Showing posts with label Fredericksburg VA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fredericksburg VA. Show all posts

Monday, March 25, 2024

Diary of Private Bartlett Yancey Malone, March 10, 1862

cloudy and raining in the morning but no rain in the eavning And we arrived at camp Barton about 3 oclock in the eavning which is about 2 miles west of Frederksburg (Fredericksburg)

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 16

Diary of Private Bartlett Yancey Malone, March 23, 1862

the Sabath was a beautyfull spring day and I went to Frederksburg to preaching And the preachers text was in St. John 3 chap and 18 virse

[2nd entry for the 23rd:]

day cool and cloudy

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 17

Diary of Private Bartlett Yancey Malone, March 29, 1862

it raind and haild and snowed and sleated and friezed and done a little of all that was bad And me and James Colmond went to Fredreksburg and went down to the landing and went in a steam boat for the first one we ever was in

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 17

Monday, March 20, 2023

Dr. Spencer G. Welch to Cordelia Strother Welch, June 14, 1863

Camp near Fredericksburg, Va.,        
June 14, 1863.

The Yankees have all gone back on the other side of the river, and we have left our entrenchments and taken up camp in the rear. I think we shall not remain here long, but I do not know what we shall do next. The enemy seem to have left Fredericksburg. If we do not move tomorrow I may write again.

I am getting very anxious to hear from you and George.

SOURCE: Dr. Spencer G. Welch, A Confederate Surgeon's Letters to His Wife, p. 54-5

Dr. Spencer G. Welch to Cordelia Strother Welch, June 21, 1863

Between Front Royal and Winchester, Va.        ,
June 21, 1863.

We are in the Valley of Virginia again and are now within ten miles of Winchester. You cannot imagine how delighted the Valley people are at our appearance. The ladies wave their handkerchiefs from every little farmhouse we pass and cheer us onward.

Such sights are enough to make anyone feel enthusiastic. As we marched through Front Royal this morning the people were in ecstasies and our bands played lively airs for them, although it is Sunday.

In coming from Fredericksburg here we have taken a much shorter route than the one we took in going from here to that place last fall. Since we left Fredericksburg last week we have not traveled more than one hundred miles, but we traveled 175 miles by the other route. We camped on the top of the mountains last night. The night before we did not go into camp until about ten o'clock, and then it began to rain furiously. We were in an open grass field and so we had to stand up and take it. It was a very heavy rain and the night was the worst I ever experienced. I sat up the entire night on a rock and kept dry with an oilcloth. Few men were so fortunate as to have so good a place to sit on as a rock. I am willing to endure almost anything, or to be deprived of almost everything, if we can have the pleasure of getting into Pennsylvania and letting the Yankees feel what it is to be invaded. Our army is very large now, and if we get into Maryland or Pennsylvania and Hooker engages us you may be certain that he will be severely whipped. General Lee and his army are bent on it. Our troops are in fine health and I have never before seen them get along half so well on a march. Not a man has given out since the rain. I believe they will fight better than they have ever done, if such a thing could be possible. I feel fine and have stood the march admirably. We have had plenty of meat and bread to eat since we started, and I got some good rich milk this morning at Front Royal.

From where I am writing this letter I can look around me and see one of the most beautiful and fertile countries. I do wish you could see it. My servant has gone to a farmhouse, and he stays so long that I believe he is having something cooked.

I shall write to you as often as I can; so goodby[e] to you and George.

SOURCE: Dr. Spencer G. Welch, A Confederate Surgeon's Letters to His Wife, p. 55-7

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Dr. Spencer G. Welch to Cordelia Strother Welch, December 4, 1862

Camp near Fredericksburg, Va.,        
December 4, 1862.

