1864 Connecticut Infantry CIVIL WAR LETTER Camp near Portsmouth, VA - Nice One

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1864 Connecticut Infantry CIVIL WAR LETTER Camp near Portsmouth, VA - Nice One:
$37.77

Civil War Letter

Very nice Civil War soldier letter penned Thomas Latham Bailey (1836-1919) of Ledyard, New London, Connecticut, to his wife during the early months of his service with Co. C, 21st Connecticut Infantry.

Thomas was the orphaned son of Isaac Bailey (1790-1847) and Hannah Lester (1807-1859). Just before entering the service of his country, he was married to Ellen Brown (1835-1868), the daughter of Norman B. Brown (1789-1853) and Sarah Allyn (1799-1878). Thomascalled his mother-in-law, “Mother Brown” and he called his wife “Nellie” and wrote her at least once if not twice a week during the two and half years he wore the Union uniform. There are at 38 letters in this virtual archive from Thomas to wife “Dear Nellie” — 6 written in 1862, 7 in 1863, 22 in 1864, and 3 in 1865.

The gaps in Thomas’s writing record can be largely explained by furloughs and the period of time in which Nellie came to Portsmouth, Virginia, while Thomas was on “provost duty” with his regiment. The last nine months of Thomas’s service was on “special duty” as an orderly in the medical department where he daily assisted the doctors in the care of the sick but occasionally witnessed scenes such as he described in this undated fragment of a letter:

I was down to the 18th Army Corps Hospital yesterday and such a seen of suffering as I beheld there is better imagined than described by my pencil. There was hundreds of men wounded in different places laying on the ground and some were without covering or tents of any kind. Some had a few brush stuck up so as to keep off the sun. They will be sent away as soon as possible to the different hospitals. I hope this war will soon be over or there will [be] a world of cripples. Success to Grant.

In reading through other letters from his archive, Thomas speaks quite often about his older sisters, Abby “Jane” (Bailey) Hurlbutt — the wife of John Hurlbutt, and Julia Ann (Bailey) Marlatt — the wife of George “Washington” Marlatt. He also speaks frequently of his younger brother Robert Morris Bailey.

Corp. Thomas L. Bailey

TRANSCRIPTION

Camp near Portsmouth, Va.
Tuesday, May 3, 1863 [should be 1864]

My dear Nellie,

You will no doubt be surprised to learn that we are again in the vicinity of Portsmouth, but so it is. We took transport at Little Washington last Tuesday afternoon and arrived here yesterday. We had a rather long and tedious passage of it. We came on a schooner from Hatteras to Fort Monroe. Little Washington is evacuated. I do not know the reason of it. The Rebels made a little show in front of the place and then fell back. I think Grant is going to evacuate all such small places and concentrate his troops for something big. I think we were lucky to come here instead of going to Yorktown as most of the troops are sent there from this way. I do not know what is our duty here, or whether we will stay here long.

We had a terrible thunderstorm last night. It blew down our tent and we went into another one.The mail is going soon so I will have to stop. I will write more next time. I am out in the wind and it blows my paper around so I can hardly write. I think I will put $40 in this. Love and kisses. — Thomas

P.S. I have not seen any of the old friends here. We were marched through the place & so did not have much chance. We are on the Negro Campground where Mrs. L and me went for a walk one afternoon. — T.