1st Jersey Artillery CIVIL WAR LETTER - Hears Banks Firing On Petersburg, VA
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:131926 |
CIVIL WAR LETTER
This Civil war soldier letter waswritten by Cornelius Van Houten (1841-1916), the son of Ruliff or “Ralph” VanHouten (1808-1891) and Catherine Van Wagoner (1810-1887) of Pompton Plains(Pequannock township), Morris County, New Jersey. Cornelius had at least sixsiblings: Letitia (1831-1893), Albert (1835-1900), Elizabeth or “Libby”(1838-1901), Matilda (1844-1918), Samuel Crane or “Sammy” (1849-1912), andGeorgiana (1852-1935).The letter was written while Co...rneliusserved in Battery B of the 1st New Jersey Light Artillery from September 1861until June 1865.I havenot been able to find a biographical sketch for Cornelius but we know that hisparents were descendants of early New Jersey Dutch families. We know thatCornelius stood above average height at 5’10” tall and that he had a faircomplexion and blue eyes. Before his enlistment, Cornelius was active inpolitics. He was a member of the opposition party during the Buchananpresidency and campaigned for Lincoln’s election in 1860. A record in the Sentinelof Freedom in Newark indicates that he served as the correspondingsecretary in the Lincoln & Hamlin Club.Cornelius entered the service as aprivate with aspirations of rising in rank but after the disappointmentof being passed over for a corporal’s position, he attempted to pull wires withhometown politicians to secure himself a commission in some capacity but apparentlynever received any serious consideration—most likely because he never seemed toget along well with his immediate superiors whose recommendations he requiredfor such a position.We learn from his letters that Corneliusdescribed his pre-war life as one of “wickedness” and we are led to infer thathis relationship with his parents was strained. He apparently did not even tellthem that he had gotten married until he had already volunteered. Over time, wesee Cornelius mature and become a “more dutiful son” to his parents and moreaccepting of his responsibility to his wife who struggled during his absence toraise their son on the meagre earnings he mailed home. As the war progressed, Cornelius grew more and more religious.As near as I can discern from hisletters, Cornelius was present with his Battery during most of theirengagements. We know that he was with them throughout the Peninsula Campaign, that he fell ill and separated from his battery during the fall of 1862 butrejoined them in time to participate in the fighting at Fredericksburg, the MudMarch, and the Battle of Chancellorsville where the Battery was the first toturn their guns on Jackson. At Gettysburg, he was with them on Peach OrchardRidge to turn back Longstreet’s assault on Sickle’s salient. Finally he waswith them throughout the Wilderness campaign and at the fall of Petersburg, only leaving for a time at the close of 1864 due to illness.Following the war, Cornelius returned toNew Jersey and worked for several years as a carpenter in Newark. Cornelius’first wife was Mary Jones Ryerson (1837-Bef1895), the daughter of George G. andAnna (Graves) Ryerson. Both the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census records enumerateCornelius with his family in Newark employed as a carpenter. By 1880, thecouple had six children, the oldest being Frederick.Sometime prior to 1895, Cornelius waswidowed and he remarried to a woman named Susan Alice Foster (1853-1913) on 17December 1895 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Susan was the daughter of George andAngelica Spencer of South Carolina. In the 1900 US Census, Cornelius wasenumerated in Portsmouth and employed as a joiner at the shipyards there. From 1912 to 1916 (when he died), Cornelius was living at the NationalHome for Disabled Soldiers at Hampton, Virginia. He was buried in the NationalCemetery at Hampton.TRANSCRIPTIONCamp near Petersburg Turnpike, Va.
