1864 December 10: Summary of the News from Soldiers Celebrating Thanksgiving to a Plot in Memphis to the 9th and 18th Wisconsin Infantries Returning Home

Following is the weekly summary of war-related news from The Polk County Press of December 10, 1864, and a much smaller roundup of news from The Prescott Journal of the same date.

The “Message” referred to in the first item is President Abraham Lincoln’s message to Congress, what we today call the State of the Union Address but in those days was a written message.  We will be posting it next week when the Journal prints it.

From The Prescott Journal:

THE NEWS.

— Congress met on Monday last, and the Message was delivered the next day.  The Message is a brief, clear, common sense document.  It gives a satisfactory exhibit of our condition and relations with other Governments, and on the absorbing question of the Rebellion, it announces the purpose of adhering to the policy hitherto pursued.  That policy embodies the conviction and purpose of the American people.  We shall give the Message in full next week.

— Gov. LEWIS has issued an important proclamation, calling upon the citizens and the local authorities to thoroughly revise and correct the enrollment in their several localities.  [James T. Lewis]

— SHERMAN has doubtless reached the coast, and his magnificent movement is an assured success.  [William T. Sherman]

—HOOD, who was badly beaten at Franklin a few days ago, has gathered up his forces, and a battle is expected near Nashville.  [John Bell Hood]

From The Polk County Press:

News Summary.

— Valandigham [sic] announces in the Dayton papers that he has resumed the practice of Law.  [Clement L. Vallandigham]

— The government of Canada, in consequence of alleged rebel procedures in that province, has issued a proclamation forbiding [sic] the exportation, carriage coastwise or by inland navigation, of arms and ammunition.

— The President has issued a proclamation opentng [sic] the ports of Norfolk, Virginia, and Fernandia and Pensacola, Florida, to domestic and foreign commerce.

— The “Times” Nashville correspondent says that Beauregard’s army consists of 25,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry.  [P.G.T. Beauregard]

—The Milwaukee “Sentinel” says that Gen. Pope [John Pope], who has so worthily administered the affairs of this Department for some time past, has been requested by the Secretary of War to report in person at Washington.  It thinks this means that he is to be assigned an active command somewhere.

— The 9th Wis. Vol. returned to Milwaukee on the 29th ult., to be mustered out, their time having expired.  They receive a reception such as their patriotic record merits.

— Thanksgiving day was observed by all classes of people throughout the Country in a manner seldom if ever before known.  Our exchanges are filled with accounts of dinners, sermons, &c.  Harvey Hospital, at Madison had a rousing Thanksgiving dinner and an appropriate address.  Thanksgiving in the army passed off finely in all the departments.

— The gallant 18th regiment have arrived, on veteran furlough.  They received a cordial wellcome [sic].

— Judge Wright,¹ of Georgia, formerly a member of the United States Congress, has passed through Nashville to Washington, to see what can be done towards bringing about a peace.  He reports the common people as for peace.  The Georgia Legislature convenes in a few days, when efforts will be made to save to [sic: the] State by coming back into the Union.

— Among the significant articles in the rebels newspaper is one in the Richmond “Whig” of the 20th inst., urging the little real importance to the Confederacy of Richmond.  This is evidently put forth to check the shock its fall will produce.

— Wood is $100 per cord in Richmond and many families are without fuel.

— Exchanged prisoners, of the late 10,000, are arriving at Annapolis.

— Official returns from all the counties in Illinois have been received at the Secretary of State’s office.  The total vote for Lincoln is 180,595 ;  total for MClellan [George B. McClellan] 158,830 ;  Lincoln’s majority 30,775.

— A remonstrance has been received by the Chamber of Commerce from the merchants of Bahia against paying the $50,000 reward for the capture of Florida.

— The “Herald’s” New Orleans cerrespondent [sic] gives brief account of a brilliant affair in Louisiana.  Gen. A. [__], commanding the Union forces at Baton Rouge, returned to that point on the 22d ult., from an expedition to Liberty and Brookville bringing with him three pieces of artillery, 700 and 800 horses and mules and 200 prisoners, including the entire staff of Gen. Hodge,² all of which were captured after spirited engagement with the enemy.

— According the the “World’s” Fortress Monroe correspondent, the Florida had been ordered to Norfolk, to coal, and just before starting she was run into by the transport steamer Alliance, and very seriously damaged.

She was in a very bad condition when captured, and the steamers pumps were kept constantly going.

— After the last collision she filed [sic] at the rate of eight inches an hour.  An additional pump was set at work and every effort made to keep her afloat but all to no purpose, and before she could be towed to shoal water, she went down.

— A suspicious vessel has been seized at Portland, Maine.

— Memphis papers give detailek [sic] accounts of a plot by rebel agents to burn the Memphis & Charleston railroad depot, and Government stores, valued at $2,000,000.  The plot was discovered by U.S. Detectives, to whom the matter was entrusted by Gen. Washburne [sic: C. C. Washburn] and the incendiaries were captured in the act of firing the building.

