Nelson Jones - Letters From a Maine Soldier, Part 1

Nelson W. Jones, circa 1862.
(Maine Historical Society)
 

Nelson W. Jones was born in 1843 in Palermo, a rural town near Maine's rocky coast. His father, Nelson, Sr. was a farmer near the town. As many young men did at the time, Nelson enlisted in the 3rd Maine Infantry Regiment on June 4, 1861. During his time in the army, he wrote to his father and mother Hannah, multiple times. Here is one of the first letters after his enlistment, written after the Union defeat at the Battle of Bull Run:

[ed. note: all spelling and syntax have been preserved from the original letter.]


~~~~~

Claremount Virginia

July 28, 1861

Dear parents I will write you a few lines

to let you know I am well and hope thise

few lines will find you the same I was paid

of yesterday the balance due me from

maine nine dollars and I will send you

five of it I shall be paid from the United

States in about 20 days and I will send

you some more I am well and have

written to you third this week before and once

to Amelia I suppose you have heard of last Sundays

Proceedings old mcdowal is going to be hung

they say if it had not been for him we should

got the victory he has been courtmarshaled

and Seceasion papers found with him but generall

mcclelan is going to be our general now I shall have

to close as it is most mail time write as son

as you get this: From Nelson V. Jones To his parents

direct as usual Washington D C 3 reg Co I ME In

Source: Nelson W. Jones Pension File, WC 19616, National Archives

 

Francisco Olasquaga - The Great Escape

After a year hiatus, I've decided to starting blogging on this site again, concentrating on lesser and well-known stories of soldiers, most of which fought at Gettysburg. These are based on research I did while a SCA intern at Gettysburg National Military Park a year ago (two of my earlier posts below, John Cassidy and Simeon Roosa, were also part of that effort). Some are sad, others are heartbreaking  and others are quite amazing, but they are only a few of those who fought for their country at Gettysburg.

-Peter

Francisco Olasquaga/ Frank Wallace
(GNMP-NPS)

Francisco Teodosius Olasquaga was born in Toluca, Mexico on May 31st, 1836. His father, a drover and weaver, and mother were devout Catholics who had moved to Mexico from the Old World. One of four children, Francisco lost his father ten years later, and by the late 1840's, the young teenage had set off on his own. The Mexican War was a turning point both for the United States and Mexico at large, but for Francisco himself, it was life changing.

Riding with the invading American army was George Watson, a member of the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment, hailing from Centre County. Francisco told his granddaughter many years later that the American flag was one of the beautiful things he had ever seen, and he soon began doing errands for the soldiers. Watson apparently took an interest in the young man, and when the regiment returned home to America and Pennsylvania in 1849, he brought Francisco with him to Centre County.

Soon after, Francisco took up residence with Watson's neighbor, James Alexander, and worked on his farm for a year. During that time he had stopped using his last name of "Olasquaga", appearing in the 1850 Census as "Francisco Dorsa", perhaps a name much easier to pronounce in Pennsylvania farmlands. Deciding that farm labor did not suit him, he began learning the brick-making trade in the neighboring town of Centre Hall, where he prospered until the start of the Civil War in 1861.

As he grew into a self-made American, Francisco decided to also Americanize his name. While a young man in Mexico, he liked (then) Lt. Lew Wallace, who was with the army in Toluca. Taking Wallace's last name and anglicized versions of first and middle names, he became henceforth Frank Theodore Wallace. After marrying and starting a family in the area, he deemed his patriotic duty to enlist in the 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry at the outbreak of the war in 1861. 

2nd PA Cavalry Monument at Gettysburg
(Stone Sentinels)

Soon after his enlistment he was quickly promoted to Sergeant, and served with his regiment through the first three years of war. At Gettysburg they served as General George Meade's headquarters guard. At the 2nd PA's monument dedication on the Gettysburg Battlefield in 1889, John Galbraith noted that "Comrade Wallace...also entered the town as a bearer of dispatches during the action of the first day." After re-enlisting in December 1863, he was to endure some of the most trying times of his life.

