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Home : Quarterly Archives : Volume 11 |
Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society |
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Source: October 1961 Volume 11 Number 4, Pages 72–87 Letters from a Civil War soldier This article is based on a study of original letters from one Benjamin F. Kirk, a blacksmith from the vicinity of Media, to his wife Abbie, while he was serving with the Northern Army during the Civil War. These letters are in the possession of Mrs. LeRoy Fisher who is a descendant of the Kirk family. As a private, Kirk was not a highly educated man. Albeit an excellent correspondent, there are many misspelled words and grammatical errors in the letters. Where excerpts are quoted in the following article, many of these will be corrected but some will be left as found, principally because of their intrinsic interest but also because of what they add to the story. The first letter is written on September 8, 1861, from Kings Hill, Camp Lincoln. This is only one of several sites that are mentioned for which research might determine a more precise location, but time did not permit for the purpose of this article. This first letter is very typical of a new soldier, no matter what the army, nor what the war: "We wash our own clothes most of us and use a stone for a washboard. I have a little money left yet 28 cents and if you have any to spare I would like a little but I am not needy I can do without it I expect you have not got a good deal. When we get paid I will try and get an Ambrotype taken." This last is evidently a reference to one of the new types of photography that were springing up about this time. The letter goes on to discuss some financial matters to be coordinated at home, and mention is made of a price of $2.38 for half a ton of coal. "We have a mercantile store here on the ground we can draw orders and take them in mercantile but you have to pay double for what you get. John Nuzem from Rockdale, Cap. Galley Co., is about eight or miles below us at Long Bridge. I would like to have a newspaper Ledger if you get it in the afternoon you will have to pay 1¢ for it. What did the folks say about me listing. It will take some time to learn to drill so we can be taken into the battlefields and there is many ahead of us. Some thinks we will eat of Christmast dinner at home but that is uncertain. You have my best wishes that you may get along without me." Throughout all of the letters there are constant mentions of rumors of an early end to the war as you will see. The letter ended by listing the names of several tent mates; Michael McCartey, John Garvey, Daniel Fullerton, William Blair, John Bert. The next letter is written from Camp Lincoln on September 15, 1861, and describes early training: "I was out to see the calverry and I seen several out there that I knew - William Beeby, William Dunn, Alfred Yarnall, Edward Steel, Charles Thomas. They were all well except Edward Steel he got Kick with a horse. I seen John Witherson's wife in her bloomma dress. She look rite peart. I seen two dressed in the same manner that belong to the 23rd Pa. Regiment (Ed. Note - Birney Zouaves). At a distance you could hardly tell them from boys. They march just the same as men do ownley I did not see their revolvers. I expect they have. "Last Wednesday there was a great firing across the Potomac and likewise Thursday night what the result is I do not know. I herd there was 100 of the cessionist kill and two of our, six wounded. "Just above us is a blacksmith shop and when I hear the hammer it put me in mind of home. "We had a sham fight of thiry rounds of blank catrage after marching down through, Washington with our napsacks on and canteens. On our feet five hours and then went into battle. It was very warm indeed we were out about seven hours and when we came back the Col. said we went through it well and he would not be afraid to take us into the battlefield any minnet. He said all the difference was that we send a few bullets and some grape shot and we would expect to have some return to us. "I think there will be several discharges for some has bin swore in as fifers and they have no turn for music and they are too small for privates and some has their feet froze and can hardly walk. "Have not shave but wounce since I left home. There is some of our men gone out to church (Catholic). There was 550 horsemen came in from Indiana in the same field that we are in." The next letter is from Advance November 8, 1861, and there is a little hint of homesickness end perhaps fear of battle. "Time is beginning to get long for the weather is getting cold and it makes the time long. It is very cold at nights a sleeping on the ground - we have a few boards to sleep upon. From what I hear our men is going to march further in advance but weather we will go or not God only knows There is three divisions going to march 20,000 in each division. I would like to have a pair of gloves (a heavy