June 29th 1864Dear Father, Yours of the 23rd is at hand. It is the first letter I have had direct from home in some time. I received your last two and answered them both in one. I suppose you have the answer by this time. I have received two letters from Mary and answered both. The last was written from Newark but I believe there is one yet due me from her. I received yours with a five dollar note. I am very much obliged to you for it and this two dollars that I received this morning. I will keep it all and we get paid, I will return it to you again. Money comes very acceptable to me just at present for we have not had our pay in four months. But us soldiers must have a few little articles such as tobacco and other little things or he would lead a miserable life here.We are resting for a short time now and I am glad we can get a little rest once more for it has been nothing but march and fight ever since we left our winter quarters. I believe this is the hardest campaign we or any other army in the world ever had. We are lying in camp about four miles from Petersburg on the plank road from the city to a place called Jerusalem. ¹ It is as near like Old Fair Oaks or Harrison’s Landing as anything I ever saw. It is very hot and dry. Last night we had a very little shower. It is the first rain we have had in 22 days so you can think how dry things are getting. There is hardly water enough to supply the troops. We have dug two wells in our camp but we have to go about twenty feet before we can see a sign of wet. All the wells are guarded for Headquarters and a private soldier cannot get a drink. There is lots of men getting sun struck every day—especially the new men who are not used to the service. Yesterday I thought I had a sunstroke but if it was, it was very light. It was the hottest day I ever experienced. I do not feel very well yet. My head aches quite some but I guess if I can keep a little in the shade, it will all pass off. It is pretty hard work to fetch us old men down. We are tanned through pretty well. I never knew or thought I could stand such a summer as this but thank God, I have stood it and all the bullets that the Rebs had a mind to throw at me.Father, I believe that God has answered the prayers of you and my Mother. I know that many has been the prayer that has been sent up fo this poor, unworthy being. But I would to God I could be more worthy. I will try to do all in my power if I am permitted to come home again to do something worthy the interest you have taken in my behalf. I pray that He may preserve us all to meet again. Father, tell Mother that when she sees her son again, she will see a far different boy than he was when he last left her side and I hope by the Grace of God it will be for the better for I am tired of living the wicked life I have always led and I pray that it may be changed through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I shall always thank Mother for giving me my Old Testament again the last time I left home and you for those few words written in the back. Please write soon, — C. V. H.Father, I wish when you can you would get me a light-colored hat to where our here. It is so hot that my cap makes my head ache. I can not buy any kind of a soft hat out here for less than four dollars. If you could get me a hat for about a dollar and a half or two dollars and send it by mail, I will be very much obliged to you and it will not cost as much by a great deal. The size I generally wear is 7 & 1/8th (seven and one eighth). I want a pretty wide brim and not very heavy. Mary will give you money to get it with.Grant is beginning the siege for I can hear his mortars. Give my regards to all enquiring friends and accept the best wishes of your soldier boy, — C. Van HoutenP. S. You need not answer this letter till I write again. Then we will get our correspondence straight again. — C. V. H.Please tell Amanda I received her letter some time ago and I will answer it pretty soon. O am glad to hear that you are progressing so nicely with the house. I wish I was there to take command of the farm so you could devote all your attention to it. It would soon be done.Father, if you do not get a room done time enough, I do not want you to turn yourself out for me. Mary can stay at her Father’s rather than to put you out of your own room although I am very thankful for having such a Father & Mother. I guess you will be done time enough. October, I guess, is time enough although I don’t know much about it myself. Mary thinks she knows. I can’t hardly believe it yet but I suppose time will tell. My love to all. As ever yours, — C. V. H.Please give these pictures to the girls. Tell them I have kept them so long they are worn out. I would like to have Matilda’s “Carte” and as soon as convenient. I should like Anna’s and Sammy’s and all the family’s. They are so easy to carry and so nice to look at when I am tired and feel a little homesick. If you only knew how much good it does a soldier to look at his family once in awhile—if it is only in a picture—you would not wait long before you would send me the whole family. But I must close hoping the war will soon be over so I can come home. I will sign myself, — Cornelius Van HoutenBattery B, 1st N. J. Art.
2nd Corps, Potomac Army
via Fortress Monroe, Va.¹ From Michael Hanifen’s book (p. 116): “June 23d, went into camp near the Jones house, on the Jerusalem plank road, where we dug wells about thirty feet deep, through the clay, which cut like cheese, to bed of fine gravel, covered with a hardpan, that as soon as it was broken clear cold water rushed in to depth of five or six feet.”TERMS$3.00 postage in the United States. We accept Paypal. Postage combined for multiple purchases. Please wait for me to send the invoice, otherwise will pay a much higher postage rate!For International buyers: We are now using eBay's Global Shipping Program. We had too many packages sent via the post office go missing. So we believe this program will be safer for us - and for you.We're members of the American Philatelic Society, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, the Confederate Stamp Alliance and the Illinois Postal History Society.We only sell genuine, original letters (no copies or reproductions). Some of our letters have been transcribed and nicely presented for future genealogists and history buffs on the Spared & Shared blog. We've been selling on eBay since 2001. BID WITH CONFIDENCE.
