From Jerome to Allie, March 5, 1864

From Jerome to Allie, March 5, 1864

Peirce, Jerome

Allie

Mossy Creek, E. Tenn.

From Jerome to Allie

Jerome Peirce

Jerome Peirce Collection, National Park Service

HIST 428 (Spring 2020), University of Mary Washington

1864-03-05

NPS, Civil War Study Group, Josef Rokus (Transcriber)

For educational purposes with no commercial use. Courtesy of National Park Service, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania NMP, FRSP 16095-16102 (FRSP-00904).

English

Text

Letter #199

Mossy Creek, E. Tenn.

“Mossy Creek” E. Tenn Sat. morn 5th Mch/64
My ever dear wife and little one.
Mail goes in a few moments and I can only send you a singe word to thank you for your most comforting letter of the 21st Feb just this moment. Should like to send a long letter with our movements which don’t amount to much so far only tiring out the men. Went as far as Morristown 12 miles from here, came back Wedns. [Wednesday]. Expected to have come back to Strawberry Plains, and a few of us went ahead Wedns. night but had to come back some 24 miles extra marching.
Have been troubled with an abscess on my neck. It has opened and I am now quite smart again. Some lame in right knee but shall rest a day or two in camp, a general stop being put to movements.
You will receive a note by Mr. Sallervay I hope written a week ago. Your account of his sermons and kindness are a great comfort to me, and your letter done me so much good.
Oh Allie, I do take some comfort in my good name and trust I deserve it. I am certainly trying against many hardships to do something for the present day and generation and I hope you will keep up good courage to the end. You know I am without stationery or change of clothing. So you must accept such as I have.
Have had some stormy weather but not cold. Rations are not full, but better than before. I think it is intended to hold our position and that soon we shall advance again. Building R.R. [Railroad] bridge at Strawberry Plains, etc., etc. Didn’t get the other letter from home or Boston yet. Please write Boston friends and tell them how I am situated. Expect my knapsacks but uncertain. The officers are doing all they can for us. It is a difficult thing to keep open communications for supplies, etc.
We’re in the woods, expect to change camp as soon as the ground gets dry. Am sorry to send you thus poor affairs but will read your letter and do better as soon as I can. Knew you would feel anxious ab [about?] our hurried and strange movements spoken of in my letters from the [Strawberry] Plains.
You may send me a pair of socks. Have the feet short somewhat as extra troubles in marching. Do not need anything else, especially if my things come up and weather getting warmer. We learn to get along with very little. Give much love to all the friends at Bedford too. Did Laura get my letter written a long time ago?
You will please send a small sheet of paper and so I can write you regularly. Cannot [Insert “write”?] anyone else till my things come up, till then how it is. Bro. Ben is well and the kindest of friends to me. He will write you one of these days. You can hardly imagine the discomforts of these “light marching orders” movements.
There is so much I would like to say to you but I think of you constantly and I feel daily more and more how much we must lean on the great Right Arm.
Please write all often for letters are such a comfort and will reach me somehow.
Love to each and all and a kiss for wife and Lulu from your own
Jerome
A nice lot of stamps now.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

NOTE 1: Mossy Creek is a district or section in the southeast part of Jefferson City, Tennessee, in Jefferson County. It is located east of Knoxville, Tennessee, with Strawberry Plains located about halfway between Knoxville and Jefferson City. Mossy Creek was the site of a relatively minor Civil War battle on December 29, 1863. Morristown, Tennessee, is located just east of Jefferson City, Tennessee, about the same distance as Strawberry Plains is west of Jefferson City.

NOTE 2: As indicated in the letter, Jerome was short of stationery when he wrote it. Consequently, the first page of this letter was written on the back of an advertising flyer summarized below. It should be noted that Allie’s maiden name was Jaquith. Therefore, the Joseph Jaquith who is named as the “Agent” in the flyer and who apparently distributed it is almost certainly Allie’s brother Joseph who was born in 1842. The flyer advertises a patented elastic roofing material to fireproof and waterproof roofs of all kinds as well as roofing cement for pointing chimneys, etc. by a company located on Warren St. in Lowell, Mass. Joseph Jaquith is listed as the Agent, with Wm. G. Clark of 67 Haverhill St., Boston, Mass., being the General Agent.

NOTE 3: Strawberry Plains was then and is now a small community that straddles Jefferson, Knox, and Sevier counties in Tennessee and is located on the bank of the Holston River. Early in the Civil War, in 1861, the railroad bridge at Strawberry Plains was a target of Union sympathizers who tried to burn several East Tennessee bridges to hinder Confederate military progress. The conspirators failed in their efforts to burn the Strawberry Plains bridge, but they succeeded in their attacks of some of their other targets.

NOTE 4: “Right Arm” undoubtedly refers to God. For example, in Psalms 98:1 there is a passage that reads, “O sing to the Lord a new song. For He has done wonderful things. His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.” Having been a Sabbath School teacher at his church in Orange, Massachusetts, before he enlisted, Jerome would likely have been familiar with this and other passages in the Bible which indirectly refer to the “Right Arm” and God.

Letter / Paper