Savage Station Va. July 9th/62
Dear parents
                  I suppose you have
been very anxious to hear from
me for some time but calm all
your fears for I am still alive
and as well as I have been for
some time I have attended to my
duty all the time in takeing care
of the sick and wounded, since I
wrote to you I cannot discribe to
you the sciens suffuring I have
witnessed since I came to this
place although the men have as
good care as could be expected, under
the circumstances the Southern
soldiers use us first-rate we get
enough to eat and drink and we
have our liberty to go where we
please if we do not try to get
away i wrote to you the 3rd of this

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month and I presume you got
the letter in due time if you want
to write to me I do not know of
any better way than to direct
to Washington D. C. co. H. fifth
Me. Regt. in care of Capt. Bucknam
then if there is any way for me
to get it he will send it to me
I have not much time to write
for I have nine wounded men
to take care of and it keeps me
buisy nearly all the time there
is talk about the men here being
parolled if this is so we shall
all be to our respective homes n
a short time try and take care
of yourselves as well as you can
and do not wory about me for I
am getting along first rate my
lame back is not well yet but by
being carful I can do all the work
there is to be done for the men in
under my charge.  I think of

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home and all its pleasures very
often and I hope the time is
not far distant when I can
return to it again tell Walter
to be a good boy and take
care of all the things as well as
he can and do all the work he
can I have no more time to
write so I will close
                 Yours truly
               Hiram M. Cash

Hiram M. Cash, Co. K, 5th Maine Infantry

MSS 12916

[from the diary of Anne Madison Willis Ambler as transcribed by her granddaughter Anne Madison Wright Baylor in 1972]

Wednesday, July 9 1862
[The men] spent the day & are here again
tonight-thought it better not to go home as the letters
might have been found, & they would be sent after.
We are glad to have them as they have made themselves
very agreeable all day telling Yankee proceedings &c
–  Three Yankees came by & asked for something to
eat- said McClellan had been cut all to pieces-
Father says if he had chosen he might have taken
them prisoners that they were heartily sick & tired of the
war. F[annie] & I wrote home as Mr. A. promised to send
the letters to Winchester- Mr. Duncan called to
tea- Mother is not able to walk about yet- she
hobbles along but her foot is a good deal swollen, &
we beg her to stay in bed altogether. She is
restless however, & curious to hear all that is
going on- put her stocking on & sat before the
gentlemen with her foot sticking out & to tell
the truth, It was not free from holes–
– Tom is more obedient- I have not whipped
him since Saturday for disobedience–I think
I will [?] [?] sometimes how often I whip
him, but – I forget it- I only hope it may
be of service to him.

MSS 15406

[from the diary of William M. Blackford, bank officer and former diplomat with five sons in the Confederate Army]

Wednesday 9  Weather very hot. Young
Jennings who had been engaged to stay
in the Bank, did not make his appear
ance and I had to post the Books[?] &
enter the checks, which proved a very
severe labor.  No news from any quar
-ter.

MSS 4763

[from the diary of Dr. Brodie Strachan Herndon]
9 My dear Luc’s birth day!  We
are not insensible to all god’s
goodness.  133d Psalm.  We pray
for our absent ones in daily morning prayers
Mother recd a short letter from Jim
He & Brook up to their eyes in
work.  I sent word to mother
by Nannie Carter that he had chosen
his own sweetheart–he didn’t mean
to wait for her to do it.

MSS 2563-b

[from the diary of Eliza Oswald Hill, refugee from Wilmington, N.C.]

Wednesday 9th  Again I am disappointed in hearing from Tom–Everyone
in the house have received letters from their relatives since the battle
but myself–& I dont know what to think can cause Tom’s silence
No papers–We have promise of another very warm day–Yesterday was intolerably
warm–I spent the day in writing letters–In the afternoon Mr Campbell called & brought
me some paper & envelopes Mrs Mallett sent me as a present–At night Judge
Person & Mrs Tyler came down to see Mrs Guthrie from Yazoo City about her
son.  Church this morning but I did not get ready in time to attend.

MSS 6960

[from the diary of Jesse Calvin Spaulding of Co. F, 25th Massachusetts]

Tuesday
July 8
         Employed the day as usual.  Had
          a company drill this forenoon.
         Talked with Frank Adams this evening.

