Andrew J. Berge: Private, Co. B, 15th Iowa Infantry

Shiloh National Cemetery

81st Ohio Infantry

Organized in Ohio at large, under authority granted by Gen. Fremont, as Morton's Independent Rifle Regiment. Accepted by State September, 1861. Duty at Benton Barracks, Mo., till September 24, 1861. Moved to Franklin, Mo., September 24, thence to Harman, Mo., September 27, and duty there till December 20. Attached to Dept. of Missouri to March, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of the Tennessee, to July, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, District of Corinth, Miss., to September, 1862. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, District of Corinth, Miss., to November, 1862. 2nd Brigade, District of Corinth, Miss., 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee, to December, 1862. 2nd Brigade, District of Corinth, 17th Army Corps, to January, 1863. 2nd Brigade, District of Corinth, 16th Army Corps, to March, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 16th Army Corps, to September, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, 15th Army Corps, to July, 1865.

SERVICE. – Expedition to Fulton, Calloway County, Mo., November, 1861. Expedition after guerrillas in Northern Missouri December 20, 1861, to January 4, 1862. Duty along Northern Missouri Railroad at Wellsville, Montgomery City and Danville (Headquarters at Danville) till March 1, 1862. Moved to St. Louis, Mo., thence to Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., March 1-15, 1862. Battle of Shiloh, Tenn., April 6-7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Pursuit to Booneville June 1-14. Duty at Corinth till August. Guard stores at Hamburg till September 17. Movements on Iuka, Miss., September 17-20. Battle of Corinth October 3-4. Pursuit to Ripley October 5-12. 5 Companies Join October 19. Duty at Corinth till April, 1863. Raid to Tupelo, Miss., December 13-19, 1862, and January 3-19, 1863. Raid to intercept Forest January 2-3. Cornersville Pike January 28 (Detachment). Dodge's Expedition to Northern Alabama April 15-May 8. Great Bear Creek April 17. Rock Cut, near Tuscumbia, April 22. Tuscumbia April 23. Town Creek April 28. Moved to Pocahontas June 3, and duty there till October 29. March to Pulaski October 29-November 10. Duty at Pulaski, Wales, Sam's Mills and Nancy's Mills (Headquarters at Pulaski) till March, 1864. Moved to Lynnville March 5, and to Pulaski April 19. March to Chattanooga, Tenn., April 29-May 4. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May to September. Demonstrations on Resaca May 8-12. Snake Creek Gap and Sugar Valley, near Resaca, May 9. Near Resaca May 13. Battle of Resaca May 14. Lay's Ferry, Oostenaula River, May 14-15. Rome Cross Roads May 16. Advance on Dallas May 18-25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Nickajack Creek July 2-5. Ruff's Mills July 3-4. Chattahoochie River July 6-17. Battle of Atlanta July 22. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Ezra Chapel July 28. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25-30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy Station September 2-6. Non-Veterans mustered out September 26, 1864. Garrison duty at Rome till November. Reconnoissance from Rome o: Cave Springs Road and skirmishes October 12-13. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Ogeechee Canal December 8. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Salkehatchie Swamps, S.C., February 2-5. South Edisto River February 9. North Edisto River February 12-13. Columbia February 16-17. Lynch's Creek February 26. Battle of Bentonville, N. C., March 19-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 20. Grand Review May 24. Moved to Louisville, Ky., June, and there mustered out July 13, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 58 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 160 Enlisted men by disease. Total 222.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1534

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, April 19, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div.,

Fifteenth A. C,

Young's Point, La., April 19, 1863.

My Dear Wife:

The weather here is cool and delightfully pleasant. The climate of Louisiana is much misunderstood at the North. The nights are cool enough now for two or three blankets; mornings and evenings fresh; sun rather oppressive in the middle of the day. We have flies, but no mosquitoes yet, where my camp is pitched. I apprehend great trouble from them hereafter, though, and have no bar. One of my officers on detached service, within a few miles, reports to me that he has eaten alligator steak and chowder, and that yesterday they killed one that measured nine feet. He reports also bear and deer and other wild game. The woods here now are vividly green, vocal with song of birds, and all flowers are blooming. I saw a handful of ripe strawberries that were gathered more than a week ago.

