Sunday, 9th. Thede and I went to S. S. together. Visited the infant school. So pleasant. Enjoyed being back again. Bless God for these occasional home visits. Heard Mr. Finney in the morning. Good but queer sermon. Sat in gallery. P. M. heard Prof. Morgan, very warm. Girls and John at home. Evening Ed Williams gave an account of S. Carolina life. Very interesting indeed.
August 2013
Md. Heights, Aug. 9, 1863.
Dear Family:
The old place really looks natural now we got it cleaned up. The men in the company are having a general run of sickness, a great many have been sick since we came back. Jere has been a little unwell for the past day or so and I myself feel a little indisposed. Since we came back I have had all the writing that I could possibly do, besides taking hold and fixing up the bunk and barrack. A great many of the guns on the mountain are being changed, the men have had to work very hard changing them. It took them one night and two days to get the 100 pdr. up. Charleston S. C. seems to draw the attention of all, no doubt we shall get it in time. I like the way Genl. Gilmore and Admiral Dalgreen go at the work. They seem to be determined to get the place and have all the honor to themselves. The army of the Potomac has got back very near its old camping ground. We have all sorts of rumors about moving. I believe none, till we get orders. I think I should like to go S. C. for the sake of seeing the country, but there is no possibility of our going. Captain, do you ever think of coming out here again? This is a pretty place and the scenery fine. The whole of you could come out; it would repay you for your trouble and expense. They are giving ten days furloughs now, any one can get them; but it hardly pays, only ten days! They are getting up a 2nd. H. A. regt. in Mass. are they not? I understand Lt. Hoppin has got a 1st Lieut, position in it. I presume, no chance for any one else. I might have had a strap by this time!
Hoping all are well, I remain Your
Lev.
Beverly Ford, Va., Sunday, August 9, 1863.
Dear Sister L.:—
A new date tells you that we have moved. We moved once before since I wrote to you and had orders to make a “permanent camp,” but just as we got things nicely fixed for a comfortable stay during the heated term, somebody discovered that there was not water enough, so we pulled up stakes and moved to the river. Beverly Ford is a little way above where the railroad crosses the Rappahannock, so if you have a map you can see nearly where our present permanent camp is.
Sunday, 9th—I was detailed on a foraging party today. There were two hundred men and one hundred wagons, accompanied by a squad of cavalry as a picket guard. We went up the Yazoo river bottoms about five miles and loaded our wagons with green corn, which we found in abundance. It was very hot, and the work was strenuous, besides its being on the Lord’s Day—but such is the life of a soldier.
Vicksburg, Sunday, Aug. 9. Spent the day pleasantly, reading aloud most of the time Covenant and Enquirer. David Wallace very sick in camp, not expected to live. Bathed in pond in the evening.
Unidentified soldier with full beard in Union non-regulation uniform
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Sixth-plate ambrotype, hand-colored ; 9.3 x 8.0 cm (case)
Deposit by Tom Liljenquist; 2012
Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs; Ambrotype/Tintype photograph filing series; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Record page for image is here.
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Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
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Civil War Portrait 053
by John Beauchamp Jones
AUGUST 9TH—NO news from the armies.
Mrs. ex-President Tyler, who has already been permitted to visit her native State, New York, once or twice during the war—and indeed her plantation has been within the enemy’s lines—has applied for passage in a government steamer (the Lee) to Nassau, and to take with her “a few bales of cotton.” I suppose it will be “allowed.”
We have fine hot August weather now, and I hope my tomatoes will mature, and thus save me two dollars per day. My potatoes have, so far, failed; but as they are still green, perhaps they may produce a crop later in the season. The lima beans, trailed on the fence, promise an abundant crop; and the cabbages and peppers look well. Every inch of the ground is in cultivation—even the ash-heap, covered all over with tomato-vines.
Camp White, Charleston, West Virginia,
August 9 (Sunday), 1863.
Dear Mother: — It is a quiet, pleasant Sunday morning. A large number of the officers and men have gone over to town to church, leaving a few of us here “to keep house.”
Our Rebel friends are gathering in pretty strong force in our front. Many think it is with the intention of driving us out as soon as the roasting-ears are in condition to afford them food. I think, however, that they are merely concentrating to prevent us from making raids to destroy their important railroad to the Southwest. Whatever they mean, it is a comfort to know that we are giving occupation to a larger force of Rebels that they can well spare at this time.
Uncle writes that he expects to meet Lucy at Delaware or Columbus, and as she intends to visit you soon, I suppose you will see them all in a few days or weeks. I would be glad to be with you, but I am not expecting to be my own master before another year. — Love to all.
Affectionately, your son,
Rutherford.
Mrs. Sophia Hayes.
August 8.—To secure and preserve discipline, provide against disaster from the elements or attack by the enemy, an order was issued from the “War Department, compelling the organization of troops on board government transports, and regulating their transportation.—Governor Horatio Seymour, of New-York, replied to the letter of President Lincoln, relative to the draft.
—This morning, the rebel steamer Robert Habersham, which had been occupied in watching the Union advance movement up the Savannah River, was entirely destroyed by an explosion of her boiler, while lying off Scrieven’s Ferry. The entire crew were either killed or mortally injured.
—A special order was issued by Brigadier General Mercer, in command at Savannah, Ga., impressing into the rebel service, one fifth of the able-bodied male slaves in Eastern, Southern, and South-western Georgia, for the purpose of erecting additional fortifications for the defence of Savannah. “Transportation will be furnished them and wages paid at the rate of twenty-five dollars per month. The Government will be responsible for the value of such negroes as may be killed by the enemy or may in any manner fall into his hands.”
—The gunboat Sagamore captured the sloop Clara Louisa, and schooners Southern Rights, Shot, and Ann, while endeavoring to evade the blockade of Key West, Florida.
Private W.T. Harbison of Company B, 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.
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Sixth-plate tintype, hand-colored ; 9.6 x 8.4 cm (case)
Gift by Tom Liljenquist; 2010.
Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs; Ambrotype/Tintype photograph filing series; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Record page for image is here.
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Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
- fade correction,
- color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
- selected spot and/or scratch removal
- cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
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Civil War Portrait 052
