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Letters from soldier that first name start with A
Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Alexander Hamilton Stephens, January 19, 1860
To Alexander H. Stephens [NOTE: 2. From a pamphlet entitled Some Lincoln Correspondence with Southern Leaders before the Outbreak of the Civil War, from the Collection of Judd Stewart, 1909. The letter was there printed from a copy certified as correct by Mr. Stephens.]
Springfield, Illinois, 19 January, 1860.
Duplicated for Senator Jno. J. Crittenden
Honorable A. H. Stephens
Dear Sir: Your letter and one from Hon. J. J. Crittenden, reached me at the same time. He wants a new party on the platform of "The Union, the constitution and the enforcement of the Laws" — not construed. You from your retirement at Liberty Hall complain of the bad faith of many in the free states who refuse to return fugitives from labor, as agreed in the compromise of 1850, 1854: but I infer that you agree with Judge Douglas that the territories are to be left to "form and regulate their own domestic institutions subject only to the Constitution of the United States." I remember the letter of the Whigs in Congress in 1852 which defeated Gen'l Winfield Scott on the ground that he did not present your view of States' rights.
Also that your letter destroyed the Whig party and it is said that you and Toombs voted for Webster after he was dead. You are still "harping" on "my daughter" and you supported Zach Taylor as a sound Kentuckian. If I understand you, here are two constructions: Crittenden being willing for the Henry Clay gradual emancipation, I think. The rights of local self-government as defined by Webster, also including state determination of citizenship, are clearly in the Constitution. When we were both Members of the Young-Indian Club in Washington you then argued for paramount state Sovereignty going very nearly to the extreme of state nullification of Federal laws with John C. Calhoun: and of secession at will with Robert Toombs. The Colonies were subject up to July 4, 1776, and had no recognized independence until they had won it in 1783: but the only time they ever had the shadows of separate sovereignty was in the two years before they were compelled to the articles of Confederation July 9, 1778.
They fought England for seven years for the right to club together but when were they independent of each other? Let me say right here that only unanimous consent of all of the states can dissolve this Union. We will not secede and you shall not. Let me show you what I think of the reserved rights of the states as declared in the articles of Confederation and in the Constitution and so called Jeffersonian amendments; suppose that I sold a farm here in Illinois with all and singular the rights, members and appurtenances to the same in any wise belonging or appertaining, signed, sealed and delivered: I have now sold my land. Will it at all change the contract if I go to the clerk's office and add a post script to the record; that all rights not therein conveyed I reserve to myself and my children? The colonies, by the Declaration of July 4, 1776, did not get nationality, for they were leagued to fight for it. By the articles of Confederation of July 9, 1778, under stress and peril of failure without union, a government was created to which the states ceded certain powers of nationality, especially in the command of the army and navy, as yet supported by the states. Geo. Washington was Commander in Chief and congress was advisory agent of the states, commending but not enacting laws for the thirteen, until empowered. This proved insufficient and the peril of failure was great as ever, at home and abroad.
Alexander Hamilton and others of New York were first to urge that a government with no revenues, except state grants, could have no credit at home or abroad. Three years later Virginia led the states in urging concessions of power, and then by twelve states — Rhode Island objecting — was framed our original Constitution of 1787 fully three and a half years after the peace that sealed our United national Independence. The post-script erroneously all attributed to Thomas Jefferson, came in three installments. The first ten (10) proposed in the first session of the Congress of the United States 25th September 1789 were ratified by the constitutional number of states 15 December 1791, New Jersey 20 November 1789 and Virginia 15 December 1791, eleven states only, Georgia and Connecticut dissenting. The eleventh amendment, proposed 5 March 1794, Third Congress, was then declared duly adopted by a President's message of 8 January, 1798, eleven states consenting & finally all consenting. The twelfth amendment was proposed in congress 12 December 1803 and declared ratified through the secretary of state 25 September 1804 by the constitutional quorum of states. The first ten articles are the Bill of Rights and each set of amendments had a preface. The eleventh limited the Federal Judiciary. The twelfth regulated general elections for President and Vice-President of the United States.
Do any or all of these retract the fee-simple grant of great and permanent powers to the Federal Government? There are three great Departments: I, the President commanding the Army and Navy and with a veto upon a plurality of Congress. II, the Congress coining all moneys; collecting all imposts on imports, regulating all interstate as all external commerce; making all subordinate Federal Judiciary as appointed of the President with power to have a ten mile square seat and to take grants or to buy for Forts, Dock yards and Arsenals; having post offices and post roads under laws executed by the President, and to frame supreme constitutional laws and set up courts and Judges. III, The supreme court set as arbiter and expounder of the constitution and of all differences of states and with states or of them with the Federation; no loop hole left for nullification, and none for secession, — because the right of peaceable assembly and of petition and by article Fifth of the Constitution, the right of amendment, is the Constitutional substitute for revolution. Here is our Magna Carta not wrested by Barons from King John, but the free gift of states to the nation they create and in the very amendments harped upon by states rights men are proposed by the Federal congress and approved by Presidents, to make the liberties of the Republic of the West forever sure. All of the States' Rights which they wished to retain are now and forever retained in the Union, including slavery; and so I have sworn loyalty to this constitutional Union, and for it let me live or let me die.
But you say that slavery is the corner stone of the south and if separated, would be that of a new Republic; God forbid. When a boy I went to New Orleans on a flat boat and there I saw slavery and slave markets as I have never seen them in Kentucky, and I heard worse of the Red River plantations. I hoped and prayed that the gradual emancipation plan of Henry Clay or the Liberian colonization of John Q. Adams might lead to its extinction in the United States. Geo. Washington, the Massachusetts Adams, Presidents James Madison and Monroe, Benj. Franklin opposed its extension into the territories before I did. The ordinance of 1784, 1787 for the North West territory ceded by Virginia, was written by Thomas Jefferson and signed only by slave-holders and that prohibited forever slavery, or involuntary servitude not imposed for crime. Your grandfather, Captain Stephens, suffered at Valley Forge and bled at Brandywine for the principles of the men of 1776-1783. Your Uncle, Justice Grier of the Supreme Bench has recently expounded the Supreme Law as I honestly accept it. Senator Crittenden complains that by the device of party conventions and nominations of candidates for Presidents and Vice-Presidents the Federal plan of separate and unbiased Electoral Colleges is taken away and the popular feature of elections is restored to the people. I reckon they wanted it so. What are you agoing to do about it? To abolish conventions you must abolish candidates. In your Oxford College orations, you say "I love the Union and revere its memories; I rejoice in all its achievements in arts, in letters and in arms." If it is a good thing, why not just keep it and say no more about it?
I am not in favor of a party of Union, constitution and law to suit Mr. Bell or Mr. Everett and be construed variously in as many sections as there are states.
