36th Massachusetts Infantry CIVIL WAR LETTER - Terrific Content, Fighting Rebels
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:205937 |
CIVIL WAR LETTER
Charles Henry Howe—known to all his friends as “Charley”—wasborn on 4 May 1845 in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He was the son of EbenezerWilson Howe (1817-1885) and Sarah Ann Blanchard (1823-Aft1900) of Clinton, Worcester, Massachusetts. His father worked as a mill hand and struggled to putfood on the table for his wife and three boys. Charley had a limited educationand a difficult childhood. He fell in with the wrong crowd, shirked his workand developed a repu...tation for laziness among the Clintonites. Though he wasbelow the minimum age, Charley begged his parents to let him enlist, hoping tosee something of the world and get out from under his parent’s roof. When theyfinally consented, he enlisted on 15 August 1862 in Co. I, 36th MassachusettsInfantry.Charley’s letters are a delight to read and provide a rich, detailed history of the 36th Massachusetts not found elsewhere. According toCharley, only one in five of the men serving in the regiment were single. Assuch, Charley’s letters are not rife with home front domestic issues so oftenfound in the letters of married men. Fond of travel and adventure, Charley’sletters abound with personal observations and impressions that give us rareinsight into the life of a foot soldier. The 36th Massachusetts was also one ofthe few Eastern regiments that served in both the Eastern and Western Theatersof the war, enabling him to contrast the degree of difficulty in campaigning onthe eastern seaboard, the mid- and deep-South.According to theregimental history, “while the regiment was encamped at Rutledge, EastTennessee, during the pursuit of Longstreet, after the siege of Knoxville, [Israel H.] Smith, with nine other members of the 36th, and a small detail ofthe 49th Pennsylvania, under charge of Sergeant Charles HenryBoswell ofthe 36th, were ordered out on a foraging expedition, the regiment being greatlyin need of subsistence supplies. While out for this purpose they tookpossession of an old mill about four miles from camp. the detail of the 36thwas composed of Sergt. Boswell, Privates Daniel H. Park, Lucius A. Reynolds, Frederick Ruth, and Israel H. Smith of Co. C; Hezekiah Aldrich, Calvin Hubbard, and Patrick Gillespie, of Co. G, and Charles H. Howe of Co. I. These men werein the mill grinding corn, their rifles stacked in one corner, when, early inthe morning of December 15, a boy came running into the mill saying the rebelswere approaching. Smith glanced out the window and saw a squadron of men whomhe supposed from their dress to be Federal Cavalry, but it afterwards appearedthat their blue uniforms had been taken from one of our supply trains captureda day or two before. They numbered about 400 and immediately surrounding themill, they demanded a surrender. Resistance being hopeless, our men…gavethemselves up.”The prisoners were sent to AndersonvillePrison in Georgia where all of them died except Smith who survived and wasparoled a year later. Charles Howe died on 27 August 1864 and was buried atAndersonville.TRANSCRIPTION
Steamboat Meteor
June 12th 1863My dear mother, You are probably anxious to hear from me after my long silence and I am sure I cannot blame you, but I am i na great hurry and must make my letter as compact as possible. In my last letter I told you that we expected to move immediately. Well, at dark we started and marched till morning when we reached Jamestown, distance 23 miles. We had hardly stacked arms when pop, pop, went some muskets within a few rods of us. Looking around we spied our cavalry pickets making for the town as fast as possible, hotly pursued by rebel cavalry. Both were firing as often as convenient.We jumped for our rifles, loaded, and double quicked into a field and formed into a line of battle whereupon the rebs scudded back into the woods. Skirmishers were sent out but they only succeeded in bringing in a few prisoners. All this was done before the troops around the town were fairly aroused and had it not been for our arrival at just that time, the town would have been burned and the whole force surprised. So much for the 36th Massachusetts.Three regiments of Kentucky cavalry were then sent out but the rebs had recrossed the Cumberland only five minutes before they reached the bank. The river is 4 miles from the town. We have since learned that the rebel force was strong 3, 000 cavalry. We stayed there that night and the next. I was then taken from the ranks and now cook for a mess of 3 captains and 3 lieutenants. I have given up my rifle and equipments that I have carried for ten months. Capt. Bailey and Lieut. Robinson are good officers and I think there is no doubt but what I shall stay with them as long as they hold offices.The next noon we started and marched back to Columbia 23 miles next day. From there to Cambellsville 20 miles. Net day from