Camp Burns Clarksburg July 5th/62 Dear Ma & Pa thought I would write and tell what kinde of a fourth of July I had. well in the morning the first thing wast to blacken our shoes brush our clothes up & look like jintlemen (gentlemen). then after breakfast we marched down to town & around it when we was done marching the citizens raised a flag pole but there was not enough men to raise it so the Lieut Col. tolde some men that was on the pavement to help & monge (among) them was olde Jackson & he tolde the Cournal (Colonel) he would see him in hell first before he would help to raise a union pole. The Cournal pitched at him with his _ _ _ but olde Jackson run but we sent squads after him & that double quick too. well they caught him put him in a room but he got out then the whole Regt loaded there guns and started after him. but they soon cought him & now we have got him in the guard house. oh but we made fun of him. there was a picknic here & the Slaves(?) had one to them selves to. there are squads of men sent out every day. this Jackson is a first cousin to Lieut. Jackson (Gen. Stonewall Jackson?) & I tell you he is a big man and mean man too. Ma I believe you are fretting your self about me. you say I have a harde bed to lay on. but it is not harde it is a good soft bed. tell Charlie that if he would hear some of these canon here he might talk. it shake the very ground you stand on. we spent a good time here on the fourth. now Ma dont fret your self about me I am better here than at home. you think the Army is a bad place but it is not. Charlie said he would like to know if I had my uniform tell him I have got it. it is a Puce(?) & Blue pants. when I get tyard (tired) or sick I will come home but I dont think that will be untill the three months are up. & so you got a letter from Jim. I would like to know if he is well. I want you to tell me if you got the Captains picture now don't forget to tell me in your next letter. Dave Roach came home before I left. I think Charlie acts like a (brother or bother?) I tolde him to write & tell me about all the boys. tell Willie Zimmerman that we make the rebbels run when we get after them. please write often and I will to. I have just been in swimming & I was washing some clothes. I want you to tell me all about the fourth of July in Minerva. tell that Joe Milner dont write I will never write to him again. just tell him so too. ask him if he is going to stick to his promise. I would like to see you all but we are a great ways a part & it is in vain to see one an other. I would like to help Pa if I could. By the way you talk Pa must be taking the wool in. tell Charlie (Frank's younger brother) he must do all he can for his Pa & be a good Boy. tell Birt Kitzmiller to write tell him that perhaps we will go to where is the man that Baked pies for the 32nd Regt he Bakes for us & he said he knowed John Kitzmiller, & all the Boys in Potts Company. I would give five dollars if the whole family was here to pick black berries I will bet you neve (never) saw as menne (many) in your life the hills as just covered with them I know of one patch which is 20 Achors (acres) wide & 50 long. you said you was at Sandyville when you write tell how they are all getting. be shure not to forget to tell me about that picture of the Capt. tell Will Haldeman to answer my letter that I wrote to him. tell Simon that I can back(?) him out enna day he ever saw. oh yes I am going to keep my other clothes here because I mite get wet & then I would have something dry to put on. I had some Mulberries as long as my finger. now I want you to write as long a letter as this and a little longer so please write soon. my love to all of you & to Johns folks. & to Uncle Bills & Jeromes to. kiss the little ones at home that is Johns & Bills & Jeromes. from your son Frank I have more questions than answers about this fascinating firsthand glimpse into the controversy surrounding the celebration of our country's Independence Day during the Civil War. It is just one example of the various ways it was observed at such a fractious time that called into question the very legitimacy of our United States. Whether northern, southern, white or black -the holiday celebrating freedom and independence took on many meanings that changed over the course of the Civil War as it dragged on. The skirmish that took place around raising the Union flag in a town where loyalties were divided, was likely typical. And it shines a light on how personal the war was... the enemy was your neighbor or even a relative, not a stranger from another country. Having read that Clarksburg was the home of Stonewall Jackson, I am taking a guess that the guy they put in the guard house may have been his relative. Also, it is very interesting that Frank notes the "Slaves" had a separate picnic that day. This must refer to the slaves living in the town, celebrating the hope that a Union victory might one day secure their freedom. The letter also gives us more insights into Frank's day-to-day life at the camp. Between picnics, pies, blackberries and mulberries, it is pretty clear that in this and all of his letters, food was definitely central to his days. He mentions a "good soft bed" and seems very proud of his uniform.... and he talks about swimming and washing some clothes (probably to please his mother). He mentions several times about sending them a picture of the Captain (Andrew V.P. Day) and did they receive it? Not sure why that would've been so important... I could not find any other information about Capt. Day. It seems like his family would rather have had a picture of him! But perhaps the one portrait was all a drummer boy was entitled to. At the same time, Frank takes this opportunity to mention a number of friends, family members and places near home in Minerva. He talks about a Joe Milner - "I will never write to him again... ask him if he is going to stick to his promise" -- no idea what that is about! But some of the names I do recognize from my family records: I believe Uncle Bill and Uncle Jerome would have been brothers of his mother Mary Ann who was a Zimmerman, which leads me to guess that Willie Zimmerman must have been a cousin (probably son of Uncle Bill). Uncle John may have been a brother of his father (Henry A. Foster). He mentions he "would like to help Pa with taking the wool in." My records show Henry owned a Dry Goods store, but the family must have also had a small farm to manage. Frank also mentions Sandyville, which is about 20 miles west of Minerva. Sandyville is where his mother's family was from. (More about Franks' parents - the Zimmerman and Foster histories in future posts). Just an aside: Birt (Bert?) and John Kitzmiller must have been friends of the family. Frank talks about a pie baker for his regiment as well as the 32nd Regiment who "knows John Kitzmiller and all the boys in Potts Company." The 32nd Regiment was organized at Mansfield, Ohio (about 80 miles west of Minerva). The commander was Col. Benjamin Franklin Potts who was later promoted to brigadier general in 1865.