This is the longest letter I ever dictated or wrote. But this is to only you alone, not to the public.
Your truly,
A. Lincoln.
To Charles C. Nott [NOTE: 1. Appointed judge of the Court of Claims by President Lincoln in 1865 and made chief justice of the court by President Cleveland in 1896.]
Springfield, Ills,
May 31, 1860.
Charles C. Nott, Esq.
My Dear Sir: Yours of the 23rd, accompanied by a copy of the speech delivered by me at the Cooper Institute, and upon which you have made some notes for emendations, was received some days ago. Of course I would not object to, but would be pleased rather, with a more perfect edition of that speech.
I did not preserve memoranda of my investigations; and I could not now re-examine, and make notes, without an expenditure of time which I can not bestow upon it. Some of your notes I do not understand.
So far as it is intended merely to improve in grammar and elegance of composition, I am quite agreed; but I do not wish the sense changed, or modified, to a hair's breadth. And you, not having studied the particular points so closely as I have, can not be quite sure that you do not change the sense when you do not intend it. For instance, in a note at bottom of first page, you propose to substitute "Democrats" for "Douglas." But what I am saying there is true of Douglas, and is not true of "Democrats" generally; so that the proposed substitution would be a very considerable blunder. Your proposed insertion of "residences" though it would do little or no harm, is not at all necessary to the sense I was trying to convey. On page 5 your proposed grammatical change would certainly do no harm. The "impudently absurd" I stick to. The striking out "he" and inserting "we" turns the sense exactly wrong. The striking out "upon it" leaves the sense too general and incomplete. The sense is "act as they acted upon that question" — not as they acted generally.
After considering your proposed changes on page 7, I do not think them material, but I am willing to defer to you in relation to them.
On page 9, striking out "to us" is probably right. The word "lawyer's" I wish retained. The word "Courts" struck out twice, I wish reduced to "Court" and retained. "Court" as a collective noun properly governs the plural "have" as I understand. "The" preceding "Court," in the latter case, must also be retained. The words "quite," "as," and "or" on the same page, I wish retained. The italicising, and quotation marking, I have no objection to.
As to the note at bottom, I do not think any too much is admitted. What you propose on page 11, is right, I return your copy of the speech, together with one printed here, under my own hasty supervising. That at New York was printed without any supervision by me. If you conclude to publish a new edition, allow me to see the proof-sheets.
And now thanking you for your very complimentary letter, and your interest for me generally, I subscribe myself.
Your friend and servant,
A. Lincoln.
To George G. Fogg [NOTE: 1. Then a member of the Republican National Committee; afterwards Minister to Switzerland (1861-65) and Senator from New Hampshire (1866-67). Original owned by Mr. Judd Stewart, Plainfield, N.J.]
Springfield, Ills. Aug. 16, 1860
Hon. George G. Fogg.
My dear Sir: I am annoyed some by the printed paragraph below, in relation to myself, taken from the N.Y. Herald's correspondence from this place of August 8th.
"He had, he said, on one occasion been invited to go into Kentucky and revisit some of the scenes with whose history his father in his lifetime had been identified. On asking by letter whether Judge Lynch would be present, he received no response; and he therefore came to the conclusion that the invitation was a trap laid by some designing person to inveigle him into a slave state for the purpose of doing violence to his person."
This is decidedly wrong. I did not say it. I do not impugn the correspondent. I suppose he misconceived the statement from the following incident. Soon after the Chicago nomination, I was written to by a highly respectable gentleman of Harden County, Ky., inquiring if I was a son of Thomas Lincoln, whom he had known long ago in that county. I answered that I was, and that I was myself born there. He wrote again, and, among other things, (did not invite me) but simply inquired if it would not be agreeable to me to revisit the scenes of my childhood. I replied among other things, "It would indeed, but would you not Lynch me?" He did not write again.
I have playfully (and never otherwise) related this incident several times; and I suppose I did so to the Herald correspondent, though I do not remember it. If I did, it is all that I did say from which the correspondent could have inferred his statement.
Now, I dislike, exceedingly, for Kentuckians to understand that I am charging them with a purpose to inveigle me, and do violence to me. Yet I can not go into the newspapers. Would not the editor of the Herald, upon being shown this letter, insert the short correction which you find upon the inclosed scrap?
Please try him, unless you perceive some sufficient reason to the contrary. In no event, let my name be publicly used.
Yours very truly
A. Lincoln.
Correction
We have such assurance as satisfies us that our correspondent writing from Springfield, Ills., under date of Aug. 8 was mistaken in representing Mr. Lincoln as expressing a suspicion of a design to inveigle him into Kentucky for the purpose of doing him violence.
Mr. Lincoln neither entertains, nor has intended to express any such suspicion.
To O. P. Hall AND I (or J.) H. Fullininder
Springfield Feb. 14, 1860.
Messrs. O. P. Hall &
I OR J. H. Fullininder.
Gentlemen: Your letter in which, among other things, you ask what I meant when I said this "Union could not stand half slave and half free"; and also what I meant when I said "a house divided against itself could not stand" is received and I very cheerfully answer it as plainly as I may be able. You misquote, to some material extent, what I did say, which induces me to think you have not very carefully read the speech in which the expressions occur which puzzle you to understand. For this reason and because the language I used is as plain as I can make it, I now quote at length the whole paragraph in which the expressions which puzzle you occur. It is as follows: "We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy that agitation has not only not ceased, but constantly augmented. I believe it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. A house divided against itself can not stand. I believe this government can not endure permanently, half slave, and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved: I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will avert the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it will become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South."
That is the whole paragraph; and it puzzles me to make my meaning plainer. Look over it carefully, and conclude I meant all I said, and did not mean any thing I did not say, and you will have my meaning. Douglas attacked me upon this, saying it was a declaration of war between the slave and the free states. You will perceive, I said no such thing, and I assure you I thought of no such thing. If I had said I believe the Government cannot last always half slave and half free, would you understand it any better than you do? Endure permanently and last always have exactly the same meaning. If you, or if you will state to me some meaning which you suppose I had, I can and will instantly tell you whether that was my meaning.
Your very truly,
A. Lincoln.
To Lyman Trumbull [NOTE: 1. See note on p. 66.]
Springfield, Ills. April 7, 1860
Hon: L. Trumbull
My dear Sir: Reaching home from Chicago, where I have been engaged two weeks in the trial of a lawsuit, I found your letter of March 26th.
Of course you can do no better for Delahay than you promise. I am trying to keep out of the contest among our friends for the Gubernatorial nomination; but from what I hear, the result is in considerable doubt.
