other supply episodes in mind when he composed the following.

UNCLE SAM’S MULE.[2]
By A played out Warrior,
++++++++++++++

In a mud[d]y ditch by a deep morass,
A Government mule lay breathing his last,
With harness all geared, and waiting for death –
The grim driver’s summons to pull his last breath.
A right hearty chap he was when he enlisted;
And took his scan[t] rations of hay unassisted –
Stood up to the rack like a patriot true,
And his body, by welting was red, white and blue!
At evening, of’t-times, his day’s labor over,
Would he pensively dream of his mul-age and clover;
But his sweet tho’ts would grow sour and uncandid,
When he gazed on his end and the ‘U. S.’ there branded.
O! Abe, why did [you] allow the contractor
To disfigure me thus like a base malefactor?
You nail me for life – “I don’t see it,” tain’t fair –
The compact was “three years, or during the war”.
You’ve ‘throwed’ on^A me, Abe, I’m gone up the spout,^B
I got nary [a] furlough, and bounty’s played out;
Promotion’s uncertain,- I work for no pay;
Ain’t this patriotic? Pray tell me – I bray!
But now all his sighs and complainings are o’er,
And the lash of the driver shall goad him no more;
For he’s ‘passed in his cheeks’^C has finished his work,
Has pulled his last load of ‘shingles’^D and pork’.
There are none who will miss his elongated face,
Annother is ready to pull in his place,
And the train will move on, and the soldiers be fed
And no tears for the Government mule that is dead!
_______

MORAL
Ah! my bold sojer boy, tho’ thy hard bread^E is tough,
Thy ‘sow-belly’ worse, and ‘shoulder-straps’^F rough,
Take this sweet consolation, and don’t feel so cruel –
For tho’ both are high-privates,^G you out rank the mule.

*****

^A “throwed on” = neglect, ignore, or abandon
^B “gone up the spout” = ruined, finished
^C “passed in his cheeks” = played out, exhausted (my best guess)
^D shingles = hardtack (based on resemblance to)
^E hard bread = hardtack
^F “shoulder-straps” = (commanding) officer or officers
^G “high-privates” = “ordinary privates,” since there are no rank gradations among Civil War privates

If you wish to read a different sort of amusing Civil War mule-themed poem, do take a look at this:
https://www.civilwarpoetry.org/union/battles/mules.html

During the Civil War, mules were mocked, appreciated, commiserated with, expendable, tended, neglected, and yet somehow respected in an offhanded way, depending on soldiers’ (and handlers’) changing moods and circumstances. Perhaps the bottom line was they knew they would be hungrier without the mules.

[1] John Patton, John Patton Memoir, Book 17, Library of Congress, as quoted in Peter Cozzens, The Battles for Chattanooga: The Shipwreck of their Hopes (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 21-22. This passage inspired me to write the poem/marching ditty “Sixty Miles of Mules and Muck” as part of the Sesquicentennial Civil War Series of poems, in 2015.

[2] Poem from: Christopher Newlon Green, Introducing Civil War Journals of Sgt. William Clark Newlon, Company G, Third Infantry, Iowa Volunteers, Including His Poem “Uncle Sam’s Mule” (self-published, 2010). See www.greensblueandgray.com The original is at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, in Springfield, Illinois.

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Animals in camp (added 17 December 2021)

The 8th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment had an eagle mascot called “Old Abe” during the Civil War. Did Illinois soldiers have pets, mascots, or other animals in their camps?

Surely, some Illinois regiments and companies had local pets around the camps – of the dog and cat variety – but I have found no such references among the personal letters I have read. And I would think if they did have superfluous animals, like pets, they more likely would have been with officers at local mustering camps in Illinois, as opposed to the larger, more regimented camps Douglas or Butler, or field camps somewhere in the Confederacy. As I mentioned in an earlier December posting, sometimes food was scarce among the soldiers, let alone having enough to share with non-essential animals. Plus, it is rather incomprehensible that a commanding officer would relax army discipline to allow most any pet in a camp, even if the 8th Wisconsin Infantry was allowed an exception.[1]

The only “dog” references I have found among Illinois soldiers’ letters were mainly of the metaphorical variety.

Wilmington, North Carolina, March 1, 1865, to wife, Nellie

Wilmington, the city so long wished for has at last fallen, and with it Charleston, but the best news is the re=capture of our suffering prisoners. Who can deny the working of providence in this. The poor fellows looked horrible. Dog on those rebels.[2]

—Captain Albert Blackford, 107th Infantry, DeWitt County

Allatoona, Georgia, June 8, 1864, to sister, Sarah

well now I will tell you we have marched 225 miles and have rested only two days while we marched that distance we only had half rations and they was hardtack and bacon I could have eat any thing that a dog would nearly

—Private David Treadway, 14th Infantry, Cass County

Ditto regarding “cat” references.

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, February 12, 1863, to sister, Isabelle Low

I had almost forgotten to tell you that Dr. Evans is the only surgeon we have had for some time and all the boys in the regiment fairly hate him they think he dont know enough to doctor a Cat and I most heartily endorse it.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Of course, any large army was surrounded by animals. So, service or working animals such as mules, horses (especially in a cavalry regiment!), and oxen, as well as cattle as food on-the-hoof could be plentiful. (The subject of mules is worthy of a separate post.) A rider may have had a favorite or a good relationship with a horse, but it also was through necessity. Yet horses, and especially mules, were expendable, almost like everything else in the military. That stated, they were hardly mascots or pets.

Greencastle, Pennsylvania, September 17, 1862, to brother-in-law, Mr. William A. Tunnell

[At the siege of Harpers Ferry] The enemy kept displaying signals during the afternoon, and at about 12 they opened [their artillery] upon us. the first shell came right into our camp and produced quite a panic among both horses and men – the latter having unsaddled – and men preparing to eat dinner, but fortunately did not burst the next horror bursted, and covered several of the boys with dirt and dust and killing a horse of one of the other companies but you may depend there was no waiting for orders then. some saddled some left without horses, arms, or any thing and all ran for the trenches for dear life

—Private Winthrop Allen, 12th Cavalry, Greene County

written during Sherman’s “March to the Sea” between Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, November 21, 1864

it was the muddyest iever sen in my life we marched all day threw mud up to our [k]nees and sometimes deeper we marched all day threw it and we killed more than one hundred mules

—Corporal Charles Sanders, 101st Infantry, Morgan County

In times of desperation, service animals could become food for starving soldiers.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 8, 1863, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

However, if one is to mention the high, there also were the low: mice, rats, lice and other unwelcome vermin. In fact, this last one accompanied many soldiers, almost no matter where they went.

Humboldt, Tennessee, November 17, 1862, to father

since I left I look as well as you ever saw me my hare is a geting thin on the frunt part of my hed but that is all write [right] I can keep the lice out of it

—Private John Laingor, 54th Infantry, Shelby County

Lake Providence, Louisiana, March 14, 1863, to brother

—Corporal Lewis Trefftzs, 81st Infantry, Perry County

This next letter quotation is in reference to the Union siege of Vicksburg. In essence, General Grant’s forces had surrounded the city and cut off the Confederate defenders’ supply lines.

Camp Walnut Hills, Mississippi, June 17, 1863, to mother

In Vicksburg there must really be little food, for this evening I already heard many soldiers speculating about rats that ran over their faces, etc. If their rats are coming, the rebels must also be soon tamed.

—Captain Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

With the city’s occupants starving, Confederate general John C. Pemberton famously surrendered his forces on 4 July 1863. Besides eating mules and dogs, the fleeing rats might also have been on the menu.

Even though I did find any pet references relative to Illinois soldiers, surely there were some. Here is a web address about some examples of dogs in other states’ regiments:
https://www.heartofthecivilwar.org/blog/mans-best-friend-in-war-and-peace-dogs-in-the-american-civil-war

[1] That stated, I could envision a cat being allowed on a naval boat to help keep the rodent population under control.

[2] “Dog on those rebels” means to punish them as if by setting a (unfriendly) dog on them.

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Food cravings of POWs (added 10 December 2021)

Did Civil War soldiers eat hardtack as prisoners of war in the South? If not, what food did they get?

Article 76 of the Lieber Code stated: “Prisoners of war shall be fed upon plain and wholesome food, whenever practicable, and treated with humanity.”[1] More generally (albeit ideally), prisoners were to receive the same rations as the soldiers in their captor’s army. In practice, this rarely occurred and perhaps especially in Southern prisons.[2]

Here are five Illinois prisoners’-of-war recollections and letter quotations regarding their incarcerations in various Southern prisons, from four enlisted soldiers and one officer. I have provided light annotations (in italics) for each.

However, I must warn you – some of this is unpleasant, graphic reading.

The following was written by Frederick Calkins, former private, 16th Cavalry, originally from Knox County, between 1886 and 1902 as a part of Civil War remembrances (from notes or a diary) regarding events at Belle Isle Prison in early 1864 and Andersonville Prison from March to September 1864

[At Belle Isle, in Richmond, Virginia] The bean or Pea soup . . . was cooked in large cauldron kettles, their was a great amount of rubish and dirt; as though they had not been winnowed, . . . They were very acceptible; But, they were like the corn cake, they always fell short of enough to satisfy the craving demands of the apetite; We very soon noticed a black skum on our soup; and a close scrutiny revealed the fact that it, or ‘them’ was little mites of bugs; It was natural to dislike to eat that kind of animal food if it was dead and cooked; so we skum [skimmed?] it or them off; and their is wheir we were made to mourn for with the last of them went the last of the soup; . . . [but concluded] if they did not kill, they assisted in filling a fastar . . . They gave us the Peas dry a few times the quantity to each man was about a comon table spoon full; nearly evry one could be pulverized between the thumb and finger inside of such would be from six to ten of these little speckled hard shell bugs;

[Writing more generally about hunger] The ration never increased in quantity some times it would fall short a little; it came once a day. And was eaten as soon as received; some would devour it revenously, or Ball it so to speak but some of us soon learned to eat it slowly . . . Who is able to calmly withstand the pangs of hunger; None can tell until tried; Now after we hear people boast of what they can do; But let them come face to face; with the test; How often they utterly fail

Calkins mentioned tramping around in circles at night to keep from freezing to death during the winter at Belle Isle.

I was so tired and sleepy I had at times a numb fealing Their was a Sibley Tent near which our ring passed I thought I can lay down their and be out of the wind and rest; when next I came around I laid down geting myself into as comfort a body as possible I dreamed I was Home; siting on my old place at the table Father at my right brothers and sisters were in their wanted places Mother s[t]ood at her place as though prepaired to Serve; and I was Saying oh Im so glad Im out of that Prison and I kept repeating it no one appeared to move they were all intently observing me; although years have passed some of those faces have returned to Earth; and yet the way they looked at me in that midnight vision still abides with Me; How long I had lain their I never knew

It is of no surprise that POWs dreamed about home and especially eating at home. Calkins was transferred by train to Andersonville Prison in Georgia, arriving there on 11 March 1864. He expounded about sharing the “poison”-like food at Andersonville.

[On April 18th] they Isued Molasses and rice instead of meat; The reader says what a substitute that one man in ten or perhaps twenty that had any thing to put it in; We then felt and believed and still believe that it would be hard to find more inconsistent Treatment of prisoners than was shown towards us; corn meal or rice was hard to devide; usually 2 to four would chum; thus pool their rations; one fellow would take out a pants pocket; another a Sleave lining and make what we called poke bags; (or grub) . . . The food that he [the average prisoner in Andersonville] takes is well nigh poison to the Physicle condition. our system that something that could not be named[.] at one time when out side [i.e., outside of the prison stockade, say, gathering wood while under guard] I picked a handful of dog fennel; and cooked it; a few bites was all right, but it was so bitter. it soon turned the stomach; the trafic in rations we carried on in true huxter stile; if one had a ration that he could not eat he would come on the street; and sing out whos got rice to trade for bread

Calkins was finally paroled in September 1864, although, not surprisingly, he was rather sickly by the time that occurred. He survived the war and lived to age eighty-two.

Here are some undated reminiscences by Flavius J. Philbrook, former private, 115th Infantry, originally from Shelby County, who was a prisoner-of-war at Belle Isle and later Hampton Park Prison, near Charleston, South Carolina. Survival as a POW sometimes took cunning and nerve. He had been captured in October 1863, near Chattanooga.

Philbrook similarly described bugs in the soup at Belle Isle Prison.

Belle Isle is situated in [the] James River oposite the upper part of the City of Richmond, , is of an oval shape & contains probably fifty or sixty acres, the upper end of the island was occupied by Belles Iron works & Machine shops, the prison was located on the lower point and was made by building a breastwork about four feet high . . . we generally drew raw rations one day & cooked rations next day, our [raw] rations would sometimes be about 1/4 lb sweet potato with two table spoonfuls of meal and ½ teaspoon salt next time we drew raw rations we would get about two or three spoon fulls of rice that was full of weavil and a spoonful of sorghum our cooked rations would be corn bread about ½ lb or about 3/4 pint of soup either rice or cow pea soup the rice soup was invariably covered with weavils, & the pea soup with pea bugs but we could not afford to throw away the best of the soup by skimming of[f] the bugs

At one point, it seemed like he and other prisoners there were going to receive supplemental provisions from the North . . .

Soon after getting on the Island we were given the chance to write home for any thing we wanted that was not contraband. I wrote for some underclothes a blanket & some provisions most of the prisoners that could get paper wrote we also heard that the U S Sanitary Commission had got permission to send us Provisions clothing & Blankets & in the fore part of Dec’ Several Hundred boxes came and & were piled up out side of the guard line. The rebels did not have orders to issue it to us and they would not allow members of the Sanitary Commission to come in side of their lines to issue it to us, and as it lay there without a guard over it, it was a daily occurrence for us to see rebels knock the boxes open & help them selves to Blankets overcoats crackers, Bacon, and all kinds of provisions that were needed among our sick & starving fellow prisoners . . . at last about the middle of Jan’ we were given some worn out rebel tents and a part of the U S Blankets . . . that was all the benefit we ever got from the sanitary goods. The Rebels got the rest.

Subsequently, Philbrook was transferred to near Charleston; this could be the “Hampton Park” Prison, named after Confederate General (and later Governor of South Carolina) Wade Hampton. This place was a race course and former plantation.

I found that the Sisters of Charity were allowed to come in & bring eatables to the sick. [In the hospital] I managed to get into their good graces so that I got more than my share especially of the pickles they brought which I needed so much for my scurvy . . . the three or four weeks of good provisions had benefited us so that many of us were getting quit[e] s[t]out and were foolish enough to not disguise it so an order came for all that could walk to go to the [regular part of the prison] camp . . . & I was notified among the rest to be ready to march in an hour. I determined I would not go, but got my blanket & things ready & slung them on my back & borrowed a cart . . . When the order came to march I managed to get about half way to the guard line & fell down I arose & tried again & got out side of the line & fell again it was with great difficulty that I got up this time but I kept my feet a few rods farther & fell again and refused to get up. the Guard threatened me with the bayonet but I told him I might as well die then as ever, to go ahead & finish me up – he called the Lieut I talked to him the same at last he ordered me back. I saw he was wa[t]ching me so I would crawl along a little then lay still awhile at last I got back to the tent, I did not laugh any untill I got inside then I took one of the few good hearty laughs that I indulged in while in prison but was very careful that no rebel should se[e] me.

Ultimately, Philbrook was incarcerated for about five hundred days, first at Belle Isle, later at Hampton Park Prison, and finally at Andersonville, Georgia. Like many other POWS, he suffered from scurvy during his imprisonment. After the war, he returned to farming in Shelby County, had eight children, and wrote about his prisoner-of-war experiences.

At some point, James Jennings, former private, 20th Infantry, originally from Kendall County, wrote undated reminisces, titled “A Story of the Trials and Experiences of James Jennings Late of Co. K 20th Infantry at Andersonville Prison during the Civil War.” He described himself as “among the lucky ones.”

[After arriving at Andersonville,] around us on every side lay the poor wretches who had been there six or eight months, men afflicted with all manner of disease; teeth dropping out from the effects of scurvy. Those that were able to walk were mere skeletons.

I think it was some time in October that some Rebel officers came into prison and took out about 4,000 of the prisoners for exchange. The 20^th Illinois was among the lucky ones. We were taken to Charleston, S.C. and kept there several days. The officers being unable to come to terms, [we] were loaded on the cars and taken to Florence, S.C., About one hundred miles up the country where a new prison was established in an open field. . . . We received much better ration[s], consisting of a half loaf of graham bread. We were in a large open field surrounded by guards.

Rather cruelly, it seemed that some of the guards at a different prison entertained themselves by watching prisoners fight for third-rate food.

[Later] At Saulsbury [Salisbury], N.C. prison in the winter they . . . would carry the [beef] guts and the paunch to the top of the stockade. The guard would holler, “Aye, Aye, Aye[”] to attract a larger crowd, then they would push the paunch and the guts down among the hungry prisoners. . . . those poor fellows starved nigh on to death make a dive for those guts right down in the dirt grabbing for them, fighting, pushing, cursing their comrades for trying to get a piece of gut which they wanted

Lewis Lake, a former private, 1st Light Artillery, originally from Winnebago County, made a presentation called “My War Experience,” on April 12, 1888, in Chicago, Illinois, at a veteran reunion.

As did some other former POWs who survived Andersonville, Lewis Lake mentioned scurvy as well as insufficient amounts of food.

Andersonville at this time consists [consisted] of a few old buildings, including the station house, confederate camps . . . I cannot give a description of the surroundings as they realy were – words fail [to] express the thoughts that pass through the mind of the new commer. the many questions asked by the older prisoners . . . the poor half demented fellows, who looked so worn out, emaciated, dirt begrimed – covered with rags, filth & vermin – some rotten with the scurvy, – others with wounds in which gangrene had found its way. . . . As we were without barracks, tents or blankets, and many without coats, our prospects for the future can better be imagined than described. . . . we received a piece of corn bread three inches square (the cob being ground with the corn), a small piece of bacon, and a half pint of boiled black beans – cooked with the pods – our rations for the next 24 hours. . . . The rations during our captivity were noteable for their sameness. . . . what we considered worse than the rations themselves, was the manner in which cooked beans, rice &c. was brought to us. After a wagon load of our dead comrade had been deposited in the trench, rations would be placed in the same box (without cleaning) – that had contained the bodies of human beings, deceased several days, in some instances, and brought to the starving prisoners; it was that or nothing.

Again, what was remembered was the perverseness of their treatment, including their rations, as POWs. Lake was at Andersonville for two months before being part of a September 1864 prisoner exchange. He survived the war, married, had three children, and lived into his mid-eighties.

Philip Welshimer, from Cumberland County, was a captain in the 21st Infantry when he was captured during the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, in September 1863. He was interred in Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, with other Union officers. His prisoner-of-war experiences were somewhat different than those of enlisted men in Southern prisons, and he was afforded some additional opportunities regarding food. Here is one of his entire letters.

Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, November 5, 1863, to Julia

Dear Wife
When I last wrote you I stated that I was destitute of Clothing Since that time we received clothing from the U.S. Sanitary Commission so that I now have a change of Shirts and Drawers and can do very well for some time, in this respect My health continues good and although my lot seems a hard one, it is but the fortune of War and I must be content. Do not be uneasy about me if I should become sick or any-thing happen [to] me I will at once inform you. I have not as yet received a letter from home hope you will write often.

—Captain Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, November 15, 1863

Dear Wife, I received your letter of 28th Oct the first word I had heard from home since the 1st Sept and you can guess how welcome it was. . . . put me up a box of something to eat and send it by express directed as per below, pay charges to Fort Monroe and it will come all safe.

—Captain Philip Welshimer

On 4 January 1864, Welshimer wrote that “the provisions you sent me in the box you speak of which came all O. K. I have plenty to eat.” Of course, this is in sharp contrast to the experiences of Illinois enlisted POWs. Nevertheless, Welshimer soon was writing again to his wife for more food.

Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, February 28, 1864

I wrote you some time ago to send me another box of Provisions but fear you never received my letter. If you have not allready send me one as soon as possible put in Coffee Sugar Soap Paper Envealops and a fiew stamps and any thing else you think proper.

—Captain Philip Welshimer

Welshimer remained a prisoner for a little over a year, during which he was periodically moved to other Confederate prisons. After returning home after the war, he became a Cumberland County judge. He died in 1899.

In this posting, “food cravings” is something of a misnomer compared to the previous posting where it meant something more akin to missing home. Rather, for POWs, food was simply about survival. Too often, soldiers from Illinois were malnourished in Southern prisons, if not starving. Finally, I found one or two instances of new Illinois POWs given hardtack on the way to a prison but, as in the above, I did not come across statements that prisoners were served hardtack. Perhaps, to the Confederacy, hardtack was more valuable as a portable and preservable marching ration for its soldiers.

[1] “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field (Lieber Code).” 24 April 1863.

[2] While Northern prisons, theoretically, had more resources to feed prisoners as they did their own soldiers, there were (something like) retaliatory food measures practiced in the Union when it was learned how harsh the conditions were for POWs in the Confederacy.

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Food cravings (added 3 December 2021)

Civil War soldiers’ food staples seemed to be hardtack, “sow belly,” and coffee, which at a bare minimum seems like a rather monotonous diet. Were there other foods they especially craved?

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, December 14, 1864, to P. W. Thomson and family

I have some very tantalizing dreams have been just ready to partake of good things with you several times and when I get back intend to have revenge. . . . Butter is one dollar per pound Cheese 60 cents and you cant imagine how my appetite craves such articles I would have some sent only I should never get it

—Private Edward Lapham, 36th Infantry, Knox County

Camp Sevier, near Clarksville, Tennessee, March 6, 1862 Dear Brother & Sister

I can give you no Idea what we have been through its a wonder that any of us is alive from the exposure of the weather and laying[?] out at night without shelter on half the food as we ought to get

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Infantry, Madison County

Foods available for soldiers at the camps in Illinois versus for those who were deployed in the Southern states were different. However, even before leaving Illinois, new soldiers could quickly miss homemade meals. In the following series of quotations, notice the progression (or regression) of foods available to the new Illinois soldiers as they moved further from home.

Camp Hunter, near Ottawa, Illinois, October 21, 1861, to “dear friend,” Lizzie Denning

And now as to our living, which is very good not gotten up as nice as might be but does very well considering and tastes very well when one is hungry we always have good [soft] bread, and at breakfast we have coffee, a large tin cup ful to each man and a table spoon ful of sugar to each man one piece of meat either beef or pork and potatoes. for dinner we have bread, meat, and been or rice soup, a tin cupful of soup to each man and sometimes more if he wants it. for supper we have the same as for breakfast always plenty. the boys often buy extras such as cabbage eggs chickens & butter which can always be had most any day in Camp and also pies and cakes.

—Private Samuel Kuhn, 4th Cavalry, McLean County

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, March 3, 1862, to sister and brother

—Sergeant Ashley Alexander, 12th Cavalry, Winnebago County

Camp Defiance, near Cairo, Illinois, May 30, 1861, to wife, Katey

as Mr. Carmer had many other packages & boxes for our camp he could not bring yours with him but sent it by express, & my dear I had only 1.20 cts & it just took it all to pay the charges. but such a fine big cake was worth 3 times the am’t & I cut it for supper, gave each one a slice in my mess & have a large piece left, wife I have no doubt you would of been pleased, could you have been a little mouse when I set it on the table, such praises the boys did give it you better believe, & now for my say, It was the prettyest cake that I have seen or tasted in Camp since I have been here.

—Soldier “Andrew,” unknown Illinois unit, presumably from Illinois

Camp Lyon, Bird’s Point, Missouri, February 3, 1862, to wife

It will be my turn in the morning to get breakfast. I fancy I see you smile at the thought of your husband doing kitchen work, but I assure you I am already getting to be quite an expert at the business. We cooked one meal are [al]ready. This evening we had Bread, Meat, Coffee Butter Honey for supper. Dont you think thats pretty good “grub” for soldiers. But we dont expect to fare so well all the time.

—1st Sergeant Daniel Messick, 32nd Infantry, Macoupin County

Sergeant Messick was correct that soldiers could not “expect to fare so well all the time” once deployed in the South. However, even near the nation’s capital, the food could be monotonous.

Washington, DC area, early May, 1861, to “My darling Kitty” [Carrie M. Spafford],

Havent seen Butter or any like luxury – Regular food – breakfast Beef steak Dry bread Coffee Dinner Coffee, beef, bread Supper bread coffee beef.

—Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, 11th New York Infantry, formerly of Winnebago and Cook counties

Generally, army logistics did not allow for soldiers in the field to have much in the way of fruit, vegetables, or other food “luxuries.”

Shepherdsville, Kentucky, November 15, 1862, to wife, Sallie

We have hierd [hired] us a cook acolored man . . . and we hired him for .50 cts apeice amonth he is number one cook . . . he is very particular to save as much as he can and trade it to the citizens for butter and Molasses whitch is agreat luxury to us as our rations consist all the time in hard tacks (whitch is hard crackers) bacon Coffee sugar rice & Beans of those articals of foode we have plenty but when we can Get Butter and Molasses we think we are doing fine.

—Corporal Thomas Pankey, 91st Infantry, Greene County

Here is a soldier who craved food from home for a slightly different reason.

Paducah, Kentucky, September 28, 1862, to brothers and sisters

If you can send me a few kegs of fresh butter and 2 or 3 kegs of honey clear and good article I should be glad indeed. Such thing I could sell to agood advantage as soon as pay day Comes.

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

Generally, soldiers in the field augmented their daily fare in three ways: packaged food from home, trade with the local populace, and steal or extort (“foraging”) from the local populace and related resources.

camp near Otterville, Missouri, Tennessee, January 28, 1862, to friend, Mrs. Harriet Stoddard

I was taken sick when the Captain went home and I am not stout yet. it was while I was sick that I received your box of presents and Mrs Peets Can of fruit and Comfortable [i.e., “comforter,” a quilt perhaps] which I was very glad to get then, for at the time I was sleeping a lone at the time, and the Clothes was rather thin The fruit went very well to take the Medicine with. Your Aples were very good you better believe. I would roast them so they did not hurt me any as quick as I got them I divided with the boys in the mess. they relished them as well as I did. the mimce pie, I did not wait to get well before I pitched in to it I ate one piece and gave the rest of it to the boys, and they said it was the best pie they had ate in Mo and I thought so to. the Cakes they went pretty well. they were all very thankfully received. I thank you and Mrs Peet very much for these little luxuries that you have sent to me.

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry, Morgan County

Here are some examples of trading for specific foods.

Nashville, Tennessee, November 18, 1862, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

camp near Wartrace, Tennessee, July 28, 1863, to sister

Two Men from a Company are allowed to goout side the picket lines every day, and they have got tired of picking berries now and generally go a trading with the farmers. but I tell you that is hard business . . . And asour [as our] Grub hasbeen Most Miserable even to me and I am generally pretty well satisfied with plain victuals the boys share agreat deal [e.g., trade with farmers] even at these Ruinous prices. for along time wehav had Sowbelly that could run away assoon astaken out of the barrel if only let alone. Mould[y] hard Tack and coffee And I dont wonder that the boys get sick upon such fare in this weather.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

In the following letter quotations, there is a gradation of more and more aggressive foraging.

camp near the Chattahoochee River, Georgia, July 7, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

Fruit is plenty down here, and as the boys say we live “high” plenty of apples and berries of of [sic] every discription and we draw enough of sugar from “Uncle Sam” as[?] put in then[?] so that we have fruit nearly every meal, that is fruit and crackers for Breakfast then Crackers and fruit for dinner, and both for supper! you see that soldiers can make many changes to suit themselves

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

camp near Bellefonte, Alabama, August 23, 1863, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

we have lived well on this march had all the greencorns potatoes apples and Peaches we could eat one night we Camped where they had honey we made that Suffer Some of the boys got Stung so that they could not see the next day. the most they rase down here is Corn and our Army will take all of that So I think the Women and Children will Suffer this winter

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

Tuscumbia, Alabama, July 27, 1862, to wife, Sarah

you Say your Garden is one third of it killed and I hope you have Enough Left for your own use, & your speaking about a Great deal of Fruit this Season I am Glad to hear that of the north. there also is plenty here but so many Soldiers running after it that they dont Let it Get ripe before it is all Gone. we have Just Come where there is plenty of Green Corn & they take the whole fields as they Come to them, tho I managed to Get my Share of Corn.

—Private David Gregg, 1st Light Artillery, LaSalle County

Rome, Georgia, September 30, 1864, to Sarah M. Lease

we are all still A kicking yet expect to as long as we get plenty of hard tack and sow bella O I dident go to say that well you will haft to excuse me for that is what we call it down here we hant got any other name for we have A good many funny names for things down here such as eatables but we dont eat hard tack here now we have good light bred to eat now and plenty of coffe and sugar and rice been peas condenced potatoes and then we have dried aples but we have to by them we by dried apples and molasses some times dried frute is 15 cents per pounds and molasses $1[.]00 per gallon and we get A good many othere things when we go out in the Country some times we get in A old rebs potato patch and we fast make them get and then you will see the old woman go in on us and then if she has got any chickens we generly take them for here we was out forageing one day and we come to A rich old reb and we new he was feeding the bushwhackers that had been shooting at our pickets at nite so we went in the yard and got A drink of water and then we thought we would see what was in the meet house as soon as we went to look in there the old woman she told us to stay out of there and then we new there was something good in there so the boys told here they wanted to get in there but she wouldent unlock door and the boys broke it open and got in there and got it big jar of sirup molasses and when they got there canteens full of that they went in on the be hives and the bees gave us fits then so the bees whiped us out at that game so we got more bee stingers than honey and then we went in the garden and got all the onion and strawberrys we wanted and left so we got A pretty good diner of that reb.

—Private Jacob Lyon, 50th Infantry, Pike County

Foraging from Southern farms and homes was sometimes forbidden, frowned upon, or pretended not to be noticed by Union generals, depending on the general, Southern location, and how far it was into the war. Nevertheless, finding better food was a driving force behind many an Illinois soldier’s actions.

possibly Water Valley, Mississippi, December 12, 1862, to brother, Russell

We came into o[O]xford on the advance of our Brigade and for a day or too the streets ran With Molases and Sugar and meal so we lived on hoecakes and Molases pretty good living. Last night the Captain told some of us boys that he would give all of the money he had in Gods Creation for some Mutton so four of us took his revolver and started . . . but found where some one had killed three and left alot so we got all we could Cary and made a soup of it that couldent be beat a passall of us have been arested for forageing three or four times but the Capt would stick by us in so we got Clear but that thing is about plaid [played] out down here now

—Private Cyrus Randall, 124th Infantry, Kane County

Probably, the take-home message is Illinois soldiers missed home cooking . . . and most other things associated with home. (Among the quotations in this posting, butter seemed to be mentioned often.)

camp near Washington, DC, November 24, 18612, to friend John Hoffer and sister Emma

I would give, one dollar for one meal of your buckwheat cakes and worst [perhaps liverwurst?] & a little butter.[1]

—Private William Tobias, 8th Cavalry, DuPage County

Finally, the one thing not covered here is food cravings by prisoners of war in the South, many of whom were slowly starving and became vulnerable to diseases and other health issues. Surely, their food cravings were ten times that of their non-prisoner Illinois soldier counterparts.

[1] One dollar would have been very roughly a little more than two days’ wages for a private.

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The trouble with Camp Yates (added 26 November 2021)

A previous posting was about the decline of Camp Yates, which was replaced by Camp Butler during the first year of the Civil War.[1] What was wrong with Camp Yates?

Like many early mustering camps in Illinois, they were often sited at local fairgrounds as a (somewhat) ready and convenient location for recruitment and training, whether that be for a local company of infantry, a locally-raised regiment, or, in the case of Camp Yates, organizing multiple regiments. In the first three months of the Civil War, Camp Yates had a lot going for it as a soldier mustering and rendezvous site. As a commandeered county fairground, Camp Yates was on publicly-used lands, had access to (presumably well) water, had outbuildings that could be converted for temporary military uses (e.g., barracks, hospital, commissary storage), semi-open land for tents and drilling (about nineteen acres), next to the state capital (and was just outside of the city of Springfield, at that time) and its railroad stations, ready access to state government for decision-making purposes, and near the state armory (also in Springfield). What could possibly go wrong?

ARRANGEMENT FOR RENDEZVOUS.—The place fixed upon as the camping ground, or rendezvous for the soldiers in Springfield, is the County Fair Grounds, west of the city. The camp will be designated as Camp YATES, in honor of the commander-in-chief. There is ample room for parade ground, and as it will probably be impossible to procure a sufficient number of tents immediately, the buildings on the grounds will be turned into temporary barracks. Six thousand troops encamped in our city will be a sight worthy of being witnessed as it has never before occurred.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 18 April 1861

While there were problems with Camp Yates almost from its inception, it certainly was good enough, for the most part, to answer President Lincoln’s initial call for troops from each state on 15 April 1861 to deal with the bellicose Confederacy. Although the call was through a presidential proclamation, it was up to the states – their governors and legislatures – to see that volunteer citizen soldiers were mustered into the service, organized, fed, cared for, paid, initially trained, and equipped as best as could be done under the sudden circumstances.

OUR STATE AUTHORITIES.

We are glad to see that Gov. Yates properly appreciates the importance of having the best available military assistance in his arduous task of bringing Illinois properly into line with her sister States in the support of the Government. In the organization of our Volunteer Army for the field, men are needed and none should be placed in positions for which they are unfitted or unequal.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 25 April 1861

Having a military camp, even a temporary one, located so close to a city provided soldier temptations. The two biggest were liquor and prostitution.

BAWDY HOUSE MUSS.—Two “bould soldier boys” from Camp Yates visited the city yesterday, and after indulging immoderately in stimulants, made a visit of ceremony to the fancy establishment of Jennie Gray, on Tenth street, close by Grimsley’s mill, where they committed an unprovoked assault on a man named Beard, who was working in the house at the time. After beating him unmercifully, the latter retreated to the yard, followed by his assailants, when he seized an axe and wounded one of them in the leg. Beard was conducted to his residence by some of his friends, much the worse of the drubbing he had received, and his assailants were arrested and escorted to the calaboose.—They were subsequently, by request of the commandant at Camp Yates, conducted to their quarters.

—Illinois State Register, 30 April 1861

Another problem was soldiers pilfering “delicacies” (i.e., non-army issued rations) from neighbors near Camp Yates.

FREAKS OF THE CAMP BOYS.—The farmers and residents in the vicinity of Camp Yates, begin to grow clamorous over the havoc committed daily on their poultry by the troops located at Camp Yates. It is said that foraging parties may be seen at all hours, day as well as night, scouring the country around their place of encampment, in search of more delicate fare than the commissariat department deems it proper to supply. In the name of the aggrieved parties, we protest against such outrages. They are unworthy of patriot soldiery, and cannot tend to reflect credit on the officers in command. We have no doubt that many unprincipled civilians, taking advantage of the proximity of the camp commit some of these predatory acts, in a secure belief that they will be saddled on the soldiers. In our opinion this should be a sufficient notice for the officers to exercise a more strict surveillance over the men under their command.

—Illinois State Register, 1 June 1861

I, on the other hand, have little doubt that in the large majority of cases the “boys” (i.e., soldiers) were the guilty parties, and not “unprincipled civilians” using the proximity of the camp as cover for thieving. More generally, in too many cases, citizens and recent-citizen soldiers did not mix well. The temptations were too many and too great. At the larger Camp Douglas, near a greater city – Chicago – the soldier-related outrages were perhaps grander.

Camp Douglas, near Chicago, Illinois, December 29, 1861, to mother

you wrote about the guards having a fuss but when the papers stated that[,] they stated a falsehood[.] there was a murder commited[.] it is true three of our company run the guard and one of them was killed and one of his comrads has been arested for the crime

—Private Henry Parcel, 57th Infantry, Iroquois County

Even as big as it was, Camp Yates had limited space for drilling, especially for cavalry regiments and artillery units. The original fairgrounds were bounded by (what is today called) Washington Street (N), Governor Street (S), Lincoln Avenue (W), and Douglas Avenue (E), which is roughly 1,400’ by 600’. By comparison, Camp Butler was about 40 acres during the Civil War. Being surrounded by “suburban” properties, there was no room for Camp Yates to expand.

EVACUATION OF CAMP YATES.—Col. Scott’s regiment having been ordered to rendezvous at Chicago, Camp Yates, near this city, has been evacuated, the commissary and quartermaster’s stores being delivered to the heads of these departments in the city.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 14 June 1861

For a while, it looked like there might be no need for a larger camp, depending upon the course of the war. However, the Union defeat at the Battle of First Bull Run, on 21 July 1861, sparked a new call for federal troops. The following day, the U.S. Congress authorized the need for an additional 500,000 soldiers. Proportionally, that could have equated to a few tens of regiments from Illinois. Part of the state’s response was to open a new rendezvous for soldiers, which was Camp Butler in a rural portion of Sangamon County.

ILLINOIS TROOPS ACCEPTED.– The thirteen new regiments of infantry recently tendered the war department, by Gov. Yates, have been accepted. They will be ordered to rendezvous at this city, and will go into camp at Clear Lake, which is admirably calculated to accommodate a large body of troops, affording ample room for drill and evolutions, with plenty of shade and good water. Details will be published in a day or two, and the necessary orders issued.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 31 July 1861

THE GREAT CAMP.— We understand that 23 regiments will probably be ordered to rendezvous at Clear Lake, and that they will commence arriving early next week. Col. G. A. Smith’s regiment, from Decatur and vicinity, will arrive on Saturday next. No name for the camp has yet been adopted, but when it is fairly occupied by its complement of troops, the spectacle will be worth a long journey to behold.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 2 August 1861

By 1862, Camp Yates still existed but was eclipsed by Camp Butler, which had been moved from its original Clear Lake location to a few miles to the northwest, next to the Great Western Railroad tracks. During 1862 and 1863, Camp Yates was a shell of its 1861 usage. For example, during a portion of 1863, some of the Invalid Corps – composed of soldiers who were no longer fit for frontline active duty due to healed wounds or other debilities – were housed at Camp Yates.[2] However, in late 1863 and early 1864, Camp Yates, even though limited in accommodations, again had an active role in soldier recruitment and, in fact, had a period of overcrowding.

TROOPS MOVING.—Three hundred recruits were yesterday transferred from Camp Yates to Camp Butler. The troops have been very much crowded at Camp Yates, where there have been as many as seventeen hundred men at a time, while there is only but proper room and accommodations for only seven hundred. Notwithstanding this unpleasantly crowded condition, Major Heffernan, the able and popular commandant of the post, has kept the camp in fine condition, provided well and carefully for the men, and made himself a deservedly popular officer. We understand that there will be a thousand troops transferred to Camp Butler, which will leave the men in Camp Yates sufficient accommodations, and thus make it more pleasant for all concerned. The rapidity with which recruits have been arriving, and the necessi[t]y of getting them into quarters at once, will explain why the nearest camp has been kept so full. It is not probable that hereafter the same state of affairs will exist.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 13 March 1864

Later that same year, once again Camp Yates lapsed into a period of dilapidation.

Camp Yates, Springfield, Illinois, May 1, 1864, to father, Joseph E. Clarke

I help in the cook house some but most of the time I am scouting around through the country runing about Springfield with no control guard to cheer and no guards to pass to get in and out of Camp there is but one guard in camp and he is at the gate most all the fence around camp has bin tore down by the 8^th Cavelry but all the Troops have left here except the Convalescents and A few sick the sutler is broke up and gone. the Magor [Major Heffernan] is gone to Camp Butler and A familey lives in his office Lieutenant Elliot[t] has gone to his Regiment his office is shut up so is the post office the Barricks are deserted and so is the Hospital that I was in before there is not one Corperal to be found in Camp the only places that is inhabited is the Hospital the Cook house Doctors office and the guard House

—Private William Clarke, 8th Cavalry, Pike County

Yet Camp Yates lingered on. In January 1865, the Camp Yates hospital was inspected and found to be up to expectations. However, in June 1865, the military’s constructed buildings, such as the barracks, were offered up (presumably mainly for the lumber) at public auction. That marked the end of Camp Yates.

[1] I actually have three prior postings on this webpage about Camp Yates: 13 December 2019 (“Decline of Camp Yates”), 23 October 2020 (“Springfield’s Camp Yates”), and 16 July 2021 (“Letter from Camp Yates”).

[2] The name was subsequently changed to the Veterans Reserve Corps. The idea was, when possible, not to discharge such soldiers and instead have them perform behind-the-lines roles, such as guards or clerks, to allow more able-bodied men to be closer to the fighting.

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Hardships at home (added 19 November 2021)

With soldiers away during the Civil War, did their absences create hardships at home?

[from a Civil War-era pre-printed letterhead]

Spouses and families left at home faced much more than romantic love worries. However, “hardships” is a relative concept. Spouses at home, say, sometimes had nearby family or neighbors who could assist with bringing crops in, paying taxes, or raising children. In other cases, some soldiers left their families to do the best they can, mostly on their own, other than sending some words of advice (and sometimes money) in their letters.

A good example of the latter case can be found among the pages of Timothy Mason Roberts’s book, This Infernal War.[1] His book contains letters from both spouses written during the Civil War, so one can read specifically about the various circumstances she faced at home.[2] Here is one example written by Mrs. Jane Standard living at home in Fulton County.

“Dear William
I am very lonesome today. This is Sunday, a few minutes after twelve o’clock in the hottest weather I ever see. Dust is shoe mouth deep. . . .
Mrs. Henry Moore came on me the other day with an account of 3 dollars and 35 cents. She wants me to pay it. Tell me if I must [pay it]. She says you owed Mr. Moore for brick. I know nothing about it. And another thing I must tell you. They ordered me to make our sidewalk the other day. I told them it was impossible for me to make a walk for I have hard work to live. They may do the best they can. Dog on them.”[3]

Instead, for the rest of this posting, I will rely on comments and quotations from Illinois soldiers’ letters. Regarding the above pre-printed letterhead, here is a portion of the handwritten letter underneath that banner.

Paducah, Kentucky, October 7, 1861, to “dear wife [Mary Em] and children”

when i herd he [son Freddy] was sick I would have given eny thing in the world if i could have bin there. Then, and just, then, I Rude or Regretted that, I ever, volunteered or left hom. But, I, have allways thought and do yet think it is a just cause and one that will make any good and true citison feel proud of. Who could stand with his arms folded and see our glorious liberties trampled opon, Which, our fore, fathers, Fought for. We have enjoyed that glorious Privilage of liberty and now—while life will last we shall stand firm for the union—If, we do not enjoy it our—wifes and children, I hope, will.

—2nd Lieutenant Benjamin Best, 40th Infantry, Wayne County

The word “hardships,” among soldiers’ letters I have transcribed, appeared more than 20 times, but it was almost always about the various hardships the soldiers endured serving in the military.

Fort Holt, Kentucky, November 25, 1861, to cousin,

I am in good health, getting fat. my health is as good as ever it was. a bad cold is my only trouble. It seems you have almost concluded to join the army. It is a glorious cause – you could not be engaged in a better one if you desire that kind of life and can stand the hardships. But you[r] mother would not be willing for you to leave home.

—Private George Reese, 28th Infantry, Fulton County

Meanwhile, it was often the spouse or family at home that tended the sick children or, indeed, bore the children!

in Louisiana, September 26, 1863, to wife, Jane

you sayd forme to send you a Name [for a baby]. I hope I will be thare by that time if not you Can give a good Name. you Said you was not going to have a Doctor. I want you to have a Doctor if you Can get one whether you you [sic] Knead him or not. . . . I wish you grate and good Luck

—Captain John Dinsmore, 99th Infantry, Pike County

In an earlier letter, Dinsmore offered advice directly to his family.

Salem, Missouri, October 2, 1862, to wife and sons

Well boys I want you to be good boys & O bay your mother I believe you will for you are good boys you will go to school & learn to read & writ then you Can write & read letters you must help Ma so she wont have to work so hard until I get home I think I will get home in the spring or by that time be good boys

Wife and I want you to take Care of yore self if you should get sick who would take care of our dear ones you tried to scare me by saying there was some thing rong I think you are scart your self a little thats all you must not try to doit all fore you cannot get help if you can if you cannot let it go take Care of your self I think that is the best policy you will not believe all the reports you hear

—Captain John Dinsmore

Of course, it is impossible to know if Jane Dinsmore found her husband’s advice useful, worthless, or even a little threatening. “Be good boys” and “take care of your self” likely did little to ease her responsibilities as the one parent at home.

In the book, about half of the soldiers’ pre-war occupations had been as farmers or farm laborers.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, April 10, 1863, to Philena and Mary Buck

I think of work in the field [at home] evry fine day.

—Private Jacob Buck, 89th Infantry, Fulton County

Thus, it is not surprising that some soldiers had farming advice or instructions for family members at home, in their letters.

Memphis, Tennessee, January 17, 1863

Dear wife i take this orpituinety inform you that i am well and hope thes few lines will find you all the same you wanted to no if i was willing for you to leave this place i dont want you to move away But i want you to hav the boys to Repare the fence whare it is wanted and open the lane down By the orchard tak the new Rails that Loyd made and haul the cros fence Back of the garden to make out the lane and old Baker cant Brake the Contrack that i made nor no other man i talk with a lawye[r] about it hear Do all the Repars that tha [they] can and Pay him this fall fifty dollars or more git glass and puty and git mr hiple to Put them in and he make the chardge for the [w]hole

i want the Boy [probably their oldest? son] to put in all the corn tht tha [that they] can an tobaco i hav seen tobaco sold two Dollars per pound in the state of Miss and 3 dollars a plug if James wats to plant corn let him hav ground i shall wright you more about what to do

—Private Philip Bonney, 31st Infantry, Jackson County

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, January 29, 1862, to children and wife, Letty

I woosh [wish] I could see you I would tell you I dont send you some money the reason is I havenot got it but I think we will get it in a fiew days and if we doe John J Cordor will fech it to you some time next week now if John Debush has not sold his hog yet tell him to keep it a weeke or two longer and he Can have the money for it now if I get the money that is due to me I Shal git 35 dollars and I can send you 25 dollars and if I can it will help you out a good [d?]eal

—Sergeant Jonathan Blair, 46th Infantry, Clay County

Many Illinois soldiers sent money home when they could, but unfortunately Uncle Sam’s paymaster only showed up periodically, especially among regiments deployed in the South.

Paducah, Kentucky, December 14, 1861, to brother and sister

I have been buisey building fire places for the Boys which I get a dollar a peice for Building but, I have to take sutlers checks or else waite untill pay day for the money and God knows how long we have to waite for that, for we have 4 months due in a few days

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Infantry, Madison County

There was one hardship at home that generally all the money in the world could not help.

Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, January 25, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

J.R. Shell [Pvt. Johnson R. Shell, who survived the war] of our Co. poor fellow received sad news by last maile. his wife and only child having died suddenly of small pox leaving him alone in the world once more. The last letter he had from them they were in enjoyment of good health & now numbered with the dead.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Another hardship that even mid-nineteenth century soldiers wrote about was the loss of intimacy with a spouse.

Whiteside, Tennessee, January 6, 1864, to wife, Anna

You want to have me say that I am your husband Well so I say then but I would much rather prove it by —- you know what . . .

Capt [Frederick] Garternicht [also of the 84th Infantry] has just heard that a little girl made her appearance at his house Christmas night quite a Christmas present he thinks. How do you suppose the thing happened? I dont know of course but he went home on leave of absence last March & he told me some time ago that when he was home he “played dunder” you can guess what that means.

—Chaplain Hiram Roberts, 84th Infantry, Adams County

Suffice it to say that even chaplains did “you know what.” As for Capt. Gartnernicht, March to the following January works out to about nine months . . .

Finally, not to overlook the obvious, the war impacted Northern and Southern families.

Marietta, Georgia, August 14, 1864, to wife, Clara

Every day here we see family after family of mothers & children struggling alone without a protector or even a friend on whom to rely – in every family almost, one or more sick with but little to wear & less to eat. What is to become of them I know not

—1st Assistant Surgeon James Gaskill, 45th Infantry, Bond County

[1] Timothy Mason Roberts, ed., “This Infernal War:” The Civil War Letters of William and Jane Standard (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2018).

[2] Having a fairly complete letter collection from a husband and wife, which I sometimes refer to as “the double rainbow,” is a rarity. To cap it off, the Standards are Illinois dyed-in-the-wool Democrats and remained so throughout the war.

[3] This Infernal War, p. 208-9, letter from Jane Standard to William Standard, July 31, 1864.

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Measles outbreaks in camps (added 12 November 2021)

Especially where new recruits gathered or congregated, there were outbreaks of infectious diseases. How common were measles outbreaks and how deadly were they?

camp near Louisville, Kentucky, on September 29, 1862, to friend, Lizzy Wilson

there is five cases of measles in our Companie there was one died last night in Capt. Williams Company I did not learn his name this is the second death in our Reg.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

hospital near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, December 9, 1862, to wife, Caroline

Last night we had another death in our Camp. A young man about 20 years of age, was taken sick with measles and died with bronchitis the result of the former disease. On last Wednesday his disease assumed an unpleasant offensive but we thought it best not to inform him of his danger. He felt better and indeed if he had judged by his own feelings he never have thought that he was getting worst [worse]. But he observed Dr. Helm and myself visit him very often and feel his pulse, and at length this solicitude alarmed him and calling one of the nurses, to him, told him that he would die that night, and that he knew it by conduct, sent for his friends to bid them good by etc . . . and told me to ask the chaplain to pray with him. I did so, and after talking with him a few moments, he made a prayer worthy of any man living. The boy expressed a willingness to die, and that he was prepared for the change. . . . After this he lived forty eight hours, or rather, was dying all that time.

—1st Assistant Surgeon Thomas Winston, 92nd Infantry, Ogle County

Dr. Winston’s statement that a man “was taken sick with measles and died with bronchitis the result of the former disease” is a good example of a measles case. While measles (rubeola) outbreaks were common, few soldiers died of measles in and of itself. Rather, it was the sequelae – the subsequent and sometimes opportunistic infections and conditions, such as pneumonia or encephalitis – that caused more mortality than the initial disease.[1] Here is another example of a measles-related “relapse.”

army hospital (perhaps in Kentucky), November 12, 1861, to a “Dear Friend” in the Cole family

It is my most painful and melancholy duty to inform you of an event which has transpired in our Co. and has cast the deepest gloom over all of us. it was no less than the death and burial of one of our comrades and that one – perhaps you will scarcely credit it, was one of your most intimate neighbor’s sons – John McRill is dead – he was taken sick some time ago, I do not recollect the date, the sickness developed itself in the form of measles – he went to Hospital and before he was fully recovered, came out and exposed himself in the open air – in addition to this he made rather too free use of some dietic articles which are hardly proper for any but those in good health, – the consequence was, a relapse succeeded this state of things, the remnants of the measles had in common language “stuck in” typhoid fever followed, & then congestion of the brain was the result & closed the scene – . . . there was no mistake about it “he had gone to that bourne from whence no traveller ‘eer returns” . . . only reminds us with tenfold force of the certainty of death & the uncertainty of life – it proves that the hardy, the robust & the brave must yield to the mandates of that relentless messenger Death

—Private Thomas Lancaster, 8th Missouri (Union) Infantry, Peoria County

Both of the above are examples in (Kentucky) camps, but measles also could appear in mustering and recruitment camps, where soldiers gathered for the first time away from home.

Camp Douglas, near Chicago, Illinois, January 16, 1862, to sister

they [there] was wone of they Boys froes [froze] to death Tuesday knight & wone other fellow died & the Second leiutenants with the measles thay is to [two?] that is sick in our company know thay was a going to send him to the hospital but the boys would not let him be taken thare to die so wee take care of him & wone of the boys sets up with him evry knight

—Sergeant Ashley Alexander, 12th Cavalry, Winnebago County

Camp hospitals were sometimes feared by soldiers because they were associated with serious conditions and death. Here are two descriptions of the Camp Butler hospital at two very different times in which both writers mention measles.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, October 16, 1861, to wife, Mary

While I was there [the hospital] I walked through the whole concern and looked at all the sick; there is thirty three in there. Sixteen of them are down with the Measles one is the man that was shot at James Town. he only had his leg broke – I talked with him some time then one man that had his Jaw broke at the fray between here and Springfield where that man was killed he does not talk much. then there is one man that is crazy then there is some that cough as if they had the consumption then there is some that are sick with fever, who are really sick. then there is some that are simply homesick and have the moaps or the Growls I cant tell which

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

hospital at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1863, personal diary entry

Going through the hospital today I ascertain the diseases prevalent among the patients are small pox, measles, pneumonia, erysipales [erysipelas, which is an infectious skin condition], flu or diorrahea and consumption [tuberculosis]. Besides these several diseases to carry them off were the moans of the wounded and maimed in every conceivable way heard in the wards where they were horrible to hear and behold and all of this suffering and death for Political Ascendancy.

—Hospital Matron Sarah Gregg, from LaSalle County

Field hospitals, especially, could be squalid affairs and, in that respect, not conducive to recovery.

camp near Gallatin, Tennessee, on December 19, 1862, to friend, Lizzy Wilson

you must excuse me for being so long in writing to you as I went to the hospital with the measles on the 25th of Nov. . . . when I went to the hospital I was croweded in to a room about 16 feet square in this were six others the beds consisted of smal bunks large enough for one man. the floor was covered with straw and filth of every discription. I was in that room evey day without geting to step out for 18 days while I was there 7^vn died in that room as one died and was carried out another was brought in. . . . 22 of the 80th sleep in the hospital grave yard at Mumfordsville [Munfordville] Ky.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Here is another early war example, where the writer also mentions a mumps outbreak.

Camp Marble Creek, in Iron County, Missouri, August 25, 1861, to wife, Julia, and children

[two soldiers] We sent back to Ironton this morning to the Brigade Hospital. We have had the mumps in our Regiment ever since we were at Mattoon and have not got rid of them yet and last week the measles broke out and I suppose they will hang on like a dog at the root.

—1st Lieutenant Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

The meaning of “like a dog at a root” is simply “doggedly” or “persistently.”[2] However, there was one surefire way to not get the measles at a nineteenth-century army camp.

Gallatin, Tennessee, December 13, 1862, to “Dear folks at Home”

Some of the boys who were full of “Old Nick,” [probably liquor] at Knoxville [perhaps IL], have by imprudence, I think, (at least this is true in some cases,) become perfectly useless to the army; & may remain so. The hardships, it is true, have taken many down, – homesickness as many more; but carelessness has probably caused more sickness than anything else. The Measles is now going through our company; thank fortune (no, I can hardly say that, for I think they injured me for life) – any way, you know I have had them.

—Corporal Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Once someone has had measles, the body builds up an immunity to the virus and cannot be infected by it again.

[1] Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine (New York: Routledge, 2015), 200. Similarly, for example, today some people die of influenza but many more succumb to its common sequela, pneumonia.

[2] When he was a practicing lawyer, Abraham Lincoln is thought to have used the expression while talking with a fellow lawyer. When asked for help with a legal paper, Lincoln is quoted as replying: “Wait until I fix this plug for my gallus [suspenders], and I will pitch into that like a dog at the root.” Lawrence Weldon, “Reminiscences of Lincoln as a Lawyer,” in William Hayes Ward, ed., Abraham Lincoln: Tributes from His Associates (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1895), 241.

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Sherman and early Camp Butler (added 5 November 2021)

During my 8 October 2021 paper presentation at the Conference on Illinois History – “Early Civil War Camp Butler and William Tecumseh Sherman: Separating Fact from Fiction” – I was asked by an audience member if I had checked the Sherman family letters for relevant information. At the time, I answered “no, I had not,” but since then I have. Did General Sherman mention early Civil War Camp Butler in his letters or personal diary?

[N.B. – I have covered the background for this topic in an earlier posting on this page. Please see below: 28 August 2020 – “Sherman at Camp Butler.”]

The tantalizingly brief answer is “no and yes.”

As brief background, Brigadier General Sherman, probably as a guest of Illinois Governor Richard Yates, took a carriage ride, along with a handful of other dignitaries, to see the recently recruited soldiers at Camp Butler, about six miles ENE of Springfield (next to Clear Lake). Sherman had arrived the day before, on 11 September 1861, to meet with Governor Yates to discuss Illinois’s preparations regarding potentially sending regiments to defend Kentucky. Sherman’s visit to Camp Butler occurred the next day.

From Camp Butler.

[Special Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune.]

Springfield, September 12, 1861.

