University Libraries

No. 3

Pontiac Ill. 9th Jan. 1863

My Dear Frank

Yours of Dec. 28th & 31st came to hand tonight & sad intelligence they brought I have not been to town & do not know whether Mr. Taylor’s family have heard of his death What a terrible blow it will be to them God alone can comfort them now Were you with him when he died. I pray God that the others may recover. I am sorry you do not hear from home it must be very wearisome waiting so long for letters I wish I could send you some papers There is good news from Rosencrans & bad from Vicksburg (Gen. Sherman) I sent you a bill (bank) in one of my letters I was in hopes it would reach you to get you comforts while you were sick but as it did not I hope you will enjoy them all the more now you are well My heart is filled with thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for restoring you to health May he continue his mercies to us. Jonny called on Collins the other & spoke of the money belonging to the Dart Estate he promised to forward immediately what he had in his posession. Mr. Artley has gone to Chicago & will if possible collect from Beattie the amount remaining due I believe I told you in my last letter of receiving one from Jennie Mother sent our baby a beautiful dress by Charley McGregor Jonnie gives me a very kind invitation to visit Carlisle She expects to go to housekeeping in the spring I tell her I will not impose on her but will write till she becomes thoroughly accustomed to keeping house with two babys before I take a third there Jenny had a letter from Thomas yesterday he is well & says he will write to me when he gets a good Photograph to send I can hardly be reconciled to the idea of his not coming home this winter he said he had one weeks vacation & Mr. Scott thought it three days to long This last year he has cleared $900, lacking $7.50

I have not been over home for a month but will go tomorrow & call on Mrs. Haskins I do not see anything of her lately I suppose she has kept at home as closely as I have The last I heard of her she was sadly in need of money it seems her husband wrote to her to collect some money of Lyons. He says that Haskins used it all long ago I feel very sorry for her it must be very hard with so many little ones to feed & clothe There has been no new case of Small Pox for some little time & I think it is about over

This is the third letter I have written you since the 1st of Jan. Hereafter I will number them & you will know if you get them all I do not hear anything of Gaff did he get a discharge? I think his wife must have gone to Lexington I have not seen her lately We reopen S. School next Sunday I do hope it will be well attended I feel that you are praying for us Sammy tells me they have Union prayermeetings every night at private houses Wednesday night it was at Mr. Johnstons thursday at Mr. Lawrences & tonight at Mr. Fishers I hope to be able to attend them when I go to Mothers I go to morrow If Maples does not go till after next week I will try & get a budget of letters from the S. School scholars. Maggie says do not forget to give my love to Frank. Baby is well excepting a cold I hope it will not last long He snores like a soldier Accept all the love you can carry from your wife

M M Culver

Mitchellsville, Tenn., Jan. 8th 1862

My dear Wife

The first mail from the North reached us yesterday evening but brought no news from Pontiac. I recd. a letter from Cousin Lucy Dunmire of Burbank, Ohio, being the extent of my mail matter.¹ I hope, however, by to-day’s mail to hear from you.

I am quite well, & we are doing well. I sent a letter yesterday by a gentleman going to Louisville to be mailed, & hope you will receive all I have written in due time.

Hoping that God has blessed you all with health and happiness, & with much love to all, I subscribe myself in haste. Dear Mary, as ever,

Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. Cousin Lucy Dunmire was a niece of Martha Dunmire Culver, J.F.C.’s mother.

Pontiac Ill. Jan. 7th 1863

My Dear Husband

Today I rec’d the letters brought by Seymour Bennet. You may be sure I was happy to get them & I hope ere this some of mine have reached you As Bennet got through safely I presume Maples will start immediately I will see him tomorrow & ascertain I mailed you a letter yesterday. I told you there that baby & I are well I am still at Maggies & will probably go home saturday There are no new cases of Small Pox & we hope the worst is over There have been but three deaths One was Fred Foster the others I was not acquainted with one was an old man in the country & the other used to work for Morris Johnson he died in that little house where where Custer lived Jonnie has gone to Chicago I do not know how long he will stay, he has written for transportation & does not know why he does not get it the last letter he had from Capt Miller he offered him a discharge if it were proven that he was not able to go. He is anxious to be gone We are very busy preparing for the Christmas Tree I am knitting four pairs of mittens making half a dozen needlebacks half a dozen plum baskets & braiding a pair of slippers for Mr. Fisher Emma Mac, is making Mr. Strevells Mr. Benton is going to town & I must close

God bless you Accept much love from your wife & baby

Mary M Culver

Mitchellsville, Tenn., January 6th 1863

My Dear Wife

I sent a letter yesterday morning by a gentleman on the train going north, with the request to mail it at Louisville, &, as opportunity may offer to send again soon, I sit me down to write to-night. I returned from Fountain Head just before night, where I had been to sit upon the “Board of Survey.”¹

I found the Regiment in good Spirits over the late glorious news from Murfreesboro and generally doing well. The probabilities are that we will be left here to guard the R. Road, while others more fortunate will share the glories of the success in southern Tennessee.² Perhaps it is all for the best, but this is rather dry work.

