Joseph F. Culver Civil War Letters

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Head Quarters, Company A [Octr. 16, 1862]
129th Ills. Vols., Camp near Crab Orchard, Ky.

My Dear Wife

I understand we will have an opportunity to send letters back to-morrow & am happy to be able to write. I have been quite sick for the last two days but am now much better. I have a slight Bilious attack, I think. We arrived here about noon to-day & are a little in advance of the main part of Buell’s army, surrounded on every side by thousands of troops. ((Buell, learning on the 13th that Bragg had evacuated his position commanding the
crossings of Dick’s River and was in retreat, ordered his columns to pursue. Next morning
at Stanford, one of Buell’s divisions clashed with Confederate cavalry screening the
retreat. About noon on the 15th, Crittenden’s corps, which was spearheading the pursuit,
entered Crab Orchard. Covered by a strong rear guard, the Confederates retired to Mount
Vernon.
From reports submitted by his scouts, Buell knew that the roads by which the Confederates were retiring passed “through defiles, where a small force can resist with great effect a large one; where in fact the use of a large force is impracticable.” In addition, he knew that the Rebels would use or destroy the small amount of forage in this sterile region. Buell accordingly decided to halt Gilbert’s and McCook’s corps at Crab Orchard. Crittenden’s troops were given the mission of harrassing the retreating Rebel columns. O. R., Ser. I, Vol. XVI, pt. I, p. 1029.
The 129th Illinois had marched from Salvisa to Danville on the 14th, to Stanford on the 15th, and to Crab Orchard on the 16th. At Crab Orchard on the 17th, the 38th Brigade was detached from Dumont’s Twelfth Division and assigned to Brig. Gen. Robert S. Granger’s Tenth Division. Regimental Papers, 129th Illinois, NA, RG 94.)) I met John Manker this evening, an old acquaintance of yours. He is Lieut. of an Ohio Company. ((John J. Manker had entered service as a private in Company B, 34th Ohio Infantry, and
on Aug. 15, 1862, he had received his discharge to accept a commission as 2d lieutenant in
Company E, Ohio Volunteers, 50th Ohio Infantry Regiment. Compiled Service Records of
Union Soldiers, NA.)) I presume there are many here I know when I come to find them. Continue reading →

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Provost Marshall’s Office, Salvisa, Ky., Octr. 15th 1862
Head Quarters, Co. A. 129th Ills.

My Dear Wife

I wrote a line hastily yesterday morning not knowing when I should have an opportunity to write again. I have been aroused this morning at 2 o’clock A.M. by the arrival of Allen Fellows, Dr. Johnson & others from Louisville, left behind to attend the sick nearly two weeks ago. ((John A. Fellows, a 30-year-old merchant, was mustered into federal service on Sept. 8, 1862, as a corporal in Company G, 129th Illinois. He was detailed as a male nurse, and on April 12, 1863, was appointed hospital steward. Fellows was mustered out on June 8, 1865, at Washington, D.C. Darius Johnson was mustered into federal service on Sept. 20, 1862, at Springfield, Ill., as 1st assistant surgeon, 129th Illinois Infantry. He was promoted to surgeon on March 6, 1864. Surgeon Johnson resigned because of disability from dysentery at Goldsboro, N.C., April 9, 1865. Compiled Service Records of Union Troops, NA.)) Continue reading →

Pontiac Ill. Oct. 14th 1862

My Dear Husband

I have just been reading a letter in the Sentinel written by “Livingston” of the 129 Regt. Is it possible Dear Frank that you had such a march as there described from Louisville to Shelbyville? Why did you not write me the particulars I hear so many conflicting reports that I dont know what to believe respecting your welfare Is it true that Allen Fellows is a prisoner of the Rebels If so I’m glad poor Lou is not here She went to [Sayfarthe?] two weeks ago Continue reading →

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Lawrenceburg, Ky.
Octr. 12th/ 62

Dear Mary

Recd. yours of 2nd day before yesterday & thank God that you are all well. Have been on hard marches for two days & leave here in haste this morning; do not know where we are going. My health is very good. Were out all day yesterday. Have not heard a sermon since the Sunday before I left Pontiac. Sunday is our busiest day. Continue reading →

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Head Quarters, Company A, 129th Ills. Vols.
Frankfort, Ky. Octr. 10th 1862