— An arrangement has been entered into by which the confederate government is permitted to send one thousand bales of cotton to New York and sell it there,—the proceeds to be applied to the purchase of necessaries and comforts for rebel prisoners.  The business is to be conducted by rebel officers paroled for the purpose.

— The army correspondent of the “Tribune” says guns have been sent to the front which will throw shells into Richmond from our nearest position.  The shells is [sic] inflammable to an extraordinary degree, and it is thought the rebels will be burned out with them.

— Attorney Gen. Bates has resigned his position in the Cabinet.  Subsequently the President appointed Judge Advocate Holt to the vacancy, but he has declined the honor.  [Edward Bates, Joseph Holt]

LATEST.

News from Sherman is glorious ! He has marched through Georgia like a giant, and left a wide and desolate path behind him ! His army has been uniformly victorious in all its engagements. They have captured towns, cities, villages, stores, cotton, horses, cattle, mules, negroes, etc., etc., and destroyed nearly every railroad running through the State.—Sherman has done his work thoroughly, and it is announced that his army has arrived safe on the coast and is in communication with the navy. We shall give the particulars next week. We then shall, probably, have the pleasure of announcing the capture of both Savannah and Charleston.

—Ex Secretary Chase has been appointed Chief Justice, vice Taney, deceased.  This is good news.  [Salmon P. Chase, Roger B. Taney]

1.  Augustus Romaldus Wright (1813-1891) was a politician and lawyer in Georgia, and served as judge of the superior court of the Cherokee circuit (1842-49) and as a judge of the superior court of Georgia (1855-57). In 1856, Wright was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served one term from 1857–59. Later he served as a delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention and the Confederate Secession Convention, and in the First Confederate Congress. Wright organized “Wright’s Legion” of Georgia volunteers and was colonel of the 38th Georgia Infantry Regiment (CSA). After the War, Wright served as a member of the Georgia constitutional convention (1877).
2.  George Baird Hodge (1828-1892) graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1845, was an acting lieutenant, but resigned his commission in 1850. He became a lawyer in Kentucky and was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives (as Democrat) in 1859. Hodge enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861, but soon after was chosen to represent Kentucky in the Provisional Confederate Congress (1861-62). Hodge represented Kentucky in the House of Representatives of the First Confederate Congress (February 1862 to February 1864). In his military career, he was promoted to captain and assistant adjutant general in Breckinridge’s First Kentucky Brigade. Hodge received a promotion to major in May 1862 for gallantry at the Battle of Shiloh and served as a cavalry brigade commander under Joseph Wheeler and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Wheeler commended Hodge for his service during the Middle Tennessee Raid. Forrest, however, relieved Hodge of his command, charging him with incompetence and cowardice, but he was acquitted of the charges and reinstated to field command. Hodge was promoted to colonel in May 1863 and to acting brigadier general in November 1863 but the promotion was not confirmed; his commission was finally approved in 1865. In 1864 he was assigned command of the District of Southwest Mississippi and East Louisiana, a post he held until the end of the war. After the War he served in the Kentucky Senate (1873-77) and spent his last years growing oranges in Florida.

1864 July 20: “You may rest assured the boys were getting uneasy”

The original letter is in the Jerry E. Flint Papers (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, University Archives and Area Research Center.

Camp 4^th Wis Cavalry
Morganzia [sic]¹ La. July 20^th, [1864]

Dear Brother,

                          I received a letter from you last night and as I have not much to do to day I propose to write a few lines in return.

The weather is very hot & sultry so that I have but little ambition to do anything.  We have been expecting to move from here daily for three weeks, but here we are yet.

There is not much prospect I think of moving immediately.

The worst trouble here is our mail.  We are two hundred miles above New Orleans and yet all our letters have to go there before we can get them.  The mail received last night was the only one for fifteen days.  You may rest assured the boys were getting uneasy.  Many of the troops at the post have gone to Fortress Monroe I suppose for the purpose of joining Grant’s army.  [Ulysses S. Grant]

I suppose you had a big thing the 4^th of July.  I wish you could have seen me lying in this infernal hole without a particle of excitement.  I thought about the good times you were having.  The next few days after that though I had excitement.  I was with a scouting party of 400 men to go out to Simmsport [sic].²

We did not see any Rebs going out but skirmished half of the way back.  Nobody hurt of course.  I gave the benefit of one round from my revolver.

Maj. Peck³ of this regiment has resigned which will bring our present Capt.⁴ [to?] Maj.  Knowles [Warren P Knowles], if he remains in the service a [sic] will be Capt and your humble servant 1^st Lt.  The honorable vets of Co. “G” were discharged a few days ago and have gone to the City to get their pay.  I suppose they will start home.  Winchester⁵ played one of the most contemptible tricks with Rossie [Roswell V. Pratt] that I ever new [sic].  He went to the Post Office in the City and got out Rossie’s letters and opened them to see if there was any news.  This he did after having asked permission and being flatly refused.  It will be well for him that he does not show his head in this camp again.  Pratt is a favorite with the boys and they will stand with him to the last.  The letters were from his wife and of course he did not wish every one to read them.

