I have done several things today. Finished Fannie’s chemise, first parched some coffee #cw150

Saturday 2^nd [May 1863]

I have done several things today. Finished Fannie’s chemise, first parched some coffee. Sam & Others killed two hogs yesterday. Atheline done up the lard today. Fannie baked some loaf bread & molasses bread this evening. Sis Matt & I went to Mr. Henry this evening. He went to Asheville after Matt’s earring this evening. He forgot it. We rode down to the stables. He got 5 lbs. of sugar today for 7.50, 1.50 per lb., dear sugar. Harrie is in Asheville, gave out at Knoxville, Tenn.  Poor fellow, he has come back to die I fear. The two Matts went to church at the Academy today but did not stay for preaching as they saw a cloud coming. It did not rain any of consequence here. Our garden is backward, needs rain. Betsey went home last Thursday evening. The two Matts sleep upstairs in this room. Pinck & Willie on the trundle bed & Mr. Henry, Willie, the babe & I on the big bed.

Source: Diary of Cornelia Henry in Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journal and Letters of the Henry Family. Clinard, Karen L. and Russell, Richard, eds. (Asheville, NC: Reminiscing Books, 2008).

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I bought 8 lbs. of honey yesterday of old Jim Case. It is not very nice. Give a lb. of bacon for a lb. of honey. #cw150

Saturday 25^th [April 1863]

I finished one of the babe’s stockings yesterday & began one for Mr. Henry today. His are knit (cotton). A beauftiful day, warm & bright. Betsey went home this evening. Zona still unwell.  She has fallen off a great deal. Looks pale & lean. Mr. Henry, Pinck & I took a long walk this evening. Went to see the little colt at the Stradley place. The Luther mare’s colt. It is a very fine colt. So large & well made. I was very tired when we got back. It was sun down & I had to get out supper after I came. I bought 8 lbs. of honey yesterday of old Jim Case. It is not very nice. Give a lb. of bacon for a lb. of honey. Bacon is selling at 75 per lb. Corn from 4 to 6$ a bu. & flour for a lb. of honey. Bacon is selling at 75 per lb. corn from 4 to 6$ a bu. & flour 25 cts. per lb. Dear living to those who have to buy.

Source: Diary of Cornelia Henry in Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journal and Letters of the Henry Family. Clinard, Karen L. and Russell, Richard, eds. (Asheville, NC: Reminiscing Books, 2008).

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Dear wife you must do the best you Can til I git home #civilwar150

Carline County Va

April the 15 1863

Dear Wife I Seat my self for the pleashure of Answring your kinde leter dated April the 3 1863 it found Me well as i Cold be exspected for a poor Soldier I hope those few lines may Come safly to hand and finde you Enjoying good helth Dear Wife I hav nothing of importanc to write you at this time times are very hard here Every Thing is Very high it looks to me like starvasion to me hir  I don’t see any  prospect of any Crops bring made in this part of Va without a grate alteration Soon  Dear wif you never Sed in your leter how mutch money you had recived from me I wold like to No how mutch you recived from me I want you to let me no in your next leter So as I will no whether or not it all or not  Dear wif I had oft moor money to send too if I Cold get a safe chance to send it to you I Cold send it it in a leter but it wold not be apt to get it Dear wife I want to See you verry bad their is strong  talk of us goin to Wilmington NC be fore before long but I am afraid that they air aint ani  Sutch good news that I wold like for you to write in your next leter how all the rest of the family is a giting a long You never rote to me nothing about what you was a talking about before I left home we hav a great deal of hard driling to Do here now we have to Drill 6 hours out of a day Dear wife you must do the best you Can til I git home I herd you was well Lt powers told me you air well I had rather a seen you I writ A leter to you every weeke Dont be afraid to  writ paper is only $5.00 Dollars a quire  they was 3 men ran away out our redgiment last week  as my time is short I will Close write soon fail not I hav a  verry bad chanc to write hire tell all of the family to rite Nothing more I remain your affectionate husband til Deth

John Futch to Mrs Martha Futch

I reckon you neadent not to lendyour money out if you do So be shur to get a good noat and security Write and let me no how Mary [illeg] is geting along

Source: Futch papers, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, as found on www.ncecho.org

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Sassafras Blossom as a substitute for Black Tea #civilwar150

Sassafras Blossom as a substitute for Black Tea

It is said that if the blossom of the sassafras (which will now soon be in full bloom) be gathered and dried in the shade, be used in making tea, instead of the root, it will be found an excellent substitute for tea, which now sells at from twelve to fifteen dollars a pound.

Source: Yorkville Enquirer, April 15, 1863 as found in John Hammond Moore, ed., The Confederate Housewife (Columbia, SC: Summerhouse Press, 1997).

