Dear Father I received a Letter from you & one from Mother enclosed in yours dated the 17th And was glad to hear that you received Those three Minature Portraits Camp Vernon is situated Just the First Hill above Hunters creek you can look on the Map & see where that is the reason that John Shaw does not know whether i was to Bulls run the reason is that he was not there himself i was there & started from Centerville with the Army and i went all of the way & went on the Battle Field & Fired six rounds of at them & then Col. Dunnells Gave us the order to retreat but I did not retreat at the order because i saw that Capt Sherwood was shot And i went & helped take him off & he was not the only one that i help take there was one of the Zouaves i help take off the Field & that was when the Army was retreating and when i starting from on the retreat after i help carry them off i had to Cross a stream of Water which was up to my neck and on that retreat of Forty Miles we only got one hours sleep & that was at Fairfax & then have to start right off whe came from there in one day but whe where Four or Five days going there and out the second night it was raining and whe had to lay on the damp ground and when whe waked up & find ourselves all wet through that is the first fight that i was ever in But if they have one this side i shall be in it i know what it is But it is a hard sight to see so many men Laying streched out Bleeding in their own blood & legs smashed & arms a & Body & hear their grones our Company & the Brismarck Company had the hardest site to come off because we are the colour Guard But they come of all Right but all the other Maine Regiments lost theirs or had them broke our Regiment was the last one to go on the Field & you will see that we had the most chance to retreat From your son Joseph Leavitt P. S. that is a true likeness of Genl. McLellan

Letters of Joseph Leavitt of the 5th Maine were copied into a letterbook by his father after his death in 1864

George P. Sherwood was Captain of Co. Fifth Maine
Mark H. Dunnell was Colonel of the Fifth Maine

MSS 66

Respected parents and friends

I have recieved
two letters from you since I wrote to
you I am on extry duty so much that I
do not got time to write one half as much
as I should like to I am on home guard
to day yesterday and the day before I was
on picket at the advanced post five miles
from camp and within two miles of the
tomb of Wasington at Mt. Vernon I was
on land once owned by him. I should
have gone down and seen the place but
I had a bad head ache and I thought
I would not go then I think I shall go
there the next time I am on picket at
that place. Some of of[sic] our boys went
down an they say it is a splendid place
the people that live where we go on picket

[page 2]
are first rate folks they furnish hot cake
and milk and all kinds of fruit but we
always pay them something for it. When
I feel well I enjoy myself a great deal
better than I expected to. I have not
been sick so I could not get out doors since
I enlisted I have taken salts twice and
castor oil once the oil made me sick to
my stomach and I vomited some and
I felt quite weak for one day the next
day I worked on the fort. There has been
some hard fighting in Missouria and
Western Virginia in which our troops
have been successfull I suppose you
get such news as this as soon as we can
get it here. If there is any one that is rugged
and well that wants to enlist in this
Company they can do so by going to
Mechanicks falls. Lieut. Bucknam is at
home as an enl a recruiting officer and
he will enlist enough to fill up this
Company six are were lost at the battle of
bull run and five or six will get their

[page 3]
discharge and we want a few good men
to fill their places. I should like to see
Francis Symonds out here I want you
to tell him so there is men here that
cannot hea4r so well as he can tell him
if he comes out here no he will never be
sorry for it. I am much obliged to
Wm. Douglass for the vote he sent me
and also the same to Mr. Duran he wanted
to know which one I should have carried
if I had been at home I do not know
as I should have much choice between
Washburn or Jameson for I believe they
are both firm union men I think the
other candadate ought to be shot with all
thoes that voted for him ought also to
be shot I think this is the only way to
put down rebelion I believe that
northern tritors are worse then the tories
of the revelutoinary war for independence
for they ar trying to break up our union
and destroy our constitution but there will
be millions of lives lost before it can be
accomplshed if it ever can

[page 4]
Tell Mr Hadsdon[?] that I remember well
the time he spoke of and I wish he was out
here so he could fire pices of his ramrod, at the
rebels as he did at the coons th tell him that
the rebels are very careless with their guns they point
them write twords any one and fire and we do
the same to them. Tell Capt Levi that we
have not lost our courge by our defeat for
we are more determined than ever to ship
them which I know we can at onany time
in a fair fight in an open field they do
not dare to come out of the woods to fight
but I think they will be obliged to before a
great while. The two armyes remain the
same as they as they[sic] have for some time on
this side of the Potomack the rebels dare
not advance. I have no more news to
write this time we do not have much
news here worthy of notice

Yours in haste

Hiram M. Cash

The Maine gubernatorial election was won by the Republican candidate Israel Washburn, Jr., 1813-1883.
Charles D. Jameson, 1827-1862, colonel of the second Maine, was candidate of the “War Democrats” in the state. He was promoted to Brigadier General, wounded at Fair Oaks, and subsequently died from camp [typhoid?] fever.