Whitefield is here, in good health but still has a good many of his old tricks.  No man will tent with him if there is any other good place.  His clothing looks like the devil all the time.  You can judge who it is agreeable for, having him here or not.  He is as well as any one and does as much duty.  Why can’t he be somebody.  Charly⁶ is tough as a nut.  He has just come in from a two day scout.  There is work to do at this place as sure as you live.  I am tottally [sic] without money not having had pay since my return to duty.  I have pay due me from the 29^th of Feb. as Sergt., 1st Sergt. and Lt. but I am owing about a hundred which will reduce it when it does come.

Give my best respects to everybody that is human, that is in my estimation.

                                                                              Write Soon,
                                                                                         ..J. E. Flint
To: P. C. Flint                                                                              .“Co. G” 4^th Wis Cavalry
River Falls                                                                                .Morganzia [sic] La.

1.  Morganza is located in Pointe Coupee Parish in Louisiana. The village of Morganza had been burned to the ground by Union troops in October 1863, but it was now the site of a Union Army encampment.
2.  In May of 1864, General Edward R. S. Canby had relieved General Nathaniel P. Banks and assumed command in Simmesport, Louisiana. Simmesport is located in Avoyelles Parish.
3.  Erastus J. Peck, from Oconto, had originally been the captain of Company H and was promoted to major on March 10, 1864.
4.  The captain of Company G at this point was James Keefe, from Hudson. He was promoted to major on July 22, 1864, but Warren P. Knowles was not commissioned captain until February 25, 1865.
5.  William H. Winchester, from River Falls, was the Chief Bugler.
6.  Probably Charles Knowles.

Jerry Flint letter of July 20, 1864, from the Jerry E. Flint Papers (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center

 

 

 

1864 May 14: The Battle of Monett’s Ferry in Louisiana

The following update on what’s going on in Louisiana is from the May 14, 1864, issue of The Polk County Press.  The Cane River Crossing was known as Monett’s Ferry; this article is about the Battle of Monett’s Ferry, which took place on April 23, 1864—a Saturday—in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.  Near the end of the Red River Campaign (March 10-May 22, 1864), Union Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks‘ army evacuated Grand Ecore (in Natchitoches Parish) and retreated to Alexandria.  They were pursued by Confederate forces under General Hamilton P. Bee.

From Louisiana.

ALEXANDRIA, La., April 27, }
via Cairo May 6th. }

The army of Gen. Banks [Nathaniel P. Banks], including the forces of Gen. A. J. Smith, is now all back at this place, having arrived yesterday and to-day.  Gen. Banks turned over the command of the army at Grand Ecore¹ to General Franklin [William B. Franklin], who conducted the retreat to this place.

The army left Grand Ecore last Tuesday, crossing Cane river² at that place, and coming down between the two rivers.  On arriving at a point near the mouth of Cane river, where Gen. Franklin expected to cross, he found the enemy under Dick Taylor posted on a high eminence on the opposite side, and in his front to dispute his passage.

An artillery engagement ensued, lasting all day Saturday last [the 23rd], and Saturday night until Sunday morning at 9 o’clock.

Meantime Gen. Franklin had sent two brigades of Infantry up Cane river a few miles, where a crossing was effected at a ford.

The infantry then came down on the opposite side and opened a musketry fire on the rebels on the hill.  A spirited fight ensued, lasting two or three hours.  Our forces carried the hill by assault, driving the enemy off, thus securing crossings for the main army.  We lost 300 or 400 in killed and wounded.  The rebel loss was about the same.  It was rumored here that we had captured 1000 prisoners and seven cannon.  Such is not the case.  The only advantage gained was in driving the rebels from our front, they having a position between our army and Alexandria, and in securing the crossing of Cane river.  After our army crossed, the rebels closed in our rear, and sharp skirmishing has been kept up all the way down.

The steamer Relief brought down on Monday, 250 wounded from the Cane river fight.  They had not had there [sic] wounds dressed when they arrived here.

Maj. Gen. McClernand [John A. McClernand] arrived here last night with two brigades of the 3d army corps, who came from New Orleans on transports.  Maj. Gen. Hunter [David Hunter] has arrived here, but so far as the public are concerned, nothing is yet known of his presence here or business.

Admiral Porter [David D. Porter] is up the river about 60 miles with two transports and a gunboat Eastport.  If he should fail he will blow her up.  Nothing has been heard from him except heavy firing all day Monday.  There are twelve gunboats above the falls, nine of which are heavy iron clads.  The transports now are all below the falls except the Champion No. 3 and Champion No. 5.  The Hastings is sunk.  No boats can come over the falls until the river rises.  There are now about 40 transports here below the falls.

Gen. A. J. Smith stated yesterday that Gen. Banks and his army were going to New Orleans, but that he and the 16th army corps were to remain until the gunboats could get over the falls.  The Red River expedition, taken altogether, has been one of the most disastrious [sic] campaigns of the war.  No good has resulted, or can now result from it.  The worst may not have come yet.  How the army is to get away from here, and how the gunboats are to be saved, are questions which perplex the minds of all.  Gen. Banks is held responsible for the whole thing.  No one here thinks of censuring Gens. Lee [Albert L. Lee], Stone, or Franklin. Banks has had control of everything.  He alone is responsible.  The feeling against him among the officers and men is becoming more intense every day.  Until he is removed no good results can be expected.