The news are almost too good to believe & not sufficiently confirmed, but we have evidently achieved a glorious victory. I know you have a much fuller account of the battles in the Northern Papers than we can possibly get here, & we are waiting anxiously to get some Northern papers.

We have neither mail or tidings from the North, nothing of home or friends. How eagerly all look for the arrival of the trains, & yet they pass us day after day without bringing any news. Everything is contraband of war, nothing can be taken off the wires & nothing allowed to be published. Yet we are all well, for which all thanks to a kind Providence.

Much has been said about the war closing after this battle, but I anticipate many more before the consumation of that happy event while I hope the crisis will soon be passed.

We have rumors of a battle at Vicksburg³ & also in Arkansas⁴ but nothing reliable. No news from the Potomac since the 28th December.⁵

I saw McCartney to-day, he was quite well. Every person was enquiring the news from home, &, though I have been absent from the Regt. but two days, very many hoped that some tidings from home might have reached me. As I can form no idea when I shall hear or receive any letters, I shall look daily.

I want you to write all the same as if you were sure I received them, so that when they do arrive I shall have a full history of all that has transpired. I feel more confident to-night that you are all well than I have since communication was cut off. So much for the presentiment, I hope it may be true. Smith & Hoskins are both quite well. The time passes rather slowly on our hands here. I wish I could get hold of something good to read, but it is at present impossible. Perhaps we may be called into more active service soon.

I took breakfast with Lieuts. Blackburn & Fitch & their wives this morning. The ladies seem quite anxious to get home.

We have very comfortable accommodations at present. Let me urge you not to neglect to write. Give my love to all the family. What has become of Bro. Johny? Is he still at home? Tell me all the news as they transpire.

May the blessings of Heaven rest upon you, my Dear Wife, & upon our babe. May our Father keep you safe from danger & bestow upon you the riches of his grace.

Farewell,
Your Affect. Husband
J. F. Culver

1. Regimental headquarters, along with most of the 129th Illinois Infantry, was at Fountain Head, on the railroad six miles southeast of Mitchellville.
2. Although the Federals had gained a victory at Stones River (Murfreesboro), they had suffered such frightful losses that Rosecrans failed to capitalize on the Confederate withdrawal. Instead of pushing after Bragg’s retreating columns, Rosecrans ordered the Army of the Cumberland into winter quarters in and around Murfreesboro.
3. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman had left Memphis on Dec. 20, 1862, with a powerful amphibious force. Descending the Mississippi, the convoy turned into the Yazoo River, and on the 26th Sherman’s 32,000 men went ashore, seven miles north of Vicksburg. The Federals spent two days feeling their way toward the Confederate rifle pits covering Chickasaw Bayou. On Dec. 29 Sherman assaulted the Rebel defenses and was repulsed with heavy losses. He then evacuated his army and returned to the Mississippi.
4. At Prairie Grove, in northwest Arkansas, on Dec. 7, 1862, a Union army led by Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt defeated Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman’s Confederates. Hindman’s troops, hounded by Union cavalry, had retreated across the Boston Mountains to Fort Smith.
5. General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia on Dec. 13, 1862, at Fredericksburg, Va., had repulsed with grievous losses the poorly coordinated assaults of Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s Army of the Potomac. Burnside had withdrawn his army to the north side of the Rappahannock and a stalemate ensued. The terrible casualties suffered by Union armies at Stones River, Fredericksburg, Chickasaw Bayou, and Prairie Grove cast a pall of gloom across the North.

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Mitchellsville, Tenn., January 4th 1863

My Dear Wife

In four more days one month will have elapsed since the date of your last letter. We have no communication with the North yet. I notice by late papers from Nashville that this R. Road has refused to carry the mail, &, if the mail from the distributing office at Cairo has been sent by water as I presume it has, we have no prospect of mail for some time to come.¹ I did not anticipate so long a delay & especially at a time when I should feel unusually anxious to hear from you.

I sent a couple of letters by persons going North to be mailed. I hope they have reached you. I am happy to say I enjoy excellent health. If I could only know that you were all well, I should be fully satisfied. But it is ordered otherwise, & without murmering it is our duty to submit.

We were ordered back to this place on Friday, Jan 2nd, & are in good comfortable Quarters. There is none but our Company.² The men are in a large Shed and have beds & straw. We [the officers] have a Harness shop which with our stove makes it very comfortable. It is the best accommodation we have had since we left home.

