1863 July 31: “We have only about 30 men really able for duty”

A short letter for Ed Levings, who usually has more news.  The original letter is in the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO), in the University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Vicksburg, July 31st, 1863.

Dear Parents,

There is no great change in affairs here since my last writing.  3 days ago we moved inside the rebel works and are now encamped in a large ravine, occupying the old rebel camp ground, having cleaned it of rubbish & filth, — not a pretty job but necessary for a place to stay in & necessary for our health.  We have got things fixed up in fine style.  Our mess, consisting of Roberts, Crippen, Kelsey,¹ & ourselves, have a Bell² tent and our cane bunks are tip top.  I think we are soon going down the river.  All furloughs granted were revoked to day.  We are doing no garrison duty & very likely we shall go to Mobile or somewhere in Ark. or La.  We were paid off yesterday, & to day we express you, as heretofor [sic] some money, $40.00 to the Prescott Bank.  This makes $200. each don’t it?  We have only about 30 men really able for duty.  Some more will probably be discharged soon.  The weather is hot.  If any thing turns up I will notify you.  We are both well as ever.  You ask if we have lost faith in Homeopathy.  Not yet, but we do not know how to use it in every case, therefore use pills &c.  The instructions in the books are not sufficient for a thourough [sic] acquaintance [sic] with the use of the medicine.

Yours affectionately,

Edwin Levings
C^o, A. 12th
Regt Wis Vol.
3rd B.  4h Div.

August 2^nd 1863

P.S.  Kelsey is now Orderly Sergt. promoted over Libby.  The boys are getting furloughs after all.  The boys in our Co who go home are Harvey Law of Richmond, St [Croix] Co. & Miles Hawley of River Falls, starting to-day.³  Hawley lives 3 miles from town on the Diamond Bluff road, — says he will call on you.  You must see him any way — he is a fine fellow.  The Capt & 1st Lieut⁴ will probably go home on furlough in a short time.

Yours &c, Edwin

1.  Samuel C. Roberts, from New Richmond; John F. Crippen, from Prescott; Wallace Kelsey, officially from Owatonna (Minn.).
2.  Bell is another name for a Sibley tent.
3.  Harvey Law, Jr., from New Richmond and Miles L. Hawley, from River Falls.
4.  Orrin Maxson, from Prescott, is the captain at this point, and Charles Reynolds, from Madison, is the 1st lieutenant.

Edwin Levings letter of July 31, 1863, from the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO) in the University Archives & Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls

1863 March 18: News from the 30th Wisconsin Infantry at Camp Randall

Following are two articles from the March 18, 1863, issue of The Prescott Journal, giving news about the 30th Wisconsin Infantry, which is still at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin.  The author is not named and so we do not know if these are excerpts from one letter or two.

 One of our correspondents in the 30th, thus writes of MEASLES :

Measles, though it be the Camp Randall, adult measles, is an exceedingly unromantic disease.  Brain fever now is an aristocratic ailment.  A man perisheth of the brain fever ;  ’tis well ;  his obituary reads well ;  his friends are grieved ;  they mournfully mention his demise.  “He died of brain fever ;  but measles—faugh !  What consolation has a man who dies of measles ?  None, my boy—nary stiver !  Veni, vidi, vinci.  I have met the measles, and I am theirs.  I am a victim.  My mouth, even now, but faintly distinguisheth the taste, yea, the flavor of egg-nogg from that of poor whiskey.  I resort in all kinds of strategic movements to see.  This object and that object are mixed in woeful confusion.—I’m spelling away at the last French novel Les Miserables, and I appreciate the work.  If Jean Valjean had only had the measles, or withstood ’em bravely, as he did other misfortunes and afflictions, I could worship him.  Cosette never had measles.  Marius Pontmercy never had measles ;  he took Cosette and many thousand francs.  He should have had measles.  The all should have had measles, for they are les miserables.

Our correspondent in the 30th, thus writes :

There is quite a feeling of resentment felt among the soldiers towards the Dirty Ragged, Secesh, Copperhead Democrats in this vicinity—Regiments of them being harbered [sic] in and about Madison.  Vengeance has been sworn against them, and I presume it a sufficient number could pass out some eveing, they would, without hesitation, attend their secret club meetings, to the unprofitable dissatisfaction of the royal circle.

They have gone so far as to offer some of the 30th citizens clothing, in order to induce them to desert.  But they must beware.—There will be a day of retribution when we return, and their own castles shall tumble upon their own heads.