In the early spring, Frank was with his company in Bealton, VA when he lost control of and was reared off his horse, causing him severe injuries to the left side of his face. His left eye was severely injured, by the time he was discharged in 1865, he had completely lost sight in that eye. Despite his injuries, he insisted on being treated in the field and not sent to any hospital. 

His travails continued later that year went he was taken prisoner at White Oak Swamp, VA. After a succession of prison camps in Virginia, he was taken to the Salisbury POW camp in North Carolina in October 1864, where he immediately began plotting his escape to freedom. Despite two unsuccessful attempts, Frank Wallace escaped from Salisbury prison through the cook house on February 11th, 1865. Despite escaping the confines of the prison, Frank now had to contend with a long journey to freedom and safety: hostile locals, difficult and mountainous terrain, and exposure to the elements in a deteriorating physical condition. Against all of these odds, Frank made it to safety at Union headquarters in Knoxville, TN on March 16th, 1865, a trip of 340 miles in 33 days. A month later, Frank Wallace was headed home to Pennsylvania.

Sources: 

* Gettysburg NMP Library Vertical File # 19P-0782 "Frank T. Wallace"

* Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc.,1898.

* United States Census Records 1860 & 1880

* "Records of Escaped Prisoners of War USA". Records of the Commissary General of Prisoners, 1861-1905. National Archives and Records Adminstration (NARA).  

   

John Cassidy - Memento Mori

John Cassidy's Prayer Book (GMNP- NPS)

Sometimes, it is the smallest item that provides the biggest impact. Such is the case with Corporal John Cassidy's copy of The Manual of the Christian Soldier.

John Cassidy was born in Ireland in 1839, and immigrated to Philadelphia with his parents.  By 1860, he is listed living in the 2nd Ward of that city with his family, working as a painter. When the war began in 1861, Cassidy found that the pay was good and steady in the Army.  He enlisted in Company H of the 69^th Pennsylvania Infantry, an Irish regiment of the Philadelphia Brigade, and fought at the battles of Glendale, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.  In January 1862, he received a copy of the Manual of the Christian Soldier from the chaplain of the 69th, Fr. Martin, and carried it with him until Antietam, when he lost it amidst the chaos of battle. 

After Cassidy, the book was also owned by William Scheiffer of the 91st Pennsylvania, who found the book on the battlefield, and later by Michael Shannon of the 25th Virginia. At some point the book found its way back to John Cassidy, who carried with him into Gettysburg.

The 69th Pennsylvania was lightly engaged on July 2nd and the next day, formed the first defense of the stone wall at The Angle, the culminating point of Pickett's Charge. John Cassidy was killed that day, shot through his prayer book that he kept in his breast pocket.

Cassidy was taken to his home in Philadelphia where he died of his wounds on July 16^th and was buried in the Old Cathedral Cemetery there. Cassidy's niece later donated his "wounded" prayer book and the photograph below to Gettysburg National Military Park, all that remains of Cassidy's personal documentary record. 

Corp. John Cassidy, 69th PA (GNMP- NPS)

When I first heard of Cassidy's story, I was intrigued, and I found all I could about John Cassidy. I recently wrote a profile of Cassidy for work, and after it was done, I wanted to see one of the few tangible things left from Cassidy: his prayer book. Fortunately, it is now on display at the Gettysburg NMP Museum, and any visitor can see it. After searching the exhibits for the book, which I had only previously seen from the images above, I finally saw it, small, unassuming, and yet, very poignant. 

John Cassidy gave his last full measure of devotion to the cause of his country, and you can see a memento of that devotion bound up in his little book left behind.