Most plantations within reach of us are despoiled, so that no fruits or vegetables can be had; we see ruins and hear of what might have been. A blessed paradise being turned into a howling wilderness.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 288-9

Major-General Daniel A. Butterfield to Major-General John Sedgwick, July 1, 1863 – 4:30 p.m.

HEADQUARTERS,

Taneytown, July 1, 1863 – 4.30 p.m.

Major-General SEDGWICK,

Commanding Sixth Corps:

The major-general commanding directs that you move your command up to Taneytown to-night; your train, excepting ambulances and ammunition, to Westminster, and south of the railroad, as ordered. I regret to inform you that Major-General Reynolds was killed at Gettysburg this morning.

You will inform General Sykes of your movement and the cavalry.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 DANL. BUTTERFIELD,

Major-General, Chief of Staff.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 38; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 27, Part 3 (Serial No. 45), p. 465

Major-General Benjamin M. Prentiss: Miriam Cemetery, Bethany Missouri

Miriam Cemetery

Bethany, Harrison County, Missouri

BENJAMIN M. PRENTISS

MAJ. GEN. OF

MO. VOLS.

NOV. 23, 1819

FEB. 8, 1901

PRENTISS

BENJAMIN M. PRENTISS

MAJOR GENERAL U. S. V.

NOV. 23, 1819 – FEB.8, 1901

MARY W. PRENTISS

WIFE

DEC. 16, 1836 – JUL. 28, 1894

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Monday, August 17, 1863

Our company went out on picket this morning. There is always danger of cavalry raids, particularly evenings. Some more of the sick boys were examined this morning by the doctor. The boys were hoping to get a sick furlough. There is some homesickness in the regiment, but a number will be made well by a thirty-day furlough. I am in good health and it is more than a year since I have had to report to the doctor, and then he marked me "not fit for duty" for only three days.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 135

80th Ohio Infantry

Organized at Canal Dover, Ohio, October, 1861, to January, 1862. Left State for Paducah, Ky., February 10, 1862. Attached to District of Paducah, Ky., to April, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, Army of the Mississippi, to November, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 7th Division, Left Wing 13th Army Corps (Old), Dept. of the Tennessee, to December, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 7th Division, 16th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to January, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 7th Division, 17th Army Corps, to September, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 17th Army Corps, to December. 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 15th Army Corps, to April, 1865. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 15th Army Corps, to July, 1865. Dept. of Arkansas to August, 1865.

SERVICE. – Duty at Paducah, Ky., February to April, 1862. Moved to Hamburg Landing, Tenn., April 20. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., April 29-May 30. Pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 12. Expedition to Ripley June 22-23, and duty at Ripley till September. Battle of Iuka, Miss., September 16. Battle of Corinth, Miss., October 3-4. Pursuit to Hatchie River October 5-12. Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign, operations on the Mississippi Central Railroad, November 2, 1862, to January 4, 1863. Reconnoissance from LaGrange November 8-9, 1862. Reconnoissance from Davis Mills to Coldwater November 12-13. Guard trains to Memphis, Tenn., January 4-8, 1863. Duty at Forest Hill till February 16, and at Memphis till March 1. Moved to Helena, Ark., March 1. Yazoo Pass Expedition and operations against Fort Pemberton and Greenwood March 10-April 5. Moved to Milliken's Bend, La., April 13. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Port Gibson, Miss., May 1 (Reserve). Battles of Raymond May 12; Jackson May 14; Champion's Hill May 16. Escort prisoners to Memphis, Tenn., May 17-June 4. Siege of Vicksburg June 6-July 4. Moved to Helena, Ark., August 20, thence to Memphis, Tenn., September 20. March to Chattanooga, Tenn., October 10-November 22. Operations on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad in Alabama October 20-29. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Tunnel Hill November 24-25. Mission Ridge November 25. Pursuit to Graysville November 26-27. Guard duty on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad till June 6, 1864. Duty at Allatoona June 7-25, and at Resaca till November 10. Repulse of attack on Resaca October 12-13. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Fishburn's Plantation, near Lane's Bridge, Salkehatchie River, S.C., February 6. South Edisto River February 9. North Edisto River February 12-13. Columbia February 16-17. Cox's Bridge, N. C., March 19-20. Battle of Bentonville March 20-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 10. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 20. Grand Review May 24. Moved to Louisville, Ky., June, thence to Little Rock, Ark., and duty there till August. Mustered out August 15, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 48 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 179 Enlisted men by disease. Total 224.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1533-4

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Barnett Smith, April 9, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div.,

Fifteenth Army Corps,

“Young's Point,” La., April 9, 1863.