We traveled 175 miles from the Valley to this place in twelve days, and are now encamped upon precisely the same spot we were occupying when we left this region last spring. Our march was the least disagreeable of any I have experienced, because the weather was very cold and we traveled during the day only. We were well fed also, compared with our other marches. We had rain but once and snow twice. Many of the men were barefooted and the march was terrible for them. Billie, Ed and I stood it first-rate and none of us lagged behind once. By a mere chance we got our clothing at Orange Court House. We feel very grateful to you and the others for your trouble and expense for us. My suit fits as well as I could wish, and everyone admires it. Wilson had his knapsack stolen the first night after we got the clothes. He is very careless, and so is Billie. Unless one is extremely careful everything he has will be stolen from him in camp. Half of the men in the army seem to have become thieves.

We have an enormous force concentrated here now. Nearly all the men are well clothed, but some few are not. We still have a few barefooted men because their feet are too large for the Government shoes. The health of the troops continues fine. Last summer never less than two hundred men reported sick every morning in our regiment, and now there are never more than twelve or fifteen cases.

I doubt our having any more fighting this winter, as such weather as this puts a stop to all military operations. The enemy cannot advance on us nor can we advance on them. I think we surely will go into winter quarters soon, for it is folly for us to be lying out as we are. We have good health, it is true, but it is extremely unpleasant.

I may have an opportunity to send you some more money soon, and you may spend it if you wish, for it may be worthless when the war is over.

George will be one year old on the seventh.

SOURCE: Dr. Spenser G. Welch, A Confederate Surgeon's Letters to His Wife, p. 36-8

Dr. Spencer G. Welch to Cordelia Strother Welch, December 24, 1862

Camp near Fredericksburg, Va.,        
December 24, 1862.

The Yankees seem loath to make another advance since the good whipping we gave them here on the thirteenth in the battle of Fredericksburg. Milton Bossardt's company went into the fight with forty men, and thirty of them were killed or wounded. He escaped very narrowly. A hole was shot through his hat and one of his shoe heels was shot off. Pick Stevens never shuns a fight. He goes boldly into them all.

I will not write you about the battle, for you must have seen enough in the newspapers concerning it. According to their own newspaper accounts, the Yankees were defeated much worse than we at first thought they were.

Some of us sent out to-day and got some eggs, and are going to have an egg-nog to-night, so you see we are trying to have some enjoyment for Christmas if we are out here in the woods. The Government is trying to help us, for we drew several extra good things to-day.

You must keep in good spirits. I will get home some of these days yet. I may surprise you.

SOURCE: Dr. Spenser G. Welch, A Confederate Surgeon's Letters to His Wife, p. 38-9

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Diary of Private Louis Leon: May 19, 1863

Left here at 5 this morning, got to Richmond at 8, and are stationed at Camp Lee. We will have to march to Fredericksburg. Our brigade is transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia. William Cochran, myself and several of our company ran the blockade to-night, went uptown to a theatre, and got back to camp at 2 o'clock. We had a fine time while uptown.

SOURCE: Louis Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 27-8

Monday, August 16, 2021

Major Charles Wright Wills: May 16, 1865

Five miles south of Fredericksburg, May 16, 1865.

Our division and brigade in advance of corps to-day. Made 24 miles by 2 p. m. Fences all gone on the road, but houses all standing. From a bluff three miles back had a beautiful view of about 15 miles of the Rappahannock valley and in all that did not see a fence or a cultivated field, or a specimen of either the kine, sheep, or swine families. This certainly does not largely rank the Sahara. Passed through a melancholy looking line of rifle pits, and mentally thanked Heaven for my poor prospect of ever using the like again. Passed through Bowling Green this a. m., only 11 miles from where Booth was killed.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 382

Major Charles Wright Wills: May 17, 1865

Aquia Creek, Va., May 17, 1865.

We passed over the whole line of Burnside's battle ground this morning. (It was no fight, only a Yankee slaughter.) Through Fredericksburg, the most shelled town I ever saw; crossed the Rappahannock on a miserable shaky pontoon, and have been traveling ever since in the camps of the Potomac Army. Desolation reigns equal to the Sodom and Gomorrah country.

Country much more broken than I supposed; very hot part of the day. One man of the 48th Illinois fell dead while marching, and eight or ten in our regiment badly affected by heat.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 382