MS 997 - Sarah V. Elder Dicken Papers Transcripts (January - March 1862)
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| Title | MS 997 - Sarah V. Elder Dicken Papers Transcripts (January - March 1862) |
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January 16, 1862Camp Wood Ky Jan the 16 1862 I received your welcom leter on the 15 of Jan and after I haad perused its contens I found that you was all well at that time I am well at this time and all of the wreste of the good looking Boys here I have not got a greateale to write about this time all though I shal tri to write a litle to you I can not hordley tel what I shal commense on firste I shal tel you at firste I am glad that C Seagreaves is still a going with Miss Bowers yet these I think that you can think hoo one of them is that has ben a going with some more of the femails there I hope that you will excuse me if I am knot write this is all of that kind of writen then I shal proseede in triing to tel you a little about the wore here the wore is a little gloomy here the rebels is with is 5 miles of us and they ar a berning all the things that they can they bernt a litle town the other knight with in 5 miles of our Camp the name of the plase is called cave city and they in tended to come and bern this little town here I think that they will knot do that litle think for the old 49nth is here and they juste defy the hole scesion tribe of ky them selves then if an can think that we ar all write on the wore question I herd that tis wore was a going to come to a close in 7 weeks I think that if this wore will end end that many months you may think that this is a hard writen leter and I think that you thought write this time I hope that you will put those Jackson rackers threw on double quick time that is the way our Captain does then put them threw and think of a Dear friend a fair of in the Southern land of old Ky then I want you to think of those cold knight that the poor Pickets has to go threw with I think that the pickets has a little hard times and a while I am glad that those Boys is got such spunk as to go with sams of the fair sects there I hope that the time will come when I shal get to come back there and have a litle fun with some of those fair sects there too I think that is a plenty about those ladies there you wanted to know a litle about those has ben a puting in there sharp pointed knowes in our bisness those ar a round there some where or relse they have left there very shortly I shal knot tel thir names at all I have wrot prety close I think I shal quit this piese nonsese and tri to write a little a bout a pickter that I shal send to my brother WC Dicken I think that it will do to stand out in a cornfield to scair the crowes out of the field then you can get to see the thing Buy asking him forit then you can see a prety hard spesimen I got the very best picter that I could get I think that it will pass for a thing this is all this time then I shal quit for this time I want you to excuse this hard scribling for this time and I will do beter the nex time this prety hard I think for the noies that is a going on here ther is onely 15teen in this tent and I never tride to write a leter and hol to quit then I still remaine your true friend as ever then write to me a gain as soon as you can convenient write soon good knight Sade JW Dicken to MSVE Directe your leters to the same plase I shal write a litle to that small leter in another leter another time Juste please tell him that I will not write to such a small leter as that this prety hard I think I shal write to him in another leter Jesse is a writen a leter to him this is all this time January 18, 1862Camp Wood Ky I received your moste welenned Leter Dated Jan th 13 and was very glad to hear that you was well at that time and all the wrest of the friends there at that plase I & my Brother Jesse is well at this time & M Clotz [Martin Klotz] is stil at this Hospitle yet I did hear that he was agoing to get to come in camp a gain be fore long I am Sarow that I can not be there with you when there is good slaying there I am sorow that those selabrated braves has got the curage to trito get some of those girls to go with them to church with them I am a butch man well you must allow me to speak honeste then I shal tri to proceed on a other story to day I am on gard and the wreste of the regment was called out a gain in a line of battle I and the wrest of the gards that was with me thought it prety hard that we did not get to gow with the regment all though it all a vailed not the rebels retreated back in there camp a gain & there was knot onley too companyes of them we think that to morow they will make another attemt they have a bout eight thousant and we have a bout seventeen thousand I think think that we will give them all that they can get a long with I can not tel what they will do yet I think that they neaad knot tri it I think that it will be like those bold things that you have there that is I mean those takes those girls a slayriding not at all this is all of that then I hope that those that has got nothing to say a bout our affairs will juste hold there pice then: the 49nth went over the river on double quick and have knot got back yet I do knot expect to see them all get back alive all alive they went out to fite and I and the wreste of the gards had notion to leave and go with them and if we had the would put us all in the gard house then on extra doutey the penality is death for a garto leave his poste unles he is called of buy the kernal then we half to Gard it or die then we half to stand back and tel them to shoot one of them rebels forus I hope that they will have a fine time of it although it is all moste eight O clock and it is a raining prety hard at this ime here O then I pity those poor felow solgers that has to lay out all this knight if I should of not ben on gard at this camp I should ben out with my Brother and all the wreste of the 49 reg too god Spair