Letter – Isaac Jones, 10 July 1862

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Letter written by Private Isaac B. Jones of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 18th U.S. Infantry, to his cousin Helen Sofield, from a camp near Iuka, MS. He details his regiment’s movements, including their stay in Columbus, KY. Though he describes the camp as being well situated, many men have gotten sick with the Mississippi River as their only water supply. The Confederate pickets are now within shooting distance, and a few of their men had been shot from a barn near camp. The regiment will be building a heavy entrenchment around the camp. Jones inquires after his wife, and explains some of their recent marital difficulties that have been exacerbated by his wife’s family. Jones writes he will come home “honored and respected” or not at all.

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Camp near I-u-Ka July 10th/62

Dear Cousin:

Thinking that perhaps you would like to hear from me and know of my whereabouts, etc. I will take this opportunity of writing to you. I received a letter from my wife about two months ago. She said that she had received a letter from you and you wished to know my address. I would have written to you sooner, but it was impossible for me to get a stamp, and can’t even here for love or money. I have finally concluded to write at your expense. I need not mention that I don’t think you will complain. I enlisted in a volunteer light artillery company the 10^th of last October. On the 7^th of March our company was discharged on account of the government not wanting any more volunteer artillery. I then re-enlisted the next day in the 18^th U.S. Infantry. I don’t like the regular service so well as the volunteers; we cant

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have half so many privileges. The regulars are exceedingly strict. The army regulations has to be carried out to the very letter. And you know the military law is the most t[y]ranical thing on earth. I left Harrisburg, Pa. and went to Camp Thomas about 3 miles from Columbus, Ohio, where we stayed a little over two months instructing our men. From there we went to Columbus, Ky., and encamped right across the river from where the battle of Belmont was fought. The Rebels evacuated the camp we were at a short time before we went there. It is a splendid situation for a camp, laying very high on the east bank of the river. But I think it was one of the most sickly camps that I ever was in. I am well satisfied that if we would have stayed much longer there that very nearly the whole of our detachment would have been in the hospital. The greatest trouble we had there was on the account of water.

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We could not get a drop to drink except that that was hauled out of the Mississippi, and it would stand from morning till night. The Secesh before they evacuated that camp worked hard three nights and days sinking and destroying their pieces, torpedoes, etc. But since then we recovered some very valuable artillery pieces. We have any amount of ammunition at that camp of every kind. We left there the later part of June [1862] & came through Tennessee and this far in Mississippi. Tenn. & Ky. Are the greatest places for fruit ever I seen. There is a great abundance of most every kind. The country is very thinly settled, and as a general thing, heavy timbered. The buildings are very poor with but a few exceptions. I like this camp better than any we have been at yet. The Iuka Springs are close to camp, where there is three kinds of water running, each separately, viz

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sulphur, alum, and iron. And there is a number of springs of very good water besides. We are expected to get into an action almost every hour. The enemy’s pickets & ours are now within shooting distance. The night of the 3^rd of this month our men carried two soldiers in camp a little after night. One was shot three times, and the other was so badly wounded that he died in the morning. They were shot from a barn a short distance from camp. There was a few men sent out in my charge. We went and burnt his barn down, also his house and brought the gentleman into camp. Just a few days before that, one of their guerrilla bands killed 3 of our privates and wounded a capt. so badly that I think he will never recover. The force of the enemy exceeds ours about 4 or 5 to our one. But we will have the advantage of them. We are throwing heavy entrenchments around the camp, and also in Iuka.

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Humboldt in Tenn. is a very nice place and so is Jackson. I think that Jackson can boast of the prettiest dooryards in the U.S. They are at least by far the nicest I ever seen. Corinth is not a very nice place. There are some very good buildings in the place, but everything is upside down and torn to pieces. We had to march from Corinth to this place, and carry heavy knapsacks. It was a very hard trip. Quite a number fell out by the way with fatigue and a few was sunstruck. One of our sergts. fell out and we had a hard time to bring him to his senses. However, we got here safe. As well as I like to move from place to place and render myself useful to my country, I would feel well satisfied if we could stay her a few months. For I am almost worried out. But I