The appointment of Gen. Franklin, to the command of the Department of the Gulf would give general satisfaction.  The army is considerably demorilized [sic].  Soldiers are everywhere making insulting and ridiculous remarks concerning the Commanding General.

Scouts reported to Gen. Grover [Cuvier Grover] today that a company of rebels passed back of here last night, going below with a parrott gun.  It will not surprise anyone here should they blockade Red river between here and Fort de Russy.

Reliable information has been received from a naval officer that a negro recently boarded a gunboat off the mouth of Red river and reported the enemy to be moving in two columns with sixteen pieces of artillery in the direction of Port Hudson.—That port is garrisoned by negro troops, the white ones having been withdrawn to go up Red river.

It is reported that Dick Taylor, before the battle of Pleasant Hill, carried a flag of truce to Banks, saying that if negro troops were put on the field the next day he would show no quarter, and Banks refrained from using them in the engagement, and sent them back with the wagon train as guards.

1.  Grand Ecore is a small community on the Red River in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. “Ecore” is French for “bluff.”
2.  Cane River is a 36-mile-long lake and 30-mile-long river formed from a portion of the Red River. It is located in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.

1863 November 15: “Troops are moving all the time but Gen. Banks only knows where they are going”

In November 1863, General Nathaniel P. Banks led between 6,000 and 7,000 soldiers to the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas to cut off the important smuggling trade between Texas and Mexico.  The Battle of Brownsville took place on November 2-6, 1863.

The original letter is in the Frank D. Harding Papers (River Falls Mss AB), University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center.

New Orleans La  Nov 15^th 1863

My Dear Father

                            I have just received your kind letter and you may be assured that I was glad to hear from you once more.  I had began to think that you had forgotten me as I hadn’t received a letter from you for the past two weeks.

I have been for the past week in New Orleans attending a Provost Court but shall return to my Regiment tomorrow.  Everything in this Dept looks “first rate.”  Gen. Banks doesn’t tell what he is about to do, but I think ere you receive this you will find what he has done.  You wanted to know what were my officers’ names.  I will in a few days send you a complete list of them.

I would like very much to see my Charley’s picture, tell Dinah that I have got a very nice album and I will keep the picture safe.  Send it along.  I don’t know of any news to write.  Troops are moving all the time but Gen. Banks only knows where they are going.  Col. [___] in Brownsville recruited 800 men in one day.  They are all Texasans [sic] ready to fight for their homes.

I will have no time to write more.  Give my love to Mother and Diantha.  When I get to Brashear City¹ I will write again.

Yours Truly
. . . . . . .Frank Harding

1.  In Louisiana, now called Morgan City. Star Fort or Fort Brashear was the larger of two works erected by the Union Army occupying the city to defend a Federal military depot and the town.

Frank Harding letter of November 15, 1863, from the Frank D. Harding Papers (River Falls Mss AB) in the University Archives & Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls

1863 June 13: Capture of Fort Burton at Butte a la Rose, and other News from Louisiana

The following news from Louisiana is from The Polk County Press of June 13, 1863.

A New Southern Source.

FROM THE N. O. [New Orleans] ERA.

We are indebted to the politeness of a friend for a copy of the Opelousas Courier of the 25th to a very readable Southern paper, which seems to be unflinchingly Union.  We give below a taste of its quality:

PERSONAL.

Capt. Seemes,¹ C. S. Light Artillery, and Com. Fuller² C. S. Navy, with a large number of other officers, are on a visit to New Orleans, where they will be the guests of Gen. Bowen [John S. Bowen], the gentlemanly and accomplished Provost Marshall [sic] General.  We understand that some of them are anxious to return, but their buisiness [sic] engagements are of such a character as will propably [sic] render their stay in the Cressent [sic] city one of some duration.

SINGULAR ADVERTISEMENT.

We copy the following from the Alexandria Sentinel of last week, received through a Southern source.

LOST!

ON THE ROAD from Berwicks Bay to Alexandria the following articles:

Two battles.
Several skirmishes.
Three gunboats.
Twenty guns.
About 1,500 prisoners
Eight transports.
One Butte a la Rose.
One salt mine.
About 5000 beef cattle.
About 5000 horses.

A large lot of camp equipage,  Quartermaster’s stores, lumber, amunition [sic], &c. &c.

Also a PRESITGE, highly colored of no use to any one but the owner.

The finder will be thankfully rewarded by returning them to me, somewhere on the road to Texas or Arkansas, or by giving such information as may lead to their recovery.

R. TAYLOR,³ Major General.

(See footnote 4)

ON THE OTHER LEG.

Butte a la Rose.  Taken April 20, with all its garrison, armament, and stores by the United States.  It is the key to the Atchafalaya, and Gen. Banks [Nathaniel P. Banks] has turned it.⁴

TIRED.

