List of the Armies of the Confederate States

• Army of Central Kentucky
• Army of East Tennessee
• Army of Kentucky
• Army of Louisiana
• Army of Mississippi
• Army of Mobile
• Army of New Mexico
• Army of Northern Virginia
• Army of Tennessee
• Army of the Kanawha
• Army of the Northwest
• Army of the Peninsula
• Army of the Potomac
• Army of the Trans-Mississippi
• Army of the West

List of the Armies of the United States

• Army of Arkansas
• Army of Central Kentucky
• Army of Kentucky
• Army of New Mexico
• Army of Observation
• Army of Reserve
• Army of Southeast Missouri
• Army of the Border
• Army of the Chesapeake
• Army of the Cumberland
• Army of the Frontier
• Army of the Gulf
• Army of the James
• Army of the Kanawha
• Army of the Mississippi
• Army of the Monongahela
• Army of the Ohio
• Army of the Potomac
• Army of the Shenandoah
• Army of the Susquehanna
• Army of the Tennessee
• Army of West Mississippi
• Army of West Virginia

Private William O. Gulick to his sisters, September 29, 1861

Camp Warren, Ia. Sept. 29th/61

Ia Cavalry            

Dear Sisters¹

I received your kind letter yesterday morning but as I did not have time to answer it then I waited untill now. My time is limited, for I am standing guard and just came off, will have to go on again at one oclock, we stand two hours on, and about four off, for twenty-four hours. It commenced last night to rain and has continued to rain ever since and prospects for a wet time all through my time of Guard, But I am well provided for as we have our uniform the clothing for the whole Regiment came Sept. 20th. We have one heavy pair Pantaloons and the promise of another soon, a very heavy Overcoat with cape a Fighting Jacket trimmed with orange a blue sack coat for a fatigue dress a pair of Boots, pair of shoes, and a hat something like Isaac's We have three Blankets one for our horse. The Whole Regiment is Ordered to go to St. Louis and to go by Squadrons one each day commencing tomorrow (Monday) Our Squadron will be the last so we will remain here yet six days unless further orders We expect to get the remainder of our horses by Wednesday, We have now about 30 horses and saddles. I forgot to tell you all of our clothing we got Shirts two pair drawers, two pair Socks a canteen, and all the little necessaries we wanted. I cannot carry all my clothing so I will send my things that I need least, in a box with some others to Clinton I shall have them in a bundle directed to Low Moor, I shall write to the rest of the family in a few days I got a pass yesterday to go down town but as the Colonel² wanted all should appear on grond parad [sic] I could not go to have my likeness taken but as soon as I can get my pass I will have it taken and send it in my next letter. You will probably hear from Isaac soon for he will write as soon as he gets to St. Louis and he starts Tuesday

I was glad to hear that you were all geting along so well I am as well as can be and like soldiering better evry day I tell you it is fine cooking and eating out doors such days as this I have just pertaken of an apple dumpling I bought it for my dinner and thank fortune I have change but many have not, Peter Barr³ has lost his pocket Book with over Fifty dollars he says if Wagner⁴ has not payed that little sum he ows him to his brother he would like to have him send it to him, he says direct or send it in one of my letters The sum is $3.60 I believe. It is now time for me to go on guard and I have always been prompt excuse me from writing more this time and I will write soon and more give my love to all my friends tell them I like to get letters, direct care of Capt.⁵ to Camp Warren as you have heretofore and my letters will be forwarded on to me if I am gone

Your Brother

W. O. Gulick

_______________

¹ William Gulick had four sisters, all older than himself: Lorette Schuyler, Sarah Jane Wagner, Emma V. Harris, and Cynthia Jones.

² Colonel Fitz Henry Warren, of the First Iowa Cavalry Volunteers, rose to the rank of brevet major general before the close of the war. A native of Massachusetts, he had moved to Burlington, Iowa, in 1844. In 1849 President Taylor appointed him Assistant Postmaster General. He made an excellent record in this position, but resigned it in indignation when Millard Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Law. In the campaign of 1860 he employed his eloquent oratorical powers in behalf of Abraham Lincoln. When war broke out he left the associate editorship of the New York Tribune, where he had made a reputation as one of the ablest journalists in the United States, to serve his country in the field. In later years he was frequently active in Iowa politics.