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expect we will soon have to go on into the state of Alabama. We are now only sixty miles from the line. Please tell me in your answer to this, whether my wife answered you or not. If she has, I suppose she will endeavor to screen the conduct of her relatives and self as much as possible. However, I hope I may at some future time see you, and plead my own case. I think it would require but very few facts to be made known to you to satisfy you that I have pursued the right course,at least after I left Williamsport. I won’t cast a reproachful word towards her, for I know she has been misled by that contemptible Updegraff faction; and I will never rest until I have my revenge. That I will have, if it sends my soul to eternal torture. You may think that this is rash talk, but I have a good reason for it, and the more I -Page 7-

think of it the more determined I feel to carry out my designs. I received a letter from Lucy [wife] while I was in the State of Ohio, stating that she would be glad to live with me any place, west or south that I might think best. That will do very well that far, but she must also forsake entirely certain ones of her relations, or we had better always stay apart. For just so sure as they ever would interfere with our domestic concerns again, I know it would be the means of making me guilty of some great crime. It requires all the energy I have to keep hands off as it is. I came away as much for that as anything else, and I though my grief would not be so great by being a distance away, but I find I can’t help loving my wife; I would gladly sacrifice my life if it would make her happy. I know she is far from being happy where she is. I intend to come [home] honored and respected. If I can’t do that

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I will never show my face in my native state. Recollect, cousin, I don’t pretend to try to make you think that I have done as I should. I know I have not, and have acknowledged that fact hundreds of times, and have felt truly sorry. But I have found to my sorrow that repentance and acknowledgments will do no good with their stony hearts. I will close for the present. Give my love to Alfred and those dear children of yours. From your affectionate but unworthy cousin,

Isaac B. Jones

P.S. An answer to this would be gratefully received. If you will be so kind as to write, do so immediately, or perhaps I will not get it, as we expect to move before long.

Isaac

Direct thus:

Co. C, 3^rd Batt.

18^th U.S. Infty. Iuka,

Care of Capt. Knight Mississippi

excuse this dirty paper

Isaac B. Jones was a carpenter from Williamsport, PA. He originally enlisted with Captain Joesph E. Ulman’s Battery of Light Artillery PA Volunteers at the age of 27. The company was discharged March 7th, 1862 and Jones re-enlisted with the 18th U.S. Infantry. He was killed in action on December 31, 1862 at the Battle of Murfreesboro.

Letter – Alfred Sofield, 12 April 1863

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Letter written by Captain Alfred J. Sofield of Company A, 149th PA Volunteer Infantry “Bucktails,” to his wife, from a camp near Belle Plain, VA. Sofield describes an army corps review by President Lincoln, where he was able to see the president as well as his wife and children. He writesabout his potential promotion to major, though Sofield received the majority of votes from the officers, it was Captain John Irvine who was elected to the position. Sofield describes a recent ride to Falmouth, and how he stood along the bank of the Rappahannock River and gazed towards Fredericksburg. The Confederate and Union pickets are on opposite sides of the river, within speaking distance. Sofield writes about visiting the Lacy House and White Oak Church.

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Camp near Bell Plain, Va

April 12, 1863

My Dear Wife

I rec’d yours of the 7^th inst. by this evening’s mail, and you were right in thinking I was anxious to hear from the boys. I wrote you a short letter on Tuesday last in which I stated that I was not well, or rather that I was lame. I have entirely recovered.

On the 9^th inst. our army corps was reviewed by the president. Our regiment left camp about 8 o’clock in the morning en rout for Bell Plain (about 4 miles distant) arrived about 10 o’clock, were about the first on the ground, which gave us an opportunity of seeing the other regiments as they came in, and I can assure you it was a sight worth seeing. Well, about 12 o’clock the president arrived. I think there was in the neighborhood of fifteen thousand present. Mrs. Lincon and her two sons were on the ground. Mrs. L. was in a carriage and I did not get sight of her. To see him she looked, but the boys were in review and they stopped just in front of our regt., and I being in front of the regt., had a good look at them, and could not discover any particular difference between them and others of their age

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The president was on horseback. He rode along the whole line with his hat off. I think he is looking better than when I last saw him at Washington. I would have given a good deal to have had you and the boys there on the occasion.

