3rd Vermont Infantry CIVIL WAR LETTER - Written from Camp Griffin, VA - CONTENT

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3rd Vermont Infantry CIVIL WAR LETTER - Written from Camp Griffin, VA - CONTENT:
$101.01

CIVIL WAR LETTER

CIVIL WAR LETTER - James Henry Clark - 3rd Vermont Infantry

James Henry Clark was born on 15 September 1841 in Townsend, Middlesex county, Massachusetts—forty miles northwest of Boston near the New Hampshire border. He was the 2nd child and the only son (who lived past infancy) of seven children born to James Clark (1814-1854) and Lucy Robbins Coburn (1815-1913). Those siblings mentioned in these letters include his older sister Lucy Ann (“Annie”) Clark (1840-1932)—who married James Mansur (1829-1912) in December 1862 and went off to live in northern Ohio—and his younger sisters Ella (“Nettie) C. Clark (b. 1848), and Ada Everlyn Clark (b. 1851).

James Henry Clark—a red-haired, freckled lad who went by the name “Henry” or “Hen” and often spelled it “Henrie,” was left fatherless just before his 13th birthday. His father had earned a modest living as a teamster but after his premature death at the age of forty, his widow struggled to keep the family together and caused her some financial embarrassment. What schooling Henry and his older sister Annie had completed up to that time seems to have terminated not long afterwards. Henry must have felt the responsibility keenly.

In his late teens, Henry took a job as a foundry worker in Springfield, Windsor county, Vermont. In the 1860 US Census he is enumerated in the household of 27 year-old Darius Adams. The situation may have been arranged for Henry by his Uncle Franklin Davis (1816-1883) who was married to Caroline Coburn (1813-1878). In his letters, Henry frequently refers to his Davis cousins—Callie, Frank, Anna, Nellie, Gertie, and Lutie—all residents of Springfield when he worked in the foundry. It’s possible that Henry may have attempted some other profession before enlisting in the army as he referred to debts he had incurred there before the war and hoped to repay.

In any event, when the Civil War began in 1861, Henry enlisted with his friends from Springfield, Vermont, into Co. A, 3rd Vermont Regiment. In the very first letter of this archive, written on 8 May 1861—less than one month after the firing on Fort Sumter—we learn that Henry has already indicated his intention to enlist. It is curious, however, that at age 18 (if his DOB is correct), he would need his mother’s consent to enlist.

Henry served nearly three years in the 3rd Vermont and his letters are divided into the four different calendar years in which he penned them. He was a private until the Battle of Crampton’s Gap (South Mountain) at which time he accepted a corporal’s rank and the honor of serving on the regiment’s color guard. He continued in this duty through the Maryland Campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the Gettysburg Campaign, the Mine Run Campaign, and on the Overland Campaign where he took a gunshot to the head in the Battle of the Wilderness and died on the battlefield May 5, 1864. His comrades hastily buried him on the battlefield, penciling his name on a pine board and nailing it to a nearby tree to mark the spot before moving on with the regiment toward Spotsylvania Court House. [See the last three letters in the archive written by Henry’s chum, Edward D. Hatch, in late 1864.]

From the letters we learn that Henry’s mother wished desperately for his body to be returned home for burial but he is not buried in the Townsend cemetery with his family, nor could I find him in a National Cemetery. Most likely his remains were exhumed and taken to the National Cemetery at Fredericksburg where he lies in the grave of an unknown soldier.

NOTE - We are only offering the letter transcribed below - no the image from Camp Griffin.

TRANSCRIPTION

Picture Gallery Studio at Camp Griffin, Virginia

Camp Griffin, Virginia
December 20, 1861

Dear Mother,

I thought I must write you a few words this morning to let you know that I was still in the land of the living. I have had to be pretty busy for the [past] two weeks. Our Lieutenant has been sick and he went over to the hospital once but he got sick of staying there in about one day and came back till the last two nights. I have sat up with him part of the night every night. The Captain has just heard that his wife is but just alive and he has applied for a furlough and is going to try and start for home and the Lieutenant is either going home or going to some private family so as to be taken care of a little better than he can be in a tent. Then I shall be left all alone for a little while.

You spoke in your letter something about sending my remains home if I should be killed or die of disease. Well, I have thought of that myself and I will tell you how I arranged it. I agreed that if they were killed or died that their bodies should be sent home and they also said they would do the same by mine. They are three or four boys—friends of mine—whom I used to go with in Springfield whose homes I used to be at a great deal of my spare time and their mothers were very anxious about their being sent home if anything happened and we all agreed to stick by each other. One of them has returned home already on a discharge on account of sickness but we done all we could for him whilst here.

Our Captain’s name is James Powers. Our direction is always, 3rd Vermont Volunteers, Co. A—not 3rd V. V. M., Co. A. The postmasters do not all of them know what V. V. M. means. Our Colonel’s name is Breed N. Hyde. In the army, an officer’s rank always precedes his name either in speaking too, or addressing him. Our Lieutenant Colonel’s name is W. G. Veazey who was the original Captain of our company. I believe that they have passed a Bill to abolish sutlers and then the boys won’t pay out quite so much of their wages to them.

My respects to the “pretty girl” who sent the tracts and tell her I will follow their advice and thank her for them.

I wrote to Forbush and told him I would like a receipt of that money from him and put in a postage stamp but have received no answer and I don’t hardly know what to think of it. My photographs cost me three dollars. A lady friend in Springfield sent me a dollar and wanted I should have some taken and I did so. They cost me 2 dollars. Well I am sure I think they look like me. You know I always look pretty sober if not laughing. I guess I will write a few words to Ada and put yours into it. Goodbye with much love from your son, — Henry Clark

TERMS

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