Major General Hunter and Staff, and Brig. Gen. Sherman of Ohio, arrived here by a special train from Chicago, yesterday, and have been made acquainted with the organization and disposition of the forces of Illinois. General H., with Staff, accompanied by Gov. Yates and Gen. Mather, visited and reviewed the troops at Camp Butler, to-day, three thousand infantry uniformed in line. Generals Hunter and Sherman expressed great gratification at the appearance and drill of the troops, and were well pleased at the manner in which the State authorities are conducting the war preparations.^[1]

(The bolding is mine.)

Sherman subsequently left for St. Louis that same day to meet with General Frémont.

The Sherman family collection of letters at the University of Notre Dame does contain a complete letter in which William Sherman wrote to his spouse, Ellen, about his travels on behalf of his commander, General Robert Anderson.[2] Below are my transcription and annotations (in italics) for this letter.[3]

*****

Louisville Sept 18, 1861

Dearest Ellen –

I have not had time to write since I left Cincinnati. at Indianapolis I found Gov Morton willing in a general way to help Kentucky, but all his arms were exhausted and he knew not where to look for more. and Western Virginia was asking for Reinforcements. At Springfield Illinois Govr Yates was in like manner situated[,] men scattered in Small Camps for the benefit of local Contractors, without arms and not knowing how or where they could be got.

This one sentence is Sherman’s only reference to Springfield, and he does not mention Camp Butler. “Men scattered in Small Camps” may have been information he gleaned from conversations with Governor Yates. Somewhat ironically, the military camp he did visit, Butler, would have had potentially more than 4,500 soldiers greet him and the other assorted dignitaries on 12 September 1861 (even though the above article states “three thousand”). Sherman noted that government contractors were being given organizational preferences (as opposed to, say, practices that promoted military efficiency). Below, there is more in this letter about Sherman’s eye for government-related corruption. In any case, that same day he took the train to St. Louis to call on General John C. Frémont, as part of his assignment from General Anderson back in Kentucky.

[I could have ended my transcription of this letter relative to Camp Butler right here. However, the remainder of the letter illustrates Sherman’s thoughts about the early, often-chaotic portion of the Civil War. At the time, Union leaders were realizing the war may well be a long one and contemplating how to prepare for such a reality.]

at St Louis I found Fremont living in the large house erected by Brant, on Chouteau avenue. He is surrounded by Sentinels and I was told it was impossible to get access to him, but I started Early.—got the Sentinel to carry in my card to the Secretary who turned out to be Isaiah C. Woods of California. Of course he hurried out & took me in, and procured me an interview[.] Fremont was very communicative. and the result I have Come to is that he has Called about him men who will swindle the Government and bring disgrace on us all

The idea of General Frémont “surrounded by Sentinels” is interesting. It gives the impression that Frémont had a high opinion of himself or is being secretive (or, both). Missouri was a divided “neutral” state, so caution is understandable. But to put up barriers to visiting Union generals makes one wonder about Frémont’s thinking. And the last sentence, above, shows that Sherman sensed a déjà vu corruption scenario.

Think of Woods, Palmer, & Silvon the very men who Caused the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco by local and open corruption being now the advisors of Frémont. I could not discern that he was operating on any distinct plan but was assembling men of all kinds and materials, but whether he can Shape them into an army I don’t know. By proclamations and threats which there is no power to execute he has Completed what Lyons began in alienating the support of all the moderate men of this City.

Woods, Palmer, and Silvon are people Sherman knew from serving as a banker in San Fransisco during the 1850s, when California was rife with speculative financing connected to the boom of the gold rush. I. C. Woods had been a partner in Adams & Company, a bank that failed in 1855, and he had been plundering his own company. (One particular book title about him adds the word “notorious” in front of his name.) Joesph C. Palmer of the Palmer, Cook & Company bank was a former Massachusetts tailor who became an unscrupulous financier in San Francisco, partially due to his political connections. The bank, along with a willing Frémont, swindled thousands of dollars from mining investors, when this part of the world was a bit of a “wild west” when it came to banking laws and practices. Silvon is an historic name for which I could find no references. Frankly, there were many unsavory characters in and about San Francisco during this period, and this person may have been named because Ellen Sherman was familiar with him. The “Vigilance Committee” was a business/political ad hoc “mob rule” affair that got into the lynching business, so to speak, to right perceived wrongs. At the time in 1856, California Governor J. Neely Johnson put Sherman in charge of the state militia, which was mainly a militia on paper and representing few armed soldiers (maybe 800 at best). As a result, Sherman was ineffective at stopping the will of the Vigilance Committee and shortly thereafter Sherman resigned his post.

“Lyons” is in reference to Nathaniel Lyon, who was key in keeping Missouri from joining the Confederacy. He also was a strong Republican, while Sherman had much more Democrat leanings among his political feelings. Along with Frémont, Sherman thought such Republicans fomented public disorder. By the date of this letter, Lyon had been killed in August 1861 at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, and was the first Union general killed in the Civil War.

I saw Mr. Lucas, Patterson and Maj. Turner all for about Half an hour – –I think Tom & Willy Turner are in the Enemys ranks though Turner only said he had sent them up the River out of the way of a draft

James Lucas was a St. Louis banker who set up a branch in San Francisco in 1852 called the Lucas, Turner & Company bank, with Major Henry Smith Turner in charge. Turner could not stay in California and tapped Sherman to run the San Francisco bank. Henry L. Patterson, whom Sherman held in lesser regard, was a partner for the Lucas and Simonds bank in St. Louis. The Lucus, Turner & Co. bank in San Francisco was closed by the senior partners in 1857, after which Sherman first went to New York City and then back to St. Louis shortly thereafter.

Turner has been offered by [Missouri provisional Unionist] Govr [Hamilton R.] Gamble the lead in the State organization but he says he is going to be quiet. He thinks that ultimately the North will hold Missouri and he had better conform, though he would prefer any man to rule rather than this present Government. I must admit that Missouri has had a hard time as between Lyon, Blair & Frémont

Francis P. Blair was a Missouri Republican politician who, along with Nathaniel Lyon, were instrumental in the Camp Jackson Affair in May 1861.

At St Louis I found Charley [Charles Taylor Sherman, William’s brother]. He came up from the Barracks with Col Burbank. They have done little in recruiting only 100 men instead of 2400 – unless we can do better than that the South will prevail. They [the Southerners] are in a perfect boil – and can get as many men as they want. They are leaving Louisville with arms in their hands, and Cheered as they go, to join the Camp on the Tennessee line. The State of Kentucky is ready to Enact a series of Resolutions, denying the right of Secession, and giving the Union the whole benefit of her Consent – but her wise men admit that although they have a majority of 50000 voters, it is doubtful which has the most fighting men – and that is now the issue. and all parties are Preping [preparing] for the Contest. They sent us here without arms and without the promise of any. I suppose it could not be helped, but I do think it is wrong for Northern Politicians Constantly praising the resources & population of the North when we cannot realize them. I know that Every body Exaggerates M^cClellans forces[.] He at no time has had a force Equal to Beauregard – same of Frémont – he is outnumbered in Missouri – Same I hear in Western Virginia, and here we have about 1800 in Indiana opposite him – and about 6000 in a camp beyond Lexington where Thomas has gone to command — Anderson, myself, and the Staff officers are here at the Southern hotel Louisville Hotel, receiving [?] letters. and seeing people who come from Every quarter to tell of the State of public feeling – All want the U S. to guard his house & family, and give them a market for his corn, & stock

This paragraph shows signs of Sherman’s pessimism about the North’s will to organize and fight, and overestimations of the South’s military strength and organization. Sherman’s pessimism continues in the following paragraphs.

[An aide to Anderson, Captain Frederick E.] Prime has gone to Indianapolis to see if the Governor can spare us two or three Regiments now – we Expect him back today – we may then make a move that will bring about collision & then no one can tell where it will stop.

The great trouble is that Secessionists know they must fight, and the Union People look to the United States as some mythical power [?] with unlimited quantities of men & money – we cannot promise to receive Ohio Companies Such as Hunters, unless they are armed. we have no arms, and prefer to give such as are promised us to Kentucky men first – If Hunters company be armed, let him write to me, offering his company, with its strength and condition as to arms & clothing.

The reference to the name Hunter, presumably a captain from Ohio, is unclear to me. Perhaps this is in reference to a company of volunteers being raised near where Ellen Sherman lived.

I suppose Anderson will keep me near him till we get our men into Shape, but it is too bad this matter has been so long postponed, for winter is near at hand, and I doubt if we can keep volunteers out in the Snow with Tents. – Winter operations will be mostly confined to the Sea and on the River.

As it turned out, General Anderson resigned his position on 5 October 1861, leaving Brigadier General Sherman in command of the Department of the Cumberland. At that time, Sherman had not been looking for a command, and this situation soon sent him into a state of clinical depression.

I am pretty well. I had a cold which took its usual Course, but I am now pretty free from it – I still think you had better get you a snug house. there is no prospect of my Ever being in a fixed place as long as this war lasts, and you must be satisfied now that it is to be a long one.

Yrs W. T. Sherman

*****

During this time, Sherman also kept a personal diary, which he used to record short notes, as well as some facts and figures, plus sometimes personal expenses.[4] His entries sometimes seem to run over the spaces for the days in the preprinted diary pages. This entry is for Wednesday, September 11, 1861.

*****

Wednesday [preprinted]

Springfield 4 PM – 5000; – men armed at Springfield – 7000 men – armed at Chicago – 1 Cavalry Reg^t 60 men from Cairo; – about five other Reg^t in process formation, 20,000 in Missouri

[This may reflect information he learned through discussions with Governor Yates.]

Thursday [preprinted]

visited Camp Butler at Springfield Ills – and at 4 PM Started for St Louis – Gen Hunter Govr. Yates & others along

Friday, September 13, 1861. [preprinted, top of next page]

at St Louis – had an interview with General Fremont. saw Turner Mr Lucas & others; left at 3 PM for Louisville Ky –

*****

I have bolded, above, the portion of his entry that states he visited Camp Butler. However, that is all he wrote about it. Interestingly, he noted that General David Hunter and Governor Richard Yates also were on the train with him from Springfield to St. Louis.

In summary, yes – Sherman did mention visiting Springfield in both a letter to his spouse and in a personal diary entry, but he only mentioned Camp Butler – barely – in his diary.

The reason for this Sherman-based investigation is it becomes a part of the argument that General Sherman had virtually nothing to do with locating (and certainly not naming) the second location of Camp Butler, contrary to many Camp Butler treatises written over the decades stating otherwise. This later location, which is about where Camp Butler National Cemetery sits today, is roughly two miles to the northwest of where Sherman, Yates, and other dignitaries reviewed recruits at the original location of Camp Butler on 12 September 1861.

[1] Chicago Tribune, September 13, 1861, p. 1.

[2] William Tecumseh Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, 18 September 1861, William T. Sherman Family papers microfilm 02-0997.1000, University of Notre Dame Archives.

[3] I need to give credit where credit is justly due. William Sherman’s scrawl-like penmanship was difficult to decipher in many instances. Fortunately, my friend and colleague, Glenna Schroeder-Lein, made key corrections and suggestions regarding my original transcription attempts. I owe her many thanks for those. Also, there is a transcription of part of this letter in Stanley P. Hirshson, The White Tecumseh: A Biography of William T. Sherman (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997), 95-6.

[4] Personal diary, William T. Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556.

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[29 October 2021: due to a computer equipment failure, this week’s posting has been irrevocably lost. I am working on the computer issue and will have a new posting on 5 November.]

Western versus Eastern soldiers (added 22 October 2021)

Illinois regiments mostly fought in the Western theaters of the Civil War. Did Illinois soldiers think of themselves as Western in that sense?

La Grange, Tennessee, May 17, 1863, to “Dear Brother & Sister and all Concerned”

there are active and splendid operations made against the rebels in the south and west by our valiant troops, which I think promises speedy termination of matters in this section of the war-field. I fear all is not so well with our eastern armies. I fear our worthy veterans have met and experienced severe reverses in the late bloody engagements on the Rappahan[n]ock, in the vicinity of Fredricksburgh [Fredericksburg] and Richmond [all in Virginia]. You have doubtless ere this heard the conformation of the death of Rebel Genls Stonewall Jackson [from friendly-fire wounds at the Battle of Chancellorsville] and Vandorn [Confederate general Earl Van Dorn, who was killed 7 May 1863, by someone who claimed the general had a dalliance with his spouse]. let us have our rights and a victory! over such dauntless and dissipated sots. You are also aware doubtless of the efforts and progress of arming and training of the Africans, for making soldiers of. I say let us resort to any means reasonable and natural which will weaken and opposing foe.

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

Even though there was some tough fighting to come “in the south and west,” several key Union victories already had been gained in the Western Theater of the Civil War, such as at the battles at Shiloh and Stones River, both in Tennessee.[1] And the Confederate capitulation at Vicksburg, Mississippi was less than two months after the date of his letter. Meanwhile, in Virginia, there had been notable federal defeats regarding the Peninsula Campaign and at the Battle of Fredericksburg, as well as a retreat after the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, September 27, 1862, to brother, James

Senator trumbul [U.S. senator Lyman Trumbull of Illinois] was . . . here the other day and made a speech to the boys. . . . trumbul said that McClellands army had done nothing of any account yet the fiting had been done by the western troops so far which was received with shouts.

—Private Cyrus Randall, 124th Infantry, Kane County

Humboldt, Tennessee, November 17, 1862, to father

We are all glad that Mcclelen is superceeded for he has been dewing nothing long e nough the western boys has done all the work that has been done to look at the Souther men and horses they cant hold out long sertain it is only ambition that keeps them to gether

—Private John Laingor, 54th Infantry, Shelby County

In Randall’s letter, Senator Trumbull was referencing Union general McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign in the spring and summer of 1862. So, no wonder there was a Western versus Eastern soldier mentality among the Union troops. And again, not surprisingly, the Illinois soldiers (as westerners) had a bit of a chip on their shoulder relative to the easterners (and probably vice versa).

New Iberia[?], Louisiana, November 5, 1863, to wife, Jane

The news Come in, Last Eavning the Rebles was a bout whale [? wailing??] them. Tha [They] are, gen, Banks yankies the Rebles says that it is only fun to fight them. Tha donot want to Fight western men. Wemay go back to thare asistence a gain. The Eastern, & Western men do not get along very well to gether.

—Captain John Dinsmore, 99th Infantry, Pike County

Not all Illinois regiments served in the Western Theater. There were a few that were deployed in Virginia.

camp near the James River, Virginia, August 24, 1864, to cousin, Mrs. Theoda S. Fulton

we have had another fierce and desperate Battle with the Veterans of Lees Army at deep Bottom on the north side of James River – on the 16^th Inst., our Brigade had been struggling about in dense forests and deep Ravines – driving in the Enemys Bushwhackers and about 11 O’C we found the Jonnys posted in Battle array behind a heavy bank which they had dug across the side of the farm – they had cut down a large strip of woods to retard our progress – finally we came to the edge of this opening and in full view of their Battle flags stuck up on short staffs on this bank or Breastworks Gen. Terry called on the 2^d Brigade to charge the works and drive the Rebs with the Bayonet – they refused saying it could not be done – Gen Terry said get away then and let the Western Brigade do it – We formed in closed Column – and rushed on the enemy like an avalanche – knocking them over with our guns – as we mounted over their high bank – you can judge of the despration of the affair when the 39^th lost more than 1/3 of their number within 5 minutes – and 5 officers our flag bearers being shot down befor we reached the Rebel works – and the flag was carried ahead by one of our Captains we captured a large lot of Prisoners and 4 Rebel flags our Brigade has become famous and all the Generals are speaking our praise – But our Ranks are thin our officers – none more Brave, are killed or wounded and our fame is dearly bought

—Private Ransom Bedell, 39th Infantry, Cook County

[Bedell’s last line is haiku-like: our men none more Brave / many are killed or wounded / our fame dearly bought]

Is Bedell’s description based on bravado? Further below is a detailed instance where an Eastern Union army fought in the Western Theater at the battles around Chattanooga. However, a few Illinois soldiers speculated before the engagement how the Eastern troops would perform.

camp on Crow Creek, Alabama, October 7, 1863, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

Gen Hooker of the Army of the Potomac is here and has command of the R.R from Nashville to Chattanooga. if we dont move we will be under his command, and that we dont like as I dont go a great deal on the Eastern army and much less on it’s Generals.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 9, 1863, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

I tell you that the Rebels have got ous [us] in A tight place they shell ous from the front of lookout mountain every day but they dont do much hurt I think Bragg will wake up some of these fine mornings and find himself in A trap. I have had the pleasuer of seeing some of them Eastern ducks (Hookers Armey) I have seen Gen. Grant and Gen. Jo. Hooker they are good looking men I hope that we will get Rosecrans back

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

Here is an officer’s description after the battle.

headquarters of the 14th Army Corps, Chattanooga, Tennessee, December 3, 1863 My Dear Mollie

Gen. Hooker with part of a Division of the 4^th Corps and Osterhaus’ Div. of Sherman’s Army, was assigned the duty of taking Lookout Mountain on the right of our lines. – Gen. Sherman with Howards Corps (the 12^th) was to turn the rebel right flank – (our extreme left) and the old Army of the Cumberland was to fight in the centre and attack Mission[ary] Ridge. Hooker and Sherman had some fighting to get into position before the great battle could be begun. It took Hooker all day to take “Lookout”. The sight was grand and soul stirring – to see those gallant fellows fighting foot by foot – inch by inch for that mountain. As we in the centre had nothing to do until Hooker was on the mountain; we had a grand chance to see a battle without being in it. We stood on the parapets of Fort Thomas and watched the progress of the fight through our [field]glasses. We could almost tell when each man was hit! Although the fight was between two and three miles from us, – still every thing on the mountain side was distinct and clear. Slowly but steadily our flag was advanced up the hill and around the point, – the rebels as slowly but surely losing ground and victory. Our heavy artillery in the forts was all the time helping Hooker by shelling the woods on the hill side which sheltered the villianous “grey backs”. Hooker continued to drive the traitors up-up, until at last a heavy cloud of fog settled down around the top of the mountain and hid the rest of the fight from our view. By the middle of the after-noon Hooker had gained sufficiently on the rebels to give us room to send a brigade to his assistance and Gen. Palmer moved Gen. Carlin’s Brigade down to the foot of the mountain and left me to help get it across Chattanooga Creek – which only separated it from the mountain side. It took until just dark to get the Brigade over there being only one small flatboat to ferry across the creek with. All this time Hooker and the rebels were fiercely contending in the clouds above us. The men and officers were all anxious to get over to assist the gallant boys from the Army of the Potomoc! All rivalry or hard feelings between the eastern and western armies had been “rubbed out” by the splendid fighting of Hooker’s men! Our men acknowledged that the eastern army fought hard and bravely if they did not gain so much ground as the western army. Our boys were anxious to take the ‘Potomoc’s’ by the hand and help them in their hard job. We also felt that time was precious for Gen. Hooker signaled over to Gen. Palmer that his men were getting out of ammunition and the General had answered that he was coming over to him with a brigade and a supply of ammunition. Our men knew, from experience, that Hooker’s men would count the minutes until they arrived to help them and better than that in their minds, until we could bring them ammunition. Nothing appears to worry a soldier while he is fighting but the fear that he will not be able to get a supply of ammunition when he most needs it, and that he may have to give up all the advantages gained by hard fighting in consequence

—Major David Norton, 42nd Infantry, Cook County

Perhaps Norton has put the best construction possible into his description, but nevertheless Hooker’s “Eastern ducks” ably met their difficult military objectives, helping make the next victory, at Missionary Ridge, possible.

Yet there were still many battles after those at Chattanooga. However, the Confederate armies in the West were being worn down.

Rome, Georgia, September 30, 1864, to cousin, Phebe E. Lease

there is A gooddeal of talk About the election here in the army which shall be the next president some thinks if Mc [Democratic candidate McClellan] is elected the war will come to A Close soon and some thinks the other way if lincoln is that the rebbles will quit fighting but I think there wouldnt be very much differance for I dont think the election will have much to do with it for they cant fight much longer from the way things looks now I think the western army is A bout played out now the troops is coming back from the front and stringing Along the rail road there was six regiments come here at this place day before yesterday they come from the front the front they say there hant any reb hardly out there I think that old hood has disbanded and gone to guerrilia fighting and if he has he is about played out.

—Private Jacob Lyon, 50th Infantry, Pike County

“Old hood” – Confederate Lieutenant General John B. Hood – was not quite “played out” but, ultimately, he and his army were roundly beaten and effectively disbanded at (and after) the Battle of Nashville in December 1864. Finally, it took a Western-proven general – Ulysses S. Grant – to be assigned in the East to defeat the Confederate army in Virginia and bring the war to a long-awaited conclusion. A few Western Confederate forces lingered on after general Lee’s surrender to Grant in April, 1865, at Appomattox Courthouse, but within two months the Civil War was over.

[1] Very loosely, the Western Theater of the Civil War can be considered any states other than the greater Virginia area and to its north.

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Illinois women soldiers (added 15 October 2021)

On page 53 of your book, there is a brief discussion of women who were clandestine Civil War soldiers, and you mention Jennie Hodgers and Almeda Hart. Were there other known or discovered women soldiers from Illinois?

[My friend and colleague, Shelby Harriel – Hidlebaugh, has agreed to answer this question, and she has made “women who fought in the Civil War” her specialty. I am very grateful to have her share her expertise.]

Historians approximate that there were hundreds, possibly thousands, of women who disguised themselves as men to serve in the Civil War. Because of the impropriety of crossing strict Victorian gender lines, these women guarded not only their true identities but also their stories. They did not want the public to learn of their exploits for fear of bringing shame upon themselves and their families. Because of the subterfuge involved, the true number will never be known. Follow this link to my blog to read a more in-depth discussion regarding the number of women warriors in the Civil War: here.

Among the rank and file of distaff soldiers were Jennie Hodgers and Almeda Hart, who appear in Mark’s fantastic book, In Their Letters, in Their Words: Illinois Civil War Soldiers Write Home. And while Hodgers is one of the most recognizable among the women soldiers, what many don’t realize is that Hodgers wasn’t the only woman who served in the 95^th Illinois Infantry. Indeed, there were at least two others. These women were among approximately thirty female soldiers with Illinois connections who fought in the Civil War. I feature several of them in my book Behind the Rifle: Women Soldiers in Civil War Mississippi. Click the following link to my website to learn more about my book, including purchasing options: here.

One of the women from Illinois appears on the front cover of my book. History recorded her name as Frances Hook. However, my research shows that was merely an alias, undoubtedly contrived in order to afford herself privacy. Her true identity was Elizabeth Quinn from the tiny town of LaMoille in Bureau County. And within my book, I discuss events from her childhood that ultimately propelled her towards a destiny as a soldier and were instigated by a series of bizarre circumstances that thrust her into a turbulent environment permeated with betrayal, infidelity, vengeance, and greed. In order to escape her troubled past, Quinn enlisted as “Pvt. Frank Miller” in the 90^th Illinois Infantry, known as Chicago’s “Irish Legion.” With her male comrades, she saw action in Mississippi and Alabama where she was wounded in the leg while on a foraging expedition and captured. By the time Confederates exchanged her in 1864, gangrene set in resulting in lengthy hospital stays in Chattanooga and Nashville where she had the two images struck that are on my book cover.

A few other women with Illinois connections appearing in my book include Elizabeth Bradbury of the 7^th Illinois Cavalry, “Soldier Tom” of the 45^th Illinois Infantry and Thielemann’s Illinois Cavalry Battalion, and “Charles Junghaus” of southern Illinois who crossed the Mississippi River and enlisted in the 3^rd Missouri Infantry in St. Louis to serve with other German immigrants. She was ultimately shot in the head and killed at the Battle of Resaca in 1864 and is buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery.

The motivations that drove these bold women to defy societal standards and slip clandestinely into the ranks are as varied as those espoused by their male counterparts. Some women were patriotic and wanted to serve their country. Others were simply seeking adventure. Some women were enticed by a source of income. As soldiers, they could make considerably more money than they could in their traditional feminine roles. And as disguised men, they were able to elevate their social status during a time when women had very few rights and opportunities. Some women, such as Elizabeth Quinn, came from abusive situations that they were able to escape by entering the ranks. And others like Almeda Hart served in order to avoid an agonizing separation from their male loved ones who marched off to war. Hart traveled south from DeKalb County with her husband, Henry, in the 127^th Illinois Infantry.

Not only did these women share many of the same reasons for serving in the military as their male comrades, they also experienced their hardships. They endured long marches and carried the same heavy gear. Women were not sheltered from the horrors of the battlefield. Some suffered debilitating wounds they sustained in action. For instance, Elizabeth Quinn limped for the rest of her short life from the bullet wound she received. But Quinn was one of the fortunate ones who lived to march home. Others, such as the woman known as Charles Junghaus, made the ultimate sacrifice and lie in graves next to the men with whom they served. Like Junghaus, many of the ones who perished took their secrets with them into eternity.

To learn more about women soldiers of the Civil War, please visit my website here. There, you will find links to a frequently asked questions page, my blog, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and other important information. Feel free to contact me with questions, comments, or invitations to speak at your event.

–Shelby Harriel – Hidlebaugh

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Camp Butler Moved (added 8 October 2021)

Camp Butler was in an initial location in 1861, but by 1862 it was moved to another location. Why was it moved? What was wrong with the original location?[1]

Camp Butler.

This rendezvous of a part of the Illinois volunteers is seven miles East of the Capital of the State. It is near the Sangamon river and is on the margin of a beautiful sheet of water called Clear Lake. This lake is a little over half a mile long and about one-fourth as wide. Its banks are regular and sloping and fringed with tall trees and bushes. It is one of the feeders of the Sangamon, and receives its water from subterranean supplies. It is, in fact, a very large spring, whose bottom, though sandy and shallow at some points along the shore, is said to be of great depth towards the middle. It is an admirable bathing pool, and much used for that purpose just now by the soldiers.

A spot of greater fitness for a temporary encampment can scarcely be conceived. The ground is level, but sufficiently inclined towards the river and the lake for a speedy discharge of the water which may descend from the clouds; and, in the times of excessive dryness, the large quantity of sand mingled with the soil is a good protection against the annoyance from dust. The grounds occupied by the tents of the soldiers are well shaded by the numerous oaks and other trees which adorn the place.

—Illinois State Journal, 28 August 1861

While Clear Lake and the nearby Sangamon River were good water sources, the primary road to the camp was often muddy or dusty.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, November 20, 1861, in personal diary

On yesterday morning our batalion received orders to prepare for a march to Springfield . . . It rained nearly the whole time that we were on the road from Springfield to Camp Butler and the road was verry muddy.

—Corporal Thomas Clingman, 46th Infantry, Stephenson County

At Camp Butler.— We paid a hasty visit yesterday to Camp Butler, and found things looking very lively, and the ground assuming quite a military air. Crowds of visitors are constantly coming and going, notwithstanding the condition of the roads is such that every vehicle leaves behind it a stream of dust like the tail of a comet.

—Illinois State Journal, 16 August 1861

Camp Jottings.

Camp Butler, Monday Evening.

. . . On Sunday, taking advantage of the rough and muddy roads leading from the camp to your beautiful little city, we availed ourselves of the privileges of a ride in a pretentious hack, and shook ourselves into town as best the horses, hack, and driver could shake us.

—Illinois State Register, 8 October 1861

[author’s image and annotations of the 1858 Whitley and Wheelock map of Sangamon County, courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library]

The other mode of transportation was the Great Western Railroad, where the nearest depot was at Jamestown (now, Riverton), about two miles north of the camp at Clear Lake. This railroad went to either Springfield (west) or Decatur (east). At Decatur, for example, soldiers could be transferred to the Illinois Central Railroad to go to either Chicago or Cairo, Illinois.

Camp Butler, near Clear Lake, was first occupied in August 1861, when the weather was warm. The soldiers mainly occupied tents and there were few permanent buildings.[2] In the last four months of 1861, the soldier population at this location varied from 3,218 (2 September) to 6,083 (11 November).[3] As the Civil War progressed and it became clear it would be a protracted affair, Camp Butler needed more weather-proof housing than army tents could provide, despite the issuing of blankets to the soldiers in the fall.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, November 28, 1861, to wife, Mary

the ink freezes on my pen and I must stop for such writing as this is looks worse than none so good bye, till I get warm enough so that my breath will melt the ice on the point of the pen

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

In late November, arrangements were made to build wooden barracks in a different, albeit nearby, location. Camp Butler General Order No. 43 was a call for carpenters among its residents “to work on the New Barracks” east of Jamestown.[4] By mid-December, the “sick in Hospital [at the Clear Lake location] to be removed to the buildings assigned for reception at the new barracks.”[5] This was a part of the transfer of soldiers and camp materiel from the previous to the new Camp Butler location, which took several weeks to complete.

Perhaps the main advantage of the new location was the immediate proximity of the Great Western Railroad, on the north edge of the camp.

Prisoners From Secesh.— On Saturday morning between seventeen and eighteen hundred prisoners from Fort Donelson, were brought to Camp Butler, over the Great Western Railroad. They are now carefully lodged at that post.

—Illinois State Register, 24 February 1862

Camp Butler.—We took advantage of a leisure hour or so on Saturday to pay a visit to Camp Butler,–our old and well established State Encampment, now made famous by being a military prison.

As the trains on the Great Western R. R. now make regular stops at the camp, we embarked in the noon cars and were in a very few minutes, whirled to our destination. Taking a hasty but excellent dinner at the Commissary Department, looking in at the Quartermaster’s office, where quantities of clothing and equipments for the new regiments were being received, and after making the circuit of the outer camps, we were shortly after, by showing the necessary credentials, permitted to pass within the gate.

—Illinois State Journal, 30 June 1862

It should be noted that, at the time of the move, Camp Butler was not anticipated to become a prisoner-of-war camp, which nevertheless became the case starting on 22 February 1862. However, the adjacent railroad may have facilitated choosing Camp Butler for that purpose.[6]

By the end of 1862, this new Camp Butler location also included a national cemetery and was one of the fourteen original cemeteries so designated within the Union.

Here are two additional thoughts about the negative aspects of the Clear Lake camp. On the north edge of the Clear Lake area was a hotel with a saloon that predated the military camp. Officers, especially, found it a convenient location to obtain liquor. As earlier as 19 August 1861, a Special Order stated “The sale of spiritous liquor at the Clear Lake Hotel is forbidden” and “None is to be sold to any Officer . . . or private.”[7] Nevertheless, even at the more rural, second location of Camp Butler, drunkenness still proved to be a persistent problem. It showed where there was a will, there was a way to obtain liquor.

This statement is repeated from the beginning of this posting: “The large quantity of sand mingled with the soil is a good protection against the annoyance from dust. The grounds occupied by the tents of the soldiers are well shaded by the numerous oaks and other trees which adorn the place.” The sandy soil, combined with “numerous . . . trees” next to Clear Lake, also could have been a reason for not building barracks there. The few preexisting buildings, like the Clear Lake Hotel, were north of the lake near the road and probably on firmer ground.

However, in summary, transportation factors likely were the main reasons for relocating Camp Butler from Clear Lake to just west of Jamestown.

[1] On this same page, there is an earlier posting dated 4 December 2020 that covers some of the discussion here, which has been augmented with additional resources.

[2] Two likely exceptions were the commissary and the hospital, each in a separate building on the north side of the camp. These may have been buildings that predated the camp and were adapted for military purposes.

[3] Population numbers are based on Camp Butler Morning Reports, from the Illinois State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State.

[4] Camp Butler General Order No. 43 was issued by the camp commander, Colonel Charles B. Watson, 21 November 1861, from “Camp Butler General Orders,” Illinois State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State.

[5] Camp Butler Special Order No. 117 was issued by the camp commander, Colonel Thomas G. Allen, 17 December 1861, from “Camp Butler Special Orders,” Illinois State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State.

[6] Similarly, Camp Douglas, near Chicago, had its own depot on the Illinois Central Railroad, and this location also became a prisoner-of-war camp.

[7] Camp Butler Special Order No. 6 was issued by the camp commander, Colonel Thomas G. Pitcher, 19 August 1861, from “Camp Butler Special Orders,” Illinois State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State.

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Worst morale factor (added 1 October 2021)

In the book, it seems like soldiers complained about a number of issues and circumstances during the war. What was the worst one that affected Illinois soldiers’ morale?

Paducah, Kentucky, October 5, 1861, to brother and sister

you wanted to know your chances to get with me but I would not advise you to enlist for you dont know what a Soldiers life is we have hardships to put up with that you dont think off [of] we are kept very strict neather officers or men can leave Camp without permision from the Col and its seldom we can get a nights rest and the food we get I know you would find it hard to put up with you would not find Eliza [sister] here to put any thing you wanted before you but if you want to come here dont let me discourage you for you can get a chance to come if you feel inclined to do so but I tell you that you will not like it

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Infantry, Madison County

It is true that Illinois soldiers were, at least at times, unhappy about all sorts of things related to the war: poor leadership, bland or bad food, sickness, and malingerers – just to name a few examples they readily mentioned in their personal letters. Some bad circumstances could be changed and other issues soldiers at least could influence or mitigate. For example, bad officers came and went, extra food might be scrounged, and many recovered from sickness or were nursed by fellow soldiers. Receiving letters from home also helped.

Camp Sill, Tennessee, March 23, 1863, to “Brother & Sister,” Mr. & Mrs. Owen P. Miles

To be absent from home as the soldiers now are with nothing but hardships, Dangers and death staring them in the face is dreary enough, but it would be a thousand times more so if we were not allowed the consoling pleasure of hearing from those we left in peace and Happiness at home.

—Captain Amos Hostetter, 34th Infantry, Carroll County

However, in my opinion, the worst thing that affected soldier morale was the lack of uniform support for their war efforts from those at home in Illinois. This complaint can be found repeatedly in soldiers’ letters.

near Atlanta, Georgia, July 8, 1864, to “Dear Mother Bros & Sisters”

I was this morning drawing a contrast between the Soldiers life and the life of the Citizen, who is surrounded with all that makes life at all desirable, and worth struggling for. It is very striking indeed when we consider the object of this turmoil, suffering and deprivation of all that is lovely. and when we think of what our enemies at home are doing to effect if possible our over throw have we not sufficient cause to discard and denounce all such villains as traitors!? what good will have we for such men – if men they are – They whose every effort expression and sympathy is in behalf of the rebel – our enemy – instead of for the Goverment, Administration and the Soldiers! Every word action, direct or indirect by these men is done for the encouraging and prolonging of the rebellion. They even yet encourage them by promises of help, in the event can effect a division in our Legislative and Congressional halls. Their whole aim seems to be to over throw the U.S. Gov,^nt and establish a Despotism, which will be dealt alike to both white & black!

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, February 14, 1863, to brother, Jefferson

I am afraid that there is a verry bad piece of business a going on in the North, by a few such chaps as Latshaw and Green [W. D. Latshaw was a Coles County Democrat and newspaper editor]. such men as them and their sympathisers, would have Ills to seceed before sun down, if it was in their power they dont think what would become of the North if the south should rule. the history of this war would be writen in the darkest die against us, and we would be darsen [perhaps dialect for “damned”] to deny it. it would be death to evry man who would say aught of their Government, as it has alredy shown.

—Private George Dodd, 21st Infantry, Edgar County

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, January 29, 1863, to Mr. & Mrs. Owen P. Miles

If you folks at home would send us more men and aid us in finishing what has been commenced instead of sitting over your fires croaking about the horrors of war and things you know nothing about you would accomplish more. I am not now speaking of you in particular but of all of that class. But I have written enough about that matter for it is one I am not apt to keep in a good humor over long.

—Captain Amos Hostetter, 34th Infantry, Carroll County

Sometimes soldiers’ ire was directed toward the top of the political chain.

onboard steamer Thomas E. Tutt, in Mississippi, January 22, 1863, to mother

Now, there are found here among the Hushers [i.e., guerrillas] quite a few of the opinion that the South would be ready to join the Union right away, to uphold the old laws and to bear the costs of the war jointly. I replied to them that if all that would happen and in a few years the South had stolen all the weapons, etc., the dance would start anew. They shrugged their shoulders and said they didn’t think so.

If our Linc. [President Lincoln] would only hold the Gray a little stiffer, pray less and guide more, and garnish the halls more with secesh and traitors then with our own people . . . so many brave and dutiful soldiers who have lived many happy years in the bosom of the old Union find their graves, as well as many villains. But this is now on our old topic, which of course is by far unexhausted. Still, I am disgusted with it.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

More often than not, soldiers’ vitriol was directed toward the so-called “peace Democrats” or, more slangily, the “Copperheads.”

Nashville, Tennessee, July 24, 1863, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

oh how I hate a Copperhead above all other men on earth when I look at my bleeding Country, and then look at those traitors at home that will not defend there government that has nourished them. when it calls in louder tones then words can give utterance to, for help, I say just to look at them greives me to the heart I would rather see them go south and take up arms and meet me on the battle field this would show that they had principal mean though it be.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Oak Ridge, Mississippi, September 13, 1863, to Mr. Elihu Miller

I am afraid that there is too many copperheads up there I cant see how that any man can be against his country the country that has protected them all their lives they are doing agreatedel [a great deal] to prolong this warer if it was not for them I think this warer would soon be ended but the day of re cing [reckoning?] is coming when we will talk to them for the way the way they have treated us

—Corporal William Harding, 114th Infantry, Cass County

Harding’s “talk to them” attitude was a mild expression compared to what some other Illinois soldiers wrote in their letters on this same theme.

Manchester, Tennessee, August 15, 1863, to friend, Miss Mollie Chapman

How I wish we were to draft about 50,000 in Illinoise so that more of those “peaceable Union men – called copperheads – (more properly chicken hearts) might enjoy a summer’s excursion into Dixey at Uncle Sam’s expense! I will stay in the Army a year for nothing if they will give me a company of copperheads! [so he can have them killed doing their army duties]

Do you ever sing, for the benefit (?) of your traitor acquaintances, “The flag with thirty-four Stars?” It is set to the same music as “The Bonnie Blue Flag”. If you should play the air a few moments until they were expecting “The Bonnie Blue Flag” and then sing our flag instead, I think it would please the Copperheads!

—Captain David Norton, 42nd Infantry, Cook County

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, March 29, 1863, to wife, Julia, and children

within the last fiew days that gangs of women with their little childern . . . have come into our lines and beging of Gen’l Rosencra[n]s for God sake to let them go where they can get something to eat . . . and many “many” of those poor miserable beings have thus been rendered helpless by this hellish Rebellion brought on by the Democratic party. I thank my God daily that I never voted for any pro-Slavery man for any considerable office. for tereble must be the weight that rests upon the heads of those that had one cents worth of brains and of all the men upon Earth that is despised and cursed the most by the Army is those infernal hell-deserving cowardly Copper–Heads of the north by sometimes all most immagine on the return of the army see them running in evry direction and Praying for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the gaze of loyal men crying and saying it would have been better for them had they never been born

—1st Lieutenant Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

Fort Thomas, Gallatin, Tennessee, May 13, 1863, to friend, Mat

I like Soldiering first rate do not want to go home till the last traitor returns to the Union unless disabled by disease or the bullet you can just tell those copperheads up there that perhaps the soldiers will not all get killed Just mark them mark them well for they will deny it when the soldiers return

—Private William Cochran, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

I will end this posting with two soldiers who wrote they would treat the Copperheads in Illinois exactly how they treat rebellious Confederates in the South. The first sounds somewhat like personal venting, but the second reads more reflective and vengeful.

Stewarts Creek, Tennessee, June 22, 1863, to father and mother

I was amused at Jonathan’s [Pvt. J. Vanmeter, 27^th IL Inf.] remarks about the war the Copperheads &c. . . . Narces Young [Pvt. Narcessus J. Young, 27^th IL Inf.] (perhaps you know him – he is brigade wagon master) remarked that he would like to go up north with his teams and forage on the copperheads: I tell you said he, who I would forage on about home,” – (then he named a number of neighbors) “and Jonathan I would forage on your old dad, too, I would strip his farm.” Said he: “Jonathan smoked his cigar a moment. – as if in thought, and then said “well “Narces,” I [“I” double underlined] would guard your forage train”!

—Sergeant Major Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Camp Sill, Tennessee, March 23, 1863, to “Brother & Sister,” Mr. & Mrs. Owen P. Miles

At present my only wish is get this infernal Rebellion crushed out, and I do not care who shall be or who shall not be my party leaders. My own judgement will tell me that when I get home. But if our friends had been as united at home in putting down treason as we have been, I believe in my heart that we would have had this rebellion crushed by this time. But our friends at home who have been against us have heard our opinions and I think they had better take warning by it, for if they do just as certain as the sun rises and sets there will come a day [of] retalliation. The soldiers are in earnest and nothing would prevent them had they those men here from hanging them up as would dogs, and destroying all the property they had. Those who would invite Civil war to their homes had better come down here and look on the picture of desolation in this state. For miles along the road every house has been burnt and the fences are all gone. It will take years to replace what has been destroyed only during this winter.

—Captain Amos Hostetter, 34th Infantry, Carroll County

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Illinois’s immigrant soldiers – part 2 (added 24 September 2021)

What were the experiences of Illinois’s immigrant soldiers?[1]

Immigrants in Illinois during the Civil War generally wanted to fit in and be, or become, trusted citizens of their adopted neighborhoods, state and country. As mentioned in part 1, there were some Illinois infantry regiments that were composed of primarily German or Irish-heritage soldiers. However, the vast majority of foreign-born or foreign-heritage soldiers living in Illinois were mustered in among the other, non-ethnic regiments.[2]

Here are two Illinois examples of soldiers doing their military duty.

Camp Lyon at Birds Point, Missouri, January 31, 1862, to “Dear Friends”

I can say that I enjoy myself pretty well in the Army. in the first place I feel confident that I am doing my duty by being in the Army so I make the best I can of my present condishion. my health being good most all the time so I feel highly blessed. and yet I can say that I Shall not be a soldier for the sake of the pay. nor for the sake of being a Soldier. for I think when the War is over I Shall return to civil life again.

The principles of War are not congineal to my Idea of Justice in ordinary sercumstance’s and I think it would seam to you as though God was making use of reather strange Instruments for working out good if you could see the conduct of some of the Soldiers in the Army yet I think Gods blessing is upon us.

—Private Neals Olson, 20th Illinois Infantry, Putnam County

Birds Point is directly south of Cairo, Illinois, and during this time, served as an overflow location for Union troops, as Cairo itself was surrounded by a high levee to help keep out Mississippi and Ohio river floodwaters. While waiting there for further deployment, Norway-born Private Olson wrote to friends at home about his motivations for being a soldier and a few observations regarding his regimental companions. He also wrote about his reservations regarding soldiering and wanting to “return to civil life again.” Frankly, either when this was written or by the end of the war, virtually none of the Union soldiers and the large majority of the officers were not interested in making the military their career. And Olson was no different in that respect.

He wrote disparagingly about “the conduct of some of the Soldiers . . .” Many, in their letters, commented about the less-than-stellar behavior of their fellow soldiers in camp. Here is another soldier, also writing during the same month in Missouri, who spells it out even more plainly.

camp near Otterville, Missouri, January 19, 1862, to wife, Hattie

The morals of the men in camp (as is the case with all armies) rather loose & I find that men whom I had supposed were the best of men & citizens at home are very often, guilty of the grossest immoralities out here—indeed the army is the best of places to find out men

—1st Sergeant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

Here, “find out men” essentially means “what they are really like.”

Next, Corporal Sargent, from Canada, also was ready to do his duty as a soldier.

Alexandria, Virginia, January 30, 1862, to friend, George Lincoln

The show for a fight is not very flattering. I almost begin to think that our officers are afraid to fight or are protracting the war as long as possible in order to fill their wallets from Uncle Sam’s packet.

I don’t know how long we shall stay here; but hope not long for it is the meanest hole I ever saw; nothing but drunken Soldiers is to be seen.

—Corporal John Sargent, 8th Illinois Cavalry, Winnebago County

He was writing from Alexandria, Virginia, which is across the Potomac River from Washington DC. Not surprisingly, Alexandria was occupied relatively quickly by the Union army once the war was started in earnest. And famously, this is where Colonel Elmer Ellsworth was shot and killed on 24 May 1861 during that initial occupation.[3]

Were the officers “afraid to fight?” Perhaps it seemed that way. As it turned out, the 8th Illinois Cavalry regiment spent a long period deployed in and around Alexandria and northern Virginia before being part of the General McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, joining that in May 1862. Their prior combat would have been limited mainly to skirmishing. It is unclear which officers, either high or low, Sargent was referring to regarding “afraid to fight.” In any case, he is accusing said officers of getting paid “from Uncle Sam’s packet” without putting out a lot of military effort.

Regarding Alexandria as “the meanest hole I ever saw,” this is somewhat similar to Private Olson’s comment, above, that soldiers and officers were not behaving well while in town. In short, there likely were too many opportunities to stray.[4] Washington DC, especially during the war, was well known for its many houses of prostitution, for example.

Here is another immigrant soldier who was focused on doing his military duty for the good of the country.

Lake Providence, Louisiana, March 14, 1863, to brother

I heard that we were going to leave this place in a few days, but we heard this morning that Vixsburgh was Evacuated and port Hudson was taken with fifteen thousand Prisners and that we should not move for a while yet. as for the truth of all this I cannot tel I also heard that the Rebels was going to propose some conditions for peace. The [Negroes] tel us that the Planters are geting tired of supporting this Rebellion and it is my opinion if the North was rid of Whangdoodels this war would be over in doublequick time, but as it is they encourag the south all the time and I expect will until they get a drubing. they pretend to be great friends to the Soldiers but I want no man to be my friend that is not in favor of his Country

—Corporal Lewis Trefftzs, 81st Infantry, Perry County

Corporal Trefftzs was repeating some (untrue) rumors about the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, but he also mentioned being loyal to the Union cause.[5] “Whangdoodels” [whangdoodles] generally referred to ranters or those who bluster and, in this case, specifically to Copperheads or those in the North who undermined the Union’s war efforts. The phrase “until they get a drub[b]ing” likely refers to them being physically suppressed. In short, Trefftzs was writing that the sooner support is unified in the North, the sooner the South will capitulate.

The following two quotations are about economic realities.

Cairo, Illinois, January 31, 1862, to wife, Jane

have the boys wayed the prospect of selling tobaco I think if peace is made with England it will beare agood price this spring but sell when you get agood price ithink it will get as high as it was. keep listning and look sharp thise trying times . . . Dear Jaane do not mourn you will see mee and Robert safe and sound yet and I trust before long and if never in this wor[ld] ihope we will meet in heaven where parting will be no more we never intend to act the cowert and if we die we will die in an onerable causs so Dear Jane do not fret for I believe god will save us and send safe home to you again

—Private James McIlrath, 31st Illinois Infantry, Saline County

James McIlrath was Irish, so it is no surprise he suggested keeping an eye on what England was doing during the American Civil War. And he was certainly not the only enlisted soldier to consider how to profit from the war beyond their monthly pay. Some soldiers asked for certain items to be sent from home – boots, writing paper, ink pens, clothing – but not necessarily for their own use. Instead, these were often scarce items they could sell to their fellow soldiers. In addition, soldiers – such as James McIlrath, here – wrote suggestions for increasing profitability at home. At least half of the Illinois soldiers in my book had direct ties to agriculture through their previous occupations.

He wrote to his wife Jane, “do not fret . . . [we’ll be] safe home to you again” James McIlrath also had one of his sons (Robert) with him, both in Company G, in the 31^st Infantry. However, from the brief biography for McIlrath in the book: “James McIlrath was a forty-year-old farmer in Saline County when he enlisted in September 1861. He had already been married for almost nineteen years to Jane McMurrin (or McMurn) when he joined the 31st Illinois Infantry. This regiment was part of Grant’s expeditionary force from Cairo, Illinois, to Forts Henry and Donelson in early 1862. On February 15, 1862, during the fighting at Fort Donelson, Private McIlrath was killed while standing next to his seventeen-year-old son on the firing line.”

The following soldier’s letter takes some doing to read between the lines, but he also is thinking about his economic security.

Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1865, to Mrs. Harriet Stoddard

As I have nothing to do at present but to write you a few lines thinking that you would like to know what I am doing or if I am going to get my discharge. I am expecting to get out of the service soon. I have been waiting for over a Week for my Papers but I do not know when I shall get them. . . .

for my part I am going to stay in the service until they get so tired of me that they will be glad to Pay me and get rid of me. If I could serve four years in the Army I surely could stay here a few weeks to wait for my discharge. But enough of this. I have been enjoying my self very well I am staying in Town my health is very good and I can do away with most anything that is set before me

As it has been so long since I have wrote to any one it comes very hard now or I might say that I never could write and be done with it so I will close I send my best respects to Mr. S. and the same to yourself and the Boys also. if you should write any ways soon direct to Springfield

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th (Consolidated) Illinois Infantry, Morgan County

Augustine Vieira was Portuguese and arrived in Morgan County as a young boy from the island of Madeira, possibly as a religious refugee. He enlisted in the 14th Illinois Infantry Regiment in May 1861 at age eighteen. During the war, he kept up a correspondence with Mrs. Harriett Stoddard of Waverly, Illinois, which is about 30 miles from Camp Butler.

In this letter, Vieira wrote “I can do away with most anything,” meaning he not only had a healthy appetite but was also generally healthy, then at the end of the war. Before the war, Vieira had been a farm laborer with the Stoddard family. However, it was somewhat a rarity that a soldier would send a rather long (and a bit rambling) letter when he was so close to being back home.

The logical conclusion here is Augustine Vieira was thinking about employment and, in this case, he was hoping to get his former job back working on the Stoddard farm. He stated he was healthy and missed them all. He likely made his final employment appeal in person a few days after he wrote this letter.

Illinois immigrant Civil War soldiers sometimes pondered the bigger picture of their status as citizens. They wanted to fit in and be prosperous, not unlike most other Illinoisians. While not all such immigrant soldiers were equally dedicated to the Union, many hoped their sacrifices in the military would allow them to be better accepted in their adopted Illinois communities.

[1] This question is adapted from a presentation to an audience at the Civil War Museum of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and titled “Illinois Immigrant Civil War Soldiers’ Experiences through Their Letters,” delivered 10 September 2021.

[2] William L. Burton, “Illinois Ethnics in the Civil War,” page 4, https://www.lib.niu.edu/1997/iht429702.html

[3] Elmer Ellsworth was living in Illinois before the war and accompanied President-elect Lincoln from Illinois to Washington DC before his inauguration.

[4] Interestingly, Civil War Camp Butler was purposely located well outside of Springfield, Illinois, to help isolate the soldiers and promote discipline. Even then, there is a long litany of Camp Butler soldiers who “strayed,” ranging from lewdness and drunkenness to murder and inciting riots.

[5] Months later, Vicksburg, Mississippi, was besieged and captured by federal forces on 4 July 1863 and similarly at Port Hudson, Louisiana, about 6,500 surviving Confederate defenders surrendered on 9 July 1863.

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Illinois’s immigrant soldiers – part 1 (added 17 September 2021)

What were the experiences of Illinois’s immigrant soldiers?[1]

In many ways, soldiers who were born outside of the United States and came to reside in Illinois had many, if not almost all of the same Civil War experiences as their U.S.-native counterparts. Although some Illinois regiments were comprised of mainly certain nationalities, such as German or Irish heritage soldiers,[2] many of their experiences were much the same as other Illinois soldiers. The same could be stated for those born in other counties who served in Illinois regiments where their national representation was very much a minority.

What was often different about immigrant soldiers was their cultural perspective. Sometimes that was evident in how they expressed themselves or how they processed or interpreted experiences during the war. In addition, they wanted to be accepted and successful in their adopted country. Just being a Union soldier was evidence of that commitment and mindset regarding their citizenship. And fortunately for us, these characteristics can sometimes be found in their existing personal letters.

Regarding how immigrant Illinois soldiers expressed themselves, here are two examples from England-born writers.

Camp Natchez, Mississippi, October 4, 1863, to sister

I attend church nearly every sunday in town and enjoy it much, but today thought I would take my religion out in writing to you. Elder Satterfield is now with us and preaches every sunday to his sinners: Bully for him.

—Corporal Edwin Gilbert, 95th Illinois Infantry, from McHenry County

“Bully” sounds like an early twentieth century Theodore Roosevelt expression, does it not? Well, the meaning is about the same as how the 26^th U.S. president meant it. “Bully for him” means “Very good” or “Awfully good” for him.

Camp Sevier near Clarksville, Tennessee, March 6, 1862, to brother and sister

[at the Battle of Fort Donelson] we was aroused before day light by the approach of the enemey trying to make a break through our lines and we hardly had time to get in line of Battle to resist them. when we was in line the enemey was so close that we had to resist at the point of Steel but luckey for us we was all loaded and we poured in a folley [volley]

. . . Dear Brother & Sister I thought at one time that you would never hear from me again for the way the bullets whis’d and sung round our head’s is almost a mystery that so many of us escaped with our lives its astonishing how cold our men beheaved they was no more excited then if they was on dress preade [parade] when they had a chance they would ask each other for tobacco and one of our men askd leave to fall out the rank’s and do a job for himself the Captⁿ gave him leave to fall back 3 steps when he got through up he jump and blased away

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Illinois Infantry, from Madison County

“Do a job for himself” is a bathroom break reference and an English expression.[3] Private Barnett and his wife, Sarah, were born in England. Barnett emigrated to the U.S. with his parents when he was about eight years old. Here is one example, from an English novella about a burglary.

“‘Doing a job is another way of saying opening the bowels. In France,’ said the constable, ‘it’s known as posting a sentry.’”[4]

Here is another Civil War soldier example of “do a job for himself.”[5]

Bayou Boeuf, Louisiana, 8 May 1863, to mother

. . . the flys are awful thick & as soon as the sun sets
musquitoes “Oh Dear” tis no use for me to try &
give any idea of their number a swarm of Bees
is no comparison as soon as sundown we build large
fires of corn husks & keep them agoing all night
why if a man has occasion to do a job for himself
after dark he is obliged to take some husks out & build
a fire & sit in the smoke else his rear will be in rather
a dilapidated condition rather a tough state of things
but such is the case.[6]

—William H. Eastman, 2nd Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery

Regarding Corporal Gilbert’s and Private Barnett’s uses of these expressions, they would have been recognized and understood by family members back home in Illinois.

Soldiers, and perhaps especially those who were immigrants, readily described natural and cultural experiences they encountered in the South that were different from their native land or even from Illinois. Here are two examples from soldiers’ letters.

camp in Mississippi, November 24, 1862, to mother

There are a lot of parrots here in Mississippi. People buy them, they are so pretty: red heads, yellow-gold collars around their necks and then into green for the rest of their bodies, sometimes lighter, sometimes darker, really very beautiful. I am enclosing a little wing feather for you. They are about as big as a wild dove.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, from St. Clair County

Here is the bird Kircher was describing, the Carolina parakeet.

Carolina parakeet (mounted specimen, Field Museum, Chicago)

And here again is Kircher’s description, albeit as he originally wrote it in German.

image by author (courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois)

Henry Kircher was born in Cass County, Illinois (so not an immigrant himself), but his parents were from Germany. Kircher was bilingual and all the letters in this particular collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library are written in German. I am not fluent in German, but I think in this image the first word – the one spelled P-a-p-a-g and so on – is the word for “Parrots.” There are at least two sets of English transcriptions of these letters, including one set in a book.[7]

In the nineteenth century in the Eastern United States, the Carolina Parakeet was a fairly common bird and could be found in large flocks. At the time, these birds were considered somewhat of a nuisance and could be poisonous if eaten. As a species, the birds were gradually killed and/or died off (perhaps due to loss of habitat and disease) and became extinct by 1918. However, when Kircher saw them in Mississippi during the Civil War, it was likely a species of bird neither he nor his family back in Illinois had seen before. So, he was keen to describe them and even enclosed “a little wing feather” with his letter.

Rather than a natural world description, here is one soldier’s cultural observations.

Camp Clark near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, November 19, 1862, to sister

About 4 miles from the [Kentucky] river we passed through a Shaker Settlement or valley containing many fine brick and stone buildings filled with dried up withered looking old Maids, all dressed in street gowns and white caps. and for the life of me I could not see but that they all looked alike, only some of them being a little older than others The men were all dressed alike, clean shaved, and I thought they all looked alike; at least there is one thing in which they all profess to be alike viz [i.e., “that is to say”] woman haters they are a miserable set of old batchelors. They have got plenty of the youth of both sexes, whom they are training up in the same miserable manner making old men and wemon of them before they are even half way through their teens. I am thankful that although I used to be kept preety straight when small I was not raised a shaker, for I should have been eternally breaking the rules, for I cant live without laughing, and I always liked the society of wemon, when of the right kind. –

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Illinois Infantry, from Lake County

James M. Taylor was born in Scotland, but settled with his family in Lake County in the northeast corner of Illinois. Shaker communities are part of a Christian sect that espouses celibacy, egalitarianism (e.g., against slavery), and pacifism, among other practices. As far as the Union was concerned, they were exempt from military service. However, they did supply aid and comfort to wounded and ailing soldiers who visited their villages from both the Union and the Confederacy. In the United States, Shaker membership peaked around the 1850s. This particular Shaker village called Pleasant Hill, near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, existed from 1806 to 1910. Taylor noted that the men of the village were “a miserable set of old batchelors” since they did not procreate. Shakers could only increase their numbers through outside recruitment.