there to Lebanon 21 miles. There I received a letter from Father which I have since answered. Next day took cars and reached Louisville at night (Sunday night). Here we were paid for two months. I did not send you any money this time for these reasons. I owed considerable for eatables, tobacco, &c. and had to buy a pair of shirts for five dollars, two pairs of socks for 75 cents, a hat and cord $2.50, some handkerchiefs and sundry other little things which tell on a fellow’s pocketbook. I am sorry that I cannot send any but you know that I would if I could and next time I will if I have to go without myself.I did not find Mr. Cochrane in Louisville the next day. We took a ferry and crossed the river (Ohio) to Jeffersonville, Indiana. Then took cars on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and reached Washington, Illinois, some time the next day. We then shifted and took cars of the Illinois Central Railroad and after passing over some of the most beautiful farming country—mostly prairie land—we reached Cairo at night half past ten. [Cairo is] a miserable dirty city of 3, 500 inhabitants.Wednesday we took a steamer and reached this city—Memphis, Tennessee—last night. We had a pleasant trip down the Mississippi, passing by Columbus, Island No. 10, Forts Pillow and Randolph.Memphis is quite a city and full of fortifications, but it’s a rough hole and a man with any principle whatever will keep clear of it. We are now waiting for further orders but all expect to go to Vicksburg. For my part, if we are to help Grant, I think we had better do it and not lay here doing nothing. “A Yankee is an ingenious fellow, ” so the saying is/ I believe it. Charley Howe thought he would like to eat and sleep in the cabin with the officers and he does so. He waits on the table for his board and thus saves two dollars a day or the alternative, sleeping outside the cabin and chawing hard tack. Bull for him, I say. Don’t you think I was lucky?But I must close. I believe I did not acknowledge the receipt of your letter by Davidson. Very much obliged for the postage stamps and the money. I was in need of both.Hoping I shall be able to get a mail soon, I remain with much love to you and the little chaps. Yours affectionately, — CharleyP. S. I will write as often as possible. I’ve got a good job and probably shall not get hurt in a fight unless I take a notion to go in one so you need have no fears for me. I am in good health and fat as butter.Excuse such a scrawl of a letter. — CharleyTERMS$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.
00138
Charles Henry Howe—known to all his friends as “Charley”—wasborn on 4 May 1845 in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He was the son of EbenezerWilson Howe (1817-1885) and Sarah Ann Blanchard (1823-Aft1900) of Clinton, Worcester, Massachusetts. His father worked as a mill hand and struggled to putfood on the table for his wife and three boys. Charley had a limited educationand a difficult childhood. He fell in with the wrong crowd, shirked his workand developed a repu...tation for laziness among the Clintonites. Though he wasbelow the minimum age, Charley begged his parents to let him enlist, hoping tosee something of the world and get out from under his parent’s roof. When theyfinally consented, he enlisted on 15 August 1862 in Co. I, 36th MassachusettsInfantry.Charley’s letters are a delight to read and provide a rich, detailed history of the 36th Massachusetts not found elsewhere. According toCharley, only one in five of the men serving in the regiment were single. Assuch, Charley’s letters are not rife with home front domestic issues so oftenfound in the letters of married men. Fond of travel and adventure, Charley’sletters abound with personal observations and impressions that give us rareinsight into the life of a foot soldier. The 36th Massachusetts was also one ofthe few Eastern regiments that served in both the Eastern and Western Theatersof the war, enabling him to contrast the degree of difficulty in campaigning onthe eastern seaboard, the mid- and deep-South.According to theregimental history, “while the regiment was encamped at Rutledge, EastTennessee, during the pursuit of Longstreet, after the siege of Knoxville, [Israel H.] Smith, with nine other members of the 36th, and a small detail ofthe 49th Pennsylvania, under charge of Sergeant Charles HenryBoswell ofthe 36th, were ordered out on a foraging expedition, the regiment being greatlyin need of subsistence supplies. While out for this purpose they tookpossession of an old mill about four miles from camp. the detail of the 36thwas composed of Sergt. Boswell, Privates Daniel H. Park, Lucius A. Reynolds, Frederick Ruth, and Israel H. Smith of Co. C; Hezekiah Aldrich, Calvin Hubbard, and Patrick Gillespie, of Co. G, and Charles H. Howe of Co. I. These men werein the mill grinding corn, their rifles stacked in one corner, when, early inthe morning of December 15, a boy came running into the mill saying the rebelswere approaching. Smith glanced out the window and saw a squadron of men whomhe supposed from their dress to be Federal Cavalry, but it afterwards appearedthat their blue uniforms had been taken from one of our supply trains captureda day or two before. They numbered about 400 and immediately surrounding themill, they demanded a surrender. Resistance being hopeless, our men…gavethemselves up.”The prisoners were sent to AndersonvillePrison in Georgia where all of them died except Smith who survived and wasparoled a year later. Charles Howe died on 27 August 1864 and was buried atAndersonville.TRANSCRIPTION