My Dear Bessie:

How is the little baby brother? I think of him a good deal, and how anxious you all must have been for his recovery. I have had something to worry me here too in my other great family. I have a good many children to look after here, and many of them get sick and some of them die. Perhaps mother will recollect a letter she received from my aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Seeds, a letter, I think, she did not answer, but which was written just after the battle of Chickasas Bluffs to apprise her of my safety. The writer was a brave, gallant young man of singular beauty and fine address, a graduate of Delaware College, who had enlisted in my old Zouave regiment as a private and from principle, for his father was rich. A long time I sought promotion for him, and at last succeeded, and when I had obtained his commission, I placed him on my staff to have him near my person. He rode well and boldly, with a firm seat and a light hand and in both battles staid by my side, never leaving me but to take an order. At Arkansas Post he was so dashing and conspicuous as to bring cheers from both armies. Well, when we debarked at “Young's Point” I was harassed with much responsibility, and far in front had to fight the enemy, and the elements, and the great Mississippi River, and for two days and two nights hardly dismounted save to change horses. I forgot or was careless to think that my aides were not iron, or steel, or capable of my own endurance, and instead of changing them as I changed my horses, let them stay with me, and the third day they sickened, and poor Frank never got well. He pined and weakened day by day — wouldn't give up, game to the very last — and I nursed him as best I could in his tent, but it was very cold and wet, raining almost every day. His disease was typhoid, not much pain, but wasting fever, and the poor fellow would come out with his overcoat and sit shivering by the camp fire between the showers; couldn't drink whiskey, or smoke tobacco, our only luxuries; couldn't eat, and would lie awake all night, and listen to the shells hissing over us (for we were close to the canal and within range of it, and in those early days of the siege they harassed us) and look up at me with his great eyes glistening with fever. I had no comfort for him, only a word of cheer, but I didn't think he would die, and so at last when we thought he was a little better, and he had been sick four long weeks, I had him carried down to the boat on a stretcher, placed on what they call a hospital boat — that is, a steamer with the whole cabin fixtures taken out, no state rooms, but in their place, long lines of cots, and some boats carry a thousand. There I disposed him as comfortably as I could and took leave, he weeping, for he was tenderly attached to me, and I gave him letters to you all, told him to go to the house and you would nurse him and when he got well to come back, and we would ride together again in battle, saw that he had some money and left him, and to-day they write me he is dead. He only got as far as Memphis; relapse, hospital, and — “he has fought his last battle.”  Only twenty-five, tall, finely formed, beautiful bright chestnut hair, red chestnut, frank open countenance, the soul of honor; and so they drop away from me, and all my best men, all I love most, are shot down or die.

Did I write you about the flowers and the birds, the sweetest, most eloquent birds you ever heard, and the prince of all of them, the mocking bird, sings all the day and of a verity all the night long. You couldn't hear the mocking bird in perfection anywhere but here, and wild; I ought not to say wild, either, for the pert, game little rascal is as tame as a chicken; he’ll just hop out of your way, and that's all — but what a flood of song he pours forth! There's one fellow who has built his nest not far off upon the topmost limb of a fig tree, a little way from my tent, and there he has whistled since before reveille this morning everything that any bird ever whistled before him, making the welkin ring with his melody. He has to help the thrush and the red bird and the black bird and the rice bird; but altogether. They have a royal time of it while the figs are ripening and the roses bloom; the delicate sweet roses, we used to cultivate with so much care, pout their lips and ask for kisses in March, and keep on blooming on great bushes till December. All the monthlies, the Giant, Marie Antoinette, Souvenirs, beautiful white roses, such as you rarely see, and all, almost without cultivation, perfume the air, with woodbine and every variety of honeysuckle all out now. The weather is perfectly delicious, neither too warm nor too cold, just right for a blanket or two at night, a dashing gallop in the morning, a cool walk on the parade at eventide; moonlight such as you never dreamed of, and oh, such sunsets! I used to think they could get up a pretty fair performance of this kind at Mac-o-cheek, when I was young and romantic, and before you were thought of, but a sunset on the Mississippi is beyond compare; and to stand by the broad river side at night, when its surface is glassy and still, and by the clear moonlight see the reflection in the water, is worth several days' journey. This sunny South is very sweet; its clime almost genial. No one can wonder they love it, and my theory of the war now is just to go on and take it. I approve of colonizing as we go, open the crevasse and let the Northern hordes flood through, and like the waters of the great river spread over the plain not to return again to the parent rills, but to fertilize and fructify the earth.