We have just had a clear party victory in our City election; and our friends are more encouraged, and our enemies more cowed by it, than by anything since the organization of the Republican party. Last year we carried the city; but we did it, not by our own strength, but by an open feud among our enemies. This year their feud was healed; and we beat them fairly by main strength.
I can scarcely give an opinion as to what effect a nomination of Judge McLean, by the Union Convention, would have. I do not believe he would accept it; and if he did, that fact alone, I think, would shut him out of the Chicago Convention. If he were ten years younger he would be our best candidate.
Yours as ever
A. Lincoln
To Lyman Trumbull [NOTE: 1. See note on p. 66.]
Springfield, April 29, 1860
Hon: L. Trumbull:
My dear Sir: Yours of the 24th was duly received; and I have postponed answering it, hoping by the result at Charleston, to know who is to lead our adversaries, before writing. But Charleston hangs fire, and I wait no longer.
As you request, I will be entirely frank. The taste is in my mouth a little; and this, no doubt, disqualifies me, to some extent, to form correct opinions. You may confidently rely, however, that by no advice or consent of mine, shall my pretentions be pressed to the point of endangering our common cause.
Now, as to my opinions about the chances of others in Illinois. I think neither Seward nor Bates can carry Illinois if Douglas shall be on the track; and that either of them can, if he shall not be. I rather think McLean could carry it with D. on or off; in other words, I think McLean is stronger in Illinois, taking all sections of it, than either S. or B; and I think S. the weakest of the three. I hear no objection to Mr. McLean, except his age; but that objection seems to occur to every one; and it is possible it might leave him no stronger than the others. By the way, if we should nominate him, how would we save to ourselves the chance of filling his vacancy in the Court? Have him hold on up to the moment of his inauguration? Would that course be no draw-back upon us in the canvass?
Recurring to Illinois, we want something here quite as much as, and which is harder to get than, the electoral vote — the Legislature. And it is exactly in this point that Seward's nomination would be hard upon us. Suppose he should gain us a thousand votes in Winnebago, it would not compensate for the loss of fifty in Edgar.
A word now for your own special benefit. You better write no letters which can possibly be distorted into opposition, or quasi opposition to me. There are men on the constant watch for such things out of which to prejudice my peculiar friends against you.
While I have no more suspicion of you than I have of my best friend living, I am kept in a constant struggle against suggestions of this sort. I have hesitated some to write this paragraph, lest you should suspect I do it for my own benefit, and not for yours; but on reflection I conclude you will not suspect me.
Let no eye but your own see this — not that there is anything wrong, or even ungenerous, in it; but it would be misconstrued.
Your friend as ever
A. Lincoln
To Lyman Trumbull
Private
Springfield, Ill.,
Dec 8, 1860.
Hon. Lyman Trumbull,
My Dear Sir: Yours of the 2nd is received. I regret exceedingly the anxiety of our friends in New York, of whom you write; but it seems to me the sentiment in that state which sent a united delegation to Chicago in favor of Gov. Seward ought not and must not be snubbed, as it would be, by the omission to offer Gov. S. a place in the Cabinet. I will myself take care of the question of "corrupt jobs" and see that justice is done to all our friends of whom you wrote as well as others.
I have written Mr. Hamlin on this very subject of Gov. S. and requested him to consult fully with you.
He will show you my note and enclosures to him; and then please act as therein requested.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
To Lyman Trumbull [NOTE: 1. See note on p. 66.]
Private & Confidential
Springfield, Ills. Dec. 10, 1860
Hon. L. Trumbull.
My dear Sir: Let there be no compromise on the question of extending slavery. If there be, all our labor is lost, and, ere long, must be done again. The dangerous ground — that into which some of our friends have a hankering to run — is Pop. Sov. Have none of it. Stand firm. The tug has to come, & better now than any time hereafter.
Yours as ever
A. Lincoln.
To Lyman Trumbull [NOTE: 1. See note on p. 66.]
Springfield, Ills. Dec. 24, 1860
Hon. Lyman Trumbull
My dear Sir. I expect to be able to offer Mr. Blair a place in the cabinet; but I can not, as yet, be committed on the matter, to any extent whatever.
Despatches have come here two days in succession, that the Forts in South Carolina will be surrendered by the order, or consent at least, of the President.
I can scarcely believe this; but if it prove true, I will, if our friends at Washington concur, announce publicly at once that they are to be retaken after the inauguration. This will give the Union Men a rallying cry, and preparation will proceed somewhat on their side, as well as on the other.
Yours as ever
A. Lincoln.
To Lyman Trumbull [NOTE: 1. See note on p. 66.]
Springfield, Mar. 16, 1860
Hon: L. Trumbull
My dear Sir: When I first saw by the despatches that Douglas had run from the Senate while you were speaking I did not quite understand it; but seeing by the report that you were cramming down his throat that infernal stereotyped lie of his about "negro equality" the thing became plain.
Another matter. Our friend Delahay wants to be one of the Senators from Kansas. Certainly it is not for outsiders to obtrude their interference. Delahay has suffered a great deal in our cause, and been very faithful to it, as I understand. He writes me that some of the members of the Kansas Legislature have written you in a way that your simple answer might help him. I wish you would consider whether you can not assist him that far, without impropriety. I know it is a delicate matter; and I do not wish to press you beyond your own judgement.
Yours as ever
A. Lincoln.
To Lyman Trumbull [NOTE: 1. See note on p. 66.]
Springfield, Mar. 16, 1860
Hon: L. Trumbull
My dear Sir: When I first saw by the despatches that Douglas had run from the Senate while you were speaking I did not quite understand it; but seeing by the report that you were cramming down his throat that infernal stereotyped lie of his about "negro equality" the thing became plain.
Another matter. Our friend Delahay wants to be one of the Senators from Kansas. Certainly it is not for outsiders to obtrude their interference. Delahay has suffered a great deal in our cause, and been very faithful to it, as I understand. He writes me that some of the members of the Kansas Legislature have written you in a way that your simple answer might help him. I wish you would consider whether you can not assist him that far, without impropriety. I know it is a delicate matter; and I do not wish to press you beyond your own judgement.
Yours as ever
A. Lincoln.
To Lyman Trumbull [NOTE: 1. See note on p. 66.]
Private
Springfield, May 1, 1860
Hon: L. Trumbull
Dear Sir: In my last letter to you I believe I said I thought Mr. Seward would be weaker in Illinois than Mr. Bates. I write this to qualify the opinion so far as to say I think S. weaker than B. in our close Legislative districts; but probably not weaker taking the whole State over.
We now understand that Douglas will be nominated to-day by what is left of the Charleston Convention.
All parties here dislike it. Republicans and Danites, [NOTE: 2. See note on p. 97.] that he should be nominated at all; and Doug. Dem's that he should not be nominated by an undivided Convention.
