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In camp at Stewarts Creek — Febry. 25th 1864
Dear Mary

We did not get an opportunity to send letters at Lavergne to-day, so I have opened this to add a few lines. We have marched only 10 miles to-day & went into camp at 12 o clock. The men are in excellent spirits.

There is a Fort on the south side of the creek, & just outside of it, we have our Head Qurs.¹ The 129th are camped on the West of us. I have just come from the Company. All are well & in good spirits.

On the East side of us there was a year or two ago a very dense cedar thicket, which was cut down for to give range for the guns of the fort. There is about 10 acres of dead brush which the boys have set on fire to drive out the Rabbits. There are about 500 men around it, & they have caught more than 100. They are having a fine time, & you could hear them yell for miles when a Rabbit appears. The fire looks as if a city were in flame.

We will get mail to-morrow at Murfreesboro. We recd. orders by telegraph to-day to report to [General] Hooker, so we will not stop this side of Chattanooga.²

The Rabbit hunt is getting exciting. There must be over 1,000 men & officers out just now. The chaplain of the 79th Ohio is going to [the] train, so we may get some papers this evening. We are having beautiful weather.

I hope you are making yourself comfortable. Do not forget what I told you in a former letter. Make yourself happy. It is my earnest desire that you so dispose of your time & use all the money you need to secure your comfort & happiness. Give my love to all. Write often. May God bless & protect you. Accept love and a kiss.

Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. An earthen fort had been thrown up by the Federals in the winter of 1862-63 to guard the vital railroad and highway bridges crossing Stewarts Creek.
2. General Hooker’s headquarters were in Lookout Valley, southwest of Chattanooga.

Conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated.

Full article available at: http://www.nature.com/news/publishers-withdraw-more-than-120-gibberish-papers-1.14763

Head Qrs., 1st Brig., 1st Div., 11th A.C.
In Camp, 11 miles South of Nashville
Febry. 24th 1864
My Dear Wife

We are on the road at last. We went into camp at 2 o’clock this afternoon, making a short day’s march; we purpose marching only 10 miles a day for the first few days.¹ All are in good spirits. The Band of the 79th Ohio are playing Marseillaise hymn, & the sun is setting. The day has been very beautiful. All nature seems most happy. It is seldom that everything seems so beautiful.

My health is very good. I feel anxious to hear from you. We will get mail at Lavergne to-morrow & at Murfreesboro the day after, also at Tullahoma, Decherd & Stevenson, so that I hope to hear from you.

We left Nashville at 8 A.M. The roads are very good thus far.² Give my love to all. May God bless & keep you. Pray for me. I love to feel that it is so —Accept much love.

Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. Colonel Harrison had been told that: (a) there was no “necessity for making hurried or long marches”; (b) it was advisable to make detours from “the usually traveled highway, if by doing so a better road could be found, having in mind always supplies of rations and forage”; and (c) his brigade was to reach the front “in serviceable condition.” It was suggested that the brigade march from Decherd, by way of Tracy City, to Bridgeport instead of taking the road paralleling the railroad. O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXII, pt. II, pp. 276-277.
2. Private Grunert of Company D provides additional details of the day’s march. He reported that after breakfast the troops fell into line, and that “many of the citizens, with whom we became intimately acquainted during our six months’ stay in Nashville, accompanied us to the suburbs of the city, until the command ‘forward’ was given and the band of the 79th Ohio played a beautiful march.” We turned our “backs to Nashville, the friends we had won there, and our sick in the hospitals.” Camp was made in a field “of a rebel, and in order to have a good remembrance we burned a considerable number of fence rails in the camp fires which kept us warm.” Grunert, History of the 129th Illinois, pp. 44-45.

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Head Qrs. 1st Brig., 1st Div., 11th A.C.
Nashville Febry. 24th 1864
My Dear Wife

We have just finished breakfast, & it is six o clock. In another hour, we will be on the march. The Column will be in motion out the Murfreesboro Pike at 8 o clock.

Our wagon is waiting to be loaded, & I have embraced this leisure moment to say good bye. Write to me often. We will get mail on the route, so I hope to hear from you. We are all in good health.

I have deferred writing in answer to your question because I thought I would get home. If you prefer, go to Mrs. McGregor’s.¹ Make yourself comfortable by all means & try & be contented and happy. May God bless & keep you.

