From Jerome to Allie, April 13, 1863
Dublin Core
Title
From Jerome to Allie, April 13, 1863
Subject
Peirce, Jerome
Allie
Camp Dick Robinson
Bryantsville, KY.
Description
From Jerome to Allie
Creator
Jerome Peirce
Source
Jerome Peirce Collection, National Park Service
Publisher
HIST 428 (Spring 2020), University of Mary Washington
Date
1863-04-13
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
9 X 10.75
16.45 X 10.5
8.65 X 5
Jpg
16.45 X 10.5
8.65 X 5
Jpg
Language
English
Type
Text
Identifier
Letter #102
Coverage
Camp Dick Robinson near Bryantsville, KY.
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
LETTER TRANSCRIPTION
Camp “Dick Robinson”, Ky 15th Apr. 1863
My very dear wife,
It is a cool drizzly morning and we keep to our tents. Have been quite busy mending, fastening buttons.
No letters since last Sat. and we begin to feel impatient.
We shall remain quietly in camp and have nicely recovered from the effects of the march, and nature is putting on her finest carpet of green. They have taken great pains clearing the grounds and the grass is putting forth beautifully and the birds are singing and it seems indeed like spring.
It is really pleasant and I wish you could be nicely fixed in this neighborhood till the campaign was over for there are cozy nice looking old farm houses near our grounds which look homelike.
Have been looking at your pictures and it almost seems as though I could hear you and Lulu as you move about.
I suppose you are once more at B [Billerica]. I hope things will work in some way to favor you. There is quite a change in affairs in our tent. Jos. H. is going on the supply train again learning. Also one other of our tent fellows and still another is trying for a chance. Hope J. H. will succeed for I think [he] can do better there if he tries. The season will be better, and far better roads than in Va.
Of course I can tell you no news but I love to send you a few words to keep you company as sort of pocket companions.
Have written Bowen and Phillips. Hope I shall hear from some of them ere long. I can’t understand why our mail is so long arriving. A letter or two comes nearly every day but no large amount as there should be.
Saw B. Edmands as usual yesterday. His wife is having good success at Wheeling. A little later as I finished the last sentence, Ben E. peeped in but is on duty and could not stay. Was with him last eve. laughing over “Merry Wives of Windsor” (Shakespeare). Jos. H. came in, been off to attend to his teams. Has bought him a revolver.
Folks sometimes ask about accouterments in camp. Here ball playing is the great game. There are also cannon balls here from some old army stores and they practice throwing and rolling them a good deal. Capt. S. is about as smart as any. I do not play a great altho [I] used to pitch “quoits” some at Newport News.
Newspaper news is quite uncertain and doubtful. Saw papers of Apr. 8th at B. E.’s tent last eve. Hope the work is progressing favorably at Charleston, S.C. See no signs of our moving yet awhile.
Does it look like spring yet? Any work begun yet? How much I would like to be with the folks and try farming a little.
Mary, I ought to have something interesting for you for your last [letter]. But ‘tis all one story here, bugles and drums most of the time. I rove about thinking of dear friends at home being “on the Colors”. Have nothing to do in camp but to keep up my health and strength. By the way, we ‘Color Guard’ are to have an additional badge on our sleeve. Imagine me sprouting the following, the star
being recently added as in the old Regts [Regiments]. Shall I ever have two on the shoulders?
Mary, when your scholars march, they must start with the left foot! and when turning, turn to the right, this is military.
What’s Miss Hattie doing? Do I owe her a letter? My recent rambles have put me out of all account of letters received.
Jos. H. wishes to remind you, Allie, that you owe him a letter, although he knows you have much to think of.
Tell Lulu I am watching to find some flowers to send her but have seen none as yet. There are lots of little frogs tho running about here and some that are not so little.
Jos. H. and another brought in some twenty dollars worth of stuff from a store nearby the other P.M. and sold all in a few moments to the boys Cheese, candy, cigars, bread, etc., etc., etc. Payday makes things lively.
I don’t know as I can add anything more to this. Hope we shall have a mail before night. Hope you receive all my letters. Mailed one Sunday with $42.00.