Steamboat Meteor
June 12th 1863My dear mother, You are probably anxious to hear from me after my long silence and I am sure I cannot blame you, but I am i na great hurry and must make my letter as compact as possible. In my last letter I told you that we expected to move immediately. Well, at dark we started and marched till morning when we reached Jamestown, distance 23 miles. We had hardly stacked arms when pop, pop, went some muskets within a few rods of us. Looking around we spied our cavalry pickets making for the town as fast as possible, hotly pursued by rebel cavalry. Both were firing as often as convenient.We jumped for our rifles, loaded, and double quicked into a field and formed into a line of battle whereupon the rebs scudded back into the woods. Skirmishers were sent out but they only succeeded in bringing in a few prisoners. All this was done before the troops around the town were fairly aroused and had it not been for our arrival at just that time, the town would have been burned and the whole force surprised. So much for the 36th Massachusetts.Three regiments of Kentucky cavalry were then sent out but the rebs had recrossed the Cumberland only five minutes before they reached the bank. The river is 4 miles from the town. We have since learned that the rebel force was strong 3, 000 cavalry. We stayed there that night and the next. I was then taken from the ranks and now cook for a mess of 3 captains and 3 lieutenants. I have given up my rifle and equipments that I have carried for ten months. Capt. Bailey and Lieut. Robinson are good officers and I think there is no doubt but what I shall stay with them as long as they hold offices.The next noon we started and marched back to Columbia 23 miles next day. From there to Cambellsville 20 miles. Net day from there to Lebanon 21 miles. There I received a letter from Father which I have since answered. Next day took cars and reached Louisville at night (Sunday night). Here we were paid for two months. I did not send you any money this time for these reasons. I owed considerable for eatables, tobacco, &c. and had to buy a pair of shirts for five dollars, two pairs of socks for 75 cents, a hat and cord $2.50, some handkerchiefs and sundry other little things which tell on a fellow’s pocketbook. I am sorry that I cannot send any but you know that I would if I could and next time I will if I have to go without myself.I did not find Mr. Cochrane in Louisville the next day. We took a ferry and crossed the river (Ohio) to Jeffersonville, Indiana. Then took cars on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and reached Washington, Illinois, some time the next day. We then shifted and took cars of the Illinois Central Railroad and after passing over some of the most beautiful farming country—mostly prairie land—we reached Cairo at night half past ten. [Cairo is] a miserable dirty city of 3, 500 inhabitants.Wednesday we took a steamer and reached this city—Memphis, Tennessee—last night. We had a pleasant trip down the Mississippi, passing by Columbus, Island No. 10, Forts Pillow and Randolph.Memphis is quite a city and full of fortifications, but it’s a rough hole and a man with any principle whatever will keep clear of it. We are now waiting for further orders but all expect to go to Vicksburg. For my part, if we are to help Grant, I think we had better do it and not lay here doing nothing. “A Yankee is an ingenious fellow, ” so the saying is/ I believe it. Charley Howe thought he would like to eat and sleep in the cabin with the officers and he does so. He waits on the table for his board and thus saves two dollars a day or the alternative, sleeping outside the cabin and chawing hard tack. Bull for him, I say. Don’t you think I was lucky?But I must close. I believe I did not acknowledge the receipt of your letter by Davidson. Very much obliged for the postage stamps and the money. I was in need of both.Hoping I shall be able to get a mail soon, I remain with much love to you and the little chaps. Yours affectionately, — CharleyP. S. I will write as often as possible. I’ve got a good job and probably shall not get hurt in a fight unless I take a notion to go in one so you need have no fears for me. I am in good health and fat as butter.Excuse such a scrawl of a letter. — CharleyTERMS$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.
00138