Give my love to all,

Good Bye.
Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. In one of her letters to J.F.C., Mary Culver had broached the subject of leaving her parents’ home and taking a room at Mrs. M. J. McGregor’s. Mrs. McGregor was a 45-year-old widow. History of Livingston County, p. 642.

Head Quarters, 1st Brig., 1st Div., 11th A.C.
Nashville Febry. 22nd 1864
My Dear Wife

Your letter of the 15th came to hand this evening.¹ I am happy to hear that you enjoy such good health. I telegraphed to you this morning informing you that we would leave here to-morrow.² We are loaded & the train has started, so that there is not much probability of our not going this time.

Mrs. Harrison arrived yesterday evening. The train was several hours behind time. She had not been in bed a half hour before the orders came to march. How would you have enjoyed it? She will remain in the city a couple of weeks.

Harry McDowell starts home in the morning, & Jim Morrow.³ I will write to you as often as I can on the march.

You wrote to me as to what you should do. I have still some hope of getting home. Since I set down we recd. orders to send out our Pickets again. Another sell. It is now so late that I cannot write more, or I will not get to see McDowell. I am well. Harry will give you all the news. Chris [Yetter] & Alf [Huetson] were here to-night. I will write more by mail. May God bless you. Good night,

Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. Mary Culver’s letter of February 15 is missing from the Culver Collection.
2. To prevent Confederate General Johnston from rushing soldiers from his Army of Tennessee to Demopolis, Ala., to oppose General Sherman’s columns which had advanced east from Vicksburg to Meridian, Miss., General Grant directed General Thomas to employ two corps of his Army of the Cumberland to make a forced reconnaissance toward Dalton. This movement was to begin not later than Monday morning, the 22d. In conjunction with this movement, orders were received by General Ward to start Harrison’s brigade for Bridgeport, Ala., where it would report to General Howard. On the departure of Harrison’s brigade, Ward’s 2d Brigade would report to General Rousseau and take post at Nashville, Lavergne, and McMinnville. O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XXXII, pt. I, p. 25; pt. II, p. 435.
3. Lieutenant McDowell and Sergeant Morrow were to return to Illinois on recruiting duty. William H. H. McDowell, a 21-year-old farmer, was mustered into service on Sept. 8, 1862, as sergeant major of the 129th Illinois, and on April 17, 1863 he was commissioned 2d lieutenant of Company E. On Feb. 22, 1864, he started for Illinois to bring up a detail of recruits from Camp Yates, and rejoined the regiment in April. In August 1864 McDowell was detailed to the XX Corps’ ambulance corps, and in January was assigned to duty with the Pioneer Corps. He was mustered out with the regiment on June 8, 1865, near Washington, D.C. James Morrow, a 26-year-old clerk, was mustered into service on Sept. 8, 1862, as a sergeant in Company G, 129th Illinois Infantry. Sergeant Morrow accompanied Lieutenant McDowell to Illinois on recruiting duty, but did not rejoin the regiment until mid-summer. He was mustered out on June 8, 1865, near Washington, D.C. Compiled Service Records of Union Soldiers, NA.

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Chattanooga Tenn
21st of Feb. 1864
Dear Sister Mary

Yesterday I received yours of the 17th inst. the first one that I have received from you for some time but I suppose you have had such a happy visit from the Boys home that you could hardly find time to write any letters. I received a letter from Frank nearly two weeks ago, but have not written to him yet. Jack is with Bridges [Batt.?] yet I have received one letter from him since he came back to Nashville, and he could not tell when he would come to [Batt?] “M.” I am looking for a letter from him every day.

I received a letter from Thos. yesterday He is well and says he has written home 3 times since he left and has not got an answer to any of them yet. He thought he would go to Steubenville before long. He had better be in some other “Bizz” than flirting with my girls down “thar”

We have had fine weather here for the past week. It looks like April weather up North I do not think we will have much more cold weather down here There are several Batteries being fitted out for active service in this place and going to join Thomas in Alabama. I do not know whether Batt “M” will be one of them or not. I think Thomas will soon be on the move, somewhere We have a boat in the Batt and have some fine rides on the Tenn. We have a sail for it & when there is a good breeze we use it.

I am glad to hear of the Revival in Pontiac How do the S. Schools prosper, this winter. I do not know of any thing more to write Remember me to Friends

Aff-ly Your Brother
S.A. Murphy
Batt M 1st Ill Arty
Chattanooga Tenn