pair) and the blanket soon." The next we hear from Private Kirk is from a Camp McClellan on January 3, 1862. Again note the rumor about the end of the war: "All night on guard coldest of the Winter ice seven inches near bird on hand. Probably people filling their ice houses. Tell Wesley Clayton I would be pleased to see him down here. Jeff Davis wants to make peace by giving him ten years to pay all expenses. Two go home on furlow at a time and several ahead of me but there is little partiality shown being this is a Dutch Co. War should be over by this time next year and when I was out on picket some of them there are very poor and have scarcely anything to eat but the hoe cake and they have not seeded any at all ownly one field I see and that will soon be tramp down." The next letter proves that soldiers of all wars have had to worry about what was going on at home. It is dated January 9, 1862, and is again from Camp McClellan: "A good bit of dissatisfaction in our camp in regard to furloughs. They say that we cannot get any till we are in the service six months but some of the men were telling me that they seen in the inquirer that they were going to give us all furloughs next month for it, would save a great many desertions, I will try and get home - then the next two years will not seem so long. In regard to boarding, if you could get a house for about thirty or forty dollars a year I think it would be the best to keep house but when people throw out such inducement that they will be exempt from rent during the war I think you are not throwing me in debt for I can hold him responsible and he can't put you out and he can't make me pay any rent for my word is as good as his if not a little better for I am striving for my country and such republicans as set on their rear and laugh at our suffering but they are not willing to take up arms or let their sons either but after all is over they want to share in our gain. But if he can send anyone in my place I am willing to resign and then I can pay him rent." Evidently Private Kirk does not particularly care for Republicans as seen above, and again in the following letter dated January 17, 1862, from Camp McClellan: "I don't see much chance for a furlough. There was two out of our Company went home but they went on their own responsibility for the General would not sign their papers so when they got to Washington they put on citizens clothes so thats the way they got home. "Our regiment is called the confused regiment. We had a good commanding officer but he was too tyranical and wanted his own way too much as far as I can understand and he was superseded and Col. Swency having plenty of money took his place as for a Co. he knows nothing about it he put me in mind of a person commencing to sing he is afraid to open his mouth to give his lungs a free ascend and he stands as if he had the gravel or some other desease and his cheeks look very flushy but he had better stay at home for his money will not lead him into the battlefield and if it does he will not find his way out and that is the way of the Republican party in regard to the war it is easy to get into it and the next question is to get out. It looks like that we were not going to be paid this month for some mismanagement or other all the regiments have been paid but ours and we use to be generally the first." At the very end of this letter, Private Kirk is evidently feeling his sorrows deeply because there is a very rough scrawl which after careful study seems to say "Right about face. Right shoulder shift". I have seen some soldiers in my own military experience who could not particularly bring themselves to use a few cuss words when they were feeling badly, who would instead sing out a few military commands to nobody in particular, which was a method of giving vent to their feelings. Evidently Private Kirk analyzed the new Commanding Officer, mentioned above, properly as seen in his next letter from Camp McClellan, January 24th. "We expect a new Col. The old one had a little skirmish with one of our privates and he had to resign or go under a court marshal. I am sending ten dollars since we just got paid. I would send more but it makes such a bulk. You need not pay any more of my debts till March. "The roads is drying up considerable and in a few days there will be a general movement and by the first of May or the latter end of June I think by that time you may expect to see our men marching to their home. Our men had a great victory in Kentucky." The reference to Kentucky is evidently several battles between January 17th and 19th known as the battles of Logans Crossroads, Mill Springs, Fishing Creek, Somerset and Beech Grove, which were all very early conflicts in the war between relatively untried troops with perhaps 4,000 on a side. Compared to the later massive battles of the war, these early conflicts are generally unpublicized. The scene changes to a new location known as Camp Berry which is evidently across the Potomac from Washington, in