them a little while longer O that I was there I could tel you you a great dele more than I can write about this wore then I gess that I had Beter quit for this time I shal write more the next time O then think of me and I will think of you I think of you in all of mi travels and works then I think that I shal close this and leave alitle for the nex time I Stil remain Your Dear friend until JH Dicken to Miss SV E Write as soon as you gete this hard pise of writen and I will too January 27, 1862Charleston, Va. My own Dear Cousin, I have received your most mighty and most powerful as well as truly esteemed welcomed letter I was glad to hear things were moving on so smoothly with you Indeed I was not only glad but truly happy to learn that fortune cleered your lot among the Jacksonites most interesting and accommodating people? I fancy see you clapping your hands and shouting for joy on receipt of the decree - O most fortune-favored woman! noble and enviable position! How I wish I were thee? "I call thee blessed - though now the voice be fled In your new field of labor you find a shield from your bereavements, a hiding place in Abraham's or some other fellow's bosom O happy woman yet bereft of a voice ("The love where death has set his seal, Nor age can chill, nor rival part, Nor falsehood disavow.") I see no reason why your troubled bosom may not be alleviated and its great burden be intered in the land of oblivion by your present most noble and honorable position. How different your condition from mine - poor unfortunate Sloke(?) - "Never had a sweet heart nor did any ever commit suicide on his account" O how lamentable, how undesireable my case - It is wrong for one, who has lavished upon her a position supremely superlative, to upbraid meek lowly and unfortunate me. The latter part of your (blank space in letter) in litterly true & ever shall be - but the former part one would infer had they heard the composition that was read before one - Billie Cessna and a Miss Lizzie Goode - by Rev. R last Sept. about the hour of two P.M., of the day 20 and 1. We shall see what we shall see, or rather you shall see what you shall see when I visit old Bony (?) - Be up and a doing - Keep nearly all this to yourself until my arrival, then promulgate. I am a victim. I have no news to tell you of vital importance. Here are a great many women and children on the verge of starvation Our great flood of last, drove them from their homes - poor creatures could frequently be seen drifting on a raft from place to place, with perhaps a few chickens, a cow and a pig or to two, only to be chased further from home, O say, permit me to let you into a secret. Write soon. The heart bursting word must again be said - Farewell Cessna I beg pardon for mistakes [lines of poetry adapted from "The Image of Death" by Felicia Hemens] February 9, 1862Camp Chase Miss Sade Elder It is with much pleasure that I seat myself this pleasant sabbath afternoon to address a few lines to you by the medium of the pen. Though unexpected, unlooked, or even unwished for yet I have availed myself of this present opportunity. Never the less strange as it may seem yet I hope it may meet with a kind reception. And in return to this please tell me what I most wish to know (namely) How that you intend to spend your days single or double, on whether anybody pays his Addresses to you at this present time. Although I'm soldiering at the present time yet I expect to return Home soon again And if desirable I will endever to call on you at a convenient time. If there is anyone paying his kind addressed to you please tell me when you answer (That is if your majesty chooses to answer this much embarrassed letter) who or what his name might be. We are having a fine time in camp at the present time the weather is being very fine the boys all in good spirits. As for myself I don't enjoy myself as well as I might the reason I will state to you in the proceeding lines. The reason I don't enjoy myself is because I'm not found in your society, which ever gave me the greatest of pleasure. Oh Sade I love you, and more than that it almost provokes me to think that I cant converse with you face to face. But I must close Adieu sweet heart For we must part. The joys of this life be with you. From Your devoted Admirer Please excuse all mistakes and write soon Address Fifty Four Please answer whether favorable or unfavorable and oblige. February 12, 1862Camp Chase Ohio Cousin Sade Miss, I seat myself this pleasant Tuesday afternoon to say a few words to you through the medium of the pen. I had intended to write this forenoon, and then I thought I would wait until the afternoon (expecting to receive a letter from Annie) so as to tell you the news (that is) the best [ripped] I received a letter from her which brought to me rather bad news. She wrote that she was verry lonesome and tierd of Keeping [crossed out] living alone and more than that, she was quite unwell and wanted me to get a furlow and come home immediately. But circumstances would not permit me to do so consequently I am still in Camp. The boys from our neighborhood are all well and apparently in good spirits as for myself I like this place verry well, with the exception of the mud. The reason I don't like it, it is rather [ripped] deep. (only four or six inches in debth) We do not kow how long we are a going to remain here the talk is that we will leave in a few days. And I don't care how soon if they only take us where we will have plenty to eat & drink (as for drink) we have water plenty from this reason, it is raining every few days. The weather is warm and pleasant this afternoon it does not seem to me like home for I have not seen a sleigh since I left Fremont Let alone had a ride. I wish I could come home and take Cessna's Cutter and Annie and I could come and pay you [ripped] I imagine we would have a fine time, more so than the time I took you home on horseback do you recollect the time yet. I must tell you something about our camp affairs. Regiments leaving camp The 68th Ohio left here on sunday Feb. 9th at 7 oclock. The 58th Ohio left here on monday Feb 10th at 3 oclock the latter made a very nice appearance on dress perade, the band played a pretty tune, the boys all seemed merry but one, and he had his reason for feeling sad. I will tell you the reason why He ran away once and they brought him back then a few days before the Regt was ready to leave he ran away again, and we caught him so they shaved one half of his head and then drummed him our of camp But Im getting too lengthy, so I must close Please write soon so Good by M.V. Garn [February?] 