Of course, many Illinois soldiers, not just those who were immigrants, wrote home about new cultural experiences, and that included descriptions and comments about slavery in the Southern states. However, immigrant soldiers were especially keen to pass along their observations in their letters about cultural and natural phenomena that would be new to the home folks as well.

[2] Among three possible Illinois German-heritage examples, the 82^nd Infantry (the “2^nd Hecker Regiment,” commanded by Colonel Friedrich Hecker) was composed of mostly German-heritage soldiers, but also contained soldiers from other European countries. Regarding Irish heritage, the 23^rd Infantry was raised in Chicago and perhaps about half of its soldiers were Ireland-born. It was commanded by Colonel James A. Mulligan.

[3] I am borrowing this explanation from the 3 July 2020 posting on this very “Question of the Week” page titled “Crude Colloquialisms.”

[4] Alan Bennett, The Clothes They Stood Up In (New York: Penguin Random House, 2002), 21.

[5] I am sometimes surprised by how often Illinois Civil War soldiers wrote about unsavory things to their sisters, mothers, and significant others.

[6] From the following online resource: http://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/page/22/?rownum=805

[7] For this particular translation, I relied on Earl J. Hess, ed., A German in the Yankee Fatherland: The Civil War Letters of Henry A. Kircher (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1983), 27.

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Religion among the soldiers (added 10 September 2021)

Did Illinois soldiers tend to become more religious or less so during the war?

Hilton Head, South Carolina, March 3, 1865, to daughter, Mary

he [Capt. Gills] Intradust me to his Tent mates some 8 or 10. they all Rose to thear Feete verry Respectifully, and I stood and Talkd to them about 10 muinets about Religion & thear soales. they stod & gave good attention & I trust some good, done. I see and feal more & more, the great Importance in the arm[e]d among soldiers of talking to them about thear soals wellfare for in everry Place some will apprisiate it & It will do them good & a few words at a proper time may do lasting good. god commands us to sow, the seed But he gaves the In[t]er[e]st but if we donot sow, we cannot Reape

—Chaplain James Woollard, 111th Infantry, Marion County

I would suggest regarding Illinois soldiers that religion and maintaining their faith was very much an individual preference. That said, there were many counter-religious activities in just about any military camp. Of course, seeking to maim or kill your (Southern) neighbor through military duty, in and of itself, could seem in contrast to religious principles.

Rolla, Missouri, January 27, 1862, to mother

I know that my feelings are not as warm on the subject of Religion, as they were. When I left home, I sometimes feel that I never experienced a change of heart. then I feel that I need to read the Bible & pray more earnestly. This being on guard & marching on the Sabbath blunts a persons feelings.

—Private William H. Marsh, 13th Infantry, Will County

There were chaplains and preachers in the military, but they were not universally appreciated by those whom they served.[1]

Gallatin, Tennessee, May 10, 1863, to “Dear Friends at Home”

Our chaplain asked me to notify the Orderlies, that there would be preaching at 10 o’clock “or thereabouts,” at which time the music would play on the color-line, as a Signal for them to bring out all the boys who would attend. I notified them – the music played, at the proper time but the congregation did not assemble. The intention was to form in military order and march to a grave, where the services were to be held. The Chaplain is a Universalist. Some of the boys suggest that men be detailed by turns to attend divine services on Sunday! — the heathens!

—Sergeant Major Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Camp Centralia, Illinois, August 17, 1862, to “Dear Parents and folks at home”

this is not much like sundies at home much. in the morning the grocery opens as usual. out at Camp at the preachery some of the soldiers were playing cards some were laughing and singing some were cursing and swearing while about two hundred were gathered round the preacher

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Not surprisingly, the chaplains had their own opinions about their soldiery flock.

officer’s hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, October 30, 1863, to wife, Anna

The associations in the service are anything but pleasant to one that desires to live right The officers are not a whit better than the privates & I sometimes think they are much worse owing to the increased liberty & greater amount of money they have An officer who doesnt swear drink & play cards is an exception They will hardly average two in a regiment. You can readily judge that I find few that I care to associate with though I will do them justice to say that they almost invariably respect my position & refrain from profanity in my presence. Occasionally I meet a man who seems to have no respect for himself or any one else.

Drinking is the rule among the officers & often I hear them laughing about being on a “drunk” the day before as though it were something to be proud of. Yesterday I came up from town in the buss & there were four others got in every one of them so drunk they made perfect fools of themselves – all the way up. I assure you I shall be glad when I am out of the service & can choose my associates again. It cannot be done here for one must mingle with those whose duties lie in the sphere as his own

—Chaplain Hiram Roberts, 84th Infantry, Adams County

Regarding the conduct of some officers, here is the opinion of an enlisted soldier that is in the same vein as the above.

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, February 12, 1863, to sister, “Bell” (Isabelle)

if we had to elect new officers tomorrow there would be no votes for either of the old ones. Good, quiet, easy going, men at home are not always the men to make good military men out of at least we have found it so to our cost. As for Lieutenant Laughlin he is a man of no principle at all unless it be the principle that knaves possess. He can make quite a profession of religion at home, makes long prayers in prayer meeting and says long graces before meals. . . . but like the performances of the Pharisees I believe it is all for a pretense, for when he is in the right company. he can drink liquor, and play cards as well as some who make no pretensions to better things and he appears to enjoy it and feels quite at home in the company. So that it is no new thing for him.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Many combatants were religious, even if sometimes that part of their lives was in remission. For example, New Testaments were carried by soldiers, sometimes even into battle.

army hospital (perhaps in Kentucky), November 12, 1861, to a “Dear Friend” in the Cole family

we took a set of beads off his neck which along with the other articles taken out of his pocket were handed over to the clerk of the hospital & will be duly forwarded. they consist of the following / Purse & contents (no money found in it) Cap box, Testament, Soldiers Hymn Book, & some private correspondence which we did not open or read

—Private Thomas Lancaster, 8th Missouri (Union) Infantry, Peoria County

Camp Baird, near Danville, Kentucky, January 20, 1863, to sister

I miss reading greatly we have but very few papers. they dont appear to come through some how or other, and as for carrying book of any kind around with us to study, the thing is impossible. “It cant be did” The only book that I have been able to keep along with me and study is my testement and I often wish it was a bible, but I took the testement on account of it size. for a soldier has to carry all his effects when he marches and they who are wise have as few as possible.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Interestingly, Civil War author Bell Irvin Wiley reported that religious revivalism occurred in many of the Confederate camps, especially in the second half of the war, while “Federal armies experienced no such phenomenon.”[2] Again, among the Illinois soldiers, it seemed to be more of a personal choice or experience relative to religion. Perhaps sometimes irrespective of religion, some soldiers felt that God (and often “right”) was on their side.

Helena, Arkansas, April 30, 1863, to wife, Celina

Through the many mercies of our Heavenly Father I am again this pleasant morning permitted to converse with you my Dear Companion through the medium of Pen paper and ink the only medium by which we can hold converse it is not so desirable as vocal conversation but I am truly thankful to the giver of all good (whose omnicince & omnipresence fills immensity) for the privillage of thus addressing you Celina I am perfectly satisfied that our cause is just & that the God of Heaven will bless our arms the more that I can learn of President Lincoln the better I am satisfied that he is an intelligent honest & religious man that he is an instrument under God (as Joshua of old was) to lead direct and free those poor dispised downtrodden desendants of Ham – who have been bought & sold as beast of burden for upwards of two hundred years Who that have a Heart can help rejoicing at the prospect of their soon being delivered from that slavery that has cursed our beloved Country that has so often pained the heart of the noble american when reflecting upon his country

—Private Jonas Roe, 5th Cavalry, Clay County

Officer’s Hospital Number 17, Nashville, Tennessee, October 25, 1863, to wife

I have been to church once to day & heard a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher. He gave a very fair sermon but I couldnt help thinking all the time that he was a traitor & that nearly all his audience, excepting the soldiers present, were of the same class, so I dont believe his sermon did me as much good as it might otherwise have done. I dont think much of the religion of traitors, if the religion isn’t powerful enough to keep them true to their country I am afraid it will be found too weak to save them.

—Chaplain Hiram Roberts, 84th Infantry, Adams County

Some soldiers simply suggested they did not know what God allowed to happen or why, but simply wished for God’s blessing.

New Madrid, Missouri, April 6, 1862, to aunt, Mrs. Edward Craig

I tell you Aunt that I am sick and tired of this “business of war” this unnatural war among our kindred. of its necessity I will not argue, of its consequences we are all aware, at least to some extent. but to those who have witnessed the effects of an invading or receeding army there are presented horrors of which no one else can form an idea. I do wish the thing could be fixed up. I suppose that the Army is making some reliable and permanent progress – but it seems to me that it is progressing very, ve[r]y slow and I am afraid that the Union sentiment is not developing itself to that extent. that argues any immediate peace. and I opine that peace of any permanent character will not smile upon us for a long time. God grant it may – but I fear not.

—Hospital Steward John Craig, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

Finally, chaplains and other men of God surely experienced spiritually uplifting as well as downtrodden moments during the Civil War. Here is one who seemed to weather an incident that was a mixture of both.

On a train in Pennsylvania, undated correspondence [perhaps in 1864], perhaps to a fellow clergy member

[while on a train car full of soldiers] I felt that I aut [ought] to talk to them about thear soals the Impresion increast on my mind. I spoak to the officer in charg, he reddily consented. I walkt to the middle of the care [car] so all could hear, by my talking loud. they gave the most searous attention my soal was Blest, my mind Releavd, and manny of them seamd deeply affected, all strangers but god will take cear of the good if anny done & bring it to Judgment while I was talking the cars stopt at a station it was in Pensilvana. I suppose the Novelty of Preaching in the cars while they were Running, broat [brought] a crowd from the station platform to the windows to see and hear what was going on. this did not disturb me nor my audience, but I suppose thear was one fellow out sid [outside] such as are cald copperheads for at this moment I was telling the soldiers of the honner of themselves thear Parents, thear country & thear god, when that Fellow rasd [raised] a sarcastic yell and Put off. the cars moved on & I thought the old saying the Devels mad & I am glad

—Chaplain James Woollard, 111th Infantry, Marion County

[1] In the Union army, chaplains received about the same military pay as cavalry captains.

[2] Wiley, Bell Irvin, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy, reprint (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978), 183. Wiley also provides some thoughts about why revivalism occurred among the Confederate troops.

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Regular army versus volunteers (added 3 September 2021)

During the Civil War, were Illinois soldiers part of the U.S. army or the volunteer army? What was the difference?

Falling Water/Raccoon Mountain, Tennessee, December 27, 1863, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

We have just heard of the draft and I tell you it pleases the boys here extremely well. It tikles me to see some of the boys volunteer that would not had it not been for the draft. I dont go much on such Volunteers. I would just as soon have one drafted.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Camp Fuller near Rockford, Illinois, September 6, 1862, to sister

While we were being examined, six companies from Joe Daviss [Jo Daviess] County were marched up on the out side of the square then we were presented to each other and the ten companies were then declared to constitute the 96^th Regt of Ill Volunteers, after which he made a capital speech on the duties of the men and officers an I tell you what he told the officers some plain truths which it would do well for them to remember.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

For the sake of clarity, there are two different meanings regarding the term “volunteer soldier.” In the above quotation from Corporal Crawford, he is distinguishing between a soldier who volunteered to be in the army of his own free will versus one who was conscripted or drafted. In contrast to that meaning, Corporal Taylor is referring to his regiment’s full name (96^th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers or, 96^th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and often shortened to “96^th Illinois Infantry”). In this latter case, the distinction is between state volunteers and the “Regular” U.S. army, and the topic of this posting.

As early as the War of 1812, the federal government requested volunteer soldiers from the states who were then accepted to augment the U.S. Regular Army during a time of war. Such soldiers were under the authority of the U.S. government and not controlled by the various states (and unlike local militias, which were under a state or local authority). That being the case, during the Civil War it still was the responsibility of the individual states to raise volunteer regiments and, when necessary, enforce any conscription acts. In short, the Regular Army was the permanent, full-time component of the U.S. military, which was supplemented with volunteer soldiers during times of immediate need.

April 15, 1861

By the President of the United States

A Proclamation.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law,

Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details, for this object, will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.[1]

This proclamation was issued by President Lincoln the day after the surrender of Fort Sumter in South Carolina to the Confederacy. Regarding the last sentence in the above, later that same day, Secretary of War Simon Cameron issued a “Call to Arms” to state governors. “I have the honor to request Your Excellency to cause to be immediately detached from the militia of your State . . . to serve as infantry or riflemen, for the period of three months, unless sooner discharged.”[2] Cameron separately requested Illinois governor Richard Yates to send “six regiments of militia.”[3]

The state regiments, while often commanded by state-commissioned colonels, came under control of the federal generals and officers, the U.S. Secretary of War, and ultimately the President in the role of Commander-in-Chief. By the end of the Civil War, about 97 percent of the Union soldiers were state volunteers (U.S. State Volunteers) and the rest were part of the Regular U.S. Army. At the beginning of the Civil War, the Regular U. S. Army had approximately 16,000 enlisted soldiers and commissioned officers.

In the first months of the war, it was the leadership within the individual states that got the volunteer soldiers organized and operational. “The Illinois legislature left nothing undone to place the state on a warlike footing. Ten regiments, one from each congressional district, and one additional, were authorized, to be held in reserve pending a presidential call. As soon as raised, these troops were sent to camps fitted out at state expense and were paid the same wages as soldiers accepted by the federal government. To cover the cost of this proposition an appropriation of a million dollars was made; half a million more was to be used for the purchase of arms and to build a powder magazine, and another two millions [sic] was set aside for general purposes of state defence [sic] and national aid.”[4]

Among the enlisted men, the differences between state volunteers and regular army soldiers were few. Volunteers generally enjoyed larger enlistment bonuses, somewhat laxer military discipline, and often the opportunity to serve in companies composed of their neighbors and peers from home. However, volunteer regiments from most states were difficult to replenish with new recruits as the war went on.[5] While some Regular U.S. Army officers were allowed or placed in leadership positions among the volunteer regiments, the Regular Army enlisted soldiers stayed mostly in their original pre-war regiments. Such regiments, partially because of their longer military experience and better discipline, were considered elite troops within the Union army.

[1] The opening portion of: “Proclamation Calling Militia and Convening Congress,” April 15, 1861. Roy P. Basler et al., eds., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 9 vols. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953–55), 4:331–32.

[2] The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 70 vols., 4 series (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901), series 3, 1:68–69. Also at that time, three months was the longest period the federal government could enlist volunteers. That was soon amended to three years.

[3] J. N. Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, rev. ed., 8 vols. (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., 1900), 1:5. The number of regiments requested from each state was based on population size.

[4] Illinois, Session Laws, special session, 1861, pp. 10-30; Pioneer and Democrat, May 7, 1861, as cited in John D. Hicks, “The Organization of the Volunteer Army in 1861 with Special Reference to Minnesota,” read at the executive council meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society, October 17, 1917, in St. Paul, 338-39.

[5] Among the Union states, Illinois was relatively successful when it came to augmenting regiments that were reduced due to attrition.

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Soldiers’ comments on Grant – part 2 (added 27 August 2021)

The book has an entire chapter about soldiers’ comments on Union leadership. How widely did soldiers’ comments vary about General Ulysses S. Grant?

This part covers Illinois soldiers’ opinions of General Grant from after July 1863 to the end of the war.

After Vicksburg, Grant was promoted to Major General in the U.S. Army (i.e., “Regular Army”) in October 1863 and sent to Chattanooga. Now under Grant’s command, he relieved Major General William Rosecrans, whose Army of the Cumberland had been defeated at the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia (18-20 September 1863).[1] Grant found the Union forces at Chattanooga penned in by Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s army. The Confederates also partially controlled the Tennessee River, forcing the Union supply line to Chattanooga to assume a slow, circuitous, and dangerous overland route. In effect, the Union troops in and around the city were slowly starving, as described by an Illinois soldier.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 8-9, 1863, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

we are all. O.K. in Camp when we can get enuf to eat. This Army has not drawn full Rations but four days Since the Battle [of Chickamauga] and then we onely drawed full Rations of hard Tack I tell you that I never knew what it was to want untill Since the Battle Company C in our regt killed A dog and eat it the other day beefs heads sell for 50 cts apiace and the Boys skim all the beefs tails and make Soup of them this is a fact we cannot buy eny thing for love or money. at Murfreesboro the time of the Battle I eat mule Soup thought that was pretty hard but I have eat worse then that hear. I have some big Storys to tell you when I get home . . . I tell you that the Rebels have got ous in A tight place they shell ous from the front of lookout mountain every day but they dont do much hurt I think Bragg will wake up some of these fine mornings and find himself in A trap. I have had the pleasuer of seeing some of them Eastern ducks (Hookers Armey) I have seen Gen. Grant and Gen. Jo. Hooker they are good looking men I hope that we will get Rosecrans back [which they did not] . . . you must not show this letter to eny one for I do not wish to have my folks know that we are living so hard; I can stand it as long as the rest can (that whats the matter) it is evry one for himself and the devel for the hind most in these parts

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

In late October, shortly before the above was written, Grant approved a pre-planned night raid to open the Tennessee River to use as a shorter, quicker line of supply to Chattanooga (the so-called “Cracker Line”), which proved successful in loosening the Confederate’s grip. Once accomplished, it in turn allowed more forces to arrive in the area (under the commands of major generals Joseph Hooker and General William T. Sherman) without overstraining lines of supply. In late November, Hooker’s troops took Lookout Mountain on the Confederate left flank and Sherman’s forces tangled with Bragg’s soldiers on their right flank. That allowed Union general Thomas to use his forces to assault the Confederate center at Missionary Ridge. This assault was described by an Illinois officer observing the battle.

headquarters of the 14th Army Corps, Chattanooga, Tennessee, December 3, 1863, to friend, Mollie Chapman

Hooker [at Lookout Mountain] was now ordered to follow the rebs, across Chattanooga valley and strike them on their left flank by going around by way of Rossville. The rest of the line from the centre to Hooker was moved round parallel to Mission[ary] Ridge. It took Hooker until afternoon to get into his new position. Meanwhile – Sherman, on our extreme left had begun his work at about 8 o’clock in the morning and was fighting desperately all day. Many an anxious glance was thrown towards the part of the ridge where Hooker was to make his assault and all were anxious for the time to come, for all wanted to go to the assistance of Sherman’s brave fellows! At last orders were given for our lines to move up nearer to the rebels and for our skirmishers to drive the rebels into their long lines of entrenchments at the foot of Mission[ary] ridge. It was gallantly done, and Gen. Baird’s Division of 14^th Corps (ours) was ordered to assault the enemies works to create a diversion in favor of Hooker who could be heard opening his part of the game. Gallantly those noble men charged across the open field which separated them from the enemy, amidst a perfect storm of shots and shells! They have taken the entrenchments! Here they were ordered to stop. But – no. the balls were flying too thick! They could not stop and live! And absolutely without orders they charged on up the hill! A thrill of anguish past through every frame! “They are lost”! cries Gen. Grant – “Send the whole corps after them”! But long before the order could be carried to the anxious troops – a shout that shook the earth went up from those devoted comrades and forward they rushed upon what seemed to be inevitable destruction! Onward and upward sped those intrepid soldiers! Backward fly the astonished and frightened rebels! Oh! how beautiful those stary flags looked as they fluttered up that steep mountain side covered with bristling bayonets and cannon! What an anguish of suspense we endured, who stopped at the foot of the hill and watched our lines getting nearer and nearer to the top where the final – fierce and bloody struggle must take place! Now the wounded begin to come down! Not, however, crying and groaning with the pain of their wounds – but exulting in the glory and honor they had won on that bloody hillside! No uninjured comrades help their wounded fellows to the rear! No! as long as a man can climb, he must push on for the glorious end – which all now plainly see. – No[w] the top is gained! Do they pause to await the arrival of their slower comrades? No! every man pushes forward into the very mouths of the fierce cannon and with a cheer slay – capture or drive away the rebel artillerists! The enemy, completely “dumb foundered” – fly and our victorious boys start down the hill after them! The victory – the most glorious of the war – is ours!

—Major David Norton, 42nd Infantry, Cook County[2]

Successes in the Chattanooga Campaign cemented Grant’s reputation as both a tactical and strategic problem solver. If he could resolve military issues, could he also be a political leader?

Athens, Alabama, February 27, 1864, to wife, Millie

—Assistant Surgeon William Allen, 9th Infantry, Bond County

Grant’s presidential ambitions would come at a later date, and well after the Civil War (as the 18^th U.S. president). However, people were starting to see him in a new light. Just after Assistant Surgeon Allen’s letter was written, on 2 March 1864, President Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general, which gave him command of all the Union armies (about a half million soldiers).

Scottsboro, Alabama, March 20, 1864, to “My Dear Friends”

I think the Rebels had better stop soon if they know when they are well off Leiut General, grant, will make them get I think he is going to take Command of Virginia then I think our men will take Richmond the Rebs Run off as fast as they can get away that is a great Portion of them do some of them wont come they are to Much spunk to giv up as long as they Can fight

—Private Jacob Buck, 89th Infantry, Fulton County

Private Buck was on the right track. Later that spring, Grant, along with General Meade’s Army of the Potomac, would take on Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and with an eye toward capturing the Confederate capital of Richmond. Elsewhere, Union armies would conduct simultaneous offensive actions to minimize the transference of Confederate troops among the various fronts.

Washington, DC, May 7, 1864, to friend, Miss Lovina Eyster

the news Boy has just come in to Camp selling Extras our troops are fighting to day on the other side of the Rapidan & probably while I am quietly seated here writing thes lines many a Fellow is falling in defence of our noble cause Genl Grant seemes to be determined to make a bold stroke at Richmond let us hope he will be successfull every thing now looks favorable to our cause our armyes seem to be strong in good health & good spirits they also seem to have the fullest of confidence in thir two brave leaders Meed & Grant. Should he be successful in the Campaign I hope to see the fighting closed this summer

—Sergeant Reuben Prentice, 8th Cavalry, Ogle County

For the soldiers, part of Grant’s popularity was gauged on how soon the war would end and they could go home.

on the flagship Autocrat at Yazoo City, Mississippi, May 20, 1864, to friend, Miss S. A. Moore

—Private John McDonald, Mississippi Marine Brigade, Will County

Here the “old stile” Private McDonald described was capturing Richmond through a siege, like Grant had done at Vicksburg. McDonald’s letter was written after the start of Grant’s Overland Campaign and the high-casualty battles of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania, Virginia, on the way toward Richmond. Two years earlier, Lincoln’s statement in reference to Grant – “he fights” – was proving prophetic.

Washington, DC, May 13, 1864, to friend, Miss Lovina Eyster

[regarding The Wilderness] The news from Genl Grant on the front is glorious he seemes determined to fight it out with Lee before he leaves him we have just got an Extra from the press this Evening giving an account of a splendid victory . . . our armys seem to be in the best of spirits & bound to go ahead all seem to have the strongest confidence in their brave & galant leader. it cannot be possible that the Enemy can hold out much longer if their loss has ben as heavy as ours & it is reported to be much heavyer while they are loosing spirits as well as men

—Sergeant Reuben Prentice, 8th Cavalry, Ogle County

Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 10, 1864, to sister, Mrs. Ellen E. Hudson

I have confidence in Grant and Sherman and I know that they are the right kind of men to end this war sometime for they will not lay around all summer within cannon shot of the rebs without fighting them and hard knocks is just what it is going to take to wind up this affair [i.e., the war] for nice talk and “Strategy” is just about played out

—Sergeant John Burke, 5th Cavalry, Randolph County

Sergeant Burke, among other soldiers, were exasperated by Union military plans over the course of the war that did not result in, or lead to, the Confederacy’s capitulation. However, results were coming. General Sherman’s army was making progress in Georgia toward Atlanta, and the siege of Petersburg (just south of Richmond) was to start on 19 June 1864. About the time Burke’s letter was written, the Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia was concluding, which was a terrible defeat for Grant, generating more Union casualties than the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, over two years earlier. While faith in Grant’s leadership had wavered after victory at Shiloh, it did not flag after the thrashing received at Cold Harbor. Grant was able to pivot his forces across the James River and start the siege of Peterburg (and effectively of Richmond, too). This was seen by both the Union soldiers and their leadership as a beginning of the end of the Civil War.

camp near the James River, Virginia, August 24, 1864, to cousin, Mrs. Theoda S. Fulton

we have had another fierce and desperate Battle with the Veterans of Lees Army at deep Bottom on the north side of James River – on the 16^th Inst., our Brigade had been struggling about in dense forests and deep Ravines . . . as we mounted over their high bank – you can judge of the despration of the affair when the 39^th lost more than 1/3 of their number within 5 minutes – and 5 officers our flag bearers being shot down befor we reached the Rebel works – and the flag was carried ahead by one of our Captains we captured a large lot of Prisoners and 4 Rebel flags . . . But our Ranks are thin our officers – none more Brave, are killed or wounded and our fame is dearly bought[3] . . . I send you another picture of Gen. Grant we see him often these pictures are true the last one represents him as he appears in the war harness [probably in military uniform] – and the other in a ladies parlor

—Private Ransom Bedell, 39th Infantry, Cook County

The progress of Grant and his generals also propped up President Lincoln’s chances of reelection in the fall of 1864.

Rome, Georgia, October 31, 1864, to brother, Charles

I sometimes think Gen. Sherman must have a good head to keep track of all his men. The Great Secret of Sherman is, he keeps his own secrets, and always brings us out on the safe side, which is the only consolation we have.

I think the rebelion would have to Crumble, “Lincoln or no Lincoln.” Should Lincoln by any possible means be defeated, – though it seems like talking in riddelles for dont entertain a doubt – on that subject, – And little M^c [opposing candidate McClellan] find the reins of Gov & not drive the rebels to the wall as he pledged himself to Mr Lincoln, to do. the soldiers will be at a loss to give the strugle up dishonorably. – the great cry is Elect him for the unexpired term of the war, and the soldiers will see that he his fighting goes on all right. . . . we had yet a government under which to live, that we were not only able to administer the government, but that our ability has been fuly proven. Proven by driving the rebelious curdes to loyalty in to graves. I believe this can be done We can only fight. You can vote. Give us such men as Lincoln & Johnson, Grant & Sherman with Oglesby (our fat old corpl.) to take care of the State affairs at home and we will fight as long as there remains a rebel in arms.

Charlie you will pardon me should I appear to moralize a little. I grow warm when I begin to write on the subject. You know my feelings without my saying a word. Vote right and we will do the fighting on the Square.

—Sergeant Joseph Cox, 9th Infantry (Consolidated), Mercer County

At Petersburg, the fighting became something closer to trench warfare (like at Vicksburg) and, as the months passed, the siege gradually extended south and westward, constricting the Confederate lines of supply to the two cities. Finally, Lee’s army was starving and desperate and, after assaults by Grant’s forces, Richmond and Petersburg were abandoned on 2 April 1865. One week later, Grant’s pursuit of the fleeing Confederate army ended at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, resulting in General Lee’s surrender. Elsewhere, the war continued for a few more months but it was effectively over.

Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, April 13, 1865, to wife and children

There is a great excitement prevailes throughout the camp in regard to the surrender of Gen. Lees army we just came in from a scout when we heard of the Glorious news of the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Gen Lees army of Northern V^a to Gen Grant. We had been out on a four days scout (the whole regiment) and was on our return, and when within about a mile of camp, we heard of the news and an order was given for the column to cheer, and if I ever heard the woods ring it was then. The following day which was yesterday was a general review, and a salute of two hundred on the occasion in honor of the victory. The battery of six 12 pounders was about 28 minutes in firing 200 guns. the general opinion is that peace will soon follow and the boys will git home.

—Private Reed Davis, 8th Cavalry, Kane County

Raleigh, North Carolina, April 18, 1865, to wife, Sarah

oh the excitement in our army while on the march out here when the despatch came of the surrender of Lee and his army to the noble grant may god Bless all such men Lees paroled men are passing here now on their way home glad to get away from the horrors of war what does the people at home think about the great victories of our armies and shermans great marches and the war closeing and so on

—Private Isaiah Dillon, 111th Infantry, Marion County

Ulysses S. Grant achieved successes at increasingly higher levels of military authority, without his promotions going to his head and remaining sanguine during adversity. Along the way, he made mistakes but, with his successes, he more than proved his worth and worthiness of his rising ranks. His timing and preparation were good. He was a well-seasoned military campaigner by the time he arrived in 1864 to take on Lee’s army in Virginia. His Overland Campaign toward Richmond generated enormous Union casualties, and yet at a time when soldiers and citizens alike wanted to see progress in bringing the war to a successful conclusion (and somewhat despite the cost). His previous victories, in a sense, were something of a down payment to being allowed to fight Lee as he best saw fit. In short, his results made him popular and much of that admiration can be found in Illinois soldiers’ letters.

[1] General Rosecrans was superseded by Major General George Thomas, recently nicknamed “the hero of Chickamauga” for his last day holding action that allowed much of Rosecrans’s army to retreat to Chattanooga.

[2] I should hastily add that the tone of, and descriptions in, Major Norton’s letter had an immediate purpose. As a potential suitor, he was trying to impress Miss Chapman.

[3] There is a haiku suggested here: our men none more Brave / many are killed or wounded / our fame dearly bought

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Soldiers’ comments on Grant – part 1 (added 20 August 2021)

The book has an entire chapter about soldiers’ comments on Union leadership. How widely did soldiers’ comments vary about General Ulysses S. Grant?

I think it is fair to state that Illinois soldiers’ opinions about General Grant evolved as the war went on. After the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, on 6-7 April 1862, President Lincoln saw a quality in Grant that he liked. Yet due to the sting of battlefield losses at Shiloh, there followed dogged attempts by political leaders and some military rivals to remove then Major General Ulysses S. Grant from command of the Army of the Tennessee. Lincoln, when pressed by Pennsylvania politician Alexander McClure in reference to Shiloh, reportedly retorted: “I can’t spare this man; he fights.”^[1]

Here is another Shiloh-related comment about Grant made by a fellow officer (albeit not under Grant’s command).

Tiptonville, Tennessee, April 16, 1862, to wife, Ellen

The Battle of Pittsburgh [Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh] appears to be the most exciting thing now and a great deal of Censure is laid upon Genl Grant for allowing himself to be surprised by the enemy and driven back The fact of the business is that Grant was drunk at the time of the attack (I suppose) and had neglected to post his Pickets for the last two days previous to the attack. and it is said that a large body of Secesh Calvary came right up in sight of our camp, and covered for two days the operations of Beauregard, and the third morning the attack was commenced before they had time to beat even the long roll The consequence was that our men were thrown into a panic and it is the greatest wonder in the world that the whole Army was not captured. If the thing is as it has been represented, then Genl Grant is responsible for all the life that was lost at Pittsburgh and should be tried by Court Martial and hung or shot He came very near being dismissed for Conduct at the Fort Donelson fight. It is said he was drunk there and came very near losing the Battle by mismanagement. And what in the name of Common Sense even induced them to reinstate him is more than I can see.

—Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Miles, 47th Infantry, Tazewell County

General Grant initially received high praise after the Confederate army’s repulse at Shiloh. However, the mood of politicians and citizens turned once the numbers of Union casualties became known. Both sides reported killed, wounded, and missing that numbered in the many thousands. Grant was seen as partially responsible for the bloodiest battle thus far in the war. Rumors of Grant’s drunkenness, which lingered from his pre–Civil War days at Fort Humboldt in the Oregon Territory, were recirculated. It was not uncommon for critics to blame officers’ failures on drunkenness, whether at least partially true or totally fabricated. At least at Shiloh, Grant likely was not intoxicated, but the Union army had been taken by surprise by the Confederate assault on the first day, which nearly won the battle for the Southerners. If anything, Union leadership underestimated the Confederates’ resolve to take the fight to the Federals. In the end, Grant was reassigned, partially due to Lincoln’s intervention in preserving the general’s leadership status, but Grant rightly saw it as a loss of confidence in his abilities.

Near the beginning of his Civil War career, in 1861, Grant was commissioned as a colonel to lead the 21st Illinois Infantry after the regiment’s shaky start with a previous colonel.

Camp Yates, near Springfield, Illinois, June 21, 1861, to brother

I will now proceed to tell you something about the camp life. we are now pinned down pritty strict orders, orders quite difrent from that what we had at Camp Grant. Since we have been in camp here, there has been one man shot & one man gagged for disobeying orders evry man has to be out in uniform on duty or dress paraid, or he has to go to the gard house. we have all got our uniform & our months wages.

—Private George Dodd, 21st Infantry, Edgar County

Private Dodd described a change in discipline from the previous colonel to Colonel Grant.[2] “Camp Grant” was in Mattoon and was an early mustering and training site.[3] In Springfield, Colonel Grant had taken command of the regiment on 16 June.[4]

In November 1861, when his military title was Brigadier General Grant, the lack of military discipline among the regiments in his first battlefield command would be evident at Belmont, Missouri (7 November). Initially, Union steamboats plying the Mississippi River’s waters disembarked General Grant’s five infantry regiments and a company or so of cavalry, amounting to about 3,000 soldiers. They soon were driving the Confederates backwards, but fresh troops arriving by steamers from Columbus put a stop to the Union soldiers’ spontaneous battlefield rejoicing and thinking they had won the day. Grant ordered a retreat back to their transports, which turned out to be a near thing as the Confederates rallied.

One soldier described some of the fighting at Belmont.

Camp Cairo, Illinois, November 11 & 12, 1861, to friend, Lizzie Simpson[5]

Some of the officers tried hard to form their companies but they could not get their men together and finally had to give up trying. The Colonel had ordered us to shelter ourselves all we could behind logs and trees and the men were very willing to obey this command. Every man was now his own Captain and went in to business after the old Indian fashion. . . . we soon reached those houses, we then used them to protect us from the fire of the enemy. We would load, step out and fire, and then fall back to load again. and it was here that I thought Jake was too careless. My gun being loaded I stepped out between the buildings to fire, and Jake being close behind me and ready to shoot also, he stepped out at the same time and fired, holding the muzzle of his musket too close to my head that I had to stop and consider a while before I knew whether my head was gone or not. I, knew too, that my head was not gone but it appeared as if it came very near being blown off I got my eyes so full of burned powder that I could scarcely see The next time I got ready to shoot I looked behind to see where Jake was There were several of our men killed by those in the rear of them . . . I was so exhausted at the close of the battle that I could scarcely walk, and I then had to retreat two or two and a half miles to the boats. . . . Being very warm when I reached the boat I threw myself down on the deck to rest before I was aware of it I had caught a severe cold, and am now sick on account of it. The Doctor says that I am taking the ague too, I have been excused from duty for two days.

—1st Sergeant William Browning, 27th Infantry, Pike County

An officer gave a more comprehensive description of the Battle of Belmont.

Camp McClernand at Cairo, Illinois, November 10, 1861, to wife, Diza

it was said we was destined for a little town on Mo side of the River (Belmont) we lay all night about Eight miles above. next moving at day light was on the way down the river again. we landed about 3 miles above Columbus on the Mo. side with 3500 men, immediately was formed into line of Battle, and felt our way along for about one mile. when we was formed into line of battle sent out Skirmishers and found the Southerners well posted and ready to receive us. Capt Rus & Capt Somerville engaged them. when the Main force was sent ahead and the fight became general and about one mile and a half from their camp Col John taking the left wing Buford the right Fouke Dougherty & 7^th Iowa the Centre encircleing them almost completely. the fight became general and continued so until the Southerners began to retreat towards their Camps which was done in good order keeping up the fire until, the northerners came within range of the guns from Columbus, when they gave the camp up and flanked right and left up and down the river leaving their camp to the Northerners. then the Batteries began to play on our men, when they in turn began to retreat which at first was slow in order, but became more and more uncontroleable, until, all was in a mass of confusion. artilery, Cavalry – Infantry – Linesman and all were in a state of confusion mixed and intermixed droping guns, coats, blankets, canteens Havere sacks on their flight.- John^s Regiment took from here every man (700.) a coat Blanket and other equipments, and not more than about 50 brought any back, they captured our amunition and provisions besides, 3 wagons, 2 mules and Several Horses, at the time we was going aboard of the boats. for at, this time Mr Secesh came up and commenced fire on us. while a portion was yet on the bank, myself among them we rushed for the boat. (I was riding) the boats commenced shoveing off I tried to rush my horse on but, the Staging was droping off the Bank. I left my horse and took to my heels, and got aboard by this time the fires was general from the Boats and the Bank, and the gun boats was all that Saved us from being shot like hogs. I lost my 4 Blankets my shawl, over coat and vest, Saddle and Bridle

the Battle is over I think I seen more that was going on than any man on the ground, as I did not pretend to shoot again, but to see how the Battle was fought, and was on a good horse and rode all way (the Battle lasting 7 hours) from place to place. often was when the bullets flew like hail, and the grape and canister shot tearing limbs from the trees – but was unhurt. the Victory or Defeat I will leave for the papers to decide

—Quartermaster Lindorf Ozburn, 31st Infantry, Jackson County

In the end, Grant’s first battle was neither victory nor defeat. However, it provided valuable experience for both the troops under his command and the General. Ultimately, the battle discouraged the Confederates from moving troops forward from Columbus, but on the day Grant’s troops were repulsed and boarded their transports under enemy fire. The Confederates and the Union troops had about 600 casualties each. In retrospect, despite his troops making some rookie combat missteps, probably Grant’s leadership and decisiveness during the battle saved the operation and the day.

Despite his February 1862 successes in capturing forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee, after the April Battle of Shiloh, Grant was not reinstated as a field commander until July 1862. In a way, this was the start of his Vicksburg Campaign, which would not conclude until a year later. In 1862, he planned to approach Vicksburg by bringing his army south from Corinth, Mississippi to the state capital of Jackson, and then west to Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. However, his plan was thwarted by Confederate cavalry raids that December, particularly at Holly Springs, which interfered with his line of supply.

Holly Springs, Mississippi, January 8, 1863, to sister, Addie Tower

There as ever at the solemn hour of mid-night; the old year, borne on the rapid wings of Time, was launched into eternity. The bells throughout the nation as they chime the hour, Tell it’s funeral knell, and chilling winds chant its Requiem[6]. . . I cannot see that the rebellion is any nearer chrushed than was twelve months ago. we have just learned of [General] Burnsides defeat at Fredricksburg [Fredericksburg, Virigina] am afraid that he will not prove much better than McClelan [General McClellan], although I do not [doubt] his being a loyal, true and energetic man
As far as I can judge Grants expedition into Mississippi has proved an entire failure. Cannot see that he has accomplished anything, except to carry off their cotton, drive off their stock, and otherwise empoverish the country through which his army passed. While they destroyed the Rail Road in his rear cutting of[f] his communications and destroying several hundred thousand dollars worth of Government property. Grants entire army except this division (the fourth) is now withdrawn from the state. quite a large po[r]tion of it has gone down the river

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

Another soldier expressed a similar sentiment.

camp near Tallahatchie River, Mississippi, January 4, 1863, to wife, Hattie

As we get no mail of course we get no news & our camp life here is as dull as it can well be & only relieved now & then by guard duty or by a forage out in the country which is already relieved of nearly everything eatable & some of the citizens are upon the point of Starvation so that in several cases they have been obliged to come to our camps for relief – where of course they got but very little – Gen^l Grant in a late order says that if starvation must come upon either the citizens here or the soldier that then the citizen must bear it – & no doubt some of them will suffer – which would not have been the case had they [the Confederates] not destroyed the R.R. [during recent raids] – We have all sorts of reports in camp & I know it would make folks at home laugh could they hear the men speculating about the war – Some days we hear that peace is made & that Vicksburg, Richmond & several other places are taken & then everybody is laughing & in good spirits about going home -, but perhaps the next day we hear that our men are getting whipped everywhere & that there is no prospect of the war closing for years to come & then every body is cross & out of humor while there is no small amount of swearing done at the seeming awkward slowness of our Genl^s – As for myself I don’t believe anything now until I actually see it – or at least – hear it from a source that cannot be contradicted

—2nd Lieutenant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

Some rumors were better than the reality. After a somewhat languid winter, where the Union armies seemingly were “getting whipped everywhere,” in the spring of 1863 Grant enacted a rather bold plan. He landed troops south of Vicksburg, marched them inland to the northeast, took the city of Jackson, and then moved west and attacked Vicksburg from the east. That entailed moving empty steamships and barges down the Mississippi and past the formidable Confederate cannon emplacements at Vicksburg. In the meantime, Grant’s army had marched southward on the western side of the river. The Union fleet, sailing at night, was relatively undamaged from its Vicksburg passage and thus able to meet up with Grant’s army. The fleet then ferried the army across the river, from west to east, landing the soldiers at Bruinsburg, Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Vicksburg.

Once the siege of Vicksburg itself had started, soldiers sensed it was the beginning of the end for that city, and opinions of General Grant began to change.

La Grange, Tennessee, June 5, 1863, to “Brothers, Mother & Sisters”

I ‘spect we will go down to Vicksburgh to assist Gen^l Grant. O what an old heroe he is. “Honor to whom honor is due” and all honor and favor to the brave and vigilant.

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

Once the Vicksburg defenders capitulated, mostly due to starvation, Dillon and other soldiers well realized Grant’s army had struck a debilitating blow to the Confederacy.

Near Jackson, Mississippi, July 14, 1863, to “Beloved Mother & Sisters, Friends all”

on the morning of 4^th of July it was stated authoritating that Vicksburgh had fallen and had delivered up the Ghost, with all the images of the triumphantless traitor and destroyer of happiness, and trampler of the glorious liberties of a happy nation. During the pre-noon of the 4^th Gen,l Grant fired his signal Guns over one of the greatest of victories ever achieved on the American Continent, and in memory of the birth-day of American Independance!

—Private William Dillon

Warren County, Mississippi, July 15, 1863, to wife, Celina

Gen. Grant has accomplished a big thing here he has taken all together over Forty thousand [almost 30,000] prisioners at Vicksburg & its vicinity & perhaps has killed and wounded fully as many more [but not true] he wiped the Enemy handsomely in every Battle

—Private Jonas Roe, 5th Cavalry, Clay County

At least with Private Roe, Grant’s reputation was greater than the actual accomplishments. However, part of the truth was that taking Vicksburg was a costly accomplishment.

Rear of Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, to Joshua Moore

It is the 4^th of July, & I just feel as if the year of Jubilee had come. Hereafter, we of this army in talking of 4^th of July, will only think of 4^th July 1863. We are a jubilant happy set of fellows, & no mistake, Vicksburg is ours after 46 days of fighting & siege, decidedly the most important event of the war thus far. . . . I have heard many a 4^th of July Hurrah, but all are insignificant when compared to 4^th of July Shout 1863, on the works near Vicksburg. . . . How we marched days with nothing to eat, how I lived on fragments of hard tack & sow ham, once a day, for days in succession. How I stood at the operating table 11, successive days, until I was reeking in gore & blood. How I have performed every operation known in military Surgery, with a success pleasing to me & gratifying to my friends. How we marched 200 miles thro Rebeldom & for 10 miles each side of our track it seemed as if the besom of destruction had passed over the country.

—Surgeon George P. Rex, 33rd Infantry, Pike County

Private Cottle, possibly due to health reasons, was often assigned detached service, including working as a clerk at the Memphis post office. During a July trip to Vicksburg, he had an opportunity to observe the city and General Grant, and shared his impressions with his sister.

Headquarters of the 16th Army Corps in Memphis, Tennessee, July 25, 1863, to sister, Addie Tower

Twas so warm did not have a very good opportunity to see the Modern Gibraltar [i.e., Vicksburg]. . . . did not go out to the out side works at all visited a number of the caves and some of the most important public buildings. the city looks rather hard many of the buildings are badly shattered and some entirely demolished. . . . found Genl Grant and his officials very pleasant man to do business with. The Genl Himself is one of the most plain unassuming men have met. does not put on half the agony of some of our Lieutenants, although to-day he is the largest man in America, but four. Earthly fame is uncertain and fortunes wheel is on a turn.

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

The wheel of fortune may turn as it may but, at that time, Grant’s stock was still in the ascendancy. Next week, in part two, will be soldiers’ opinions of General Grant from after July 1863 to the end of the war.

[1] Alexander K. McClure, Abraham Lincoln and Men of War-Times, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Times Publishing, 1892), 180.

[2] The previous colonel, Simon Goode, “boozed . . . flamboyantly” and was light on army discipline. H. W. Brands, The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace (New York: Doubleday, 2012), 129.

[3] See https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=474 and
https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=322

[4] See the 21^st Illinois regimental history here: https://civilwar.illinoisgenweb.org/history/021.html

[5] It is possible that William Browning had been Lizzie Simpson’s school teacher.

[6] Perhaps it is worth noting here that Private Cottle prefaced this part of the letter with “Am not very good mood for letter writing as am partialy intoxicated from the use of opium.” Likely, this was something prescribed for him due to some ailment.

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Letters from USCT soldiers (added 13 August 2021)

I noticed your book does not have any letters from Black soldiers. Did you not come across any USCT (United States Colored Troops) soldiers’ letters?

In a word, no, I did not come across any such letters. I genuinely wish I had. Author Bell Irwin Wiley has expressed similar frustration in one of his two landmark Civil War social history volumes. He wrote: “A regrettable gap in personal documents, which handicapped me in preparing the original edition in which I have not been able to repair in subsequent research, is a dearth of letters written by the 200,000 blacks [sic] who donned the blue. A careful search has turned up less than a score of these sources. . . . This is the more regrettable because other records bearing on their service . . . show that the black soldiers, struggling against gross discrimination and other serious handicaps, gave a good account of themselves and contributed immeasurably to the freedom and Union for which they fought.”[1]

There are several reasons why Wiley and others have not found many (or any) letters written by Black soldiers. Perhaps foremost among these reasons was a low literacy rate among especially former slaves fighting for the Union. My seat-of-the-pants guess would be a literacy rate in the single digits for this population. In addition, even literate soldiers need literate correspondents, say back in Illinois or elsewhere, to read their letters and as a basic incentive to write family members, say. As a final thought, the vast majority of all of the Civil War soldiers’ letters, either from white or Black writers, were not preserved and donated to a library or institution for access by researchers or the public.[2] Wiley managed to find around twenty letters by Black soldiers out of the estimated “twenty thousand letters written by the men who wore the blue” that he had read.[3] In Wiley’s case, that is 0.001 percent of the Civil War letters he read written by Union soldiers, which is an infinitesimal amount.

There is a reasonable, albeit very second-choice, recourse. Almost without exception, all the of the USCT officers where white and some of these officers have written letters that have been preserved and those can contain various observations of Black soldiers.[4] For example, in my book, two such officers were Thomas Sickles and Almon Hallock. And then more a third-choice option, some non-USCT white soldiers wrote their thoughts and opinions of Black soldiers, such as Jonas H. Roe and whom I included in my book.

Shortly after my book was published, John Alexander of Books on the Square bookstore, in Springfield, Illinois, had obtained a letter written by Captain John M. Magner, Company I, of the 55th USCT. Magner had previously been a private with Company E of the 14th Missouri (Union) Infantry and then was a private with Company E of the 66th Illinois Infantry. In May 1863, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and mustered in Company A of the 55th USCT. (His captaincy was dated 1 July 1864, but at the time he wrote his letter on 5 July, he had been in the Battle of Brices Cross Roads on 10 June, was convalescing in Memphis, and had not yet received word of his promotion.) This is an interesting and rather unique letter and, with John Alexander’s permission, I am presenting it below in its entirety and with my annotations. In it, Magner describes, albeit briefly, the roles and performance of the USC Infantry soldiers.

As a brief background for this particular battle in northeastern Mississippi, General William T. Sherman had begun the Atlanta campaign in Georgia. With concerns about the security of his supply lines back into Tennessee, Sherman sent General Samuel D. Sturgis with a force of about 8,000 from Memphis into Mississippi to at least divert any Tennessee raiding plans by Confederate general Nathan B. Forrest and his cavalry forces. In short, the diversion plan worked, as Bedford specifically planned to engage Sturgis’s expedition in Mississippi. However, Bedford determined where Sturgis was in early June before Sturgis knew where Bedford was.

In the following letter, my annotations are in italics.

Memphis, Tennessee, July 5, 1864, to sister, Nellie

Your dear good, and interresting letter of June 26^th was duly received. I will not grumble, at a little delay here after, if you will write such good letters. my health has been improving slowly, but I do not feel well and healthy as formally. I am doing regular duty with the other officers, and I hope I will be soon, be “Richard himself again” [an interpolated phrase referencing (but not actually quoting) Shakespeare’s Richard III]

You want me to tell “you in my next letter all about my escape from Forrest &^c. [etc.]” Nellie, I would I could tell you all: But I can not now, to tell all the hardships, the sufferings and hair breadth escapes, I had, would I think make more than you would want to read at one time. any how more than I care about writing, in one letter. We had been marching 8 day[s] through the hot sun about noon on the 9^th day [i.e., June 10] we heard cannonading on some ten miles before us. my Regt was scattered, and divided out 3 men to each wagon and the train being scattered over some three miles of the road we was some 3 or 4 miles behind the main Infty force. Our Cav was over 12 miles in the advance. It was the Cav. with some light artillery, that had found the enemy in force, and was engageing their atten[t]ion with compliments of Balls and shells – –

Magner and the 55th USC Infantry soldiers were escorting the expedition’s wagon supply train and thus near the rear of the main force, as he describes.[5] Apparently on June 10, four men (his letter states “3”) from this regiment were assigned to walk along side each wagon. The fore of Sturgis’s forces – the cavalry – were the first to face Forrest’s initial cavalry units. The Confederates gathered strength from other arriving regiments in the following hours. This was occurring just to the southeast of Brices Cross Roads and, in a few more hours, the Union cavalry repositioned itself back to the crossroads while waiting for reinforcements.

I had been sick with the diarrhea, for several days and the last 24 hours had been riding in the ambulance. all most as soon as the firing commenced in front, we was ordered to “double quick.” I got out of the ambulance, and run to the head of my Co and took command. I did not think when I did so, I would be able to go 2 miles, but I kept at the head of my Co “6” miles and on the double quick all the time. I can not now tell how I did it. other men that was constitutionally stronger, fell in their tracks as if dead. I think as much as 1/3 of the Infty force, fell out, on the road side before we got into action, and when we did get up we was so exhausted, and so thirsty we was all most crazy. I believe as much as I believe in my own existence I would have given half my life for one good cool drink of water. – Oh you can not immagine the uninduerable pain thirst creates. – I seen men as we was leaving the field, the poor fellows some from exhaustion others from wounds to fall in the hands of the enemy would beg to us to stop and get them water. then as it was impossible to git water they would throw up their hands, and cry in the most bitter agony and beg us to shoot them to put them out of their misery. We was led into the fight so worn out over heated and allmost dying of thirst. By Regt. Co^s & even plattoons that it was short work to over power us.

It was indeed a warm, humid day, and to trot or run in a wool uniform on such a day would cause thirst and eventually effects from dehydration. Thus, soldiers began to fall out and straggle.

I am satisfied Gen Sturges [Sturgis] is a Ribel as much as Lee or Davis, and that he had an understanding with Forrest, and I have no doubt but was well paid by Forrest through the Citizens of Memphis. – Theres is not a colored man in my Regt but could have handled the men better than was done by Sturges and if I had been in command and wanted to get my command all “gobbled up[”] I would have put them in just as was done. Forrest could have whipped the whole U.S. Army, after the strategy of Sturges.

Sturgis’s command blundered into battle with Forrest, but Forrest was near Brices Cross Roads in anticipation of a battle there. Subsequently, there was an extensive Federal military investigation regarding Sturgis’s leadership around the Battle of Brices Cross Roads. However, it reached no conclusion about culpability. Nevertheless, Sturgis did not have any other substantial commands for the rest of the Civil War.[6] In essence, Forrest’s forces were able to defeat those of Sturgis in detail (i.e., defeat by sequentially attacking smaller units) by taking advantage of the terrain and the scattered nature of the Union forces.

My Regt and an other colored Regt fought them an hour after all the white soldiers became panic stricken and left, but our two Regts could not whip 15,000 men, and all most surrounded too.

Perhaps at best, Forrest had about 4,000 soldiers in his command (and many of those arrived in a piecemeal fashion), and certainly not “15,000 men.” However, the “all most surrounded” comment rings true, as Forrest often tried to flank his enemy, as he did at Brices Cross Roads.

so we commenced the retreat, and now I do not know what to write further. the scenes from the battle ground to Memphis, beggars all description. I dont believe Nellie if I was to write all I suffered and endured just as it was you would hardly give it credit. – When we commenced retreating, the rebel out numbered us 8 to 1 and had us allmost surrounded. – we was now, cut of[f] from all possible hope of succor or support from our white troops – the enemy pouring grape cannister and lead into our ranks at a terrible rate. to me it looked like we could not march 2 miles.

While the bulk of Sturgis’s white troops in full retreat, the 55th and 59th USC Infantry regiments fought a rearguard holding action. Magner’s earlier written comment of “the white soldiers became panic stricken” and fled seems accurate as the general retreat became an unorganized rout by late in the afternoon.

now immagine the situation, to surrender if we had been white troops would have been the best we could have done – but to surrender now was only “death,” and when ghastly death stares a man in the face inspires him with such dauntless courage and physical strength as only those who have met it know its power.

The statement – “to surrender now was only death” – was a very real possibility, meaning both enlisted men and officers might be executed, and perhaps even on the spot. Specifically, regarding Forrest, a massacre had occurred at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on 12 April 1864 when about 300 surrendering Union troops, mostly Black and some white, were shot and killed. Subsequent to the Battle of Brices Cross Roads, on 2 October 1864, Confederate leadership allowed perhaps as many as fifty wounded Black and white soldiers to be executed after the First Battle of Saltville, Virginia.

we was now 25 miles from Ripley, 125 from Memphis. – we supposed the white soldiers that had started on before us would go to Ripley and stop – rally and give Forrest an other fight, if they did not before.

However, the disorganized retreat of Sturgis’s forces, in a way, continued all the way back to Memphis. Many fatigued or wounded Union soldiers were captured by the pursuing Confederates.

so we cut our way through and commenced as rapid retreat as possible the (gray backs) Rebels so close to us, that if we looked back we could allmost see the white of their eyes. We marched about 3 miles when I fell down on the road hepless. – (But here as it seemed to me Providence or some kind fate, saved me, as the same good luck saved me in twenty other instances, in which I had given up all hopes, of getting back) one of our wagons was standing, here all the mules, was cut loose from it but “one”. two of the boys cut it out of its traces put me on it and by all most super human power I managed to ride that mule to Ripley or with in one mile of Ripley, along by the side of my Co.

Perhaps as many as 200 of Sturgis’s supply train wagons and much of their contents were lost to the Confederates.

when I was with in one mile of R.– I give out again. I was now at the head of the Regt. I got of[f] the mule and set down on a log thinking to rest until the Regt and the scattering stragglers passed and by that time, I thought, I would be able to mount and ride on to Riply. but I had hardly touched the log – before I was a “sleep” and just about as the last man of our force was passing a soldier seeing I was a sleep wokened me up, but when I saw my situation, I commenced to draw my mule to to [sic] me. but to my utter astonishment and mortification some one had come and cut the rein (which was fastened around my rist) and had rode the mule of[f], leaving me to hold the strap. – here I was, our forces all most in Ripley, back with two or three stragglers who was all most as near gone up as I was. but it was no time to think of or spend in foolish regrets. I could distinctly hear the Rebels coming up behind us. I knew If I could make one more mile, I would (as I thought) be safe. so I started of[f] as brisk as possible, but ever[y] step, seemed the last – but finaly reached Ripley, that mile actually appeared to me 25. But I did not find any of our forces except the two pieces of col^d Regts. and a fiew sick and wounded who had given up and could go no further. we had hardly got in the town before the Ribs were coming on us in two directions, from the east and north. we fought them (or our two Regts. did. I layed down and looked on) about 2 hours, driving the Rebels out of the town. – But as they were being reinforced it was useless for our small squad to stay longer – a retreat was the only way to save ourselves.

