36th Massachusetts Infantry CIVIL WAR LETTER - Cannon Fire At Vicksburg, Miss
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:205859 |
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
Steamer Meteor
June 13th 1863My dear father, Having a few moments, I will write you a few lines hoping they will find you well and entirely rid of that “cussed ague.” I am many a mile from the place where I last wrote you. I will give you a synopsis of my travels. Leaving Lebanon the day after I wrote we took the cars for Louisville, arriving there at night. Her we were paid off. Next day crossed the Ohio river into Indiana at Jeffersonville. From there we took cars on Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and reached Washington, Illinois, the next day. Here we shifted cars to the Illinois Central track and late at night arrived at Cairo. At daybreak we took a boat and steamed into the Mississippi. We passed Columbus, Island No. 10, Forts Randolph and Pillow and in the course of time arrived at Memphis.June 17th, 1863We are now within a few hours sail of Vicksburg and cannonading of the heaviest kind can be distinctly heard. We have been attacked by guerrillas three times since yesterday morning but they did us no damage of any account. We peppered at them for some time and finally the gunboats came up and cleaned them out.But I must pack up my thing preparatory to leaving the boat and consequently must close. Will write again as soon as possible. I am feeling bully.Yours truly, — CharleySteamer Meteor
June 15th 1863My dear mother, Yesterday we left Memphis and steamed down the river until midnight when we stopped for the night. The river is very low and further progress in the night might have proved dangerous. This morning early we again started and now 3 o’clock P. M. we are hauled up near the mouth of the White river. This is a navy picket post and there are here two gunboats, one of which is to accompany us the rest of the trip. Guerrillas are very thick at some points on the river and I expect less than a few bullets whizzing over our heads ‘ere we reach our destination—Vicksburg, Port Hudson, or whatever it may be.I have been ashore just for the novelty of the thing. There is nothing around here but trees and thick foliage yet I have really been in the State of Arkansas. Did you think a year ago that I should be visiting such a deuced hot part of the country as this? I guess not. I am sure I never did. Let me see. I have been in Mass., R. I., Conn, New York, N. J., Del., Maryland, Virginia, Penn., Ohio, Ken., Tenn., and Arkansas, Indiana and Illinois. I have sailed in Boston harbor, Mass. Bay, Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake bay, Potomac, Patapsco, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers—all within two years. And the deuce only knows where I shall turn up next. Mississippi I guess.Well, if I get through with the crape all right, I shall never regret coming. I shall have traveled over a “right smart” of country and shall feel satisfied that in all my travels, I have never seen a place equal to the Old Bay State and “home sweet home.”I shall know enough to mind my business and let others alone. And that is a great deal more than most people know, is it not? I must now “dry up” for I can think of nothing more to say except that it is so awful hot here that my shirt is wringing wet all the time. Don’t know what I shall do when I get farther south.I am well and as fat as the Government law allows. Wishing these lines will find you enjoying good health. I remain with much love for all. Affectionately yours, — CharleyWe do not get any mails now for we are nowhere in particular.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.
00094
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
Steamer Meteor
June 13th 1863My dear father, Having a few moments, I will write you a few lines hoping they will find you well and entirely rid of that “cussed ague.” I am many a mile from the place where I last wrote you. I will give you a synopsis of my travels. Leaving Lebanon the day after I wrote we took the cars for Louisville, arriving there at night. Her we were paid off. Next day crossed the Ohio river into Indiana at Jeffersonville. From there we took cars on Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and reached Washington, Illinois, the next day. Here we shifted cars to the Illinois Central track and late at night arrived at Cairo. At daybreak we took a boat and steamed into the Mississippi. We passed Columbus, Island No. 10, Forts Randolph and Pillow and in the course of time arrived at Memphis.June 17th, 1863We are now within a few hours sail of Vicksburg and cannonading of the heaviest kind can be distinctly heard. We have been attacked by guerrillas three times since yesterday morning but they did us no damage of any account. We peppered at them for some time and finally the gunboats came up and cleaned them out.But I must pack up my thing preparatory to leaving the boat and consequently must close. Will write again as soon as possible. I am feeling bully.Yours truly, — CharleySteamer Meteor
June 15th 1863My dear mother, Yesterday we left Memphis and steamed down the river until midnight when we stopped for the night. The river is very low and further progress in the night might have proved dangerous. This morning early we again started and now 3 o’clock P. M. we are hauled up near the mouth of the White river. This is a navy picket post and there are here two gunboats, one of which is to accompany us the rest of the trip. Guerrillas are very thick at some points on the river and I expect less than a few bullets whizzing over our heads ‘ere we reach our destination—Vicksburg, Port Hudson, or whatever it may be.I have been ashore just for the novelty of the thing. There is nothing around here but trees and thick foliage yet I have really been in the State of Arkansas. Did you think a year ago that I should be visiting such a deuced hot part of the country as this? I guess not. I am sure I never did. Let me see. I have been in Mass., R. I., Conn, New York, N. J., Del., Maryland, Virginia, Penn., Ohio, Ken., Tenn., and Arkansas, Indiana and Illinois. I have sailed in Boston harbor, Mass. Bay, Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake bay, Potomac, Patapsco, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers—all within two years. And the deuce only knows where I shall turn up next. Mississippi I guess.Well, if I get through with the crape all right, I shall never regret coming. I shall have traveled over a “right smart” of country and shall feel satisfied that in all my travels, I have never seen a place equal to the Old Bay State and “home sweet home.”I shall know enough to mind my business and let others alone. And that is a great deal more than most people know, is it not? I must now “dry up” for I can think of nothing more to say except that it is so awful hot here that my shirt is wringing wet all the time. Don’t know what I shall do when I get farther south.I am well and as fat as the Government law allows. Wishing these lines will find you enjoying good health. I remain with much love for all. Affectionately yours, — CharleyWe do not get any mails now for we are nowhere in particular.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.
00094
