July 6th 1862
Dear Aunt Mary
It has been such a very long time
since I either wrote to you, or you to me, that I have for-
gotten which wrote last, but that makes little difference
now & I must not put off writing to you any longer,
for you don't know how anxious I am to hear from you.
I have received several letters from home lately
& heard from those that you were well & boarding at
Cousin Charles Craddock's. I hope you are very
pleasantly situated & have no doubt you are. I
suppose you are aware that I have left the 2d Co
Howitzers and joined a Maryland company, the
"Chesapeake Artillery"? I have only been in the company
far. the officers are Captain Brown, Lieutenants Plater
Chew & Grayson: they are three very nice good men.
The rank & file of the company of course will not
compare to the Howitzers, though there are a good many
very nice young men in it. I regretted very much having
to leave the Howitzers, for I had many real true friends
in the company; I knew however that I was treated with
a good deal of injustice by the officers and that the
only way to get rid of it was to leave the company, so
I made up my mind to do it. I didn't know how many
friends I did have in the company until I went round
to tell them goodbye: there were not half a dozen men
in the company that didn't express & show real
regret at my leaving & all wished me the best
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luck in the world. In this company, Martin Harvey
whom you have heard me speak of before, is Orderly
Sergeant. He & I & four others fellows have formed a
mess together and get along very well & have a
a very pleasant time. I am chief of a 12d Howitzer gun,
worth ten cents, but it is a great deal better Aunt Mary
to have a good horse to ride on these long marches
than to be in a Company where you are detailed
nearly all the time to ride & drive two horses & to
have nothing to do but hold them when in Battle.
If I am not satisfied with this company after trying it awhile
I can easily obtain a transfer too to any company I wish.
I went into Richmond yesterday and found Pa's letter
there informing me that he had left that morning and
you may imagine how disappointed I was at not seeing
him. I suppose though he was compelled to get back
or he would have come out to see me certainly. I am
very glad to hear that he has obtained a situation
at last & one so convenient too, right there at
the CHouse, where he can be with the family and
where there are so many friends to aid him about
the Hospital. I hope he may meet with success
in attending the wounded & sick that are sent to
him & give entire satisfaction. Pa said you were all
very anxious to know where I was in the fight &c. I am very sorry
to tell you that our company took no active part whatsoever in the
fight & consequently I am not able to give any account.
We were down within three or four miles of the battlefield
of Tuesday the 2d & heard all the fighting without being ordered
in. That was the hardest fought battle of them al &
in it we lost a great many men. The artillery that was
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engaged on our side suffered terribly: The 1st Company Howitzers
lost 2 men killed & wounded; none of our friends
however were hurt. The 3d Company were also
engaged for a little while, but lost no men. The 2d Company
was not in the fight. I feel really mortified to think that
McClellan should be driven entirely away from R
without my having been in any of the battles. The young
Napoleon is now truly "fallen"; there never was an army so
completely whipped & more thoroughly d[e]moralized & cut
to pieces than McClellan's. I don't believe he will ever be
able to reorganize the same army. The war must end
now very shortly; the North will be glad enough to make
peace & if she is not, foreign powers will intervene and
settle the question anyway. I take it for granted, & I
do hope too, that the policy of our generals now, will be
to carry the War into the enemy's country. I want to see
Washington, Philadelphia & New York surrendered to
Confederate authorities & those vile cowardly fanatics that
inhabit the northern states made to feel what war is.
They will never realize what War is , until it is carried
into their own country & the people made to suffer
directly from the ravages of a hostile army.
I understand that the Yankees tore everything to pieces in
the neighbourhood of Turkey Hill and the place par=
ticularly. I am very sorry for the people who remained
there in the neighbourhood, for I know they have seen
sights. I noticed in the paper the death of Captain
Charles Bruce of Halifax & was very sorry for it.
I have heard nothing from the CHouse company
since the fight; it is impossible to find out anything
about the fight or those engaged in it. Booker Garnett
had a brother killed in the fight. I received Nannie's
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last letter & will answer it very soon. Give my best love
to her and tell her I am very much obliged for such a good
long letter and will answer it in a few days. I was in
town yesterday and took dinner at Mr Harveys. That
place is my Head quarters now while I am in town.
All of the family have been up the country for a good
while except Mr Harvey & I have been in the habit
of just walking into the house & making myself
at home whenever I felt like it. Mrs Harvey came
down a few days ago & the girls will soon be down
too; when they get home, if we remain encamped here, I
hall go in still oftener. I suppose Mama carried
my clothes up the country with her? If we remain
here which we probably will do for sometime, I should like
right much to have my Sunday pants sent down
to R--by some one coming down. I have the opportunity
of getting into R right often to Church & as my
soldier pants are very dirty and ugly, I would like
to have a pair to slip on when I go in. I can keep
them at Mr Harvey's with Martin's clothes. There is
one thing I want, Aunt Mary, & which I intended mentioning
to Pa, but forgot it. The knapsack I have is a very large
unwieldy thing & one is always very apt to lose it when
on a hasty march & over bad roads. I have a horse
to ride now & I want to get me a pair of ordinary saddle
bags, in which I can carry all my clothes & have them
with me all the time. Whenever I move then all I will
have to do, will be just to throw my saddle- bags over
my horse & go ahead. It is impossible to get a pair in
Richmond; every pair has been sold & I thought there might
possibly be some in the country. Even a second hand pair
would do, provided they were whole & not very large
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I want them either of the medium size, or a little
smaller & am willing to pay a good price for them.
I have written to you now about everything I
know of almost & must close. Give my best love
to Papa, Mama & Nannie & to Watt Bee & Dinkie
& kiss little Tommy for me. I wish I could see
the dear little fellow. Give my love too to Uncle
George & Aunt Pat & to little Leigh & Frank & to
all of my friends. I shall look for a good
long letter from you now Aunt Mary & very
soon. direct to "Care Capt Brown, Chesapeake
Artillery, Richmond". I must now bid you
goodbye. Yr aff nephew
Jas. P. Williams
Jame Peter Williams, 1844-1893, of the 1st Regt. Va. Artillery and the Maryland Volunteers, Chesapeake Artillery; Later a freight agent and last superintendent of the Lynchburg Division of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company.
MSS 490
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