Besides being dehydrated and generally exhausted, Magner had been sick with diarrhea and was on strong medication, which contributed to his fatigue. There were skirmishes and holding actions at Ripley on 11 June and at Davis’ Mills on 12 June, which were part of the pursuit by Forrest’s units.

– Surgeon Humphrey got me an other Mule here and got me on it, and I succeeded in sticking to it until a bout 8 miles of Lagrang [La Grange] Tenn. this was about 1 oclock A. M. and very dark. we was crossing a big swamp I had been taking opiom pills, and all the day before, and that night.

During the Civil War, “Opiates were the most effective painkillers of the period and were also used as sedatives and for the treatment of diarrhea.”[7] It is no wonder, then, about Magner’s increased fatigue and state of mind.

I would ever[y] fiew minutes get to knapping, and fall of[f] my mule I had no saddle and had to ride – “woman fashion” most of the time, and I know I fell of[f] 15 or 20 times. well when we got to this swamp, I tried the old project of setting down on a log, tied the halter strap around my [w]rist so the mule could not get away, and thought I would rest while they was fixing up a bridge, to cross over. I went sound to sleep, and I suppose I slept two hours. I woken up, ever[y] thing around me was still as death. I realized in a minute my situation, and [k]new my only hope was to over take our forces which had proabable got 8 ot 10 miles in advance. I commenced pulling the strap for my mule to come up when lo again! picture my thoughts, when I found the very same trick had been played of[f] on me as on the other side of Ripley, I was in the last prediciment. I started to find the road determined to follow as long as I could a live. But I had no idea at all where the road was and if I found it was just as apt to go to Forrest as from him.

It apparently was well into the night, plus under the influence of opium, so it is no wonder Magner fell asleep. Perhaps the soldiers with him could not rouse him? In any case, once awake they were gone and he was left to his own devices.

but a fiew steps brought me into the Road. – “halt” who comes there” two men stood right before me, demanding who I was. I could not tell certain but I all most knew it was Rebs’, and I [k]new I must deceive them if I got away – so as quick as thought, I answered to the challenge, “a friend, and said I – Boys what Regt do you belong to” – But they did not seem to want me to find out whether they was Rebs or Federals. they answered “the 10^th, not giving the state. then asked me what Regt I belonged two. I answered in this way, I belong to the 10^th I am lossed. where is the Regt. they said “it was not far of[f] and would soon be up, and one of them begin to come up close to me. I saw what he was at. he wanted to find out by sight of my uniform who I was, so an other thought struck me. so I said, my Horse is right out here I will bring him up, and started out as if I was goin’ after him. but by the time I was 20 feet from them I I [sic] made tracks through that swamp pretty fast owing to the circumstances against me. they halted me a no of times, but I wouldent halt. I run a bout 75 yards, not knowing which which [sic] way I was going, when I run a gainst a Horse, standing at the side of the road eating weeds & grass. he had a full rig. on him, but was covered with mud, which I found out when I got on him. I think he had fell of[f] the bridge and the rider was lossed. any how run[n]ing against that animal not only saved my life but was the happiest moment, of my existence. I bounced up on him, and turned him in the direction I supposed our forces had went It was but a fiew minutes until day light – when I soon over took a squad of rear guard, and afterward our scattered forces. I do not know to this minute whether the two men that halted me were f-ds or enemies. But I am pretty certain they were rebs.

Sleepy or not, Magner was good at thinking on his feet, plus he had luck on his side at that moment. He goes on to finish his Brices Cross Roads episode.

But I can not now write any more. I might fill 12 sheets just as easy as I have this, but I have not time and do not feel in a writing humor. my Horse that I run against give out 8 miles before we got to Coliersville where we took the cars, for Memphis, and I walked that far. we was only 3 days coming back, that took us 9 to go. we traveled night and day and I was just 4 days with out a mouthfull of food of any kind and fighting most all of the time.

I have been over north Missouri in the coldest of cold winter, – to Fort Donnelson Shilough [Shiloh], and other places but for hard ships they were but drops in the Bucket.

Regarding Sturgis’s forces rout, in many individual cases it did extend all the way back to where the expedition started, even if Forrest’s soldiers gave up the pursuit well before Memphis. Indeed when Magner was with the 66th Illinois Infantry, he had participated in the battles of Mount Zion (Missouri), Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and some of the actions at Corinth. Magner’s letter goes on to ask about family news.

Please excuse this broken and unconnected act. and some time I will try and interrest you in the same story when I have more time, and feel like writing.

I have not heard from bro Joe or Davie for some time. I believe Dave[’s] time is about out. I hope he will get through safe. And I dont think he ought to reinlist again.

Younger brother David Magner of Montgomery County was in the 9th Illinois Infantry, having joined in August 1861. So, indeed his time was “about out,” and I found no record of his reenlistment.

Do you know when bro Joes time is out.

Older brother Joseph Magner was still a private in the 66th Illinois, Company E, John Magner’s former regiment and company. Joseph joined in August 1862. So, regarding Joseph’s “three years or the end of the war,” the end of the war came first and he was eventually mustered out in June 1865.

Well Nellie, I have news to write not of the war. I am a father. Addie gave birth to a fine boy so they say, June 10^th It was the same day of the fight at Guntown. They are both doing well the last I heard. Addie is now at living with Aunt Lizzie Christeson Westfield south of Ashmore station she will go back to uncles again soon as she is well enough.

According to census records, son Charles Everett Magner was born 10 June 1864 to John’s wife, Margaret “Addie” (Purcell). As best as I could tell, Charles turned out to be the couple’s only child. Magner had received a twenty-day sick-leave furlough to Illinois that started on 13 August 1863 and, sick or not, it must have been when this happy event got started.

I was sorry to hear the children were sick. [These are sister Nellie’s children to whom he is referring.] they must give you so much trouble. I hope they will soon be well. What is Henry Newell doing in Paris you spoke of him being at his fathers

– How is Collie Magner, and Newt & that other chap I have forgotten whether it was a boy or girl. any how I would like to hear from them all. John Shelleday & lady, & where is Garly[?]. My commission as capt has not come yet, but will proable soon I thank you for your congratulations I will try, and do nothing to dishonor my name or commission if I get it

—Captain John M. Magner, 55th U.S. Colored Infantry, Edgar County

As early as April 1864, Magner tried to resign his officer’s commission due to ill health and general debility. He tried again in July 1864 (a month after the Battle of Brices Cross Roads). Finally in January 1865, Captain Magner officially resigned his commission, having received a surgeon’s certificate relieving him from duty.[8] In a surgeon’s letter from July 1864, which helped qualify him for the 20-day furlough, it stated Magner suffered from chronic hepatitis, severe attacks of diarrhea, and had pulmonary issues which included “aplastic material” in his lungs. It seems unlikely those conditions could have improved much by January 1865. By 1870, John and Addie Magner, plus son Charles, were living in Carroll County, Missouri. John applied for an invalid pension and seems to have been granted some allowance based on his captain’s commission. John Magner died in December 1893 at about age 54 years. Addie survived him until 1902. They are both buried in Christian County, Illinois, near Taylorville.

As lengthy as Magner’s July 5 letter was, there were only smatterings about the conduct of the U.S. Colored Infantry soldiers, either under his immediate command or in the same regiment. He mentioned none of the soldiers by name. He did write how they were deployed along the wagon train on 10 June and how they were hurried, once the battle started, several miles to near the crossroads, arriving in time to cover the initial part of the retreat of the rest of Sturgis’s troops. In retrospect, that initial holding action may have very well saved the bulk of Sturgis’s command from being captured. As a result, elements of the 55th USC Infantry were in desperate fight-and-flee positions at least once or twice as part of the expedition’s rearguard. Magner mentioned being tricked, twice, during this drugged period regarding the purloining of his mules. It is not possible to deduce who stole them, whether perpetrated by frantic soldiers under his own command or by others. The best that can be concluded is that whatever the 55th and 59th USC Infantry regiments did as part of the Brices Cross Roads related actions – whether gallantly, haphazardly, or something in between – it was enough to allow the great bulk of the expedition to elude becoming prisoners of war. And, in a way, it underscores the frustration of not finding many letters written by the Black soldiers themselves, wherever they were, during the Civil War.

[1] Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union, reissue of 1952 original (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978), 16.

[2] Of course, there are Civil War letters in many private hands, and partially because they often have some monetary value.

[3] Life of Billy Yank, 15.

[4] What makes them so second-choice is such letters lack the perspective and thoughts of Black soldiers.

[5] In May 1863, an infantry regiment was raised from contrabands around Corinth, Mississippi (many of whom had been slaves in Alabama), and it was initially known as the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment of African Descent. Later, this regiment was designated the 55th U. S. Colored Infantry.

[6] Mark M. Boatner III, The Civil War Dictionary (New York: Vintage Books/Random House, 1988), 816.

[7] Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein, The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medicine, reprint (New York: Routledge, 2015), 240. The author also stated that “Union physicians dispensed nearly 10 million opium pills” during the Civil War.

[8] Somewhat puzzlingly, in February 1865, the Union military revoked his January resignation, claiming he had actually resigned in the fall of 1864. In any case, Captain Magner did not see military duty again.

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Reactions to Lincoln’s Death (added 6 August 2021)

How did Illinois soldiers react to Lincoln’s death? Were there any extreme examples?

Cleveland, Tennessee, April 16, 1865, to father, Samuel

yesterday we received the lamnitable nusi, [newsy?] which fild evry loyal heart with horror.

I could not believe it all though it had been con firmed by fore [four] telegrams. I thought it was a camp rhumer which we hear evry day

—Corporal Charles Deamude, 150th Infantry, Vermilion County

Illinois soldiers’ reactions to the news of Lincoln’s death ran the gamut. In the following letter from a citizen working in Cairo, he records a somewhat rare instance of a violent outcome.

Cairo, Illinois, 17 April 1865, to wife

Another week has rolled around, and I again accept the oportunity of writing my little precious another letter. . . . When I wrote you last week we were all rejoicing over our recent victories; but to day how changed the whole country is clothed in mourning over the death of Abraham Lincoln Oh what a crime, what a blow to the nation. It has not its paralel in modern history. We recd the news saturday morning all business was suspended and nearly every building was draped in mourning, and all the flaggs were at half mast and still remain so. Gen Banks arrived here in the forenoon on the Steamer Pauline Carroll [subsequently, this steamer was docked at Vicksburg next to the steamer Sultana on 24 April 1865 a few days before the Sultana disastrously sunk] he had not recd the news till he recd it here. he addressed the citizens for half an our, and spoke splendidly he was very much affected the tears rolled down his cheeks like rain Stout men cried, and trembled Language can not describe the sorrow of all who love their country. One rebel wretch expressed great pleasure at the sad news, and said he was glad of it, and that it ought to have been done long ago. but he has had his last exultation he was shot on the spot. This is far enough south for the use of the bowie knife and pistol to be used quite freely.

—Mr. George A. Young, agent for the Adams Express Company, from Janesville, Wisconsin[1]

Mr. Young does not say who shot the Confederate, but it is likely a Union soldier shot a POW “rebel wretch.” Bear in mind that Confederate general Lee had surrendered his army in Virginia earlier that month, but at the time of this letter the war in the Western theater was not yet concluded.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that the federal armies, and Illinois regiments, were not composed solely of Republican-leaning or Lincoln-loving soldiers. A good example of a strong Democratic political party member in an Illinois regiment was 1st Lieutenant William M. Standard, 103rd Infantry, from Fulton County. He was stationed in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the time of Lincoln’s death and yet does not even mention the event in any of his letters. However, his wife, Jane, wrote to him, albeit sparsely, about Lincoln’s death from their farm in Fulton County.

Lewiston, Illinois, April 21, 1865, to husband, William, with Sherman’s army in North Carolina

Well, old Abe is gone to his long home [i.e., his grave]. Did you go to his funeral? I didn’t. It took place here last Wednesday at half past twelve o’clock. I expect you have heard of it long ago. Will, I don’t mourn his loss nor I don’t rejoice. I hope it is all for the best. How many poor men has he cause[d] to go to their long home?[2]

—Jane Standard

Editor Timothy Mason Roberts described Jane’s reference to Lincoln’s death as a “weirdly tranquil reaction.”[3] He also noted that in the Fulton County area someone who rejoiced over the news of Lincoln’s death was killed. Perhaps toward the end of the war, there was a fear of such thoughts written in private letters somehow becoming public and the writers subsequently facing some form of retribution. In that same vein, it is possible William did write Jane about Lincoln’s death, and she read and then consigned the letter to the hearth fire to protect their privacy.[4] In any case, Jane saw the President as a/the cause of the war.

In occupied Vicksburg, citizens were expected to observe and participate in mourning rituals.

Vicksburg, Mississippi, April 19, 1865, to Edwin Philbrook

We have just received the sad news of the death of our President. the City is in mourning. the day before we were haveing a jubilee over the fall of Richmond and the capture of Lees army. yesterday the Citizens of V. met and passed resolutions as follows first that evry Citizen and Officer should wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. Second that there should be monies collected by subscription and a monument raised in some appropriate place in memory of the late President A. Lincoln. there has been about 30 Citizens arested and confined in number one for not placeing their Houses in mourning.

—Major John Gayle Davis, 4th USCT Heavy Artillery, Pike County

Another common mourning observance was black borders in newspapers or on stationery.

Montgomery, Alabama, May 1, 1865, to mother, brother and sister

You may think strange at my writing on this sheet of paper, but today, here, has been a day of Mourning if I ever passed such a day. The Official news of the Assassination of Lincoln & Seward [double-wavy underlining] reached here last night, in an order from Gen. Canby; & Col. Geddes, Post Commander, issued an order that half hour guns should be fired from Sunrise till Sunset today – & minute guns from 12 till 1 o’clock M. The whole Army is cast in deep gloom. All business places are closed, & the other usual signs are observed. Many officers & soldiers are indignant & some of them almost violent. A rebel could say but little in Sympathy with that assassination. He would be used up in haste.

—Soldier “Henry,” likely from Illinois

“Henry” letter, SC682, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

As many soldiers mentioned, it was an emotional whiplash of hearing about the news of Lee surrendering on 9 April to the death of President Lincoln on 15 April.

Raleigh, North Carolina, April 22, 1865, to wife, Sarah

the army hardly realizes is that peace is made on the account of the great gloom that hangs over the army on account of the assassinatation of the president Lincon

—Private Isaiah Dillon, 111th Infantry, Marion County

Cleveland, Tennessee, April 16, 1865, to father, Samuel

all Drill was stoped evry thing looked Sad to day our flag waves at half mast we had been receiving good news for some days they had been loud cheering over the good news for days, but we got the sad news which fild the bosum of evry loyal man with Sadness they is some men that dont care for nothing only cursing and swareing they is a mity rough set of men in the army they dont regard any thing but cursing and swaring at a rate that would make the hair stand on a mans head the boys has got back from church they are a talking and jawing so that I cant write

—Corporal Charles Deamude, 150th Infantry, Vermilion County

Raleigh, North Carolina, April 20, 1865, to wife, Nellie

Can you realize that this great & bloody struggle is over? = Well, I cannot. It seems hardly possable, and yet, it is true, thank God, and these hundreds of thousands of Soldiers are about returning to their homes and their loved ones. The war is ended, and Peace we will have soon, if our authorities at Washington will say so. Gen. Johnson, comdg. [commanding] the rebel army has surrendered all armed rebels to Genl. Sherman from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, by and with the Knowledge and consent of Jeff Davis. Sherman has agreed to the surrender on the terms proposed, viz. (the same Gen. Grant gave Lee, except this army is allowed to March to the Capitals of their several States and stack their arms. [)?] It only remains now for the Washington authorities [to] ratify the agreement and the war is over. We will be done with fighting, done with marching, and all the hardships we have been heirs to during the past three years. Oh, how, jubalant & enthusiastic this army was upon the receipt of Lee’s surrender, but how much moreso should we be now. (I think I hear you inquire) You will be surprised when I tell you there is no excitement here, no rejoicings no jubilees, no glad hearts, as their would have been, had we not heard of the murder of our great leader and great & good hearted Lincoln. Our nation has lost the best man it ever knew. A Christian, patriot, & statesman, the best friend the South ever had, & a better friend the North need not want. What a calamity, what a pity. = I had hoped that Mr. Lincoln could live to see our country united, to have ruled over our whole nation in peace, but God’s will be done. Perhaps he had done all that was intended for him to do. In the reconstruction of our Union he might have failed, and Johnson may be the man. I hope he will do well with us, for we deserve & need good men now. Lincoln is in Heaven, certain, and I hope can witness from that world the reconstruction of our Nation, = that his labors in the past four years was not in vain. The Soldiers all loved Lincoln, and there was but one thought pervaded this entire army & that was to be led upon [Confederate general] Johnson & his rebels, and they would soon have showed them what it was to kill as good a man as our President. = The Soldiers all feel this death, = they could not mourn the loss of a parent or brother more. = Willingly would many give up their own lives, if by so doing they could restore Lincoln to the Government. Our Col. I heard say, with tears streaming down his cheeks (& I know he is a brave man, for I have been in battle with him) that “he would gladly stand up and let his regiment riddle him with bullets if it could only bring back Mr. Lincoln.” = Oh, what a feeling, Dearly loved man. A grateful nation will remember him, and ever thank God for such a man. Like Ceasar [Caesar], loved, and cut down in the height of his power. – ‘Tis done, Lincoln is dead. I can hardly realize it. They should turn his murderer over to the soldiers, & they would make short work of him.

—Captain Albert Blackford, 107th Infantry, DeWitt County

Some soldiers speculated about what was going to happen next, both nationally and locally.

Hospital #3, Nashville, Tennessee, April 17, 1865, to “Respected Uncle Otis”

Well I suppose you will hear before you receive this of the death of President Lincoln, and the attempted murder of Secretary Seward. – Andrew Johnson may steer the Ship of the State so as to keep it from floundering, but I dont have as much faith in him as I did in Lincoln.

—Corporal Samuel Walker, 51st Infantry, Cook County

Cleveland, Tennessee, April 16, 1865, to father, Samuel

I hope that the death of our President will not prolong the war but I fear that it will cose [cause] a gingle in the affars but I do think if Johnson follows his former corse of life for the last three years, he will be much harder on them than Lincoln was. they have killed their best friend Johnson has got them in his power and I think that he will use it

I did think that we would get out before our time of Enlistment but I do not know what to think now

—Corporal Charles Deamude, 150th Infantry, Vermilion County

Spanish Fort, Alabama, May 1, 1865, to brother and sister

do not repeat it, as the impression is, that the fighting is over, and the war about to wind up. I hope it is, although I have heard some wish it would last longer, in order that they could have an opportunity to take revenge on the Rebels for the death of our President. The Papers from the North are full of accounts of towns and cities being draped in mourning, and the People mourning as though a loved one had been taken from their circle. Well we may lament for the loss of such a man, but we see little of such scenes in the Army. Soldiers got used to dangers and hardships, and take them as a matter of course, and are not in the habit of seeing signs of mourning. a flag at half mast a day is a common occurrence, and a salute from our guns are scarcely noticed. I regret that such deeds of Violence should be Perpetrated in this country. No nation will countainance them and it is to be regretted that such records must be Placed in the History of this great rebellion, to be handed down to the coming generations. but such deeds will be a stain upon the south, as all know that it was done through the agency of traitors North and South. a day of retribution is coming.

—Principal Musician Proctor Coe, 94th Infantry, McLean County

in Alabama, presumably in late April 1865, to wife, Sarah

On the day we came in here & 6 or 8 miles out we heard the rumor of the awful tragedy of the assassination of Lincoln & Seward – We were marching on in high glee but the news even doubtful as it was at the time, sent a cold chill through the veins, and saddened hearts in this army were not relieved till today, when we learned for certain that the rumor was too true – This diabolical act though, can not be charged upon the leaders of the confederacy I think; Gen. Lee is a man of too much honor to have countenanced any thing of the kind – It is a deplorable national calamity scarcely second to the rebellion itself; not merely because one or two men lost their lives, but because they were at the head of the nation, and it reminds us very much of ancient times when kings & Emperors held their crowns by such a precarious tenure that it was only necessary to employ a professional assassin, to get rid of a ruler who offended some one, or stood in the way of some aspirant – Since Lee has surrendered, the prospect looks favorable for an early peace; and indeed we have rumors to day that terms of Peace have already been agreed upon, but the rumor comes through rebel sources & is yet doubtful

—Colonel Charles Turner, 108th Infantry, Tazewell County

Illinois soldiers needed to write home about Abraham Lincoln’s death in sharing their emotions and expressing their overarching thoughts. Perhaps the following two excerpts are good examples.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, May 12, 1865, to Miss Mollie Hitton

you ask how the soldiers took the death of President Lincoln it went to there heart like an arrow. I never thought the death of any man would cause such gloom all over the country every soldier here looked as though he had lost his nearest or best friend in reality we have. we have lost a noble & true friend & the Country one of her best Statesmen

—Private John Meath, 1st Light Artillery, Cook County

Memphis, Tennessee, July 27, 1862, to cousin

Just while we were rejoicing over the victories of our arms [armies?], the news that President Lincoln was no more, cast a gloom over the Loyal portion of community which the lapse of months can not dispel. In his demise the Cause of Freedom has lost its greatest champion, the Nation its best friend

—Private George Reese, 28th Infantry, Fulton County

[1] In 1861, Mr. Young had tried to join a Wisconsin regiment but, at the time, became too sick to be mustered into the service. At the time he wrote his letter, he was an agent for one of the private shipping companies (e.g., somewhat akin to a UPS or FedEx business of today) and this very letter may have been sent via the Adams Express Company.

[2] Timothy Mason Roberts (ed.), “This Infernal War:” The Civil War Letters of William and Jane Standard (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2018), 255.

[3] Ibid., 326.

[4] Some Illinois soldiers instructed their correspondents to burn particular letters after reading them (but fortunately, for the rest of us, the instructions were not always followed).

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Writing surfaces (added 30 July 2021)

In the first chapter, there is a description or two of unusual letter-writing surfaces, such as a soldier’s knapsack. What were some of the more creatively used items upon which soldiers placed their writing paper?

camp near Lexington, Kentucky, November 4, 1862, to sister

My knee being the only desk a four of us writing around the same candle, you need not wonder if my letters dont lean the same way.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Enlisted soldiers, especially, usually did not have access to desks and other normal writing surfaces.[1] One of the most common improvisations was putting writing paper against a wooden board or plank (e.g., from a fence, hardtack shipping crate).

Paducah, Kentucky, January 7, 1862, to wife, Sarah

I will bring my letter to a close you will excuse my bad hand write for there is two of us writing on one chease box

—Corporal James J. Brown, 40th Infantry, Fayette County

camp at Rolla, Missouri, August 18, 1861, to wife, Hattie

Excuse my bad writing as most of it has been done upon a block of wood

—1st Sergeant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

As in the above examples, soldiers sometimes had to beg pardon from their correspondents for their less-than-normal penmanship. Testing weather or poor health just made the act of writing, either outside or in a tent, that much more difficult.

Cave-in-Rock, Illinois, December 3, 1861, to friend, Miss Lizzie Simpson

When we awoke Monday morning the Snow was falling thick and fast, and continued to do so until after noon, partly covering our tents. It has been very cold ever since yesterday morning and there is a good prospect of more snow. . . . My fingers are so numb that I can scarcely write. I am seated at my tent door writing on a little box with the snow drifted up around me.

—1st Sergeant William Browning, 27th Infantry, Pike County

Bird’s Point, Missouri, December 26, 1861 to wife, Mary

With a weak hand I attempt to address you on last Sunday morning I received yours of Saturday 21^st and felt very well but during the day I took the diarrhea and have had a very severe spell and now while I write I am lying in my bed wrapped up with my blankets and writing on the inside flap of my trunk I have to rest occasionally

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

Blue Springs, Tennessee, February 7, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

the ink comes nigh freesing on the pen I am sitting on a log heap while I write these few lines to you

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Sometimes for soldiers it was easier to write from Illinois training camps. Sometimes it wasn’t. Here are two examples from Camp Butler.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, October 7, 1861, to father and friends

I am writing on a desk in my tent by the light of a candle, and feel about as well contented as if I was at my desk in the old school room. I only wish that I could have my books here, as many a spare minute could be occupied in their perusal otherwise not spent to my great benefit to myself, but as they would be cumbersome, I do not see how I can have them with me.

—Private Thomas Clingman, 46th Infantry, Stephenson County

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, August 20, 1861, to friend?

well Mary here I find myself in Camp and enjoying myself firstrate. But to show you that I have not forgotten my friends at home I am going to write you a letter. . . . I have to stand guard tomorrow for the first time. I quit for the present for others want to write, and we have only one desk, and that is a board nailed to a tree. please to write soon and tell me all about Hickory Grove Direct your letter to W. H. Kinsey, Care of Capt Hinman Rhodes

—Sergeant William Kinsey, 28th Infantry, Fulton County

“A board nailed to a tree” that is shared, no less, does make for an unusual “desk.” It should be noted that this letter was written only three weeks after Camp Butler was established.

“Winter quarters” could be an exception to not having a desk to write upon. That is, winter quarters for soldiers were sometimes established for a month or more, when soldiers had ample time to scrounge for what might pass as materials for fixtures and furniture. Here is one example.

Camp Baird, near Danville, Kentucky, December 31, 1862, to sister

Before pitching our new tent, we built a wall about three feet high and pitched our tent on top of it, by that means making a great deal more room. About half the distance round, the wall was built of brick, with a good large fire place and good chimney which makes the tent quite comfortable in a cold night when there is a good blazing fire on the hearth. the other half of the wall was built of boards with dirt banked up out side of it to make it tight and warm. . . . I had made a patent writing desk for my own convenience . . . [and] I had a stool also for sitting on while writing. and some of the other boys had desks also. in fact we had every thing fixed up in ship shape . . . [in] our Shebang.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

A “shebang” is a shanty or improvised shack in which to get out of the elements. Finally, here are a few more unusual implements upon which soldiers wrote.

Marietta, Georgia, August 12, 1864, to Mrs. Harriet Stoddard

I am very well at present and am now having very good times but am doing something that I never done since I have been in the Army and that is guarding Rebel property. I was detailed by Col Rogers (he commands the Battalion) to go to a Mrs. Wilders for a safety guard. so I had to go although against my will, and am now in the Garden with my Portfolio on an old Wheelbarrow writing you these few lines and at the same time watching the Soldiers to keep them out of the Garden . . . But I do not know how doing this kind of Soldiering is going to last

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry (Consolidated), Morgan County

Nashville, Tennessee, November 11, 1864, to wife, Malipa

[written upside-down at bottom of last page] you must excuse poor writing this is a hard place to write I am writing on my tin plate on my knee

—Private Robert R. Crawford, 36th Infantry, Knox County

[1] Most soldiers had to carry their own personal possessions, so after a while carrying even a handful of letters received from home could be an inconvenience. Especially higher-ranking officers sometimes had portable writing desks, which usually meant something that fit on one’s lap and/or could easily be transported with other personal effects in a wagon with other officers’ equipage.

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Soldiers returning home (added 23 July 2021)

On page 221, you mention “fatal transportation accidents” and the sinking of the Sultana, but what other obstacles delayed soldiers from returning home at the end of the war?

Once it was learned that Lee had surrendered his army to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on 9 April 1865, Illinois soldiers, wherever they were stationed, knew it would not be long before the rest of the southern military forces capitulated. Then, the Union soldiers could be mustered out and return home.

Montgomery, Alabama, May 7, 1865, to wife, Sarah

We cant tell what is to be done with this army, but suppose it will be the aim of the government to get it out of service as fast as possible and in any event it would take till near the end of our term to get us home and mustered out

—Colonel Charles Turner, 108th Infantry, Tazewell County

It could be that easy, but often times there were intervening circumstances to be mitigated and details worked out. Sometimes it was as mundane as preparing the necessary military paperwork or arranging transportation. Other times it was due to much larger national issues, such as Native American concerns in the West or the unstable Mexican government at the southern border.

Leavenworth, Kansas, July 16, 1865, to “Father, Mother, Sisters, to all of you”

I once more take the time to pen you a few lines to let you know I am well and still a slave not only for uncle sam but some mean officers but just because I can not help myself now we have to go out on the plains any way to fort carney [Fort Kearny, in the Nebraska Territory]. . . . I had a big notion to desert but I have about got out of that notion but, I think it would be an honor for a Union Soldier to desert under the circumstance, which we are placed . . . I never liked any thing better than soldiering when it was necessary . . . that I was glad of while the jonnies [Confederate soldiers] was with ther muskets but now I hate it but there is no use off talking for it is there and bound to stay till they see fit to change it.

—Private David Treadway, 14th Infantry, Cass County

Private Treadway’s frustration is almost palpable in this passage, moving from one conflict to potentially another.

St. Mary’s County, Maryland, May 12, 1865, to fiancée, Miss Lovina Eyster

St [Sergeant Adam C.] Fowler & myselfe are stationed at this place to administer the oath of Allegiance to all male Citizens over 18 years of age some of them swallow is [it] as though it were some bitter emetic & others take it with a smile . . . what doe you think about Soldiers going to mexico I have quite a notion of going in case we are mustered out by the first of August provided that proper inducements are offered.

—Sergeant Reuben Prentice, 8th Cavalry, Ogle County

Ultimately, U.S. soldiers were not deployed in Mexico, where President Benito Juarez had been ousted by the French-backed Ferdinand Maximilian as leader of the Second Mexican Empire.

Transportation incidents going back to Illinois occurred both on the rivers and the rails.

Here is an example letter in its entirety.

Image from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, SC 1593

[Preprinted Letterhead:] Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company’s
U.S. Mail Line
Steamer MARBLE CITY,
Leaves St. Louis every Monday, at 5 P. M. Leaves Memphis every Thursday, at 5 P.M.

Sat Oct 21” 1865

Dear Sister
Homeward bound. We got to Davenport Ia to be mustered out and from there home. We left Little Rock [Arkansas] the 16^th Would have been in St Louis now, but run aground and lay on a [sand] bar all of last night. Expect we will be home about the 1^st of Nov. In good health and all O K
As ever
Pete[1]

—2nd Lieutenant Almon Hallock, 60th U.S. Colored Troops, LaSalle County

For a Civil War soldier’s letter, this one is unusually short. Often, soldiers would cram as many words on a page as possible, somewhat to get their postage-worth but also to not insult the receiver that one was a lazy or careless correspondent. However, in this case, 2nd Lieutenant Hallock would be home soon when, as one soldier put it, “we wil have the pleasure of discuss[ing] matters without the use of the silent pen.”

St. Louis Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 16, 1865, to father

I received your ever welcome letter few days ago, but not being able to answer it untile this day for the first time in meny days that I could write eny, the reason of that I will explain, you no doupt have heard through my former letter that we were expecting to moove, on the morning of March 2^nd we started for the city of New Orleans that is on a train, we were going very slow untile we got with in 28 miles of the city from that time we run prity fast all at once we could see tow [two] mules a head of us on the track, the Ingene whiseled but the muls would not leave the track, finely one of them dipet [dipped?] and fell on the track, the Ingine and the first carr passing over hime but the third carr which was ours run off at that I made a jump but a little to late, I know kno [no] more frome that time untile the boys got to digging me out frome under a pile of wood and Iron, I was somewhat cut on the head and pritty badly brusid all over

—Private Constantine Zuraff, 33rd Infantry, Whiteside County

This was an especially serious accident. More than eighty men were killed or seriously injured, and the 33rd regiment was unfit for duty for several weeks.

Finally, once back in Illinois, there were other soldier obstacles to surmount.

Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1865, to Mrs. Harriet Stoddard[2]

My dear Friend

It seems as though every one that had anything to do with making out the Papers that they must handle a certain portion of the Money before it can get to the owners hands.

There is a great Swindling going on here in town there are a great many Speculators offering to get the Soldiers out for a certain sum of Money and a good many of the Soldiers would rather do it than to wait f. [f.=for?] any longer. But I look at it in this way. If a Soldier is foolish enough after serving four years to come home and then Pay out a large portion of their Money to some one that could never make a living in any other way only off of a Soldier then I would not care much l [or “l’?] if they was to get it all as for my part I am going to stay in the service until they get so tired of me that they will be glad to Pay me and get rid of me. If I could serve four years in the Army I surely could stay here a few weeks to wait for my discharge. But enough of this. I have been enjoying my self very well I am staying in Town my health is very good and I can do away with most anything [i.e., food] that is set before me

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry (Consolidated), Morgan County

This letter also is somewhat unusual in that it was sent just days before he would have been discharged and able to travel the additional thirty miles or so back home. Since Vieira was not writing to family, it is possible he was hoping to acquire a job once out of the service (e.g., explaining his delay, “my health is good”).

Camp Butler, near Springfield, was where the majority of Illinois soldiers received the remainder of the pay due them and their discharge from the military, which officially changed their status from soldiers to citizens. With soldiers milling around Springfield, waiting for their money and discharge papers, there were bound to be some nefarious incidents, even if someone like Vieira “surely could stay here a few weeks to wait for my discharge.” Here are two examples from Springfield newspapers.

Soldier Stabbed.

On Saturday afternoon last, a difficulty occurred near Brennan’s saloon on E. Washington St., between a party of soldiers, in which a discharged soldier from the 90^th regiment of Illinois volunteers, named Dennis Myers, of Chicago, was stabbed with a dirk knife two or three times in the abdomen. He was taken to the office of Dr. Lord where his wounds were dressed, and afterwards removed to the Soldiers’ Home, where he now is, with a prospect, so far as outward appearances indicate, of recovering. He refuses to tell who stabbed him, or at what place it was done.

Illinois Daily State Journal, 3 July 1865

Disturbance at Camp Butler.

An affray very closely approximating a riot, occurred at Camp Butler last evening among the troops in quarters at that post, in which about one hundred soldiers, belonging to different regiments, where the participants. Some thirty shots were exchanged with pistols in the hands of the rioters during the disturbance, though strange to say, no injury was done whatever. The real origin of the difficulty we have been unable to learn, though we would venture to assert that it might be traced to a too free indulgence in liquor. Whether this surmise be correct or not, the Provost Marshal of the post has seen fit to issue an order closing all saloons and prohibiting all sales of liquor in the neighborhood of the camp.

Illinois State Register, 5 August 1865

The above are somewhat mild examples. Illinois soldiers still were being discharged in 1866, as the last regiments finally returned to their home state. There were several deaths and a few incidents that might be best described as riots in the streets of Springfield. So, even if soldiers made it back to Illinois after the end of the war, there were some who still never returned home alive.

But it was a small minority, at that point, who were delayed by illness, an unhappy accident, or some final fracas. Once discharged, former soldiers still had to shift psychologically from being soldiers to being citizens and starting over with their lives in a war-transformed state and nation.

[1] “Pete” or Peter may have been his middle name. He did not use it in any of his other letters housed at the ALPL.

[2] Before the Civil War, Augustine Vieira had been a child immigrant from the Portuguese island of Madeira, and there were a few such immigrant enclaves in Morgan County. It seems Vieira had been a laborer on the Stoddard family farm near Waverly.

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Letter from Camp Yates (added 16 July 2021)

Michael C. of South Carolina provided me with one more letter from May 1861 by Illinois Musician John R. Harding, this time written from Springfield, Illinois. (See the 11 June 2021 posting, below, regarding the other two Harding letters written from southern Illinois.) What does this letter tell us about early Camp Yates?

Camp Yates was the initial soldier recruitment rendezvous point near Springfield in the first weeks and months of the Civil War. Here is an excerpt about the formation of the camp from a Springfield newspaper article.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 18 April 1861

This article was printed just three days after President Lincoln asked Illinois governor Richard Yates, through Secretary of War Simon Cameron, for six regiments or roughly 6,000 soldiers in response to the capitulation of Fort Sumter after the Confederate bombardment. Union states, like Illinois, were improvising and otherwise scrambling to recruit and prepare soldiers for war. Recruiting turned out to be no problem, as men poured into temporary mustering sites to join the military. However, preparing the volunteers to be efficient fighting soldiers was a completely different matter. Many localities converted existing public places, such as local fairgrounds, to temporary mustering and training sites as a convenient, albeit imperfect, option.

Here is Harding’s entire letter (in italics) with my added annotations. It was written the day after the regiment’s soldiers were mustered into service for three months.

May 1^st 1861 Camp Yates Springfield Ill.

Friend Noble

Correspondent “Friend Noble” was presumably back in Freeport or some other part of Stephenson County, where 25 year-old John Harding was from.

I received your letter this morning, and was very happy to hear from you, and to hear that you was all well. there was 18 selected [out or rejected] from our company yesterday, and the rest of us was sworn into the United States service, so I cant back out now John Stine, Capt Thomas, D^r Van Val Trak, Glen Oyler, H Gould were among the ones selected from the company. Capt Thomas is trying to raise a company out of the rejected ones, and he told me last night that he got 46, to start with. John Stine was rejected on account of his not attending to his duty, he would go down town and stop [there] till 1 or 2 oclock in the morning, and he was reported several times as neglecting his duty. Gould & Stine are running for 2^nd Lieut in Capt Thomas Company

In general, as the war went on, the army examiners were less picky about the physical and other requirements needed to qualify as soldiers. So, it is interesting in the first paragraph of the letter that a number of potential recruits were rejected. Here is a Springfield newspaper article that underscores this point.

THE ZOUAVE GRAYS.—The members of this company, to the number of sixty, were yesterday sworn into the ranks, though another ceremony of the kind must be performed on their final enrolment into the U.S. service. . . . The Grays go into quarters on Monday next at 12 o’clock, and probably will be the first company in camp [Yates, presumably]. Many who applied for enlistment were rejected because physically defective, or otherwise not qualified to pass examination. One man who we were told had walked twenty-eight miles for the purpose of joining the company, was rejected in the preliminary examination.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 18 April 1861

Among the names Harding mentioned as being rejected, I could not find a Captain Thomas (from Stephenson County), Trak, Oyler, or H Gould who subsequently were mustered into another Illinois regiment.[1] However, John Stine was successful the following year, despite “neglecting his duty.” In 1862, Stine joined the 67^th Illinois, a three-month regiment, and in 1863 joined the 46^th Illinois as a private, promoted to sergeant, and stayed with this regiment throughout the rest of the Civil War. Stine was hardly the first (or last) soldier to neglect his duty while being posted in the Springfield area.

BAWDY HOUSE MUSS.—Two “bould soldier boys” from Camp Yates visited the city yesterday, and after indulging immoderately in stimulants [alcohol, presumably], made a visit of ceremony to the fancy establishment of Jennie Gray [house of prostitution?], on Tenth street, close by Grimsley’s mill, where they committed an unprovoked assault on a man named Beard, who was working in the house at the time. After beating him unmercifully, the latter retreated to the yard, followed by his assailants, when he seized an axe and wounded one of them in the leg. Beard was conducted to his residence by some of his friends, much the worse of the drubbing he had received, and his assailants were arrested and escorted to the calaboose [local jail]. — They were subsequently, by request of the commandant at Camp Yates, conducted to their quarters.

—Illinois State Register, 30 April 1861

“Conducted to their quarters” hardly sounds like harsh military punishment for what might otherwise be legally characterized as assault. Misbehaving and potentially criminally-liable soldiers at both camps Yates and Butler, in the many months to come while among the Springfield citizenry, sometimes got away with up to and including murder. So, whatever neglect John Stine may have been guilty of was apparently not a permanent blot on his military eligibility.

We are voting for officers of the Regiment this morning, and the man we are voting for for [sic] Colonel is named [William H. L.] Wallace, and there is no opposition to him so I suppose he will be elected. They say we are going to be sent off omediatly, “and when I say omediatly I mean right away now.” [Martin E.] Newcomer our 1^st Lieut is very sick, and I dont think he will be able to go with us without he gets better very soon. Joe Pratt is going with our company and they have made him assistant cook. I have got out of the cooking arrangement now, as I told the officer that if I was going to be musician I wanted time to practice. so they have excused me, although they say they dont like to part with me, as I was one of its best men they had in the cooking department. quite a compliment. I dont like [Silas W.] Field as 2^nd Lieut very well. He seems so crabbed [crabby?], but probably he means well.

Interestingly, a seemingly speculative officer-election newspaper article appeared the same day Harding wrote his letter.

REGIMENTAL ELECTION.—The following companies have been organized into a regiment, and will hold their election of regimental officers at Camp Yates to-day. The following officers will probably be elected:

For Colonel, W. H. L. Wallace, of Ottawa; Lieut.-Col. J. Warren Fillers, of Ewington; Major, T. E. G. Ransom, of Vandalia.

Captain W. L. Gibson, Ottawa, LaSalle county.
Captain S. D. Atkins, Freeport, Stephenson co.
Captain Garrett Nevius, Rockford, Winnebago co.
Captain F. W. Shaw, Lacon, Marshall co.
Captain T. E. G. Ransom, Vandalia, Fayette co.
Captain J. W. Fillers, Ewington, Effingham co.
Captain A. L. Rockwood, Centralia, [?]
Captain W. T. Hopkins, Morris, Grundy co.
Captain H. H. Carter, LaSalle, LaSalle co.

This makes the fifth regiment organized, four at Camp Yates, and one at Cairo.

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 1 May 1861

As it turned out, Colonel Wallace’s “fifth” regiment became the 11^th Illinois Infantry. In Illinois, infantry regiments 1^st through 6^th had been previously designated during the Mexican War. Hence, the first Illinois regiment organized during the Civil War was the 7^th Illinois Infantry.

What made this newspaper article speculative was that “The following officers will probably be elected,” but indeed all of the election results occurred as predicted. One captain not mentioned in the article was Theodore Gibson, of Ottawa, perhaps a brother or cousin of W. L. Gibson.

1^st Lieutenant Newcomer likely did recover from his illness, at least long enough to be mustered out three months later. For whatever reason(s), he was not subsequently re-commissioned into the three-year 11^th Illinois Infantry regiment.

Crabby or not, 2^nd Lieutenant Fields advanced to 1^st lieutenant and then to captain in the three-year 11^th Illinois Infantry regiment. However, he died in May 1862, about a month after the fighting at Shiloh, Tennessee, from wounds he had received at the battle.

Most of us have got bad colds and some have a slight acquaintance with M^r Dyer, but I suspect we will soon get over that.

In this sentence, I am of the opinion that “Mr. Dyer” may be a local or company pun, as in “dire” and “may be a dyer” or on death’s door.[2] Also consider this additional newspaper article.

AT CAMP YATES.—Companies still continue to arrive from different portions of the State, at Camp Yates. We are informed by the Commissary department that there are now about 4,000 men in camp. The crowd of visitors is very much reduced since the departure of the Springfield companies.

Affairs are well managed in the medical department, of which Dr. P. H. Bailhache is now Surgeon, Dr. Metcalfe having been appointed to Col. Cook’s regiment. Dr. Fuller, of Virden, is assistant surgeon. Out of a large invalid list, some being very severe cases of pleuro-pneumonia, all are recovering, there having been no deaths amongst the volunteers as yet, which, considering the grave nature of some of the diseases, is the best evidence of the skill with which the treatment in this department is conducted. The soldier who was wounded in they [sic] affray to which we alluded yesterday, is doing well, and will doubtless be discharged soon. The wound in his hip, which was inflicted by a cooper’s adze, though very deep, is not dangerously situated, and seems disposed to heal by “first intention.”[3]

—Illinois Daily State Journal, 2 May 1861

As with many early mustering camps that crowded together large groups of young men, especially from rural areas, recruits were exposed to infectious diseases, such as pneumonia (or as Harding might have put it, “bad colds”). As I noted in the book, “A Civil War enlistee would not have thought of it in this way, yet living in a mustering camp in itself constituted an act of bravery. Fatalities among the recruits started [or could start] within a few weeks of mustering into military service.”[4]

I cant tell you where we are going, as there are so many reports. first we are going to Cairo, then to Chicago, & so on, (the Boys are now giving 3 cheers for Wilson Schaffer, for send[ing] us 200 pies for our dinner to day, which is very kind in [of] him.)

but in all probability we will [learn] tomorrow as the regiment is organised, and ready to do some tall fighting. the last report is we are going to Washington, but it is impossible to tell.

It is not surprising that Harding mentions both Cairo, Illinois, and Washington, DC, as possible first deployments. During the first six months of the war, these were arguably the two most important strategic places in the Union. Cairo was at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and, of course, Washington was the seat of national government and yet still not many miles from the Confederate stronghold state of Virginia.

Like any army camp, rumors were a cheap and plentiful commodity as soldiers speculated about the war. However, “tall fighting” was several months away. Both Union and Confederate leaders realized (or quickly realized) that it would take time and resources to equip, clothe, feed, train, and deploy armies in any effective or meaningful way. At that point, Harding was correct in stating “it is impossible to tell” where they would go first, but Cairo and Washington were reasonably good guesses.

Regarding the “cheers for Wilson Schaffer,” not only was it likely gratifying to get a taste of home foods, but the military was still working out arrangements for rations for the soldiers, at just two and a half weeks into the war.

Give my respects to Jim Boyle and his wife and all my acquaintances, and if Miss Wurts asks you for that ambrotype let her have it.

Photographic technology in the early 1860s included the ambrotype, which was a method of capturing a camera image on a glass plate. The glass plates were usually mounted in a case, because a dark background was needed to see the details on the glass image. Later in the 1860s in the U.S. and during the Civil War, ambrotypes were mostly replaced by “cartes de visite,” which were photographic images that could be mounted on paper stock. About the size of a business card, cartes de visite were popular because they were relatively cheap to produce, portable (and mail-able), and not subject to breakage like the ambrotype.

D^r Wurts sent us a box of medicine and they say there is a rubber cloak in it for me so when the box is opened I must be on hand. I must now conclude hoping that the country we are going to fight for may be preserved.

Rubber cloaks or ponchos were popular with soldiers because they were relatively light and waterproof. The India-rubber coated cloth could also be used as a ground covering upon which to sleep.

Patriotism was a soldier motivator, especially during the initial months of the Civil War. As the fighting dragged on, pragmatism often replaced patriotism toward doing what was necessary to survive the war and return home.

and remain Yours Respectfully
John R Harding.

Direct letters to Captain S. D. Atkins
at the bottom put for John R. Harding

Harding likely did not know on 1 May that Wallace’s regiment was to be designated the 11^th Illinois Infantry. A regimental number was assigned based on the order of acceptance. It was common for company soldiers to have mail directed to their captain, and in Harding’s case it was Captain Smith D. Atkins, also from Freeport.

On 5 May 1861, the regiment was transported by rail to Villa Ridge in southern Illinois where the soldiers remained well into June. The 11 June 2021 posting (below) explains the soldiers’ purpose there through two other John Harding letters.

[1] Not surprisingly in these few cases, those who were rejected did not find a place in a different regiment. There were plenty of Illinois volunteers for the army to choose from given there were only about 6,000 soldiers initially required.

[2] I tried looking for this phrase through an Internet search engine without success. “Dyer” was also a common last name.

[3] “The soldier who was wounded” in the affray may be the same one who had assaulted Mr. Beard, but it is unclear if that is the case.

[4] p. 170.

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Privately-owned letters (added 9 July 2021)

In doing the research for the book, you read Illinois Civil War soldiers’ letters at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Do you also own any Civil War era letters?

No, I do not own any such letters, nor am I looking to acquire any.

When I was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, I was fortunate enough to have archaeologist Dr. W. Raymond Wood as my thesis advisor. In his published memoirs, he wrote that while he had found, handled, and studied many thousands of anthropological artifacts, he never personally kept or even brought any home. He rightly considered them cultural items in understanding peoples of the past and not things to be individually owned.[1] Arguments of cultural proprietorship aside, his point was artifacts are meant to be shared and available to those who wished to appreciate and better comprehend the lifeways of groups who came before us.

I feel the same way about others’ personal letters that have historical value. If they can exist in the public domain, they have the most potential for contributing to the understanding of past circumstances and lifeways. If “history is a foreign country” to those in the present, personal letters from other periods are windows into the “foreign” past.

As it happened, last week there was a news item about an Illinois author and private collector, Guy Fraker, who donated an original letter written by Lincoln to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.[2] Fraker said, “Those of us who have been lucky enough to serve as caretakers for Lincoln letters and artifacts have an obligation to ensure they will be shared with the public for generations to come.”

While Lincoln is an important historical figure, the nature of the information that can be gleaned from others’ letters of that period (or other periods) should not be underestimated. Personal letters, especially, are often forthright testimonials, in a sense, that illuminate contextual and historical details that sometimes cannot be found elsewhere.[3] And of course, the foundation of my book is soldiers’ and sailors’ personal letters from the Civil War.

Ian Hunt is the Chief of Acquisitions and Research at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (ALPL), and here are his key points about donating letters to public institutions like the ALPL.

Donating primary source materials to institutions such as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, whether its letters, photographs, or items with historical significance is incredibly important for a variety of factors. Safeguarding these items is one of the most frequent conversations that I have with donors. There is a science to caring for and maintaining these materials. Most private collectors or families have neither the means or ability to maintain climate controls, fire suppression, and 24-hour security that are necessary to keep these items in ideal conditions. A second factor is not knowing what will become of these items after they are gone. Frequently, donors will admit to me that they are fearful that children or grandchildren simply do not have the passion for these items that they do, and they voice concern that these items will be sold or possibly lost when they are no longer there to protect them. Finally, the information that is contained within those items can sometimes open up completely new avenues of research when they are made available to historians. I often remind people who claim that their families have ties to historical figures that much of the history that we know of individuals such as Abraham Lincoln come from letters and other manuscripts that were donated to public institutions decades ago. What better way to prove that their family influenced historical events than by sharing with the world the primary source evidence that their ancestor served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War or assisted Abraham Lincoln with his political ambitions.[4]

To add a final comment from my perspective, when I first went to the ALPL as an independent researcher, I assumed I would be studying transcriptions or electronic images of Civil War era letters. That was hardly the case at all. Well over ninety-five percent of the time, I was examining the original letters and documents. While that may not be possible with unique and precious Abraham Lincoln documents and artifacts, it proved to be a very valuable research experience to study the original soldiers’ letters in assembling the contents of the book. Research-oriented institutions and repositories vary by protective resources and access policies and, if reading this from the perspective of a potential donor, all of the above factors are worth considering for wherever you might choose to donate.

[1] W. Raymond Wood, A White-Bearded Plainsman: The Memoirs of W. Raymond Wood (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2011).

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/pivotal-time-museum-obtains-key-1854-lincoln-letter/2021/07/01/6c51bcf4-dab4-11eb-8c87-ad6f27918c78_story.html

[3] For example, see the 11 June 2021 posting, below, regarding the two Harding letters that provide insights about Illinois soldiers’ experiences during the early weeks of the Civil War.

[4] It is worth noting that with the creation of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in 2005, the former Illinois State Historical Library (founded in 1889) was subsumed into this new institution. Basic information about donating to the ALPL can be found here:

https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/connect/support-us/collection-donation/

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National holidays (added 2 July 2021)

In the book, Christmas is mentioned but what were the official national holidays during the Civil War?

There were no official U. S. national holidays until 1870, when Congress passed a law recognizing New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day (albeit these holidays only applied to Washington D.C. and the surrounding area federal employees, initially). George Washington’s Birthday was added later that decade.

Elsewhere on this Question of the Week page, I have expounded upon Thanksgiving (see 25 November 2020 post) and Christmas Day (24 December 2020) observances by Illinois soldiers during the Civil War.

Prior to the Civil War, the two main, generally-recognized U.S. holidays were Washington’s Birthday and Independence Day.[1] (And, in a sense, Election Day was often more-or-less treated as a holiday.)

Greenville, Missouri, February 22, 1862, to brother

This [is] Washingtons birth day, and we have been a fireing our cannon this morning to celebrate him. evry body thinks we will be home on the 4 of July next

—Private George Dodd, 21st Infantry, Edgar County

In other words, Dodd was writing we are not home to celebrate this holiday but we hope to be home by the next holiday on the calendar. Gun salutes, somewhat equivalent to igniting fireworks, were common occurrences among the soldiers regarding both Washington’s Birthday and Independence Day.

camp, either in Mississippi or Tennessee, February 22, 1863, to sister, Addie Tower

Washingtons birthday was celebrated by our Brigade. Speakers, toasts, music and firing salutes were the order of the day.

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

This same soldier mentioned the holiday again in a letter written one year later.

Memphis, Tennessee, February 22, 1864, to sister, Addie Tower

this is the Birthday of the nations first and greatest Hero the people here [in Memphis] do not celebrate this day suppose they [think?] Washington was fortunate to have died when he did.

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

Despite Private Cottle’s comment, the Confederacy also claimed George Washington as an inspirational national figure. George Washington and the American Revolution were not so much distant memories in the mid-nineteenth century as they might be today. Below, Private Swales wished for leadership qualities among generals in the Civil War to rise to those of Washington in the American Revolution.[2]

Mound City, Illinois, October 22, 1861, to brother, Dave

through the mist of smoke that rises . . . over blood stained Battle fields of this once blessed land, but how cursed with civil War as it is the land the heroes of the Revolution fought to sustain and finaly sucseeded after many long and bloody Battles led on by the imortal Washington. did he bear the toils and hardships of that Campaign merely for an elevated position in the sight of his brave men that placed so much confidence in him? did for he take it upon himself to be called the great father of his Country? what led him on to the archway he achieved was it for aname or fame? No! faith, in the loyalty of his followers. [. . .] Faith, was the great scheme. we must have faith in our leaders.

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

Whenever patriotism was discussed, Washington’s name was more likely to come up than any other.

Stewarts Creek, Tennessee, July 5, 1863, to “Kind Folks at Home”

The Fourth passed off very tamely (except in a few cases where some of the boys took too much beer. [)] Col [Franklin C.] Smith Major [Lemuel D.] Shinn & Js. Ragland made speeches in the evening. We had some oysters, Sardines and cigars at night . . . Oh! you ought to see how gloriously our flag is floating at this moment. I love to see it float all the more because I know there are some about here who are greatly provoked at seeing it.

—Sergeant Major Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Regarding “greatly provoked at seeing” the flag, Fleharty is referring to the Confederate citizenry of Tennessee. However, Tennessee also had its Union-leaning citizens.

Nashville, Tennessee, July 13, 1863, to Lizzy Wilson

[regarding their 4^th of July activities] in the morning I got a pass, and went out to Bellview, where we had the “Battle Cry of Freedom” sung according to style by some Tennessee Ladies and Gentlemen. after that the declaration of independence was read by the President of the Nashville Union League. then Prof. M^cCoy of Washington City gave an address on the Defence of the union . . . in the evning we repaired to the state house and again Professor M^cCoy gave us another stirring address. also one from Col Stout of the first East Ten. Cavalry

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Rather coincidentally, the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, concluded on 4 July 1863 when Confederate general John C. Pemberton surrendered the city and his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant. Consequently, Illinois soldiers liberally mentioned the fall of Vicksburg and Independence Day together.

Near Jackson, Mississippi, July 14, 1863, to “Dear & Beloved Mother & Sisters, Friends all”

I am permitted again to pen (upon my knee) you a short and hasty letter by which to tell you I still live . . . on the morning of 4^th of July it was stated authoritating that Vicksburgh had fallen and had delivered up the Ghost, with all the images of the triumphantless traitor and destroyer of happiness, and trampler of the glorious liberties of a happy nation. During the pre-noon of the 4^th Gen,l Grant fired his signal Guns over one of the greatest of victories ever achieved on the American Continent, and in memory of the birth-day of American Independance!

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

A fifty-year-old hospital surgeon also underscored it as a day to remember.

hospital in the rear of Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, to Joshua Moore

—Surgeon George P. Rex, 33rd Infantry, Pike County

As significant as that was, here is a post-Civil War newspaper article from Springfield, Illinois, that puts the essence of Independence Day in a broader perspective.

Celebration by the Colored People.

Our colored citizens, feeling that they also now have an interest in the fourth of July, celebrated the day with considerable spirit by a general pic-nic at the lake near Camp Butler. Several hundred men, women and children participated, most of them going out by the Great Western [railroad] cars. Roger’s Brass Band, the members of which have already made commendable proficiency, was present and furnished the music for the occasion. Altogether they report that the day was very pleasantly spent.

Illinois Daily State Journal, July 6, 1866 (italics added)

Certainly, this underscores the meaning of recent Illinois state and national legislation recognizing Juneteenth as an official holiday.