Two hundred of the fifteen hundred Confederate soldiers turned over by Major General Taylor to Major Gen. Banks have voluntarily taken the oath of alegiance [sic] to the United States.

Col. Chickering,⁵ of the 41^st Mass. Regiment, has been appointed Military Govenor [sic] and Provost Marshal of Opelousas.

1.  Oliver John Seemes (1839-1918) was born at the Northfolk Navy Yard. Seemes entered the Civil War as a 2nd lieutenant in the Confederate Infantry after his father, Confederate Admiral Rafael Semmes, wrote letters for him to Secretary of War L. P. Walker and President Jefferson Davis. Seemes organized the Semmes Battery. At the battle of Franklin (part of the Bayou Teche Campaign), where he was commanding the steamer Diana, Seemes surrendered and was taken prisoner on April 14, 1863.  While being sent to Fort Delaware, Seemes and fifty other officers escaped. At the end of the War, Seemes left as captain of the 1st Regular Battery of the 1st  Confederate Light Artillery. After the War, he served as judge of the City Court for the city of Mobile, Alabama.
2.  E. W. Fuller was a veteran  gunboat commander and the captain of the Queen of the West after she was taken by the Confederates. Like Seemes, Fuller was taken prisoner and sent to New Orleans before being shipped off to Fort Delaware. Fuller will die before reaching Delaware.
3.  Richard Taylor (1826-1879), the son of U.S. President Zachary Taylor, served as his father’s military secretary during the Mexican War, but had to leave due to rheumatoid arthritis. After his father’s death in 1850, Richard Taylor inherited a sugar cane plantation in Louisiana. When the Civil War started, General Braxton Bragg, who had known Taylor from before the War, thought his knowledge of military history would help him organize and train the Confederate forces. Taylor had been opposed to secession, but accepted the appointment. While serving in that capacity he was commissioned colonel of the 9th Louisiana Infantry and served at the First Battle of Bull Run. In October 1861 Taylor was promoted to brigadier general. He served in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. When Taylor was promoted to major general in July 1862, he was the youngest major general in the Confederacy. He was ordered to Opelousas, Louisiana, to conscript and enroll troops in the District of Western Louisiana. Unfortunately, attacks of rheumatoid arthritis left him crippled for days at a time and unable to command in battle. During 1863, Taylor directed an effective series of clashes with Union forces over control the Bayou Teche region in southern Louisiana.
4.  The Union Army captured Fort Burton at Butte a la Rose on April 20, 1863. This map is from the History of the Sixteenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers, by Luther Tracy townsend (Washington, D.C.: Norman T. Elliott, 1897): 154. Chapter 8, the “Capture of Fort Burton, at Butte á la Rose,” is an extensive account of the battle. Available digitally on the Internet Archive.
5.  Thomas Edward Chickering (1824-1871) was the owner of Chickering and Sons piano manufacturing company in Boston. Before the War, he commanded a company of state militia–the New England Guards, and on September 15, 1862, he was placed in command of 41st Massachusetts Infantry. His regiment was sent to New Orleans in November of that year as part of General Banks’ Louisiana expedition, and the 41st garrisoned Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during the winter of 1862–1863. During April and May 1863, the 41st Massachusetts was part of an expedition to Opelousas, Louisiana, to forage for supplies and gather freed slaves as recruits for the Union Army, and Chickering was appointed military governor of Opelousas. In June 1863, the 41st Massachusetts was consolidated with three companies of cavalry and became a mounted unit, the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry, which fought at the Siege of Port Hudson and the Red River Campaign. Chickering commanded the 3rd Cavalry until September 1864 when he resigned from the army.

1863 February 9: “I tell you it almost made me homesick when I read Phin’s letter”

Despite Company G’s light duty, or perhaps because of it, Jerry is feeling homesick.  The original letter is in the Jerry E. Flint Papers (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, University Archives and Area Research Center.

Camp Parapet La.
Feb. 9^th 1863

My Dear Mother;

                                   I have neglected to rather longer than I should have done but as you have heard from me through other sources several times I trust you will forgive me.

It is so warm today that I can hardly content myself to write. The hot weather takes away what little ambition I may have heretofore possessed and leave me about as useless as a last years millen [sic] stalk.  Less than a week ago it was so cold that the ground was frozen quite hard one morning, and to-day it is so warm that I perspire freely sitting in the shade.  It seems much like the last of May or the first of June with us.  Flowers are in full bloom and trees are in their greenest verdure.  Gardens are beginning to yeild [sic] their fruits and people have all the Garden Sauce they desire, even at this early portion of the year.

We are still in our old position at the battery with so little prospect of joining our regiment as ever.  The light duty we have to perform has its effect upon the boys, who have not been in so good spirits since the palmy days of Racine and Baltimore.

As for myself, I feel first rate at present although a few weeks ago I had a pretty hard run of the Ague.  I expect you have been having splendid times since Phineas has been visiting with you.  I tell you it almost made me homesick when I read Phin’s letter telling what good times he was having there.  I thought of the time when I was there once and of the pleasure it would afford to be there when the family was all together.  But never mind I am on the last half of my time of service and if I fare as well the rest of the time as I have up to the present I am sure that there is for me soon a “good time coming.”