the following letter dated February 22, 1852: "We left McClellan on the 19th and marched to Alexandria then took the cars to Ft. Jackson and then marched from there to Washington. Mud don't mention it, I herd some say in some of the mule teams you could see nothing of the mules but their ears. "We have a beautiful sight of Washington across the Potomac the distance being about three miles. Our regiment is guarding three forts. The day we came to Washington two of our men got killed by falling off the cars. Corp. Robert Morrison from Rockdale he had his discharge in his pocket. He had been sick for sometime in the hospital. "A dollar a month seems a good bit for a room just for a stone house but I guess it is the best you can do. I remain your old friend till death". The above letter is signed in a very formal manner "Benj'n E. Kirk, 99th Regiment, Company D, Pa. Vol." As a postscript, he added a reference to the 61st. Pa. (which research indicates contained three Philadelphia Companies): "The 6lst Pa marched the same day that we did they went to Harrisburg I understood that they were going to be mustered out of service. By that the folks may expect peace before long. Today is Washington's birthday they are saluting it in Washington." The next letter is dated March 16, 1862, from a Camp Polerton, and again rumors about the end of the war form an important part of the following excerpt: "I herd today that the President had given orders for an advance movement of the regulars and those that was in the District of Columbia to stay where they are to protect Washington. There is no telling how soon the war will be over but it is the general opinion that it will not last more than six months longer. They took one man away this morning with the smallpox that is the first case bin in this regiment. We have some cripples but since we come over this side of the river they are beginning to get better." A letter of May 1, 1862 from a Fort Baker indicates that Private Kirk is getting his feet on the ground and becoming a good soldier. The first mention is also made of a Lt. Worrell, who appears quite frequently in subsequent correspondence, and was a relative of Private Kirk. Also one of his infrequent references to his children appears: "I feel better than I ever felt in my life. I can talk to anyone and get a good bit of information out of them without being stared at and I hope that some day that you nay understand it not much use of saying any more on this subject till I see you and I hope then it will be easier explained. "As for a drum for Harry I cannot promise, Lt. Worrell said he was a fine boy. Have you got the pants on him yet? It seems that he can talk pretty well he has not forgot me yet. Emma I expect grows. "Lt. Worrell was telling me he was going to send for his wife and mother they wanted to come down and see the place. We will have to pay $5.00 a week for board. Would you like to come along or will you wait Media is a very dreary place Lt. Worrell says no business going on." The next part of the letter comments on current military activities. The reference to New Orleans is interesting in that Farragut seized New Orleans on May 1, 1862. "The people are anxious to hear from Yorktown. If we gain it it will be all up with them but there are going to be a great many lives lost and if they gain it we will not have any too many in the field. I hear that our men are in possession of New Orleans then I hear it is contradicted by some of the neighbors around here but we will know in a few days they say it will take nearly two weeks to get the news. The time of the riot in Baltimore there was a blacksmith said he could of got $l5.00 a day for his two horses and wagon to move them out of Washington. There was great excitement there till our troops came in and they were offering or giving $2.00 for a small sack of flour they thought it would be the last they would get." The next letter from a Fort Carroll, dated May 22, 1862, indicated preparations for moving out and also relates some camp incidents: "I was in Washington last Monday and took a bag of my clothes and sent them by Adams Express and paid the freight 75¬¢. I heard that we were going to march and they were too heavy to carry. I wish while I was about it I had sent more. I have two suits and in a few days expect to have another pair of pants light blue. "We have been shifted about a good bit of late. Moved from Fort Baker to Fort Davis to Camp Folerton and from there to between Baker and Davis and from there to this Fort about five miles from Polerton down the river and we have a splendid view of Alexandria. The 102 New York is alongside and this evening they expect to go on a march down to Frederixburg and our march I expect it will be towards home. I hear that we are to be disbanded. "One day when we went down to the river to bathe one of our men by name of Griffith was drowned and last Tuesday a man was stabbed by the name of Jones from Lancaster County, recruiting officer in his regiment