[1] Some other U.S. pre-Civil War holidays had come and gone, such as 8 January, which was in recognition of General Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. (Technically, it was fought in 1815 and a bit after the war had come to a close through the Treaty of Ghent, but word had not yet reached the United States.)

[2] It could be argued, possibly, that the American Revolution was something of a civil war and that the Civil War was more akin to a revolution, especially from a Confederacy viewpoint. Also worth noting was that Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederacy in 1861 on Washington’s Birthday.

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War’s nadir for the North (added 25 June 2021)

It seems like the North gradually wore down the South in winning the Civil War. However, was there a time at which it looked like the North would lose the entire war?

Belle Plain, Virginia, November 25, 1862, to brother, Dan

I don’t blame the people for not wanting the Army to go into winter quarters for it would be an awful expense yet I sometimes wish that I could see some of those most opposed to it in our places some days when we had been out all day in a cold rain and at night have for a bed the wet ground with perhaps nothing but some Cedar boughs to lie on . . . In fact the men are so heartily sick of this mode of life that they feel as though they had as lief [happy, glad] be killed as to suffer hardships of a Soldier much longer

—2nd Lieutenant John Sargent, 8th Cavalry, Winnebago County

While the Battle of the First Bull Run was a discouraging, even shocking, federal loss in July 1861, probably the Civil War’s nadir for the North was during the winter of 1862/63. Even though the war lasted a little over four years, already by the latter part of 1862 it seemed like little or no progress was being made in Virginia. And any signs of the war winding down looked downright discouraging by the end of 1862.

Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, January 17, 1863, to sister

It looks rather dark to mee as the Boy[s] sais [says]. I cant see It but perhapse you loock at It in a diferent lite the north never will whip the South I will bet anny man a hundread dollers on It Just loock at our oald Regt and all the hull [whole?] army It is demerallised [demoralized] and a rigt [regt.] loock like a company some Regt with a bout tow hundread and some a litle more evry fite lately our men have ben slauterd like hogs a bout like the fite at Fredricksburgh [Fredericksburg, Virginia] you dont know anny thing a bout It our canons could not do anny thing so the infantry would march on to their best walks and get cut down with artillery and their large size gunes at that fite our men did not kill hardly anny of the Rebils

—Sergeant Ashley Alexander, 12th Cavalry, Winnebago County

The Battle of Fredericksburg (13 December 1862) was a resounding defeat for the federal army. So, it is no wonder Sergeant Alexander, and many other Union soldiers, were discouraged during the winter of 1862/63. Nevertheless, some soldiers were still willing to bet on the North.

Tallahatchie, Mississippi, January 2, 1863, to mother

We dont get any news now as there is something up and they wont let us have any news now but I shal probaly get it soon again regular some say Richmond is ours and some say that we got licked but I suppose vicksburg and Fredsburg is ourn [ours?] The boys have been betting on the war plenty offers but few takers that we would go home by the fourth of July

our Captain made a bet with an officer of one hundred dollars that we would go home before the Fourth of July next but I hope so as we are getting tired of war

—Private Cyrus Randall, 124th Infantry, Kane County

Money was lost and gained often based on rumors and what soldiers hoped was (to be) true. Yet, for many soldiers, the victories gained earlier in 1862 in the Western theater were fading with the gloom of winter. Private Cottle wrote, below, his reflections about 1862 and the war’s results thus far.

Holly Springs, Mississippi, January 8, 1863, to sister, Addie Tower

There as ever at the solemn hour of mid-night; the old year, borne on the rapid wings of Time, was launched into eternity. The bells throughout the nation as they chime the hour, Tell it’s funeral knell, and chilling winds chant its Requiem. And the earth wrapped in it’s snowy winding-sheet fit vesture for the departed year. As I gaze along the vista of the past, memory rcalls many sad scenes How varied and strange the visisitudes of one short revolving year! How many who welcomed its dawn passed away long ere its closes to the shaddowy land of the dead to await the final summons of the trump[et?] of God. Ah! yes, many of the earths brightest flowers have, during the past year [curly symbol] felt the withering touch of the hand of death. . . . Memory brings before me many familiar faces who but one short year ago, were our fellows in the ranks faithfully performing their duty all laboring and hoping for the same end. Where I ask myself are they now? let the thousand’s of unmarked mounds which cover almost every knoll answer the query. Oh! It makes me shudder to think of the reservoir as twere of human gore which has been almost constantly flowing during the past year. Oh! the thousands of aching hearts, the darkened lives, The weeping wives mothers Sisters Brothers Fatherless homeless children, who have [been] thrown out on the cold unsympathising world. by this cruel war and the worst feature is tis not likely soon to be brought to a close. I cannot see that the rebellion is any nearer chrushed than was twelve months ago. we have just learned of Burnsides defeat at Fred[er]ricksburg am afraid that he will not prove much better than McClel[l]an, although I do not [doubt] his being a loyal, true and energetic man

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

In his last paragraph, Private Cottle is referring to Confederate general Earl Van Dorn’s raid on a federal supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi (20 December 1862), as a primary reason for Union general U.S. Grant to consider other approaches to the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. In addition, there was Union general Sherman’s repulse at Chickasaw Bayou or Walnut Hills (27-29 December 1862) on the northern side of Vicksburg’s Confederate defenses.

onboard steamer Thomas E. Tutt, in Mississippi, January 3, 1863, to “Dear mother”

[at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou] But one hollow ball, indeed it was a lucky shot I think, otherwise a master shot, came just as about 6-8 pioneers were sent ahead to move a tree about 30 steps from us away from the levee and had just gotten to the work. It lay on the tree for a moment in the middle of the small party and then sprang open with an explosion that knocked both legs off one of the pioneers and sent them far apart. It injured another severely on the lower body, who will probably also be dead. It wounded a lieutenant who commanded them and also three or four others less severely. . . . It is nothing to see a battle, but the consequences are gruesome. . . . I must praise our chaplain, by the way, as he ministered to the wounded very much, continuously helped bandaged them, amputate, etc. He stated that he had experienced more in the 2 days when so many wounded arrived that in his entire previous life. . . . Where we are going God knows, or perhaps only our generals and the enemy, but we certainly don’t.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

Like at Fredericksburg two weeks before, attacking up toward entrenched positions at Chickasaw Bayou resulted in an almost predictable Union defeat. Meanwhile, near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Battle of Stones River (31 December 1862 – 2 January 1863) was fiercely fought to an indefinite conclusion with high casualties on both sides. Early on, the Union position bent badly but did not break.

Murfreesboro, Tennessee, January 5, 1863, to brother

[regarding the Battle of Stones River] the 79th done awful bad, nearly the whole Regiment run out of sight, before the officers could stop them, and Bill Pearl and about 300 others never stopt at all. I have seen several of the 79th and they say boys that run have kep a going /on to Nashville. Bill Pearl will be Court Marshalled for deserting the Ranks in time of Battle

—Private George Dodd, 21st Infantry, Edgar County

In the end, Confederate general Braxton Bragg withdrew his army southward out of fears of possible Union reinforcements. Thus, Union general Rosecrans and other leaders were eager to claim Stones River a victory by virtue of holding onto the battlefield at its conclusion.

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, January 7, 1863, to wife, Julia, and children

It is with pleasure that I can inform you that I am well and that the memoriable battle of Murfreesboro [or, Stones River] is over we have driven them from their last ditch in Tenn. but in doing so we have suffered terribaly the country for miles arround is one solid grave yard I superentended the burial of my dead in person and had them as deacently buried as they could have been at home with the exception of coffins.

—1st Lieutenant Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

To top off the year, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect 1 January 1863. Illinois soldiers, as a whole, had mixed feelings about the proclamation’s potential effectiveness as a war measure.

Shepherdsville, Kentucky, November 22, 1862, to wife, Sallie

if foreign powers dont interfer & the south dont come back to the union by the first of January then I expect to stay my 3 years in the Service if I should live so long for Mr. Lincoln’s Proclamation comes into effect at that time and I just beleive it is the worst thing that ever happened for the union cause for the south will fight as long as their is aman to rais an arm when the federal government attempts to take their property Away from them. . . . they dont expect to whip us in the field in open Battles but it is their intentions is to keep all the men in the field that we have and ruin the government by debt and prolong the war until foreign Powers recognizes them as agovernment Then we will have to recognize them to Then all our men is dead for nothing

—Corporal Thomas Pankey, 91st Infantry, Greene County

Even if it was difficult to decipher in the winter of 1862/63 that Lincoln’s proclamation could or would tip the Civil War in the Union’s favor, it proved already by the end of 1863 to be a blow to the Confederacy by eroding the South’s agricultural and economic infrastructure through losses of slave labor. And adding to the Union’s gain were former slaves who joined the federal military, especially the regiments of the U. S. Colored Troops.

Around the 4th of July in 1863, there were the twin Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. By then, it was clear the tide was turning against the Confederates. However, the most important event relative to the proclamation was the Union winning the war. Otherwise, as the New York Herald put it, the Emancipation Proclamation was “a dead letter.”

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Post-battle burial of the dead (added 18 June 2021)

On page 118 of the book, you quoted soldiers who had witnessed burials of the dead after battle. In those situations, were mass burials the norm during the Civil War?

Generally, mass burials too often were the norm and by necessity. Here is a fuller version of a quotation found on page 118.

Corinth, Mississippi, August 7, 1863, to sister, Fannie

Hello? There is the Band playing the “dead march”. some poor fellow has gone up. But that is nothing for this place, events of that kind are of daily occurrence here, and we have long ago ceased to think any thing about them. There wasent many “dead marches” played last fall when we had to tumble dead men into big holes dug for that purpose – at the rate of five or six hundred a day. We had no time for ceremonies then. At the battle field of Shiloah they took big government waggons, and hauled the dead men together, the same as you would haul hay up north. The wagons would hold about 25 or 30 men and they would put from 6 to 8 loads in a place It took a week to get them all burried. At the battle of Corinth the men were scattered over as much ground, and consequently it did not take as long to collect them together.[1] As soon as I can get some money I will send you some Photographs of various portions of the battle field of Corinth, which will give you some Idea, of the wholesale manner in which men are slain in battle.

—Private Almon Hallock, 15th Cavalry, LaSalle County

After the Battle of the First Bull Run, Virginia, in July 1861, one of the recognized horrors of war was the burial of the dead afterwards. “It does not look well for a soldier to cry,” wrote a Confederate private after finding his best friend dead on the battlefield. “The Confederates dug long, shallow trenches for the Union dead, but buried their own comrades in individual graves with small markers, an unceremonious, unglamorous ending for these young Americans.”[2] The Confederates lost about 400 killed and the Federals about 500. However, these are relatively small numbers of dead compared to many of the Civil War battles that were yet to come. Less than two months later, the U.S. War Department vainly attempted to bring order to tracking the Civil War dead.

General Orders #75 WAR DEP’T, ADJUTANT GENERAL’s OFFICE, Washington, September 11, 1861.

The following order has been received from the War Department, and is published for the information of all concerned:

WAR DEPARTMENT, September 9, 1861.

For the purpose of preserving accurate and permanent records of deceased soldiers, and their place of burial, it is hereby ordered that the Quartermaster General of the United States Arm: “shall cause to be printed and to be placed in every General and Post Hospital of the Army, blank books and forms corresponding with. the accompanying duplicate forms, for preserving said records. The Quartermaster will also provide proper means for a registered head-board, to be secured at the head of each soldier’s grave, as directed in the following Special Order to Commanding Officers, in reference to the interment of deceased soldiers:

It is hereby ordered that whenever any soldier or officer of the United States Army dies, it shall be the duty of the commanding officer of the military corps or department in which such person dies, to cause the regulation and forms provided in the foregoing directions to the Quartermaster General to be properly executed. It is also ordered that any Adjutant, or Acting Adjutant (or commander) of a military post or company, immediately upon the reception of a copy of any mortuary record from a military company, shall transmit the same to the Adjutant General at Washington.

By ORDER:

THOMAS, Adjutant General[3]

If only it was to be that easy – by assigning responsibility and creating forms – to ensuring that dead soldiers were properly attended to and humanely buried. Ultimately, the numbers of many battlefield dead made mass burials necessary and often for the dead of both sides. Perhaps because of its novelty or because it generated intense personal reactions, Illinois soldiers wrote home about such burials after battles.

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, May 21, 1863, to wife, Julia, and children

this leaves me as usual in good health, but the weather here is getting very warm and a great many of our men are gitting sick there has been a large Army here so long and notwithstanding all the precaution that has been taken you cannot go a hundred yards in any direction from Camp without being stifled by the stench ariseing from the filth of evry description there has been hundreds of horses and mules killed and died here during the winter and spring they have tried to burn some and buried many but the stench will arise then the Battle field and near where we fought and in many cases the dead especially where the Rebles buried were not half buried all things considered I am affraid we will have it very sickley here if we are compelled much longer to stay but we are as cleanly and concious as possible.

—Captain Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

“My War Experience,” presented April 12, 1888, in Chicago, Illinois, at a veteran reunion

In the fall of 1863 . . . I enlisted, at the age of 16 years . . . Chickamauga, another of those historic battle grounds passed many months after the battle, when we could see the marks, stern war had left, – when the dead had the excuse of a burial, by lying upon the ground, with a little dirt thrown over them – not enough to leave a covering after the storms of one winter had passed; we could see face, hands and feet of the unknown, in many cases. trees shattered by the cannon ball, and pierced by the bullet, all made an impression on the mind of a boy soldier that can never be forgotten.

—Lewis Lake, former private, 1st Light Artillery, Winnebago County

It is difficult to describe the sights and smells of the aftermath of battle, but it probably is an experience no one forgets who has witnessed it.[4] And Illinois soldiers certainly wrote about it. Below, a soldier who did not participate directly in the Battle of Antietam, Maryland, gives a fleeting impression of the battlefield a few days afterwards.

camp near Williamsport, Maryland, September 21, 1862, to brother-in-law, Mr. William A. Tunnell

We heard firing all day long in this direction [at Antietam] from Green castle, and since found that a very serious battle has been fought near this place resulting in the defeat of the rebels—with the loss of about 40,000 [this is a gross exaggeration], so reported, many of whomm lie still unburied. We passed only along the edge of the field, and the stench could hardly be bourn—It seems that the rebels had not time to bury their own dead before they left being so hard pressed McClelland [Union general McClellan’s] army are still watching them they have possession of Williams port

—Private Winthrop Allen, 12th Cavalry, Greene County

For battlefield deaths, volume and time often conspired against providing individual or even decent burial. It was usually the victorious side’s duty and opportunity, as they were in command of the battlefield, to care for the wounded and bury the dead. Sometimes there were truces on both sides to share those duties, such as the day after the Battle of Antietam. Generally, the victors took more care and time burying their own fallen soldiers than those of the enemy.[5]

Bowling Green, Kentucky, February 16, 1862, to wife, Grace

last Sunday myself and several officers of the regiment took a ride over battle field of Chic[k]amauga we went over the whole field and of course we took a special interest in the parts where our regiment fought the trees in some places are Cut down so much by the artilery that it looks as if a tornado had swept over the field, all the trees and stumps are pluged all over with bullits it is astonishing to think that any one could have come of[f?] safe without being hit, at the place where we made the last stand the ground is Covered with Cartridge papers which in itself shows how desperate the struggle must have been, all the buildings that were on the field had been burnt down by the exploding shells every thing looked desolate, every hundred yards you would come upon a little graveyard where the rebels had been buried with head boards giving the name of the men regiment &c. our own men were Covered over where they fell they had dug a ditch about six in[“ch”? – damaged, missing paper]es deep on each side of the body throwing the earth over it, that was all they did for any [of] our men that most of the bodies they left without burial, our own troops had to do it after the Battle of Missionary Ridge, when we again got possession of the Battle field of Chic[k]amauga

—Captain Alexander Raffen, 19th Infantry, Cook County

It was often up to the officers, or in the following letter – an officer’s soldier, to write to bereaved family and friends about a death on the battlefield and the final disposition of the body.

In the field near Bermuda Hundred, Viginia, August 19, 1864, to Mrs. Chauncey Williams

I send you enclosed a lock of hair and one Shoulder strap the only relics of your noble husband, and our brave and honored Captain, who fell on the 16^th inst while bravely leading his men on to victory. After the fight I search the field for his body but could not find it. In the afternoon we were driven back, and the battle field remained in possession of the rebels. – The next day, under a flag of truce we recovered the bodies of our dead. = The body of our dear Captain was placed in my charge, and I had it conveyed to where our other fallen Officers were buried, and there we intered him as best we Could.- no boards could be had. In my rubber [blanket] we wound him, made his bed of pine boughs, and then “Slowly and sadly we laid him down from the field of his fame fresh and gory”.[6] As I stood over him in the grave, and fixed his head for the last time, he looked so natural I could hardly realize that I never should see him more, and almost mechanically I stooped down and cut enclosed lock of hair from his forehead. I keep part and always shall as a most sacred momento of our fallen brave.

This shoulder strap was all that was left him, his pants and boots had been taken by the rebels, and even the buttons cut off his vest. = Capt expected to die, he said to me only a short time since privately. Will I shall never go home again. To true too true was his prop[h]ecy. – he has fallen, the noble the good, the brave, Captain has fallen, another victim to this vile rebellion. = At one time victory seemed doubtful for our boys. Capt Jumped up on a log and waving his sword shouted, “Boys we go into them pits or fall [die]”. he fell from the log, pierced through the brain by a minnie ball, and it is supposed died instantly. The ball entered immediately behind the ear passing through the head.

Mary we deeply sympathize with you in your sore affliction. May God give you courage to beat it, and be a support to yourself and Fatherless child. We have done the best we could with his body. it was impossible to send him home, he had been dead so long His grave is marked with a pine head board, on which I carved, Capt Chauncey Williams Co H, 39^th Reg Ill Vol, Killed in battle Aug 16 1864.

Mary, good bye. I can write no more as we are ordered to fall in. With great respect, Yours Truly

—Private William R. Morley, 39th Infantry, DeWitt County

It is no wonder that accurate counts of the Civil War dead are nigh impossible. Although company roll calls could be conducted after a battle, it often was not known which of the missing were dead and still on the field, dead and already buried, wounded at the hospital or still on the field, captured, AWOL, or still able and looking for their own regiments.

[1] At the Battle of Corinth (3-4 October 1862), there were about 4,700 killed and wounded – Union and Confederate losses combined – compared to almost 20,000 at the Battle of Shiloh (6-7 April 1862).

[2] JoAnna M. McDonald, “We Shall Meet Again:” The First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) (Oxford University Press, 2000), 174-75.

[3] A copy of this order is found on page 158 of the following: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/book/General_Orders_War_Dept_1861-63-1.pdf

[4] Meg Groeling, The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead, Emerging Civil War Series (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie LLC, 2015) is worth mentioning here.

[5] This paragraph is essentially from pages 210-11 of the book.

[6] “Slowly and sadly we laid him down, / From the field of his fame fresh and gory; / We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, / But left him alone with his glory.” from “The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna” (1817) by Charles Wolfe, about Lt. Gen. Sir John Moore who died 16 June 1808 fighting the French.

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Harding letters in 1861 Illinois (added 11 June 2021)

Michael C. of South Carolina provided me with images of two letters from May 1861 by Illinois Musician John R. Harding.[1] What do these letters tell us about the early months of the Civil War?

The letters are dated 18 and 23 May 1861 and both from “Camp Hardin” at Villa Ridge (Pulaski County), Illinois. Villa Ridge was a place created in the 1850s by the Illinois Central Railroad. It is about eight miles directly north of Cairo, which was the southern terminus of the Illinois Central.

Camp Hardin, Villa Ridge, Illinois, May 23, 1861, to “Friend Noble”[2]

I think I have easy times now, for I dont have anything to do except play the fife, but after I get through writing this I will have to go and make a mud digger of myself.

Col. [Benjamin M.] Prentiss, the commander of this Brigade, was up here tuesday, and he told us he wanted us to dig the dirt to help fortify cairo, and at seven this morning our Company commences. we go alongside the railroad and fill a lot of cars. Prentiss seemed pleased with our appearance and drill, and he made us a speech, telling us, that in ten days we would be in comfortable quarters with our fellow soldiers, and in twenty days we would change climate for the better.

—Musician John R. Harding, 11th Infantry, Stephenson County

The 11^th Illinois Infantry, a 90-day regiment, was one of the original six regiments Illinois and Governor Yates provided when President Lincoln called for 75,000 soldiers immediately after the fall of Fort Sumter in mid-April 1861. At that time, it was quickly realized that Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, was an important strategic location. Union troops, such as the 11^th Infantry, were sent to Cairo as soon as possible to help secure and fortify it. Starting on 5 May, this regiment was assigned to Villa Ridge with one of its assignments to “fill a lot of [railroad] cars” with “dirt to help fortify cairo.” Cairo, at the southernmost point of Illinois and with land representing the state’s lowest elevation, was surrounded with earthen levees to keep the rivers’ periodic floodwaters at bay. Presumably, more earthworks were needed for what became Fort Defiance, cannon emplacements, and other fortifications.

As of 17 May 1861, Colonel Prentiss was made a brigadier general, although it is possible Prentiss and the soldiers of the 11^th regiment on 23 May still were waiting for official confirmation of his promotion.[3] (The 11^th Illinois Infantry regiment’s commander was Colonel William H. L. Wallace, who was to famously participate at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, in April 1862.) Subsequently, however, the 11^th Infantry Regiment was still at Villa Ridge until 20 June and not as was announced: “in ten days we would be in comfortable quarters with our fellow soldiers.” After 20 June, the regiment was relocated to Bird’s Point, Missouri, to do mainly garrison duty while more recruitment proceeded. Bird’s Point is south of Cairo across the Mississippi River and served as an overflow location for Union troops around Cairo, which had limited space within its levees.

Harding mentioned “I dont have anything to do except play the fife.” I have read other letters by musicians but it is rare that I find out what instrument(s) a musician plays. Field musicians mainly consisted of fife and drum players, one of each in each company. And especially early in the war, playing their instruments as instructed was their main duty. However, musicians might be assigned other tasks depending on the circumstances, such as serving as hospital stewards or, as in Harding’s case, digging dirt.

He also provided some other music-related insights.

Camp Hardin, Villa Ridge, Illinois, May 18, 1861, to “Friend Noble”

Last night was the best we have had since we left Freeport. Company A fell into it a lock step and went to company B, then they fell in, and so on till they came to company K they then marched in lock step to head quarters and called the colonel out, who made us a splended speech, which was well received by the boys, after which we sang the star spangled banner, red, white & blue, and concluded by singing the old Hundred. The boys then came to our quarters and called out Capt [Smith D.] Atkins [of Co. A] who responded in a brief speech. The Freeport boys then called on Bill Youngman, who came in the ring, and acquited himself better than I expected.[4]

—Musician John R. Harding

Harding mentions three popular songs by name, all of which well predate the Civil War. The first two were national anthems. “Red, White and Blue” is also known as “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean.” “Old Hundred” (or, “Old Hundredth”) was a traditional hymn and refers to the 100th Psalm. In any case, these would be songs to which most soldiers would know the words and melodies.[5] Harding also mentions a songbook he received from or through “Friend Noble,” who possibly was back home in Stephenson County.

Camp Hardin, May 18, 1861

I write you these few lines, to return you my sincere thanks for your kindness in sending those things . . . I have made the mattress and it is far better than lying on the floor, but the music book has gave the camp more pleasure than any other one thing. the different Companies are after me continually trying to borrow it.

—Musician John R. Harding

Like so many soldiers away from home, even after a few weeks, Harding mentions the quality (and sometimes the quantity) of army food.

Camp Hardin, May 23, 1861

it is pretty hard living to live on government rations, but we have got along first rate since we had those things sent us from freeport. They gave us fresh meat every day while we were in Springfield, but since we have been here we have had fresh meat twice. I suppose they were drawing us on. I had chicken for breakfast yesterday morning, that was cooked in Freeport and it was first rate. things that I did not care about at home, taste first rate now. . . . lots of the boys have large boxes of cook’d provisions sent to them from home, and sometimes I get a good meal from them, but I have got cheated this morning. I commenced writing this letter about 5 o clock, or as soon as we had played the reveille, and I did not know breakfast was ready, but it struck me that things were a little to quiet, and when I went out, they had got everything eat up except bread.

—Musician John R. Harding

“First rate” means “the best.”

Musician Harding also had another talent, and it was his pre-war occupation.

Camp Hardin, May 18, 1861

Since I commenced writing the fatigue dress [h]as came for this company. they are made out of Grey sattinette (roundabout & pants) and they are the hardest clothes I have seen in a long time. the ones I have is about 4 sizes to large for me. the pants are 34 in the leg & 34 waist, and the roundabout about 37 brest, and to get it to fit me I would have to take it all to peices.

—Musician John R. Harding

Camp Hardin, May 23, 1861

We are having pretty fine weather this week, it is cool mornings & evenings, but pretty warm in day time. I have altered my uniform, and I have now a pretty goo[d] fit and I have put a red stripe down my pants, about an inch wide. . . .

The Adjutant wants to get me a Regimental tailor [position or situation], but [Captain] Atkins is not willing to part with me. I heard him tell the adjutant that I was the most usefull man in his company.

—Musician John R. Harding

As a closing point for this posting, Harding faced an important decision less than a month after he was mustered into the service. That May, Union military leaders were realizing the 90-day enlistments were woefully too brief to organize, train, and equip citizen-soldiers, let alone use them in any military actions.

Camp Hardin, May 23, 1861

We had quite an excitement last sunday, about volunteering for three years, or during the war. I have signed the paper which was drawn up for that purpose.

—Musician John R. Harding

Although not mustered into the 3-year version of the 11^th Illinois Infantry until 30 July 1861, Musician Harding was one of 288 soldiers from this regiment who agreed to rejoin “for three years, or during the war,” whichever came first.[6] One of the main reasons the regiment was assigned to Bird’s Point was to have time for soldier recruitment to bring it back up to full strength (usually about 800 – 1,000 soldiers). That took until well into the fall of 1861.

John Harding, born in England, was 25 years old when he joined the 90-day 11^th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He left the 3-year 11^th Illinois in June 1863 to accept a military promotion, perhaps as a junior-grade officer, in the 48^th U.S. Colored Troops. He married shortly after the war and started a family with his wife, Elizabeth. According to the 1870 decennial census, they (with 2-year-old daughter Carrie) were living in Bloomington, Illinois, where Harding worked as a postal clerk. In 1890, he died at age 54 and was buried at the Freeport City Cemetery. Elizabeth had died in 1879, at age 37.

[1] “Musician” was a title/rank in the Federal army during the Civil War. It was about the same or a little above the rank of Private.

[2] “Friend Noble” is presumably an associate back in Stephenson County, from which all of Company A of the 11^th Illinois Infantry Regiment was raised (and specifically from Freeport). The regiment was originally organized in Springfield.

[3] Prentiss was a Mexican War veteran and, in April 1861, he initially was commissioned the colonel of the 10^th Illinois Infantry Regiment.

[4] It is unclear who Bill Youngman was and it seems doubtful he was a soldier. It is possible he was a guest from Freeport or Stephenson County (e.g., town official, newspaper reporter). In Harding’s 23 May letter, he wrote to “Friend Noble” that “I think bill Youngman slightly colored his view of Camp Hardin, but probably he saw it from a different stand point from what I did. he lived with the officers while he was here.”

[5] All of these songs and more are discussed in the following: Christiam McWhirter, Battle Hymes: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012).

[6] Soldiers in the 90-day 11^th Illinois Infantry Regiment were mustered in on 30 April 1861 and thus, for those rejoining, 30 July was the same day they were mustered out of the 90-day and into the 3-year regiment.

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Guerrilla warfare in Illinois (part 2) (added 4 June 2021)

As read in the book, Illinois soldiers had to deal with Confederate guerrilla warfare in the South. Were there any guerrilla encounters in the state of Illinois?

The undertones of guerrilla warfare in Illinois during the Civil War can be summarized as crimes both high and low. The high crimes were various forms of sedition, such as anti-government secret societies, harboring army fugitives and encouraging avoidance of the draft, and subversion of legal processes. The low crimes were robbery, horse thievery, murder, and harshly settling personal scores, be those political, personal, or otherwise. Both the high and low were done in Illinois using the war as both cause and cover.[1]

Head Quarters Div of Cairo Cairo April 27^th 1863

Brig. Gen. [Alexander] Asboth

Dr Sir

. . . The deserters and the Knights of the Golden Circle are numerous all over Illinois.

The Provost Marshal here has anonymous letters from nearly all the little towns, saying they fear an outbreak, and fear to communicate their names. . . .

You ought to get a good Regt for Anna, Big Muddy Bridge, and Marion – I will help you capture 600 Deserters & all the traitors, if not prevented.

. . . Had Marmaduke succeeded at Cape Girardeau yesterday, we would have had a raid in Illinois[2]

Write me — Your friend And Obt Servt

[signed] N. B. Buford Brig. Gen. Comdg[3]

In part 1, I provided examples of citizens’ Southern Confederacy fears and suspicions mainly in southern Illinois in the early part of the war. However, guerrilla-like actions in Illinois were hardly confined to that portion of the state nor just early in the war. Here is a lieutenant’s report to Brigadier General James Ammen, who in April 1863 was the new commander of the District of Illinois after a stint as commander of Camp Douglas near Chicago.

April 24 1863 Springfield Ill

Brig. Gen. J. Ammen,

. . . [at Salem, Marion County] I found Dr. William White a man of influence, and apparently of honor, though undoubtedly a dangerous traitor.

As per order I arrested him, not without difficulty. . . . I gave him a Parole till 9 ½ oclock next morning, (Apr 23^rd) which Parole he has violated, and could not be found. . . . I ascertained that secret organizations known as K. G. C’s were numerous, and evidently organized for disloyal purposes —–

Inflammatory speeches are made, incendiary periodicals, and publications are circulated, and threats of the destruction of the property, and the death of Loyal persons, are so rife as to excite in them apprehensions of alarm, and members of Loyal citizens have been driven from their houses —-

Prominent men are scouring the county holding meetings of secret societies almost nightly, and often daily.

In numerous instances which can be proven they have counseled resistance to the enforcement of the laws, characterized the Govt as “Damned & Doomed,” as “No Govt,” &c, &c, and its acts as a “Crusade to free the negro and enslave the white man,” —- These utterances are exciting the people to overt acts of disloyalty, weakening the Govt. in that district, and are the results of the incessant labors of a few bad men to undermined the Govt —- . . .

The K. G. C’s meet for drill, armed, and people are turned back from the road on which they are drilling by armed Guards . . .

[signed] James E. Moss 1^st Lt. 58^th Illinois vols[4]

K. G. C. = Knights of the Golden Circle, which was a quasi-secret society predicated on promoting slavery and expanding a Southern Confederation into the Caribbean, Mexico, and northern South America. Its membership was never particularly large and generally represented the interests of large slaveholders in the South. In Illinois, some members promoted it as a “Peace Society,” although that may have been done in an attempt to stop the war by making peace with the Confederacy to protect and continue slavery. The KGC was generally considered a “Copperhead” or a “Peace Democrat” offshoot in the North.

Colonel George R. Clarke, another one of General Ammen’s subordinates, was sent to control guerrilla activities in west-central Illinois. Colonel Clarke found a band of some 300, “organized to harbor & protect deserters, & to resist the Provost Marshal.” When his soldiers tried to disperse the band, they had fled and made themselves scarce. “Whole neighborhoods had gone visiting – so said the women & children,” Clarke reported. Eventually, some were arrested for “tearing up Rail Road track” or “shooting at, and arresting peaceable Union men.” Here are some excerpts from the summary in his report.

Head Quarters, Camp Manchester, Scott County, Ill., Nov 28^th 1863

1^st There is a large organization of traitors & desperate men, extending through the Central and Southern portions of the state. . . .

2^nd These men are quite well drilled by deserters, and recruiting officers from the so-called Southern Confederacy, but are poorly armed . . .”[5]

3^rd The outbreak in Scott & Green[e] counties referred to above was premature and hence they are trying to keep out of the way of U.S. troops. . . .

[4^th expecting a supply of good rifles and 5^th they have military organization]

6^th Their Leader lives in Chicago . . .

7^th The ostensible object of this organization is to protect deserters from arrest and to force ably resist any draft, but I have good reason to believe that the real object is to bring upon the Southern & Central portions of this state, the same system of Guerrilla warfare lately prevailing in Mo. Ky. & Tenn. – And that the head leaders are in the confidence & pay of Jeff. Davis. . . .

[signed] George R. Clarke, Lieut. Col. 113^th Regt. Ill. Vol. Inf., Comd’g U.S. forces at Manchester, Ill.[6]

While it is doubtful the leaders were “in the confidence & pay of Jeff. Davis” or actually going to receive a supply of good rifles (other than possibly from other, similar outlaw bands), Colonel Clarke’s report contains some interesting observations about the nature of guerrilla warfare in Illinois. It is somewhat ironic that many of the men avoiding Federal conscription ended up being in military-like deserter/outlaw or guerrilla armies, albeit without pay and partially for criminal purposes against fellow citizens. The “tearing up Rail Road track” was to help prevent U.S. soldiers from coming into their stronghold areas or, if captured, from taking prisoners (especially the ringleaders) to camps Butler or Douglas.

Even northwest Illinois was not without seditionist activities.

Gen Ammen Galesburg, Illinois, April 25 1863 [Knox County]

Dear Sir

I understand from the papers that you have charge of millitary matters in this state. Such being the fact I wish to learn from you how to proceed to exterminate the rebels in this part of Illinois —- In parts of this County negroes are not allowed to work for the respectable farmers: Meetings are openly held denouncing the war and proposing opposition to any draft – Cheers open and loud for Jeff Davis – Is there any remedy? Please let me hear from [you] in regard to this matter ——

Most Respt yours,

[signed] J. F. Dunn Mayor Galesburg

A note on the back of this letter stated “Answered April 29^th 1863,” although one wonders regarding the nature of the response given the more serious nature of the offenses elsewhere in the state. There was an ill-defined and wavering line somewhere between freedom of expression and treasonous activities. Locally, there were elected leaders, such as mayors and sheriffs, who sometimes were complicit in abetting guerrilla activities. For example, an Alton Telegraph newspaper article titled “Illinois Guerrillas” from 19 August 1864 described acts of horse-thieving, robberies and such that was causing a general state of terror among the citizenry. However, it also noted these acts were sometimes committed with a blind eye by the local (Democrat) sheriff’s office. “If there is anything in the terrible crisis which tries the patriotism and patience of loyal men, it is the fact that in too many instances the very worst and most mischievous men in the community are those holding offices . . .” [7]

There was a similar undertone regarding the so-called Charleston riot in east-central Illinois on 28 March 1864. As it happened, members of the 54^th Illinois Infantry Regiment were on reenlistment furloughs and in the area. Normally, the presence of soldiers tended to make guerrillas and deserters disperse, but these were soldiers more or less on their own reconnaissance in Charleston. “Particularly irritating to Democrats was the behavior of soldiers home on leave, who drank and flaunted their patriotism a little too much. They frequently publicly embarrassed reputed Copperheads; often prominent citizens, by making them kneel down and swear allegiance to the United States. In nearby Paris and Mattoon, Democrats were killed by soldiers. . . . Sheriff John O’Hair and ex-Congressman Olando B. Ficklin, both Democrats, tried without results to get fellow party members to go home or to remain inside the [Coles County] courthouse.”[8] The end result was one of the bloodiest Civil War guerrilla-influenced conflicts in Illinois, which left nine people dead and several others wounded. Although there were many arrests afterwards, some fugitives left the state and none of those captured were ever tried for criminal charges.

Regarding Mattoon, it should be noted that Union-leaning citizens felt threatened by local secessionist activities. Quite often in localities throughout Illinois there were mutually escalating fears and retaliations that led to bloodshed.

Mattoon Illinois June 16^th 1863

General Buford, Commanding Post at Cairo,

. . . We are threatened here by the Surrounding Secessionist[s] numbering, and drilling constantly in bodies of from fifty (50) to five hundred (500) strong . . . [and that] we Shall be driven from our City . . .

[signed] B. Pilkington, Mayor

There were other “riots” elsewhere in Illinois, but generally not so melee-like as at Charleston. For example, north of Charleston and in Danville (Vermilion County), there were at least two riot or mob-inciting incidents. The first occurred on 24 August 1863 and started over a man’s snatching of a partisan’s “butternut pin” from his coat lapel. That kerfuffle escalated to a fight, a shot being fired, and then later another man was fatally shot, which was followed with an intention of burning down the town. The burning was averted. Separately, on 1 October 1864, after local members of the 25^th Illinois Infantry Regiment had been mustered out, a few ex-soldiers were lured into a Danville store and shot, killing one of them. The shooters fled, but a retaliatory rabble formed to apprehend at least one of the alleged culprits. However, when he gave himself up after a plea for legal justice, crowd members beat, shot and killed him on the spot. In other words, it was revenge in the form of “mob justice.”[9]

A list of all the reported and rumored guerrilla-like, war-fueled incidents in Illinois would be a very long one, and so I have only included a few examples. Suffice it to say there were provost marshals harassed and killed, roaming covert bands of horse-thieves and deserters, and secret societies that mainly met after dark that had seditionist aims and furthering lawless agendas. As a reaction to that, in Illinois there were local chapters of the Union League of America that sprung up during the Civil War as an anti-sedition organization. That is, when Confederate sympathizers in Illinois felt a need to band together, some Unionists did similarly to protect and promote their interests.

One of the more infamous sets of terrorists was the so-called Clingman or Klingman gang. It is not even clear if there was an actual ringleader named Clingman. Be that as it may, perhaps the gang’s heyday was during its summer 1864 tenure in Montgomery County. From a wooded area west of Van Burensburg, the gang members practiced criminality in the forms of horse-stealing, robbery, and murder. “Several persons were indicted on charges of disloyalty to the United States, but none was ever brought to trial.”[10] The gang ultimately was disbanded and the leader, it was claimed, returned to Missouri. A related story is that the Clingman gang boss may have been Josiah Woods, who ultimately was lynched and killed in Missouri for an incident unrelated to the earlier Illinois activities. However, the details of this ringleader’s arrival and final retreat, whomever he was, remain a part of the Clingman gang enigma.

As a reader, if one of your impressions of all of the above is that the guerrilla-like activities in Illinois during the Civil War were murky, generally poorly documented and often criminal-like, then it can be appreciated that such warfare is both tough to define but yet somewhat recognizable when it was practiced. What is clear was that many rural and small-town citizens, especially, were terrified by the local political divisions that were fomented and fueled by the Civil War and by those who took advantage of it.

[1] I again refer to the phrase I mentioned in part 1: “the devil likes to fish in muddy waters.”

[2] Confederate general Marmaduke’s forces unsuccessfully attacked Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as well as skirmished at Jackson, Missouri on 26 April 1863.

[3] Ammen Papers, boxed collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Interestingly, N. B. Buford = Napolean Bonaparte Buford.

[4] Ammen Papers, boxed collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

[5] Elsewhere in his report, Colonel Clarke noted he had captured some arms, which consisted of “Spring field & Enfield Rifled Muskets, but most of them were squirrel rifles and double barreled shot guns, loaded with buck shot. – All the prisoners have been sent to camp Butler, Ill.”

[6] Ammen Papers, boxed collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

[7] This article is described in the book: Carl L. Stanton, They Called It Treason: An Account of Renegades, Copperheads, Guerrillas, Bushwhackers and Outlaw Gangs that Terrorized Illinois During the Civil War (Bunker Hill, Illinois: C. Stanton, 2002), 43, 45.

[8] Donald Tingley, “The Copperheads in Illinois” Illinois Civil War Sketches, No. 5 (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1963), 3.

[9] They Called It Treason, 178-81.

[10] “The Copperheads in Illinois,” 4.

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Guerrilla warfare in Illinois (part 1) (added 28 May 2021)

As read in the book, Illinois soldiers had to deal with Confederate guerrilla warfare in the South. Were there any guerrilla encounters in the state of Illinois?

Paducah, Kentucky, September 15, 1861, to brother and sister

the Union men [citizens] are coming back to town every day knowing that they will be protected while we are here from a lawless lot of Rebels that commanded the town before we arrived here we had one of our men beat to death day we arrived here he was out with us to burn the Bridge and as we was coming Back to town he wandered away in the wood by himself for some purpose and as it was dark we did not miss him untill roll call and next day a scouting Party went in search for him and found him on the Bank of Railroad with his skull all smashd in that you could have seen his Brains and his face and body beat to a jelley he lived 6 days after we found him but not senceble to tell how it happend but we suppose it was some of the seceshers that live near the Bridge and we have arrested one man on suspicion but we cant prove nothing against him for want of evidence

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Infantry, Madison County

The short answer is, yes, there were guerrilla-like fights and encounters within the borders of Illinois. However, the Illinois incidents were minor in comparison to what often occurred in Union army-occupied Southern states and where such actions were more in the name of warfare. The guerrilla activities in Illinois were often quasi-citizens against other citizens (especially when soldiers were not around) and thus shaded into lawlessness. A nineteenth-century expression was “the devil likes to fish in muddy waters.”[1] In this case, societal turbulence afforded opportunities for mischief and criminal activities.

To provide context, it would be useful to define guerrilla warfare as practiced in the Civil War.[2] Within the Confederacy, guerrillas were those engaged in irregular warfare, meaning not in open battles but more like partisans taking advantage of hit-and-run or ambush situations. There were some official Confederate guerrillas in “detached service” as raiders or rangers but, through the course of the war, this was more of the exception. Guerrillas operating around their own localities was closer to the norm, although their motivations varied.[3] These guerrilla bands could be much more independent and, in some respects, waging their own war(s) and for their own purposes.

Marietta, Georgia, August 12, 1864, to a “Dear Friend”

I hear that there is about a hundred Bushwhackers south of Franklin [TN]. . . . if any thing I hate it is to see a man skulking in the rear in time of action and that is the same way with them up there I expect that a good many of them are Refugees from the South men that ought never to have come inside of our lines.

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry (Consolidated), Morgan County

Union soldiers often referred to Confederate guerrillas as “bushwhackers,” a rather derogatory term that implies being fired upon from a place of concealment. (And, indeed, there are plenty of examples of this in the book.) In turn, the idea of bushwhackers could include outlaws, deserters, and ruffians who would kill or take and destroy property for their own purposes, whether that meant to support the principles of the war or for their own personal betterment. And I do not mean the previous statement as an either/or proposition. Sutherland summarizes that definitions of what constitutes guerrilla warfare are “elusive” and the number of guerrillas, especially on the Confederate side, is unknown and essentially unknowable.[4]

Both deep in the Confederacy and closer to Illinois, it was difficult for the Federals to guard against every ambush opportunity or retaliate when guerrilla activities occurred. One option was to hold the local citizenry responsible for such depravations, making the assumption that they are supplying or otherwise harboring the guerrillas.

Camp Lyon, Bird’s Point, Missouri, February 3, 1862, to wife

the[y] are shooting our picket guard every few nights The other night four Cavalry men were shot dead about three miles from camp. Col. Payne sent out about 100 cavalry, and arrested every man within 6 miles of camp. There is about 30 Secesh prisoners here now. Col. Bird and his two sons are here under guard. It looks pretty hard when a man has his fields converted into a Camp and then furnish the whole institution in wood.

—1st Sergeant Daniel Messick, 32nd Infantry, Macoupin County

Bird’s Point is south of Cairo across the Mississippi River and, especially early in the war, served as an overflow area for Union soldiers massing for operations that sent them into the Confederacy.

In Illinois, particularly in its southern reaches and toward the beginning of the war, there were guerrilla-like activities and rumors of invasion. As a result, there was general watchfulness by Union-leaning citizens as well as key railroad passages guarded by soldiers.

Camp Lyon, Bird’s Point, Missouri, February 3, 1862, to wife

From Jonesboro to Cairo the road is guarded all the way. There is quite a number of troops quartered at Jonesboro.[5]

—1st Sergeant Daniel Messick, 32nd Infantry, Macoupin County

Cairo, Illinois, May 1, 1861, to Maggie Sargent

we are Surrounded by Cecessionists Southern Ills is full of Cecessionists we have Guards up the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and Ills., Ce[n]tral R. R. for ten miles with Cannons and Light Infantry

—Private William Austin, 8th Infantry, Coles County

Especially at the beginning of hostilities, there were Union leaders concerned about Cairo being attacked or captured by the Confederates because of its strategic position at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Ultimately, Governor Yates promptly sent newly-mustered soldiers to secure Cairo while, as it turned out, the Confederacy also was months away from organizing and training troops that could be used for any offensive purposes. Still, in 1861, some of the southern Illinois citizenry felt threatened.

Paris, Illinois [Edgar County], July 30, 1861, to Governor Richard Yates

Dear Sir: ____

It would seem from the Telegraphic Information, that there is a very strong probability, of an attack, at no distant day, upon our troops at Cairo. . . . What are our resources for defence, in case Cairo should be attacked with an overwhelming force from the South? . . . What portion of the Free States, is so much exposed, at that portion of Indiana and Illinois which lies between the northern border of Ky., and the northern border of Mo? Surely none. . . . If Illinois should ever be successfully invaded by the Southerners, mark my words, a hundred citizens of Edgar County will Join [double underlined] their ranks! We have men, excuse the expression, monsters who huzza “for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy.”

[signed] S. York[6]

While the writer thought his portion of Illinois “much exposed” relative to the Southerners, later in the war Cairo proved to be more than a thorn in the side of the Confederacy and from which emanated Federal armies that invaded the South’s western states.

Cave-in-Rock, Illinois [Hardin County], December 3, 1861, to friend, Miss Lizzie Simpson

We came away up here One Hundred and Eight miles to procure stone for building up the fort at Cairo. There are only 55 of our company here, though, there is one company here from the 29^th reg. The weather has been so very disagreeable that we have done but little work as yet. One company from the 22^nd has been working here and have done more mischief than good. They have thrown the stone into the coal boats with such force that they are leaking, and we will now be obliged to remove the stone and mend the boats before we can go on with our work. . . . There are about Two Hundred Rebels about Nine miles from here, ravaging the country and driving out all the Union men. It makes a person feel sad to see these men crossing over [the Ohio River] daily to this place, having left their property and many of them their families behind. One good union man told me this morning that he had a large farm well improved which would make a splendid place for us to go into quarters and wanted us to go over and take possession and appropriate all to our use But we can not go without violating our orders.

—1st Sergeant William Browning, 27th Infantry, Pike County

It was not just the soldiers and farmers who were concerned about incursions into Illinois from across the Ohio River. The following letter was written from Pope, the county just to the west of Hardin.

Golconda, Illinois [Pope County], July 29, 1861, to Governor Richard Yates

Dear Sir

I beg . . .to . . . present to your Excellency the destitute condition of this Town and vacinity, and the perilous situation that we Occupy in consequence of the Beligerent attitude assumed by our neighbors in Southern Kentucky. they are all the time recruiting and raising companies for the aid of the South, and we know not what day or night we may be attacked, by them in this position of the state where nothing but the Ohio River intervenes between us and the rebbels. . . . To render our situation more critical a few of our citizens having southern sympathies have left this side of the river and are now in Ky. making Speeches, and other ways inflaming the people of that state against us.

[signed] John Gilbert[7]

In southern Illinois, and in Egypt especially, Union families were in the minority, if Republican voting in the 1860 presidential election is a reliable indicator.[8] Among the sixteen counties of Egypt, about 18 percent voted for Abraham Lincoln, or less than one in five who cast a ballot voted for Lincoln. Among the southern-most seven counties, 10 percent voted for Lincoln, or one in ten.[9] The majority of the remaining ballots were cast for one of the two Democratic candidates: Stephen A. Douglas or John C. Breckinridge.

Friendsville, Illinois [Wabash County], June 6, 1861, to Governor Richard Yates

Several of our young men returned from Camp Anna [Union County] through the Southern counties and they report secessionism rampant from what they saw they are of the opinion that a large Majority of the people in those counties are disaffected towards the Government . . . give us some arms and we will sustain the honor and authority of our governments. . . . Since the death of our much esteemed fellow citizen the lamentable Douglas I am afraid Secession will increase in Egypt . . . The returned volunteers report the town of Marion in Williamson County is very hostile to the government in furnishing men for the Southern Army.

[signed] William R. Wilkinson[10]

Once the war began but before his untimely 3 June 1861 death, Stephen A. Douglas was firmly against the secessionists. In April, after the surrender of Fort Sumter, he appealed directly to Illinoisians to oppose the treason and the rebellion fomenting in the South. And in particular regarding southern Illinois, John A. Logan, a Douglas Democrat and a southern Illinoisian elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, fought at the battle of the First Bull Run. He subsequently, and still early in the war, raised and was colonel of the 31^st Illinois Infantry regiment. Both Douglas’s and Logan’s actions helped sway many to become “war” Democrats and oppose the South’s secession. But hardly all Illinois Democrats (and others) were so moved.

So far, I have not addressed the actual guerrilla warfare in Illinois, but the above descriptions set the scene for what is to come in part 2, which will include examples of various Illinois incidents.

[1] This might be attributable to evangelist George Whitefield, but I am not certain.

[2] Daniel E. Sutherland, A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009) carefully explains the essence and nuances of guerrilla warfare during the Civil War.

[3] Ibid., xi.

[4] Ibid., xii.

[5] Jonesboro is in Union County and about 35 miles north of Cairo.

[6] Yates Family Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. York added after his signature, “written in haste.” A Governor Yates secretary denoted the letter had been answered by his office.

[7] Ibid. A Governor Yates secretary denoted the letter had been answered.

[8] The “Egypt” (or “Little Egypt”) portion of Illinois is represented by the following southern counties: Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Hardin, Pope, Johnson, Union, Jackson, Williamson, Saline, Gallatin, White, Hamilton, Franklin, Perry, and Randolph. Others sometimes define it more inclusively or as the southern third of the state.

[9] John Moses, Illinois Historical and Statistical, vol. 2 (Chicago: Fergus Printing, 1895), 1208-09.

[10] Yates Family Collection. A Governor Yates secretary denoted the letter had been answered.

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Railroad trains and cars (part 2) (added 21 May 2021)

In the book there are several quotations where soldiers refer to “cars.” Are those always about railroad cars?

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that the 89^th Illinois Infantry was known as the “Rail Road Regiment.” It was so named because it “was organized at Chicago, Illinois, under the auspices of the several railroad companies centering in that city.”[1] This occurred in August 1862, but not all of its soldiers were railroad workers or from Chicago. For example, in Company A only 13 of the 87 original members who mustered in that August were from Chicago or Cook County. And among those 13, none of them had clear railroad-related occupations, although clerks, laborers, and carpenter could be part of the train business. Company C, however, represented a different profile. All the original members of Company C hailed from Chicago. Alphabetically, I looked at the first 25 of these and almost all of them had railroad-related jobs, such as porter, engineer, iron worker, baggage man, telegraph operator, track-master, and car repairer. (There also were two farmers and one teacher.)[2]

Merritt thematic map (image on bottom from a copy at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library)

Also among its ranks was Sergeant Major John M. Farquhar of Company B, who was awarded the Medal of Honor (in 1902) for organizing Union troops against the Confederate attack at the Battle of Stones River on 31 December 1862. His MoH citation reads: “When a break occurred on the extreme right wing of the Army of the Cumberland, this soldier rallied fugitives from other commands, and deployed his own regiment, thereby checking the Confederate advance until a new line was established.”[3]

Densla Holton letter envelope (from the Durin family collection – SC2647, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library)

The regimental motto was “Clear the Track!” According to one of its histories, in 1864: “After the unsuccessful attempt of the rebel forces to destroy the railroad communications of the army between Atlanta and Chattanooga, the Regiment rendered very important service, while on detached duty, in repairing the damages on the railroad inflicted by the enemy.”[4]

In the book, there are two solders featured from the 89^th Illinois Infantry regiment: Jacob H. Buck (Co. A) of Fulton County and Densla Holton (Co. I) of Lee County. Both were farmers. It seems neither of them wrote about railroad things, at least in these two collections of personal letters at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. The 89^th Illinois Infantry regiment participated in several major battles, including Stones River (TN), Missionary Ridge (TN), Kennesaw Mountain (GA), Franklin (TN), and Nashville (TN). In addition to these, Buck wrote about the aftermath of the Battle of Perryville (KY) and Holton described some of his experiences related to the Battle of Chickamauga (GA).

perhaps near Perryville, Kentucky, October 16, 1862, possibly to sister

a weak go yesterday they had a fight with Brags [Confederate Army of Mississippi general Braxton Bragg’s] army. the battle was faught at a little town called Perryville. I was not in the battle. I was with the provision train, and did not get there untill Saturday night after the battle. our boys had some skermishing to do with the rebels they made the Rebels run. I will tell you all I know about the battle I suppose you have heard of the battle long ago. the battle commenced at thre Oc PM. And continued untill dark our men took 4000 prisoners there was a great many killed on both sides but the rebel loss was twice as meny as ours. the rebels was forty thousand strong. the rebels left the field leaving the ded. the battle was on the 8th and on last Sunday there was about 400 that lay on the field and they was at work all the time. the rebels did not bury any of there ded. our men had to bury all of them. evry Church in that town was a hostile [hostel?] and evry house was used for a hospital

—Private Jacob Buck, 89th Infantry, Fulton County

The 89^th Illinois Infantry regiment was part of Union general Don Carlos Buell’s Army of the Ohio forces at the Battle of Perryville (or, sometimes called the Battle of Chaplin Hills). As is often the case regarding soldiers’ sources and perceptions after a major battle, Private Buck’s overall assessment of the battle is rather incorrect. (Plus, as he states, he was not there to witness it.) The battle started on the morning of 8 October 1862. However, Buck is correct that the battle continued until it got dark. After that, Bragg retreated south into eastern Tennessee. In terms of casualties, the Confederates had about 250 soldiers captured or missing (not 4,000). Regarding the dead and wounded, the Federals had about 900 killed and 2,900 wounded of about 22,000 engaged; the Confederates about 530 killed and 2,600 wounded of about 16,000 engaged. Buck also was correct about the Confederates leaving many of their dead behind on the battlefield, because the Army of Mississippi left the area. Finally, if it was not for the fact that Bragg elected to retreat after the engagement, it would be difficult to say either side won the battle.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, October 4, 1863, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

we lost one man killed & one wounded in our Compeny at the battle of Chickamauga the battle was fought about 8 miles from this place in G.a. three miles from Crawfish Spring our Regt. lost one hundred and fifty killed wounded and missing.

the division went in with 42 hundred and came out with 26 our bregade charged on A masked batrey and took it (wa[s]nt that brave) We have got our selves well fortified for the time we have been here two weeks ago to day & yestarday the hard fighting was. Bragg was Strongly reinforced with troops from Lees Army Rosecrans had no reinforcements in the time of the battle but he is getting Some now. our pickets and the Rebels are within 30 rods of one another they exchange papers about evry day.

on Sunday the rebels drove ous from the field and took two or three thousand of our wounded with it but we have got the most of them now. Some of them say that they lay on the field four and five days our dead are not baryed yet and it ant likely they evry will be. . . . I think there will be another hard battle fought here yet.

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

In contrast to Private Buck about Perryville, Private Holton made a relatively accurate assessment of the Battle of Chickamauga. According to the Merritt thematic map, there were 109 killed, wounded, and taken prisoner from the 89^th Illinois Infantry regiment on 19-20 September 1863 at Chickamauga. (Holton stated 150 but it is very possible some of the missing were subsequently accounted for after the hasty retreat from the battle site to Chattanooga.) Bragg’s army had indeed been reinforced at the time of the battle with Confederate general Longstreet’s corps, fresh from General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. And Holton’s closing statement: “I think there will be another hard battle fought here yet” also turned out to be accurate. The battles in the Chattanooga Campaign (23-25 November 1863) were certainly hard fought and opened the Union’s advance into Georgia. To cap that thought, here is another quotation from one of Holton’s letters to his uncle.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, November 8, 1863, to uncle, Gilbert E. Durin

I tell you that the Rebels have got ous in A tight place they shell ous from the front of lookout mountain every day but they dont do much hurt I think Bragg will wake up some of these fine mornings and find himself in A trap.

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

[1] Isaac N. Merritt, “Geographical History of the Rail Road Regiment: 89^th Regiment of the Illinois Volunteers Infantry,” thematic map (Chicago[?]: Charles Shober & Co., n.d.). It may have been produced between 1865 and 1870. It measures 95 x 70 cm.

[2] For comparison, among the 165 Illinois soldiers featured in the book about half reported their occupation at the time of mustering in as “farmer.”