I have been quiescent and still for eight or ten days, a good while for me, and am disciplining and drilling my soldiers in a beautiful and most convenient camp. Upon so spacious a plain I can pitch the tents of my whole brigade in the rear of a continuous color line, when all the regiments are out on dress parade. I assure you it is a pleasant sight these pleasant evenings. In the intervals of drill, the men play ball, the whole plain is carefully polished and smooth as a floor. How long we shall enjoy our pleasant rest nobody knows. I suppose we must look out for the gallinippers next month. We had already one or two little tastes of their quality.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 285-8

Major-General Daniel A. Butterfield to Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock, July 1, 1863 – 1:10 p.m.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

July 1, 1863 – 1.10 p.m.

Major-General HANCOCK,

Commanding Second Corps:

GENERAL: The major-general commanding has just been informed that General Reynolds has been killed or badly wounded. He directs that you turn over the command of your corps to General Gibbon; that you proceed to the front, and, by virtue of this order, in case of the truth of General Reynolds' death, you assume command of the corps there assembled, viz, the Eleventh, First, and Third, at Emmitsburg. If you think the ground and position there a better one to fight a battle under existing circumstances, you will so advise the general, and he will order all the troops up. You know the general's views, and General Warren, who is fully aware of them, has gone out to see General Reynolds.

LATER – l.15 p.m.

Reynolds has possession of Gettysburg, and the enemy are reported as falling back from the front of Gettysburg. Hold your column ready to move.

Very respectfully, &c.,

 DANL. BUTTERFIELD,

Major-General, Chief of Staff.

(Copy to Major-General Howard.)

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 37; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 27, Part 3 (Serial No. 45), p. 461

Brigadier-General James Shields: Saint Mary's Cemetery, Carrollton, Missouri

Saint Mary’s Cemetery

Carrollton, Carroll County, Missouri

GENERAL

JAMES SHIELDS

BORN IN COUNTY TYRONE, IRELAND

MAY 10, 1810

DIED IN OTTUMWA, IOWA

JUNE 1, 1879

SOLDIER

JURIST

STATESMAN

ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES UNDER AN ACT

OF THE CONGRESS APPROVED MARCH 15, 1910.

[On The Right Side:]

CERRO GORDO

CHAPULTEPEC

[On The Back:]

UNITED STATES

SENATOR FROM

ILLINOIS

MINNESOTA

AND

MISSOURI

[On The Left Side:]

WINCHESTER

PORT REPUBLIC

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, August 16, 1863

We had regimental inspection this morning at 8 o'clock. The regiment showed itself in splendid order. A man from the Fifteenth Iowa was buried this morning, having died of fever.¹ Some of the sick boys of our regiment started home today on their furloughs. Mark Titus was the only one from our company, though some of the boys still have the fever.

_______________

¹ John Chrismore, Knoxville, Iowa. He died August 15th and was buried In National Cemetery at Vicksburg, Section G, grave 172. — Roster Iowa Soldiers, Vol. II, p. 926.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 135

79th Ohio Infantry

Organized at Camp Dennison, Ohio, August, 1862. Ordered to Kentucky September 3, 1862. Advance to Crittenden, Ky., September 7. thence moved to Louisville, Ky. Attached to Ward's Brigade, 12th Division, Army of the Ohio, to November, 1862. Ward's Brigade, Post of Gallatin, Tenn., Dept. of the Cumberland, to June, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, Reserve Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to August, 1863. Ward's Brigade, Nashville, Tenn., Dept. of the Cumberland, to January, 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 11th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to June, 1865.