and there is several other items too tedious to mention." "I wish Saley McMullen success and hope that she may have twins and then maybe she will be more careful and mind her drawbacks and a few more other things too tedious to mention." The next letter from Fort Carroll, dated June 1, 1862, refers to General Banks who had been Republican Speaker of the House and, in the history books, identified as no soldier. He commanded 10,000 men in the Shenandoah Valley protecting Washington but General Jackson of the Confederacy, pushing north in the Shenandoah, pushed General Banks back and the Union forces retreated to Harpers Ferry on the Potomac. "I know the retreat of General Banks has saddened many a heart but lastly it seems that one has taken his place in all probability more suitable than him. Lt. Worrell was in Washington yesterday and there was a dispatch came in that General Shields had captured 3000 prisoners and by some in Washington the cry was the war would soon be over but that has been the cry so long. Them that lives the longest will see the most if they don't go blind." "I am sorry to hear you have such a poor appetite. I suppose my absence takes your appetite. I do not want you to grieve yourself entirely away for grieving too much will spoil your beauty and I want some part of you left so I can see you without looking through a microscope and you are perfectly aware you are not as good looking as I am but your qualities may be better. "Some of the dutch in our company falls out some time and there is some of them great for plundering but I have not missed anything so far and as for to understand them I know very little but there is some broken words that I understand." In the next letter Private Kirk becomes a typical tourist in Washington in a letter dated June 19, 1862, from Fort Carroll: "Last Tuesday I was in Washington I was all through the Capitol, in the Senate chambers, in the House of Representatives, and seen many images. One I admired the most was the image of General Washington cut out of a block of marble with a cannon ball in his hand cut out of the same block. In the basin there was some very beautiful fish called the gold fish. "There are a great many wounded soldiers from the late battle near Richmond, I see by yesterdays Inquirer that the 97 Pa. regiment was in an engagement in South Carolina and the wounded and killed I believe I know not one. "The weather is very warm here now the farmers have commenced to cut their grass. I expect they have commenced about Media." The next letter finds Private Kirk finally moving toward battle but he had no way of knowing that the date of his letter coincided with what is now indicated as the end of the Seven Days Campaign outside of Richmond which practically ended the Peninsula Campaign whereby General McClellan attempted to capture Richmond by landing at Fort Monroe and marching up the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. The letter is dated July 1, 1862, and identified as being written "on board S.S. North America". He discusses their receiving orders to go into Virginia, that they started marching and wound up in a snarl with twenty other units so they marched back and set up their tents again. The blame was placed on General Wadsworth. Finally all their gear was taken, including their tents, and they went from Fort Baker at noon down to the Navy Yard. The letter continues: "There we got aboard the North America, left about 8 oclock that evening and run aground about 60 miles below Washington and we are still here 12 oclock the next day waiting for the 9 oclock evening tide. Hear that our men have taken Richmond. I am afraid that we will not be in time for the celebration. Sent some clothes along with Richard McCarty (Mrs. Morris will call for it), and he is under half expense. The cap is a new one if you can sell it do say 50 or 60 cents whatever you can get. We loaded at Alexandria - out of four teams we only took one with us four horses one of the four fell overboard (blind) and was drowned. We have a new Colonel - Col. Liedy appointed by Governor Curtain. "There is many very hard hearted men especially among the Catholic religion game making. Our tent is composed of fifteen that don't swear ownly when they are vexed too much." The next letter is dated July 14, 1862, and proudly proclaims that he is part of the "Army Before Richmond": "I was over yesterday to the 1st. Pa. regiment and seen Cooper Galley. I had a little talk with him but it seems to me that his thoughts were deeper than his conversation. I feel better satisfied a talking to strangers than I do to them that I know especially when they are unreasonable and ignorant. I seen Sam Long that used to be at the Charter House. He is in the 72nd Pa. Baxters Phila. Fire Zouaves. They think they have done their share in this war. "We had a general inspection by General Heintzleman and his Choire (Ed. Note: Private Kirk's interpretation of the military term Corps). I expect we will be here a while till