There has been no fighting of late in this department.  Appearances indicate that our forces at Baton Rouge are preparing to move on Port Hudson and assault the rebel works.

Several mortar boats have been towed up within the last few days.  Col. Paine [Halbert E. Paine] has command of a brigade and as his name has been handed into the Senate by the President [Abraham Lincoln] I suppose that he is one that’s commissioned a Brigadier General.  We shall be sorry to lose him for there is not another such a Col. in the United States.  [paragraph break added]

My best respects to all.
Yours with much love
Jerry

[P.S.]  It has been over three months since we were paid. We expect it every day.

1.  Paine will be promoted to brigadier general in March 1863.

Jerry Flint letter of February 9, 1863, from the Jerry E. Flint Paper (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center

1863 January 21: “Gen. Banks seems to suit the rebbels a great deal better than Gen. Butler”

Like Jerry Flint, Frank Harding was with the 4th Wisconsin Infantry, currently stationed in Louisiana.  Unlike Jerry’s letter of a few days ago, which was full of news, Frank claims “there is no news to write you.”  The original letter is in the Frank D. Harding Papers (River Falls Mss AB), University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center.

Carrolton La    Jan 21^st 1863

Dear Father,    I received your letter last night and was very glad to hear from you once more.  I don’t know how long ago it was until I received your last one but it was a long time.

There is no news to write you.  Every thing goes on in the old style.  Gen. Banks [Nathaniel P. Banks] gave the sworn enemy’s [sic] of the U.S. a chance to go over the lines to day.  About 200 men — women — and children, availed themselves of the opportunity, but I think that they will wish themselves back again before the war is over.  Gen. Banks seems to suit the rebbels [sic] a great deal better than Gen. Butlir [sic: Benjamin F. Butler].  I am affraid [sic] that he will not be severe enough with them, — but time will show.  I am still in my old place, have good health, and weigh one hundred and seventy pounds, don’t  you think that is doing pretty well.  I haven’t had a chance to see that Chaplin man cince [sic] I wrote you but probably shall in a few days.  I saw Jo Robbins.¹  He is looking first rate.  He recognized me one day while I was riding through camp.  I didn’t know him until he told me his name, then I could but just remember him.

There is a great many troops here and I am in hopes that we shall make some kind of a move towards taking Vicksburg.  Gen. Banks has gone to Baton Rouge and left Gen. Sherman [Thomas W. Sherman] in command.  For the past week I have been up the Coast hunting and have had fine sport.  I would like to send you a pair of Brant² or ducks but “I suppose it wouldn’t pay.”  [paragraph break added]

Tell Diantha that I will write to her during the week.  I am very busy to to night and have but a few minutes of share time so you must excuse me for this time.  Give my love to Mother and Diantha.  Write me often and believe me

Your Dutiful Son
Frank D Harding

Please tell Miss Welch that I will endeavor to find out if there is any thing that belongs to Coxhull, and if there is, will send it to Brooklyn.

in hast [sic]
Frank

1.  Probably Joseph K. Robbins. He was with the 26th Connecticut Infantry, which contained men from Frank’s home area in Connecticut. The 26th Connecticut was also at Camp Parapet at this time.
2.  A type of goose. Sometimes spelled “Brent.”

Frank Harding letter of January 21, 1863, from the Frank D. Harding Papers (River Falls Mss AB) in the University Archives & Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls

1863 January 18: “I say curse such men”

Jerry Flint, with the 4th Wisconsin Infantry in Louisiana, has a lot to say in this letter about past experiences, what’s happening currently around him, and what he expects in the near future.  The original letter is in the Jerry E. Flint Papers (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, University Archives and Area Research Center.

Camp Parapet La
Jan. 18^th 1863

My Dear Brother,

                                         I was much gratified at the reception of a letter from you yesterday, and was also very much surprised to learn that you were at Madison.  I am glad to know that you have your discharge for I was well satisfied that you could not get well enough this winter to stand a soldier’s duty.  From the way you write I should think that some of the men thought they were having hard times.  I hope our boys will not get such an idea into their heads, for if they ever leave the State and go into the field they will think they have been living on the top shelf.

When we went into camp in the State many of the boys thought they had dreadful living but our rations then were like thanksgiving supper compared with what we get now.  Let them march through the swamps a few days, laying down at night in the rain without shelter and nothing to eat but a chunk of salt beef and hard bread, and ill lest they will think of the old Barracks at Camp Randall with a grunt of satisfaction.  [paragraph break added]

Our regiment is pretty much done growling.  It was all grumble from the time we left the state through all our travels until we started for Ship Island.  Every place we went things kept growing worse.  But the voyage from Fortress Monroe to Ship Island capped everything before it so the boys came to the conclusion that they might just as well keep cool and take things as they come.