00090
This Civil war soldier letter waswritten by Cornelius Van Houten (1841-1916), the son of Ruliff or “Ralph” VanHouten (1808-1891) and Catherine Van Wagoner (1810-1887) of Pompton Plains(Pequannock township), Morris County, New Jersey. Cornelius had at least sixsiblings: Letitia (1831-1893), Albert (1835-1900), Elizabeth or “Libby”(1838-1901), Matilda (1844-1918), Samuel Crane or “Sammy” (1849-1912), andGeorgiana (1852-1935).The letter was written while Co...rneliusserved in Battery B of the 1st New Jersey Light Artillery from September 1861until June 1865.I havenot been able to find a biographical sketch for Cornelius but we know that hisparents were descendants of early New Jersey Dutch families. We know thatCornelius stood above average height at 5’10” tall and that he had a faircomplexion and blue eyes. Before his enlistment, Cornelius was active inpolitics. He was a member of the opposition party during the Buchananpresidency and campaigned for Lincoln’s election in 1860. A record in the Sentinelof Freedom in Newark indicates that he served as the correspondingsecretary in the Lincoln & Hamlin Club.Cornelius entered the service as aprivate with aspirations of rising in rank but after the disappointmentof being passed over for a corporal’s position, he attempted to pull wires withhometown politicians to secure himself a commission in some capacity but apparentlynever received any serious consideration—most likely because he never seemed toget along well with his immediate superiors whose recommendations he requiredfor such a position.We learn from his letters that Corneliusdescribed his pre-war life as one of “wickedness” and we are led to infer thathis relationship with his parents was strained. He apparently did not even tellthem that he had gotten married until he had already volunteered. Over time, wesee Cornelius mature and become a “more dutiful son” to his parents and moreaccepting of his responsibility to his wife who struggled during his absence toraise their son on the meagre earnings he mailed home. As the war progressed, Cornelius grew more and more religious.As near as I can discern from hisletters, Cornelius was present with his Battery during most of theirengagements. We know that he was with them throughout the Peninsula Campaign, that he fell ill and separated from his battery during the fall of 1862 butrejoined them in time to participate in the fighting at Fredericksburg, the MudMarch, and the Battle of Chancellorsville where the Battery was the first toturn their guns on Jackson. At Gettysburg, he was with them on Peach OrchardRidge to turn back Longstreet’s assault on Sickle’s salient. Finally he waswith them throughout the Wilderness campaign and at the fall of Petersburg, only leaving for a time at the close of 1864 due to illness.Following the war, Cornelius returned toNew Jersey and worked for several years as a carpenter in Newark. Cornelius’first wife was Mary Jones Ryerson (1837-Bef1895), the daughter of George G. andAnna (Graves) Ryerson. Both the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census records enumerateCornelius with his family in Newark employed as a carpenter. By 1880, thecouple had six children, the oldest being Frederick.Sometime prior to 1895, Cornelius waswidowed and he remarried to a woman named Susan Alice Foster (1853-1913) on 17December 1895 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Susan was the daughter of George andAngelica Spencer of South Carolina. In the 1900 US Census, Cornelius wasenumerated in Portsmouth and employed as a joiner at the shipyards there. From 1912 to 1916 (when he died), Cornelius was living at the NationalHome for Disabled Soldiers at Hampton, Virginia. He was buried in the NationalCemetery at Hampton.TRANSCRIPTIONCamp near Petersburg Turnpike, Va.