General McClellan gets reinforced. Richmond seems very slow to fall. We are busy throwing up breast works. We have nothing now but hard crackers and salt pork and beef - once we had fresh beef. I thought we would be in an engagement before now but if we had not run aground we would have been in time to see some of the fun as the boys call it down here". There is now a long gap in the letters and the next one available is dated October 5, 1862, with Private Kirk evidently back in the vicinity of Washington: "Your last letter said you were going into the knapsack business. I hope you may succeed in your effort but some is beginning to think that we will not want many more for there is some prospect of peace. We are in a beautiful grove it puts me in mind of Camp Meeting woods. Everyone is their own cook and bottle-washer. "Make me a small star out of red flannel or any shape you like best so I can sew it on my cap in memory of our late General Kearney". General Kearney was a very colorful figure who might have been called a soldier of fortune. He had lost an arm in the Mexican War and in 1859 had fought for France against Italy in Europe. He commanded the 1st New Jersey Brigade and was killed on September 2, 1862, at Chantilly, which is where the North checked General Stonewall Jackson on their retreat from the second battle of Bull Run of August 29th. From a later reference, it is quite possible that Private Kirk was at Chantilly. The next letter, while not from Private Kirk to his wife, is included because it is a vital part of this story of Benj. Kirk. It is written to his wife from White's Ferry, Md. on October 17, 1862. "I, William Blair, as a friend of your husband Benj. Kirk take this opertunity of riting to you to let you know that your husband Benj. Kirk was taking while on picket duty. Our regiment was ordered to Headquarters and the Company that he was in was ordered to goe schriming to find out the enemy and after we find them out we were ordered to retreate and while on our retreate he was as we sopose taken by the rebels. He was taken as a prisoner without being wounded as we sopose. You will excuse me for oping this letter but I had to open it to know how to rite to you. Please rite a few lines to me if you here where he is for I would like to here from him. Signed William Blair." The next letter in the file is from Private Kirk again to his wife from Camp Parole, October 30, 1862. Evidently this is located near Annapolis, Md., and the present-day maps indicate that there is a town of Parole just outside of Annapolis. There are possibly several missing letters because he makes no specific reference of having been just taken prisoner. "I expect your recent letters are in some ones hands in the Regt. I wrote a friend of mind to ask Adjutant Worrell to forward them to me. I wrote to Lewis and also answered Rose Anna and if you see them you can see that I have bin to Richmond and the part I seen and set little store in that was Libby Prison was no great smacks anyhow but reluctantly my time was short in that place. I was put in on the evening of the 20th and paroled on the 23rd and by 11 A.M we were on our way to Akins Landing (12 Miles) and then we had to sleep in a louzy strawstack that night being disappointed by the boat. The boat came 12 noon next day and by 3 oclock we were on our way to Annapolis a dreary place. Drew a new suit from head to foot and put the old suit to one side. If we stay here all Winter the U.S. will have to buy a few coffins." On the back of the letter Private Kirk listed the towns through which he was taken en route to Richmond after his capture. Practically all of them are identifiable on the map today and generally followed the route in Virginia of Leesburg, Berryville, Winchester, down through the Shenandoah Valley, Staunton, and on to Richmond, a very circuitous route. On November 5, 1862, there was another letter from Camp Parole in which Private Kirk stated he had gotten mail direct from home and expressed the thought that he would rather be back in the regiment but things were brighter now than when he had first arrived at Camp Parole. He states that there was great contention between the New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians at the Camp with fighting nearly every night and he labels them as rowdies. He goes on: "There is some talk of Governor Curtain calling all the Pennsylvania troops that are prisoners back into their own State. There is some in Libby Prison that offered one of our Parole prisoners $5 a day to stay there in his place and give him witness and note to that effect. This was before any of our names were taken so one could answer to another's name, John Paxson from Pa. was the man he was sickly and says he cannot stand it hear the sash is all out of the windows and a cold place it will be for our prisoners this Winter." Another long gap in letters finds the next one dated February 13, 1863, with Private Kirk at Camp Pitcher near Falmouth, which is just north of Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock: "The big box of things from home that you have been writing about has finally arrived I picked it up at Regt. one day. The guard picked up the box for me, opened it in my presence, and found no whiskey. They also check for civilian clothing - two boxes in our regt. recently were found to have civilian clothing. "The pies were all doe except the cherry pie it tasted a little malty but not so bad after eating the hard tacts. The ginger cakes were broken up but did net taste too bad. The doe nuts were a little mouldy but very good considering how long they had been made. The rusks were also little the same. The sponge cake was as good as the day it was bake. Very nice indeed. The mango was all dry and no taste in it. The citron was very good the apples were somewhat a little damaged the segars were very good. The chicken was mouldy a little on the outside and tasted a little spoiled the filling but today we warm it up a little in our mess pan and it made a very good dinner. The cheese also was mouldy and not very good." From the above it can be seen that Private Kirk is a very forthright man and not given to telling any falsehoods, not even little white lies. The letter indicated that the package also contained a needle-case, stationery and envelopes. The letter goes on. "We had orders to strike tents we had not more than got them struck and our knapsacks packed before we had orders to put them up again. We have cleared out the timber here but for a tree here and there where at the foot of it there is a poor soldier buried where he sleeps his last sleep on the but of the tree is a board with the name and company and number of the regt. "I am happy to inform you that our Capt. Adam Shul has resign and I expect W. Worrell will take command. A great number in our regt. are getting there discharge from disability. I have not made application for mine I think I might get it but I feel better at present than I have since I joined." A month later, on March 16, 1863, our soldier is at a camp near Bell's Planes: "Some very hard fatigue duty to do. Some that have gone home have forgot to come back. No chance to get a furlough till they return. I here by the papers all that are absent from camp must be here by the first of April or otherwise they will be dealt with according to law. If they return by that date their pay will be stopped from when they overstayed. It doesn't seem fair to us who stay behind and do their work." The names of camps seem endless and most varied. The next one is Camp Lonna Isabella on April 12, 1863: "Last week we had a review. Mr. Lincoln, wife and one of his sons were to see us. He has failed very much since I seen him last. He has a hard task before him. The talk is here that the war will be over in three months. We are in the 3rd Army Choir." The next letter is perhaps the most interesting of the group and is therefore quoted from at great length. It relates Private Kirk's view of the battle of Chancellorsville which took place between May 1 and May 5 with General Joe Hooker leading the Union side and General Robert E. Lee leading the southerners. It was a very important battle of the war which should have been won by the Union which had a force twice as big as Lee's, but by brilliant tactical maneuvering General Lee routed the Union Army and paved the way for the "High Tide of the Confederacy", at the battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3. The same general area in which this battle of Chancellorsville took place became the area almost a year later for the famous Battle of the Wilderness. While the South gained a victory, they lost General Stonewall Jackson, fatally wounded by his own men. General Jackson's dying words were: "Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees." The history books say that the Army of Northern Virginia was never quite the same again. This letter is written May 9, 1863, from Camp Sickles near Potomac Creek: "I take this opportunity to inform you that I had the pleasure being in one of the hardest battles that has bin fought yet that was on Sunday last it commenced at 3 oclock in the morning and never ceased till 5 oclock in the afternoon. Brigade General Berry was killed and General Whipple severly wounded my old friend John Nuzum from Rockdale in Company B, 26th Pa. Vol. Anderson Guards said to be killed friend J. Dix told me. I also see John Bradburry from Rockdale he is safe and I also came out without a scratch. "At 9 oclock the 2nd of May at night our brigade made a charge upon the Rebs and we were told that we had nothing interfere with us on our right our regt. being in front had the hardest part. My little tent mate Hugh Kennedy got into the 120 NY and there he had to stay and they were fireing against us and sent for more ammunition. Our Regt. took one of our own batteries it was one of the greatest things ever known it was to find out what position the enemy was in or if we had not they would of plade smash with