Yours as ever
A. Lincoln
To Mark W. Delahay [NOTE: 1. Published in the Works with name suppressed (Works, Nicolay and Hay, 1894, 1, 633, and same, Tandy's ed., 1905, VI, 10).]
Springfield, Ills.
April 14, 1860.
M. W. Delahay,
My dear Sir: Reaching home last night I find your letter of the 7th. You know I was in New England. Some of the acquaintances I made while there, write me since the elections that the close votes in Conn. and the quasi defeat in R.I. are a drawback upon the prospects of Gov. Seward; and Trumbull writes Dubois to the same effect. Do not mention this as coming from me. Both those states are safe enough for us in the fall. I see by the dispatches that since you wrote, Kansas has appointed Delegates and instructed them for Seward. Don't stir them up to anger, but come along to the convention, and I will do as I said about expenses.
Yours as ever,
A. Lincoln.
To Mark W. Delahay [NOTE: 1. Original owned by Mr. Jesse W. Weik. An extract was published in Writings, Lapsley, v, 178, with name suppressed.]
Springfield, Ills.
Mar. 16, 1860.
Dear Delahay: I have just returned from the East. Before leaving I received your letter of Feb. 6; and on my return I find those of the 17th and 19th with Gen'l Lane's note inclosed in one of them. I sincerely wish you could be elected one of the first Senators from Kansas; but how to help you I do not know. If it were permissible for me to interfere, I am not personally acquainted with a single member of your Legislature. If my known friendship for you could be of any advantage, that friendship was abundantly manifested by me last December while in Kansas. If any member had written me, as you say some have Trumbull, I would very readily answer him. I shall write Trumbull at this sitting.
I understood, while in Kansas, that the State Legislature will not meet until the State is admitted. Was that the right understanding?
As to your kind wishes for myself, allow me to say I can not enter the ring on the money basis — first, because, in the main, it is wrong; and secondly, I have not, and can not get, the money. I say, in the main, the use of money is wrong; but for certain objects, in a political contest, the use of some, is both right and indispensable. With me as with yourself, this long struggle has been one of great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say this: If you shall be appointed a delegate to Chicago, I will furnish one hundred dollars to bear the expenses of the trip.
Present my respects to Gen'l Lane; and say to him, I shall be pleased to hear from him at any time.
Your friend, as ever,
A. Lincoln
P.S. I have not yet taken the newspaper slip to the Journal. I shall do that tomorrow, and then send you the paper as requested.
A. L.
To R. M. Corwine [NOTE: 1. A delegate from Ohio to the Chicago Convention in 1860. During the War for the Union he served on the staff of General Frémont.]
Springfield, Ill., April 6th, 1860.
Hon. R. M. Corwine.
My Dear Sir— Reaching home yesterday after an absence of more than two weeks, I found your letter of the 24th of March. Remembering that when not a very great man begins to be mentioned for a very great position, his head is very likely to be a little turned, I concluded I am not the fittest person to answer the questions you ask. Making due allowance for this, I think Mr. Seward is the very best candidate we could have for the North of Illinois, and the very worst for the South of it. The estimate of Gov. Chase here is neither better nor worse than that of Seward, except that he is a newer man. They are regarded as being almost the same, seniority giving Seward the inside track. Mr. Bates, I think, would be the best man for the South of our State, and the worst for the North of it. If Judge McLean [NOTE: 1. John McLean, of Ohio, United States Supreme Court Justice. He received twelve votes on the first ballot in the convention and five on the third and last ballot.] was fifteen, or even ten years younger, I think he would be stronger than either, in our state, taken as a whole; but his great age, and the recollection of the deaths of Harrison and Taylor have, so far, prevented his being much spoken of here.
I really believe we can carry the state for either of them, or for any one who may be nominated; but doubtless it would be easier to do it with some than with others.
I feel myself disqualified to speak of myself in this matter. I feel this letter will be of little value to you; but I can make it no better, under the circumstances. Let it be strictly confidential, not that there is any thing really objectionable in it, but because it might be misconstrued.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln.
To R. M. Corwine
Private
Springfield, Ill., May 2, 1860.
Hon. R. M. Corwine.
Dear Sir:— Yours of the 30th ult. is just received. After what you have said, it is perhaps proper I should post you, so far as I am able, as to the "lay of the land." First I think the Illinois delegation will be unanimous for me at the start; and no other delegation will. A few individuals in other delegations would like to go for me at the start, but may be restrained by their colleagues. It is represented to me by men who ought to know, that the whole of Indiana might not be difficult to get. You know how it is in Ohio. I am certainly not the first choice there; and yet I have not heard that anyone makes any positive objection to me. It is just so everywhere as far as I can perceive. Everywhere, except here in Illinois and possibly Indiana, one or another is preferred to me, but there is no positive objection. This is the ground as it now appears. I believe you personally know C. M. Allen of Vincennes, Indiana. He is a delegate and has notified me that the entire Indiana delegation will be in Chicago the same day you name, Saturday, the 12th. My friends, Jesse K. Dubois, our auditor, and Judge David Davis, will probably be there ready to confer with friends from other States. Let me hear from you again when anything occurs.
Yours very truly,
A. Lincoln
Dear Wife and Children,
I take my pen in hand this evening on a rail in the fence corner, with my last sheet of paper and without a cent of money in my pockets to write to those I hold most dear. I received letters from you today, dated March 24th inclosing a postage stamp which is all the one I have. You had better not send any more stamps as the letters might never reach me, and the Captain can frank my letters and you can pay postage there, that is if you can get the money to pay with. There is now some prospect of our getting our pay soon. We are encamped in the southern part of Tennessee, 10 miles from Corinth where the rebels are said to have a heavy force, and are strongly fortified. It was the calculation to attack them today, the rains have rendered the roads impassable for our heavy guns.May 6th. I had to stop writing last night in consequence of its getting dark, and having got my washing out this morning, and as there appears to be no more work for me at present, I resume my pen to write a little more. This is a beautiful day. The sun shines bright and clear, a balmy breeze floats through the air. The wild birds are warbling cheerfully among the leafy trees and all nature seems at peace, but the shrill notes of martial music, and the grand parade of military show, indicates that man alone is at war. Here are two powerful armies, in close proximity to each other, both of the same nation, speak the same language and closely allied by the ties of blood, often father against son and brother against brother, the one contending for the perpetuation of the vilest crime that ever cursed the earth, the other for the preservation of the best government the sun ever shone upon. May the God of battles give victory to the right, and may Union and peace again soon ! be restored.........