You ask what about the major. Well, there is a considerably about it, and I will tell all about it. Soon after we came here the col. [Stone] was about to appoint Capt. Osborne [Co. F] to act as major until Speer returned. The capts had a meeting and agreed to tell Col. Dwight that that would not answer. We done so, and it blackened the game. A day or two after that we appointed another meeting to take into consideration what was best to do in the premises – as Col. Stone had issued an order saying that promotions should be made by appointment, and not according to seniority. Well, it so happened that I had to go on picket at the time of the second meeting, and my friend Capt. Irvine [Co. B] was also absent, but the other eight officers met and agreed to take a vote, agreeing that the man having the most votes should be declared the unanimous choice, and that they would pledge themselves to go in for his appointment. Well, they took a vote. There was two others nominated. I received six votes, and the others one each. They then drew up a writing according to the agreement and all signed it. Capt. McCullough took charge of the papers and

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says he publish it in his morning report book. That the book was taken to headquarters in the morning, and that was the last that was ever seen of it. Thus the matter rested until Major Speer was discharged. Then Col. Dwight said we must have an election, and appointed it on the 10^th instant. I know that Col. Stone, & Col. Dwight were both in favor of Capt. Osborne, and I knew that they thought they could manage to have him elected, or else they would have stuck to their order – that is, have had it given by appointment. And thinking so, I concluded I would not take part in the election, but would do what I could to defeat Osborne. I attended at opening of the meeting, and stated to them that I was not a candidate, and should take no part in the election, but should insist upon my appointment by the governor, by virtue of being the senior captain, and also by virtue of having been declared the choice of the regiment by the former meeting. I then left, but before I went in Capt. Irvin & myself had done what we could to secure his election at the meeting, and we succeeded. Capt. Irvin was elected. Well, now the col. says he will not recommend Capt. Irvin at present, and I am of opinion he will not recommend anyone but Capt. Osborne. I have written to Wilson at Harrisburg a full statement of the case and asked him to attend to it for me. What the result will be remains to be seen.

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Yesterday I took a ride over to Falmouth. Falmouth is about 9 miles from our camp and about a mile up the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg. I went down the bank of the river opposite Fredericksburg, and stood there about an hour. It was a beautiful day and I had a splendid view of the city and surrounding country. The river at Fredericksburg is about as wide as the Tioga River at Tioga, could hear the Rebels talk quite plainly. Our pickets are on one side of the river and theirs on the other, in speaking distance of each other. They are not, however, permitted to talk to one another. While standing there, about 20 Rebels came down to the river with a fish net and they came out more than half way across. I visited the Lacy house about which you have read a considerable during the war, but what about it I can’t recollect. It is a very large house standing on the bank of the river opposite Fredericksburg. If you remember for which it is noted, tell me in your next. About half way between our camp & Fredericksburg stands the famous White Oak Church, and it is in perfect keeping with everything else in this country. It looks precisely like a moderate farmer’s barn; no steeple, and in fact has no resemblance to a church. I send you a piece of it; the piece I send is not oak, but the frame of the building is of white oak, and from that takes its name. No paymaster yet. expect him every day. I rec’d a letter from Capt. Bryden yesterday. He started for home on Saturday last. Platt Irvin visited me today. He is checking for a battle about one mile this side of Fredericksburg. He is getting $40.00 a month. I must now close, and the next letter I shall direct to Hillsboro. Kiss the boys & have them kiss you for me.

Ever Yours,

Alfred

Alfred J. Sofield was a clerk/justice of the peace in Wellsboro, PA when he enrolled as a Union Army Officer. He served in the Civil War as Captain and commander of Company A of the 149th PA Volunteer Infantry. During the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, he was stationed along Chambersburg Pike north of the McPherson Farm. His unit under artillery fire from the Confederate batteries on Herr Ridge, and was struck by a round, which killed him as well as Private Edwin D. Dimmick and Corporal Nathan H. Wilcox.

Letter – Alfred Sofield, 6 March 1863

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Letter written by Captain Alfred J. Sofield of Company A, 149th PA Volunteer Infantry “Bucktails,” to his wife Helen from camp near Belle Plain, VA. Sofield writes of the impending arrival of a new chaplain, and a rumor that Captain Bryden was appointed provost marshal of the Congressional district. He also mentions the prevalence of disease within the camp. He goes into detail about the politics in the regiment concerning their lack of an acting major. Sofield received the majority of the votes for major, though he is unsure if he will get the position as the promotion would be made by the colonel. He writes that Belle Plain is only used as a government depot, and they are on picket duty for the next several days.