The health of the regiment is much improved, aside from the mumps, (a few cases still existing,) and those that are yet lingering along from the effects of the measles, the men are healthy.  What are well are heartier and healthier than they have ever been.  And while I write the boys are having a grand dance.  Co. A have joined in.  The tables are swung overhead, and every one seems to enjoy himself.  Those dancing the part as lady take off their caps.  I have just had a good waltz and quadrille.

1.  Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables was first published in 1862.

1863 February 14: Letter from the 30th Wisconsin Infantry at Camp Randall

The following undated and unattributed letter from a soldier in the 30th Wisconsin Infantry appeared in the February 14, 1863, issue of The Prescott Journal.

LETTER FROM THE 30TH.

[The following letter, though not written for publication, gives so good a description of things in camp, that we publish it entire.]

Until recently all the commissioned officers have had the privilege of passing out and into camp, at their pleasure ;  and they took advantage of this privilege to such an extent—as report has it—that a few days ggo [sic: ago], mistrusting how the plan was working the Col. [Daniel J. Dill] went all over the camp, and not an officer, except those on guard duty, was to be found for several hours.  The consequence of this was an order read on dress parade, giving only three commissioned officers in the regiment the privilege of going out each day.  They now have to stop and show their pass, the same as the rest of us, instead of merely saluting the sentinels, as formerly.  You have no idea how much good it does the boys, when on guard, to stop a pair of shoulder straps.

We have battalion drill in the forenoon, and no one can get a pass till afternoon.  As the parade ground is not large enough to accommodate two regiments at once, the Thirtieth drills in the forenoon and the Twenty-fifth in the afternoon.  Our battalion drill generally lasts from ten o’clock till noon ;  but there has been so much cold weather lately, we have not drilled as much as we ought for our own good.  And I am sorry to say we are not very proficient, considering the time we have been in camp.  In the afternoon we generally have company drill, from two till half past three o’clock.  Besides drilling we have considerable fatigue work to do ;  such as packing wood and cutting it for the Hospital, and other purposes ;  but we do not have to work hard enough to hurt any one.  As far as that is concerned, it is no more than is necessary to keep us healthy.  We have been drilling a little in the skirmish drill, and also in the bayonet exercise, but are not yet perfect in either one.  The parade ground is now in excellent condition to drill on, it being frozen very smooth, and the weather is also as nice as any one could wish.

And now for the particulars in regard to company F :  As you well know, we left P. [Prescott] with upwards of one hundred men who styled themselves the “Tiger Guards.”  And as I look around me now, and compare the present condition of our company with its flourishing condition at that time, and think how short a time we have been gone from home, it reminds me of the saying that “change is stamped upon every thing.”¹  Out of those one hundred and four healthy, hearty men, only about forty are now fit for duty.  One has been transferred to Berdan’s Sharp Shooters, ten have been transferred to company I, two have deserted, and two discharged.  And three have been called away by the Messenger of Death, and are now sleeping their last sleep beneath the cold clods of the valley ;  and the afflicting hand of Providence is still upon us.  Sickness is still in our midst.  Nearly half of the remainder of our company are reported sick, and several of them are in a very bad condition too.  The measles and mumps are the prevailing diseases, but some are afflicted with diseases of a more serious nature than either of these.  There are six or seven more in the company who have been sick nearly ever since we entered camp, and have complaints from which they will never recover as long as they live ;  and what Uncle Sam wants of such men is more than I can tell.  Some of them ought never to have enlisted.  But probably they were anxious to do something to help sustain that government which had so long sheltered them, and hoped to be able to ensure the hardships of a soldier’s life ;  and if they were unable to endure its privations, they supposed they would be sent home, and not kept here to suffer after there was no prospect of their ever being able to do duty.  But getting discharged from Uncle Sam’s service is a trifle harder to do than getting into the service.  If it were not, I fear the army would be sadly diminished in size very soon.  Many would be ready to feign sickness, if by so doing they could get a discharge.  And so it is always the case; the innocent are debarred from enjoying privileges which they might enjoy, if those privileges were not abused by the guilty ;  and it is sometimes difficult to detect the counterfeit from the genuine.  We have so little hospital room here, that afer [sic] filling up every suitable building with the sick, every company has from ten to twenty sick ones in their barracks.  We provide for them here the best we can ;  but with the best of care, it is a poor place for a sick person, amide the noise and confusion which necessarily results from so many men being brought together under one roof, however ample it may be.  But the new hospital now in process of erection, I think will be large enough to accommodate the sick in one regiment at least.  The outside of the building is completed, and they are at work on the inside now.  As I have not yet been inside, I do not know how it is to be arranged.