Lieut. Smith has wholly recovered from the measles & is looking well. We are all doing quite well. I wrote to Mr. Taylor concerning the death of his son the same time I wrote to you. I also wrote quite a lengthy letter to you on New Year’s Eve, all of which I hope you have received. I sent them by some gentlemen from Scott County. I cannot account for Maples’ delay unless he has taken the Small-Pox. Earl Kenyon is getting better slowly, & I hope with care will soon recover.

After writing to you on New Year’s Eve, I sat down & read all your letters recd. since I left home. They gave me much pleasure, so many evidences of your love and affection cheer my heart. I am not so sure but that this Separation will give us an opportunity of learning much of each other, which amid prosperity we might never have learned. I feel that I never appreciated your worth so fully as now, & I never realized how very dear you were to me as now, amid fears of the dangers that surround you.³ Oh, if I only knew all, anything would be preferable to this suspense. Yet I shall hope for the best. “God rules all things well.” He will not try us above what we are able to bear. We are not alone; alas! very many others suffer with us, some bereft of all in this world most dear. I feel thankful for the hope of good tidings, when so many live on without any hope of meeting their loved ones in this life.

The battle is still raging at Murfreesboro. The News are meagre but sufficient to inform us that thousands of our brave men are cold in death & many thousands more are lying on the battle field wounded & uncared for. We cannot determine the result yet, but it looks rather favorable. Our men are driving the rebels slowly yet surely before them.⁴ It is the most hotly contested battle ever fought on the Continent, & more lives lost than ever was dreamed of in one battle. This is the Sixth day. These are about all the reports that we have received.⁵

Just now we received news from Cave City. Col. Duke is killed & Morgan badly wounded & his troops dispersed.⁶ This is good news for us, as we have no other force to fear at this point. I hope we will be ordered to move forward.

I shall try & send my letter by some one going North, if the train will stop long enough. I shall not close my letter until to-morrow. As I am on duty all night, I may write more before morning, & I wish to devote part of the night if possible to reading. I got a bible of Henry Fisher, &, as I but seldom have one, I wish to improve the opportunity. Hoping that God will bless & keep you & our babe from harm & bestow the riches of his grace upon us, I bid you

Good Night

Your Husband in affection & love
J. F. Culver

1. With no traffic over the railroad north of Munfordville, mail was loaded on steamboats at Cairo, Illinois, and sent up the Ohio, Green, and Barren Rivers to Bowling Green. From Bowling Green, it came south to Mitchellville and Nashville by rail.
2. Morgan and his raiders, having accomplished their mission, were en route back to their base in Middle Tennessee, and Colonel Smith had redeployed his command. Captain Hoskins was ordered on the 2d to take post at Mitchellville with Company A. His duties were to guard the railroad and the countryside around Mitchellville. Supplies, except forage which was to be requisitioned from disloyal citizens, were to be drawn from Fountain Head, where Colonel Smith had established regimental headquarters. Smith to Hoskins, Jan. 2 & 3, 1863, Regimental Papers, 129th Illinois, NA.
3. This refers to the smallpox epidemic at Pontiac.
4. General Rosecrans had advanced from Nashville on Dec. 26, 1862, with eight divisions of his Army of the Cumberland. General Bragg had massed his Army of Tennessee and had taken position three miles northwest of Murfreesboro, covering the bridges across Stones River. On the 30th there had been heavy skirmishing, as the bluecoats drove in Confederate outposts. At daybreak, on the 31st, Bragg attacked and routed the Union right. There was savage fighting, as Rosecrans’ troops retired through the cedars and re-formed covering the Nashville Pike. Here they held. On New Year’s Day, the armies regrouped, and on the 2d Bragg assailed Rosecrans’ left and was repulsed with terrible casualties.
   On the night of the 3d, Bragg’s Army of Tennessee abandoned its position in front of Murfreesboro and retired about 30 miles to Tullahoma and Shelbyville. The Federals occupied Murfreesboro but were too exhausted to press the pursuit.
5. Union casualties at Stones River (Murfreesboro) were 1,730 killed, 7,802 wounded, and 3,717 captured or missing. General Bragg listed Confederate losses at 1,236 killed, 7,766 wounded, and 868 missing. Stones River, for the numbers engaged, was the bloodiest battle between white armies yet fought on the North American continent. O.R., Ser. I, Vol. XX, pt. I, pp. 215, 681.
6. There was no truth to the report that Col. Basil Duke had been killed, General Morgan wounded, and Morgan’s division dispersed. On New Year’s Day, Morgan had started his withdrawal from Kentucky by way of Columbia and Burkesville, and on the 5th he reached Smithville, Tenn., within the Confederate lines. Morgan’s Christmas Raid was one of the Civil War’s most successful cavalry operations. Ibid., pp. 157-158.

Head Qurs. Co “A” 129th Ills. Vol. Infty
Nashville Tenn. Jan 3rd 1863

M.E.S. School
Pontiac Ill.