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Dear Wife I hope this war will soon close for I do want to come home #cw150

Camp near Port Royal

April the 9th 1863

Dear Wife I seat my self this Beautiful morning for the purpos of writing you afew lines to let you know that I am some fat and I am one of the Bully Soldiers

I have [illeg] in my looks so that you would not know me I am so fat and I am a grate speculater times is very Still up here I dont hear know talk of a  fight up here provishions is very high up here Tobacco is 5 dollars a pound and meal is $1 & 25 Cts a gallon fresh meat is $1.50 cts Coffee is $5 a pound and ever thing is high

Dear Wife I hope this war will soon close for I do want to come home [really] Bad [theys] know satisfaction to Be Seen in Camp I hope before six weeks roles a round that I may be home with you Someday I make $5.50 cts and some days more & some days less you must kiss Sis for me but I had rather be home and Kiss her my Self give my love to Mary Stokes and family and to Caroline [illeg] and family So nothing more at this time only I remain your true and affectionate husband til death write soon John Futch

Source: Futch letters, North Carolina State Archives as found on www.ncecho.org

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Taxes now being assessed…They are enormous; Prices too are ruinous #cw150

April 8, 1863

Went yesterday to Hascosea. Very imprudent in Mr E, as he is covered with a thick eruption which I hope, however, is only nettle rash & fever with it. Quite cold; the only evidence of Spring as you drive up is the Peach blossoms but for them it looks like Jan. Country much excited about the Taxes now being assessed. They are enormous. Met neighbors who all stopped & talked them over. Prices too are ruinous. I do not see how salaried men can live. I preserve in the 2d vol. of this book a slip cut from a Richmond Paper as reference for the future: $5 in gold brought $21 a few days since in Chatham County & a lot of negroes average $1800. One man, a miller, $4,400 — so much has our currency depreciated.

Seward entertained the Hatien minister at dinner the other day. Think of that! The Caricatures put forth against the Abolition party in its first rise & which were the amusement of our childhood actually realized. I mark the slip A no 2. The country has been filled with rumours of the taking of Washington in this State, all of which are untrue. Gen Hill is down in that part of the country, has issued a circular recommending the farmers to commence their spring work & promising them so far as he can afford it protection from the enemy. A dispatch from Gen R Taylor dated Berwick’s bay to Gen Cooper tells us of the capture of the Federal Steamer Diana, mounts five heavy Guns but little injured. Abolition loss 150 — killed, wounded, & prisoners.

Our Army has been reduced to ¼ lb of Pork a day, only one third the full ration. We are discussing the propriety of reducing our negro allowance in the face of it & sending the surplus to the Qr Master. It seems hard that Cuffee should not feel somewhat of what his masters & betters endure. Sent off a box to Tom & Frank Jones containing 2 hams, 2 sausages, half a side of Bacon, 2 bottles Red Pepper, 2 do black, 4 bottles of Tomato Catsup, some white beans, a quantity of butter, & a lot of Tobacco. A box to Amo with a ham, half a side of bacon, some butter, a sausage, a bottle of black and one of Red Pepper, some Tobacco, & a pair of Epaulettes & some things for his Mother, stockings, sugar plums, & pop corn for the children. Mr E sent a bu of Beans to Sister F. She writes that are worth ten dollars in Raleigh. A can of Lard to Jessie & some seed corn for Mr Gantt. I hope they will go safely!

Correspondance, demanded by Parliament, between Mr Mason & Lord Russel is published in our papers. It is most humiliating & insulting to us & I earnestly hope that the President will at once withdraw Mr M & no longer keep him standing hat in hand, a target for Lord Russel’s petty malice & mean selfishness to vent itself upon. The great negro expedition sent out from Port Royal which was to carry sorrow & woe to our hearts & our hearths by corrupting our negroes, making them affiliate with their armed brethren, has returned in shame & confusion of face. They landed at Jacksonville, Florida, committed all kinds of horrible & brutal excess, plundered, burned, & stole, but a handful of white men drove them pell mell back to their boats and the Yankees could do nothing with them, so they put back to their friend and sympathizer Gen Hunter.