You have asked in one of your letters how we spend our time here in camp.  I have already accounted to you for a certain portion of each day.  The remainder of the time is spent in various ways, according to the dispositions of the different persons.  Now we are away from home, you know we are dependent on our own skill to do our mending, washing, and so on, unless we prefer to hire it done.  Some employ nearly all the time that can be spared from these duties in playing cards ;  some in playing checkers, and some in reading and writing.  We have a building comfortably fitted up, in which prayer meetings are held every evening, and when the weather is not too cold, services in the open air on the Sabbath, by Chaplain Green.  Report has set several times for us to go, but we are still here, with but very little more prospect of leaving than there was when we first came.

MORE ANON.

1.  From Observations Designed as a Reply to the “Thoughts” of Dr. Maltby, on the Dangers of Circulating the Whole of the Scriptures Among the Lower Orders, by J. W. [John William] Cunningham, A. M. (London: J. Hatchard, 1812): 61. Available digitally on Google Books.
2.  A perusal of the official roster of Company F, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, does not reveal exactly the same numbers as listed in this letter. One private was transferred to the Sharpshooters but another one was transferred simply to “U.S.A.”  Only eight were transferred to Company I of the 30th, all of them on October 23, 1862. No one is officially listed as deserting, probably because the two individuals eventually are returned and serve. Three are discharged for a disability, but perhaps this letter was written before Eli Preble died on January 31, 1863.

• transferred to Company G, 1st U.S. Sharpshooters: Joseph Sleeper, November 24, 1862
• transferred to U.S.A.: James McDonald, February 3, 1863
• 10 transferred to Company I:
  • Frank J. Birkel
  • Joseph Dauser
  • Frank Keriger
  • Nicholas Nopp
  • Joseph Reichert
  • John Schommer
  • Peter M. Simons
  • Leland J. Webb
• 2 discharged:
  • Joseph D. Hilton, December 2, 1862, disability
  • Eli Preble, January 31, 1863, disability
  • Philetus S. Sutton, January 9, 1863, disability
• 3 died:
  • Charles W. Danforth, died January 13, 1863
  • Corwin Gregory, died December 13, 1862
  • John M. Miller, died November 24, 1862.

1863 February 15: Ed Levings Confesses “to having had my eyes opened to the Slavery question as I never had them opened before”

Ed expounds on the slavery issue in this letter.  The original letter is in the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO), in the University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Camp of the 12th Regt.
Tenn.  Sunday, Feb 15th, 1863.

Dear Parents;

                            We received your letter of the 31st Jan. night before last, and I now try to answer.  You will be glad to learn we have not moved any further since my last writing.  Our duties are guarding the R.R., the company being detailed every third day.  All is quiet and the camp has a settled aspect, no prospect of moving.  it is true the 12th has done a great deal of hard service, such as it was, and marched a great deal to little purpose, — we are properly named the “Marching 12th,” — but other Regts have done the same, since we came here, so there is not much else that any of the Regiments can claim for themselves as particularly or preeminently meritorious.  One has done as much as the other.  It requires the best of troops to guard R. Roads — the whole 4th Div is doing this kind of business.

I was deeply interested in your account of your conversation with J. Foster, touching the dealings of Providence with the nation.  I think as you do, and confess to having had my eyes opened to the Slavery question as I never had them opened before.  Truly “When God’s judgments are abroad in the land, men learn wisdom,”¹ Yes.  I believe this whole nation, North and South, are to learn this lesson.  God is forcing the nation to learn the lesson.  I believe He deals with nations as with individuals.  When a people become corrupt and sacrifice the principles of Justice and Right for base ends and refuse to listen to His councils, I believe He permits them to follow their own ways for a season, that they may see their folly from bitter experience, when they will be in a moral condition to receive His teachings.  They will then percieve [sic] the fitness of those teachings, as well as the wickedness of their ways, and they will then gladly learn the lesson of Wisdom, and when once learned, they will see that “Wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace.”²  [paragraph break added]

