From Jerome to Allie, June 10, 1863
Dublin Core
Title
From Jerome to Allie, June 10, 1863
Subject
Peirce, Jerome
Allie
Cairo, IL.
Description
From Jerome to Allie
Creator
Jerome Peirce
Source
Jerome Peirce Collection
Publisher
HIST 428 (Spring 2020), University of Mary Washington
Date
1863-06-10
Contributor
NPS, Civil War Study Group, Josef Rokus (Transcriber)
Rights
For educational purposes with no commercial use. Courtesy of National Park Service, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP, FRSP 16095-16102 (FRSP-00904).
Format
6.54 X 4.4
6.02 X 8.71
10.48 X 8.86
6.05 X 8.76
Jpg
6.02 X 8.71
10.48 X 8.86
6.05 X 8.76
Jpg
Language
English
Type
Text
Identifier
Letter #125
Coverage
Cairo, IL.
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
LETTER TRANSCRIPTION
Cairo Ill. Wedns 10 June /63
My ever dear Allie,
Early morning on board a crowded dirty steamboat, all noise. I am crowded behind a door on a knapsack and so send a message to you. My last [letter was] from Louisville in the depot. Left there about 9 o’clk a.m. Monday. Arrived here last night and laid in the cars till about 2 o’clk and have slept on the upper deck and in the rain but rubber blankets have saved me and I am happy to tell you I am very well and improving being relieved from marching.
Expect we are going to Memphis, Miss., as Bragg is threatening it and we may go to Vicksburg. This is all I can divine or learn. Expect to be on board till Sunday. Oh, for a quiet repose in a good camp for a few days!
Distance grows between us, dear wife, but Heaven keeps all and so let us trust, if I can only keep well, I have no fears and I shall do my very best.
Should like to give you an account of our journey through the country, so different from Ken’y [Kentucky]. ‘Twas a perfect ovation. Everybody old and young came to see and welcome us and all sorts of good things freely given and “good speeds” from everybody. One gentleman says “Our folks here have fallen quite in love with you Eastern troops. One kind lady, as I mentioned our life in Ky., says, tears coming to her eyes and choking up, “My poor son died in Ky. They didn’t treat him very well!” Another lost a husband at Murfreesboro. All reminds one of the dreadful scourge upon us.
I don’t know about mailing this. Shall enclose a sum, as much as I can. Wish I could more but we’re a good ways from home.
Our Regt. is on board the “Meteor” and the “hands” say she is going to Memphis.
Went on to the street and bought one nice flannel shirt, cost $2.00, much like the ones you made, a pencil, a nice one, and a little reading matter.
Made me a cup of coffee in the furnace and feel nicely.
Excuse this poor fumbled affair but I can hardly keep my thoughts, so much confusion and din, but my thoughts are ever with you and the dear friends at home and so tell them.
Have a little paper for Lulu, will send now or some future time, some pretty little pictures just to keep her in mind of her Papa. Tell her I saw a great many little girls on the way and gave them some sugar plums for her sake.
Alonzo is well and busy all the time and his is a hard duty when we are thus moving.
Shall not write much till we arrive in camp but tell the friends for the present.
Don’t know when I shall hear from you. Am afraid not till we arrive in camp.
Corpl. Whipple of Worcester, a good friend, is closing a letter and we will go to the office together, as the boat is waiting for baggage.
As ever your loving husband,
Jerome
Cairo Ill. Wedns 10 June /63
My ever dear Allie,
Early morning on board a crowded dirty steamboat, all noise. I am crowded behind a door on a knapsack and so send a message to you. My last [letter was] from Louisville in the depot. Left there about 9 o’clk a.m. Monday. Arrived here last night and laid in the cars till about 2 o’clk and have slept on the upper deck and in the rain but rubber blankets have saved me and I am happy to tell you I am very well and improving being relieved from marching.
Expect we are going to Memphis, Miss., as Bragg is threatening it and we may go to Vicksburg. This is all I can divine or learn. Expect to be on board till Sunday. Oh, for a quiet repose in a good camp for a few days!
Distance grows between us, dear wife, but Heaven keeps all and so let us trust, if I can only keep well, I have no fears and I shall do my very best.
Should like to give you an account of our journey through the country, so different from Ken’y [Kentucky]. ‘Twas a perfect ovation. Everybody old and young came to see and welcome us and all sorts of good things freely given and “good speeds” from everybody. One gentleman says “Our folks here have fallen quite in love with you Eastern troops. One kind lady, as I mentioned our life in Ky., says, tears coming to her eyes and choking up, “My poor son died in Ky. They didn’t treat him very well!” Another lost a husband at Murfreesboro. All reminds one of the dreadful scourge upon us.