[3] https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/john-m-farquhar

[4] Reece, Brigadier General J. N., Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois. Reports for the years 1861–1866, revised edition, vols. 1–8 (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., 1900), 5:287.

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Railroad trains and cars (part 1) (added 14 May 2021)

In the book there are several quotations where soldiers refer to “cars.” Are those always about railroad cars?

Decatur, Alabama, August 21, 1862, to wife, Mary

the Guerillas keep picking away at us every time they can catch two or three alone—then they tear down the wires, shoot at the Cars &c

—Sergeant William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

The short answer is – yes – “car” or “cars” in Illinois soldiers’ letters almost invariably refers to those on a railroad. However, in most cases, “car” is a generic term and could mean passenger, flatbed, or freight car unless otherwise described. For example, Lewis Lake described being transported as a prisoner of war.

“My War Experience,” presented April 12, 1888, in Chicago, Illinois, at a veteran reunion

At Griffin [Georgia, south of Atlanta], we were furnished a special train, of flat cars, with a frame work decorated with brush and pine bough—to protect us from the scorching rays of the sun.

—Lewis Lake, former private, 1st Light Artillery, Winnebago County

It should be noted, however, that “train” does not always refer to the railroad variety.

perhaps near Perryville, Kentucky, October 16, 1862, possibly to sister

a weak go yesterday they had a fight with Brags army. the battle was faught at a little town called Perryville. I was not in the battle. I was with the provision train, and did not get there untill Saturday night after the battle.

—Private Jacob Buck, 89th Infantry, Fulton County

In this quotation, “provision train” refers to a line of (usually mule-pulled) wagons or a wagon train.

In the 1850s, more track was laid in the Midwest (east of the Mississippi River) than in any other part of the country, and Illinois did its share in that railroad expansion.[1] The completion of the Illinois Central (IC) Railroad in 1856 ultimately connected Cairo with Illinois’s two major Civil War recruitment camps: Douglas in Chicago and Butler near Springfield (the latter via the Great Western RR to the IC line at Decatur). In fact, during the Civil War, an IC station was created near Camp Douglas, and Camp Butler was moved from his original location to one next to the Great Western Railroad.

Cairo, Illinois, December 16, 1861, to wife, Mary

the fort [Defiance] is nearly exactly on the point of land that is the furthest south and the Illinois Central Railroad runs just to the fort—Birds Point [Missouri] is just strait south of the fort and looks like a person could throw a rock almost half way there, but it is about 1½ miles

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

Railways in enemy territory were vulnerable to targeted destruction by either side.

Big Black River, Mississippi, March 9, 1864, to brother

[in Mississippi] we burnt up 22 Locomotives lots of cars and Gov Property Rebel Property we played Smash with there railroad tore up about 150 miles Burnt all the bridges an[d] Culbrits [culverts?] we had to live off the Country I bet you the Citizens wont care much about seeing us again soon The Citizens all say they want peace I should not wonder.

—Private Alfred McNair, 32nd Infantry, Wabash County

However, even after major armies had been cleared out, rail lines – and especially the wooden bridges – were tempting targets for destruction by guerrilla forces.

Macon City, Missouri, July 2, 1861, to wife, Hattie

The Rebels have been trying to destroy the [rail] road by burning the bridges & tearing up the track but we have been a little too active for them & the road is now open from Hannibal to St Jo with the exception of one bridge which is being rebuilt & will be finished in a few days I wish we could have all the Rebels in the States in one body for if they were we could soon “clean them out” but this kind of warfare is too much like fighting Indians skulking round in the brush

—1st Sergeant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

Southern Illinois railroads and bridges were not an exception.

Cairo, Illinois, May 1, 1861, to Maggie Sargent

we are Surrounded by Cecessionists Southern Ills is full of Cecessionists we have Guards up the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and Ills., Ce[n]tral R. R. for ten miles with Cannons and Light Infantry

—Private William Austin, 8th Infantry, Coles County

Camp Lyon, Bird’s Point, Missouri, February 3, 1862, to wife

I suppose that the first thing will be to tell you about our trip to Cairo. We left Camp Butler about 6 o’clock last Friday evening on the Cars. We reached Cairo about 4 ½ P.M. Saturday. At Pana the engine broke down, and we were obliged to lay to until they could send to Central City for another engine, which took about three hours. From Jonesboro to Cairo the road is guarded all the way. There is quite a number of troops quartered at Jonesboro.

—1st Sergeant Daniel Messick, 32nd Infantry, Macoupin County

One might imagine soldiers being transported by train were in passenger cars. Perhaps while traveling through Illinois that was the case, but passenger cars may have been the exception when traveling on Southern railroads. Instead, soldiers were moved by whatever train cars were available and these were sometimes packed to the gills.

Battle Creek, Tennessee, October 16, 1863, to mother

[on Monday] it began to rain. we went to the R.R. to await the Coming of the Cars as we look for them every minute, but we lay there till thursday before they did Come. and all the time it rained without intermission . . . along Came the Cars to take us of[f] So there was no alternative but try[?] to “hussel” out and strike tents roll them up and load the Cars, then mount the top of the Cars and ride there, and it coming down in torrents.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Fort Joseph, Kentucky?, November 16, 1862, to Ellen Lease

When we left Quincy we did not expect to go farther than Springfield for a while but we were disappointed We passed through there about midnight and did not stop more than twenty minutes till we were ordered on to Louisville Ky We arrived opposite there on Monday morning just at daylight, after a long and cold ride of five hundred miles in open hog cars. it was a very disagreeable trip and made a good many of the boys sick and some of them have not recovered from the effects of colds caught at that time

—Private William Pilcher, 78th Infantry, Adams County

Confederate guerrillas also attacked moving trains.

Gallatin, Tennessee, May 1, 1863, to mother

We were marched on board a train that stood waiting at the depot, and moved off in the direction of Louisville. After passing Franklin about 27 miles from Gallatin and as we neared a thick growth of woods the train suddenly stopped and bang-bang-bang, went firearms in the woods near by. Quick as lighting a roar of musketry from the boys followed the first fire. I was sitting at the time on the opposite side of the car from whence the firing proceeded – and only got to see one rebel that had any life in him. he was endeavoring to crawl off in the brush – the others quickly skedaddled. . . . The devils had displaced a rail, but the engineer discovered the break in time to stop the train. I really felt that I would rather shoot one of them than to shoot a dog. It appears that there were about 35 of them = they were within 20 or 30 feet of the cars. 5 of our Regt were wounded = two mortally – having since died. Also a little drummer boy had his leg shattered by a ball. . . . The rebels lost two killed outright – two or three wounded and captured, and we were told that they left the vicinity of the place with several wounded . . . There was an immense sum of money on board and the rascals no doubt thought there would be no armed men except the regular train guard (which is very small,) to guard it. They were sadly fooled. The rail was replaced – we rode on a few miles to a junction where we met the train from Louisville, and returned on it to Gallatin.

—Sergeant Major Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Finally, for a prisoner of war on a train, it could be a chance to escape.

undated reminisces, titled “A Story of the Trials and Experiences of James Jennings Late of Co. K 20th Infantry at Andersonville Prison during the Civil War”

We were loaded on cars again and taken back to Wilmington . . . We had our plans made at about ten p. m. we pulled in to the town of Magnolia, forty nine miles from Wilmington. There were always some citizens getting off, so when the train stopped I stepped off. The guard said, “Who goes there?” I made no answer but started up town. Howes and Cary followed right after me. . . . [a colored man] told us there was a camp of Rebel deserters five miles from there. He ask[ed] if we would go and stay with them. . . . He started right off and by two a. m. he was back and had five of the Reb deserters with him. We talked a while and they told us what they had and said we were welcome to go and stay with them. . . . We stayed two weeks, then a union man came into our camp one day and said Wilmington was taken and we could get there if the gorillas [guerrillas] didn’t catch us. If they did, they would hang us, we knew that but didn’t propose to let them catch us. Well, we started, and eight of the Reb deserters went with us.

—James Jennings, former private, 20th Infantry, Kendall County

[1] George Rogers Taylor and Irene D. Neu, The American Railroad Network 1861-1890 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003), 35. This was cited at: https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/knx_rail

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Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) (added 7 May 2021)

In your 16 April 2021 posting on this page, you mentioned the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), albeit only in a footnote. What is Illinois’s connection with the GAR?

At its inception, the GAR was a post-Civil War fraternal organization founded in Decatur, Illinois, on 6 April 1866 by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Stephenson, who had been a surgeon in the 14^th Illinois Infantry. During the war, his tentmate, Chaplain W. L. Rutledge, had suggested that “some form of association that would preserve the friendships and the memories of their common trials and dangers” would be appreciated by fellow soldiers.[1]

Dr. Stephenson was born in Wayne County and had moved to Sangamon County with his parents, around 1826. He practiced medicine at Petersburg (Menard County) before the war. After the Civil War, he returned to Springfield to again work in medicine and became a druggist. Illinois Governor Oglesby, with whom Dr. Stephenson had consulted about forming the GAR, suggested the proposed organization be printed by the Decatur Tribune newspaper.[2] Thus, Dr. Stephenson organized Post No. 1 of the GAR in Decatur with twelve initial members. In its early stages, he became an active promoter of the GAR as its membership grew and additional Posts were formed, including in other states. He died at age 47 in Menard County in 1871 and was buried at his parents’ plot in Tallula. In 1882, his remains were relocated to a Petersburg cemetery overlooking the Sangamon River and an obelisk was erected there in his memory.[3]

Author’s images: the wreath may be from a 17 April Sons of Union Veterans event; all taken May 2021.

At the time of Dr. Stephenson’s death, GAR membership was wavering. In Illinois in 1869, there were over 300 Posts, but in 1871 there was but one Post surviving in the state. Many Posts throughout the country were disbanded through lack of members and interest. However, this turned out to be roughly the nadir of its nineteenth century membership.[4] In 1872, there were 28,693 members nationally (246 in Illinois); in 1876, 26,899 (1,074 in IL); in 1880, 60,654 (2,342); and in 1887, 356,008 (29,836).[5] By 1890, the GAR peaked with about 410,000 members throughout the country.

The GAR precepts were inspired by President Lincoln’s March 1865 second inaugural address “to bind up the Nation’s wounds,” and “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.”[6]

Membership in the GAR was open to honorably discharged U. S. soldiers and sailors. The GAR was organized around sequentially-numbered local Posts (e.g., Decatur as Post No. 1) within state Departments (e.g., Illinois). Each member was affiliated with a local Post. Over time, all of the states (except Hawaii) had Posts and members. National leadership consisted of membership-elected officers: Commander-in-Chief, two Vice Commanders, and Chaplain-in-Chief, mirroring the leadership positions of an armed forces army. Other leadership positions were appointed (e.g., Quartermaster-General, Adjutant-General). Each state Department had a locally elected Commander. (For example, former Illinois soldier James M. Taylor, whose letter excerpts feature in the book, was to run for the state’s GAR Commander position in 1921, but he unfortunately passed away prior to the election.[7])

The annual meetings or reunions were known as National Encampments. (There also were state-level annual Encampments.) In many ways, these were social gatherings with a quasi-military theme, which gave the attendees a sense of comradery as well as nostalgia for when they were united under common purposes. Another primary activity of the GAR was to provide funeral arrangements, complete with ritual honors, for deceased Post members. These included a firing line salute and the playing of Taps.

In 1869, the GAR declared its members were not to “use this organization for partisan purposes . . . nor shall any nominations for political office be made.”[8] Nevertheless, during its existence, the GAR became politically active and tended to favor the platforms of the Republican party in advancing veterans’ interests (although the GAR also had Democratic party members). The organization lobbied for soldier pensions and related benefits. The GAR also established a fund to help provide for orphans and widows due to the Civil War, as well as assist needy veterans. In Illinois in 1884, the Department worked on a legislative bill for the construction of the Soldiers’ Home at Quincy.[9]

GAR membership gradually dwindled as the survivors of the Civil War aged and passed away. The last National Encampment was in 1949, when six members attended. The GAR, as an original organization, ceased to exist when its last member died in 1956. In its place, “allied orders” and affiliated organizations vied to be the GAR’s official successors.[10]

One of the most enduring contributions of the GAR was the creation of Memorial Day. In 1868, then GAR Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan – a former major general from southern Illinois – issued General Orders, No. 11, which reads in part: “The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”[11] In Illinois, it was made a legal holiday in 1881 by the State Legislature.[12] Through the years, the nation adopted this tradition and today it is more commonly called Memorial Day (to remember all of the fallen among the U.S. Armed Forces) than Decoration Day.

[1] Robert B. Beath, History of the Grand Army of the Republic (New York: Bryan, Taylor & Co., 1889), 33.

[2] Ibid., 35.

[3] His spouse, Barbara Moore Stephenson, and two of their children also are buried near him at Rose Hill Cemetery, Petersburg, about 25 miles from Springfield.

[4] History of the GAR, 524.

[5] Ibid., 651.

[6] Ibid., 10.

[7] This is based on research by Glenna Schroeder-Lein about the life of Taylor.

[8] History of the GAR, 30.

[9] Ibid., 530.

[10] This transition was somewhat complicated and I again refer the reader to this website: http://www.suvcw.org/?page_id=167

[11] History of the GAR, 90.

[12] Ibid., 530.

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Soldier poetry (added 30 April 2021)

Given that your book’s antecedent was a poetry project, how often did Illinois Civil War soldiers write or include poetry in their letters?

Among the many hundreds of letters I have read (so far), I have had the unfortunate luck of finding next-to-nothing regarding original poetic lines. That said, it was not uncommon for Civil War soldiers and other mid-nineteenth letter writers to express or pen their thoughts and feelings through poetry.[1] Soldiers also copied or jotted down song lyrics that captured their feelings – either elations or frustrations – at a particular letter-writing moment. Here are two Illinois soldier examples.

This first one was copied down by Benjamin F. Best, a private and later a second lieutenant in the 40^th Illinois Infantry, who was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. These song lyrics are shown here as written by him as an undated addition, perhaps to one of his letters.

[written on “Justice Truth Hope” emblem letterhead paper]

Song Balled [Ballad]

The Whiskey Seller,

1: Of all the Crimes that Ever been,
the selling of whiskey is the greatest sin,
it has caused more misery pain and woe
than Every other thing in the world I know.
(Chorus) Get out of the way you whiskey Seller
you have ruined many a clever fellow.

2: you have caused the children to cry for bread,
and oftimes hungry sent to bed,
you have picked the pockets of the poor
and sent them begging from door to door
Chorus Get out of the way &c.

3: you have robed the states man of his brain
and filled his his [sic] head with aching pain
while in the gutter hes been found
a feeling upward for the ground
Chorus Get out of the way &c.

4) you have caused the father to beat the child
and all most sent the mother wild
while in his drunken sprees at knight
he has often put them all to flight
Chorus Get out of the way &c.

5) you have robed the strong man of his rest
and brought him down in the mud full length
while there you have left him to ly [lie] and roll,
as though you cared not for his soul.
Chorus Get out &c.

I will tell you sir in your wild career
I greatly fear you have gone to far
you will have to account in the judgement day
you have led so many souls astray
C Get out of the way &c.[2]

This poem/song predates the Civil War. For example, a copy appeared in the 10 May 1856 edition of The Dallas Daily Herald of Texas and titled “Good Templar’s Song.” Some soldiers signed temperance pledges during the Civil War.

Big Black River, Mississippi, December 27, 1863, to brother

Our Colonel . . . gave orders to ishue three rations of whiskey to the Soldiers on Christmas day The soldiers and officers wer most all drunk and nothing but fights and rows all day and night I wish they would dismiss our Gens. for ishuing such orders I never wanto see an other Christmas while I am in the army if they let the soldiers have whiskey In our Regiment they got up a Temperance plege and over two hundred si[g]ned it

—Private Cyrus Randall, 124th Infantry, Kane County

This second example was found among the papers of John W. Meath, a private in the 1^st Illinois Artillery.[3]

Soldier’s Daily Prayer.

our father in washington,
uncle Abraham be thy name,
thy victory won, thy will be
done, at the south as at the north.
give us this day our daily rations
of crackers and pork – and
forgive us our shortcomings as
we forgive our quartermaster;
for thine is the power, the Soldiers
and the negroes – for the space of
three years. Amen.

This particular piece was popular among the soldiers and can be found in other letters as well as newspapers. After “quartermaster” in the above, there sometimes was this additional line: “lead us not into temptation to steal whisky, but deliver us from all sutlers.”

Beyond the soldiers, the Civil War inspired a number of poets to write some exceptional poems.[4] Walt Whitman, who had a brother wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, wrote a host of soldier-oriented poems. One of these, which captures some of the essence of the soldiers’ experiences, is the following.

OLD WAR-DREAMS.

In midnight sleep of many a face of anguish,
Of the look at first of the mortally wounded, (of that indescribable look.)
Of the dead on their backs with arms extended wide,
I dream, I dream, I dream.

Of scenes of Nature, fields and mountains,
Of skies so beauteous after a storm, and at night the moon so unearthly bright,
Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches and gather the heaps,
I dream, I dream, I dream.

Long have they pass’d, faces and trenches and fields,
Where through the carnage I moved with a callous composure, or away from the fallen,
Onward I sped at the time – but now of their forms at night,
I dream, I dream, I dream.

Among other notable Civil War poets are Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, and John Greenleaf Whittier. Want to see more Civil War poetry? Please consider perusing the poetry posts on the Emerging Civil War website.[5]

At the onset of this posting, I wrote “I have had the unfortunate luck of finding next-to-nothing regarding original poetic lines.” In a different sense, that is not accurate. I have discovered many instances among Illinois soldiers’ letters of thoughtful expressions that are of a poetical nature. This unintended poetry is called “found poetry,” and I will return to this specific topic in a later posting on this site.[6] For now, I will give this simple example of an unintended haiku written by the above Benjamin F. Best: “we are like rats when / it rains we run in our tents / and stick out our heads”[7]

[1] In the early twentieth century, the news of Englishman Robert Falcon Scott and his explorer party’s deaths in an attempt to be the first to reach the south pole was considered a national tragedy and initiated an outpouring of original poetry among the British citizenry.

[2] I had previously posted the first verse of this song in a 5 June 2020 “Question of the Week” entry titled “Soldiers and temperance.”

[3] In the Meath manuscript collection (SC3070) at the Abraham Presidential Library, it is unclear whether he copied down this piece himself or it was given to him by someone else.

[4] This offers an interesting perspective on Civil War poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69877/a-poetry-fueled-war

[5] https://emergingcivilwar.com/tag/civil-war-poetry/

[6] A Wikipedia entry has an excellent explanation of “found poetry” at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_poetry#:~:text=Found%20poetry%20is%20a%20type,text%2C%20thus%20imparting%20new%20meaning.

[7] Benjamin Franklin Best, letter written 2 September 1861, to his wife; in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Manuscripts, SC 2478.

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Illinois Medal of Honor recipients (added 23 April 2021)

Jeff J. asked: how many Illinois Civil War soldiers (and sailors) received the Medal of Honor?

According to IllinoisCivilWar.org, about 100 soldiers and sailors from Illinois Civil War units received the Medal of Honor (MoH).[1]

Originally, the Medal of Honor was created as a U.S. Navy citation in December 1861. The following year, the MoH was expanded to include the Army.

Below are the names of 96 Illinois soldiers and sailors who were MoH awardees from the Civil War, including the county of residence at the time of enlistment or commission.[2]

Allen, Abner P.                  39 Illinois Infantry McLean County
Asten, Charles                   U.S. Navy Cook
Black, John C.                     37 Illinois Infantry Vermilion
Black, William P.               37 Illinois Infantry Vermilion
Blodgett, Welis H.            37 Illinois Infantry                                                            DuPage
Bowen, Emmer                 127 Illinois Infantry Kane
Burritt, William W.           113 Illinois Infantry Cook
Cal(l)ahan, John H.           122 Illinois Infantry Macoupin
Capron, Horace, J.            8 Illinois Cavalry Peoria
Carr, Eugene A.                 3 Illinois Cavalry                                                                **[3]
Churchill, Samuel J.         2 Illinois Light Artillery DeKalb
Colby, Carlos W.                97 Illinois Infantry Madison
Cook, John H.                     119 Illinois Infantry Adams
Cox, Robert M.                 55 Illinois Infantry Fulton
Creed, John                        23 Illinois Infantry Cook
Darrough, John S.             113 Illinois Infantry Iroquois
Davis, Martin K.                 116 Illinois Infantry Christian
Dickey, David                     97 Illinois Infantry Macoupin
Dow, Henry                        U.S. Navy Cook
Dunne, James                    Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Artillery Cook
Farquhar, John M.            89 Illinois Infantry                                                            Cook
Fisher, John H.                   55 Illinois Infantry                                                            Ogle
Fox, Henry                          106 Illinois Infantry                                                         Logan
Fraser (Frazier), William W.          97 Illinois Infantry                                            Madison
Gage, Richard J.                 104 Illinois Infantry                                                         LaSalle
Geschwind, Nicholas      116 Illinois Infantry                                                         Pike
Goldsbery (Goldsbury), Andrew E.            127 Illinois Infantry                         Kane
Gould, Newton T.             113 Illinois Infantry                                                         Cook
Haney, Milton L.               55 Illinois Infantry                                                            McDonough
Hapeman, Douglas          104 Illinois Infantry                                                         LaSalle
Hardenbergh (Hardenburg), Henry M.    39 Illinois Infantry                            Cook
Henry, James                     113 Illinois Infantry                                                         Kankakee
Higgins, Thomas J.           99 Illinois Infantry                                                            Pike
Highland, Patrick              23 Illinois Infantry                                                            Cook
Holland, Lemuel F.           104 Illinois Infantry                                                         Bureau
Houghton, George L.      104 Illinois Infantry                                                         LaSalle
Howe, Orion P.                 55 Illinois Infantry                                                            Cook
Hyatt, Theodore               127 Illinois Infantry                                                         Grundy
Hyland, John                      U. S. Navy                                                                            Cook
Hymer, Samuel                 115 Illinois Infantry                                                         Schuyler
Johns, (Jones) Elisha       113 Illinois Infantry                                                         Iroquois
Johnson, Andrew             116 Illinois Infantry                                                         Christian
Josselyn, Simeon T.         13 Illinois Infantry                                                            Lee
Kelley, Leverett M.          36 Illinois Infantry                                                            Kane
Kloth, Charles H.               Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Artillery          Cook
Kretsinger, George          Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Artillery          Cook
Larrabee, James W.         55 Illinois Infantry                                                            LaSalle
Lower, Robert A.              55 Illinois Infantry                                                            Peoria
McConnell, Samuel         119 Illinois Infantry                                                         McDonough
McCormick, Michael       U.S. Navy                                                                             Cook
McCornack, Andrew       127 Illinois Infantry                                                         Kane
McDonald, John Wade   20 Illinois Infantry                                                            DeWitt
McGraw, Thomas             23 Illinois Infantry                                                            Cook
McGulre, Patrick               Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Artillery          Cook
McKeen, Nineveh S.       21 Illinois Infantry                                                            Marshall
Marsh, George                  104 Illinois Infantry                                                         LaSalle
Merrifield, James K.        88 Illinois Infantry                                                            Bureau
Miller, Henry A.                 8 Illinois Infantry                                                              Macon
Miller, Jacob C.                 113 Illinois Infantry                                                         Kane
Molloy, Hugh                     U.S. Navy                                                                             Will
Moore, Wilbur F.              117 Illinois Infantry                                                         St. Clair
Morford, Jerome             55 Illinois Infantry                                                            Jefferson
Murphy, Robinson B.      127 Illinois Infantry                                                         Kendall
Murphy, Thomas C.         31 Illinois Infantry                                                            Tazewell
Newman, Marcellus J.    111 Illinois Infantry                                                         Washington
Palmer, George H.           1 Illinois Cavalry                                                                Warren
Payne, Thomas H. L.        37 Illinois Infantry                                                            LaSalle
Pentzer, Patrick H.           97 Illinois Infantry                                                            Macoupin
Pike, Edward M.               33 Illinois Infantry                                                            McLean
Post, Philip Sidney           59 Illinois Infantry                                                            Knox
Powers, Wesley J.            147 Illinois Infantry                                                         Kane
Putnam, Winthrop D.     77 Illinois Infantry                                                            Peoria
Rebmann, George F.       119 Illinois Infantry                                                         Schuyler
Rundle, Charles W.          116 Illinois Infantry                                                         Macon
Sanford, Jacob                   55 Illinois Infantry                                                            McDonough
Schenck, Benjamin W.    116 Illinois Infantry                                                         Macon
Shapland, John                 104 Illinois Infantry                                                         LaSalle
Slagle, Oscar                       104 Illinois Infantry                                                         LaSalle
Smalley, Reuben S.          104 Illinois Infantry                                                         LaSalle
Spalding, Edward B.         52 Illinois Infantry                                                            Winnebago
Sprague, Benona              116 Illinois Infantry                                                         McLean
Stephens, William G.      Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Artillery          Cook
Stokes, George                 122 Illinois Infantry                                                         Kane
Taylor, Henry H.                45 Illinois Infantry                                                            Jo Daviess
Toomer, William               127 Illinois Infantry                                                         Cook
Vernay, James D.              11 Illinois Infantry                                                            Marshall
Vifquain, Victor                 97 Illinois Infantry                                                            [Nebraska]
Ward, Thomas J.               116 Illinois Infantry                                                         Macon
Warden, John                    55 Illinois Infantry                                                            Cook
Webber, Alason P.           86 Illinois Infantry                                                            Marshall
Wheaton, Loyd                 8 Illinois Infantry                                                              Peoria
White, Patrick H.              Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Artillery          Cook
Whitmore, John                 119 Illinois Infantry                                                         Schuyler
Widick, Andrew J.            116 Illinois Infantry                                                         Macon
Williams, Elwood N.        28 Illinois Infantry                                                            Mason
Wood, Richard H.             97 Illinois Infantry                                                            Macoupin

In the above list, 20 were born in Illinois, 20 were foreign born, and the remaining 56 were presumably born elsewhere in the United States.

In addition, below, there are 7 MoH recipients who were born in Illinois but served in non-Illinois regiments, plus 2 additional MoH recipients who had been living in Illinois at the time of enlistment or commission into a non-Illinois regiment.[4]

Born in Illinois
Archer, James W.             59 Indiana Infantry                                                          [unknown]
Flynn, James E.                  6 Missouri Infantry                                                          [unknown]
Holmes, William T.           3 Indiana Cavalry                                                              [Indiana]
Lucas, George W.             3 Missouri Cavalry                                                           [unknown]
Pond, George F.                3 Wisconsin Cavalry                                                        [unknown]
Simmons, William T.       11 Missouri Infantry                                                       [unknown]
Sterling, John T.                11 Indiana Infantry                                                          [Indiana]

Living in Illinois
Cutts, James M. 11 U.S. Infantry [unknown in IL]
O’Donnell, Menomen 11 Missouri Infantry [unknown in IL]

It should be noted that some of the above soldiers and sailors received the MoH decades after the Civil War. For example, John Wade McDonald received the MoH in 1900 for his actions saving a helpless comrade while wounded himself at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, in 1862.[5] A handful of the above recipients, such as Martin K. Davis, received the MoH for participating in the “forlorn hope” attack (made by a “volunteer storming party”) during the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 22 May 1863.[6] There was a gamut of military actions that resulted in Illinois soldiers and sailors receiving the MoH. One of the more unusual cases was Thomas C. Murphy, who “voluntarily crossed the line of heavy fire of Union and Confederate forces, carrying a message to stop the firing of one Union regiment on another,” at Vicksburg, Mississippi.[7] (Unusual case or not, accidental “friendly fire” was not an uncommon event on a smoky Civil War battlefield.)

Depending on how one defines “Illinois soldier,” 91 of them received their MoH for military actions while serving in Illinois army units and 5 were in the U.S. Navy, originating from Illinois. Two of the above listed MoH recipients were not from Illinois: Eugene A. Carr and Victor Vifquain. Carr, a West Point graduate, was already a veteran of the so-called Indian Wars, before the Civil War, serving in the U.S. cavalry. After the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, in 1861, he was appointed as colonel of the 3^rd Illinois Cavalry, serving with the regiment for at least six months before being promoted to brigadier general. From Nebraska, Vifquain initially joined the 53^rd New York Infantry, but was subsequently appointed by Illinois’s Governor Yates as adjutant to the 97^th Illinois Infantry. By the end of the Civil War, he had achieved the rank of brigadier general. It is possible that neither Carr or Vifquain ever set foot in Illinois during their lifetimes.

In summary, these 96 servicemen were credited with being “from Illinois;” 94 of them resided in Illinois prior to their military enlistment or commission. Above, I was able to find 9 Civil War soldiers who were born or lived in Illinois (as their usual place of residence), joined other states’ regiments (e.g., Missouri), and earned the MoH while serving with those units.

Jeff J. himself points out another possible case: Timothy O’Connor, buried in Chicago, served in the 1^st U.S. Cavalry as a private during the Civil War and was awarded the MoH for “extraordinary heroism on 28 July 1864, while serving with Company E, 1st U.S. Cavalry, in action at Malvern, Virginia, for capture of flag of the 18th North Carolina Infantry of the Confederate States of America.” However, his “home of record” is recorded as “New Creek, Virginia.”[8]

This particular case warrants further research. However – and not surprisingly – when doing these sorts of statistics, the devil resides in the definitions and the details. Thus, about 100 is a good answer to how many Illinois soldiers and sailors received the Medal of Honor due to their actions during the Civil War.

[1] https://www.illinoiscivilwar.org/cwmoh.html

[2] The list is based on information at this website: https://www.illinoiscivilwar.org/cwmoh.html and the Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls from the Illinois State Archives, Secretary of State: https://www.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/civilmustersrch.jsp

[3] ** Colonel Carr was promoted from the Regular Army; he was likely not from Illinois.

[4] Civil War Centennial Commission of Illinois, Civil War Medal of Honor Winners from Illinois (State of Illinois: 1962).

[5] https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/2029

[6] A nice explanation about the “forlorn hope” charge can be found here: https://emergingcivilwar.com/2018/05/22/the-forlorn-hope/

[7] https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/2990

[8] According to: https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/3049

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Illinois Civil War soldier resources (added 16 April 2021)

Doug D. asked: what Illinois Civil War soldier resources – such as books and websites – are available for people to do their own research?

In my introduction to the book’s Appendix A – Soldiers’ Brief Biographies – I listed several resources I used in reconstructing people’s Civil War and post-war lives. I will repeat many of those resources here and add some annotations. However, while this list is not meant to be exhaustive, it does cover many of the basic available resources.

SOLDIERS’ LETTERS

If your person(s) of interest have written letters from the Civil War era, they often contain insights and details you will not find in any of the other resources I list below. Personal letters can offer unguarded glimpses into so many aspects of someone’s life at a particular time: close associates, political leanings, destinations, skills, duties, and a whole host of military experiences. Do not overlook letters written by family members, other relatives, and friends that also can contain references and anecdotes about the person you are researching. And do not overlook other items that may be bundled with the soldier’s letters, just as discharge papers, pension information, and GAR items.[1]

If you have not read any soldiers’ Civil War letters before, I suggest you read my book first. It may provide many letter writing answers before you even knew to think of the questions. It serves as a good overview for Civil War soldiers’ topics, figures of speech, writing styles, etc.

REPORT OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS (for 1900-01)[2]

This is the official Illinois consolidated report of the state’s Civil War participants compiled by Brigadier General J. N. Reece, Adjutant General. This report contains line items for individual soldiers and officers in Illinois regiments by company, by rank. A line for an individual soldier typically lists: name and rank; residence at time of enlistment or commission; date of rank or enlistment; date of muster; and remarks. Remarks may contain condensed comments on mustering out or resignation, other discharge circumstances (e.g., seriously wounded, killed), promotion from listed rank, transfer to another unit, and the like. Soldiers often are listed more than once if they were promoted to a different rank or unit.

Be advised that in this report not all soldiers’ names are perfectly spelled or that dates and circumstances are exact or even correct. Nevertheless, this is an invaluable resource and often an excellent place to start one’s research. For example, it can contain full names mentioned in a soldier’s letter regarding comrades and superior officers.

ILLINOIS CIVIL WAR MUSTER AND DESCRIPTIVE ROLLS

The Office of the Illinois Secretary of State, Illinois State Archives, maintains an online database with the above title.[3] The database can be searched by a soldier’s name, military unit, company, or residence at time of enlistment or commission. Available information from the muster rolls includes military unit and rank, personal characteristics (e.g., height, marital status, occupation prior to mustering), and service record (e.g., where and when mustered in, military separation remarks). It is useful, but not necessary, to have some prior information about a soldier when doing a name search. For example, a search for “Smith, William A” yielded twenty matches. Also, names in the muster database may not match legal names for some soldiers. So, if you cannot search by military unit, some creativity on name spelling or multiple search variations may be necessary. In most cases, the information in the Adjutant General’s report will match with, or is similar to, the contents of this database.

The Adjutant General’s report and the muster and descriptive rolls database are usually my first “go to” resources when researching a soldier’s Civil War history. In addition, to the online database, you can submit an electronic request form to the Illinois State Archives through their website to ask questions or for search assistance.

REGIMENTAL HISTORIES

The report of the Adjutant General also contains regimental histories. Generally, these histories provide an overview of where and when a regiment went during the course of the Civil War. For example, in compiling the original mustering in locations for Illinois regiments in the 26 March 2021 posting (below on this page), I used the Adjutant General’s report as one of my resources. There also are Illinois regimental histories contained in the volumes of A compendium of the War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer (1908). Online searches also can help locate versions of most Illinois regimental histories.

MILITARY PENSION RECORDS

The following description is taken directly from the National Archives website.

“Most Union army soldiers or their widows or minor children later applied for a pension. In some cases, a dependent father or mother applied for a pension. The pension files are indexed by NARA microfilm publication T288, General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 (544 rolls)[4] which is also available online at Ancestry.com (for a fee).

The pension file will often contain more information about what the soldier did during the war than the CMSR [see below], and it may contain much medical information if he lived for a number of years afterwards. For example, in his pension file, Seth Combs of Company C, 2d Ohio Cavalry, reported: ‘…my left eye was injured while tearing down a building…and in pulling off a board a splinter or piece struck my eye and injured it badly…it was hurt while in the Shenandoah Valley near Winchester, Va. about Christmas 1864–a comrade who stood by me name Jim Beach is dead.’ In another affidavit, Seth said he ‘also got the Rheumatism while on duty as a dispatch bearer on detached duty.’

To obtain a widow’s pension, the widow had to provide proof of marriage, such as a copy of the record kept by county officials, or by affidavit from the minister or some other person. Applications on behalf of the soldier’s minor children had to supply both proof of the soldier’s marriage and proof of the children’s birth.”[5]

There is a National Archives office in Chicago, but one also can request pension record materials online (covid-19 pandemic restrictions allowing).[6]

COMPILED MILITARY SERVICE RECORDS (CMSR)

Also from the National Archives:

“Each volunteer soldier has one Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) for each regiment in which he served. An index is available online at the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System website[7] or on microfilm at selected NARA facilities and large genealogical research libraries. The CMSR contains basic information about the soldier’s military career, and it is the first source the researcher should consult. The CMSR is an envelope (a jacket) containing one or more cards. These cards typically indicate that the soldier was present or absent during a certain period of time. Other cards may indicate the date of enlistment and discharge, amount of bounty paid him, and other information such as wounds received during battle or hospitalization for injury or illness. The soldier’s place of birth may be indicated; if foreign born, only the country of birth is stated. The CMSR may contain an internal jacket for so-called “personal papers” of various kinds. These may include a copy of the soldier’s enlistment paper, papers relating to his capture and release as a prisoner of war, or a statement that he had no personal property with him when he died. Note, however, that the CMSR rarely indicates battles in which a soldier fought; that information must be derived from other sources.

A CMSR is as complete as the surviving records of an individual soldier or his unit. The War Department compiled the CMSRs from the original muster rolls and other records some years after the war to permit more rapid and efficient checking of military and medical records in connection with claims for pensions and other veterans’ benefits. The abstracts were so carefully prepared that it is rarely necessary to consult the original muster rolls and other records from which they were made. When the War Department created CMSRs at the turn of the century, information from company muster rolls, regimental returns, descriptive books, hospital rolls, and other records was copied verbatim onto cards. A separate card was prepared each time an individual name appeared on a document. These cards were all numbered on the back, and these numbers were entered onto the outside jacket containing the cards. The numbers on the jacket correspond with the numbers on the cards within the jacket. These numbers were used by the War Department only for control purposes while the CMSRs were being created; the numbers do not refer to other records regarding a veteran nor are they useful for reference purposes today.”[8]

FINDAGRAVE

The FindAGrave website is often worth a visit regarding Illinois Civil War soldiers.[9] For an individual soldier, one sometimes finds images of the gravesite, basic demographic information, and a biographical sketch. Sometimes information at FindAGrave cannot be found elsewhere because it is often contributed by family members and others coimetromania inclined. So, it is user beware. Regarding grave-marker names and dates, maybe especially for Civil War soldiers: just because it is chiseled in stone does not necessarily mean it is accurate.

CIVIL WAR ERA NEWSPAPERS

Besides various bits of regimental information that were printed in Illinois newspapers existing during the Civil War, there also are the obituaries therein.[10] Again, these can contain personal information (often from family members of the day) not found elsewhere.

DECENNIAL CENSUS INFORMATION

Information and data about individuals from the U.S. censuses are available for the nineteenth century and beyond.[11] Mid-nineteenth century census data available include household members’ names, age, year of birth, place of birth, occupation, and other demographic information by geography (e.g., city, county). It is often a good practice to follow an individual through multiple censuses because answers from individual respondents (and often self-reported) can vary through time. Generally, decennial censuses are an important, unique resource. While some states conducted state-specific, additional censuses for administrative purposes at various times, Illinois was not one of those states. That stated, those who were Illinois soldiers sometimes appear in other states’ specific censuses after migrating from Illinois, post-war.

A WORD ABOUT ANCESTRY.COM

This may be a good place in this list of resources to mention Ancestry.com, which is a fee-based consolidated set of resources used by genealogists and the like. (Some features are free.) The website – actually a sort of suite of websites – contains information and links to vital records data, U.S. decennial and state censuses, FindAGrave, ship manifests, genealogical summaries, and more. As with many other databases, one sometimes needs to be creative or liberal regarding the spelling of names and year ranges when submitting search parameters.

[I am not advertising or promoting Ancestry.com and merely pointing out it is a commonly-used consolidated resource.[12] I am not a personal subscriber, but I do use it at a local library through its subscription to Ancestory.com resources.]

COUNTY HISTORIES

The Reading Room at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, as an example, has a host of published individual Illinois county histories. Many of these have Civil War sections or biographies of Civil War soldiers from a particular county. While it can be hit-or-miss regarding individual soldiers, these often are resources worth perusing.

OTHER RESOURCES

There are other resources that can have additional information about individuals, such as local cemetery records, published biographies, living family members, adoption records, historical city directories, and newspaper notices (e.g., births, marriages). While some of these do not often yield a rich vein of information, once in a while a researcher using them can strike paydirt.

Regarding a high-level summary of Illinois’s military participation in the Civil War, I would recommend Illinois in the Civil War by Victor Hicken.[13] It takes a reader through the major campaigns in which Illinois regiments fought or participated.

Finally, as an example of tying together many of the available resources, a recent article in Illinois Heritage magazine describes the life of Richard E. Carroll, a former slave who came to Illinois during the Civil War and enlisted as a private in the 29^th Infantry regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops.[14] While the author does not review the resources he used in detail, he makes references and has illustrations of those he utilized in putting together Carroll’s “arc of life,” such as newspaper articles, military and pension records, and FindAGrave.

[1] GAR = Grand Army of the Republic, a postwar Union veterans’ fraternal organization; some history of this organization can be found here: http://www.suvcw.org/?page_id=167 (This is from the entity that is the legal successor to the GAR.) There also is a GAR records project: http://www.garrecords.org/

[2] There is an online version here: https://archive.org/details/reportofadjutant01illi1 (This link is for the first of 8 volumes; to see the next volume, change the “01” in the link to “02” etc.)

[3] Here is the home page for the database: https://www.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/civilmustersrch.jsp

[4] The General Index to Pension Files can be visited here: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/pension-genealogy/1861-1934.html

[5] These three paragraphs are from this website page: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/resources

[6] A good place to start is the Civil War Records: Basic Research Sources page: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/resources

[7] See this website here: https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm

[8] Also from this same page: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/resources

[9] FindAGrave home page: https://www.findagrave.com/

[10] A microfilm librarian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library has told me obituaries (from all time periods) are a frequent request.

[11] Regarding confidentiality of individual census records, the U.S. government will not release personally identifiable information about an individual until 72 years after it was collected for the decennial census, based on a 1978 statute. Currently, the 1940 census is the most recent one where individual information is available.

[12] From a Wikipedia page: “Ancestry.com LLC is a privately held online company based in Lehi, Utah, United States. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.

As of November 2018, the company claimed to provide access to approximately 10 billion historical records, to have 3 million paying subscribers, and to have sold 18 million DNA kits to customers. On August 6, 2020, The Blackstone Group announced plans to acquire the company in a deal valued at $4.7 billion.”

[13] Victor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991).

[14] Dean Karau, “Richard E. Carroll – A Black man’s journey to freedom in Illinois,” Illinois Heritage 24:2 (March-April 2021), 28-34.

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Illinois Civil War sites (part 3) (added 9 April 2021)

It is sometimes asked: are there Civil War sites in Illinois?

In part 3, I am covering national and other large Civil War cemeteries, Lincoln-related war locations, and other, one-off sites that are more difficult to categorize.

NATIONAL AND OTHER LARGE CEMETERIES[1]

Camp Butler National Cemetery
Alton National Cemetery
North Alton Confederate Cemetery
Mound City National Cemetery[2]
Rock Island National Cemetery
Rock Island Confederate Cemetery
Confederate Mound, Oak Woods Cemetery (Chicago)[3]

Where there were soldiers and prisoners, there were also deaths due to diseases (especially), exposure, and accidents. So, not surprisingly, there are nearby cemeteries associated with the military prisons. The earliest established national cemetery in Illinois was at Camp Butler. “On July 17, 1862, Congress passed an act empowering President Lincoln to designate Camp Butler and thirteen other locations as national cemeteries. The size of Camp Butler National Cemetery has increased substantially over the decades and is now fifty-three acres. From the Civil War era, it has over seven hundred Union and over eight hundred Confederate burials.”[4]

Confederate section at Camp Butler National Cemetery (author’s image: 2020)

“The Alton National Cemetery was originally a soldiers’ lot in the Alton City Cemetery. Despite the existence of the lot as early as 1870, the government did not own the half-acre tract until July 1, 1940, when the Alton Cemetery Association donated the land. An estimated 163 Union soldiers and 12 unknowns were initially buried here, according to an inspection report of 1870. The men died at the Alton hospital and onboard steamboats passing up the Mississippi River.

The government paid the cemetery administrators $30 a year to care for the plot. After the war, there were plans to move the 163 Alton soldiers to Springfield National Cemetery, but the community protested and exerted sufficient influence to prevent the removal.

In 1938, the Alton Cemetery Association made an initial offer to donate land for a national cemetery with a proviso that the government build a rostrum or permanent speaker’s stand for use on Memorial Day. Once the offer was accepted, Works Progress Administration laborers constructed a permanent rostrum. Between 1941 and 1942, the remains of 49 Union soldiers were removed from a nearby, but separate, section of Alton City Cemetery, and were reinterred on the federal land.”[5]

However, Confederate prisoners who died at the Alton Military Prison were buried at a separate location.

“North Alton Confederate Cemetery, in Alton, Illinois, is the final resting place for hundreds of Confederate soldiers who died in captivity at the Union prison at Alton. However, the dead buried there have no individually marked graves. Instead, an imposing 58-foot-tall granite obelisk dedicated to the Confederate dead towers over the burial ground.

Shortly after the prisoners’ arrival, there were reports of smallpox. The response was to move the patients to two small islands in the Mississippi River, one of which contained a separate hospital to treat the disease. Those who died of smallpox, including an estimated 240 Confederate prisoners and an unknown number of Union guards, were buried on Tow Island. Hundreds of other prisoners, who died in the camp from battlefield injuries, exposure to the harsh elements, or other diseases were interred in a burial ground north of the city—the same cemetery where prisoners of the state penitentiary were buried in the past.”[6]

In 1864, a plot of land near Mound City was designated as the Mound City National Cemetery. About 4,700 Civil War soldiers and sailors are buried there. Some of the burials are for those who died there, as Mound City had a military hospital complex. Others are from soldiers who died in several Western theater battles. Mound City was also a naval shipyard and refitment facility, as well as a naval hospital.[7]

Somewhat similar to the cemeteries at Alton, Rock Island also has separate cemeteries for the Union and Confederate dead that died there. At the adjacent Rock Island Confederate Cemetery, about 2,000 Confederate prisoners and over 100 Union guards are buried there.[8] Separately, there is the Rock Island National Cemetery, which was so designated in 1863 and now located on the north end of Arsenal Island and nearby the Confederate cemetery.

The soldiers who died at Camp Douglas, then near Chicago, is a somewhat complicated and mostly unhappy story, which I have vastly simplified here. After many of the Confederate prisoner dead were interred in sandy, low-lying soil at Chicago’s City Cemetery potter’s field, there was a subsequent 1867 attempt to recover as many of these remains as possible and rebury them at Oak Woods Cemetery (at Sixty-seventh and Cottage Grove in Chicago). While more than 4,000 Confederate soldiers are buried at Confederate Mound in the Oak Woods Cemetery, there may have been one or two thousand additional Confederate POWs who died at Camp Douglas. There is a Confederate monument on Cemetery Mound.[9]

Of course, there are local cemeteries throughout Illinois with Civil War sections and the graves of individuals who fought in the war. I am not including those here as Illinois Civil War sites, but they should not be overlooked by interested readers, either.

LINCOLN-RELATED (during the Civil War)

Lincoln Home in Springfield
Oak Ridge Cemetery (Springfield)
Old State Capitol (Springfield)[10]

The former Lincoln home in Springfield is now the centerpiece of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site (run by the U.S. National Park Service).[11] Of course, President Lincoln never resided at or returned to this home during the Civil War, although his body went by in May 1865 during his funeral procession to Oak Ridge Cemetery. However, soldiers did visit his Springfield home during the war.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, May 25, 1865, to friend, Martha

in the morning Daniel McEawen & Edward Grow and I went over town went to the residence of Mr Lincoln the Lady of the house invited us in we had a long chat she played on the piano for us and when we went to go away she gave us some leaves and some flowers from the yard which I will send to you knowing That you are allways happy to receive such curiosities

—Private William Cochran, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Also, during this time, Mrs. Gregg, a hospital matron at Camp Butler, kept a daily personal diary that she started in January 1863 and ended in May 1865.^[12] Included in the diary are her interactions with Mrs. Tilton through the course of Gregg’s work at Camp Butler. Here are two of her diary entries.

February 22. [1864] Went up to Springfield to procure stoves for the new wards. Stayed all night with Mrs. Tilton. She is the president of the Ladies Aid society of Springfield. Here let me state that the three ladies of the house, Mrs. Tilton, Mrs. Wood her mother and her sister-in-law, Miss Kate Tilton were the most kind and benevolent people that I met in that part of the state. They were true blue union all over from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads.

June 2. [1864] Weather cool and pleasant. Miss Tenney and I went to Springfield on a shopping excursion. Bought trimmings for the hospital. Spent the night with Mrs. Tilton. Two of the 13th regiment boys were there and played the piano. It was a delightful change for us.

Soldiers also attended the Lincoln funeral proceedings in Springfield in early May 1865, just prior to the Civil War being officially over. He was initially interred in the receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery, which is just downslope from the tomb and memorial that was completed in 1874.[13]

Oak Ridge Cemetery historic receiving vault, with the Lincoln tomb obelisk in the background (author’s image)

Soldiers also visited what is today called the Old State Capitol in downtown Springfield.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, September 29, 1861, to father

On last Wednesday Quincy Pollock, myself and several others visited Springfield and had a romp through the Capitol, Arsenal and Catrige Factory. We had a view of the city from the cupola of the capitol building.
It was quite a sight for us to see how the catriges were made. About 100 boys and girls were engaged in rolling up the balls, putting in the powder and finishing the catriges. One of the superintendents told us that 68,000 catriges were made the day before we were there.
While we were in town, we went to see Old Abes house.

—Private Thomas Clingman, 46^th Infantry, Stephenson County

In his diary, Private Clingman was more descriptive about his day in Springfield.

“The Capitol Building, in the central part of the city, occupies a square [i.e., a city block]. It is surrounded by an iron fence. Graveled walks surround the building; one near and running parallel with it; the other passing around the building in the form of circle. The yard is adorned with trees, flowers and shrubs in a beautiful manner.
The building fronts both to the south and the north, there being four immence pillars on each side abut four feet in diameter. They are composed of large stones one upon another each being between three and four feet in hight. Entering the building from the south by a flight of stone steps, we found ourselves in a large hall in the center of which are the steps to the 2d story.”

Reenactors outside the Old State Capitol during the Lincoln funeral procession (author’s image: May 2015)

Regarding Lincoln’s home:

“We then went to see President Lincoln’s residence. It is a plain house of a light brown color with green window blinds, after which we returned to camp in a drizzling rain.”[14]

Lincoln home in Springfield (author’s image)

Illinois governor Richard Yates, who acquired the nickname of the “Soldiers’ Friend” for his generosity and outreach to (especially Illinois) soldiers during the course of the war, had his office in the Capitol Building.

OTHER SITES OF NOTE

Charleston Riot
Alton Recruitment Incident
Dement House (Fulton)[15]
Quincy Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home
Sunset Cemetery (Quincy)
Jennie Hodgers Home (Saunemin)
Union League of America (Pekin)[16]
Grant March Encampment (Riddle Hill, west of Springfield)

These are a smattering of other Civil War-related locations in Illinois that came to mind, and thus are likely an uneven collection.

The “Charleston Riot” was about the closest thing to a “battle” in Illinois during the Civil War, pitting a few soldiers from the 54th Illinois regiment against local Democratic party-inclined citizens.

This is from pages 94-95 of the book.

“On March 28, 1864, there was a Copperhead–soldier clash in Charleston, Illinois. It was reported some participants had been drinking heavily and that personal animosities existed, both of which likely served as fuel for the subsequent fighting. The incident on the courthouse square was brief, but it left nine people dead (including two Copperheads and six soldiers) and several others wounded. Although the Copperheads were run out of town, eventually some of the participants were taken prisoner, and some were charged with murder. For a while, fifteen of those arrested in Coles County were imprisoned at Camp Yates, Springfield. None of the murder charges stuck, and some participants so charged were never apprehended. None of those held at Camp Yates were executed.”

The Alton recruitment incident (my name for it) was covered in a previous posting on this same page, below, for 30 October 2020. For purposes of summarizing here, a brief extract of that posting follows.

“In 1861, apparently there was a sort of Illinois ‘recruitment war’ with Missouri. This is the 159^th anniversary of an incident at Alton, Illinois, that resulted in imprisoning about 300 men, albeit not Confederates and merely potential Union volunteers.

Military Excitement.—Our citizens were somewhat astonished this morning to find our levee in possession of a detachment of troops from Camp Butler, who had come down during the night. They had planted a cannon on the levee, and thus established a blockade. Their purpose was to intercept and stop some 400 troops who becoming dissatisfied with matters in their camp, somewhere in the northern part of the state, had started off for Missouri via the Illinois River. One or two boats were stopped in the morning, but no runaways being found, they were allowed to proceed.
At about half past ten, however, the looked for boat appeared having in tow a barge loaded with soldiers. She was greeted with two blank cartridges, to which no attention was paid. A ball was then fired which struck the bow of the barge, damaging it somewhat. This being rather too close work, she rounded to and the entire party of military passengers were taken prisoners. The officers, in command were required to deliver up their swords and, after some delay, both officers and men were marched under guard, into the old Penitentiary, where at the time of writing this, they remain.”[17]

The Dement House in Fulton, Illinois (Whiteside County), along the Mississippi River, was a military academy starting in 1861. It had been converted from its origins as a hotel.

The Quincy Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home was completed in 1886 for veterans of the Mexican War and Civil War, and thus I am stretching it to include it as a Civil War site. (Its name changed to the Quincy Veterans’ Home in 1973.[18]) However, there is an Illinois Secretary of State database regarding its former residents, making it a valuable resource for those researching Civil War veterans.[19] There is a 1915 postcard image the Home in Illinois Heritage magazine.[20] The Sunset Cemetery, in Quincy, is also known as the Illinois Veterans’ Home Cemetery and is located on the grounds of the Quincy Veterans’ Home.

The Jennie Hodgers Home in Saunemin, Illinois (Livingston County), was where Illinois soldier a.k.a. Albert D. J. Cashier of the 95th Illinois regiment resided. She/he lived in this particular house from 1885 to 1911. She/he was buried in 1915 at nearby Sunny Slope Cemetery. The reason I am including a soldier’s post-war residence here is because the Cashier/Hodgers circumstances, perhaps more than those of any other soldier, brought to light that there were women who fought, often clandestinely, in the Civil War.[21]

The Union League of America, with an historical marker in Pekin, Illinois (Tazewell County), is not a Civil War site, per se, but rather a reminder of an organization that spread throughout the Northern states during the Civil War. The ULA’s purpose was to support Lincoln’s policies and the Union’s objectives regarding the war. In a way, it was formed to counter the “peace Democrats” and Copperhead movements in the North. The first ULA council was formed in Pekin in mid-1862.

The Grant March Encampment at Riddle Hill, west of Springfield, is on Old Jacksonville Road, which during the nineteenth century was on the stage route between Springfield and Jacksonville. There is an historical marker there commemorating the first encampment of Colonel Ulysses S. Grant’s 21st Illinois regiment on 4 July 1861 on their march to the western part of the state, having been mustered in Springfield at Camp Yates.[22]

Finally, in this and the prior two postings, I listed as many Illinois Civil War sites as I could reasonably conjure (and sometimes with stretched qualifications). I did not intend to include individual grave sites or places where, say, Illinois generals lived. Rather, I have aimed for where soldiers were gathered, for whatever reasons, and where noteworthy Civil War-related events occurred. With those small caveats in mind, I would invite any readers of these posts to leave me a message through this website regarding potential additional Illinois Civil War sites worthy of consideration and are within the state’s boundaries. For example, one area I am neglecting (and ignorant of) are Civil War-related shipwrecks, say in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers bordering Illinois.[23] If I agree with you, I will add the site to those listed in these posts and give you credit.

[1] These cemeteries are all maintained by the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs.

[2] Here is a National Park Service link to the Mound City National Cemetery: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/illinois/Mound_City_National_Cemetery.html

[3] Some historical information about Confederate Mound can be found at this website: https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/lots/confederate_mound.asp

[4] Mark Flotow, “The Repurposing of Civil War Camps Douglas, Butler, and Defiance (1862-1865), “Illinois Heritage 22:2 (March-April 2019), 27.

[5] These three paragraphs are from a VA website: https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/alton.asp I have applied some light editing to the first paragraph.

[6] These two paragraphs were selected from this web address: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/illinois/North_Alton_Confederate_Cemetery.html

[7] For more information, visit this website: https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/moundcity.asp

[8] Admin, Clio, Bradford Lemley, and Julia Evans. “Rock Island Arsenal Museum.” Clio: Your Guide to History. November 1, 2019. Accessed April 5, 2021. https://www.theclio.com/entry/10803

[9] David L. Keller, The Story of Camp Douglas: Chicago’s Forgotten Civil War Prison (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2015), 179-81.

[10] Here is the website for the Old State Capitol visitor information: https://www2.illinois.gov/dnrhistoric/Experience/Sites/Central/pages/old-capitol.aspx

[11] I think this is the only NPS-run national park of any type in Illinois. Here is the park’s official website: https://www.nps.gov/liho/index.htm

[12] A typed transcription of the entire diary is at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Manuscripts, SC600.

[13] Oak Ridge Cemetery is the second most visited cemetery in the nation, after Arlington National Cemetery. It also is the largest municipal cemetery in Illinois. Here is the Lincoln tomb information at Oak Ridge Cemetery website: http://www.oakridgecemetery.org/LincolnTomb.aspx

[14] Regarding Private Clingman’s letter and diary extracts, I used the transcriptions found in: Jim Bade and Mary Ellyn Mau, “The Cedarville Clingmans” (typed manuscript, 1997), Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, pages 12-13, 15.

[15] See the Dement House historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=313

[16] See the Union League of America historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=297

[17] “Military Excitement,” Alton Telegraph (Alton, Illinois), November 1, 1861, p. 3.