My Dear Wife

I wrote to you yesterday evening & supposed that before this we would be on our way to Lexington. The order was countermanded & we were sent to the heights west of the city to support a Battery. We are camped on a hill about 250 feet above the city giving us a fine view of all the surrounding Country. ((On the 10th Colonel Smith sent two companies of the 129th to patrol the adjacent hills. No Confederates were seen, but from a black the Federals learned that the citizens had made off with a large number of tents left by General Sill’s division when it passed through the area. Smith, on checking into this matter, recovered nine tents from one of the citizens. These tents were issued to the soldiers of the 129th, and provided a number with shelter from the cold rain which drenched the area on the 10th. G. P. Smith to Chapin, Oct. 11, 1862, Regimental Letter Books, 129th Illinois, NA.)) I do not know how many troops are here but judge about 60 to 75,000. ((J.F.C. has again overestimated the number of soldiers. On the 10th the only Union command in and around Frankfort was Dumont’s division, numbering about 10,300 effectives. O.R., Ser. I, Vol. XVI, pt. II, p. 658.)) The rebels are reported to be some ten miles south east of us, but, as we are only following up to support the Army in advance of us, we may not get a sight of them for some time to come. ((On Oct. 10 Kirby Smith’s Army of Kentucky rendezvoused with Bragg’s Army of Mississippi at Harrodsburg, 27 miles south of Frankfort. Ibid., pp. 927, 931.)) Continue reading →

Pontiac Ill. Oct. 8th 1862

My Dear Cousins

At Mothers request I write to inform you of the illness of Brother Jonnie. When he left you a week ago Sunday night, he thought a few days careful nursing would restore him to his usual health, but he has been sadly disappointed. Yesterday we almost despaired of his life, today thank God he is some better, his disease is billous fever, he is very sick, it is with difficulty that he speaks or raises his hands. The Doctor thinks now that he will recover. He has often spoken of your kindness to him while in Chicago, &; you have the heartfelt thanks of us all, for it, perhaps some day we may be able to repay you for it. Continue reading →

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Head Quarters, Company A, 129th Ills. Vols.
Camp near Frankfort, Ky., Octr. 9th 1862

My dear Wife

We arrived here this morning about sunrise after a day & night’s march, very tired, yet enjoying good health. ((The 129th Illinois marched from Shelbyville on the 8th. General Dumont, having learned that Sill’s division had evacuated Frankfort, pushed his soldiers hard. Word passed up and down the column that the Confederates had reoccupied the city. Dumont called on his people to make a night march. One of the men recalled, “No march has ever been so tiring to me as this one, being hardly able to remain in the column. Many of the men left the column and laid down by the road to sleep and rest.” Grunert, History of the 129th Illinois, pp. 6-7.)) The mail arrived last night from Louisville but brought nothing for me. It is very easy for letters to miscarry. Continue reading →

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Direct to Louisville
Octr. 8th, 7 o’clock A.M.

Dear Mary

We leave [Shelbyville] this morning for Frankfort. I never felt better in health. May God bless you. Farewell.

Your Husband
J. F. Culver

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Octr. 7th 1862
Camp Near Shelbyville, Ky., Head Quarters, Company A, 129th Ills. Vols.

Dear Wife

We have had no opportunities for receiving mail from Louisville as yet, so that if any letters were sent I could not yet have received them. I wrote on Sunday & a short note yesterday & mailed them at Shelbyville. Since then we have moved our camp; for two days we were in an open field, very dusty. There has been no rain except a short fall shower last week since the first of July, & the weather is very hot. ((All accounts of the Kentucky Campaign refer to the drought and suffering caused by lack of drinking water. The battle of Perryville, fought on October 8, was precipitated on the previous evening when troops of Gilbert’s corps lashed out to secure pools of water standing in the bed of Doctors Creek. Stanley Horn, The Army of Tennessee: A Military History (Indianapolis, 1941), p. 180.)) Continue reading →

Pontiac Ill. Oct. 6th 1862

My Dear Husband

Yours of the 1st 2nd & 3rd Oct I received today I was much surprised to learn that you had not heard from me I wrote you first when baby was just a week old I wrote again the 29th of September I am now at Mothers came over last saturday Jonnie is here & no better he is very low God grant that a change for the better may soon come Continue reading →