See other comments on the Maine gubernatorial election in the letter of Joseph Leavitt of the 2nd Maine, 1861 September 8.

Private, Co. K, 5th Maine

My Dear Wife [Mary Naylor Chandler Phinney]

Having an opportunity of

again writing you by hand (Mr. R.B. Sloan

having been discharged) I propose to write

a short letter, although I gave you all

the news in my last. Every thing is

still quiet. We are in possession of

no information that would lead

us to infer where our Winter

quarters are to be. Camp

rumors are as numerous as

the sands on the sea shore.

The latest is that in less than

ten days our Brigade is to

be ordered back to S.C. for

the purpose of coast defence.

Too good to be true. No one

could conceive of the joy that

would exist in the event of such

a rumor being correct. The boys

have seen the elephant and

are satisfied without further

development. I am afraid my

wants are so numerous that

you will get tired supplying

them. I hope Wm. Creight has

supplied you with funds ere

this. I will forward some soon

again. Do always let me know

how your money holds out. Never

fail to pay mother for board

monthly. Does Mr. Cremer pay

you punctually for rent. I regret

to hear of the death of Mrs. Desfrontes [?].

By the way I received a letter from

Molly Long, and if you have

not heard, can tell or intimate

where Will made his visit.

Mollie speaks very kindly of the

visit, and regrets that it was

so short. Probably she does who

knows. I am not positive that

I mentioned the cotton socks. Do

get me some. I have written

so much and it amounts

to so little that I scarcely

recollect what I have said.

Suffice it to say

“A little nonsense now an then

Is relished by the wisest men.”

Do say to Will to send me

his 11 volume of Hardee’s

Tactics by Wm Creight.

The longer I am away (very nat-

-urally) the more anxious I

am to see you all. No one

can imagine the joy it would

afford me to have the ^ ‘dear’ little

family present, in the form

of ambrotypes.

In a letter to Will

I stated that I had enclosed

an extract, containing an acc-

-ount of our little skirmish.

Please hand to him, read if

^ ‘you’ wish. Having [ ‘the’ lined out] ^ ‘to’ arrange the

roll for Dan I must close.

Give much love to all and

accept the purest affection

of Your husband

JM Phinney

P.S.

Johnnie is still hearty.

Irvine Smith is better

Today two months we reached

Manassas, a day long to be

remembered in the annals of

history. My birth day passed almost

without my being aware of it. I hope

I shall at least be home to celebrate

or congratulate you with an

affectionate [ ‘and’ lined out] kiss upon your

birth day. Write soon.

Do send me lots of paper

fools cap, letter, etc.

Lieut. James Monroe Phinney was a Confederate officer from Winnsboro, S. C., in the Boyce Guards Militia and the 6^th Infantry Regiment.

MSS 12661

[from the diary of Eugene M. Cox of the Albemarle Border Guards]

9 P. M. Had slight rain this morning, but it has cleared up, but the clouds still hover about the mountains. Our picquets stationed on the other side of “Sewell” killed Yankee last night–

MSS 38-211

  Helmswood, Sept 20th 1861.
                                      My dear Bettie,
                                                        I have been expecting
to find a letter from you &Olga since my arrival here,
in answer to mine sent from Upperville, but thus far
have been disappointed – Hope it may come to-morrow!
I know of nothing particularly interesting to write,
yet must do so in order that paternal restraints &
love may not be forgotten.  I read a letter from y’r
G. Father  J.D.
Watts to-day in which he informs me
of the death of young S. Turner, and the continued
illness of Charlie.  Oh! It is sad to see & hear of so
much sickness among the soldiers!  They are scattered
all thr’o this neighborhood among the private houses
Here at Helmswood there are four Mississippians, one
of whom has been very low with Typhoid fever: the
others are convalescent – Lees burg is [-] with them
and there are deaths almost every day – But it is not
as bad now as it has been with them, for the No.
of sick is decreasing.  There seems to be no movements
among our armies at present, and all is expectation
of a grand move in all parts soon, tho’ every thing
is in the dark to us.  I think Loudoun is pretty
well defended now as we have a Brigade of soldiers
among us, sufficient to hold the enemy in check
About a month & a half from this time, I expect