We have not heard anything reliable form the enemy for several days, but it is rumored and extensively believed in camp that they are evacuating Corinth. If this is the case we will have to follow them up but if they stand battle here and get whipped, as I think they will, it seems to me they will have to give up, at least in the west........I don't know as I have informed you of exactly of our condition. The 13th Ohio battery is disbanded through the rascality of General Hurlburt, to whose division we were attached, the officers are sent home, and the men divided among the 7th, 10th, and 14th Ohio batteries. I am in the 10th under Captain White. The Captain, one Lieutenant, the Orderly Sergeant and a few others appear to be very respectable men. The majority of the men however are pretty hard, nearly all use profane language, and nearly all are gamblers, the consequence is there is a great deal of quarreling among them and they are not so well drilled as they should be. For my part I hope it will never be my lot to go into an engagement with them, and I hope that matters will soon be arranged so that I can get out of their company.
You say in your last letter that you have never got any money from the county, yet I would like to know the reason, for if I am rightfully informed it is there for you and I should think that those into whose hands the business is intrusted would see that you get it. As soon as I get my pay I will send you some, though it is risky business, sending money by mail. Hoping this will find you all in good health and spirits, I subscribe myself as ever, truly and affectionately yourHusband and father.C. M. AdamsDirect your letters to C. M. Adams, Camp Shiloh c/o Capt. White.10th Ohio Battery.
We are likely to remain here for the winter. The country is nearly exhausted and provisions are high, yet we do very well in consideration of the number of troops and the time we have been in this state. I don't see that the war is near a close though what is impossible to us is yet easy to the Lord. If it was not for my faith or reliance, I should dispond of any good. We must go forward in the discharge of our duty. My heart is sad when I think of the suffering, the privation of the poor this cold winter, yet we must hope that all these things are for our good. My views of the depravity of human nature is not lessened but I see great room for laborers in the field, and the increasing of the prayers of all Christians. I am sure if all I hear is correct, we have got all the wicked and corrupt in the army.
The feelings of one in the army can scarcely be described when we hear the prices the speculators ask for food for the woman and children, and how unconcerned they appear to be about the fate of our country. It makes one feel sometimes as if we ought to give them a punishment as traitors, but then we know that we must not fret on account of evil doers. There is an undefined fear among us that the enemy will gain great advantage over us this winter by the aid of their gun boats and pillage and devastate our land.
If this struggle goes on it must become more desperate the longer it lasts. The murder of citizens in cold blood in Missouri will greatly exasperate our men and only tend to bring it to extermination. The people of England sit with folded hands and see the utter folly of an attempt to subjugate a people of their own blood, and yet have not raised a hand to stop this bloodshed. The Lord works by various instrumentation and maybe they are reserved to stop our enemies. I hope the Christians have not ceased their efforts nor prayers for on them depends the saving of our people. As to how demoralizing the associations in the army are, it is worse than you imagine, and how lawless we will be when we return home, and how long before we become a sober, quiet people is more than I can tell.
But it is better than infidelity with the garb of the Red Republicanism which our enemies are fighting under. Lord deliver us from the scenes of a French Revolution, yet we have but to fail and it becomes in all its horrors. Martha was well when I received the last letter. Father is doing well though troubled about the war. As to the movements of our army I don't know but suppose the fighting will be at Charleston. I have not been to Richmond yet but will get you a paper. Write to me, Petersburg, Care Capt. Jos. Graham, Co. C, 10 Regt. N.C.T.
Yours in love, Abdon.
It becomes my turn to complain of not receiving letters but in doing this I do not for one moment think that you have neglected to write. I am only afraid you or the baby are sick. I will be miserable until I hear from you. We are ordered into winter quarters six miles below this at a place called Cockletown. You may continue to direct your letters to Yorktown until I give you notice of a change.
I am very sorry indeed to leave the pleasant place at which we are now encamped. I have seen so many things to interest me and have fared so well since moving here that I have become quite attached to the place. If you were only near me where I could see you very often I would be perfectly contented with my situation as long as the country needed my services.
The time is fast approaching when I will be placed in a position in the company with which I shall be perfectly satisfied. It is not for myself that I am seeking promotion for my position in the company is a very pleasant one indeed. I am sure, though I say it myself, that I am the most popular one of all the men in the company. They all have the greatest confidence in me as a military man and in a social point of view. I would report this to none other but you for it would appear egotistical to others, but I deem it my duty to tell you everything of the kind.
It is for your sake and Pa's that I am so desirous of being in a higher position. We have been placed under some restraint in the last two or three days on account of the beastliness of four or five men in the Legion in getting drunk. It is very hard indeed to be kept in camp on account of the misdeeds of others, but such is the strict rubs of military camp.
The whole of the forces in and around Yorktown were thrown into great confusion the other night on account of a picket guard coming up from near Newport News and reporting that the enemy were landing in force nine miles below. It was between twelve and one o'clock in the night when I was awakened by Williams pulling me half out of the tent by one leg and screaming at the top of his voice, "they are coming sure enough now Mas.[ter].
Bad wake up! Wake up! Whars your gun." I got up as soon as I could and put on my clothes in the dark, found my gun and ammunition and went out and formed the company. We were all anxious for a fight but were doomed to disappointment. I had hardly formed the company when the Adjutant came round and said only the cavalry would be needed. The cavalry returned next morning and reported a false alarm, the picket having fired on some fishing smacks and fled. We are going six miles nearer the enemy, but I do not think we will have a fight anywhere near here soon.
The blockading fleet has disappeared from sight. I have seen nothing of it in a week but think it is farther out in the bay. I visited a place of some interest yesterday for the first time. About three quarters of a mile below us and on the right of the York River stands the remains of an ancient temple. It is surrounded by a wall intended for defence against sudden attacks. Within the enclosure are several defaced and broken monuments. One only is legible and that adorned with the British coat of arms. The slab bears this inscription, "Major William Gooch of this Parish, died October 29, 1655. Within this tomb there doth interred lie. No shape but substance, true nobility. It's self though young, in years hist twenty nine.
Yet graced with virtues moral and devine. The church from him did good participate. In counsel rare fit to adorn a state." Captain Glenn left this place for home last week and is there by this time. If you want to send any letters or packages by him to me he will take great pleasure in delivering them. You must send them to Atlanta and he will take charge of it.
He will leave for Virginia by the twentieth of this month I suppose. You need not send me any other clothing than two linen shirts if you have them and the other shirt you are making for me. I would like to have a military overcoat but will wait and see what kind I want. I think I will buy it in Richmond with the new suit I will be obliged to get when I am promoted. You can send what eatables you please. The others were very acceptable. Tell mother all the boys liked her pickles and catsup very much and said it was the best they have ever had. Give my love to all the family and kiss our precious Henry.