My sleeve stars have just come and I must be putting them on.
Love to friends and as ever to your dear self from
Your loving husband
Jerome
Camp “Dick Robinson”, Ky 15th Apr. 1863
My very dear wife,
It is a cool drizzly morning and we keep to our tents. Have been quite busy mending, fastening buttons.
No letters since last Sat. and we begin to feel impatient.
We shall remain quietly in camp and have nicely recovered from the effects of the march, and nature is putting on her finest carpet of green. They have taken great pains clearing the grounds and the grass is putting forth beautifully and the birds are singing and it seems indeed like spring.
It is really pleasant and I wish you could be nicely fixed in this neighborhood till the campaign was over for there are cozy nice looking old farm houses near our grounds which look homelike.
Have been looking at your pictures and it almost seems as though I could hear you and Lulu as you move about.
I suppose you are once more at B [Billerica]. I hope things will work in some way to favor you. There is quite a change in affairs in our tent. Jos. H. is going on the supply train again learning. Also one other of our tent fellows and still another is trying for a chance. Hope J. H. will succeed for I think [he] can do better there if he tries. The season will be better, and far better roads than in Va.
Of course I can tell you no news but I love to send you a few words to keep you company as sort of pocket companions.
Have written Bowen and Phillips. Hope I shall hear from some of them ere long. I can’t understand why our mail is so long arriving. A letter or two comes nearly every day but no large amount as there should be.
Saw B. Edmands as usual yesterday. His wife is having good success at Wheeling. A little later as I finished the last sentence, Ben E. peeped in but is on duty and could not stay. Was with him last eve. laughing over “Merry Wives of Windsor” (Shakespeare). Jos. H. came in, been off to attend to his teams. Has bought him a revolver.
Folks sometimes ask about accouterments in camp. Here ball playing is the great game. There are also cannon balls here from some old army stores and they practice throwing and rolling them a good deal. Capt. S. is about as smart as any. I do not play a great altho [I] used to pitch “quoits” some at Newport News.
Newspaper news is quite uncertain and doubtful. Saw papers of Apr. 8th at B. E.’s tent last eve. Hope the work is progressing favorably at Charleston, S.C. See no signs of our moving yet awhile.
Does it look like spring yet? Any work begun yet? How much I would like to be with the folks and try farming a little.
Mary, I ought to have something interesting for you for your last [letter]. But ‘tis all one story here, bugles and drums most of the time. I rove about thinking of dear friends at home being “on the Colors”. Have nothing to do in camp but to keep up my health and strength. By the way, we ‘Color Guard’ are to have an additional badge on our sleeve. Imagine me sprouting the following, the star
being recently added as in the old Regts [Regiments]. Shall I ever have two on the shoulders?
Mary, when your scholars march, they must start with the left foot! and when turning, turn to the right, this is military.
What’s Miss Hattie doing? Do I owe her a letter? My recent rambles have put me out of all account of letters received.
Jos. H. wishes to remind you, Allie, that you owe him a letter, although he knows you have much to think of.
Tell Lulu I am watching to find some flowers to send her but have seen none as yet. There are lots of little frogs tho running about here and some that are not so little.
Jos. H. and another brought in some twenty dollars worth of stuff from a store nearby the other P.M. and sold all in a few moments to the boys Cheese, candy, cigars, bread, etc., etc., etc. Payday makes things lively.
I don’t know as I can add anything more to this. Hope we shall have a mail before night. Hope you receive all my letters. Mailed one Sunday with $42.00.
My sleeve stars have just come and I must be putting them on.
Love to friends and as ever to your dear self from
Your loving husband
Jerome
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
NOTE 1: Camp Dick Robinson was a large Union Army organizational and training center located near Lancaster in rural Garrard County, Kentucky. The camp was established on August 6, 1861, despite the protests of Governor Beriah Magoffin, a strong secessionist and Southern sympathizer. It was located about halfway between Cincinnati and the Cumberland Gap and was about 30 miles from Lexington, Kentucky. It was constructed on the farm of Captain Dick Robinson, a strong pro-Union supporter. The post served as a rallying point for local loyalists, as well as for Unionists who had left their homes in eastern Tennessee in order to enlist in the Union army. In 1862, the Confederate Army seized the camp and renamed it "Camp Breckinridge," in honor of Confederate general and former U.S. Vice President John C. Breckinridge, a native Kentuckian. The advance of the Union army into the region forced the Rebels to abandon the camp, and Federal troops regained its possession for the remainder of the war. After hostilities ceased in 1865, the camp was phased out of existence.