[page 2]
to leave Loudoun for Amherst, and shall be
most glad to see you all and find you both
much improved.  I have many warm friends here
whom I dislike very much to leave, but thus it
must be, and I must seek new ones in a new field
I hope you are both striving to make good use of
y’r time knowing that it is very precious, and ought
to be treasured & improved more than money.  I expect
much of you both, knowing that you have good minds
and advantages, which if rightly used, must make
you useful women.  How are you feeling Bettie
in y’r religious experience?  I want you to tell me
of that – What are y’r greatest besetments & tempta-
tions; for I know you have them as they are common
to every body.  Struggle to be a good Christian, perform-
ing all your duties; and trust in God for help.  Be kind
and affectionate to Olga, and don’t allow y’rself to be
fretted.  Be kind to all around you and respectful to
all persons older than yrself.  I want both of you
to mind Cousins Lizzie & Mollie in every thing.  Be
particular in keeping yr’selves neat & clean, washing
y’r teeth & feet and combing y’r hair.  Don’t be rude
with boys, & when y’r spirits get too high, stop and
think a little.  Olga, my child, you must not contend
with y’r sister, nor with any of the girls.  When you
rise from y’r bed, don’t be the first to rush at the
water but wait for others, and learn to be gentle & polite
Give my love to both families.
                                          Yr affectionate father
                                                             RWW

Robert W. Watts, 1825-1910, Methodist minister who served several parishes in central Virginia

[transcription by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 809

My Precious wife;
I arrived safely last night, but was
quite tired on account of having to walk from the
station to this place a distance of 2 1/2 miles. John
was there in the evening but left with the horses
on the arrival of a train which he was told
connected with the Richd train but did not i have
a slight head ache to day but hope it will pass off
soon.

I will ride over to the troop & arrange Richard’s
business this evening or to-morrow. My love to him
& congratulations on his daily improvement which
I am sure takes place.

I found two of your letters here which seem to
be the two last–came since I left & some eays
after–One of them was begging me to let you come
up here–the idea! I promise you however if I feel
at all disposed to get sick, I shall make for home
as fast as steam can carry me & you will come to
me. I cam up yesterday with the Corpse of

[page 2]
Col. Washington on its way to Fauquier to be buried.
He was the owner of Mt Vernon which he sold
for such a round sum & was killed by one of
the enemy’s picketts when reconnoitering.

The Gentlemen who were with the body seemed
to be pretty sure that the report about Lee’s capture
& defeat of Reynolds was not true. Tho’ there are
those who believe it now.

Every thing is quiet as possible here–One t hing
I have learned by going to Richmond–Believe
nothing that you hear there until it is confirmed
7 times & is not too good to be true. Try my
precious to get Dick yup to going home by the
Monday’s boat & near that time & get to our
own dear home by the last of the week when I
will meet you there

There is not the slightest probability of the
advance of our army before that time, believe me.
Be of good cheer then in you present generous
duties & take care of you self for the sake of
Your devoted Husband
P. B. Cabell

write me every other day

for other accounts of the death of John Augustine Washington, a collateral descendant of George Washington, see the diary of Wesley Hammond for September 13th and 14th, and the letter or Robert E. Lee to Edward C. Turner, September 14th.

MSS 38-111

[from the diary of Wesley Hammond of the Dixie Greys, Co. E. of the 42nd Virginia Infantry]

March 6 miles – carry our tents

baggage and Sick soldiers –

roads tremendous bad –

Good deal of grumbling among our

soldiers

Had plenty good things to eat.

read 5 chapters in bible –

MSS 5526

My dear Ma:

Just as I was getting

off into a doze about 10 o’clock last

night Capt. Murray announced “letters

for Co. D.” and Ed & I got up to read

yr & Pa’s letters by moonlight but

were invited in to read them by

Capt. M’s candle (privates are not

allowed lights after half past nine).

We were as usual delighted to get

tidings from the loved ones at

home and especially to hear that

the sick ones are all better. I

begun a letter to Pa last Monday

after getting back from Munson’s

Hill but had not time to finish

it and as Pen & Ed have both

written long accounts of our last

trip down here I will refer you

to yesterday’s Dispatch to what

“Justice” has to say. Our Regt was

certainly most Providentially pre-

served – in the face of a greatly

superior force of the enemy and

having heavy skirmishers nearly

all of the time we had not

a man touched until just before

we left when David Magruder

was wounded by a very rash

attempt to cut off some of the

[page 2]