Your devoted husband, C.M. Amoss
David Rutherford Note: These eleven letters were first transcribed from the originals by Carolyn Martin Rutherford in 1971. Recently I decided to convert the typed transcriptions into computer text files and word processor files. While doing so, I examined the original letters when passages of the typed transcriptions seemed odd, did not make sense, or had obvious grammatical or spelling errors. I found that Carolyn Rutherford had transcribed the passages exactly - including errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation and grammar made while writing the original letters. Therefore these errors you may notice in the letters, for the most part, were made by the original author. Indecipherable passages have been indicated by a string of dots (......).
I did my best to convert the typed transcriptions into computer files as accurately as possible. I may have inadvertently corrected errors in spelling, punctuation and capitalization which appeared in the original letters and first transcription. Also, I may have made typographical errors that were not noticed during the proof reading of the files. In just a few instances, I altered a word or two where I felt the first transcription was misinterpreted.
The 1971 transcriptions of most of these letters were included in the book, 'A Boy of Old Shenandoah', written by Robert Hugh Martin and published in 1977 (MacClean Publishing) through the efforts of his daughter, Carolyn Martin Rutherford. The book is a short collection of accounts depicting the boyhood events in the life of Robert Hugh Martin, my great-grandfather, who grew up in the Shenandoah Valley during and following the War Between the States. Included in the book are several accounts involving his father's military activities. One involves an account of the boy's brief inclusion in the retreat of Confederate wagon trains up the valley following a battlefield defeat in 1864. Another account briefly portrays Albion Martin's circumstances as the war ended. It is worth reading if you have any interest in the events of the War Between the States in the Shenandoah Valley. There are several eyewitness accounts of military events in the book, all of them through the eyes of a young boy whose 2nd floor balcony over the Valley Pike gave him a front row seat to the Shenandoah Valley campaigns of the Civil War.
In regards to the content of the A. Martin letters, the person named 'Hugh' who is mentioned a few times is the younger brother of Albion Martin's wife, Anne Gillespie (Koontz) Martin. Hugh Ramsey Thompson Koontz served in the Seventh Virginia Cavalry Regiment and attained the rank of Captain. According to historical accounts and family tradition, he was killed at Mount Clifton (Shenandoah County, near Mount Jackson) leading a charge against a detachment of General Sheridan's troops guarding barn and mill burners in October 1864.
Dear Nannie,
My Dear Annie,
Now I have the recommendation of the Chief Commissary of the army but as I have the approval of Maj. Gen T. J. Jackson. Dear Nannie it looks like a hopeless case so do not be too disappointed for we are better off than thousands that are in the army. Their pay will not permit them to bring their families or are so far away that it is impossible. While I am no better now than when I was a private yet you will be more respected among strangers as the wife of a commissioned officer than you would as the wife of a private so I cannot go and see you. You can now come and see me if we remain in Winchester or vicinity.
My dear Nannie,
P.S. You may not send the watch now. Luther and I are together and he got his watch yesterday one will do when he breaks his I'll send for mine. When you go to Harrisonburg you better bring away those hams, I may need them I have to buy my own rations.
My dear Annie,
My dear Nannie,
My dear Annie,
My Dear Annie,
My dear Annie,
My dear Nannie,
My Dear Annie,
P.S. This is my official signature
My Dear Annie,
December 28, 1862
Mo Dec 28 1862General Hospital New house of Refuge Ward H, St LouisDear parentsI resume my pen once more for the purpose of writeing you a few lines my health is improveing very fast I think considering I am entirely over the measles coug & I think about over the measles I havent gained my strength yet but my apotite is very good & I think I will be strong in a few days I havent been out of the ward since the 11 of this month but as the weather is very fine I guess I will go out a little while this afternoon I havent heard from Wilson since the reg left here but am looking for a letter every day I havent heard from home since the 8 of this month the letters you have writen have gon on to the reg Wilson will send them back so that I will get them I supose after while I dout that I shal go to the reg until after we are payed off here that may be some time yet & it may be in side of a week there are several of our reg here but there is but one of my co that is John Gaul but there are several of my co in the hospitals in town. I have commenced to read the new Testiment through I have got as far as Ephesians it was about 2 weeks after I came here before I could procure a testiment to read except it were a catholic testiment & it not being exactly like ours I dident care about reading it when you write again let me know whether you have sold the hogs yet or not & if you what you got for them & I would like to know whether you have heard from John Bromley since I left or not I cant hear a word from him I begin to fear that he is dead this is a very good place to stay I have had the very best of care I am very anxious to get a letter from you write soon & all the particulars pray for me that I may continue strong in the faith in reading the testiment I can hardly find a chapter but what I can recolect of heareing one of you read which brings fond recolectings to my mind be careful in the direction of you letters so I will get them with out fail yours the enclosed bosom pin give to Wilie Allan
Letters from soldier that first name start with B
Letter from Francis Bacon to Georgeanna Muirson Bacon, October 18, 1861
F. B. to G. M. W.
Camp Walton, Annapolis, Oct. 18th, '61.
Pardon a wretched notelet, written on camp stationery with the very dregs of the day's ration of nervous energy. Everybody is both tired and busy to-night with this embarkation business. . . .
You will readily believe they are sober enough, these long, undulating files of honest brown faces, as they pour down upon the wharves, but there are good, rousing cheers, too, as the tenders swing out into the stream and go scuttling away to the great motionless ships in the roads.
I notice with surprise, and with some apprehension as well, that the 6th and 7th Connecticut, green as I have thought them, are farther advanced in the military art than any other troops I have seen here. This is not brag, you
[p. 199]
will please consider, it is very reluctant conviction. But still, as for me, turning more sadly than ever before from the loyal North, I feel an exultation in helping to strike, as we are hoping, the heaviest blow at the great crime that it has yet felt.
Your basket is such a miracle of packing that I have hesitated to thoroughly ransack it, fearing that the attempt to restore its contents to their normal condition might reduce me to a state of hopeless idiocy, like a Chinese puzzle, or a book on political economy.
Moritz delicately hinted at French rolls as being the only things that could not defy the ravages of time, and so, one terribly stormy evening, being the second after the arrival of the basket, Chaplain Wayland, my brother the Captain and I, having our rival teapots all in a row, each singing over her own spirit-lamp, I removed the stratum of rolls and disposed of them to the immense satisfaction of the tea-party. This gave me a glimpse of the blue and gold Tennyson lying lapped among the balmy bolognas. Ever since, I have been longing for the golden moment to come when I could sit, or, more properly, lie down to my own individual, personal, particular, blue and gold Tennyson. This may probably be when every soul in the regiment except myself is helplessly, hopelessly seasick, and nobody can "come a botherin' me."
Letter from Francis Bacon to Georgeanna Muirson Bacon, December 24, 1861
Tybee Island, Dec. 24, '61.
