1864 Massachusetts Cavalry CIVIL WAR LETTER from Monocacy Junction, Maryland

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1864 Massachusetts Cavalry CIVIL WAR LETTER from Monocacy Junction, Maryland:
$62.20

Civil War Letter

Greatcontent in this 1864 Massachusetts Cavalryman’s CIVIL WAR LETTER written fromMonocacy Junction in Maryland.

FULLSCANS, TRANSCRIPT and RESEARCH NOTES below.

Silas Townsend served in the29th Massachusetts Infantry and later in the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry. Silas first enlisted in November 1861 with his older brother George Townsend (1834-1890) in the 29th Massachusetts Infantry. Silas remained with the regiment throughout the first winter encampment wherehe learned the fine art of soldiering and endured the rigors of camp life on the Virginia Peninsula. But just as the spring campaign got underway, he became ill and was sent back to Washington D. C. where he lingered for months until securing a discharge. “If I was only to home, I never would leave again,” wrote Silas to his father. The infantry was not for him, it seemed.

In the fall of 1862, after his discharge fromthe infantry, Silas married a 19 year-old woman named Mary Pulchara Cordelia Bumpus (1843-1881). It appears that Silas returned to making shoes and put his wife to work in the trade as well — perhaps a shoe “former.” Competition brought on by mass production in the shoe industry, and rising prices brought on by the war, created economic hardship for the Townsend household — especially when Mary informed her husband that she was pregnant with their first child, Walter S. Townsend (1864-1894).

Looking for an economic stimulus to jump-start his career, Silas most likely noticed a recruiting poster — or newspaper advertisement — summoning veterans of military service to re-enlist in the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry, then serving under General Banks in the 19th Army Corps in the Department of the Gulf. Large bounties were offered to the veteran who would enlist for three years. Images of prancing horses carrying troopers with plumed hats and drawn sabers accompanied most of these ads. Surely a cobbler could handle a horse, he reasoned. And so he enlisted near the end of 1863 believing that life in the Mississippi Gulf, in a region now largely under Union control, riding a horse rather than lugging a knapsack and musket, and banking what must have seemed like a small fortune in bounty, was a pretty good deal.

So Silas was sent to New Orleans in March 1864 to train as a cavalryman. But before Silas and the other new recruits could be fully trained, they were dismounted and turned into infantrymen. “If I had wanted to of gone in the infantry, ” moaned Silas to his father, “I should of gone [back] into the 29th Regiment!” The truth of the matter was that there was a greater need for foot soldiers than cavalrymen back in the Eastern Theater where Grant had gathered every available soldier from the Washington D.C. defenses to participate in hisOverland Campaign. And so the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry was shipped back to Washington D. C. to bolster its defenses, arriving just as Gen. Early’s threat to the Nation’s Capital was nipped.

Attached to Sheridan’s command, the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry (still dismounted) marched into the Shenandoah Valley. Claiming his health to be “good,” Silas managed to keep up with the regiment for six weeks. The 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry made three heroic charges that day but is isn’t likely that Silas even made one. Leaving his family to wonder if he had survived the battle, it took Silas a month to informhis wife and his father that, “I went to the rear with the wounded and have not seen the regiment since.”Without wounds or apparent illness, Silas assured his father that, “I mean to stay here as long as I can” at the Convalescent Camp near Winchester, Virginia. It was yet another six weeks before Silas informed his father that, “I think I strained myself some way” during the battle which had “brought on the kidney disease.”