1862[letter fragment - date unknown - after Feb 18, 1862] conveying almost innumerable companies of Uncle Sams boys to some place or other where they are sure of gaining the glorious victory. For Sade you know his boys are almost sure to win Sickly from the fact that the weather in daytime is quite pleasant, almost as warm as in the merry months of May in Ohio, - Nights very cold & no stoves in our tents. But our boys are ingenious the other day they procured some Brick & constructed a fire place which is quite an improvement to our Shanties & makes it appear a little like Home. But Cousin I for one have found out the difference of Soldering and that of being at home with a pleasant wife such a one as Annie I have not saw or even heard anything of her since Feb 18th 1862 I was home then on Furlough and enjoyed her society for three parts of days which was but a short stay Annie & myself should liked to have paid you a visit but my stay was so short that we could not. I expect we will soon all return to our home & then Annie & I will come to Seneca Co soon and have a jolly old time with you. I told Sammy you wanted him to write but I could not persuade him to write. All you can get him to do is to sing Hard up Hard up to do is to sing
Camp Kelley Grafton Miss Sarah Elder: I am happy that I am permitted to inform you that I am well. I am still learning, or rather perfecting myself in that art, by which man prompted by ambition and pride has attempted to destroy the happiness to deprive a free people of their liberties and overthrow the best government on earth, But I hope the time is near at hand when peace shall be again proclaimed and the Stars and Stripes [ripped] float over every town, [ripped] arsenal in the [ripped] I hope the time will soon come when those in rebellion against the government, which has protected them against the insults, and overtures of those who have hereto fore sought to annul and destroy the liberties they were enjoying previous to the breaking of this rebellion; will be dealt with in a summary way and punished for treason, as they justly deserve. The 55th is still in Grafton, and enjoying ourselves as well as we can under existing circumstances Virginia in my estimation is [ripped] a paradise its surface is [ripped] abrupt for me, were I [ripped] country in which to spend [ripped] in pleasure. I would certainly seek it elsewhere. We have been kept pretty busily engaged since we are in Va. We arrived in Grafton on the evening of the 26th of Jan, and stayed Just one week when we were ordered to New Creek Station from thence to Romney. Then to Moorefield of which movement I suppose you have heard, after returning from Moorefield we were immediately ordered to Grafton again, where we have been ever since, But I think if have to stay here until the war shall have ceased, we will not stay a great [ripped] I hope we may be [ripped] Tennessee and the [ripped] better, as we have enough of the sored soul of Va. We had a splendid celebration on the 22nd of Feb We met the 82nd, the 6th Va and a section of artillery in the town of Grafton I have not time to write any more at present but I hope you may be enjoying good health on reception of this. You will excuse my blundering letter, but circumstances vary things Which term may be applied to this letter, With respect Your Friend [ripped] Wm Leerman
Camp Stanten March the 30 '62 I received your moste welcomed Leter yesterday and it gave me great satisfaction too hear from you a gain & too hear that you still enjoyed good health I and Jesse & and NB Lybarger and M Clotz is in this camp and all of us is in good health at this time. Mr Wm Shaw is at C Wood yet I Blieve. I herd that he was a driving a teem there at the commasary Department and was all well then I have got a great deel too write at this time and a small plase too write it on they a word of all kinds of talk a word of a Compound the first is that we have orders is that we half too march soon one destination is Dicater Allabama the distents is a bout 75 miles I believe that urreason that we did knot march was that the rebels Bernt the Bridge and the wriver was too deep for us to a ford it and then we had too fall back a lttle pese all though the time has a rived for us too march and March is mounth that we must march a gread deel I hope when we get at that plase wher I leaved men jabout above for this wreason we have won a grat many glorious Battles and Still I hope that it will not a great meny monthes any more all than oh god omley knows when this was will close I am not particular all though I would like to hear a word from old abe that the 49th reg Should ground arms about face too our homes march. then I would feel prety well all though I am here and if my health is spaired I shal put it threw untill I come too the end of it and will bear it well & valenly a litle while and then I shal come back a gain all write Side up with cair this is all at this time you wanted a large leter this time I think that I can not write a very extensive leter this time for this wreason we ar a bout too march a gain all though you can see that I was in a big hury too write this much wrote in double quick thime this is all then on we gos too old Allabama sorow this is all at this time this is from your kind friend Mr JHD to Miss Sade Elder Direct your leters |