You speak of our hospital as a matter of course; and we are, by and by, to have one, as yet uncommenced; but we owe the medical department no thanks for this when we get it. Dr. Cooper, Medical Director of the expedition, a sensible man, urged the necessity of a hospital; Surgeon-General Finley thought otherwise -- "in this mild southern climate tents would do very well for men to have fevers in." It would suit my views of the fitness of things to have Surgeon-General Finley exposed in scanty apparel to a three days' Texas norther, by way of enlarging his views of southern climates. . . .
I was just laying the foundations of a log hospital for our men at Port Royal when we were ordered here, and, as I have no compunction about committing any crime short of high treason for a hospital, I had effected a neat little larceny of a lot of windows and sawn lumber which were to work in so sweetly. It was a sad reverse to abandon it!
[p. 223]
One great trouble has been to keep our sick men, with their lowered vitality, warm in tents. There is a popular prejudice against cannon balls which I assure you is wholly unfounded. My experience is that there are few pleasanter things to have in the family than hot shot. It would raise the cockles of your heart some of these wretchedly cold nights, to walk between the two long rows of men in my large hospitaltent just after they have been put to bed, each with his cup of hot tea and his warm thirty-two pound shot at his feet, and to see and feel the radiant stack of cherry-red balls in the middle of the floor. This is troublesome and laborious to manage, however, and we greatly need some little sheet-iron stoves. I sent for some a good while since, which should be here shortly. Your inquiry about medicines is a sagacious one, and shows that you have not neglected your hospital-walking opportunities. My dear unsophisticated friend, permit me to indoctrinate you in a dainty device whereof the mind of undepartmental man hath not conceived. Know that there is one supply-table of medicines for hospital use and another for field use. Some very important, almost essential, medicines are not furnished for field service; when your patient needs them he is to go to the hospital. Very good -- where is the hospital for us? Now, before we left Washington, with a perfectly clear
[p. 224]
notion of what was likely to befall us in the way of fevers, and out of the way of hospitals, I made a special requisition for some things not in the field supply table, such as serpentaria, and some of the salts of iron, and went in person to urge it through the purveyor's office. No use.
Ask any sensible, steady-going old doctor how he would feel with a lively fever clientele upon his hands, and no serpentaria or its equivalent.
I declare, it seemed to me like a special providence that in my pretty extensive "perusings" about these parts, I picked up, here and there, from rebel batteries and deserted houses, both serpentaria and many other needed medicines which have turned to the best account. . . .
If you should hear some day that some rebel Major-General had been rescued from impending death by hemorrhage by the application of Liq. Ferri Persulphat. in the hands of the surgeon of the 7th C. V., you may lay it all to that little bottle which was not the least wonderful content of that wonderful basket sent to Annapolis. The Tennyson and Barber inspired me with emotions too various and complicated here to describe; the bologna cheered and invigorated; the Castile soothed and tranquilized my soul; but at the sight of the Liquor Ferri Persulphatis! -- -- -- what shall I say, except to repeat the words of our own Royston -- "a halloo of smothered shouts ran through every vein!"
[p. 225]
and whenever since, I have started upon any expedition giving promise of bullets, I have popped the bottle into my pocket, hoping to use it upon some damaged rebel.
Our tents, flimsy speculator's ware at best, are now in a most deplorable state. I am distressed to think of the possibility of a long rainy season overtaking us with no other shelter. . . .
This island upon which we are now encamped, though a lonely wilderness enough and several days farther from home than that which we have left, is on the whole more interesting, as it seems to offer "a right smart chance" of a fight. At any time we can, and often we do, get ourselves shelled from Pulaski by walking upon a certain stretch of the beach. This afternoon a rifled shell came squealing along in its odd way and plumped into the ground without exploding, a few yards from where my brother and I stood. The rascals seem to have defective fuses, and as yet they have hurt no one. By creeping along under bushes we get within Sharps' rifle range of the great grim fort, and look right into its embrasures. Don't mention that fact just now. . . . . Every day, about the time Pulaski begins her afternoon shelling, "Old Tatnal" [*] runs down
[p. 226]
his fleet and gnashes his teeth at us from a safe distance, but doesn't come within range of our new battery or the gunboats. We hear cannon practice at Savannah occasionally, and from one quarter or another great guns growl every few hours. On the whole, a lively place. . . .
Our jolly German neighbors have begun upon their Christmas eve with such rolling choruses right behind my tent, that I must step out to see. . . . -- I find that they have a row of Christmas trees through their camp, all a-twinkle with candles, and hung with "hard-tack" curiously cut into confectionary shapes, and with slices of salt pork and beef. Sedate, heavy-bearded Teutons are sedulously making these arrangements, retiring a few paces to observe through severely studious spectacles the effect of each new pendant.
We have all the foliage orthodox for Christmas here, including holly and mistletoe with berries of scarlet and white wax. The jungly unscarred forest of this island is superb. . . . The purple grey depths of the wood all flicker with scarlet grosbeaks like flames of fire, and quaint grey and brown northern birds flit in and out with the knowing air of travelled birds, and plan the nests they will build next summer, in spite of bombs and bayonets, in New England elms and alders. . . .
[p. 227]
I owe something to Captain Howland for keeping up my spirits, for, sometimes when I think how utterly these wretched Carolinians throw their best and their all into their bad cause as if they believed in and loved it, and then see, with a sort of dismay, how few, comparatively, of our first-rate men have come personally to the fight with self-sacrifice and out of pure love of the cause, I think of Captain Howland and take comfort of him at least.
The Trent affair, to which the next letters refer, was the capture by Captain (afterwards Admiral) Wilkes, of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, rebel emissaries, making their way to England via Havana, on board an English vessel, the Trent, with their secretaries and families. They were afterwards surrendered by the U. S. Government without an apology to England.
Letter from Francis Bacon to Georgeanna Muirson Bacon, November, 1861
F. B. to G.
Tybee Island.
The 7th was the first regiment ashore in South Carolina. It made the first reconnoissance in force; a detachment of five companies occupied Braddock's Point and its batteries, and was the first to reconnoitre Daufuskie and neighboring islands. The greater part of the regiment now holds this position, with a fragmentary German one. If you have ever wondered how I could be accessory to Sherman's proclamation in any way, let me suggest in the faintest possible whisper that I improved the occasion to issue on my own account a considerable number of small proclamations "to the loyal people of South Carolina of various shades of black and yellow scattered over the country from Beaufort to Port Royal Ferry."
Letter from Francis Bacon to Georgeanna Muirson Bacon, October 27, 1861
F. B. to G. M. W.
Hampton Roads, Oct. 27th.