There has been many times this summer when I would have been glad to have got out of the service, but I could have done so honorably, but I never wish to leave while matters stand as they are now.  I can never again feel proud of being called an American citizen if the accursed “Stars and Bars” emblem of treason and rebellion are allowed to float independently over the ruins of our once great Republic.

Things in the department are very quiet although our Generals are not idle since the arrival of Gen. Banks forces [Nathaniel P. Banks], troops are constantly moving about and getting ready to do something.  Baton Rouge was occupied as soon as his forces arrived and there is now at that place an army of 30,000 men.  They are mostly new troops and to use their own words don’t mean to fight much.  They are enlisted for nine months and got a huge bounty.

I say curse such men.

Quite a number of the old regim[ents] are with them at Baton Rouge and I am afraid that when the battle comes they will have to stand the brunt.  Our regiment is up there in a brigade commanded by Col. Paine [Halbert E. Paine].  Their position is in the advance.  It was said when the regiment left that we should follow them in a week or so as soon as another company could be drilled on the heavy guns.  But we are here yet and no more signs of going  that first.  We shall however probably join them before the column is ready to move.

It is expected that we shall have a severe fight at Port Hudson.  The rebels have fortified until it is nearly as strong as Vicksburg.  When we came by there the last time in July there was not a gun there.  Now thousands of lives must be lost taking it.  Why they were allowed to fortify right under the nose of our gunboats is more than I can tell.  I think it could have been stopped any way.

Gen. Weitzel¹ has been fighting in the vicinity of Berwick Bay and has scooped the rebels every time.  The rebel iron clad gunboat on Bayou Teche was blown up.  Lieut. Com. Buchanan² of the gunboat “Calhoun” was killed by sharp shooters on the bank of the Bayou.  His funeral was attended in New Orleans.  Admiral Farragut [David G. Farragut] and Gen. Banks marched on foot in rear of the procession.

The rebels again have possession of Galveston but it will not long as an expedition is fitting out for that place.  I do not know whether you have heard of the capture of the Harriet Lane and the destruction of the Westfield in Galveston Bay or not.  They were both aground when New Years eve four light draught boats of the rebels came out and attacked them.  The Harriet Lane sunk one of them but being aground she could not maneuver so that the rebels boarded her and after a severe fight captured her.  They then made for the Westfield but Com. Renshaw [William B. Renshaw] seeing he could not help himself told his crew that the rebels could never have her and that all who wished could take to the boats for he was going to blaze her up.  Part of the crew swore they would never leave their commander and so staid and were all blown up together.  The Westfield was a light open boat but carried some good guns.  She was up the river with us last summer.  When the rebel ram Arkansas run the upper fleet and landed under the guns of Vicksburg this boat run right up under the guns, fired a shot into the ram as a challenge to come out and fight her alone but they dare not do it.  This shows what kind of man Renshaw was, and I believe it shows what our whole navy is.³

Gen. Banks visited the camp the other day.  We fired the salute from our battery.  We used 10½ lb. cartridges.  You had better believe they talked some.

Remember me to all the folks in Chicago, our folks of course.  Tell Mother I shall write to her next.

I received letters by yesterdays mail from Sarah Hunt, Sophia, Eunice, Rossie and yourself.

Write Soon, Jerry

1.  Godfrey, or Gottfried, Weitzel (1835-1884) was born in Bavaria (Germany) and immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, with his parents. He graduated from West Point and was a career military officer working primarily as an engineer. In 1861 his company served as the bodyguard during the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln. Early in the Civil War he constructed defenses in Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., and for the Army of the Potomac. He then became the chief engineer on General Benjamin F. Butler’s staff. At this time he was commanding the advance in General Nathaniel P. Banks’ operations in western Louisiana and he will command a division under Banks at the siege of Port Hudson.
2.  “On January 14, 1863, a combined expedition of Union gunboats, infantry, and artillery attacked the [CSS] Cotton near Pattersonville [Louisiana]. Her crew burned her and sank her across Bayou Teche as an obstruction. … Lieutenant Commander Thomas M. Buchanan had command of the Federal vessels. He was shot in the head by one of the Confederate riflemen.”  For more details, see page 105 of The Civil War Reminiscences of Major Silas T. Grisamore, C.S.A., edited and with an introduction by Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr. (Louisiana State University Press, 1993), available on Google Books.
Thomas M. Buchanan.
3.  See our post of January 14, 1863, Battle of Galveston, for more details on Commander William B. Renshaw, the USS Westfield, and the USS Harriet Lane.

Jerry Flint letter of January 18, 1863, from the Jerry E. Flint Paper (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center

1862 December 16: “Christmas is coming soon” and Jerry Flint Expects to Have Only Pork and Coffee for Christmas Dinner

The original letter is in the Jerry E. Flint Papers (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, University Archives and Area Research Center.

Camp Parapet, La.
Dec. 16^th, 1862

My Dear Brother,

                                      I thought I would write to you several days ago finally concluded to wait and see if I would not get a letter from you by the next mail but that has come and no letter so I am bound to write now any way. I ought to have written before and will write oftener in future.