[18] The website for the Quincy Veterans Home: https://www2.illinois.gov/veterans/homes/Pages/Quincy.aspx

[19] The website for the Quincy Soldiers’ and Sailors Home database: https://cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/quincyhome.html

[20] Dean Karau, “Richard E. Carroll – A Black man’s journey to freedom in Illinois,” Illinois Heritage 24:2 (March-April 2021), 34.

[21] For more examples, please consider visiting Shelby Harriel-Hidlebaugh’s website: https://forbiddenhiddenforgotten.blogspot.com/ and reading her book, Behind the Rifle: Women Soldiers in Civil War Mississippi (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2019). She also visited the Jennie Hodgers house in 2015: https://forbiddenhiddenforgotten.blogspot.com/2015/06/jennies-house.html

[22] The historical marker is on the grounds of the (now closed) New Salem Methodist Church to the south of the road.

[23] And now that I think of it, there should be at least a few in the Ohio River near Mound City and its shipyard. Are there any near Cairo, in the Mississippi River?

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Illinois Civil War sites (part 2) (added 2 April 2021)

It is sometimes asked: are there Civil War sites in Illinois?

In part 2, I am covering the primary camps of instruction, and prisoner-of-war camps and prisons. The forthcoming part 3 will include Lincoln-related sites and all other Civil War sites of note I can think of in Illinois.

PRIMARY CAMPS OF INSTRUCTION

Camp Douglas (Chicago)[1]
Camp Butler (near Springfield)[2]
Camp Defiance (Cairo)[3]

Once it seemed likely that the war would extend beyond 1861, it became clear to military organizers in Illinois that having a few, well-managed, on-going “concentration” or “rendezvous” camps would be more efficient than dozens of smaller, scattered, periodically-used mustering sites. Also, recruits could receive more consistent instruction at just a few large mustering and training sites.

Author’s image: July 2018

“As military arms and equipment became better organized and available by the end of 1861, the Illinois mustering sites were largely consolidated into Camp Douglas, on the then-southern edge of Chicago, and Camp Butler, east of Springfield at Clear Lake. (Much smaller mustering camps remained and were periodically used at Springfield’s Camp Yates, Cairo, and Quincy.) Camp Douglas became Illinois’s largest Civil War military camp, where sixteen regiments of infantry and cavalry were mustered and 40,000 soldiers were trained and outfitted. Camp Butler, ultimately mustered in forty-eight infantry and cavalry regiments, and was Illinois’s second largest camp.”[4]

“Cairo became an important assembly point for Union commanders, especially in the first half of the Civil War. Its peninsular location also helped secure it from guerrilla attacks, despite soldiers feeling penned in.

Cairo, Illinois, October 19, 1861, to friend, Miss Almeda Frazee

they is from one to two New Rigments A day Comming in Cairo Now they air prepairing for to take Columbis they is About forty Thousand Solgers at this point

–Private James H. Miller, 31^st Infantry, Tazewell County

Private Miller referenced Columbus, Kentucky, where the untested, then-Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant landed his forces prior to the Battle of Belmont, on November 7.

Paducah, Kentucky, November 8, 1861, to brother and sister

It seems inevitable that some very important work is to be, and will be done down the Mississippi, as there are several thousand men ordered from Cairo, Birds-Point, Cape-Gireaudeau, Pilot-Knob and some other points, to go down the River.

–Private William Dillon, 40^th Infantry, Marion County

From the Confederacy’s perspective, Camp Defiance at the bottom of Illinois was akin to the tip of a spear. It pointed directly at the heart of the western states via the Mississippi River. From Cairo, Union armies went north into Missouri (St. Louis), east into Kentucky (Paducah) and then central Tennessee (forts Henry and Donelson, and Pittsburg Landing), and south toward western Tennessee (Memphis), Arkansas (Helena, Arkansas Post), and Mississippi (Vicksburg).

Early in the war, camps Douglas, Butler, and Defiance produced a mighty outflow of Illinois soldiers toward the Confederacy. Soon thereafter, Union victories in the Western theater resulted in large inflows of both Confederate prisoners of war and, later, returning Union soldiers.”[5]

MILITARY PRISONS

Alton Military Prison[6]
Camp Douglas
Camp Butler
Rock Island Prison[7]

“The Battle of Belmont, in November 1861, was a modest Union victory that, by the end of the day, turned into a modest defeat. It resulted in some prisoners taken by both sides.

Camp McClernand near Cairo, Illinois, [probably November] 19, 1861, to friend, Miss Almeda Frazee

[days after the Battle of Belmont] their was A Flag of Truse . . . we gave them [the Confederates] all the prisnors we Took But sixteen they wood not Go Back th[e]y air willing to take the oath That they will not fight Again^st the Union

–Corporal James H. Miller, 31^st Infantry, Tazewell County

In contrast, the fighting at Fort Donelson, in February 1862, resulted in the capture of about twelve thousand Confederate soldiers. (Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant was the Union commander in both the Belmont and Donelson battles.) The early-war Union was unprepared to deal with large numbers of prisoners of war. Although initially there had been periodic paroling and exchanging of prisoners (like at Belmont), the volume from Fort Donelson necessitated a delay in the exchange process. (More soldiers were captured at Fort Donelson than at all the previous Civil War battles combined, at that point.)”[8]

“After reaching Cairo by steamboats, about two thousand of the Fort Donelson prisoners were sent by railroad to Camp Butler and about eight thousand (some via St. Louis) to Camp Douglas, where a portion of the Illinois soldiers’ barracks were converted for the new arrivals. (Illinois prisons for Confederate soldiers also were established at Alton and later near Rock Island, both conveniently on the Mississippi River.) These initial Confederate prisoners were inadequately clothed (and some in bad health) for a northerly incarceration, and the Union military was poorly prepared to provide for their basic necessities. At the same time, Illinois soldiers at these camps continued to be trained and drilled, while the prisoners endured cold temperatures (for Southern soldiers) and continual tedium.”[9]

Camp Douglas, Illinois, March 3, 1862, to parents

There is 4,500 secesh here they have full liberty here in camp and are more numerous than the blue coats They are a motly looking crowd no two looking a like they most of them are draped in grey and copper colored Kentucky jeans. but some have coats made of Indian Blankets. . . . A good share of them wont go to war again if they get home once. One fellow told me if the northern folks shot at him again it would be d d [damned] near home One Mississpin Rifle man who was warming over a fire said this was lutle [likely?] the coldest country he had ever been in.

–Private Francis Tupper, 53^rd Infantry, La Salle County

“Camp Douglas, particularly, was impacted by misguided military policies and poorly supported leadership, resulting in muddled prison priorities. The camp commanders were caught in the middle of federal, Illinois, and local Chicago authorities and their sometimes-disharmonious instructions. . . . One temporary function assumed at Camp Douglas, but not at Camp Butler, was as a parole camp. In September 1862, Harpers Ferry (then, VA) was surrounded and captured by General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Confederate forces, just prior to the Battle of Antietam (MD). Of the twelve thousand Union soldiers captured there, about eight thousand (including about one thousand originally from Illinois) ended up at Camp Douglas waiting to be officially exchanged.”[10]

“The prison at Camp Butler was smaller than at Camp Douglas, but the outcomes were very similar. Even though the prison portion of Camp Butler was in operation for a little over a year, it had three successive commandants: Colonel Pitcairn Morrison, Major John G. Fonda, and Colonel William F. Lynch. During their tenures, there were many prisoner escape attempts, which prompted the construction of a twelve-foot-high plank fence and gates around the perimeter, completed in May 1862. As at Camp Douglas, some successful escapees were assisted by local sympathizers.”[11]

Camp Butler, Illinois, April 8, 1862, to sister, Jane

The prisoners still ascape one or two at a time. There are some farmers near the camp, who are suspected of harboring them

–Private Winthrop Allen, 12^th Cavalry, Greene County

The prison at Alton also was susceptible to escapes by Confederate prisoners, with “neutral” Missouri just across the Mississippi River. Built in 1833, it was the first Illinois state penitentiary and subsequently was closed shortly before the commencement of the Civil War. However, it was pressed back into service in February 1862 for POWs. Over the course of the rest of the war, about 11,000 Confederate prisoners passed through the facility.

By the end of 1863, a facility was built and named Rock Island Prison, located on an island (now called Arsenal Island) in the Mississippi River near the city. By the time the prison was closed in July 1865, about 12,000 Confederate inmates had passed through its gates.

If you are interested in visiting any of these Illinois Civil War sites, each has one or more associated websites with maps, history, and other visitor information.

[1] See the Camp Douglas historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=451

[2] See the Camp Butler historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=265 The part about General Sherman and Camp Butler is not accurate; see further down this page for an August 2020 posting on this subject.

[3] See the Cairo historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=7

[4] Mark Flotow, “The Creation of Civil War Camps Douglas, Butler, and Defiance (1861-1862), “Illinois Heritage 21:5 (September-October 2018), 37. Also note that in the winter of 1861-62, Camp Butler was relocated from its original Clear Lake site to roughly where the current Camp Butler National Cemetery is today.

[5] Ibid., 40.

[6] See the Alton Prison historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=173

[7] See information about the Rock Island Arsenal and the Civil War prison historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=424

[8] Mark Flotow, “The Repurposing of Civil War Camps Douglas, Butler, and Defiance (1862-1865), “Illinois Heritage 22:2 (March-April 2019), 22.

[9] Ibid., 23.

[10] Ibid., 23.

[11] Ibid., 24.

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Illinois Civil War sites (part 1) (added 26 March 2021)

It is sometimes asked: are there Civil War sites in Illinois?[1]

If referring to Civil War battle sites, there are none in Illinois. Skirmishes? Maybe, depending on how much one is willing to stretch the definition of the participants (e.g., the so-called “Charleston riot”). Shots fired by the military in anger at a perceived enemy? Probably, but mostly in limited or specific settings (e.g., prison camps). Shots fired at someone? Definitely, albeit not many (e.g., soldier criminality, accidents). Soldiers who died in Illinois due to the Civil War? Yes – many hundreds, and mostly through disease or as wounded soldiers transferred to Illinois hospitals.

In three posts, I will include as many Illinois Civil War sites I can possibly define (and sometimes with qualifications). This first post is about mustering camps, which is a somewhat lengthy list.

MUSTERING CAMPS

Here is a partial list of mustering camps arranged by name (and nearest city or town). Some reflect local nomenclature. A portion of the following comes from the Illinois Adjutant General’s report about the Civil War, but in many cases the listings lack specificity and simply name the city or town.[2]

Camp Blum (Chicago)
Camp Carrollton (Carrollton fairgrounds)
Camp Centralia (Centralia)
Camp Defiance (Cairo)[3]
Camp Dement (Dixon)
Camp Dubois (Anna)
Camp Duncan (Jacksonville fairgrounds)
Camp Fry (north side of Chicago)
Camp Fuller (Rockford)
Camp Goodell (Joliet)
Camp Grant (Mattoon; formerly Camp Cunningham)
Camp Hammond (Aurora)
Camp Hancock (near Camp Douglas, near Chicago)
Camp Hunter (Ottawa)[4]
Camp Irwin (Joliet)
Camp Kane (St. Charles)
Camp Long (later was called Camp Douglas, Chicago)
Camp Lyon (Peoria)
Camp Macon (Decatur)
Camp Marshall (Salem)
Camp Massac (at Fort Massac, near Metropolis)
Camp Mather (Chicago)
Camp Mather (Peoria)
Camp Mather (near Shawneetown)
Camp Palmer (west of Carlinville)
Camp Pope (near Alton)
Camp Quincy (Quincy)
Camp Taylor (Springfield brickyard)
Camp Washburne (Galena, Jo Daviess County fairgrounds)
Camp Wood (Quincy)
Camp Yates (Springfield fairgrounds)

Many of the mustering camps were short-term and active primarily during 1861 and 1862, particularly during the initial rush to join the military. Others lingered on or were periodically used for mustering, like Camp Fry in Chicago and Camp Yates in Springfield. Many, like Camp Carrollton, utilized the local fairgrounds as near-ready and available locations at which to assemble or concentrate new soldiers into companies and ultimately regiments.

These are other Illinois towns with known mustering activities: Bloomington (city park), Caseyville (and organized in Belleville), Danville, Elgin, Florence, Geneva, Kankakee, Knoxville, Monmouth, Plainfield, and Pontiac.

My colleague, Robert Girardi of Chicago, provided me with these additional mustering sites in Chicago: Camp Dunne, Camp Ellsworth, Camp Fremont, Camp Mulligan, Camp Sigel, Camp Slemmer, Camp Song, Camp Tyler and Camp Webb. He also provided me with some other Illinois mustering sites: Camp Bureau (Princeton), Camp Dunlap (Jacksonville), Camp Ford (Jacksonville), Camp Latham (Lincoln), Camp McClellan (Dixon), and Camp Scott (Freeport).

All told, including the list of Illinois towns without a known camp name, there are 57 above-mentioned mustering camps (excluding camps Douglas and Butler, which will be covered in next week’s post). However, where a city or town accounted for mustering more than one regiment, in many cases it is unclear whether the soldiers were mustered in at the same location or at multiple locations. In Chicago, for example, it is clear there were multiple locales where regiments were raised and mustered. Perhaps the most unusual example is the 23^rd Illinois Infantry (the “Irish Brigade”), organized and mustered in Chicago at Kane’s Brewery, which had its own barracks.

Finally, not all Illinois regiments were mustered in the army in Illinois. Four were mustered in at St. Louis (25^th IL, 59^th IL, 66^th IL, and Battery E of the 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery) and one at Cape Girardeau, Missouri (Battery F of the 2^nd Illinois Light Artillery).

The following is a smattering of extracts from Illinois soldiers’ letters mentioning their mustering points.

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, April 3, 1865, to cousin, Jabez

well here I am again in the Army, and am enjoying myself splendidly. when the last Call for men was made I thought I would try it again, and help finish up the work . . . I could not rest contented at home so long as there was work for Loyal hands to do, and hearts to dare. . . . we were organized in Camp Fry Chicago, and left there about the Middle of last Month came here by way of Louisville Ky after stopping there one day just long enough to take a good view of the city. From there we took the Nashville R.R. and arrived all right in Nashville in spite of guerrilla &c. along the way. The ride was a splendid one. The weather being fine and the scenery romantic, and in many places wild, and picturesque

—1st Lieutenant Washington Terry, 156th Infantry, Kane County

Camp Fuller, near Rockford, Illinois, September 6, 1862, to sister

After getting here we set to work to get dinner and was just about ready to eat when we were told that Adj’t General [Allen Curtis] Fuller was ready to muster us in before leaving the City so we had to fall into the ranks and march out to the Parade Ground where about 3.000 Soldiers were drawn up on parade ready to receive us. Here we formed a hollow square an[d] were formally examined and mustered into the service of the US. While we were being examined, six companies from Joe Daviss [Jo Daviess] County were marched up on the out side of the square then we were presented to each other and the ten companies were then declared to constitute the 96^th Regt of Ill Volunteers, after which he made a capital speech on the duties of the men and officers an I tell you what he told the officers some plain truths which it would do well for them to remember. . . . Our line Officers met and held an election last night of our Field Officers. they are [Thomas E.] Champion of Joe Daviss [County] for Col I L Clarke [Isaac L. Clark] of Lake [County] for Lieut Col. & [John C.] Smith of Joe Daviss for major who the rest are I have not heard as yet, but I will know by & by I suppose. Our Company [“C”] officers have all been appointed I dont know exactly who they are all of them but I believe that I am a corporal, Sixth at that. that will keep me off Guard, which is better than nothing. . . . Our quarters are very comfortable, indeed built of pine lumber and well battened so that neither wind or rain can touch us. we sleep in bunks just as they did on ship board. John & I Sleep together, and although nothing but the bare boards and our blankets we slept so sound that we did not know till after we got up this morning what I heavy rain we had during the night.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Here is a transcription of handwritten orders for “Camp Anna” (Union County) from an Illinois soldier’s letter collection.[5]

——————–

Head Quarters 81^st Regt Ill Vols

Camp Anna Ill Sept 1^st 1862

General Orders

No 6 In order to enforce the propper Military discipline among the troops at this

Post from and after the 1^st day of September Inst. a night Police will patrol the streets of Anna and Jonesboro. Said patrol to be composed of details as follows to wit.

1 Commissional Officer 6 Sergeants thru Corporals and fifty-four men.

81^st Regt Ill Vols 2 Sergts 1 Corporal and 18 Men
109^th ” ” ” 2 ” 1 ” ” 18 ”
110^th ” ” ” 2 ” 1 ” ” 18 ”

The Commissioned officer to be furnished alternately by each Regiment. Commencing with the 81^st Ills Vols on the night of the Second Inst. the 109^th on the 3^d the 110^th on the 4^th and thus alternately each night. Said details will be promptly reported at the Depot of the IC RR by 8 Oclock each P.M. Armed and equipped and with their Blankets. Any Soldiers found upon the streets after the hour of 9 Oclock P.M. will be arrested and all Officers out upon the streets after the hour of 9 Oclock without the Countersign will be arrested and sent to their respective Commanders for each punishment as may be deemed propper for such offenses And any and all Citizens engaged in any riotous Conduct will forth with be arrested and turned over to the Civil authorities

By Command of

Ja^s J. Dollins

[Colonel Dollins, 81^st Infantry, Franklin County]

——————–

Camp Goodell, Joliet, Illinois, May 27, 1861, to Mr. J. A. Kuhn

catastrophee a jeneral excitement prevails through out the camp the boys are dissatisfyed with the present prospects, that is to bee disbanded on the 15^th of June and go home with out a fight some of them will have a fight before leaving any how whither any enemy presents its self or not . . . Yesterday there was a man from the Iroquois company tried before a court marshel and found guilty of deserting. The case was an aggravated one in the 1^st place he disobeyed orders, and was confined in the guard house three days on bread and water. The next knight some ten or twelve boys wer put in for some trifling offence and they tore the guard house down and this man got out and went home he was sent for and brouht back and tried yesterday Sonday and all as it was, his doom is not yet sealed, but it is jeneraly supposed that death will bee his doom in consequence of which the camp is in a perfect up roar a mob collected in front of the guard house at 7 oclock this morning to take him out a double guard was ordered out to disperce the mob. they charged bayonets and the charge was returned by the mob with stones. some pretty badly hurt fortunately no lives lost. after a considerable fight with stones and other missels the mob was dispersed and returned to their quarters the camp is quiet now with the exception of a few mad caps who are still hovering round in groups there is now 120 men on guard stationed round the encampment . . . all kinds of men and amusements here for yound and old notwithstanding the many temptations to which we are exposed there seames to bee none so hard for the boys to resist as intemperance there are a few that will not take the cup when it is presented to them and only a few

—enlistee George Kiser, McLean County, who subsequently was mustered into the 20th Infantry

Finally, here is another letter from the same collection.

Camp Hunter, near Ottawa, Illinois, October 21, 1861, to Lizzie Denning

And now as to our living, which is very good not gotten up as nice as might be but does very well considering and tastes very well when one is hungry we always have good bread, and at breakfast we have coffee, a large tin cup ful to each man and a table spoon ful of sugar to each man one piece of meat either beef or pork and potatoes. for dinner we have bread, meat, and been or rice soup, a tin cupful of soup to each man and sometimes more if he wants it. for supper we have the same as for breakfast always plenty. the boys often buy extras such as cabbage eggs chickens & butter which can always be had most any day in Camp and also pies and cakes.

—Private Samuel Kuhn, 4th Cavalry, McLean County

[1] This question also was posed and answered by former Illinois State Historian Dr. Samuel Wheeler a few years ago as part of a Springfield presentation. A nice overview of many of these sites is: Victor Hicken, “Illinois Camps, Posts, and Prisons,” Civil War Sketches, No. 9, Illinois State Historical Library, Civil War Centennial Commission of Illinois (Springfield: State of Illinois, 1963).

[2] J. N. Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, rev. ed., 8 vols. (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., 1900), 1:151-7.

[3] In their letters, soldiers mention their temporary regimental camps in the Cairo area, such as Camp Cairo, Camp McLean, Camp McClernand, etc. Similarly, at nearby Mound City, there was Camp Mound City, Camp Morgan, etc. See the Cairo historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=6

[4] See the Camp Hunter historical marker here: https://www.historyillinois.org/FindAMarker/MarkerDetails.aspx?MarkerID=493

[5] Lewis Trefftzs collection, Small Collection SC1558, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Springfield, Illinois.

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Writing style; “&c.” (added 19 March 2021)

My February appearance on C-SPAN has generated a few brief questions. I will answer two of those here.

Joseph B. asks is there an explanation for the change (for the worse) in our ability to communicate with style and eloquence compared to Civil War-era letter writers?

Here are a few thoughts about Illinois Civil War soldiers’ style and eloquence as found in their personal letters. I may have said during the C-SPAN presentation that literacy was evidenced across a spectrum of abilities among Illinois soldiers’ letters. Yet perhaps there are some biases in play with what is in the book.

Not surprisingly, I suspect biases start with which Civil War era letters have been saved, preserved, and donated to public institutions for people like me to eventually read. Perhaps less eloquent or expressive letters may have been less likely to have made the “preservation cut.” Regarding my part as an editor, some letters were too crudely written, in terms of grammar and spelling, to include in the book. Sometimes these sorts of letters are too difficult to comprehend for modern readers and end up more as a distraction. (Plus, I had far, far too much material that could fit into one volume.) I probably picked examples that readers would better appreciate and get the most out of regarding whatever point I was illustrating. That stated, phonetic spellers are sometimes the best ones from whom to hear their speaking voices through their letters. And totally missing are those who were illiterate and did not produce letters written in their own hands.

In my experience with Illinois soldiers, without exception, everyone wrote cursively. Writing likely was an important part of their education (and there was less general knowledge to compete with learning writing skills than with grade-schoolers now). Also, letters were, at that time, the next best thing to being there when it came to remote communication. Generally, writers wanted their words to count because once written and sent, they were difficult to amend without a period of potential misunderstanding.

Are writing styles worse now? I agree that nowadays time or timeliness seems to be of the essence, I suppose because we can send missives quickly. However, also think of it this way: 150 years from now, what writings will be preserved from our current era for people to read and mull over? Finally, during the mid-nineteenth century, cursive writing was the style taught in schools for personal communications. Block lettering was mostly reserved for typesetting and the like.

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Various people have, or have seen, Civil War letters with “&c.” and asked to what does “&c.” mean or refer?

It may be noticed that more often than not “&c.” or even “&c. &c.” tends to occur at the end of sentences. Here are a few examples.

Paw Paw, (now West) Virginia, August 22, 1862, to sister, Jane

Well I really have hopes that this war will soon be over and that the most of the troops will be at home by Christmas & surely the energies the determinations our goverment is showing will not be without a great effect on the leaders of the rebellion – it is already showing its effects in Europe and I belive that one great victory in the state will close the war and that after words nothing more will be required of us then to enforce the confiscation laws and hunt down small parties &c. &c.

—Private Winthrop S. G. Allen, 12th Cavalry, Greene County

Aboard the USS Wabash, in the Atlantic, February 1, 1862, to friend, Herman

It seems that very few of my schoolmates have gone to the war. Under certain circumstances a young man is justified in remaining at home, but in a trouble like this all to whom it is possible should lend a willing and a helping hand. Staying at home and criticising the actions of our Generals &c is giving poor assistance.

—Midshipman Louis Kempff, USS Wabash, St. Clair County

Memphis, Tennessee, July 27, 1862, to cousin

Our Bill of fair is Light Bread Ham and, sow belly (side) Beans, sugar, coffe &c we live pretty well

—Private George Reese, 28th Infantry, Fulton County

&c. = etc., the abbreviation for “et cetera,” meaning “and so on” or “and the rest.” At least among Illinois soldiers’ letters, “etc.” can be sometimes found but “&c.” is more commonly seen. Here is an example of the etc. usage.

near Smithfield, North Carolina, April 11, 1865, to wife, Nellie

Two very fine houses, well filled with fine expensive furniture, pictures, pianos etc. were burned to the ground to=day, as we came along. Do not know how they caught fire, but pres[u]me (perhaps) accidentally.

—Captain Albert Blackford, 107th Infantry, DeWitt County

Finally, here is a variation of the abbreviation.

Strasburg, Virginia, March 31, 1862, to “Dear ‘Darling’ Cousin”

Camp demoralization amounts to this—Where hundreds of men are thrown togegher and exposed to privation—and deprived of the restraining influence of Society and Women—They at once follow the bent of their own depraved natures &cccc For instance A Co. is raised—of patriotic though chicken hearted boys some from the field—some from School—a mixed multitude with various tastes and habits &c.

—Private Ransom Bedell, 39th Infantry, Cook County

&cccc likely was Private Bedell’s way of expressing “etc., etc.”

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Prisoner-of-war mail (added 12 March 2021)

On page 193 of your book, you have a partial letter from a Union soldier in a prisoner-of-war camp. Was this letter typical of prisoner-of-war mail?

The letter was rather typical, but the writer was a prisoner due to an unusual circumstance. The complete letter could not fit into the book, and here it is in its entirety.

military prison at Salisbury, North Carolina, January 22, 1864, to Mrs. S. S. Stevens

Esteemed Cousin,
It was with the greatest pleasure I received your letter of the 16^th l[a]st, and learned you were in good health as well as the rest of your family and friends. With bare exception of a note, written by Mother and enclosed in a box of clothing, yours was the first letter received since my imprisonment since yours came to hand Ihave received one from James written from home & baring date Dec. 21^st.
You may readily conceive, at least partly conceive, how gratifying must have been the reception of these letters to me, & Ido but speak the truth when I tell you yours was the more gratifying of the two, for James tho he wrote from home wrote only a short & Iconfess not very enlightening letter.
Isincerely hope that if compelled to remain in prison Imay be the recipient of more just such. They can not come too often.
With exception of a severe cold and an attending ague in the face my health has been good since the date of my last.
Of course the climate is much milder than in Ills. As yet we have seen no snow. Any other life than that of a prisoner would be very pleasant here in Winter; as it is we pass the time quite agreeably.
There is a young man here from Chicago by the name of H. E. Johnson. He has a brother-in law at 77 Randolph St. whose name is Ja^s Reed.
Isincerely hope Father did not experience any serious results from his “fall” he had at Batavia. Should you see any of my folks please inform them of my good health &c. &c.
Present my compliments to your father’s family & tell them if any of them feel dis posed to let me hear from them the favor would be most acceptable.
Remember me to Neally, & tell her Ithink of her very often. Ask Mr. Stevens to accept my full regards, after which Iask his worthy wife to believe me most sincerely

Har[?] old friend and Cousin
Frank B. Doran

Mrs. Mary L. Stevens,
Chicago, Ills.

P.S. Iwas not surprised to hear that Mrs. S was delighted with that painting. Frank.

——————–

Here are some brief notes about this letter. The copy I read at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library seemed to be exactly that, meaning someone copied the letter in cursive writing to presumably resemble the original, including the envelope. I have no way of knowing if the run-on words—”Isincerely” and “Iask” as examples—are faithful to the original letter or artifacts of the copier’s cursive writing style. Perhaps any spelling errors in the original were corrected, too.

Frank Beecher Doran was not an ordinary Civil War prisoner, which turned out to be a rather unfortunate factor in terms of his length of incarceration. Doran had been a corporal in the 52^nd Illinois and apparently was discharged in August 1862. However, in December 1862 he went searching for his sick brother, who was still in the Union army, and both of them were captured by the Confederates. Frank Doran was incarcerated in the Confederacy, perhaps for aiding and abetting the enemy. According to a 1904 life retrospective, he subsequently was in a dozen different Confederate prisons during the war. At the time, Doran being a citizen rather than a soldier complicated his eligibility for a Union/Confederate prisoner exchange. He finally was paroled in March 1865.[1]

Doran was able to send and receive letters on a limited basis. Here is a general description of Civil War prisoner mail mechanics.

“Confederate and Union prisoner-of-war letters were exchanged at designated points. These letters usually were enclosed within an inner, unsealed envelope that bore enemy stamps or was sent postage due. The outer cover was destroyed after the contents were censored, as indicated by proper markings and endorsements on the envelope carrying the letter to its destination.”[2]

Basically, the POW sender had to pay the postage of both the Confederacy and the United States. Coins sometimes accompanied the letter to pay for postage. If the letter was going to the United States, “soldier’s letter” could be written on the envelope and the receiver would be required to pay the U.S. portion of the postage.

Because prisoners’ letters were censored, the contents were limited mainly to general or personal information, and usually on just one sheet of paper. In Doran’s letter, above, he states where he was incarcerated but eschews details about the prison, his treatment, or anything whatsoever about the war. As a result, many prisoner letters are rather bland but, at the same time, convey that the writer is alive and thinking about those at home. In these respects, Doran’s letter is rather typical among Civil War prisoners’ letters.

[1] Some of the information about Frank Doran came from the McHenry County Civil War Round Table website; see http://www.mchenrycivilwar.com/.

[2] https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibitions/a-nation-divided/soldiers-mail

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Colloquialisms and terms (part 4) (added 5 March 2021)

This is a continuation of the last three weeks’ question theme with a final set of seven colloquialisms and terms Illinois soldiers used in their letters.

favor

Memphis, Tennessee, February 18, 1863

Dear Aunt Dollie
Your most welcome favor was duly recieved and read and re read with a great deal of pleasure.

—Privates Thomas Beggs, 114th Infantry, Cass County

A letter often was referred to as a favor. Social conventions aside, personal letters were not absolute obligations. Writers often used politeness to encourage replies from their correspondents. Here is an example penned under somewhat extreme circumstances.

camp near Dalton Gap, Tennessee, May 11, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

your favor of the 29th ult. . . . found me on the battle field, where I am at the present time. . . . musketry firing in front cannonading on the right, and many other things to excite the nerves of the strongest man. But here comes a letter from some one dear to me, and lying down to escape the enemys bullets or shells, I can hear kind words whispered to me from home.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

used up

Montgomery, Alabama, May 1, 1865, to mother, brother and sister

You may think strange at my writing on this sheet of paper [black bordered], but today, here, has been a day of Mourning if I ever passed such a day. The Official news of the Assassination of Lincoln & Seward [double-wavy underlining] reached here last night, in an order from Gen. [Edward R. S.] Canby; & Col. [James L.] Geddes, Post Commander, issued an order that half hour guns should be fired from Sunrise till Sunset today—& minute guns from 12 till 1 o’clock M. The whole Army is cast in deep gloom. All business places are closed, & the other usual signs are observed. Many officers & soldiers are indignant & some of them almost violent. A rebel could say but little in Sympathy with that assassination. He would be used up in haste.

—Soldier “Henry,” likely from Illinois

In this context, used up means “killed off,” but sometimes it can mean “exhausted, nearly spent.” It can apply to bodies of men (e.g., company, regiment, as in battle) as well as to single individuals.

Young’s Point, Louisiana, January 25, 1863, to sister, Abbie

We got to Youngs point about 2 o’clock on Friday afternoon we were on the shore in a moment inquiring for our regiment or rather Morgans division nobody knew some said they were all dead had been used up at the fight &c &c

—1st Sergeant George Safford, 118th Infantry, Hancock County

gobbled (up)

near Roswell, Georgia, July 30, 1864, to wife, Clara

Sure enough the mail carrier was, in co. with another man, gobbled day before yesterday, but they took advantage of their captors the next day at breakfast & getting hold of their guns made prisoners of them, returned to Marietta & to-day came safe thro’ with the mail

—1st Assistant Surgeon James Gaskill, 45th Infantry, Bond County

Gobbled or gobbled up means captured; taken prisoner. I am uncertain if this is a Civil War-specific term, but it appears now and again in Illinois soldiers’ letters.

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, March 22, 1863, to friend, Miss Mollie Chapman

Two Expeditions from our army yesterday and the day before, “gobbled” (the army word for “capture”) about 500 and killed about 200 Rebel.

—Captain David Norton, 42nd Infantry, Cook County

high private

Camp Morgan, Mound City, Illinois, October 9, 1861, to brother, David

what is an officer without the good will of his men? isnt he in more danger than a (high private) if we ever should be called on to the Battle field? I answer yes. common sense ought to teach them that they cant come [to play] the (shenanegin) game over Volunteers. they must know that we did’nt come at the call of our Country to be trampled on as we was’nt elected on that ticket.

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

High private is a fictious rank and simply means “an ordinary private.” It is invariably used in jest or facetiously, often to underscore the lowness of the rank. It also is sometimes stated to express the futility of being a private, somewhat implying a soldier who receives orders but never issues them.

Natchez, Mississippi, September 11, 1863, to cousin

I still rank a high Private rear rank – My time of service will expire in less than one year longer The 1^st of next august if I live will release me from service if things remain “status quo” until that time I shall go home in fighting trim as it is not safe to go otherwise into our neighborhood

—Private George Reese, 28th Infantry, Fulton County

sutler

Helena, Arkansas, October 4, 1862, to father

I spent a good deal of Money while in the wilderness, where $10,00 would not go as far as $2,00 would at home. I bought 2 shirts of[f] the Sutler. gave $5,00 for them, could not get any from Government. that is about all the money the Sutlers have got from me.

—Private William Marsh, 13th Infantry, Will County

Sutlers were private suppliers of food, goods, and services, selling directly to soldiers at their camps. During the Civil War, a sutler was subject to military regulation and could be assigned or licensed to sell to a certain regiment. Soldiers often complained about sutlers’ high prices but, at the same time, sutlers often assumed high risks, both financial and sometimes physical, in locating at or near soldiers’ camps.

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, May 10, 1862, to friend, Mrs. Harriet Stoddard

once in a while we are pretty short of rations but there are plenty of Sutlers a round and those [soldiers] that have money Can live pretty well. but at the time of the fight [Battle of Shiloh] some of the Sutlers was took on surprise and lost all they had so I guess the Secesh fared pretty well for once

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry, Morgan County

run the guard

Camp Douglas, near Chicago, Illinois, October 31, 1861, to Elizabeth Ann Bate (“Betty”)

ther[e] is plenty of Boys that has not had any money for 2 months and they say that when They get their money that they will have a spree if they have to run the Guards to get out

—Private George W. Russell, 55th Infantry, Winnebago County

Run the guard means to sneak through or otherwise avoid soldiers guarding an encampment. If successful, it was tantamount to “absence without leave.” In the above example, it was before Camp Douglas had a stockade or fenced perimeter. In such cases, guards were stationed a certain number of feet apart and to run the guard meant to slip out of camp unnoticed (ideally) between posted guards.

Here is an example of slipping through the guards at a prisoner-of-war camp by using a disguise.

undated reminisces, titled “A Story of the Trials and Experiences of James Jennings Late of Co. K 20th Infantry at Andersonville Prison during the Civil War”

[at Florence, S.C., where a new prison was established in an open field] Some citizens would come into the camp with pies and other stuff to sell or trade for most anything the Yanks had. . . . I noticed when these men came in and went out the guard said nothing to them. One day I told some of the boys I thought if we could trade our uniforms with some of the prisoners that were wearing the Rebel gray uniform, we could walk out and make a run for freedom. . . . Well, each of us picked a man about our size, and asked them how they would like to trade clothes. The fellow I asked said the only way he would trade would be to trade even. I said “Then you don’t want anything extra for the graybacks?” He said No you are welcome to them, so we traded even. . . . I struck a beeline for the guard (the guards beat was sixty feet long). They had to walk back and forth, so when I passed within six or eight feet of the guard I looked straight at him an he at me. Neither of us spoke. I struck for the timber about a half mile away and waited for Dann and Cox.

—James Jennings, former private, 20th Infantry, Kendall County

sink(s)

hospital at Chattanooga, Tennessee, July 17, 1864, to uncle, Sergeant Levi Otis Colburn

I have heard that I was marked for the Invalid corps but I hope it is not true, but if I am I cant help it. For I know I am not to blame for being disabled, my breast feels worse since the wether has got so hot than it did when I first came here. I am in charge of a squad of men on fatigue duty, but you know that is not very hard duty, we are on duty every day but Sunday, a digging sinks and cleaning up dirt and filth around camp

—Private Samuel Walker, 51st Infantry, Cook County

A sink during the Civil War was a dug military latrine. More generally, it was a pit for sewage, or a cesspool. Sinks often included a log on which to sit while “doing one’s business” so the waste product would drop directly into the pit, which would gradually fill with repeated usage. In a sense, a sink was an outhouse arrangement without the house.

As might be imagined, the duty of tending to sinks was often interpreted as a form of soldier punishment because it was “foul” work. Here is another quotation from Private Swales.

camp at Mound City, Illinois, October 17, 1861, to brother, David

the company has been [doing] fatigue duty to day filling up a big sink in the rear of our barracks – it makes some of the Boys awful mad because they have to work at diging and hawling dirt.

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

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Colloquialisms and terms (part 3) (added 26 February 2021)

This is a continuation of the last two weeks’ question with another set of seven colloquialisms and terms Illinois soldiers used in their letters, some being common and others less so.

vidette

Franklin, Tennessee, April 11, 1863, to wife

[regarding Confederate general Earl Van Dorn’s attack and repulse at Franklin, Tennessee, 10 April 1863] In the forenoon about 10 o clock we heard rapid firing across the river on the other side of town, showing that the 40^th Ohio which was picketing on the line in front of Franklin were Skirmishing with the enemy. The firing continued until 12 o clock at which time the enemy appeared in Such force as to drive our cavalry Vidett[e]s into town and across the river The “Rebs” consisted of mounted infantry supported by a battery of Light Artillery. They rushed on our cavalry videtts and drove them “pell mell” before them, at the same time, riding right through the Picket line of the 40^th Ohio, which was extended for two miles in front of Franklin.

—1st Sergeant Joseph Leekley, 96th Infantry, Jo Daviess County

A vidette is a mounted sentinel in advance of army pickets or outposts (sometimes spelled vedette).

“A cavalry vidette. Taking it easy.” Sketch by Edwin Forbes, 12 November 1863 (Library of Congress, 2004661463), possibly drawn in Virginia.

Presumably, a vidette could ride back into his own lines and report quickly regarding any observed enemy activities.

shebang

Whiteside, Tennessee, January 14, 1864, to wife, Anna

If you could look into my shebang you would be almost tempted to take up your quarters with me it is so pleasant & so neatly kept. Now dont laugh about the neat part I assure you everything is in apple pie order

—Chaplain Hiram Roberts, 84th Infantry, Adams County

A shebang is a hut, shanty, or rude shelter. (Bonus colloquialism: apple-pie order means in perfect or excellent order.) Typically, soldiers made shebangs on their own initiative by scrounging or otherwise acquiring local materials when it was felt they were going into “winter quarters.” That is, they were expecting to be camped at one place for several weeks and so it might be worth their trouble to construct a more weatherproof shelter than their usual tents.

Camp Baird, near Danville, Kentucky, December 31, 1862, to sister

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Written around the last week of December 1862, Walt Whitman described his hospital visits in the greater Falmouth, Virginia area.

“Besides the hospitals, I also go occasionally on long tours through the camps. Talking with the men, &c. Sometimes at night among the groups around the fires, in their shebang enclosures of bushes. These are curious shows, full of characters and groups.”[1]

In this instance, shebang might best fit with the “rude shelter” definition.

graybacks

Smyrna, Tennessee, August 1863, to Oscar (possibly his son)

once in five nights sett up half of the night and the ballance of the night I tak my blanket and roll myself up and take the soft side of a board and sleep as much as th[e] flees and Gray backs will let me

—Corporal Josiah Kellogg, 102nd Infantry, Warren County

Grayback (or greyback) is a nineteenth century term that generally meant “a louse or lice.”

“My War Experience,” presented April 12, 1888, in Chicago, Illinois, at a veteran reunion

we done the “skirmish act,” (any old soldier understands the phrase -) or in other words we pulled off our shirts and hunted the . . . grayback – among the seams of his clothing . . . for the ground was covered with the creeping vermin.

—Lewis Lake, former private, 1st Light Artillery, Winnebago County

During the Civil War, grayback had alternative meanings. Among the Union soldiers, it also meant “a Confederate soldier.” Among Confederate soldiers, it also meant “a Union soldier.” In these cases, the soldiers essentially denigrated their enemies as “lousy.”

funny house (and similar)

Giesbono Point, Washington, DC, March 20, 1864

I though[t] one thing at any rate it is more convenient to the funny House you spoke of you say you think if you saw your Soldier go in to such a place he would not be your Soldier very well then I take it for granted that you have not got any Soldier Boy now for Fowler & me were in three different Houses of this class while we were in Washington but does it follow My Dear that because one Enters these places that they are immoral I take it for granted that you doe, not think or at least think you doe not for curiosity you know will lead a man in to some strange places some times as he is blundering along over the rough paths of this worlds

—Sergeant Reuben Prentice, 8th Cavalry, Ogle County

During the Civil War, Washington, DC was infamous for houses of ill-fame or brothels. Likely, that is what funny house (or sometimes “funhouse”) meant in this context. Where there were concentrations of soldiers, prostitution either followed or flourished where it already had been. In Illinois, smaller places that had a surfeit of soldiers, like Springfield and Cairo, also had houses of prostitution. Here is a Springfield newspaper article from October 1861.

At Last—”The appearance in our columns, this morning, of ‘an ordinance’ passed by the Council Wednesday evening, is the first evidence we have ever had that our city officials have intended to do anything in earnest towards ridding our city of the houses of ill fame within its limits. To be sure, we had all the time ‘an ordinance concerning misdemeanors,’ by virtue of which the police would, upon the complaint of some one, bring the offenders to trial, in which they were sometimes fined $25 or $50, and managed to slip by that by appeals. But now, they have passed a new ordinance (the same, we believe, as the Chicago ordinance), by which the police can go into any house that is known to them to be a house of such character, and arrest any and all who ever may be found upon the premises. This is as it should be. Our citizens have been annoyed long enough by such houses, and we hope our police will be made to do their duty. ‘The boys’ will therefore recollect that if they are found at such houses (without they can make it appear that they are there for some useful purpose), they will be taken into custody.”[2]

Without a doubt, “The boys” refers to the soldiers. One well-known Springfield madam was Ida Johnson and among such boys her house of prostitution was slangily called “Fort Johnson.”

Camp Defiance, Cairo, Illinois, September 8, 1861, to brother, Dave

they keep open their saloons all day sunday roling ten pins Billiards Pidgeon holes and games of all description going all the time if you were here you would soon be disgusted at the place as you pass a long the streets you can see wimen tending the bar and look as pleesing and smile just as good as to say if you have got two bits or fifty cents you can have all you want I was up town one day and walked by the st. Charles hotel & there was a women looked down from the third story and comeced singing so as to attract my attention I couldnt help looking up and just as I looked up she give me a wink just as good as to say come up. She was as good looking a women as you could wish to look at The rest you know if you can guess good she was fresh nary clap sound I think She was newly enitiated it dont cost a cent [to look?]

—Private James Swales, 10th Infantry, Morgan County

In this same letter, Swales followed with an admonishment to his brother to “dont let any lady read this for Gods Sake.”

It was in the twentieth century that “funny house” was more likely equated with an insane asylum.

soft side of a board

Smyrna, Tennessee, August 1863, to Oscar (possibly his son)

once in five nights sett up half of the night and the ballance of the night I tak my blanket and roll myself up and take the soft side of a board and sleep as much as th[e] flees and Gray backs will let me

—Corporal Josiah Kellogg, 102nd Infantry, Warren County

This is the same quotation from above from Corporal Kellogg. Soft side of a board means to sleep on the floor or otherwise with no mattress, or in some other crude sleeping arrangement. Of course, part of the witticism is a board has no “soft side” and that a soldier learns to endure in all situations.

Camp Benton [perhaps Benton Barracks, Missouri], September 26 1861, to sister, Mary Ann Cole

we have not got our uniform yet we have to Sleep on the Soft Side of the bord without quilt or blanket

—Private Lemuel Cutter, 47th Infantry, Peoria County

Camp Baird, near Danville, Kentucky, December 16, 1862, to sister

[referring to their shebang] . . . we turned in and slept as soundly and comfortably as if we had laid on a feather bed between brick or wooden walls. In fact I have got so used to the ground or the soft side of a board that I dont know as I could sleep on a feather bed now the first time trying.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

sparking

Natchez, Mississippi, October 4, 1863, to sister

guess Rob is having a tough time of it; I think if he had the chance of marrying again; he would do his own sparking in place of a mother in law Dont you? God deliver me from such pieces of humanity. I prefer single blessedness to such a life.

—Corporal Edwin Gilbert, 95th Infantry, McHenry County

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the verb spark means to court; to go together as sweethearts. As a noun is refers to a beau or lover.

A piece of sheet music from 1855 at the Library of Congress is titled Sparking Sunday Night, prefaced with “To all who feel guilty.” It is “by A. Sparker,” which I think it is safe to assume is a pseudonym. Here are some of the lyrics from the second verse: Her pouting lips you taste / She freely slaps your face / But more in love than spite / Thunder! ain’t it pleasant / Sparking Sunday Night.

instant (inst.) and ultimo (ult.)

Allatoona, Georgia, June 29, 1864, to wife, Sarah, matron at the U.S. General Hospital at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois

our Quarter Master Philo Lindley . . . was Shot by a Rebel Captain on the 25th Instant while Riding out from Camp about three miles with a party of men 8 or 10 in number. Mr. Lindley & one other man was riding in Company alone when they met a Squad of Rebs of about a dozen & the Rebel Capt ordered them to Surrender & he then shot them Both

—Private David Gregg, 53rd Infantry, LaSalle County

Goldsboro, North Carolina, April 2, 1865, to father

Your latest of the 18″ ult. was rec’d friday. At the time you wrote my letter written from Fayetteville seems to have not reached you though doubtless it did soon after. I wrote after our arrival, here, a long letter to Mary which you have probably rec’d before this.

—1st Lieutenant Laurens Wolcott, 52nd Infantry, Kane County

Instant, very commonly abbreviated to inst., is short for instant mense, meaning in or of the present month. In Private Gregg’s letter, he was referring to June since that is the date of his letter to Sarah. Similarly, ultimo is usually abbreviated to ult., and short for ultimo mense, referring to the month preceding the present. Thus, in Lieutenant Wolcott’s letter, he is referencing March since his letter is dated in April. (Less commonly found in Illinois soldiers’ letters is proximo for proximo mense or prox., which means the next month.) These Latin terms have all but passed away among current writers, but they were rather commonly used during the nineteenth century.

Camp of the 10^th Corps, Virginia, August 24, 1864, to cousin, Mrs. Theoda

we have had another fierce and desperate Battle with the Veterans of Lees Army at deep Bottom on the north side of James River – on the 16^th Inst., our Brigade had been struggling about in dense forests and deep Ravines – driving in the Enemys Bushwhackers and about 11 O’C we found the Jonnys posted in Battle array behind a heavy bank which they had dug across the side of the farm

—Private Ransom Bedell, 38th Infantry, Cook County

For the word bushwhackers, please see last week’s posting. Jonnys (or Johnnys) was a Union slang term for Confederates.[3]

[1] Walt Whitman, Civil War Poetry and Prose, Dover Thrift Edition, republication from selections of Drum-Taps (1865), Sequel to Drum Taps (1866), and Leaves of Grass (1891–92), (New York: Dover Publications, 1995), 42. This particular passage is originally from Specimen Days & Collect.

[2] “At Last,” Illinois Daily State Register, Springfield, October 11, 1861.

[3] For example, note this title: Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971).

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Colloquialisms and terms (part 2) (added 19 February 2021)

This is a continuation of last week’s question with another set of seven colloquialisms and terms Illinois soldiers used in their letters, some being common and others less so.

bushwhacker

Rome, Georgia, September 30, 1864, to cousin, Phoebe E. Lease

we was out forageing one day and we come to A rich old reb and we [k]new he was feeding the bushwhackers that had been shooting at our pickets at nite

—Private Jacob Lyon, 50th Infantry, Pike County

To bushwhack means to attack someone by ambush. Thus, in the Civil War, a bushwhacker was a guerrilla, especially affiliated with the Confederate army, anti-Union, or an outlaw. More generally, it can mean someone who is a backwoodsman.

Marietta, Georgia, August 12, 1864, to a “Dear Friend”

General [John McAuley] Palmer passed here on his way home he came to see us and shaked hands with his old Veterans. I expect that he will be helping out the Campaign for the election of Lincoln. and I hear that there is about a hundred Bushwhacker south of Franklin [Illinois, Morgan County]. I hope that he will have a hand in cleaning them out If he will do that it will be doing as much good as if he was down here commanding his Corps. if any thing I hate it is to see a man skulking in the rear in time of action and that is the same way with them up there I expect that a good many of them are Refugees from the South men that ought never to have come inside of our lines.

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry (Consolidated), Morgan County

Although this is speculation on my part, Private Vieira may be referring to men who were avoiding being conscripted into the Union army. Reportedly, south of Franklin and north of Scottville, there was an area where those on the lam sometimes would hide. This is about where the Morgan, Macoupin, and Greene counties’ borders meet, from whence a fugitive could flee easily from one county to the next.[1] So, in this context, bushwhackers might be Confederate sympathizers hiding from the Union army.

French leave

Cape Girardeau, Missouri, February 15 and 17, 1862, to wife, Mary

Corporal Treibel [Frederick Trieble] applied to the Colonel [W. Kellogg] this evening for a Furlough to visit home and remain during the lying in of his wife who is expected to be confined in a few days, but the Colonel told him he had orders to not grant even a leave of absence for one day to any able bodied man under his command. . . . now some one will have to go to Jonesboro with that Dead man [for burial] and I persuaded the Orderly to detail Treibel and when he gets there he will take “French Leave” of the officers and . . . be with his anxious wife

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

“Lying in” and “confined” indicate that Corporal Trieble’s wife was about to deliver a baby. Although his furlough request had been refused, his fellow corporal (Smith) created an opportunity for him. French leave implies an intended short-term desertion, even if the military made no such temporal distinctions. The term refers to the eighteenth-century French custom of leaving a reception without giving a formal goodbye to the host or hostess. French leave was a relatively common soldier expression during the Civil War and meant an absence without leave.

LaGrange, Tennessee, November 25, 1862, to brother

Capt [Albert] Jenks [Jinks] boys are over here every day Sunday Jo Ingham and Driad [Darius?] Williams [all of the 15th Illinois Cavalry] wer over and to day [private] Byron Snow and me was going over there I got excused but he couldent but to morrow he says that he will take a french leave so we shal probaly go over there it is two miles from here the boys have fine times they go when they wanto but infantry cant go any where hardly if I was going to enlist again i would by all means go in a Cavelry Company

—Private Cyrus Randall, 124th Infantry, Kane County

humbug

camp near Atlanta, Georgia, August 22, 1864, to Miss Jane F. Compton

I guess the talk about coming home to build is all humbug. I whish that it was so. I have but little hope of seeing home for a year yet. And if I should live that long I expect to come home and stay a little longer than I did before.

—Corporal Francis Herman, 98th Infantry, Clay County

Humbug means a hoax; a sham; an imposture or fraud.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, August 9, 1864, personal diary entry

Weather warm and pleasant. A girl came here from Chicago, purporting herself to be a sister of Alice Cary the poetess. She proved to be a humbug, however, and I was sold but it did not take me long to get rid of her.

—Mrs. Sarah Gregg, Matron of the General Hospital at Camp Butler, from LaSalle County

Alice Cary had a younger sister, Phoebe, who also was a poet. Before the Civil War, the sisters moved from Ohio to New York City. They coincidentally both died in 1871. Whomever the Camp Butler con artist actually was, Mrs. Gregg wrote an article about this person for a Springfield newspaper, part of which I include here.

Her personal appearance and manners were not such as placed her at first above suspicion, but her accounts of supplies that would soon be brought in, we did not think a person with even the small amount of sense that she appeared to possess, would venture to fabricate. Besides in answers to inquiries if she was related to Alice Cary, she said Alice Cary was her sister. We expect oddities in literary families, and this evidence that the endowment of one branch with genius left the other destitute, only helped to allay our suspicions, and we tolerated her presence till her contradictory stories justified us in pronouncing her a humbug, and requesting her to leave in a manner that induced her to do so. If the person who conducted her here did so knowing her character, we recommend him to learn caution, though we dare not hope he will learn honestly.

We understand that a female bearing the description of the one who visited us, has been passing herself off in Williamsville and the vicinity as a sanitary agent, and has collected a considerable sum of money from persons who, like ourselves, were not proof against imposition.[2]

open the ball

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, April 10, 1862, to “Dear Brother & Sister”

I am still alive for the dreadful Battle of [Shiloh] Sunday & monday in which we was engaged 3 times the Rebels took us by surprise and before we could form a line of Battle they was close upon us and they mowed down our troops like Grass we all had to retreat back towards the river where all the troops formd in different lines of Battle and when the Rebels got within reach the Ball opened and continued all day untill dark men fell by the thousands on both sides and its hard to tell which side got the best of it that day for the secesh fought like tigers and the next morning the battle comenced again

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Infantry, Madison County

The ball opened is the same as “the battle started.” Open the ball means to be the first to act and, militarily, to start a fight. If it indeed takes two to tango, then likening a battle to a dancing ball makes sense, especially regarding the idea of many participants whirling in action. Here is a naval example.

aboard U.S. ship Vandalia off Hilton Head, South Carolina, November 10, 1861, to friend

[at Port Royal] We moved on in fine style, attacking the one on the right first then sweeping round & giving Fort Walker a touch. The “Wabash” opened the ball & her fire was really terrible. By the time we came up all were inside & turning towards Ft. Walker. Ft. Beauregard gave us its full attention, and though rifle shot flew over us & on every side our ship was not touched. In my mind it was most Providential. We now all swept by Fort Walker. The “Wabash” looked to me like a lion roused to the highth of his fury as she poured in broadside after broadside.

—Midshipman Louis Kempff, USS Wabash, St. Clair County

see the elephant

Bird Springs, Alabama, March 11, 1865, to uncle, Gilbert Durin

I gess there is not much danger of Tom Fisher enlisting if them fellows should go down to Old Shermans Army they will get to see the Elephant in short Order. . . . I dont think we will have much fighting to do but if we get down there we will hafto fight, for Old Sherman will fight at the drop of the Hat.

—Corporal Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

In general, during the nineteenth century, to see the elephant meant to see or experience all that one could endure. During the Civil War, it meant to see combat, especially for the first time. For many a soldier, after being in one pitched battle, his previous wondering about such an experience was more than erased.

camp south of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, February 1, 1863, to sister

we have more to eat now than we did at the time of the battle we did not have any thing but four crackers in four days. and did not get any sleep for four days and nights. when on the last day of the battle we was on picket and it rained all night . . . that night, I stood all night and did not get a wink of sleep looking for the rebs to make an attact. I would like to see the war ended for I have seen the elephant

—Private Jacob Buck, 89th Infantry, Fulton County

His last line is actually a haiku:

I would like to see
the war ended for I have
seen the elephant

play shinny

Mound City, Illinois, April 5, 1864, to a “dear friend” in Indiana

I am decidedly down on Abe’s Amnesty proclamation I am confident it will cost us more than 50,000 lives besides prolonging the war indefinitely The intention of the thing was good – but it has proved a deadly fire in our rear, and what is worse his explanation does not help the evil in the least degree. . . . I think the time for President making has not yet come, we have something else more important to do first. Let us fight the Rebels now, and make presidents next fall. Then we may be able to fix upon a man who can command the entire strength of the union party, whether that man be Lincoln, Fremont, or some other, no matter, let’s elect him. If we devide, our cause is hopeless, and our liberties are gone. A Copperhead will take possession of the White house – And Rebel[s] will play shinny with the long bones of Yankees, make soup dishes of abolition sculls, and festoon their bachanalion halls with the dried vertebra of northern mudsills.

—Soldier I. A. C. McCoy, possibly with an Illinois regiment

Shinny or shinney is a game of land hockey (say, on ice, a street, or in a field) with a ball or even a can. Shinny actually refers to the stick, ideally L-shaped like used in ice hockey, needed to play the game. In McCoy’s letter, one could image (ghoulishly) an inverted femur, being used to play shinny. Shinny may have been an adaptation of the Native American game of lacrosse.