We still loiter here in a seeming imbecile way, waiting now for weather and now for nobody knows what. Meanwhile patience and strength are ebbing in twelve thousand men. The condition of some of the regiments on shipboard is said to be very bad. Ours is fortunate in its ship, and they say is in better order than any other. A villain of a division-commissary, supplied fifteen days' rations of pork and no beef, for the entire expedition! Finding this out just as we were leaving Annapolis, I felt that we could never stand it, and we have behaved so cantankerously about it, that we have secured beef enough, fresh and salt, to greatly mitigate the Sahara of pork, for this regiment. God help the others! Oh to have a Division-commissary's head in a lemon-squeezer!
In Hospital: Annapolis Md.
Dear cousin Ed: Your kind letter came duly to hand a few days ago. This evening I will attempt to answer it. The most interisting event to me that has occurred to me here of late was the arrival of the officers of my regiment. They were all captured in the same day that I was / have been confined at Columbia, S.C. most of the time. they look much better now than when they were captured but they say that they do not give the rebs credit for their good looks. They were enabled to supply themselves with money and of course if a man has a plenty of money he can live well even in South Carolina.
We are having very beautiful weather here about like the latter part of April in Maine. Prisoners of war daily arrive and many of them are in a wretched condition and soon die after reaching this hospital. 41 were buried today.
What are you and Greenleaf doing now-a-days? I have not heard from G. for some time. Are they drafting in Augusta yet? or will it be avoided. I see that P. Graves has been drafted. What does Aunt Eunice? say. It is doutfull if he is accepted by the surgeon.
I am glad to hear that your mother is gaining and hope she will be well again soon. My love to her if you please?
I have not gone to my regiment yet but as soon as paid? which I think will be in two weeks or more shall make offication? to be sent there. I met loft? Sargent of the 32 who is assigned to my company, the other day like him much. I suppose Martha has gone to Waterville to attend school. If you build a house for Sue next summer and she inhabits it. I'll get a Furlough and go and vist her. I have no news to write and there fore close. Let me hear from you soon. Love to all: Truly Yours B.F. Barrows.
Letters from soldier that first name start with C
Chaplain Arthur Sanford of the 8th Indiana Infantry wrote a series of letters to the Indianapolis Daily Journal chronicling the experiences of the regiment in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during 1862. In this letter he the movements of the regiment in January and February of that year.
Arthur Sanford was a Presbyterian minister who served as chaplain for two Indiana infantry regiments, the 8th and the 36th.  His service with the 8th was from September 1861 to August 1862 and with the 36th from April 1863 to February 1864. Sanford resigned his post of chaplain in February 1864 due to health problems. He died in Detroit, Michigan on November 28, 1887.
This letter appeared in the Indianapolis Daily Journal on March 5, 1862 on page 2 column 2. The spelling and punctuation are unchanged from the original publication.
Dear Journal: I wrote you one week ago from Jacksonport, since which time but little of importance to your readers has transpired in this vicinity.
There appearing to be no immediate occupation for infantry at Jacksonport, we were marched back to this place on the 9th inst., and have been lying in camp ever since. The location is dry and healthy—water tolerably good, and altogether superior to that at Jacksonport. The miserable little backwoods town here takes its name from a sulphur spring, which rises in the rocky margin of a small stream near our camp. The inhabitants are, of course, all Union, since we came here, and will so remain while we stay, unless an overwhelming rebel force should appear. That might make a very great change in their political sentiments and position.
Really, one must conclude that a great proportion of the population here are either most consummate hypocrites, or else the most pusillanimous, cowardly, and time-serving selfish wretches alive—every ready to cry “good Lord or good Devil,� so that they may remain unmolested, and be required to make no sacrifices for the government. That there are some few who are unconditionally loyal I have no doubt—but they hardly amount to more than Lot’s family in Sodom.
There are some bands of guerrillas hovering about the country, one of which, commanded by the notorious Hooker, has a fastness in the Village Creek swamps, southeast of Jacksonport, and is said to number perhaps some four hundred. A portion of this gang, perhaps all, attacked a forage train a few days since, which was guarded by a part of the 9th Illinois Cavalry, Col. Brackett. They held the rebels in check until the Colonel forwarded reinforcements from his own regiment, supported by part of Bowen’s battalion with two mountain howitzers, or, as the boys call them, “bull pups.� A sharp skirmish ensued, in which the rebels were driven into the swamp where the cavalry could not follow them, with a loss of twenty-eight killed and captured—our loss one taken prisoner and twelve wounded.
There is also a force, estimated from 4,000 to 10,000—most of them extemporized under the conscript law of Arkansas, commanded by Hindman, an ex-member of Congress, and said to be moving toward Batesville. We most ardently hope they are—and should it be the case, you may hear of some fun in these “parts� are long. Gen. Hindman, if he does not watch the corners, may find the old proverb of “the d—l take the hindmost,� and foremost too, to be no joke.
When and where we shall move from here I do not know, and if I did, it would not be proper for me at this time to tell—but, for the benefit of those who have dear friends in this command, I will say that there is almost no sickness at all in the regiment—the boys are in high spirits—the officers as kind and indulgent as consists with good discipline, and there is not the least fear of any force with which we cannot promptly and successfully cope.
Yesterday we had public religious service, which was attended by nearly every officer and man not on necessary duty, from General Benton down, and which was characterized by order and decorum which would compare very favorably with that usually attendant upon like occasions in the walks of civil life. I am happy to say that the officers give the men a good example in this regard, and that they seem well disposed to imitate it.
We are living in hope of the opening of communication by way of the rivers, and a consequent improvement in the regularity of our mail facilities, when you may hear from us more interestingly, if not more frequently.
A. W. Sanford,
Chaplain 8th Indiana.
Dear Journal: I improve an accidental opportunity to pencil a line informing those who have friends in the Eight Indiana where they may call upon us to pay their respects.
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They are already aware that we were marched on January 24, as part of the force designed, under Gen. Curtis, to whip Price or drive him out of Missouri. We formed a junction with the forces moving from Rolla under Sigel and Asboth, at Lebanon, on the 7th of February. Moved toward Springfield on the 10th—arrived within some seven miles of it on the 12—some skirmishing about sundown between cavalry and Price’s pickets in the brush—detailed heavy pickets to guard against surprise—no disturbance through the night—moved on Springfield at 4 a. m. on the 13th, taking across fields to avoid a masked battery—formed line of battle about 11/2 miles north of the town—expecting every moment to see smoke and flame belching from a concealed battery in our front, and were waiting with stern coolness the order to charge, when it was announced the enemy had retired and our forces were in possession of the town.
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We then moved into and through Springfield, and planted the flag of the 22d Indiana on the Court House, amid the clangor of martial music and the cheers of manly voices.Â
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About a mile and a half South of town we took possession of one of Price’s hastily evacuated camps, found plent