SERVICE. – March to Frankfort, Ky., October 3-9, 1862. Occupation of Frankfort October 9, and duty there till October 26. Expedition to Lawrenceburg in pursuit of Morgan October 10-13. March to Bowling Green, Ky., October 26-November 4, thence to Scottsville and to Gallatin November 25, and duty there till December 11. Moved to South Tunnel December 11, and duty there till February 1, 1863. Duty at Gallatin till June 1. Moved to Lavergne June 1, thence to Murfreesboro, Tenn., July 2, and to Lavergne July 29. To Nashville, Tenn., August 19, and duty there till February 24, 1864. March to Wauhatchie Valley, Tenn., February 24-March 10, and duty there till May 2. Atlanta (Ga.) Campaign May 2-September 8. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8-11. Battle of Resaca May 14-15. Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 22-25. New Hope Church May 25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11-14. Lost Mountain June 15-17. Golgotha or Gilgal Church June 15. Muddy Creek June 17. Noyes Creek June 19. Kolb's Farm June 22. Assault on Kenesaw June 27. Ruff's Station July 4. Chattahoochoe River July 5-17. Peach Tree Creek July 19-20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Operations at Chattahoochie River Bridge August 26-September 2. Occupation of Atlanta September 2-November 15. March to the sea November 15-December 10. Siege of Savannah December 10-21. Campaign of the Carolinas January to April, 1865. Occupation of Robertsville, S.C., January 30. Lawtonville February 2. Taylor's Hole Creek, Averysboro, N. C., March 16. Battle of Bentonville March 19-21. Occupation of Goldsboro March 24. Advance on Raleigh April 10-14. Occupation of Raleigh April 14. Bennett's House April 26. Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Va., April 29-May 20. Grand Review May 24. Mustered out June 9, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 54 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 1 Officer and 91 Enlisted men by disease. Total 146.

SOURCE: Frederick H. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Part 3, p. 1533

General John Bell Hood to General Braxton Bragg, October 2, 1864

PALMETTO, GA., October 2, 1864.

General B. BRAGG,

Richmond, Va.:

To-night my right will be at Powder Springs with my left at Lost Mountain. This will, I think, force the enemy to move on me or to move south. Should he move toward Augusta all available troops should be sent there, with an able officer of high rank to command. Could General Lee spare a division for that place in such an event?

J. B. HOOD,

General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 39, Part 2 (Serial No. 79), p. 880; John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat, p. 256

Lieutenant-General James Longstreet to Colonel Walter H. Taylor, March 30, 1865

HEADQUARTERS FIRST ARMY CORPS,

March 30, 1865.

Col. W. H. TAYLOR, Assistant Adjutant-General:

Your letter expressing the views of the commander-in-chief in reference to the policy to be pursued in raising negro troops is received. I am apprehensive that we shall have applications and evidence enough to take from us more men than we can well spare at this critical moment in our affairs. It seems to me that any person who has the influence to raise a company or regiment by going home could do so as well by letters to his friends at home. If I am right in this opinion an order announcing that the officers of the companies and regiments of colored troops would be appointed from the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates on duty with our armies would have the effect of bringing back more absentees than we should lose by making the appointments. If we may judge of our future success in getting up new organizations by the past we may rely upon it that many will furnish the necessary evidence and go home and there remain for eight or ten or twelve months. I think that it would be well to publish a general order explaining more clearly the policy indicated in your letter in order that a better general understanding may exist among the parties who may desire to furnish evidence of their ability to get up new organizations; otherwise I may adopt rules which would not be as favorable to the officers and men of this command as those of other commands.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 J. LONGSTREET,

Lieutenant-General.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 46, Part 3 (Serial No. 97), p. 1367; James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, p. 653

John Brown to Henry and Ruth Brown Thompson, April 6, 1853

Akron, April 6, 1853.