NOTE 2: The “Jos. H.” that Jerome referred to in this letter was Joseph H. Peirce. He enlisted as a Private in Orange, Mass., on August 4, 1862, at age 18. Jerome also enlisted in Orange on the same date, but as a corporal. Jerome was 31 years old at the time. According to the Unit History, Joseph H. Peirce was taken Prisoner of War at Pegram Farm, Virginia, on September 30, 1864, (See Letter No. 227) and he was later exchanged. He was discharged on June 21, 1865. Joseph H. Peirce was the son of Joseph Peirce, one of Jerome’s brothers, and was, therefore, Jerome’s nephew.
NOTE 3: Benjamin B. Edmands enlisted as a Private at age 27 from Brookline, Massachusetts, and he was subsequently promoted to Corporal. On January 20, 1864, he was discharged for promotion as a Lieutenant in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers.
NOTE 4: The “Capt. S” referred to in the letter was Captain Christopher Sawyer. Sawyer enlisted as a Captain at age 28 from Templeton, Massachusetts, on August 22, 1862, and he commanded Company H of the 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the company that Jerome was assigned to. He was discharged on account of disability on February 19, 1864.
NOTE 5: Quoits is a game in which flat rings of iron or rope are pitched at a stake, with points awarded for encircling it.
NOTE 1: Camp Dick Robinson was a large Union Army organizational and training center located near Lancaster in rural Garrard County, Kentucky. The camp was established on August 6, 1861, despite the protests of Governor Beriah Magoffin, a strong secessionist and Southern sympathizer. It was located about halfway between Cincinnati and the Cumberland Gap and was about 30 miles from Lexington, Kentucky. It was constructed on the farm of Captain Dick Robinson, a strong pro-Union supporter. The post served as a rallying point for local loyalists, as well as for Unionists who had left their homes in eastern Tennessee in order to enlist in the Union army. In 1862, the Confederate Army seized the camp and renamed it "Camp Breckinridge," in honor of Confederate general and former U.S. Vice President John C. Breckinridge, a native Kentuckian. The advance of the Union army into the region forced the Rebels to abandon the camp, and Federal troops regained its possession for the remainder of the war. After hostilities ceased in 1865, the camp was phased out of existence.
NOTE 2: The “Jos. H.” that Jerome referred to in this letter was Joseph H. Peirce. He enlisted as a Private in Orange, Mass., on August 4, 1862, at age 18. Jerome also enlisted in Orange on the same date, but as a corporal. Jerome was 31 years old at the time. According to the Unit History, Joseph H. Peirce was taken Prisoner of War at Pegram Farm, Virginia, on September 30, 1864, (See Letter No. 227) and he was later exchanged. He was discharged on June 21, 1865. Joseph H. Peirce was the son of Joseph Peirce, one of Jerome’s brothers, and was, therefore, Jerome’s nephew.
NOTE 3: Benjamin B. Edmands enlisted as a Private at age 27 from Brookline, Massachusetts, and he was subsequently promoted to Corporal. On January 20, 1864, he was discharged for promotion as a Lieutenant in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers.
NOTE 4: The “Capt. S” referred to in the letter was Captain Christopher Sawyer. Sawyer enlisted as a Captain at age 28 from Templeton, Massachusetts, on August 22, 1862, and he commanded Company H of the 36th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the company that Jerome was assigned to. He was discharged on account of disability on February 19, 1864.
NOTE 5: Quoits is a game in which flat rings of iron or rope are pitched at a stake, with points awarded for encircling it.
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Letter/Paper
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Collection
Reference
Jerome Peirce 1863, From Jerome to Allie, April 13, 1863, HIST 428 (Spring 2020), University of Mary Washington
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