U.S. Sanitary Commission
Washington, June 15, 1864.
Dear wife,
Well, I am through the mill, and came out for a first Lieutenant. Now for the front. I have been up and seen Jacob and Dr. Bowker, etc. Heard from Zopher. Up to the 10th he is well. He is a Sergeant. I have spent the whole day at Carver and Columbia and in laying in a little paper and tobacco, had the luck to find a friend that let me have a little money. I am well, first rate. If I could only get that strap on my shoulders. You know that I should not care, if there was not such a scarcity of pennies in my pocket. I cannot describe my feelings when I heard that mother was dangerously sick. How glad I am that I had written to her. I was intending to write again as soon as I had got through my examination here, but alas, she can write no more. How sad father
must feel. I had meant to have written to him tonight, but I have spent so much time in hospitals today, and in making arrangements for going on to my regiment, that I have but a few moments to spare to write to you. I must scratch for the time is so short. You will have a hard tone in reading it, but I fell that I must write to you,
and I think you will be glad to decipher it. I shall write as soon as I get down. Direct the letter to the care of Capt. Davis, Co. D., 6th Regt. Vt. Volunteers. I do not know what company I shall be in. In my last letters I told you that Chester Wilder was going to have his arm operated on and some pieces of bone taken out, but it has not been done, and it seems to uniting hope it may. He expects to be transferred to Vermont, start tomorrow and a great many other Vermont boys. Charles Wilder is among them. He says that if he gets home, he shall go up and see you. He was in Zopher’s company. I have seen others from that company. They all call him one of the best of soldiers. I think that it will not be surprising if he should get a commission before I did. He deserves one. I saw Mrs. Newcomb yesterday. They have come to put out the lights.
Your own dear husband,
Charles.
His mother's gravestone
Was up in the Northeast Kingdom in September and checked out some cemeteries. Her parents and her 2 oldest siblings were listed as the first white English-speaking settlers of Derby, VT.
Digging deeper
I like the way that the more you dig, the more interesting the story becomes and the more complete the picture becomes.
It’s always been one of the weird things about history – that further away from an event more detail is known. One would think that the information closest to the event would be most complete, but that’s rarely the case. A bigger picture is assembled by looking in many corners.
I’m always thinking of Charles now as I go through the news of the 1850’s and 60’s, too, btw. Such as today, reading this in old news from today:
“1861:
Our young friend Larkin G. Mead, Jr., is now at the seat of war, with the Vermont brigade, employed as an artist, taking officers, camps, regiments, brigades, or entire divisions as opportunity presents. A harmless way of doing it, to be sure, using as he does, only a pencil.”
Did he sketch Charles anywhere?
Finally – this is about as “original Vermonter” as a European can claim! (Original flatlanders?)
Did you do a gravestone rubbing?
No rubbings, too cold and rainy
But I also found Zopher’s gravestone (spelled Zophar); a big fancy one befitting a past lieutenant governor.
Still having fun rereading and picking up little tidbits.
For example, the apparent origin of the phrase “roll call” was to CALL out the soldiers listed on the roster of names in order to administer the payROLL.
And “train” used alone refers to a WAGON train, as opposed to a RAILROAD train, which seems to be more often referred to as “the cars.”