Yankee picquets. Fendol Chiles, Tap Trice,

Virgil Carroll, several others of our co., some

Baltimoreans & David Magruder crept around

through the bushes and ^‘got’ between sight of

ten Yankees and their “Reserve” with

the intention of taking them prisoners,

but finding themselves discovered

they fired on the party, killed

three and were making their

way back to our lines when Dave

was shot. He is now doing very well

and we hope his wound will not

prove to be serious. You express sur-

prise that we have been able to

stand so well the hardships we

have to encounter, but the truth is

we have gotten used to them

and don’t mind them half so

much as we shd [should] have done

but for the training we have

had. I slept one night while at

Munson’s hill in a drenching

rain – the water running under me

and completely saturating me about – and

yet I slept soundly and experienced

no inconvenience from it the next

day save the trouble of drying my

clothes. As for a march of fifteen

or twenty miles – we have come

to regard that as a small

matter; and camp fare & accomo-

dations we count among the

luxuries of life. As for our

“winter quarters” – do not disturb

[page 3]

yrself about that. We shall perhaps

have our winter quarters at “Willard’s”

in Washington or if we are not so

fortunate we will doubtless have

snug little huts somewhere and

will be comfortable. “The Lord will

provide”. the health of our regt. is

much better now than it was

two or three weeks ago, and we

have very few (only five I believe) on

the sick list in our co. – none of

them sick much. We have certainly

been highly blessed. I have been

expecting every mail to bring me

my commission as chaplain of the

regt. but have thus far been disappoint

-ed. I suppose that the Sec. of War

has been very much pressed for

time but have no doubt of eventually

getting the place. I think that I can

certainly get a furlough as soon

as I receive my commission. I hear

from Page very irregularly and have

been anxious for her to go to the C. H.

where I can hear more regularly – h[a]d

thought of taking her these when

I went – but there is so much

sickness about the C. H. that I

am afraid for her to go there

-besides you are so much crowded

with the sick. We had a grand

Review and flag presentation

yesterday but I refer you to

an article I send the Dispatch for

[page 4]

the particulars. Jimmy Daniel took breakfast

with us this morning – also John [-]ham

on his return to join his Regt. We see

John Daniel quite often – he gets on

very well indeed. Saw Uncle Phil

Ashby again last week – am going

to his regt. to see him before long.

I have a large number of friends

in the diff[eren]t regts. but very seldom

get an opportunity of seeing them.

I must bring this to a close now as

I’ve some other letters to write. I very

rarely write a letter except to Page

or home but I’ve several now that

I am obliged to write. Best love

to all at home & Aunt Cynthia’s.

Write as often as you can.

Yr most aff son

J. Wm. Jones

Pvt. David W. Magruder: Wounded …. at Munson’s Hill 9/13/61. For other accounts see letters of Magruder’s brother-in-law Edward T. H. Warren on September 17 and 18.

My dear little Nannie:

The enclosed Pencil Map is my first effort of the

sort – I have concluded to send it to you that you may have at least

an imperfect idea of the region & the points of interest so often alluded to

in the newspapers – I have not adhered very rigidly to the scale (ha! ha!! ha!!!) of

about five miles to the inch and on that account and its other imperfect-

-tions of course you will show it to nobody –

Lieut Folkes and the Box of nice things arrived to day just in

time to make our dinner a first rate one – I and Cl Clark and I are a

thousand times obliged to you, your Ma (My Mother) and Lizzie – Every thing

was in good order except the beans, the beets and the tomatoes, without which

we can get along very well as we can buy such things here –

Many of the Company desired that I should select & procure

a winter uniform for the Company; but Grey without being solicited by any

as far as I know concluded to go himself – I did not desire to go now

for the reason that I want to go at another time & beside that the

office is a very thankless one – I did’nt want the accountability –

We will be glad to see Lizzie & Augusta here – If they

are in earnest about coming down, they must write again & hear from us

before they start that they may know about the arrangements that must

necessarily be made – We will provide a place for them to stay & the

means of conveyance from & to the Rail Road – How I do wish that my

little Nannie could come too! –

There is no news here & for that reason I must close

this unsatisfactory brief nothing –

Very devotedly Your own

“Choctaw”

Please ask your Father to sell enough of my Tobacco to pay my

Taxes –

William A. King, Captain of the Saltville Light Artillery

MSS 6682

[from the diary of Eugene M. Cox of the Albemarle Border Guards]

9 A.M. Had no alarm last night–5 P. M. To-day we were ordered to move further back up the mountain to a better position which we now occupy–have a very disagreeable place for camp ground on a steep hill side–are now short of salt, and sugar, things very necessary to our comfort and which will be very hard to get as but little of those articles are in the eastern market–our supply being now cut off from the “Kanawha Valley.”

9 P. M. All quiet–Taps, etc.

MSS 38-211