I know you are deeply interested in the issues of this terrible war with Slavery, and I have long wished to send you something befitting that interest and valuable.  The opportunity has arrived.  I sent to Memphis by Dale [Wilber P. Dale], for a book called The Slave Power,³ which I shall send you as a present in a few weeks.  It is a very late publication.  The Author is an Englishman but there is nothing objectionable in that, for he is an impartial and sound writer.  He treats of the “character, career & probably designs of the Slave power” & explains the real issues involved in the war.  If it is not just the thing you want, I mistake.  If the reading of it gives you any pleasure and satisfaction I shall consider the expense investment a good one.  I would rather pay out money for a good book than for a pit pipe or some other nuisance.  I know some in the Co. who have paid from $1.50 to $15.00 for pipes.  Our sutler is about played out, — charges too much & the boys won’t buy.  Dale has over $100. worth of stuff which he is selling to the Regt with bi profits.  Soldiers will lug most any thing, will have things to make them comfortable & extravagances are not unusual.  [paragraph break added]

We go on guard to-morrow.  I must stop.  Kelsy [sic: Wallace Kelsey] sends you his respects.  Write us soon & let us [know] if you have got that money yet.

Yours affectionatly [sic]
Edwin

1.  The actual quotation is “When God’s judgments are in the earth, men learn wisdom.” It is from a sermon entitled “The Fear of the World Exemplified in Pontius Pilate: Before Her Majesty’s Judges of the Salop Summer Assize, 1849,” by Benjamin Hall Kennedy.
2.  From the Bible, the book of Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 17.
3.  The Slave Power: Its Character, Career, and Probable Designs; Being an Attempt to Explain the Real Issues Involved in the American Contest, by John Elliott Cairnes.  Cairnes (1823-1875) was an Irish economist. The first American edition was published in 1862 and is available on the University of Michigan’s Making of America website. The 2nd edition (1863) is available in the Hathi Trust Digital Library.
The University of Wisconsin-River Falls Chalmer Davee Library has two paper copies: a 1968 edition published by A.M. Kelley (E 458.2 .C334) and a 1969 edition published by Negro Universities Press (E 458.2 .C333).

Edwin Levings letter of February 15, 1863, from the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO) in the University Archives & Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls

1863 January 4: “The boys have substituted the time-step call, left! left! for that of mud! mud!”

From the January 14, 1863, issue of The Prescott Journal comes this letter from Company F of the 30th Wisconsin Infantry—the Salomon Tigers.  There is no soldier in Company F with the initials O. S. G., but this could possibly be L. Dow Gunn, who was a sergeant at this time.  The O. S. G. could stand for Orderly Sergeant Gunn.

Camp Correspondence.

From the Thirtieth Regiment.

HEAD QUARTERS, 30th REG. W. V. }
Camp Randall, Jan. 4th, 1’63. }

Friend Lute :—The dark, shadowy, clouds of the few past stormy days have blown over Camp Randall leaving a sky clear and serene with a sun, bright and spring-like, so desirable in our present circumstances; in our conversation when we for a moment forget the vast field of mud that surrounds us, we call it pleasant—the weather is mild and has by far more the appearance of Spring than Winter.  During the night it freezes sufficiently hard to dry up the unpleasant element beneath, but by noon the frost is all out, leaving the ground the same as the day before, mud all over.

The boys have substituted the time-step call, left! left! for that of mud! mud! and through the day can be heard the fatigue duty men, as they carry wood or water, calling out, mud! mud! they thinking it more appropiate [sic] than any other at the present time.

The holidays (as the hoosier wrote in his letter to his sweetheart,) “has bin and went and oh, how lonesome!” and I must say with what little real enjoyment were they appreciated in camp—like all other days.  The Guard were mounted, Sentinels walked their beats with their usual tread, and that much dreaded Fatigue-duty, went on as ever and with but few exceptions, the day passed by with but little to mind us, that this was a day of unusual interest, more than yesterday; there being no company drill, we had free use of the field to roam around, and peek through the cracks of the high board fence if we wished.

It had been announced that in the evening the Union Vocalists (from River Falls) would give an entertainment with a free dance afterwards, all for 25 cts without supper included; this suited me being a lover of “tripping the light fantastic toe,” of course I attended, on arriving at the door I deposited with the gentleman, O. S. P. a peculiar 25 ct. Madison check, (having 15 cts. left) and walked in feeling as well pleased but not quite so portly as did our friend McIndoe [Walter D. McIndoe] and lady, who just preceded me.  By the way, we think he is the right man in the right place—she too.  The house was well filled with a first-class audience, the singing was pronounced superb and not often to be excelled; the dance like all good dances was grand and gave perfect satisfaction.