Rallying with the Hearts of Lions

When Samuel Cable ran away from his owner in Brunswick, Missouri, he was exuberant. In 1863, he found himself in Massachusetts and decided to enlist in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry (a sister regiment of the famous 54th Massachusetts, notably profiled in the movie Glory). He was 21, eager to fight for the cause of freedom for other enslaved African-Americans, and especially for his wife, whom was still bound into servitude. In a eloquent letter transcribed below, he writes to his wife in the summer of 1863, and tells her why he fights for the Union:

An unidentified African-American Soldier (Library of Congress)

Dear wife i have enlisted in 

the army i am now in the state 

of Massachusetts but before this 

letter reaches you i will be in 

north carolina and though
great in the present national 

difficulties yet i look forward to 

a brighter day when i shall have

the opertunity of seeing you in 

the full enjoyment of freedom 

i would like to no if you are still

in slavery if you are it will not 

be long before we shall have crushed 

the system in that now opreses you
for in the course of three months 

you shall be at liberty. 

great is the outpouring of the 

colored people that is now rally[-]

ing with the hearts of lions against

that very curse that has separated 

you and me yet we shall meet 

again and oh what happy time 

that will be when this ungodly
rebellion shall be put down 

and the curse of our land is 

trampled under our feet i am
a soldier now and i shall use my

utmost endeavor to strike at 

the rebellion that so long has kept
us in chains. write to me just as soon 

as you get this letter tell me if you

are living in the same cabin where 

you use to live. tell eliza i send 

her my best respect, and love

ike and sully likewise i would send 

you some money but i now it is 

impossible for you to git it 

i would like to see little jenkin, now 

but i no it is impossible at present 

so no more but remain your own
afectionate husband until death

                                 Samuel Cabble

An image of the letter, included in Samuel's service record at the National Archives (NARA) is below.

The Letter from Samuel Cable's service file at NARA

Living in the Big House

The Hampton Mansion
(Hampton NPS photo)

Several months ago, I decided to go to Baltimore and see Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shine (!!), which was really cool. They have a new visitors center there, and the interpretation is well done, and made me feel very patriotic about the Star-Spangled Banner. While there I learned about another national park site in the area that was once a large plantation, located in Towson, MD. Finding my way out there, I luckily caught the last tour of the day there, and really took to the place. By the end of the tour, I wanted to buy the park handbook and learn more*.

The large plantation was and is (in a way) called Hampton, and is now preserved by the NPS as Hampton National Historic Site. It originally was identified for preservation for the architectural quality of its main house, one of the largest examples of Georgian architecture in the area (The house is pictured above). The house and plantation were the summer and later permanent home to seven generations of the Ridgley family, one of the most prosperous and wealthy families in the region. At one time the estate held over 25,000 acres, hundreds of black slaves, and many agricultural and industrial pursuits.

Much of the home and its contents is original, and in a sense when you walk into the house, you feel like walking back in time, when the scions of society would gather in such a house and talk about politics and current events. To me, it is very interesting to see a place where so many generations of a family lived and called their own, while America changed around them. In a sense, it is a cross section of the American experience, from one family's perspective. From the building of the house in the late 1700s to the 1940s (when it was given to the NPS), the Ridgleys' world changed in many ways.

Possibly one of the most significant changes that occurred in the 19th Century at Hampton was the coming of the Civil War. Originally, the Ridgleys' prosperity was driven by a Ironworks that the owned and operated in the area. However, by the mid-1800s, their Ironworks had closed and agricultural value of the land (now only 4,500 acres) was the primary driver of wealth. With Maryland as a slave state, the primary workers of such a large farm operation were enslaved blacks. At the time of the Civil War, the master of Hampton, John Ridgley owned 61 slaves.