us. The next morning on Sunday (May 3) William Blair was wounded and Michael McCarthy slightly with a shell (tent mates). On Sunday the Rebs fired into our Hospital and burnt it. All that could not get out themselves were burned, they took it to be General Hooker's headquarters. Captain Worrell's wife's brother was killed. "On Monday the 4th our Regt. went out to support the Birdain Sharpshooters we were relieved that evening by the 11th NJ. I was down at the spring a cooking some coffee. I came right up along the line and in front of the 11th NJ for my knapsack. The Sharp - shooters began to give it to us on the flank there was one wounded Company A. "Our regt. was to go and join Robbison Brigade the Red Asses are in it but we had not gone furthure then some of our men's breast work before the 11th NJ were drove in. "On Tuesday afternoon we went to the 11 NJ and relieved them again and our regt. was there all night it reminded me of the night at Chantilly we were all soaken wet. That evening there was a flag of truce sent in, I went up to the head of the column. I seen a man going into front of us with a stretcher, I ask him what was the matter he said they want to get out one of there Lieut. that belonged to the Sharpshooters. He was killed by the enemy. For what was actual reason is beyond me of telling but some of the boys said you may bet it is a going to be another scaddaddle. Well next morning 5 oclock Wednesday we left the front and gone back from whence we started of the 27th of April the distance being 22 miles. I never was as tired in my life. I was so tired when I got to General Berny's H.Q.: I could not stand but thank God I stood it better than I expected, we went through mud thick and thin there is four lost in our Company, In the whole regt. I can tell you better in the future if all is well. We are under marching orders it is reported that we are going back to Washington to recruit. "I expect you will be very anxious to here from me there is so many untrue storys a going about. Just before we cross the river I seen B. Markward on Sunday. I seen the 124 regt. I had not time to recognize any of them for they look very much tanned. I expect they lost very heavily they were in the fight on Saturday on that morning the 11th and 12th Army Choir were on our right the 11th were next to our Regt they broke and fled. "Yesterday our blankets came back to us again. I pick up a gun, blanket, scarf, a pocket bible, shirt, draws, scissors and you could pick up anything you wanted. On Monday the 4th I wash myself and made a change and threw my old clothes away. "We just missed getting paid before the battle. Maybe it is all for the best we did not get paid. John Sinn Co. A in Randolph Battery killed $60 in his pocket. I watch the Rebs got quite a number of gray backs from our men. The 114th Pa. Vol. got cut up considerable they had just been paid. Some lost 21 men in a Company. "On the 30th April I was over to the 26th Pa. Vol. Col. Small. John Nuzum was down at the river to see the Rebs at that time we were way on the left I did not see him. I see Jim Starr, Sam Starr's son, from Chester, McBride's Wife's newphew. He was telling me McBrides had buried both of his twins how is it you never told me anything about it. Jim Starr was nip I was told by Dix but poor Nuzum some think he will turn up. The time Curtain was to see us or the President I seen him on a review he seems to take things quite cool and Bradburry seem to think there is as many dies at home as there does in battle. All is well that ends well." It appears obvious from the above letter that Private Kirk is still not entirely over the shock of what is, if not his first battle, certainly his biggest. Some of the specific instances he talks about are verified in historical accounts of the battle. Unfortunately there is another long gap in the letters, and then begins a series of letters from several hospitals starting about October 22nd from the Mulberry St. Hospital in Harrisburg, and then primarily from York U.S. Hospital in York, Pa., on through to the middle of 1864, where ends the collection of letters. Somewhere along the way he had been wounded and he had also been raised to Corporal. Many of his letters from the Hospital tell of his helping with ward duty as new wounded constantly came in. In one letter he says: "I don't knew whether I will be sent to my Regt. or into the 1st Battalion of the invalid Choir. My wound is all healed but there is a scab on my back I feel it when I get a little cold." There is also evidence in the letters that a third child, a daughter, was born to Abby and Benj. in early June of 1864, so that it appears that soldier Kirk must have finally gotten a furlough some time in September, 1863. The war never did end quite as soon as Private Kirk thought it would. Thus ends the saga of one Civil War soldier as seen through his letters, and a most revealing insight it is of one man's part in a very famous war. |
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