Of course, the point McCoy is making is that if a Democrat (i.e., copperhead or peace Democrat) wins in the 1864 presidential election before the Union wins the war, all the North’s dead will be for naught and that the soldiers’ remains will (figuratively) become the Confederates’ playthings. The last two words in this quotation, northern mudsills, refers to those who compose the lowest class of society and in this context implies those who fight the wars. More generally, a mudsill is the lowest foundational support of a house.

in a bad row for stumps

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, March 29, 1863, to wife, Julia, and children

we now hold the best grain growing portion of what they claim as their confederacy and I am satisfied that had we to depend on the portion we hold for our subsistence the army and all the citizens would be starved out in three months and the country south must be scarcer South than here. what they brought from the north before the war began with what they had on hand togather with what they have since raised must be by this time consumed no wonnder then they are in a bad row for stumps I have not seen it but have frequently heard within the last fiew days that gangs of women with their little childern and what fiew duds they could pack on foot have come into our lines and beging of Gen’l Rosencra[n]s for . . . something to eat

—1st Lieutenant Philip Welshimer, 21st Infantry, Cumberland County

In a bad row for stumps (or snags) means roughly the equivalent of “hard lines” (British), tough luck, or in a difficult situation. This is very likely an agriculturally derived term that refers to clearing a new field before plowing. The more tree stumps that must be removed, the more difficult and time-consuming it is to clear. Here is the process described around 1920 in northern Wisconsin.

“It could be done with a team of horses; two or three strong backs; some crowbars, axes, and shovels; strong chains; and a few hours of time per stump. That was the hard way. . . . The easier way was to blast them out with dynamite. . . . around the countryside, from northwest, west, and southwest, other settlers were dynamiting stumps. At the height of the land-clearing season, in spring, booms and kabooms were to be heard all day long.”[3]

Here is another example of the use of this expression.

“A Louisianian who in 1863 watched a group of 400 Texans ride by his plantation reported that they bore no resemblance to soldiers. ‘If the Confederacy has no better soldiers than those we are in A bad roe for stumps,’ he said; ‘they looke more like Baboons mounted on gotes than anything else.’”[4]

[1] Bookseller John Alexander, of Books on the Square, recalls reading that at some point the Provost Marshall’s troops were indeed sent to this area to break up the group of “bushwhackers.”

[2] “Caution,” Mrs. Sarah Gregg, August 17, 1864, Illinois State Journal, p. 3.

[3] Wallace Byron Grange, Joseph L. Breitenstein and Richard P. Thiel, eds. As the Twig Is Bent: A Memoir (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2020), 132. Dynamite was patented in 1867 by Swedish physicist Alfred Nobel.

[4] Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971), 346.

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Colloquialisms and terms (part 1) (added 12 February 2021)

Among the soldiers’ letter quotations in your book, I noticed the term “Secesh” used quite a bit. How common was this term among the soldiery?

It is my understanding that learning English as a second language can be difficult because it contains many slang terms and colloquialisms. For example, the concept of time is fairly (albeit not completely) universal on our planet, but there must be almost a hundred expressions involving time: high time, good times, past time (as opposed to pastime), timeout, time on ones’ hands, time will tell, etc. Plus, new expressions and meanings are added “all the time.” Consider these two uses of the words “slow” and “roll:” slow roll, a poker term referring to a player who purposefully pauses, for (often egotistical) effect, before turning over his or her cards to show opponents a (usually) winning hand, which is universally considered insulting; and slow your roll means please relax or slowdown (although it can also refer to something that hampers a person’s life or routine, as in “having my wrist in a cast has slowed my roll”).

The following is a list of seven colloquialisms and terms Illinois soldiers used in their letters, some being common and others less so but still pop up once in a while. For some words and phrases, I found uses and meanings in specialized dictionaries.[1] During the Civil War, “secesh” was very common and so that is a good one with which to start.[2]

secesh

Camp Steele, Mississippi, December 3, 1862, to mother

There is nothing new here concerning God and the world. At the most in the night a few shots from the pickets, sometimes at a secesh who ventures too near, but mostly only at a bush or trees moving in the wind or only a few old leaves rustling a little; or anything that appears like a man to whoever is standing guard.

—2nd Lieutenant Henry Kircher, 12th Missouri (Union) Infantry, St. Clair County

This term is a shortened, slangy version of “secessionist.” In my rough estimation among Illinois Civil War soldiers’ personal letters, this term is used in reference to Confederates about as frequently as “rebel.” Very often it simply refers to Confederate soldiers collectively, but it also was used in regards to citizens who believed in or otherwise supported the Confederate cause (or, were considered anti-Union).

State Female College, Greenwood, Tennessee, September 10, 1862, to sister, Addie Tower

A large po[r]tion of the inhabitants of the city are secesh and many make bold to express their opinions especially the Ladies or those who are styled such. most of them are destitude of every attribute which constitutes such a character. The matron of the school remarked that “no respectable young lady would ever enter the school again after the building had been occupied by infernal yankee soldiers.” . . . there has been a report in circulation that cincincinatti and Paducah were in the hands of the rebels, but we place but little confidence in them as they come through papers published in the city which are semi–secesh

—Private John Cottle, 15th Infantry, McHenry County

Less frequently seen is seceshers, which essential has the same meaning.

skedaddle

Franklin, Tennessee, April 11, 1863, to wife

As soon as the Enemy appeared in Sight our artillery opened upon them from our fort on the hill overlooking Franklin. Our shells burst among them in every direction, making havoc in their ranks, and the 40^th Ohio forming on their flank poured in musketry upon them. Pretty Soon, finding the situation too hot for them they “turned tail” and skedadd[l]ed as hard as their horses could cary them, until they got out of range of our cannon.

—1st Sergeant Joseph Leekley, 96th Infantry, Jo Daviess County

Militarily, skedaddle is a verb meaning to retreat in haste or in a pell-mell, disorganized manner. When used in reference to an enemy, it can imply a shameful retreat by them or a complete victory against them. More generally, skedaddle means to leave in a hurry or flee in a panic (e.g., I must skedaddle because I am late for my work shift).[3]

[secesh] pills

Camp Defiance, near Cairo, Illinois, May 24, 1861, to brother and sister

we shall march down South and give the traitors Cecession Pills that, will lay rather heavy on there stomack

—Private Thomas Barnett, 9th Infantry, Madison County

Pills, in this case, refer to bullets or projectiles and, in a sense in this context, as a cure-all for secessionism.

Camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, March 22, 1863, to friend, Lizzy Wilson

when the rebels charged the hill, We drove them back with Linkon pills & gave many a poor fellow his everlasting never get over it!!

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Linkon [Lincoln] pills represent the same concept. And here is a bonus colloquialism: everlasting never get over it in Corporal Crawford’s usage refers to being killed (again, as a “permanent” solution) by such pills. (I also found this expression in a small handful of newspaper articles from over a century ago, albeit not always in reference to death and meaning something like “dyed in the wool” or “a most devoted practitioner.”)

long home

Cape Girardeau, Missouri, February 15, 1862, to wife, Mary

I do not believe we will have as hard a fight . . . as we had at Fort Donaldson [Donelson, in TN] yet there will be a chance for some of us to go from there to our long home we cannot tell who it will be perhaps one of us or may be more

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

Long home refers to the grave as a final resting place, it being longer than it is wide.

Danville, Kentucky, December 4, 1862, to sister

At one time [in Danville] there were no fewer than 13 hospitals here containing between 1,500 & 2,000 sick and wounded Union Soldiers but many of them have recovered while other[s] havegone to their long home.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Soldiers used a handful of euphemisms for dying or being sent to the grave. One example is a trip of no return.

army hospital (perhaps in Kentucky), November 12, 1861, to a “Dear Friend” in the Cole family

It is my most painful and melancholy duty to inform you of an event which has transpired in our Co. . . . John McRill is dead — he was taken sick some time ago, I do not recollect the date, the sickness developed itself in the form of measles – he went to Hospital and before he was fully recovered, came out and exposed himself in the open air . . . then congestion of the brain was the result & closed the scene – . . . there was no mistake about it “he had gone to that bourne from whence no traveller ‘eer returns”

—Private Thomas Lancaster, 8th Missouri (Union) Infantry, Peoria County

shoulder straps

near Marietta, Georgia, June 30, 1864, to friend, Lizzie Wilson

the reason of our failure in the second charge was the officers being drunk. all the term I can apply to it is just a drunken spree. I think that some of the officers will lose their Shoulder straps by their action in this fight at least I hope so

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

Officers’ (lieutenants and higher) uniforms had rectangular insignia, attached lengthwise on the end of their shoulders (front to back, somewhat like a short portion of a suspender), which were in patterns that indicated their grade or rank. These insignia were slangily referred to as shoulder straps, particularly by the enlisted men. The term shoulder straps often referred to officers in general.

camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, June 8, 1863, to aunt

[regarding US Colored Troops regiments] I think there will be no trouble in getting commanders – a good many are anxious to wear Shoulder Straps. I will also say that some are worthy

—1st Lieutenant Anson Patterson, 100th Infantry, Will County

play smash

Big Black River, Mississippi, March 9, 1864, to brother [in Mississippi]

we burnt up 22 Locomotives lots of cars and Gov Property Rebel Property we played Smash with there railroad tore up about 150 miles Burnt all the bridges an[d] Culbrits [culverts?] we had to live off the Country I bet you the Citizens wont care much about seeing us again soon The Citizens all say they want peace I should not wonder.

—Private Alfred McNair, 32nd Infantry, Wabash County

Play smash means to wreak havoc with or to destroy; to raise confusion. This colloquialism could sometimes imply that the destruction was done in a careless or wanton manner.

possibly in the Colorado Territory, February 4, 1863, to sister

We play Cards, get drunk and play smash generally so we dare not go home you would be A shamed of us.

—Private (?) Edward Corman, 9th Kansas (Union) Cavalry, Allen County, Kansas[4]

give the mitten

Washington, DC, March 1, 1864, to friend, Miss Lovina Eyster

a correspondent of G. Y. Cooks [possibly private George Y. Cook] says that I have better look out or some one will give me the the [sic] mitten or in other words leave me out in the cold however I doe not see any occasion for any uneasiness. I just politely sent the person word that it was a matter that need not interest them as there was a plenty more if I did not get soured on

—Sergeant Reuben Prentice, 8th Cavalry, Ogle County

Give the mitten means to reject; a jilting. Sergeant Prentice and his future spouse, Lovina Eyster, had a rather hot-and-cold, running relationship during most of the Civil War. I think this tension was possibly due to some suspicions and jealousies but also to some misunderstandings through their written words in their letters. During the nineteenth century, give the mitten was a not uncommon expression meaning for a woman to break-off or cool down a close or romantic relationship. Perhaps part of the colloquialism’s meaning was that a suitor, say, is receiving a cold mitten instead of an extended warm hand.

[1] Two such resources are the following. J. E. Lighter, chief ed., Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, 3 volumes (New York: Random House, 1997) and Joan Houston Hall, chief ed., Dictionary of American Regional English, 5 volumes (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2012).

[2] However, I did not find “secesh” in either of the above dictionaries.

[3] This word is in my edition of Webster’s Dictionary.

[4] From the Coleman-Young Family Papers, Bender Collection, https://ozarkscivilwar.org/archives/3305

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James M. Taylor letter (added 5 February 2021)

In your book, there are some soldiers you quote more often than others. Was it because some soldiers were better writers?

Some soldiers in the book were quoted more often because they wrote about more topics than perhaps the average letter-writing soldier. (That said, all of this is potentially biased by what letters were ultimately saved and preserved for us as future readers.) One example of a soldier featured in the book who wrote on a wide variety of topics is Corporal (and later Sergeant) James M. Taylor. Since I wrote my book, I am fortunate to have learned more about his life through a colleague’s detailed and exhaustive research about his military and post-war life.[1]

Here are some choice portions from a Civil War letter that illustrate his breadth of Civil War subjects.

camp near Nashville, Tennessee, February 12, 1863, to sister, Isabelle Low

. . . I believe you are still my debtor. Inot having heard anything from you in a long time, And if there is anything which I hate to do, it is to write letters to a person who expects me at least to write two for one. . . . Letter writing is said to be an accomplishment which depends very much on practice . . . our tent at present being the home of no less than 15 boys. Some are reading one or two writing besides myself, while a number of the rest are engaged in quite a warm discussion of the relative merits of Hainesville and Antioch [places in Lake County; Hainesville now dissolved, was in the current Grayslake area], the point of debate being which of them are nearest hell . . . if we had to elect new officers tomorrow there would be no votes for either of the old ones. Good, quiet, easy going, men at home are not always the men to make good military men out of at least we have found it so to our cost. As for Lieutenant Laughlin he is a man of no principle at all unless it be the principle that knaves possess. He can make quite a profession of religion at home, makes long prayers in prayer meeting and says long graces before meals. . . . but like the performances of the Pharisees I believe it is all for a pretense, for when he is in the right company. he can drink liquor, and play cards as well as some who make no pretensions to better things and he appears to enjoy it and feels quite at home in the company. So that it is no new thing for him. . . . our coffee generally strong enough to swim an iron wedge . . .

Today we passed through Shelbyville. The county seat of Shelby County Kentucky. . . . The place brought on a rather queer train of thought and some strange reminescenes. for it is the place where Mr Shelby lived the master and owner of Uncle Tome, the hero of Mrs Stowes book. They brought to my mind vividly many of the leading events in the life of that humble individual and alas the time when I first read that book and how I thought of Kentucky almost as we think of Fairy Land in the stories of the Arabian Nights a land as far away that it seemed as if the land by and everything connected with it. was as much a fable or a creation of imagination as was the characters in that famous little book. I did not think then that I should ever tread the soil of Kentucky at any rate as a U.S Soldier, that I should ever see veritable Uncle Toms and Aunt Hannahs with a numerous train of little ones, owned body and soul, by just such men as Mr Shelby of Shelbyville Shelby County. Ky, . . . What a queer chapter could be written of the thoughts and intents and purposes of the human mind and then on the other page write the actions and see how. purposes & intentions would correspond with actions, What a blighting of hopes, A destruction of airy castles. and good intentions never getting any farther than intentions would be seen. but happily for as we have the power of hiding all such from the vulgar gaze . . . I like the aspect of things much better in the South [i.e., northern KY] than I had been led to believe I would and as for fertility it beats any thing I ever saw in Lake County. With the climate and soil which they have got here, it looks nothing but the zeal and energy of free labor to make the greater portions of this state a perfect gardin. but still slavery curses it at present. I hope it will soon be crushed out for ever. . . .

[at Dover] . . . the out works of Fort Donelson. Here we soon found the reports of the fight confirmed, and saw its effects with our own eyes, . . . repulsed the attacks of a Force under Forrest variously estimated at from 3. to 5,000 men . . . the rebels lost about 2,00 men in killed and about 80 prisoners . . . I saw 24 dead rebels which are boys were burying among them, Col McNarey of the First Tennessee Cavalry (rebel), I tell you it was a hard looking sight, but something which we will have to get used to and think nothing about it They just dug a hole about 2 ½ or 3 feet deep and threw them in side byside and covered them up with just as little ceremony as they would so many dogs, while they worked our boys put their clothes on them in good shape and buried them with military honors. All through the village and around it lay dead horses which they had not had time to put out of the way. the horses were riddled with rifle and cannon balls, chimneys knocked down and every thing bore the marks of the recent conflict It is a mystery to me how our boys managed to kill so many without lossing anymore themselves. . . .

[Battle of Dover or Fort Donelson, 3 Feb 1863, defended by 83^rd IL Inf., about 800 men, with about 126 casualties; attacked by Major Joseph Wheeler’s 2 brigades of cavalry (one being N. B. Forrest) or about 2,500 men, were repulsed, ran low on ammo, with about 670 casualties]

The trees were all covered with hoarfrost and Icicles. and the ground with snow, while the sky was clear and cloudless and the sun shone with dazzling brightness on the newly fallen snow. and on a fleet of 70 Steamboats The pride and glory of the western waters, It was a magnificent sight to see that splendid fleet as it lay there quietly each Smoke pipe rolling forth dense columns of black Coal smoke which settled down in clouds around us. About 9 o’clock the fogg rose from the river and whistle after whistle screamed forth a warning yell that we were ready to start and then commenced a s[illegible – scene?]ne of the most splendid confusion ever witnessed, for I can call it by no other name. The stream being so narrow and so many boats it was thought that they would be too much scattered for Six Gun Boats to take care of them all. . . . orders were given that the transports be lashed two and two the rest of the way. So when the Signal was given to start each boat shoved off into the stream after its mate and there they lay in all shapes imaginable. While all was stir hurry and bustle among the deck hands making all. Slowly couple after [couple] got united, and started off on their wedding trip taking their appointed place in the great marriage procession. To add to the beauty of the scene the shore was lined with spectators mostly “Blue Jackets”. . . . 70 steamboats containing about 30,000 soldiers. [headed up-river to Nashville] . . .

The night was bright with good moonlight so weran all night but our progress was very slow in our progress all day had not exceeded 3. or 4 miles per hour. We were lashed to the Nashville and her captain got drunk and in the evening he cut up some queer capers he would run the boats close up on those ahead so that he would have to stop and some times reverse the engines. Our Captain owned his boat and did not want to smash her up without any reason for it. besides he was naturally a very cautious and safe going man so he felt very uneasy at the conduct of the captain of the Nashville. Finally he called up the Colonel on deck to see the running and he ordered the other boat to behave herself and keep her proper distance from those ahead. . . . After I went to bed the Nashville began cutting up her tantrums again and I was awakened by a blow and a crash on the bow of the boat. . . . I found the boys nearly all getting up they thought that we had been fired into and struck by a ball from some of the rebel batteries . . . finally they told us we had only run into the stern of another boat breaking off our Jack Staff tearing off the cat Heads of both boats and tearing up things generally. This seemed to satisfy the Cap and he cut up no more capers the rest of the way. . . .

The country around Nashville before the war began must have been one of the most beautiful place under the Sun, but now its Glory has departed All over is still seen the marks of fence lines and the rows of shade trees can still bieonly [be only] traced by their stumps, Nothing is left on the surface of the count[r]y to hide so much as a picket for a mile or two and the country presents the appearance of a piece of new land with the grubs just cut down the brush not burned up while there aplentiful supply of weeds all over in general. . . .

Our mail comes more regularly to us here than it did at Danville and I tell you there has been piles of letters left the regiment since we camped here. Write, eat and drill, eat, drill and write, and drill write and eat has been the only business and all the variations for the las week. In our tent as many [as] six or eight are sometimes writing together and this forenoon no less than that number wrote all forenoon and William Bonner and me are at it yet . . . There has been so much going on in the tent around me that I hardly know what I have been writing and it is full of mistakes but you try and spell out part of it and guess the rest. . . .

Crofton Crocker deserted while we were loading the hay the morning after we left Louisville at least he did not come on board the boat when the rest did and he has not been seen or heard from, or heard tell off since, and I suppose long ere this he is safe in the arms of his wife a way up in the romantic county of Green Bay.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

There is a wealth of topics in just this one letter! They included comments on fellow soldiers (both low and high), literature, agriculture, an attack by the Confederates, river steamboats in motion, the effects of war on the countryside, and much more. He clearly was observant and curious about things in the Confederacy, as well as a thoughtful and descriptive letter writer.

Corporal Taylor saw limited combat, partially due to various ailments. However, in action at Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, in May 1864, he was wounded in the right arm, which ultimately required amputation. He was subsequently discharged and had to contemplate procuring a livelihood compatible with having one arm. He decided to study law and successfully passed the bar exam. He moved from Lake to Christian County, where he specialized in titles and drainage law.[2] In a town coincidentally-named Taylorville, he and his wife raised seven children, residing there the rest of his life. He went into politics as a Republican in a primarily Democratic area. He also was active in the Grand Army of the Republic before passing away after a bout with cancer, in 1921 at age eighty-one.

In short, James M. Taylor had a long and successful post-war life by almost any measure. He also had a full military career, about which he wrote rather extensively in his many letters. And, as my colleague has done, his is a life worth examining as a window into one of the most important periods of American history.

[1] Glenna Schroeder-Lein is working on a significant compendium of James M. Taylor’s life, and I believe nothing I state here will preempt her forthcoming publication. Rather, I would hope the tidbits I am providing would whet one’s appetite to learn more.

[2] Drainage law in Illinois is easy to underappreciate. However, the use of underground drainage tiles (and the formation of drainage districts to pay and maintain the necessary work) during the nineteenth century, especially, is what converted tens of thousands of acres of swamp-prone Illinois prairie into rich agricultural fields. For example, see James Krohe, Jr., Corn Kings & One-Horse Thieves: A Plain-Spoken History of Mid-Illinois (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2017), 51-3.

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Before the Battle of Shiloh (added 29 January 2021)

There were a number of Illinois regiments at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee. Did any of those soldiers, to your knowledge, write about an expectation of being attacked by the Confederates there?

The Battle of Shiloh (or Pittsburg Landing), Tennessee, took place 6-7 April 1862. Based on Larry J. Daniel’s book, there were 43 Illinois regiments, artillery batteries, and cavalry detachments at or around the Battle of Shiloh in the Army of the Tennessee (under General Grant) and the Army of the Ohio (General Buell) combined.[1] Beginning in mid-March, elements of the Army of the Tennessee began to have encampments in the Pittsburg Landing area. Some of those soldiers were from Illinois.

camp overlooking the Tennessee River, March 19, 1862, to wife, Hattie

It is night now Hattie & I know it would give you much pleasure could you see our camp if it were only for a few minutes lighted up as it is with camp fires & lights of different kinds – it presents the appearance of a vast city at night lit up with gas lights while the bands belonging to the different Regiments seem as if trying to see which can make the best music – & now & then a drum beats or a bugle sounds some “call” – all of which gives a wildness to the scene, which is very exciting & no doubt a “looker on” would be led to think war a “glorious” thing – We are camped upon the top of a high bluff just by the river, which now looks not less brilliant than our camp – as it is really lined with Steam boats which are puffing & blowing & chasing each other up & down the river so that one would almost believe that this is some great landing where half the boats in the west land to do business

—1st Sergeant Z. Payson Shumway, 14th Infantry, Christian County

With army bands playing in the background, Sergeant Shumway’s letter gives no indication of danger from an enemy attack, at least around the 19^th of March. And reassuringly, the Tennessee River was “lined with Steam boats” of the Union variety.

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, March 25, 1862, to brother and sister

We are in a country which is rather poor and thinly settled and what few inhabitants were here have nearly all left their homes, and gone the Lord only knows. I dont. On the hill above the landing at Pittsburgh the enemy commenced building a fortification, and were drove away by our Gun boats on the 1^st inst. The rebels advised the citizens to leave and go back out of the way as they thought this part of the Country would be made a battlefield so the Citizens left home, and have not yet returned. They moved the most of their goods & provisions, which left the country almost bare of anything that was fit to eat. There is no fruit & few vegetables. so we have to eat our bacon, beans rice & hominy occasionally, & coffe & sugar & Pilot-bread [hardtack], of which I am sorely sick & tired. We have however within the last few days, drawn a little flour, which we manage to convert into a kind of fritter or flatjack which is not as healthy as might be, but is a great deal more palatable. . . . Yesterday our Brigade was inspected by Gen Sherman, who is a keen shrewd looking fellow. A man who doubtless understands his business. We are preparing to take by storm or otherwise, the strongholds of the enemy wherever we may fall upon him. There is a probability that we shall be called to face the music of the enemy before many days, and try our courage and our pieces. be that as it may, we are confident of success in any event, if our leaders will do their part systematically & scientifically. You have a better opportunity of watching our movements & movements & successes of our Army than we have here at this because we cannot get papers here very handy, and have to pay 10 or 15 cents a piece. And then they are 3 or 4 days old. . . . The woods for miles around and back from the river are alive with soldiers. Camp after Camp may be seen, in every direction. In short it is comparatively a city of soldiers, & tents &c.

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

Less than a week after Sergeant Shumway’s relatively carefree-sounding letter, the March 25^th letter from Private Dillon contains some ominous overtones. For example, he wrote that the “few inhabitants . . . have left their homes” and “the rebels advised the citizens to leave and go back out of the way” in case of a battle there. He also penned “There is a probability that we shall be called to face the music of the enemy before many days,” although he likely meant the federals would be on the attack and not on the defensive.

Two days later, Private Dillon composed another letter.

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, March 27, 1862, to “My Dear Friends”

our Picket Guard have come in contact with that of many rebels two or three times. They have taken a few prisoners. and our men have confiscated a quantity of Baled Cotton – provided the men should failed to prove their loyalty – and other property such as horses & mules &c. . . . I hope you will not fail to write often say 2 or 3 times a week at least, as there are several of you that can use the pen. And letters received here by us, in this wild & woody country is a great relief to the monotony of the same. Please attend to this light duty quite often among you.

—Private William Dillon

Again, in that “wild & woody country,” Private Dillon was aware there were Confederate soldiers about. Thus, the Union soldiers and their leaders knew there was some danger while camped on enemy land. However, it seems that danger was underestimated given the seeming sudden fury of the Confederate assault that commenced on the morning of the 6^th of April.

After the Battle of Shiloh, another Illinois soldier underscored the element of surprise achieved by the Confederate army.

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, May 10, 1862, to friend, Mrs. Harriet Stoddard

once in a while we are pretty short of rations but there are plenty of Sutlers a round and those [soldiers] that have money Can live pretty well. but at the time of the fight some of the Sutlers was took on surprise and lost all they had so I guess the Secesh fared pretty well for once if they did fare hard the next day as I suppose you have heard before now.

—Private Augustine Vieira, 14th Infantry, Morgan County

[1] Larry J. Daniels, Shiloh: The Battle that Changed the Civil War (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997), 319-20.

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Crime in Springfield (added 22 January 2021)

On page 30 of your book, you include an incident about a prostitute at Springfield’s Camp Butler. What sorts of crimes did soldiers commit in the Springfield area?

“Almost A Row.— There was some disturbance at Goggin’s saloon, at about 8 o’clock last night, the cause of which we did not learn. A number of soldiers came rushing out of the saloon, closely followed by some one armed with a revolver, it is said, but no shooting was done. Several of the soldiers soon returned, when one of the party stepped into the saloon and struck Mr. Goggin, the blow taking effect just under the eyes, and peeling the skin from the cheek bone. The fellow guilty of this disgraceful act immediately left, without any attempt being made to stop him.”

— from the Illinois State Journal, 27 February 1864

Young men gathered at “camps of instruction,” such as camps Butler and Yates close to Springfield, sometimes found themselves fighting rigid military routines and tedium instead of Confederates. Besides many of them being away from home for the first time, new recruits characteristically underwent changes in their mental outlooks. Much of that change came from purposeful military training. It is bluntly captured in a line from the “Jack Reacher” movie (2012) where the protagonist makes a comparison between the civilian police and the military police, he being part of the latter: “The only difference between your work and mine is that they [soldiers] are all trained killers.” Another part of the mental change can be characterized as a cross between the notions of a “band of brothers” and a gang, in that the members stick together through thick and thin. It was a comradery that could generate both good and evil, and it often hinged on discipline.

Consider this routine newspaper article about police matters in Springfield in 1861.

“Yearly Police Report.— Mr. McDonald, of the day police force, favors us with a statement of the number of guests in the city prison during the year 1861. From that we glean the following statistics:

Total number of arrests during the year, 1,514; or, according to months, in January, 120; February, 104; March, 160; April, 175; May, 263; June, 90; July, 113; August, 127; September, 85; October, 75; November, 89; December, 113.

The increase in April and May is doubtless owing, in great part, to the lack of discipline at Camp Yates, when so many soldiers were scattered around town. Of these, 681 were for drunkenness, 32 for vagrancy, and 73 for fighting.” [bolding added]

— from the Illinois State Journal, 30 January 1862

On 15 April 1861, President Lincoln, and subsequently Illinois’s Governor Yates, called for volunteer soldiers to help put down the Southern rebellion. Volunteers flocked to temporary mustering camps, including Camp Yates, which had been the local fairgrounds and was adjacent to the city. So, it is no surprise that the month of May had a high number of arrests in Springfield, especially given that more men gathered at such places than Illinois was initially allowed to muster into the military.

At the time, Springfield, the state’s capitol, had its diversions. Saloons and beer halls were clearly one of those, given the “681 [arrests] for drunkenness” in the above article. However, it also had its “houses.”

“At Last— The appearance in our columns, this morning, of ‘an ordinance’ passed by the Council Wednesday evening, is the first evidence we have ever had that our city officials have intended to do anything in earnest towards ridding our city of the houses of ill fame within its limits. To be sure, we had all the time ‘an ordinance concerning misdemeanors,’ by virtue of which the police would, upon the complaint of some one, bring the offenders to trial, in which they were sometimes fined $25 or $50, and managed to slip by that by appeals. But now, they have passed a new ordinance (the same, we believe, as the Chicago ordinance), by which the police can go into any house that is known to them to be a house of such character, and arrest any and all who ever may be found upon the premises. This is as it should be. Our citizens have been annoyed long enough by such houses, and we hope our police will be made to do their duty. ‘The boys’ will therefore recollect that if they are found at such houses (without they can make it appear that they are there for some useful purpose), they will be taken into custody.” [bolding added; italics are from the original]

— from the Illinois State Register, 11 October 1861

In the above, “The boys” is a clear reference to the soldiers. However, the soldiers sometimes found both liquor and women of loose reputations closer to camp. Interestingly, the following is dated one day prior to the above article.

“Horrible Tragedy Near Camp Butler— One man killed and another severely wounded.— Night before last six soldiers, members of Capt. Trafton’s company, from Gallatin County, attached to the 7th cavalry regiment, went to a house occupied by a German, Andrew Yung, a short distance this other side of the river, north of the road, having passed the guard on the bridge by means of forged passes. They were all considerably intoxicated, and upon their arrival at the house, at 11 o’clock at night, four of the gang seized the old lady, Mrs. Yung, and took her from the house to a stack of straw nearby, where it is probable they succeeded in committing an outrage, or series of outrages upon her person.

The other two in the meantime, to use their own forcible expression, proceeded to ‘raise h—l’ in the house. They flung mugs and glasses at the old man, and shot at him several times with a revolver in possession of one of them, none of them, however, taking effect. They finally knocked out the lights and attempted to violate the person of his daughter, a girl of 13 years of age, who had been sick for two or three weeks but while engaged in executing their fiendish purpose, the old man procured a billet of wood, with which he made an onslaught upon them, killing one outright by a blow upon the temple, and with the assistance of the old lady, who by that time had been released by the fiends outside, beat the other soldiers so severely that it is thought exceedingly doubtful whether he can recover. The four who had seized the old lady fled upon accomplishing their purpose. The guard at the bridge was summoned, the wounded man taken to the hospital, and a detail of soldiers stationed to guard the house until morning.”

— from the Illinois State Journal, 10 October 1861

It was perhaps at least as shocking to read, then, as it is now. Were there mitigating circumstances? Consider the following rejoinder.

Camp Jottings. Camp Butler, Thursday evening.

“The Late Tragedy.— . . . Two of the men were arrested this morning, whose names were given to the proper officers by Montgomery at the hospital during the night. Yung was confronted with them this afternoon, and by his statement fully exonerated them from all blame. They were of course set at liberty.

In his statement this evening Yung acknowledged having sold whiskey to the soldiers on several occasions, and it appears that they visited his house on Tuesday night with a view to purchase some. For thus holding out inducements to the soldiers to violate the regulations of the camp, Yung is, no doubt, much to blame, and merited, to some extent, the disgrace that has befallen his family, whilst he may be charged remotely, at least, with having been the cause of one man’s death, and with having seriously jeopardized the life of another.

Coates, who was killed in the fracas, was buried today, and although he here hitherto an excellent character among his comrades, not one, in view of the disgusting conduct that brought him to the premature grave, could afford to shed a tear of regret over his grave.” [italics added]

— from the Illinois State Register, 11 October 1861

Especially curious is this article’s statement, italicized above, that Yung offered soldiers whiskey and thus became culpable. (Could that logic, then, extend to every saloon in Springfield?) More curious is what can be found in the Adjutant’s Report for the death of “Berry Coats,” married farmer, age 35, and listed as “Killed in a riot at Camp Butler, Oct. __, 1861,” which is more than stretching the truth. Similarly, for the other soldier Yung laid low – Private Samuel Montgomery (married, age 36) – the same official report shows no final disposition (e.g., discharged, killed, transferred, etc.). He is the only Private in Company G of the Illinois 7^th Cavalry whose disposition status was left blank.[1]

Given that liquor and soldiers too often produced bad results, usually liquor and soldiers with weapons was worse. On a related note, new recruits often supplemented their army-issued rifle and bayonet with knives and sidearms.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, December 7, 1861, to wife, Mary

I found a very large Bowie knife in the road . . . such things are ugly playthings but they are very common here—there is under the cloth[e]s of the soldiers here every variety from the largest Bowie down to the smallest Stilletto which is the worst knife of all—it is small and easily hid and slender, with both edges sharp—there is no chance to knock it out of a mans hand like there is with the heavier knife

—Corporal William A. Smith, 7th Cavalry, Marion County

The following is a witness’s sworn testimony at a military “court of inquiry” involving the Provost guard and an arrested soldier – with a personal piece – being transported to the “calaboose” (a Louisiana French term for a local jail).

“Albert Thurber, sworn. I belong to company C, 118^th Regiment Illinois volunteers. I am stationed here, in town, and am on Provost guard duty. We were sent out on Provost duty and were on the northwest corner of the square. We heard trouble over there across the street, in a house, and on going there we found a couple of soldiers had been fighting. We arrested them and started for the calaboose. The man we arrested was between me and the other soldiers. After we got off a piece in the street the prisoner sprung back and fired a revolver twice at the guard, and then the guard fired and shot him. . . When he (the prisoner) sprung back, he said: ‘surrender, you d—m sons of bitches.’ He fired his pistol soon after making the threat.”

— from the Illinois State Journal, 10 February 1864

Apparently, the said prisoner was not a good shot at close range, or perhaps was simply too drunk to be one. It was not always soldiers fighting amongst themselves.

“The Jamestown Affair.— We understand that all the rumors afloat Sunday about a scrimmage at Jamestown, near camp Butler, amount to just this: Saturday a soldier got some liquor at the grocery of Mr. Hickey, for which he refused to pay. The bar-keeper then undertook to ‘take it out of him,’ in which endeavor the soldier was badly beaten. He then got help, and the grocery men were still too much for them, beating four of the new recruits pretty badly. Next day (Sunday) some 20 of his companions broke guard and went to Hickey’s and gave him a severe beating in return— so severely, indeed, was Hickey handled that his life is not wholly out of danger.

We presume the military authorities will take take [sic] cognizance of the affair, and deal out justice to the offenders.”

— from the Illinois State Register, 31 May 1864

It is telling that a local Jamestown (now, Riverton) grocer, who also sold liquor, employed several men to help protect his business. There is a bit of “might makes right” in all this. (And imaginatively, one could have overheard during the fracas: “Oh yeah? You and what army?”) In such cases, there was the question of whether it was the civil courts or the military ones that had legal authority. It is my reading of these and many other incidents in the Springfield area that it usually was the military that insisted it was in their jurisdiction to bring to trial and potentially prosecute soldiers who committed crimes when out among the civilian realm.

Finally, not all wartime-related crime was due to the soldiers.

An Imposter About.— Some weeks ago, a person representing himself an agent to collect funds for the hospitals of Camp Yates and Butler, called upon some of our citizens and solicited donations for that purpose. For some reason a doubt as to his mission entered the minds of the parties, and a letter was addressed to the Governor relative to it. Under date of May 9, the Governor replies that no person had been authorized to solicit contributions for said hospitals. His statement is also confirmed by the tenant Charles D. Kerr, A. A. G. of that post.— The fellow, whoever he was, is an imposter.— People throughout the country should be on their guard, and not donate funds without knowing to whom and what they are given.

— from the Illinois State Journal, 19 May 1864

In essence, war created chaos, which in turn created opportunities, again for both good or evil. Too often, it was the criminality that flourished.

[1] J. N. Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, rev. ed., 8 vols. (Springfield, IL: Phillips Bros., 1900), 8:79. Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls (an online database from the secretary of state’s Illinois State Archives).

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Hardtack and coffee (part 2) (added 15 January 2021)

In your list of references, you have included a book called “Hard Tack and Coffee.” What did Illinois soldiers say about both of those army food items?

The book you are referring to is by John D. Billings titled Hard Tack and Coffee. (It was published in 1887; Time-Life Books of New York, in 1982, produced a handsomely-bound reprint that is true to the page formatting of the original.) Soldiers frequently mentioned hardtack and coffee in their letters to friends and family at home. So much so, I covered hardtack last week and coffee is the theme of this post. So, here is part 2 of 2.

Camp Holt near Jeffersonville, Indiana, October 4, 1862, to wife, Sallie

we have come through some of the worst country that I ever saw it is nothing to compair with Illinois the people cheered us all along the way and when we told them we coen [come] from Illinois they would cheer us the more Illinois Boys are the Bully of the world let them go where they may we got Coffee and pies with out pay all along the rout

—Corporal Thomas Pankey, 91st Infantry, Greene County

Nashville, Tennessee, November 18, 1862, to uncle, Gilbert Durin

—Private Densla Holton, 89th Infantry, Lee County

Private Holton mentions “hard crackers” (hardtack) and coffee together. If you scroll down a bit and look at last week’s posting, you will notice that the first three soldiers’ quotations also contain references to hardtack (in some way or another) and coffee. It was as if a soldier hardly could have one without the other. Perhaps the main reason for that was – and I am repeating myself – “According to Billings, such crackers frequently were ‘crumbled in coffee, giving the hardtack and coffee’ expression and ‘probably more were eaten in this way than any other.’”[1] Thus, Billings’s book is very aptly titled.

Camp Hunter, near Ottawa, Illinois, October 21, 1861, to “dear friend,” Lizzie Denning

at breakfast we have coffee, a large tin cup ful to each man and a table spoon ful of sugar to each man

—Private Samuel Kuhn, 4th Cavalry, McLean County

The typical Union soldier ration of coffee was ground coffee beans, with about eight pounds per company of 100 men.[2] If so, then each soldier received approximately 1¼ ounces as their coffee ration (16 oz. x 8 = 128 oz. / 100 men = 1.28 ounces each). If soldiers were issued whole coffee beans, those could be ground using rocks or with a rifle butt against a rock or board. The coffee grounds (and sometimes along with some sugar) were put in a metal pot with water (and sometimes like-minded soldiers combined their coffee rations for the pot) or in individual tin cups, put on a fire, brought to a boil, and then drunk.

Fort Henry, Tennessee, February 26, 1862, to Henry Yates

—Lieutenant Ira Merchant, 28th Infantry, Scott County

In short, soldiers generally liked their coffee strong.[3] Here are a few reasons for coffee’s popularity among the soldiery, both of low and high rank. First, for many soldiers, it was their primary liquid refreshment. If the local water tasted a little off (or was a bit muddy), coffee would overwhelm that flavor. The caffeine in coffee was a stimulant, which aided soldiers on a long march or simply trying to stay awake (and warm) during a stint of picket duty.[4] However, perhaps the most important reason for drinking coffee was that its boiling helped kill bacteria and other impurities in the local water.[5]

officers’ hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, October 28, 1863, to wife, Anna

Do you really think they will start me here? You wouldnt think so if you should see me at the table chewing away at the tough bull beef and stowing away the soda biscuit & strong butter & cold coffee. There is plenty always such as it is but it is certainly not very tempting to a man with a poor appetite.

—Chaplain Hiram Roberts, 84th Infantry, Adams County

Chaplain Roberts points out that even the officers’ mess could have soda biscuit (probably a reference to hardtack) and (“cold”) coffee. Perhaps worse-tasting were boiled substitutes, such as roasted acorns, chicory root, or even potato peelings “coffee.” These alternatives were much more common in the Confederate than the Federal armies (and much due to the Union coastal blockade to prevent overseas shipping to the Confederacy).

On the whole, however, hardly any Illinois soldier could do without coffee.

camp near Wartrace, Tennessee, July 4, 1863, to sister

those who had no coffee missed it badly that morning. we had some and I tell you what it went well although at times I cannot bear the sight ofit. On a march Ican drink a quart of it black and bitter without milk or sugar, and it tastes sweet as honey from the comb to a tired and hungry soldiery.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

[1] Billings, p. 116.

[2] “Eight pounds of roasted and ground” coffee was part of a camp ration; Billings, p.111.

[3] I am aware of three Illinois soldiers who in their letters used the “iron wedge” analogy when describing their coffee.

[4] Billings (p. 129) suggested that some soldiers on the march were not so much “straggling” as pausing to refresh by making coffee and then catching up to their units soon thereafter.

[5] Similarly, it can help kill bacteria in the mouth, thus helping to prevent tooth decay. See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2848806/

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Hardtack and coffee (part 1) (added 8 January 2021)

In your list of references, you have included a book called “Hard Tack and Coffee.” What did Illinois soldiers say about both of those army food items?

The book you are referring to is by John D. Billings titled Hard Tack and Coffee. (It was published in 1887; Time-Life Books of New York, in 1982, produced a handsomely-bound reprint that is true to the page formatting of the original.) Soldiers frequently mentioned hardtack and coffee in their letters to friends and family at home. So much so, I will cover hardtack here and coffee the following week. So, here is part 1 of 2.

Washington, DC, May 1861

My darling Kitty [Carrie Spafford] . . . Have to work night & day sleep on straw & ground Havent seen Butter or any like luxury – Regular food – breakfast Beef steak Dry bread Coffee

—Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, 11th New York Infantry, formerly of Winnebago and Cook counties

Even one of President Lincoln’s favorite officers, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, during his short Civil War career wrote about “Regular food,” including “Dry bread,” which very likely was a reference to hardtack.

camp five miles north of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, November 15, 1862, to wife, Caroline

Would you like to know what I had for dinner. Beef stake, coffee, sugar, salt, pepper, butter & hard bread. Dinner dishes, tin plate 1. Puter [Pewter?] Cup 1. Knife 1. Fork 1. Large Hammer 1. You will be puzzelled to know what we do with the hammer. We broke our hard bread with it. I tryed my best to broken it with my hands, over my knees, on the corner of the table but no. The hammer had to be used. The great trouble we have is from this same cause. Oh! how my poor teeth have Suffered. Not only my teeth but the bread will sometimes slip on my gums, and produce the most acute suffering.

—1st Assistant Surgeon Thomas Winston, 92nd Infantry, Ogle County

author’s image

Surgeon Thomas mentions both coffee and “hard bread” at part of his dinner fare, writing to his wife while deployed east of Lexington, Kentucky. In his brief paragraph description, it is the hard bread that gets the most attention. Hard bread was a descriptive term in contrast to “soft” or baker’s bread.

Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, March 25, 1862, to brother and sister

The rebels [prior to the Battle of Shiloh] advised the citizens to leave and go back out of the way as they thought this part of the Country would be made a battlefield so the Citizens left home, and have not yet returned. They moved the most of their goods & provisions, which left the country almost bare of anything that was fit to eat. There is no fruit & few vegetables. so we have to eat our bacon, beans rice & hominy occasionally, & coffe & sugar & Pilot-bread, of which I am sorely sick & tired.

—Private William Dillon, 40th Infantry, Marion County

Louisville, Kentucky, October 26, 1862, to parents

we have soft Bread Most of the time, when we are a travling we have Crackers, or uncle sams, shingles as they are Called.

—Private Thomas Frazee, 73rd Infantry, Tazewell County

“Pilot-bread” is a reference to the sailors’ name for hardtack (or “sea biscuit”), and “Uncle Sam’s shingles” is a reference to its toughness, I suppose. Hardtack was small (roughly palm size), durable, and stacked and shipped in crates.[1] Its ingredients were flour, water and often some salt, which was baked hard. As long as it remained dry, it remained preserved and edible.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, August 3, 1865, to brother, Frank

We draw very poor rashions now. our meat has been very poor for about a month. except 2 days out of 5 we draw fresh beef. the pork has been sour. and last draw day we drew rotten salt Beef. we have drew no soap for 15 days. once and a while we draw a few Beens. and we have hard tack part of the time. tell the folks that they must not be surprised nor alarmed, if they see us coming home astride of a hard tack. we are training them for saddle horses. I know that they would have been surprised if they had been here on last draw day, to see hard tack Boxes walking down from the comesary [commissary].

—Private Andrew Uhler, 118th Infantry, Adams County

Jokes aside, hardtack still represented food when on a long march or during tough times.

camp near Franklin, Tennessee, May 3, 1863, to sister

We are very early risers down here. we get up evey morning at 4 Oclock and are ready for either a march or fight. at night we fill our canteens with water and seethat there are plenty of hard tacks in our haversacks, for we are liable to becalled up at any hour of the night.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Rock Island Barracks, Illinois, January 19, 1864, to “Friend John”

we have prety good times out hear now amongst the rebs we make them git up and dust they are dieing off verry fast I would not care if they would all die off the raskells they have no buisness in the army some of them have got no shoes and some no blankets they are a hard set there is eight thousand hear now and there is five huntred that will be hear to knight I tell you they pitch into the hard tack It takes too to make a shadow

—Private Frederick A. Jennings, 53rd Infantry — transferred to 2nd Battalion, U.S. Invalid Corps, LaSalle County

Private Jennings was a guard at the Rock Island Prison Camp on what is now known as Arsenal Island. “It takes too [two] to make a shadow” was in reference to starving prisoners of war. It often was the same for Union prisoners of war.

Camp Parole, near Annapolis, Maryland, May 18, 1863, to Lizzy Wilson

We could do nothing so surrendered . . . from there they took us to Rome [Georgia]. there they took our blankets Canteens Haversacks oil clothes pocket knives watches Cups and overcoats leaving us nothing to protect us from the Cold. there they Paroled us and sent us on to atlanta we lay there 3 days and nights and oh how Cold it was and no rations but about 1½ Crackers a day from there they sent us to Richmond and then to our own lines.

—Corporal James Crawford, 80th Infantry, Randolph County

“Crackers” was yet another name for hardtack.

According to Billings, such crackers frequently were “crumbled in coffee, giving the hardtack and coffee” expression and “probably more were eaten in this way than any other.”[2] Crumbling usually took some doing, however. In lieu of hammers, a rifle or musket butt could be used to break up hardtack.

Camp Baird near Danville, Kentucky, January 20, 1863, to sister

[we here are] entertaining strong hopes of finally crushing the rebellion although all we are doing towards it at present is . . . crushing lot of Hard Crackers, and other articles of soldiers fare.

—Corporal James M. Taylor, 96th Infantry, Lake County

Crumbled hardtack could be added to stews and soups as a thickener. Another preparation option was to fry hardtack in grease or meat fat.

On picket duty near Gallatin, Tennessee, December 4, 1862, to “Dear folks at Home”

We will remain out, I suppose, until to-morrow morning. . . . We have a fire built of rails (there is a good supply near by) around which we sit & fry our crackers, and crack nuts, and make & drink our coffee.

—Corporal Stephen Fleharty, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Overall, while something to complain about, the volunteers got used to this army staple as a part of soldiering.

Etowah Station, Georgia, June 19, 1864, to wife, Clara

I am not in the least home sick & like the army full as well as I expected to, but that does not prevent my wishing to sometimes see my friends behind & above all my Boy & “mama” I am getting accustomed to my hard bed & hard bread, & my dreams are pleasant for I am with you then

—1st Assistant Surgeon James Gaskill, 45th Infantry, Bond County

[1] There is a drawing of an open crate’s worth of hardtack on page 116 of Billings’s book.

[2] Billings, p. 116.

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Lincoln home in mourning (added 1 January 2021)

In your 17 November 2020 presentation to the Sangamon County Historical Society (found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ7waa_xCkg&feature=youtu.be ), you said the Lincoln’s Springfield home may have been draped in mourning as late as May 25, 1865. How do you know if the Lincoln home was still in mourning at that date?

I do not know for certain that the Lincoln’s Springfield home was still draped in mourning in late May. During my presentation to the Sangamon County Historical Society, I said “Note that Private Cochran’s letter was dated May 25^th, 1865, which would have been a few weeks after Abraham Lincoln was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery (on May 4^th). Thus, the Lincoln home at that time may have been still draped in mourning.” Here is an image (taken on 2 May 2015) used in my presentation.

And here is the quotation from the Cochran letter.

Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois, May 25, 1865, to friend, Martha

—Private William Cochran, 102nd Infantry, Mercer County

Neither in this excerpt nor the rest of the letter does Private Cochran mention that the house was or was not draped in mourning regarding the late president.

As noted on page 221 of the book, “the Lady of the house” was Mrs. Lucian (Lucretia) Tilton, who was one of the residents living there through a lease with the Lincoln family. Mrs. Tilton was a leading figure in the Ladies’ Springfield Soldiers’ Aid Society. As such, she often went to the hospital wards at Camp Butler to ascertain what was needed in regard to “sanitary supplies” for the comfort and care of the sick and wounded soldiers there.[1] Starting around February 1864, Mrs. Sarah Gregg of Ottawa, Illinois, became a paid hospital matron at Camp Butler. Mrs. Tilton and Mrs. Gregg became associates and friends through their common goals in caring for the soldiers in the Camp Butler hospitals.

Also, during this time, Mrs. Gregg kept a daily personal diary that she started in January 1863 and ended in May 1865.[2] Included in the diary are her interactions with Mrs. Tilton through the course of her work at Camp Butler. For example, there is this entry.

February 16 [1865]. Another snow storm last night, and is very muddy today. Went to Springfield with Mrs. Paisal and Mrs. Hart. Dined at Mrs. Tilton’s with them. Saw Mrs. Bickerdyke and returned to the hospital this evening.

The following May, after President Lincoln had been buried, Mrs. Gregg made the following diary entry.

May 16. Weather is pleasant. Mrs. Kellogg and myself went to Springfield. Called at Mrs. Tilton’s and took lunch. The president’s house is still draped in deep mourning. Mrs. Myers from Michigan came to see her sick son. We were old acquaintances when girls in Clarence, New York.

So, at least on 16 May 1865, the Lincoln home in Springfield was “still draped in deep mourning.”

[1] Sanitary supplies could include bandages, slippers, grooming items, pillows, fresh fruits and vegetables, spirits (e.g., wine), underwear, and the like.

[2] A typed transcription of the entire diary is at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, Manuscripts, SC600.

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Question Index

1 July 2022 – musket technology

24 June 2022 – J. A. C. McCoy update

17 June 2022 – artillery at the Battle of Harpers Ferry

10 June 2022 – Civil War weaponry: artillery (part 2)

3 June 2022 – Civil War weaponry: artillery (part 1)

27 May 2022 – promoting the book (part 2)

20 May 2022 – promoting the book (part 1)

13 May 2022 – unmarked Civil War graves

6 May 2022 – Camp Butler named after whom?

29 April 2022 – early Camp Butler letters

22 April 2022 – election speculation in 1864

15 April 2022 – diarrhea and dysentery

8 April 2022 – book’s ethnographic approach

1 April 2022 – packages from home

25 March 2022 – soldiers on U. S. Grant (part 3)

18 March 2022 – soldiers on U. S. Grant (part 2)

11 March 2022 – soldiers on U. S. Grant (part 1)

4 March 2022 – one soldier’s love letters (part 4)

25 February 2022 – one soldier’s love letters (part 3)

18 February 2022 – one soldier’s love letters (part 2)

11 February 2022 – one soldier’s love letters (part 1)

4 February 2022 – outdoor soldiers (part 2)

28 January 2022 – outdoor soldiers (part 1)

21 January 2022 – keeping awake

14 January 2022 – keeping clean

7 January 2022 – love letters

24 December 2021 – army mules

17 December 2021 – animals in camp

10 December 2021 – food cravings of POWs

3 December 2021 – food cravings

26 November 2021 – the trouble with Camp Yates

19 November 2021 – hardships at home

12 November 2021 – measles outbreaks

5 November 2021 – Sherman and early Camp Butler

22 October 2021 – Western versus Eastern soldiers

15 October 2021 – Illinois women soldiers

8 October 2021 – Camp Butler moved

1 October 2021 – worst morale factor

24 September 2021 – Illinois’s immigrant soldiers – part 2

17 September 2021 – Illinois’s immigrant soldiers – part 1

10 September 2021 – religion among the soldiers

3 September 2021 – regular army versus volunteers

27 August 2021 – soldiers’ comments on Grant – part 2

20 August 2021 – soldiers’ comments on Grant – part 1

13 August 2021 – letters from USCT soldiers

6 August 2021 – reactions to Lincoln’s death

30 July 2021 – writing surfaces

23 July 2021 – soldiers returning home

16 July 2021 – letter from Camp Yates

9 July 2021 – privately-owned letters

2 July 2021 – national holidays

25 June 2021 – war’s nadir for the North

18 June 2021 – post-battle burial of the dead

11 June 2021 – Harding letters in 1861 Illinois

4 June 2021 – guerrilla warfare in Illinois (part 2)

28 May 2021 – guerrilla warfare in Illinois (part 1)

21 May 2021 – railroad trains and cars (part 2)

14 May 2021 – railroad trains and cars (part 1)

7 May 2021 – Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)

30 April 2021 – soldier poetry

23 April 2021 – Illinois Medal of Honor recipients

16 April 2021 – Illinois Civil War soldier resources

9 April 2021 – Illinois Civil War sites (part 3)

2 April 2021 – Illinois Civil War sites (part 2)

26 March 2021 – Illinois Civil War sites (part 1)

19 March 2021 – writing style; “&c.”

12 March 2021 – prisoner-of-war mail

5 March 2021 – colloquialisms and terms (part 4)

26 February 2021 – colloquialisms and terms (part 3)

19 February 2021 – colloquialisms and terms (part 2)

12 February 2021 – colloquialisms and terms (part 1)

5 February 2021 – James M. Taylor letter

29 January 2021 – before the Battle of Shiloh

22 January 2021 – crime in Springfield

15 January 2021 – hardtack and coffee (part 2)

8 January 2021 – hardtack and coffee (part 1)

1 January 2021 – Lincoln home in mourning

24 December 2020 – Christmas descriptions

18 December 2020 – phonetic spelling

11 December 2020 – shoes and boots in the army

4 December 2020 – location of first Camp Butler

25 November 2020 – Thanksgiving proclamation

20 November 2020 – favorite soldiers

13 November 2020 – Mrs. Tilton of Springfield

6 November 2020 – October 1861 Alton incident addendum

30 October 2020 – October 1861 Alton incident

23 October 2020 – Springfield’s Camp Yates

16 October 2020 – presidential proclamations for more soldiers

9 October 2020 – Civil War accidents (part 2) – Mobile, Alabama explosion

2 October 2020 – Civil War accidents (part 1) – wreck of the “Watson”

25 September 2020 – soldiers paid in greenbacks

18 September 2020 – letter preservation biases

11 September 2020 – Mound City, Illinois

4 September 2020 – Battle of Harpers Ferry

28 August 2020 – Sherman at Camp Butler

21 August 2020 – Illinois’s surviving soldiers

14 August 2020 – soldiers’ writing places

7 August 2020 – soldiers’ dreams

31 July 2020 – leaving the military

24 July 2020 – Illinois Civil War sites

17 July 2020 – definition of Illinois soldier

10 July 2020 – 2nd Illinois Cavalry

3 July 2020 – crude colloquialisms

26 June 2020 – soldiers as nurses

19 June 2020 – battlefield truces

12 June 2020 – excerpts versus whole letters

5 June 2020 – soldiers and temperance

29 May 2020 – reading Civil War letters

8, 15, 22 May 2020 – number of Civil War deaths [parts 1-3]

1 May 2020 – dead horses and mules

24 April 2020 – whole letters versus excerpts

17 April 2020 – typhoid and typhus

10 April 2020 – misspelling “soldier”

3 April 2020 – leading volunteer soldiers

27 March 2020 – as a reference book

20 March 2020 – U.S. and regimental flags

13 March 2020 – combat at night

6 March 2020 – Civil War baseball

28 February 2020 – change in tone of letters

21 February 2020 – uniqueness of Illinois soldiers

14 February 2020 – censored letters

7 February 2020 – number of quotations

31 January 2020 – equipment soldiers carried

21 January 2020 – unexpected information from soldiers

17 January 2020 – inspiring quotations

10 January 2020 – Illinois regiments cited

3 January 2020 – Union postage stamps

27 December 2019 – pensions for Union soldiers

20 December 2019 – median age of Union soldiers

13 December 2019 – decline of Camp Yates

9 December 2019 – guard and picket duties (part 2)

29 November 2019 – guard and picket duties (part 1)

22 November 2019 – Tattoo heard in camp

15 November 2019 – Lincoln as captain metaphor

8 November 2019 – origin of book title

1 November 2019 – how soldiers mailed letters

25 October 2019 – Illinois soldiers per capita

18 October 2019 – names of soldiers in the book

11 October 2019 – Lincoln as South’s “best friend”

4 October 2019 – colorized book cover image

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