³ Peter Barr, of Company M, came (like Gulick) from the Low Moor neighborhood and seems to have been a close friend of Gulick's, as he is mentioned a number of times in these letters. At the time of his discharge for disability at Clinton, Missouri, on June 24, 1862, he held the rank of corporal.

⁴ Richard Wagner, of Low Moor, married Sarah Jane Gulick.

⁵ By the "Capt." is meant William H. Ankeny, Captain of Company M.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Shambaugh, The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 28 (1930), pp. 204-6.

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 16, 1863

Freezing in the shade Icesicles to our cabbin eves 18 inches to 2 ft long the ponds of water covered with thin ice, forenoon snowing moderately & afternoon occasionally spitting snow I am suffering with pane in my back the snow is from 6 to 8 inches deep with a perfect slush of mud & watter under it

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 105

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 17, 1863

Ice on the ponds in Helena is barely sufficient to beare up a man & some are sliding & occasionally one breaks in & gets wet, some to the waste & there is a good time of the lookers on to chear, by noon it was thawing so that none went on it afternoon I received two letters bearing me the sad noose of the deep affliction of my Dear son Amandus he has been sick for several weeks & now inflamation of the brain & the letter states the Doctors say he only has one chance out of eleven to recover, Oh how my hart is smitten. Oh that God would spare my precious boy & grant us all the privilege of again enjoying our family alter together.

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 105

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, Sunday, January 18, 1863

Morning a fiew boys ventured on the ice some broke in. the day was mild & the snow melted fast, & the mud is in great abundance, at 2½ Oc I attended meeting in a log chapple without floor seats or pulpit save the ground there was a doore up and 2 holes for windows & a hole in the clapboard roof for a stove pipe but no stove or pipe there Our Chaplain preached & called on me & I closed after him text Come & let us reason together &c I am afflicted with paine in my back

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 105

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 19, 1863

My back is yet suffering I fear it is rheumatism Our Capt TM Fee has gone out with a squad of men on picket his first adventure here

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 105

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 20, 1863

My back is not much better Evening Capt TM Fee & 1 took a little tramp, & visited the fine former residence of the Rebble Brig Genl JC Tappan it is a verry elegantly finished two story frame building. the furniture is elegant & there remains the remnant of an extensive library I discovered on the book the Orderly had marked me unable for duty without my knowledge I had him stop it I have been marked four days the first and only time since I enlisted

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, pp. 105-6

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 21, 1863

Streets almost impassible for footmen. I called in a verry pretty residence surrounded with beautifull shrubery & had a social chat with two young ladys by the name of Head they have a brother in the Rebble army. I received a letter from Emma with encouraging information about my son Amandus, he is seeking the Saviour & is in a fare way to be up soon, though I have been much depressed in mind I feel greatly relieved & am hoping & praying for my son I answered the letter. A fleet passed down from Memphis with parts of Grants Armey the 15th & 16th Reg Iowa Vol was on board & the fiew minutes they layed here I improved & injoyed with the boys some from Keosauqua & vicinity

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 106

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 22, 1863

I took a ramble out to some of the pickets. Capt T M Fee was officer of the day Brother Oliver Williams of the 24th Reg Iowa Vol passed the evening & night with us he & I slept together in my bunk & we had a good time generally

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 106

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 23, 1863

Rainey with mud beyond description I have been boxing up some cotton seed &c to send home Rev Oliver Williams called & spent the afternoon & evening with us & is going to bunk with me this night, he is from Appanoos Co Iowa & is in the 24th Reg Iowa Vol

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 106

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 24, 1863

Steady raine from 9 Oc morning untill now 11 Oc night, I went on picket this morning & expected to remain until tomorrow morning but our Brigade got Orders to march & I was reliaved tonight I took one Rebble with his horse &c about noon & sent them in by a sargent to the Provo Marshal

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 106

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, Sunday, January 25, 1863

The place is in a buisey mood Genl Fisks Bregade is buisey preparing to go on board the fleet tomorrow for some place south of this we think Vicksburg I expressed a box of cotton seed some cloths books &c to Keosauqua Iowa