I don’t know about mailing this. Shall enclose a sum, as much as I can. Wish I could more but we’re a good ways from home.
Our Regt. is on board the “Meteor” and the “hands” say she is going to Memphis.
Went on to the street and bought one nice flannel shirt, cost $2.00, much like the ones you made, a pencil, a nice one, and a little reading matter.
Made me a cup of coffee in the furnace and feel nicely.
Excuse this poor fumbled affair but I can hardly keep my thoughts, so much confusion and din, but my thoughts are ever with you and the dear friends at home and so tell them.
Have a little paper for Lulu, will send now or some future time, some pretty little pictures just to keep her in mind of her Papa. Tell her I saw a great many little girls on the way and gave them some sugar plums for her sake.
Alonzo is well and busy all the time and his is a hard duty when we are thus moving.
Shall not write much till we arrive in camp but tell the friends for the present.
Don’t know when I shall hear from you. Am afraid not till we arrive in camp.
Corpl. Whipple of Worcester, a good friend, is closing a letter and we will go to the office together, as the boat is waiting for baggage.
As ever your loving husband,
Jerome
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
NOTE 1: Although the letter clearly mentions Memphis, Mississippi, Jerome might have meant Memphis, Tennessee, the site of a significant naval battle on June 6, 1862.
NOTE 2: The “Alonzo” Jerome referred to in his letters was Seth Alonzo Ranlett. Ranlett enlisted in Co. B of the 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as a Private on July 24, 1862, at age 22, and he was from Charlestown, Massachusetts. He was promoted to First Sergeant on August 27, 1862, and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant on December 1, 1862. On December 17, 1862, he was appointed Adjutant of the Regiment. He was mustered out “on account of physical disability from disease incurred in the service” on February 20, 1864.
Ranlett was born on March 18, 1840, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and he died May 21, 1905, in Newton, Massachusetts. Ranlett’s wife was Ellen Peirce Ranlett, with a date of birth of March 22, 1842, and a date of death of January 12, 1914. They were married on January 21, 1864. Ellen Peirce was one of the children of Foster Peirce and his wife Catherine Abby Beaman. Also, Foster Peirce was a brother of Jerome.
Therefore, the Ellen that Jerome mentions in some of his letters was one of Jerome’s nieces, and starting on January 21, 1864, Alonzo was the husband of one of his nieces.
NOTE 3: Albert B. Whipple enlisted as a Corporal from Worcester, Massachusetts, at age 27. He was promoted to Sergeant on May 12, 1864. He was severely wounded in action near Petersburg, Virginia, on June 17, 1864, and was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps (V.R.C.) on December 19, 1864, as the result of the wounds he had received.
NOTE 1: Although the letter clearly mentions Memphis, Mississippi, Jerome might have meant Memphis, Tennessee, the site of a significant naval battle on June 6, 1862.
NOTE 2: The “Alonzo” Jerome referred to in his letters was Seth Alonzo Ranlett. Ranlett enlisted in Co. B of the 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment as a Private on July 24, 1862, at age 22, and he was from Charlestown, Massachusetts. He was promoted to First Sergeant on August 27, 1862, and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant on December 1, 1862. On December 17, 1862, he was appointed Adjutant of the Regiment. He was mustered out “on account of physical disability from disease incurred in the service” on February 20, 1864.
Ranlett was born on March 18, 1840, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and he died May 21, 1905, in Newton, Massachusetts. Ranlett’s wife was Ellen Peirce Ranlett, with a date of birth of March 22, 1842, and a date of death of January 12, 1914. They were married on January 21, 1864. Ellen Peirce was one of the children of Foster Peirce and his wife Catherine Abby Beaman. Also, Foster Peirce was a brother of Jerome.
Therefore, the Ellen that Jerome mentions in some of his letters was one of Jerome’s nieces, and starting on January 21, 1864, Alonzo was the husband of one of his nieces.
NOTE 3: Albert B. Whipple enlisted as a Corporal from Worcester, Massachusetts, at age 27. He was promoted to Sergeant on May 12, 1864. He was severely wounded in action near Petersburg, Virginia, on June 17, 1864, and was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps (V.R.C.) on December 19, 1864, as the result of the wounds he had received.
Original Format
Letter/Paper
Files
Collection
Reference
Jerome Peirce 1863, From Jerome to Allie, June 10, 1863, HIST 428 (Spring 2020), University of Mary Washington
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