I have thought a good deal how to arrange as well as possible in regard to a home, should I live to go back to North Elba. I am a good deal at a loss how to divide the land so as to accommodate both families in the best way; and I wish to call your attention to that matter, as you may perhaps be able to think of some way that will exactly suit all hands. I would be glad if Henry will send me his views freely in regard to the following questions, namely: Are you fond of the business or care of a sawmill? Are there any springs on that part of the lot lying east of the river, so situated as to accommodate a family on that side; or do you think there is a prospect of getting a good well where the strip is of some width, and the face such as would be convenient to build on? Would you divide the land by the river, or by a line running east and west? Will it be any damage to you if you defer building your house until we can hit on some plan of dividing the land, or at least for another year? If I was sure of going back next spring I should want to get some logs peeled for a house, as I expect to be quite satisfied with a log-house for the rest of my days. Perhaps by looking over the land a little with a view to these things, you can devise a plan that will suit well. I do not mean to be hard to please; but such is the situation of the lot, and so limited are my means, that I am quite at a loss. Will it be convenient to have the ground that is gone over on the east side of the river got into grass this season? . . . I can think of but little to write that will be worth reading. Wishing you all present and future good, I remain,

Your affectionate father,

John Brown.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 109

Major Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, June 14, 1861

Camp Jackson, Near Columbus,

Friday P. M., June 14, 1861.

Dear Uncle: — I received from Cincinnati two letters from you, and am very sorry to hear of your ill health. If you are not likely to come here soon, let me know, and I will certainly visit Fremont, when I can get leave to go home. The business here will require attention for a few days yet, before we get into an established routine. I shall probably leave here in about a week, and can then, if you wish it, visit you one day. If you were well, you would enjoy a few days here. Laura could send you out in the morning, and there are hosts of conveyances back.

I enjoy this thing very much. It is open-air, active life, novel and romantic. Hotter than Tophet in the sun, but a good breeze blowing all the time.

Our arrangement of regimental matters has turned out to be a capital one so far. We are in command of the whole camp, and, as Colonel Rosecrans is absent, Matthews and I are starring it. What we don't know, we guess at, and you may be sure we are kept pretty busy guessing.

My want now is a good horse. A small or medium-sized animal of good sense, hardy and kind, good looking enough, but not showy, is what I want. A fast walk, smooth trot, and canter are the gaits. I don't object to a pacer if he can walk and gallop well. Don't bother yourself to find one, but if you happen to know any, let me know. I am busy or I would write more.

Sincerely,

R. B. Hayes.

S. Birchard.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 25

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, May 5, 1862

Staunton, May 5th.

Since I last wrote to my darling I have been very busy. On Wednesday last I left my position near Swift Run Gap, and moved up the south fork of the Shenandoah to Port Republic, which is about three miles from Weyer's Cave. I would like to see the cave, for I remembered that my little pet had been there, and that gave me a deeper interest in the great curiosity. The road up the river was so treacherous that I could only advance about six miles per day, and to leave the road was at the risk of sinking yet deeper in the quicksands, in which that locality abounds. The country is one of the loveliest I have ever seen. On Saturday the march was resumed, and we crossed the Blue Ridge at what is known as Brown's Gap, and thus entered into Eastern Virginia. I stopped with a very agreeable family named Pace. Here I expected to pass the Sabbath, but on Sunday morning I received a despatch stating that part of the enemy's force had arrived within one day's march of Brigadier-General Edward Johnson's camp. Under the circumstances I felt it incumbent upon me to press forward, and I arrived here last evening, where I am stopping at the Virginia House. The troops are still coming in. The corps of cadets of the Virginia Military Institute is here.

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 254-5

Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith to Eliza Walter Smith, April 3, 1863

Headquarters Second Brigade, Second Div.,

Fifteenth Army Corps,

Camp Before Vicksburg, April 3, 1863.

My Dear Mother:

We are fully aware of the feelings toward Sherman. We know the antagonism against the Army of the Southwest. We know the efforts of traitors at home, and those who are not called traitors but who nevertheless would rejoice at the failure of his army to open the Mississippi, jealousy is rampant; war, more terrible civil war than we have yet known, will desolate the North as well as the South. My friends at home will remember my prophecies two years and one year ago. The rebellion, revolution, call it what you will, is not understood.