Source: Edmondston, Catherine Ann Devereux, 1823-1875, Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston 1860-1866. Crabtree, Beth G and Patton, James W., (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1979). http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/478.html

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I must try to make a wedding Cake, tho the war has diminished my stores sadly. #civilwar150

April 1, 1863

News of the success of our Cavalry in the west under Forrest, Wheeler, & Morgan, capturing prisoners, 800 in no., arms & equipments, burning Commissary stores & destroying a R R Bridge on the Nashville road at Brentwood — thus annoying Rosencrans to whom they have (the Abolitionists) given the sobriquet of “Old Holdfast.” They claim to have received from New Orleans tidings of a complete victory at Port Hudson & that all their vessels with the exception of the Mississippi, which they declare they burned because she was aground, were safely past our batteries, but that is for Europe as a Steamer sailed last week. O! universal Yankee nation how you do lie! Your moral sense is perverted, you see no shame in it. We suffer from aprehensions that our army in Va will be forced to “fall back.” Sec Stanton has a rumour to the effect that we are removing our machinery and munitions of war to a less exposed place than Richmond. Numbers of troops have, we know, left Gen Lee — some to So Ca, some to the Blackwater — & the country is filled with reports of the intentions of Government & the need of food, which are very painful, tho I do not credit the whole of them. Prices are fearfully high even for depreciated currency, which fact, however, loth & slow I have been to admit, is indisputable — Lard 1.25, Bacon 6.00 & upward, Flour $30 per barrel, Tea $7 per lb, sugar $1.12 ½ to 1.25 per lb, boots $50 a pr, Long cloth $2. to 2 25 a yard, Cotton Cards $30 for two pair, I think, Salt considered cheap at $25 per bu, butter $2 per lb — & every thing else in proportion. The country has been clamouring for a Tax — a high Tax & they have got one now. At least the House has passed it & there is little doubt but that the Senate will follow suit. It is enormous! Sidney Smith’s taxed Englishman was a favoured individual to what a taxed Confederate will soon be. I fear me that the vice of lying and false swearing will be amazingly increased. The temptation to under estimate one’s property will be great. When it is published as a law I will enumerate some portions & mention the amount we pay.

Last week the Battery constructed above us was taken in tow by a steamer to be carried down to a landing below us to be ironed. From some mismanagement they allowed her to drag the boat then under headway of steam past the landing & attempting to turn she ran afoul of the boat crashing her wheel & damaging her greatly. Shameful conduct some where & conduct which will be felt in the Army, for this is one of two Steamers upon which we depend to carry our supplies to Weldon. One boat was lost from the drunkenness of the person in charge last summer — now this from incapacity! It is too bad and we have had a part of a cargo ready bagged for three weeks waiting for her to come & take it and yet all the time is the out cry — “send on your corn“! They put a negligent ignoramus in charge because forsooth he has interest enough to get the appointment which keeps him from the Conscript Camp & then the nation & army suffer! Ah! patriotism, these stupid worthless officials try you sadly! Our gun at Rainbow Gen Beauregard wished for at Charleston & instead of sending the order to some man of sense who knew the country & that the best, in short the only practical, way of getting it there was to send it back by steamer to Halifax & there put it on the R R, some num-skull of a commissioned officer ordered it to be hauled 25 miles across the country to Tarrboro to the R R there. The consequence was that after dismounting & with great labour moving it about 300 yds it stuck hopelessly in the mud & there it lies useless to every one waiting, like fighting Joe, for the “roads to harden.”

We have had terrible weather latterly which has I fear played havoc with our Peach crop. “George the 4th” is the only one that I have examined which gives promise of fruit. “Miss Timmons” is deceitful. “Old Mixon” a cheat & “President,” “Ravenel’s favorite,” “Grape Mignon,” “Newington,” & “Early York” — blackhearted! Hard names to give my friends. The Apples will I hope escape, as they are very backward. My two hens in the house yard, Mrs Marllow & Katrine Von Tassel, laid in 75 days 118 eggs between them. Pretty well, considering one was a pullet!

Sue is gone to Raleigh to attend the Communion & Kate Miller’s wedding which latter is to take place on the 15th. I must try to make a wedding Cake, tho the war has diminished my stores sadly. Mr E read me this morning an extract, “The best way to see Divine Light is to put out thine own candle.” What a world of wisdom, of faith, and of trust in God & humility does it contain! “Put out thine own candle,” vain man, that the Sun of Righteousness may enlighten you.

Source: Edmondston, Catherine Ann Devereux, 1823-1875, Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston 1860-1866. Crabtree, Beth G and Patton, James W., (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1979). http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/478.html

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Let us hope that the next time we meet it will not be to separate again soon. #civilwar150

Camp Gregg, Va., March 26^th 1863

My dearest Wife

Your letter of the 22^nd came today and I was very sorry to hear that you were no better, for in your last I thought you might be improving. You do not say anything about taking the tonic prescription I sent you, for that old wracking disease. I hope nevertheless that you are trying it, and that you will find it of use, for you could not need it more than now. I start a box for you tomorrow containing some nice note paper, a few envelopes and 45 lbs. nice brown sugar. It will go from Richmond by express and I hope you will get it, for the sugar is very nice. Altho’ I feel that in doing as plenty others have done, and claiming that it is right, still I would rather it should not be known generally for those who cannot do the same might make occasion to talk about it. You will be surprised to see what nice sugar can be bought for 3 ½ cts. per lb.

