Civil War Letter from 1861

This is the second letter I have from the Civil War era.  This one was written by Col. Jonathan Webster Childs. He is the older brother to Lewis E. Childs, the letter transcribed in the previous post. Again, this letter is written to my great-great-grandfather, James Webster Childs, of Augusta Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan, while he was in the legislature for the State of Michigan. See more on J. Webster in the last post and watch for more detail on him in a future post.

     Jonathan was born March 14, 1834, in Laoni (Laona), Chautauqua, New York. This is near Jamestown in the southwest corner of New York. He was the first child of Aaron Childs and Hannah Bemis. He married first, Frances Crawford, born in 1840. They were married in Appalachicola, Franklin, Florida, on June 29, 1866. Frances died in December, 1871. They had no children that I could find. Nothing more is known about Frances. He married a second time on December 28, 1873, in Savannah, Georgia, to Frances E. (Fannie) Gause. They had two daughters, Elaine, born in 1875, in Richmond, Virginia, and a second daughter, Abbie Blanche, born in 1876 in Washington, D.C. Abbie only lived two months.  Elaine did marry and have a son.

     Johnathan died on May 24, 1896 and Fannie died in 1913.

There is a great deal written about Jonathan Webster Childs and his time in the service during the Civil War and discussion of the reasons he may have resigned.  If you are interested in further information about him, please refer to the following book:

The 4th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War by Martin N. Bertera and Kim Crawford.

Martin and Kim used the following letter and many others as background for their book and discussion of this very interesting episode in the Childs family and the Civil War.

As with the first letter, I have left the spellings, punctuation, etc. as they were written.

Headquarters, 21^st Mich Inf’y

Camp Union   Aug 15, 1861

Dear Uncle,

Several weeks has passed since I wrote you last. And notwithstanding I have not heard from gm. Allow me to try again.  You have doubtless been informed that our Regiment is brigaded under Gen’l Sherman, who ranks at the head of the Brigadiers, he had given him to make the selection thirty-two Regiments.  And the following are those he chose.

                9^th Reg’t Mass

                14^th Reg’t NY (Utica)

                 DeKalb, NY City (German, all of whom have seen service)

                4^TH Reg’t Mich

                Ayers Battery (formerly Shermans)

                Company I U.S. Cavelry 

During the past week there has been added to his brigade one other Battery, and a company of Cavelry.  It has been about a week since we came over here, and were placed in advance of all other Regiments.  The remainder of the brigade lies between us and the river. The enemy is at Falls Church and we are constantly expecting to have a brush with them. Our pickets are doing a little skirmishing each day. Our pickets until Sunday extended about a mile beyond the Rail Road, but now they are taken in and extend only half a mile this side of the R.R. Yesterday our scouts brought information that the rebels had advanced to the Rail Road with two pieces of artillery and several companies of cavelry. Several companies of our troops are stationed out with the furthest picket. I was out there one night with two companies. 

We are all of us kept constantly in the dark as to when where or how the next movement will be made. Defeat in a great measure seems to attend our armies, both here and in Missouria but our zeal in the cause does not relax in the least. The men are all anxious to have a fight and I venture to say when the “Fourth” is called into an engagement, they will fight most desperately. Many things has been said in Michigan against our Regiment, calculated to lower it in the estimation of people at home and abroad. Several of our officers have been spoken of by those same designing persons in a manner calculated to give a faulse [sic] impression as regards their ability to discharge the various duties devolving upon them. As regards our Colonel he is a man admirably calculated for the position which he holds. He is in a word beloved by the whole Regiment and not one could be found who would for a moment hesitate to _____ his own life for the safety of the Colonel. His devotion to the Regiment is unbounded.  unlike many commanders he is always to be found in the camp instructing his men and never leaves except upon business connected with the Regiment. As regard the proficiency of our drill, few Regiments if any now in the field can excell us in Battalion movements.  and had it been otherwise we should not have received the second post of honor in Gen’l Sherman’s brigade.  of which with pride, we can now boast. And furthermore a cordiality of feeling greater never existed between the officers of a Regiment. To my certain knowledge there has not a thing transpired to mar the good feeling which has ever existed. We believe there is one and only one exception. Dr. Turnicliffe of Jackson who at the urgent request of the Governor was placed upon the Colonel’s staff as surgeon with the rank of Major, has during the whole time he has been with shown great dissatisfaction.  and now particularly since the Col. requested him for his own good and that of the men also, to remain in camp and not visit Washington so frequently as he was in the habit of attending Congress daily and frequently would not return for many days. He is now in Mich on a furlough and we have information from good authority that he is saying all he can against the Regiment. Later information says he has received an appointment in the first Regiment. There is also another, the correspondent of the Detroit Free Press who signs his articles “Hamilton” & “H” (H.H. Finley) who went with us from Adrian to Washington expecting to receive the appointment of Captain or Lieutenant or anything else he could obtain in the Regiment but the Col. received word from the Governor not to give him any position. Consequently the Col. told him it was not likely any opening would occur for him. And from that time he has openly declaired that he was by nature vindictive and would do his utmost to ruin the reputation of the Regiment.  and he has constantly been putting in circulation false reports concerning as viz = that the officers were intemperate that there was no discipline, that the Col. and Quarter Master contrived to cheat on the rations, that the officers quareled amoung themselves and were dispised by the soldiers, etc. etc.  All of which are the bleakest bare faced lies. He made himself busy with the 1^st  2^nd & 3^rd Reg’ts circulating such reports. He is careful to keep without our lines, should he enter them the men would tar & feather him.  and no power could prepurt (?) them from doing so. There are other things in this connection that I will write soon. If outsiders would let us alone there would be nothing to mar the peace of this camp. Every report that has been put in circulation calculated to injure us, can be proven to originate from a spirit of jealouscy [sic] and envy.

Hoping to hear from you soon I remain Dear Uncle every your affectionately,   J.W. Childs