Did you hear we had moved?  Well its so.  On Tuesday we began to convey our personal property into the new barracks while the rain came down in drenching sheets.  Knapsacks, gun accoutrements, blankets and everything pertaining to a soldier’s outfit was hastily moved, and we are now comfortably situated in good pleasant quarters, with tables, benches, stoves and bunks, tastefully arranged.

The kitchen and pantry are attached to the rear of the quarters and are furnished with the large Chicago cooking stove with fixtures which has the appearance of a first rate 2d class boarding house.

The health of Co. F. appears to be gradually improving while other companies have reported as many as 48 unfit for duty.  A few cases of both Measles and Mumps are yet in camp, the Small-pox seeming to have been checked; Erysipolas [sic: Erysipelas]¹ seems to have taken the place of sore throat and is now the prevailing disease, that cause the appearance of small companies on dress parade, and the erecting of additional tents for hospitals.  Captain Meacham [Edgar A. Meacham] has been sick for a few days with severe cold and sore throat, but we hope to see him in camp tomorrow; below I give you a list of the company sick in quarters or hospital which may be a better way of informing their friends as to their situation.

The election news of McIndoe’s success and the Proclamation was received last evening with the greatest interest and applause; guns were fired in the city, and as the report reverberated along the still night air the excitement spread among the soldiers and huzzahs and cheers went up from hundreds of tongues and many exclamations; Thank God!  Old Abe’s all right yet, were halloed aloud.

Many by-words and phrases have originated since the Proclamation and have come into general use.  Our wits, Corporals B. and R. say Lincoln has ordered four hundred negroes up here to be servants for us; they have told the story to our washwoman who feels very sorry to think she will lose so much washing.

Lute, rumors are that you are an altered man, this we are all happy to hear.  I thought you would heed Mrs Micawber’s² advice at last; united in wedlock to a true and gentle woman you will receive the kindest wishes of many a married soldier.

We know not as to when we will leave here, we have seen pay-day pass by, but nary a red was left us and we begin to feel blue—officers are straped [sic]—and men are destitute of the cash.  Sutler’s checks are all the go now, and we find John [Dale] and Snyder as liberal and kind as ever; they furnish us with sutler’s goods and take trust for pay, we have borrowed from one another till we are in debt all around.  I have been thinking of sending up for Pierce Co. pocket printing press, (the one you and John used in striking off Co. orders) and go to issueing [sic] Script to pay up.  The 25th Reg. are to be paid soon and start for Dixie.  Our inquiries are answered with the same old promise, “in a few days.”

	NAME.	WHERE SICK	DISEASE.
	C W Brown	in quarters	severe cold
	L B Bickford	”	gen. debility
	A Campbell	”	liver comp’t.
	H S Hamblin³	Hospital	measles
	G W Houghtaling	”	liver comp’t.
	L Marsh	in quarters	severe cold
	E Preble³	Hospital	rheumatism
	P S Sutton³	”	getting dis.
	T J West	”	breached
	A Stowell	in quarters	sprain. ankle
	E Harmond [sic]	”	cold
	W W Hall	”	cold
	W M Shafer	Hospital	severe cold
	H G Carr	in quarters	spinal comp’t.
	C Danforth³	”	consumption
	A Cudd	”	rheumatism bad
	B D Maynard	”	severe cold
	E P Smith	”	rheumatism
	C L Beardsly	”	cold
	J G White	”	”
	L Bossott [sic]	”	”
	A C Hathway [sic]	”	”
	F H Lord	Hospital	measles

Those sick are doing well, and receive the best medical attendance.

O. S. G.

1.  Erysipelas is a type of skin infection with blisters, fever, shaking, chills, swollen red skin, and sores on the cheeks and bridge of the nose, among other symptoms. It is caused by a type of Streptococcus bacteria.
2.  Mrs. Micawber is a character in Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield.
3.  All of the men will survive their current medical conditions except for Charles W. Danforth, who will die from disease on January 13, 1863, in Madison. He was from Prescott. Consumption was an old term for pulmonary tuberculosis.
Harry S. Hamblin, from River Falls, will be discharged March 24, 1863, for a disability.
Eli Preble, from Prescott, will be discharged January 31, 1863, for a disability.
Philetus S. Sutton, from Red Wing (Minn.), will be discharged January 9, 1863, for a disability.