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As Frank's second letter from Camp Burns in Clarksburg, Virginia (later West Virginia) opens, he mentions that the Captain's brother is in the hospital: "a large brick house, the man (owner) is in the rebel Congress.... it is as nice a house as I or any other person should live in." During the Civil War it was very common for occupying forces of either side to commandeer local homes for hospitals and other military uses. I was not able to discover any more about the owner Johnson, but did learn that Clarksburg was firmly controlled by the Union for the entire war (despite being the hometown of Stonewall Jackson!) As a result, Frank was relatively safe at Clarksburg -- the only real threat being illness. In this letter he seems to be in good health and eating well: "There are lots of ripe fruit here.... I am growing and getting... fat." Again, like taking over private homes, the soldiers were stealing freely from the orchards and crops of the local Confederate farmers who were off at war. Frank goes on to say: "We do not know where we will go, but I think we will stay here for a while. There is an artillery company here." Reading a little bit more about Clarksburg's role in the war, Frank's impressions make sense. According to Clio, a non-profit educational website: "Clarksburg was the site of no major battles or skirmishes. However, it was a crucial supply depot for Union supplies. General George B. McClellan established his headquarters near the city during the early phases of the war. At one point, Clarksburg had seven thousand soldiers camped in the city, prepared to defend supply lines from Confederate attacks. Despite the Union presence in the city, Clarksburg was a town divided. Throughout the war, personal loyalties of Clarksburg citizens remained divided, though Union control of the area was firmly maintained." Camp Burns Clarksburg June 29/62 Dear Pa & Ma I just think you are not acting right for not writing. now I have written 3 times & this make the fourth time. I have not got one letter since I have left Camp Chase. well I will tell you the news. I am well & so is the Boys. the Capt's brother is sick he is in the hospital. the hospital is a large Brick house the man is in the rebble Congress. his name is Johnson. it is as nice a house as I or enny other person should live in. Addam Bowers is not well. did you get that letter that have the Capt's picture. I want you to tell me if you did tell Flora not to spend that 10 dolar bill. the (lears or cars?) runs here on sunday. I have to drum on sunday for bitallain drill. there are lots of ripe fruit here. I had some cherries. some of the corn is as tall as I am. the Boys say that I am growing & getting as fat they said they neve saw enny person pick up as fast as I do. we do not know whare we will go But I think we will stay here a while. there is a Artillery Company here. tell Jo I want him to write. all the Boys in the Co is getting letters & I get none. I think you mite write every week once. well it is getting late and can not write mutch. perhaps you have forgotten where to direct your letters direct them to Camp Burns Clarksburg. Harrison Co. Va. in care of Capt Day. that is all for the preasant. yours truly your son, Frank Some of the most prolific cries in Civil War soldier's letters is "Why don't you write me more?" and "Tell everyone to write me!" Mail delivery was highly anticipated by soldiers who felt left out of the events on the home front. Letters were a huge source of information and the main source of communication back home to the common soldier. It was reported that some regiments were sending out around 600 letters per day. Stationery and envelopes during the Civil War period were beautiful. They typically featured patriotic messages, imagery and political cartoons. It was not uncommon for envelopes to be as decorative as the stationary. Soldiers had the option to write "Soldier's Letter" on the front of their envelope to have the recipient pay for the postage due to the trouble of tracking down stamps and keeping stamps usable in the field. Above quoted from "World Turn'd Upside Down" blog post by Stefanie Ann Farra and also above, see an example of a Soldier's Letter sent by Frank when he had first arrived at Camp Chase. Here's a little bit more about Civil War stationery quoted from an article by Veronique Greenwood published in National Geographic 12/10/2015.... In 1861 and the years that followed, many American men found themselves far from home... More than 2.6 million men joined the Union Army over the course of the war, while roughly a million joined the Confederate forces. The volume of mail ticked upward with letters to distant homes, and when it was time to send a letter, soldiers and civilians alike reached for a new kind of envelope, freshly