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Camp near Bell Plain, Va

March 6. 1863

8 O clock P.M.

My Dear Wife

I have been waiting anxiously several days for a reply to some one or all of my letters. But the mail is in and again I am sorely disappointed. Yours of the 19^th, 22d, & 21^st ult. I rec’d at the same time, that is on Tuesday last. You may well believe I had begun to get nervous as I know you generally write to me frequently. And in this case it being so long, and the children being sick when I left, I imagined all manner of things, and of course was very much gratified to hear that you all, if not quite well, were so much better. I rec’d a letter from Capt. Bryden [Co. G] saying that Mr. Calkins’ [chaplain] papers had not reached

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Harrisburg. I went immediately to Col. Dwight and said it was very strange as he saw them mailed. The next morning the adjutant brought me the documents and said they had been mislaid. I took and forwarded them to S. F. Wilson at Harrisburg, and we now expect our chaplain will be with us about the last of next week. Did you see Wilson when he was in Washington, or was you at Alexandria at the time I heard yesterday that Capt. Bryden was appointed provost marshal of our Congressional district. Is it so? I hope it is. When we arrived at this camp we only numbered 530 men, and out of that small number 130 were reported sick this morning. One of Capt. Bryden’s

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men died today. It was a Blissburg man. I do not know his name, but if I can think of it in the morning will find out and let you know. There are quite a number of my men sick, but none of them dangerously so. Among the number is John Wilcox. Colds & diraeah are the prevailing diseases. We have no acting maj. There was a move on foot by which Capt. Osborne was to act in the absence of Maj. Speer. It was a move of Col. Stone’s, at least so says Col. Dwight. But the officers of the regt. just told the lt. col. that that would never answer, and it had the desired effect. The officers had a meeting a few nights ago and took a vote as to who they were in favor of, and I had all but three votes

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Two of those against me were by men voting for themselves and the other by a lt. of one of the other candidates, viz. Capt. McCullough. I cannot tell how the thing will as there has been a regimental order issued saying that promotions would be made by the col. without consulting the wishes of the line officers. But I think the col. will hardly dare to disregard the opinion of so large a majority. If he does, I have the consolation of being almost the unanimous choice of the regiment. Bell Plain is just a government depot. No other buildings there. We are doing picket duty four days out of six. I send out about half my company on that duty. They have to travel about 3 miles before reaching the line. We are doing duty on the outer line close by the Rebels. I think I wrote you of my being wet. After this when I go I have a horse to ride as the captains will only go as field officers, and we take turns at that, so I shall not have to go often. When in camp we drill from 8 to 10 hours a day. I am very impatient to hear how you succeed in your clerkship. I approve your course. I do not want you to return to Wellsboro until you can do so in the right shape, and

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independent of everyone. Now it is getting towards the 1^st of April, and I believe the lease of Mrs. Micks house expires on the 16^th of April. And if you should conclude to remain at Washington, I think you had better write to Horace Cook and ask him to have our things packed up nicely and stored in some good, safe place. I think we had better let C. S. Wilcox take the piano, and use it (if he will) till we want it. If he does not want Lewis Bodine says he would like to have it taken to their house. You can do as you think best about it. I only suggest what I hope to think of as in case you stay something of the kind must be done. I think of you almost constantly. And it causes me much more

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anxiety than my own situation does. I know your hands are more than full, but I have one thing to console me, and that is if any woman can get along where brains and good judgment is required, you can. Tell Willie that apples sell here for five cents a piece. The Lt. was Benjamin Hughes that died in Bryden’s company. Ma, kiss Willie, Jimmie, & Bennie and Willie, Jimmie & Bennie, kiss Ma, all for me.

Now Helen, I want you to write immediately and frequently thereafter. I am always anxious to hear from you and particularly so when you are away from home & situated as you now are. And now good by for the present.

Ever yours,

Alfred

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Letter – Isaac Jones, 10 July 1862

Letter – Alfred Sofield, 12 April 1863

Letter – Alfred Sofield, 6 March 1863