1862 November 2: “I have not time to tell you all the misteries of soldiering”

At the very end of this letter, Homer states, “you must excuse all the mistakes, for this letter was written by the light of the moon.”  You will notice all of his mistakes—no more misspellings than usual, but missing words.  Despite that, Homer gives a good description of what “soldiering” life is like for them.  Homer’s mother had asked about their daily duties, and he tries “to picture it out to” her.

The original letter is in the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO), in the University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Bolivar, Tenn Nov 2^nd

Dear Father and Mother,

                                               We rec’d your letter of the 28^th today about noon.  It found us on what is called Grand Guard, which I will tell you something about, by & by.  But as Ed has been writing to you, all day,—I shall not be able to write much news, and you must excuse me if I should write somethings that he has already told you, for he has closed his letter, and I have not read it.  [paragraph break added]

You wished me to tell you something of daily duties in camp, so I will try to picture it out to you, so that you may know in a measure, what it is to be a soldier, and in order to make it look natural,—I must not leave one stone unturned, so it will be necessary [to] commence at the beginning, which is when we go into camp.  In the first place when we are marching into a camp ground, every soldier, if he has learnt his business, he will keep his eyes peeled to see if there is not something that he can jay-hawk¹ with which to make himself more comfortable.  The first thing he looks after is something for a bed.  If he can find any straw or hay or lose boards, he will secure them, before someone else gets them. The next thing is something to eat, if there is a sweet potatoe [sic] patch near by they will pitch into that, and it must be a good sized one that has any left in it when they get done.  If there is any hogs and chickens or sheep running about at large, it will be a swift footed one that escapes.  The bump of detr destructiveness I should say is rather large on most soldiers for it is not an uncommon thing [to] see them tarring [sic] down a nice house to build make tables and bunks out of it.  They always have plenty of lumber to use.  There was a large house and a gristmill and sawmill about a half of a mile from our camp, which has been torn down, mostly by our Regiment.  Since we have been in Bolivar we have had to answer to five roll-calls each day and any one being absent from roll call with-out leave is put on guard or fatigue duty the next day, unless he gives a satisfactory excuse for being absent.  But I have not time to tell you all the misteries [sic] of soldiering in this letter, but I will give you further particulars some other time.  [paragraph break added]

I prommised [sic] to tell you about what a Grand Guard is.  It [is] about the [same] as a common picket guard, only there is a company detailed from each Regt. and sent out to different posts then each company sends out pickets in squads of five or six men and a seargent [sic] on each road, we stay on 24 hours.  There has five thousands troops come in here to day on the rail-road.  We got marching orders to start for Grand Junction tomorrow morning.  [paragraph break added]

But is is getting late and I must bring this to a close, you must excuse all the mistakes, for this letter was written by the light of the moon, and secesh rails.  Give my love to Grand Mother and tell her that she must write to us as often as she can.

I remain your Affectionate son,
Homer.

1.  Jayhawks, or jayhawkers, were bands of men that were willing to fight, kill, and rob to keep pro-slavery settlers out of Kansas during the Kansas-Missouri border war.  Homer is obviously using the term to mean steal, pillage, or appropriate.

Homer Levings letter of November 2, 1862, from the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO) in the University Archives & Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls

1862 July 18: “Tell them if they wish to enlist in the best Regt that has left Wis the opportunity is presented”

Ed Levings finally gets back—on the 18th—to closing the letter he started on the 15th.  The original letter is in the Edwin D. Levings Papers (River Falls Mss BO), in the University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

[Humbolt [sic], Tenn. July 15/’62

Dear Parents:]

18^th —— Homer has done well.  The boys have found a great deal of sugar secreted out in the country and have had all they could take take away for some time.  But the officers have at last got wind of the sugar and teams are going out after it, so we shall have to “pitch in” now or be too late.

There I have been interrupted in writing & have not sealed the letter without finishing it.  Capt. Maxon [sic: Orrin T. Maxson] goes home to-day to see his family and to raise recruits for the company in accordance with the Governor’s order.  We have just 86 men including officers and need 18 or 20 more to fill up to the maximum.  The Regt numbers now about 915 men of whom 850 are able to do duty.  Mr. Beardsley [Dr. J. W. Beardsley], the inspector of Hospitals of Wis soldiers, says our Regt is in better condition than the other Wis Regts he has seen. [paragraph break added]

