70th New York Infantry - Wounded & POW

Item LTR-10654

Description

Original Civil War soldier's letter. 3 pages, written in period ink.


Waterbury, Connecticut

December 26, 1865

Friend Orland Bourne,

I see a chance for the maimed, as some wish to call us, for one who has lost the right arm in the war. I lost my arm at Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia the 12th day of May 1864 during Lieutenant General Grant’s Campaign on to Richmond. I participated in the following battles: the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia 1862, Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia 1862, and the Seven Days Battle from Richmond to Harrison’s Landing and a warm time too. You can bet Malvern Hill the second under Fighting Joe Hooker, as some call him.

The next at Bristol, Virginia, fighting Stonewall Jackson and his Greybacks. Battle Second Bull Run, we got cut to pieces there so they left our Corps to protect Washington while the rest of the Army was fighting the Battle of Antietam. The next was the Battle of Fredericksburg, where I was engaged. Well, the next was, I supposed you heard about Burnside stuck in the mud. I don’t suppose you will call that a battle. Well, I don’t. I called it one time stuck in the mud.

The next was the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia 1863, where I was taken prisoner by the Greybacks. I was sent to Richmond. I was a prisoner five months and four days. I was sent to my regiment the time Major General Meade retreated from Culpeper and a nice march for a lean soldier to make from Culpeper to Centreville. I was in some skirmishes between the Rappahannock and Centreville. I was in the Battle of Locust Grove. I think that is the name when General Meade crossed the Rapidan in 1863, November 2.

1864, we crossed the Rapidan the fourth or fifth of May in 1864 and then came that awful Battle in the Wilderness. Where many good soldiers “bit the dust.” From there to Spotsylvania fighting every day up to the 12th of May where I lost my right arm and that was the end of my soldiering. This is as correct as I can think.

I enlisted on 26 April 1861 in the Excelsior Brigade = First Regiment, Company I. Our Regiment was number in the New York State Troops, 70 Regiment.

The rebels thought they had us when the war first began. When we had the misfortune at the Battle of Bull Run. But they soon found out they had no earthly sight for we beat them two to one in a fair field fight.

Chorus:

“Hoist up the Flag and long may it wave
Over the Union, boys so noble and so brave,
Hoist up the Flag and long may it wave
Over the union, boys so noble and brave


Our troops on the march they were might lucky.
They licked the enemy, two to one in Old Kentucky.
Our troops on the march were of the right stamp,
They beat the enemy off the ground, and took all their camp,
Our troops, at Richmond, were under good training.
They were under the command of General McClellan (but I don’t see it).
The troops at Richmond were anxious for a fight,
But the Rebels, they were cowardly and kept out of sight,
The little Iron Monitor went to Norfolk, well packed,
She fought seven hours alongside the Merrimack.
When she opened fire, she made the Merrimack sound,
She crippled her with a ball weighing 480 pounds.”

I did not see your reward until about a month ago, so I have not had much practice and practice make perfect.

My address is John M. Tures
Mianus Post Office
Connecticut

I was a Corporal in the 70th New York Volunteers, Company I.