MSS 11293

White House Farm
July 8th 1862

The Regment came here day before yesterday
my darling.  This is the Farm on which Col
Lee, son of Genl Lee, lived. You will remem
ber it as the residence of the lovely
widow who became the wife of General
Washington. Here it is that while on
his way to Williamsburg he, contrary
to his custom, delayed his  journey from
hour to hour fascinated by the fair
owner.  Here he courted her,and here
they were married.  The Enemy made
it a depot of company stores–
clothing, arms, provender &c.
When they retreated they burned
a very large amount of these stores,
the value of them to be estimated
by millions.  They also burned the
White House itself, another act
of disgraceful vandalism committed
by our “Christian and humane enemy”
as Mr Seward says they are.
I am told that by deceit they enticed
Col. Lee’s slaves, the morning they left
on one of their boats & carried

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them away.  We are here now
acting as a guard for the property
taken from the Enemy until it can
be moved away, and also watching
their movements below.–This
place is situated on the Pamunkey
River about twenty five miles
from Richmond–
  I wish dearest, I had time and
opportunity to write you a
long letter, but I am here, lying
on a hill side, without paper
& with no conveniences for writing
of any sort. I can only say how
dearly I love you, how much
I wish to hear your voice and to
look into your tender eyes.  I
can only say how sincerely I
pray that God will preserve
our lives in these troublous days,
will restore peace to our country
and will reunite us & enable us
to live together as his faithful servants
loving & obeying him.  Yr affec husband
John T. Thornton

John Thruston Thornton, University of Virginia alumnus, lawyer and Captain of Co. K, 3rd Virginia Cavalry

MSS 4021

[from the diary of Daniel D. Logan, younger brother of General Thomas M. Logan, formerly a Sgt, Co. B, 1st Special Battalion (Rightor’s), now with the Hampton Legion]

                        Tuesday – July 8th 1862
Spent today doing nothing – Wrote to
Mrs Roy today – Sat in Capt Harrisons
room most of the morning – Took
And[rew] Knox to see Dr Fishburn – Dined at
Mr Harveys – after dinner went down
town with Brother George, but did not
succeed in seeing Genl Magruder,
Spent a few hours with Mullie at
Mrs Dunlops after which Brother
& myself called on Mr Gibson
taking tea & spending the Evening with
the familys. Miss Bartlett was as
Entertaining as possible giving me a
long account of her friend Miss Talley –
now imprisoned by the vandals in Fort
Delaware, as a spy for the Confederates –
No news today from our lines –
The Enemy are on James R, on the Blakeley & West
-over plains – Herring Creek being between the Enemy & our
forces – only offering one possible point for

[The following lines are cross-written over the above page.]
us to attack – that now strongly Entrenched – The
gunboats are in range of our forces –
     Retire at 11 o’c tonight.

 [transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 6154

  [from the diary of Charles Hay of the 23rd Ohio]

 Pack’s Ferry, Va., July 8th, 1862.
     One of the horses attached to the ambulance
in which I was yesterday riding, having
suddenly taken sick after we had stopped
last evening, and died in the night, I
was obliged to trudge my way from Jumping
Branch here this morning, distance seven
miles, over a very good road, but really
a hot, sultry morning.  This Ferry is one
of the principal ones across New River,
and is named after Mr. Pack, who first
 established a crossing here many years
ago.  When Floyd retreated from Cotton
Mountain last November, he diverged from
the main road at Shady Springs, and
crossed the river at this place, which
is about 200 yards wide, and deeper
and less rapid than in most places.
A prominent characteristic of this stream
is its rapid flow, the numerous rocks
roughly strewn over the bed of the stream,
and rising in many places above the surface,
and its transparent, clear, pure waters.

Since our troops have occupied this
point, they have opened up communication
with Monroe county, on the opposite
shore, by means of a ferry=boat which     
is propelled across the stream by the
action of the current against its side
while laying diagonally against the
current.  Being fastened by a rope some
distance up the stream, it, of course,
does not descend, only to describe the
arc of a circle.  The boat was built
by tow companies of the 11th O. V. sent
here from Raleigh for that purpose.
     The rebels are encamped somewhere in
Monroe County in some force.  Col. Crook,               
36th O.V. commanding 3rd Brigade of this Division,
encamped at Meadow Bluffs, Greenbrier Co.,
can prevent the commission of any depredations
the enemy might contemplate on Gauly or
the Kanawha River. – Parties of the companies
here, frequently make excursions into Monroe
and Greenbrier, and usually bring in
prisoners, and sometimes property.

The valley of New River the farther down
you get, becomes, narrower, and towards its
mouth, there is room only between the steep,
mountainous banks on either side to allow a
channel for the stream.  Opposite where I now
am, and a little below on this side is a ^’are’
narrow strips of level land, between the hill and
river bank, which are very fertile, and well
adapted to corn.
                         
[transcript by Mary Roy Dawson Edwards]

MSS 13925

[from the diary of James Dinsmore Templeton, musician and private in the 23rd Ohio]

Tuesday, July 8, 1862

Guard mounting
after which we practiced
no practice this afternoon
[?] being down to
the 2d Brigade Parade
this evening & short
drill
John Buchan of Co G came
in this morning with
Deserters from the Rebel
Army.  McClellan repor-
-ted moving again–
successfully
this has been a lazy
day. thought to receive
a letter this evening
but was dissapointed[sic]
as the mail was only
a paper one.  It has been
a long day to me.  Men dug
out the latrine successfully to
day  Clear warm


MSS 10317