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 106

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 26, 1863

Raining almost incessantly we ware all ready & packed up, & expected to be ordered in line to march down to the boats at early dawn, the teams ware buisey moving down Com[missary] Long['s] store & about noon they ware stopped & a short time after, the orders we had received to march with our brigade was countermanded & fortunately for us we are this rainey night comfortable in our cabbans I received a letter dated 12th from my Daughter & I bless the Lord, my son is some better & I feel more at ease in my mind

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 106

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 27, 1863

I am suffering with pain in my back, I dobed some on our cabbin & visited Genl Washburns Head Quarters in the Rebble Brig Genl Tappans house

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 106

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 28, 1863

Morning cold the mud froze so it bears a man up, The Cavilry took a skout yesterday afternoon & about 200 of them went out to a Rebble ball at Lagrange 15 miles west of Helena, they took 5 Rebbles Soldiers & spies in our uniform & 8 Citizens & some of them ran when the cavelry rode up, & John Westenberger from near Centerville Iowa who is in the 3rd Iowa Cavelry dismounted & ran after them hallowing halt but they did not heed & he shot down a Reb Capt Gib or Gibbs he died in a few minutes. Westenberger tended me¹ when I built Wadlingtons house at Centerville. I finished pointing up our cabbin I feel very unwell my bones all ache & my back is verry painfull.

_______________

¹ The writer was a brick and stone mason by trade.

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, pp. 106-7

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 29, 1863

The hospital boat Henry Von Phul came up from Vicksburg with sick soldiers, the Chaplain of the 24th Iowa Infty Rev Corkhill was along they went on up to Memphis no news of importance from below except the watter is passing through the cut of & our men are enlarging it I have been verry feeble this day We drilled in bayonet exersize I wrote a letter to the Rev Cyrus Morey at Atica Marion Co Iowa

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 107

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 30, 1863

I am suffering with pains in all my bones & am indifference to moving when seated We drilled some in bayonet exersize, the volts; passades &c Our Major Woodward was unfortunate his servent Frank a white man road his fine horse to town & in jumping a ditch the horse broke his leg & they had to shoot him, the Major is quite sick & they have not yet let him know it

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 107

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Pearson, January 31, 1863

I was on drill in bayonet exersize but I feel feeble with great indifference about moving around I recd a letter from my Daughter dated 19th & 22nd It greatly relieves my mind, my son is better, but was not able to turn or help himself & had been verry low for nine weeks, & while I know the Lord will do wright & I feel like trusting him, having dedicated my children to him by baptism in infancy, & trust I now have everything upon the alter, but my mind is some way so ocupied about my children that I cannot rest, & fear unless I can in some way more fully trust the Lord with the care & protection of them my body will sink & I become prostrated. Oh that the precious Saviour would help me. I was at Genl Clinton B Fisks head Quarters & had a pleasant time with him he sent one of his orders to our Chaplain by me & promised to be with us tomorrow for preaching¹

_______________

¹Clinton B. Fisk of St. Louis, became colonel of the Thirty-third Missouri Infantry September, 1862; brigadier-general in November, 1862; and was breveted major-general in March, 1865. He was soldier, business man, educator, reformer, and philanthropist. Fisk University was named in his honor. In 1888 he was the candidate of the Prohibition party for president of the United States. He died in 1890.

SOURCE: Edgar R. Harlan, Currator, Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, October 1925, p. 107

Henry Clay to James Clay, January 16, 1848

WASHINGTON, January 16, 1848.

MY DEAR SON, — I received this moment your favor of the 10th, and was glad to hear that all are well at home. My cause is not likely to be reached, I fear, for two or three weeks, if it be reached at all. I have not changed my purpose on the subject to which you refer. I have only suspended the execution of it in deference to some friends who fear that bad consequences to the cause and the country might ensue if I were immediately to execute it.

Mr. Jacobs is to be married to-morrow, and I shall go to his wedding.

I send a list of some plants which Mr. Prince has forwarded to me.

I am sorry that you indulge in bad spirits. You are wrong to do so, and I think you have no occasion to do so. You have much to cheer and animate you. More by far than most persons.

My love to Susan and the children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 553