If you know of any stout healthy young men who can be spared and who feel an interest in the crushing of this rebellion and are discussing the subject in their minds about enlisting, tell them if they wish to enlist in the best Regt that has left Wis the opportunity is presented.  Our officers give universal satisfaction — not a word of complaint is heard.  No other Capt than Maxon had  Maxon [sic] has more influence in the Regt than any other Capt. & looks out for his company — the Lieuts are fine men, fine officers & are liked first rate.  But one word I wish to drop — we don’t want any more cripples, nor any more faint-hearted, homesick fellows.  They are of no account.  If there are any who feel willing to suffr [sic] the privations & hardships of a soldier life & can control their appetites, be temperate, vigilant about their health & be contented, tell them they are just the ones wanted.  Try and see the Capt.  Yours in health & love,

Edwin Levings

1862 May 14: “We all hope to return, and we don’t want to be strangers when we get home”

A letter from “Mc,” published in the May 28, 1862, issue of The Prescott Journal.  “Mc” was probably John McMillan, from Prescott, who enlisted September 21, 1861.  He was the only person whose name started with “Mc” in Company A of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry in May of 1862.

CAMP CORRESPONDENCE.
From the Twelfth Regiment.

FORT RILEY, Kan., May 14, 1862.

Friend Lute:—We have had a grand review of the 12th and 13th Wisconsin, the Missouri 1st, and the 2d and 6th Kentucky Cavalry, by Gen. Mitchell [Robert B. Mitchell].  The exercise was too much for many of the boys.  Some fainted in the ranks, some left for fear they would, and all were covered with sweat and dust.  There has been but two showers in those parts since we left Lawrence.  By some means or other there is a great mortality in the 13th Wisconsin.  About an average of one dies daily for a week past.  The health of the 12th is better now than it ever was.

Our destination yet is uncertain, although it is generally supposed to be New Mexico.  There are over two hundred wagons here loaded with commisary [sic], quarter master, and army-stores.  The mails go east heavy, and come back light.  What is the matter? have our friends forgotten us, or do they think that the excitement of the camp is sufficient food for the mind?  Either of these is wrong.  We all hope to return, and we don’t want to be strangers when we get home.  Our facilities for writing are not first-rate, and I am afraid if some of the friends at home had no better, we should never hear from them ;  but we are expected to write to all of them, and it is only fair that they should write to us.

Friend, imagine yourself in a round tent fifteen feet in diameter, with fifteen others, and no legal claim to any territory but the length of your body—head to the canvass and feet to the centre.  You have seven friends that expect a long letter each from you, once a week at least.  This makes an average of a letter per day, and if you are fastidious about the observance of the Sabbath you are in for extra duty.  But you haven’t written the first one yet, so you had better begin.  You must sit down on the ground—for chair or stool is untenable—your portfolio of limited dimensions on your knee, is your only writing desk.  About the time you have written one page in this position you wish you were brought up a tailor, or in China.  But this is not the worst.  You must not forget your surroundings.  A is playing the fiddle, G and F are singing in concert, B, W, J, and P are playing cards, Tom, Dick, and Harry has a dispute about the geography of Yorktown ;  all making as much noise as possible in order to be heard.  At this juncture Dick appeals to you to decide.  There is often a change in the programme, but still about the same amount of noise.

Suppose you are writing to your mother, in answer to her earnest solisitations [sic] to remember your early teachings and that God sees and hears all we do and say, and are striving to fulfill her expectations, when the two next you get into a scuffle and upsets your ink, what! did I hear you swear? no, I must be mistaken ;  but it sounded very like it.  Now if your mother finds the balance of your letter labored and disconnected, she will naturally think her son is deceiving her.

The next letter is an answer to your Brother Bill, whose bump of locality is pretty large.  He wants you to give him a geographical history of Kansas, the climate, soil, improvements, and the various advantages of different localities.  Of course you have not seen it all, you have kept no journal, and your memory fails you.  Your messmates disagree, and you are in a bad row of stumps.  But it is getting dark, and, of course, your letter is finished.  Well, friend, what do you think of your day’s work? of course  you have been at roll call at 5 A. M. ;  had breakfast at 6½, been on company drill from 8 to 10, had dinner at 12, on battalion drill from 2 to 4, had scoured your gun, accoutrements, and buttons, blacked your boots, and brushed your clothes in time for dress parade at 5½, had supper at 6½, must be ready for roll call at 8½, and done a great many little things that have got no name.