June 29th 1864Dear Father, Yours of the 23rd is at hand. It is the first letter I have had direct from home in some time. I received your last two and answered them both in one. I suppose you have the answer by this time. I have received two letters from Mary and answered both. The last was written from Newark but I believe there is one yet due me from her. I received yours with a five dollar note. I am very much obliged to you for it and this two dollars that I received this morning. I will keep it all and we get paid, I will return it to you again. Money comes very acceptable to me just at present for we have not had our pay in four months. But us soldiers must have a few little articles such as tobacco and other little things or he would lead a miserable life here.We are resting for a short time now and I am glad we can get a little rest once more for it has been nothing but march and fight ever since we left our winter quarters. I believe this is the hardest campaign we or any other army in the world ever had. We are lying in camp about four miles from Petersburg on the plank road from the city to a place called Jerusalem. ¹ It is as near like Old Fair Oaks or Harrison’s Landing as anything I ever saw. It is very hot and dry. Last night we had a very little shower. It is the first rain we have had in 22 days so you can think how dry things are getting. There is hardly water enough to supply the troops. We have dug two wells in our camp but we have to go about twenty feet before we can see a sign of wet. All the wells are guarded for Headquarters and a private soldier cannot get a drink. There is lots of men getting sun struck every day—especially the new men who are not used to the service. Yesterday I thought I had a sunstroke but if it was, it was very light. It was the hottest day I ever experienced. I do not feel very well yet. My head aches quite some but I guess if I can keep a little in the shade, it will all pass off. It is pretty hard work to fetch us old men down. We are tanned through pretty well. I never knew or thought I could stand such a summer as this but thank God, I have stood it and all the bullets that the Rebs had a mind to throw at me.Father, I believe that God has answered the prayers of you and my Mother. I know that many has been the prayer that has been sent up fo this poor, unworthy being. But I would to God I could be more worthy. I will try to do all in my power if I am permitted to come home again to do something worthy the interest you have taken in my behalf. I pray that He may preserve us all to meet again. Father, tell Mother that when she sees her son again, she will see a far different boy than he was when he last left her side and I hope by the Grace of God it will be for the better for I am tired of living the wicked life I have always led and I pray that it may be changed through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I shall always thank Mother for giving me my Old Testament again the last time I left home and you for those few words written in the back. Please write soon, — C. V. H.Father, I wish when you can you would get me a light-colored hat to where our here. It is so hot that my cap makes my head ache. I can not buy any kind of a soft hat out here for less than four dollars. If you could get me a hat for about a dollar and a half or two dollars and send it by mail, I will be very much obliged to you and it will not cost as much by a great deal. The size I generally wear is 7 & 1/8th (seven and one eighth). I want a pretty wide brim and not very heavy. Mary will give you money to get it with.Grant is beginning the siege for I can hear his mortars. Give my regards to all enquiring friends and accept the best wishes of your soldier boy, — C. Van HoutenP. S. You need not answer this letter till I write again. Then we will get our correspondence straight again. — C. V. H.Please tell Amanda I received her letter some time ago and I will answer it pretty soon. O am glad to hear that you are progressing so nicely with the house. I wish I was there to take command of the farm so you could devote all your attention to it. It would soon be done.Father, if you do not get a room done time enough, I do not want you to turn yourself out for me. Mary can stay at her Father’s rather than to put you out of your own room although I am very thankful for having such a Father & Mother. I guess you will be done time enough. October, I guess, is time enough although I don’t know much about it myself. Mary thinks she knows. I can’t hardly believe it yet but I suppose time will tell. My love to all. As ever yours, — C. V. H.Please give these pictures to the girls. Tell them I have kept them so long they are worn out. I would like to have Matilda’s “Carte” and as soon as convenient. I should like Anna’s and Sammy’s and all the family’s. They are so easy to carry and so nice to look at when I am tired and feel a little homesick. If you only knew how much good it does a soldier to look at his family once in awhile—if it is only in a picture—you would not wait long before you would send me the whole family. But I must close hoping the war will soon be over so I can come home. I will sign myself, — Cornelius Van HoutenBattery B, 1st N. J. Art.
2nd Corps, Potomac Army
via Fortress Monroe, Va.¹ From Michael Hanifen’s book (p. 116): “June 23d, went into camp near the Jones house, on the Jerusalem plank road, where we dug wells about thirty feet deep, through the clay, which cut like cheese, to bed of fine gravel, covered with a hardpan, that as soon as it was broken clear cold water rushed in to depth of five or six feet.”TERMS$3.00 postage in the United States. We accept Paypal. Postage combined for multiple purchases. Please wait for me to send the invoice, otherwise will pay a much higher postage rate!For International buyers: We are now using eBay's Global Shipping Program. We had too many packages sent via the post office go missing. So we believe this program will be safer for us - and for you.We're members of the American Philatelic Society, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, the Confederate Stamp Alliance and the Illinois Postal History Society.We only sell genuine, original letters (no copies or reproductions). Some of our letters have been transcribed and nicely presented for future genealogists and history buffs on the Spared & Shared blog. We've been selling on eBay since 2001. BID WITH CONFIDENCE.
00090