Dear Friends

On this the first Sabbath of the new year, I thought as I have oportunity a letter might not be unacceptable. Let me hope that you enjoyed a “Merrie Christmas” and “Happy New Year” And I feel assured that many of you have yet there may be some little girl or boy who did not. Whose home did not possess enough of lifes comforts to allow them to enter into the full enjoyment of the occasion. Possibly there may be a few who were in the habit of attending Sabbath School when the weather was warm who are absent now. Whereas if the little girls & boys (and big ones too) had contributed a portion of those nice things which “Santa Claus” and many other kind friends had give them they would have carried joy and happiness to many little hearts and received in return increased happiness themselves. I wish you to look around the school to-day and see who is absent & then learn the cause of this absence. Some may be sick and a visit from you will be very beneficial. Some may be detained for want of clothing warm enough for this cold weather. if so it is your duty to do what you can. Ask your parents to allow you to give them some of the good warm clothing of your own that you do not use. Try it once and if it does not make you happy to contribute to the comforts of others I am sadly mistaken. Who there want to be happy? Just try what I have told you. It is snowing fast and has been nearly all day. The weather has been very cold for several days The change was so sudden on thursday evening that very few were prepared for it. Four soldiers and two negroes were frozen to death on New Years morning and I fear when we get all the news there will be many more. Co. “A” was out on Picket and came in with a rather singular “New Years Gift” Some had frozen noses and some frozen ears. I have not been out of the house over a few moments at a time for several days though I have not been very sick I had a sleight attack of neuralgia. If you do not know what that is I can tell you. It is cold in the jaw or rather in both jaws. all my teeth ached and my head too. I never had it before and am not anxious to try it again. I must have caught it by having my mouth open in cold damp weather. Therefore I advise you to keep yours shut I believe I know a good plan to get it or something else quite as bad. One way is by playing in the snow on Sunday after Sunday School. Another way is by running out in the cold when Mother or Father has commanded you not to. Hunting rabbits on Sunday is a very good way. Or crying through the streets while your parents go to church. And there are a great many ways I could mention but some might think I meant them. And I do. I know some that do all those things I have written and I fear some day when I pick up the “sentinel” I may see there a notice of their death.The commandment says “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now I would like to ask if boys can keep it holy by hunting rabbits? Crying through the streets? Rolling snowballs? And girls by playing? Going out when forbidden to do so often taking with them a little brother or sister left in their care by their parents while they have gone to church? Boys & girls by visiting or roaming about through the snow or mud? Do you think that is keeping the Sabbath day holy? I know you do not. Yet some of you do these things while there are a very few perhaps who do many of these things at times when they thought the weather too bad to go to Sunday School. Just now three boys passed my window one had two rabbits and another one. Out in the street in front of the window are seven boys skating on a little piece of ice about 3 times as large as the table standing in front of the pulpit. I can hear their swearing and fighting 3 or 4 little negroes stand near looking on waiting till marsa leaves so he can skate too. The wood train is just coming in and very soon all the boys will have a nice roaring fire. It still keeps snowing If the roads were in a proper condition there is snow enough for sleighing. Here comes two more boys with rabbits. They are just beginning to come in. They do not go to Sabbath School. Some of them (poor fellows) have no one to teach them to be good. Oh how you ought to prize the oportunity you have. This is the day for monthly prayer-meeting. I hope all attended it. You have so many advantages over thousands of others that you ought to cherish them and thank God for his goodness and mercy. Yesterday one of the men of Co. “A” was buried Only a few days ago he was well and hearty but he took the Small Pox and then New Years night took cold and died very suddenly. I saw his funeral from my window It was a solemn sight. The company did not go very close to the grave but at a short distance from it saw his body lowered into the grave and fired their salute over it. Another good and brave soldier has gone. His name was Thompson Saycock. His parents live near Pontiac. There is but one more case of Small-Pox in the Regt. and he is almost well. There is but little sickness among us. We received the Sentinel to-day of the 22nd Dec. the first we rec’d for a long time. They do not come regularly of late. I am happy to hear that your School is so highly prosperous. May God incline your hearts to love him. Do not forget to pray. Ask God for those things which you need and above all ask him to make you good Then if we meet again we can rejoice in the prospect of Heaven and the love of Jesus in our hearts and if we never meet again all will still be well and “In Heaven above where all is Love” we can spend our eternity together Farewell

Your affect
J F Culver

The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society invites you to hear:

Wayne Richenbacher, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Iowa

The Demise of Stonewall Jackson: A Civil War Case Study

Thursday, January 24, 2013 5:30-6:30;   Room 401, Univ. of Iowa Hardin Library for the Health Sciences

Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, commander of the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, was wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War. He died eight days later. This talk will focus on Jackson the brilliant military strategist, Hunter Holmes McGuire the chief surgeon of Jackson’s Corps and medical care provided to Jackson following his injury.

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