Well, Aunt Sally is rather an epicure in her way, and thinks the sum of all human happiness is in something good to eat.  In fact, she lives to eat.  Not so much the quantity, as the quality and variety.  She wants to know what you have got to eat, and how you cook it, and if you get any sweet cakes, etc.  Horrors! are you going to shock her sensibilities by telling her that your daily fare is hard bread, coffee without cream, and pork, for breakfast ;  coffee without cream, pork, and hard bread, for dinner ;  pork, hard bread, and coffee without cream, for supper,—cooked out of doors, eaten off the floor of the tent ?  good gracious!  Jim has broken a tooth trying to bite a piece of hard bread.  Well, I suppose its [sic] best to tell the truth, even if Aunt Sally should faint.  But I suppose you are tired of camp life, and want to go home.  As you have not enlisted, and are not obliged to stay, you can go.  When you get home, in your quiet return to all things comfortable, don’t forget your day and a half in camp, but write at least two letters for every one that you expect to receive from the army.

Mc.

1862 April 23: The 4th Wisconsin Infantry at Ship Island

News from an un-named correspondent with the 4th Regiment at Ship Island, published in the April 23, 1862, issue of The Hudson North Star.  This soldier paints a very similar picture of the Island as Frank Harding did on March 28.  We can assume that this letter was written at about the same time.

SHIP ISLAND.

A correspondent of the 4th Regiment writing from Ship Island gives the following description of that “barren isle:”

The Island is a low bank of fine white sand, about seven miles in length, and a half of mile wide.  It is divided into two nearly equal parts, named respectively, the East and West ends, by a low narrow ridge about a quarter of a mile in length which overflows in high tide.  The east end is covered with pine and palm trees, and furnishes us with wood.  The West is occupied by the troops and had no sign of vegitation [sic] other than the rushes which grow in a swamp at its eastern extremity.  There are several mounds on this end varying in height from eight to 15 feet, but the common elevation is not over five feet above the level of the sea.  I have not as yet, visited the East End, and therefore know but little about it, but should judge from its appearance in the distance that it is much more elevated than this End, and would therefore be more desirable as a location for the troops, if it were only accessible to our shipping.—The wood parties occasionally return from there with an alligator as a trophy of war.  The only creature of life native to this End are frogs, sand crabs and sand flies.  The frogs from their domicile, the swamps lull us to sleep with their songs, while the crabs and flies assist each other in counteracting the influence of the frogs.  Musquetoes [sic] do not trouble us as yet, but they are said to abound on the East End, and are remarkable for their size and extreme fondness for mankind.  The only redeeming feature in connection with the Island that I have been able to discover, is the facility with which good fresh water can be obtained—sink a barrel at your tent door and you will have as good a spring of soft water as one could reasonable desire.  The weather here is not uncomfortably warm at present, we have only had one scorching hot day since our arrival, but have had several wind and rain storms which brought our tents down over our heads and promised fair to wash us off from the Island.  There are about fourteen thousand troops on the Island at the present time, and fresh arrivals every day or so.  They are all New England troops, except the three regiments composing our brigade.  There is a[n] unfinished fort at the extreme west end of the Island, the history of which I have been unable to learn.  It was the work of age, however, and is said to have been once occupied by the rebels.  It is intended, so I am informed, to finish the work and make this a stronghold or military deport as a guarantee of safety to us in case of any reverses on the mainland.  The fort now mounts several heavy guns, and even in its present unfinished condition, would not be easy to take.

1862 April 14: “The boys are in fine spirits at the prospect of leaving this accursed sand bank”

We haven’t heard from Jerry in nearly two months—February 23 was the last letter.  The original of this 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.

Ship Island  Apr. 14^th / ’62

Dear Brother:
                             I suppose you will wish to know a little of our whereabouts so I will write a few lines although it is quite likely you may never get them.  It is now 8 oclock [sic], and we leave the Island at 10.  Our destination I do not know but suppose it is the mouth of the Miss.  The boys are in fine spirits at the prospect of leaving this accursed sand bank.  Had I time, I could write many interesting things but wait until I see you and we will have a chance to talk it all over.  The River Falls boys are all well. 

We go on board the “Great Republic.”¹

Good Bye and look out for the good time coming.

                                             My love to all
                                                                          Jerry E

1.  The official regimental history of the 4th Wisconsin Infantry in E. B. Quiner’s Military History of Wisconsin (UWRF Archives E 537 .Q56 1866) states:  “They succeeded in embarking on the 15th of April, on the sail-vessel Great Republic.”

Jerry Flint letter of April 14, 1862, from the Jerry E. Flint Paper (River Falls Mss BN) at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls University Archives & Area Research Center