I suppose that just as long as you are not able to join your Reg. you will feel very lonesome the rest of the boys all having gone.  I understand  too that Uncle Wash and Elmira with several others have gone to to see if they can’t [?] a few dimes into their pockets.  Hope they will do well and have we doubt they will.  They might make very well coming to New Orleans. They had better not come down the river though  for some guerilla [sic] might pop the muzzle of his gun over the levee and scare them — unless Wash has his “pistols.”

Gen. Banks’ [Nathaniel P. Banks] Fleet arrived in the river yesterday and part of the troops are already on their way up the river.  How far up they are going you know as well as I.  They may land at Donaldsonville and go off into Texas or they may go to Baton Rouge and march on Port Hudson and then strike for Mobile.  I hope the latter place is his destination.

Two of our gunboats had a fight with the batteries at Port Hudson a few days ago and silenced them after a sharp engagement.  Our gunboats can run those batteries there anytime.  When the Essex goes up they don’t fire at her at all.  It is of no use, their balls make no impression on her iron sides.

Christmas is coming soon and I suppose you will have a staving dinner, but as turkeys are ten dollars apiece here and we have had no “expedition” lately, I guess mine will consist of pork and coffee.  Oysters are very cheap now being only 10 cents per dozen.  Eggs are $1.00 per dozen and butter 50 cents per pound.  A pound will last my partners and I just one day.  I have heard of several marriages lately up there.  Birds pair off in the spring but man more sensible takes it in the fall so he can keep warm through the winter.

Cole has got a baby I see.  It is quite a mystery to us boys how it happened.  Some say it isn’t his.  It appears to me nature hurried things up terrible to get one off in five months.  Don’t tell George what I say any way.

Write to me soon.  If you are not able to write a great deal write a little.  I shall be glad to hear.

The boys are all well.

From your Brother,
Jerry

Jerry Flint letter of December 16, 1862, from the Jerry E. Flint Paper (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center

1862 September 30: “The camp takes its name (Parapet) from the fortifications”

The original letter is in the Jerry E. Flint Papers (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, University Archives and Area Research Center.

Camp Parapet [La.]    Sept 30^th 1862

Dear Mother,

I wrote you a letter about a week ago but have since received a letter from Phin¹ saying that you had gone Chicago so I suppose you will not get that for some time.

We moved our camp yesterday from Carrollton to this place, being about 10 miles above New Orleans, and the advanced column of this division.

It is a very pleasant place to camp in dry weather, but when it is raining, a greet [sic] deal we have had lately, it is always muddy.  The camp takes its name (Parapet) from the fortifications.  There is a ditch about 15 feet wide running from the river to the lake with a high parapet behind covered with heavy guns.  It was built by the rebels to prevent our forces from coming into New Orleans that way.  It is a splendid work and answers our purpose for the defense of the city very well.  [paragraph break added]

Our hottest season is now over and we get occasionally a fresh breeze.  This makes it much more comfortable for us and the health of the [regiment]² is gradually improving.

The last steamer brought us a little better news from Maryland and we begin to hope again, this war will sometime end.  I feel as though I would like to get north once more where I can see once in a while a friend, and be among a people who do not consider you as an enemy.  There are a great many Union people here but the majority vary with the news.  If it is a Union victory they are good loyal people, but if Secesh and they think there is a prospect of their success they are profuse in uttering secessionist sentiments.

I had a letter from Phineas by the last mail.  They have not started for the war nor did they know when they should.  The money I expressed arrived safe.  The amount was $50.00.  He and Theodore³ had got furloughs to go over and help Uncle Joseph stack his grain.

How is your health since you left home, and what kind of a trip did you have going to Chicago?  I don’t know where I shall land when I get back.  I think though that I shall march straight for the old house and put up and live in seclusion.  I guess I will take my musket hom with me and mount it in one of the old sh[__]⁴ windows, when being so well fortifyed [sic] I can bid defiance to the whole neighborhood.  [paragraph break added]

I tell you what it is Mother I have longed to get at our old spring this summer.  I don’t believe there is any such water in the world.  The best water we get is out of the river and the most part we have to drink swamp water.

Enclosed you win find $2.00 for spending money.  I wish I had more to send but have not at present.  Tell Helen to write often, and I will do the same.  While lying in camp as we are now I can find plenty of time to write but when on the march it is very hard.  Does Helen live in the same place as when I was last there?

I forgot whether I wrote you of George Randall’s death.⁵  He died very suddenly of Typhoid Fever while at Baton Rouge.

My Health is good, weigh 150 pounds.

No more at present,
Jerry

1.  Jerry’s brother Phineas, who enlisted in the 30th Wisconsin Infantry and will be in Company A.
2.  Jerry forgot the word “regiment,” or possibly “company” when he turned the page.
3.  Theodore W. Nichols, also from River Falls, in Company A of the 30th with Phineas.
4.  “Shuttered” would make sense, but the letters just don’t add up to that.
5.  Yes, Jerry mentioned the death of George T. Randall in his August 11, 1862, letter.

Jerry Flint letter of September 30, 1862, from the Jerry E. Flint Paper (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center