printed and decorated with red and blue flags, delicate engravings of eagles, poems about the girl left behind, or the faces of generals, whom people at home might never have seen. There were many such envelopes to choose from: Over the course of the war, 10,000 or more Union designs were printed, says Steven Boyd, a historian at University of Texas, San Antonio. “You could buy a hundred different designs in a single packet for one dollar,” he says. This riot of creativity was sparked by, of all things, a change in postal rates. When we drop a letter in the mail now, we don't think of the envelope as a luxury. But until the mid-19th century, U.S. postage was charged by the sheet, so people simply folded their letter and used sealing wax to close it. Reforms to make letters cheaper, however, meant that by 1851, there was a flat 3-cent rate for mail under a half-ounce and traveling less than 3,000 miles. Envelopes, made on newly invented envelope-folding machines, flew out of stationery stores. Two more examples of Civil War stationery....... Camp Burns Clarksburg, Va June 23, 1862 Dear Ma & Pa I thought I would write you a fair line to let you know how I am getting along. I have not been sick untill yesterday. I _____ headache. The boys are all well and enjoying themselves very much. The Adjetent's (Adjutant - a staff officer) leg was broken just above the ankles he is a getting along very well, that is as well as we can expect from a broken leg. Tell Charlie that I have a good drum. There was a battery came here yesterday and they left for Buchanan (about 200 miles to the southeast; the front line of the Union campaign). They were all good men and big ones too. They had the best lot of horses I ever seen. There are not many seccesh (Secessionists - Confederate soldiers) about but there are a few bushwackers (informal Confederate militia). But they are very scared. I like the army very well. The boys will give me anything they have if they something that I have not got they will always share. Tell Charlie I am not afraid to drum with enna thing about Minerva and tell him that I want him to answer that letter and tell me all about the boys in Minerva and how they are getting along. When you write tell how John is a getting along. I want you to tell me everything that is going on. If there is enna letters comes for me sends them to me. We have a good Capt. John Maron makes a very good First Leutenit. But the second Leut is not worth one snap. He runs about to mutch his name is Blackford. He is from Molborrow (Marlboro, OH about 18 miles north of Minerva). Tell Suckie Woode that the Molborrow boys are well. This Blackford is from Molborrow. I have not mutch time to write the Ordley is a going to take the letters downt to the poste office when you write tell how Fave(?) Shane is getting. George Davis is a good boy. He tendes to his business very well. I believe that is all at presant. Yours truly, Frank P.S. When you direct you letters direct them this way Clarksburg Camp Burns. Harrison Co, VA At the time this letter was written, Union forces in the Midwest, including the Ohio 86th Infantry were tasked with attempting to take control of what is now considered West Virginia, and advance the Union line towards today's Virginia/West Virginia border near the town of Buchanan that Frank mentions. Ultimately the Union was only able to control as far as Raleigh, WV, about 120 miles to the west. Up to this point, I have not been able to identify the various officers, soldiers and friends Frank refers to in his letters; but I continue to keep my eye out for clues in other correspondence and photos. One thing is for sure - he is very proud of being a drummer boy! The above photo was found on the website of an independent researcher, Dennis Segelquist, who discovered it in a firsthand account: "The History of the 86th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry" written by Private Joseph N. Ashburn. The young soldiers pictured were between the ages of 18 and 25 and were identified as Privates; except for the boy at front right who was 17 and a Musician -- about as close as I could get to a photo of Frank's actual 86th Regiment, Company I. Confederate Bushwackers or non-enlisted militia, were prevalent in the West Virginia area where the Ohio Infantries were deployed in the years 1862-63. According to Civil War historian, Kenneth Noe, these guerilla fighters were not necessarily "young and landless outlaws on the fringes of society," but as often as not they were "older and propertied men and their sons;" at least during these early years of the war, which often consisted of spontaneous conflicts to maintain local control of the land, rather than battles fought in a wider military strategy. Below is a photo of some 1860's Bushwackers. |
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