After Samuel Townsend enlisted inCo. F, 29th Massachusetts Infantry in November 1861, he joined the regiment in time to go into winter quarters at Camp Butler near Fortress Monroe. In the spring, the regiment was marched about the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula until the morning of the 14th of May, 1865, when “the regiment received orders to march, and although the men knew nothing of what was in store for them, the order was joyfully received, because any change could not be otherwise than for the better. The regiment marched again to Norfolk, and crossing the ferry, entered the city of Portsmouth. After arriving here, it proceeded to the United States Marine Hospital, and went into camp, being supplied with Sibley tents, which were pitched upon the beautiful lawn bordering upon the water, the officers taking up their quarters in the hospital… The Major-General [Wool] took great credit to himself for having ‘captured’ Norfolk and Portsmouth, the fact being that these cities were evacuated by the Confederates in consequence of the movement of General McClellan on Richmond…The regiment remained at the Marine Hospital till the 20th, during which time it was almost constantly on duty… On the 20th day of May, the regiment broke camp at the Marine Hospital, and marched through Portsmouth to the Gosport Navy Yard, near which it went into camp… Only four days were spent here, when the regiment again moved, this time some five miles from the city… On the 26th, the regiment moved again, going just outside of a line of earthworks that had been thrown up by the enemy during their occupation.”

From a regimental history: The now dismounted 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry was divided. “On July 14th, Colonel Sargent received orders to report to General Grant at Fortress Monroe. Seven companies embarked on the steamer “General Lyons,” and at once went down the river and out to sea. Colonel Sargent went with this battalion. Major Reed was ordered by Colonel [Lorenzo D.] Sargent to take command of the other five squadrons and embark on the transport, “E. L. Clark” and soon the entire command was afloat on the rolling deep. A sea voyage was not a bad thing for the men. Salt breezes did them good. Some of the Louisiana malaria was possibly worked out of the system by the voyage North, Old ocean served as tonic. Appetite was stimulated, feverish brows were cooled, and a change in climate accomplished great good for the dismounted cavaliers.

On the 27th of June, Colonel Sargent with his battalion reached Old Point Comfort, and reported to Grant for orders. He was ordered to proceed at once to Washington and report to General Halleck. Washington at this time was in a state of excitement. Early was nearing the city….Lincoln and his Cabinet were getting anxious…On the 11th day of July, the first detachment reached Washington, and was ordered to hold Fort Saratoga… On the 28th of July, Colonel Sargent was ordered to report with his regiment to General Emory whose corps was at this time not far from the Chain Bridge. The regiment was now part of the Second Brigade, Second Division, of the 19th Army Junction, Maryland
August 2d 1864

Dear Father,

I now seat myself once more to write you a few lines hoping they will find you all in good health as it leaves me in [as] good health as could be expected. I am well — only dragged out — we have been on a move so long. We left Algiers, Louisiana, the 16th of July. We sailed on the Gen. Lyon. Had rather a hard passage to Washington [D.C.] four days. We was in a very hard gale in the gulf stream somewhere between the Mississippi River and Cape Hatteras. The captain of the boat did not know where we was. We lay rolling one way and the other. Sometimes she would sweep everything clear on her decks forward. It rained very hard all the time we had the gale but we got through to Washington safe. Seven companies of our regiment started about ten hours before we did and they have not arrived yet, nor never have never been heard of since they started. We see one wreck. Whether it was the boat they was on, we do not know. He name was E. L. Clark. If she was lost, you will hear of it before we will.

As soon as we got to Washington, we landed and marched to the Chain Bridge in Virginia. We had not been there but a little while before we was ordered to march again. we went to Washington — got there about eleven o’clock in the night. We lay in the middle of the streets until 3 in the morning, then we started again and the next placed we stopped was to Monocacy Junction in Maryland where we are at this present time. How long we will stay here, I do not know. We may leave any moment now. About two hours ago we had orders to march again. we was ready in a very few minutes, but the order was countermanded and we pitched tents again.

We are camped now where the rebs made a raid a few days ago. They are not very far from us now. I don’t care if they ain’t. I hain’t very afraid of them but I think I know what I am about. We will give them what they don’t get everyday if they happen to come this way — if we stay here.

I cannot get any war news so I will close. I sent by Adams Express Co. to New Bedford sixty dollars to you. I sent it the 11th of July. If you have got it, I want you to let me know. We have lost two mails. I think that is the reason I don’t get any letters. I wrote one letter to my wife today. I sent it to Fairhaven. I did not know whether she was there or to Lakeville.

Direct your letters to:

Silas Townsend, Co. A, 3rd Mass. Cavalry, Washington D. C., 19th Army Corps

TERMS

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