Some of the slave quarters at Hampton (Hampton NPS photo)

    
When the Civil War began, Maryland was divided. Many of the eastern counties relied, like the Ridgleys, on slave labor for Tobacco and other various crops, while in western Maryland, many yeoman farmers and recent immigrants resented the wealth and power of the large plantation owners. After the fall of Sumter, Maryland remained bitterly divided, as various areas and families identified as unionists or as confederates. As slaveowners, the Ridgleys identified with the Confederacy; Charles Ridgley, John's son, helped organize a local Confederate cavalry unit, the Baltimore County Horse Guards. Soon after the Baltimore Riot of April 1861, helped guard against Union incursions into Baltimore and sought to destroy railroad bridges leading into the city. However, union authorities began to arrest leaders of the various confederate militia companies in the area, and faced with imprisonment in Fort McHenry, Charles disbanded the cavalry company, and remained quiet for the remainder of the conflict. Some of Ridgleys' relatives, however, especially David Ridgley Howard fought with the Confederacy, including at the Battle of Gettysburg, where he lost a leg during the last day's fight.

With emancipation in Maryland in 1864, Hampton and the Ridgleys began their slow decline. In the following years, much of the original estate would be subdivided to heirs and to pay off debts. The Ridgleys lived a comfortable life for many years at Hampton, and indeed, some of the former slaves stayed on at the mansion as servants and tenant farmers. However, when John Ridgley, Jr. gave Hampton to the Park Service, only the original mansion and 63 acre tract remained. Hampton provides a cross-section into one family's American experience, warts and all.I think that through the lens of Hampton, it is easy to see the American Dream, for white and eventually black, for all of us.

Eliza Ridgely III and servant Nancy Davis in 1863
(Hampton NPS photo)

Sources:  Historic Hampton, Inc., Hampton National Historic Site Guidebook (Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Co., 2010) and Hampton National Historic Site, NPS












(*Since the bookstore was closing, I couldn't buy it then. I pretty much began a quest to find a copy of this book on the internet. After not much success, I eventually ended up buying a copy from the park bookstore over the phone, to which the kindly older woman over the phone who took my order said I was the first person to do such a thing).

Hall of Treasures

I sometimes pinch myself and remind myself that I work at Gettysburg National Military Park, a sacred ground and all around historic place, so much so, that sometimes you can feel the history (no, I'm not talking about ghosts, that's an entirely different story). The park is very lucky to have an extraordinary collection of Gettysburg and period artifacts in its collection, some of which is on display in the Park Museum, and some of which is in curatorial storage. The core of the Park Service collection came from the Rosensteel family, who operated a museum beginning in the 1920s which eventually became the NPS visitor center for the Park (which has now been replaced by a new Visitor Center, and since has been torn down). The Rosensteels donated their significant collection (and museum) to the Park, and bolstered by additional donations since.

I was able to visit the curatorial collection on a special tour several months ago, and got to see some very special treasures, including a Confederate Battle Flag used in Pickett's Charge (aka Longstreet's Assault). Of some items, the Park holds a multitude of, especially bullets (I remember a figure of at least 2,000 minie balls and etc.).

A pretty cool feature that the park has been doing recently is to record a short video called "Museum Mondays", where the park curator selects an item from the collection and explains a little bit about it. It has been going on now for several months, and I really dig it. The most recent edition is below (about a pocket revolver), but there are many more on the YouTube page, and older ones on the Park's Facebook page.

Enjoy!

Unknown Soldiers

A month or so ago I discovered the Liljenquist Family Collection at the Library of Congress (LOC). This collection of nearly 700 or so ambrotypes and tintypes was collected over the years by the Liljenquist family and only recently was donated to "America's Library" (aka the LOC) for posterity. The LOC has digitized many of the images and set up a flickr page with many of the images. Unfortunately, many of the soldiers and individuals depicted in the images are unknown.

I began looking through many of the images on the page, looking at the differing faces of those who fought on both sides. The collection really shows the breadth and diversity of the soldiers who engaged in the Civil War.

However, I came to this picture here:

I was intrigued, to say the least, by this picture. The facial features seem very feminine, which got me thinking if this soldier was actually a woman (of which there have been numerous examples of, the most notable being Albert Cashier aka Jennie Hodgers). What do you think?