Tomorrow we have a fast day and may the Lord grant us the grace that will enable us all to so importune Him that he will grant our prayers. Gen. Lee has published an order exhorting all to do as we should on such a solemn day. I shall go over to hear Mr. Williams in the morning and try to get him to preach to my Brigade in the evening. Gen. Lee, I should judge, is determined to strike home and so effectually as to close the war, if possible, soon. We all feel confident of our success so far as this Army is concerned.

You will be very much surprised to hear that Gen. Hill preferred charges against me last Sunday, but in this wise. I wrote what I intended to be a semi-official letter to, as I supposed, my friend Palfrey in Richmond and through him I suppose it got to the Sec. of War, and as it is against orders to communicate with him except through intermediate commanders, it was returned to Gen. Lee, calling his attention to the order and he ordered Gen. Hill to prefer charges. Gen. Hill sent them up, but disapproved them, stating that the letter was only semi-official, so Gen. Lee sent them back authorizing Gen. Hill to withdraw them. Gen. Hill acted most kindly and delicately, taking the paper out of the general packet so it would not be made public. I cannot feel too kindly towards him, for altho’ no court would have done anything to me, still it would have injured me with the public if I had been brought before a court martial. If Palfrey did send the paper to the Sec. of War, it was a mean act and he can keep clear of me in the future. I wrote asking him if he did it.

I am going to break up my mess as soon as we move, taking Maj. Englehard and Capts. Kirland and Hunt with me. We have too many now.

Honey, I was sorry to have to dampen all your hopes about seeing me, but I saw it was merely allowing you to hope for what could not take place. Let us hope that the next time we meet it will not be to separate again soon.

Col. Kirkland has been elected Colonel of the 21^st NC and altho’ they have no right to elect, it will secure his appointment no doubt. It is generally thought that our staff will be increased, giving a Brigadier an Inspector General with the rank of Major and another Aide-de-Camp. If so, I shall try to keep Capt. Hunt.

We hear bad reports from NC of late, but I for one hope our campaign may be brilliant enough to silence all such treasonable proceedings.

 

Source: William Hassler, ed., One of Lee’s Best Men: The Civil War Letters of General William Dorsey Pender (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).

 

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I want your horse,that is if mine should fall and he might under the treatment he is getting. #cw150

Dover Road 8 miles from Kinstons NC

Mar 27 [1863]

Dear Brother

I recd your letter a few days since I have been a little unwell for several days but am about well again. I think it was nothing but cold. We are on pickett nearly all the time and the weather has been cold and wet. We had sleet reain and snow for 35 hours a few days ago but it is clear and moderate weather now. I don’t think we will have much more cold weather you say Jno Micheaux wishes to be transferred to my company. The only way that I know of doing it is for him to write an application for a transfer and get his officers to approve it. It will then be sent here and I will approve it and then it will have to go to the secretary of war for his approval. That is the way that I transferred three of my men to infantry. I don’t know whether they will transfer from infantry to cavalry or not. The application to be addressed to Maj. Darden AAG. He will ask to be transferred from Co (b) 11 NCT to Co (f) 41 Regt NCT.

I want your horse,that is if mine should fall and he might under the treatment he is getting. We only get 8lbx of corn per day and some times two or three days at a time. We get none.

There is no corn in the country around here to buy. All we get comes by railroad and I don’t know where it comes from. If they want to impress your horse tell them you are keeping him for me and I want you to do it. And I expect you had better keep some meat and flour for me too. We are drawing rations like the me. We get 1/3 lbs of bacon but we eat worse than that. Our mess bought over 100 lbs some time since it cost us from 1 ¼ to 2 dollars per lb. We have enough to do us for a while but I don’t know where we can get any more. The company will not sell us any. I am writing on my knee and cant think of any news. I will try and write a longer letter next time. Give my love to sister Sue.

Your affectionate brother

Alex

Source: Christopher Watford, ed. The Civil War in North Carolina: Soldiers’ and Civilians’ Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865, Volume 2. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003).  Original in Perkins family papers, Southern Historical Collection, UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Save your old bread, especially when flour is selling for $50/barrel #civilwar150

Save your old bread

Every person may not know what, however, is true. Pieces of old bread, crumbs, &c. being soaked and mixed up with dough, in making new bread, improves it very much. Try it, and you will never allow pieces of any bread to be lost afterward – especially when flour is selling for fifty dollars per barrel.

 

Source: Field and Fireside, March 7, 1863 as found in John Hammond Moore, ed., The Confederate Housewife (Columbia, SC: Summerhouse Press, 1997).

 

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