David Stuart has been rejected by the Senate. He is now neither general nor colonel, and is only waiting from day to day an order to relieve him from his command. Of course it will affect me and at once. He was my immediate ranking commander, and his place will be filled, I suppose, by Frank Blair. I shall not be immediately affected in my command — that is, I shall retain my brigade — but aside from this I am seriously and personally grieved. General Stuart has been my near, dear, and most intimate friend; his place as such to me in the army can never be filled. Of splendid genius, most liberal education, wonderful accomplishments, as scholar, orator, lawyer, statesman, and now soldier. With the courage and chivalry of a knight of old, and the sweetness and fascination of a woman, he won me to his heart, and no outrage . . . has affected me more than his rejection. I have no patience to write about it or think about it. The blow was unexpected by all of us. Generals Grant and Sherman, Stuart and I never thought of such a thing — could not guard against it. When I first reported at Paducah with my regiment to General Sherman, at my own request, for I had known him in Washington, I was brigaded with him. We went directly into service and together. We fought side by side at the battle of Shiloh, till he was wounded, when I assumed his command. We made all the advances to Corinth together and rode side by side in the long marches through Tennessee. We fought at Chickasas Bayou and at Arkansas Post, and advanced together at “Young's Point.” Many and many a long night's watch I made with him, many a bivouac in the open air through night and storm and darkness, always sharing our canteens and haversacks. Had I been killed he would have perilled life to save my body. Was my honor assailed, he the first to defend it; little I could ask of him he would not grant, and when I say to you that he was really the only real, true, thoroughly appreciative friend I have in the army who I care much about, you may imagine how irreparable is my loss. His character is not well understood in the community, because an unfortunate notoriety attached to him in the . . . case.

His own sufferings therein turned him prematurely gray in a very few months. His father was a partner of John Jacob Astor in the celebrated American Fur Company, and made for Astor ten millions of dollars. He was educated at Andover and in Boston, and was the protégé of Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis. He was brought into life very early, and married into the Brevoort family in New York, but being a great favorite of General Cass, was brought into politics in Michigan. At a very early age he was Prosecuting Attorney of Detroit, and immediately afterwards represented the Detroit district in Congress; there I made his acquaintance. He abandoned political life to take the solicitorship of the great Illinois Central Railroad, which gave him the control of the railway influence of the entire State and Northwest; and he abandoned stipulated salaries of eighteen thousand dollars per annum to enter the service, having expended upwards of twenty thousand dollars to put two regiments into the field. He has travelled largely in Europe and in Canada; his family are in the army and navy, he is exceedingly familiar with military life and has a most decided taste for it. His record is clean and bright, one to be proud of; he exerts a wider and better influence than any other man in this army, and why he should have been thrown over is a mystery.

The roses are blooming here and the figs are as large as marbles, the foliage is coming out green and the mocking birds hold high carnival. This is a famous country for flowers and singing birds. My horses are all well. If there was any safe opportunity, and I thought you could manage them, I would send two or three home; they are very high-strung and want a master's hand. Bugles and bayonets don't tend to depress the spirits of a good horse, and mine are the best in the army.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 283-5

Brigadier-General John Buford to Major-General George G. Meade, July 1, 1863 – 10:10 a.m.

HEADQUARTERS FIRST CAVALRY DIVISION,

Gettysburg, July 1, 1863 – 10.10 a.m.

The enemy's force (A. P. Hill's) are advancing on me at this point, and driving my pickets and skirmishers very rapidly. There is also a large force at Heidlersburg that is driving my pickets at that point from that direction. General Reynolds is advancing, and is within 3 miles of this point with his leading division. I am positive that the whole of A. P. Hill’s force is advancing.

 JNO. BUFORD,

 Brigadier-General, Commanding.

General MEADE,

Commanding Army of the Potomac.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 36; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 27, Part 1 (Serial No. 43), p. 924

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, August 15, 1863

This is my birthday — twenty-one years old today. I was detailed to help dig a grave for the body of Rufus C. Walter, of Company G, who died last night. He had been wounded and lived here in camp in a hammock which was tied to trees, or to posts set in the ground when there were no trees.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 135