Archive of nine letters home by Porter Morse of the 3rd Vermont Infantry, totaling 38 pages, some patriotic letterhead depicting the US Capitol, George B. McClellan, and a flag-waving soldier, dated from June 1861 to October 1862. A typical volunteer farmer from rural Vermont, Morse writes to his brother and sister with fascinating observations of life at war, filled with details of skirmishes with the rebels. As Morse was uneducated, his writing is fairly difficult to read and filled with spelling and grammar errors; excerpts below have been edited for clarity.
On September 15, 1861, he describes foraging for fruit while out on picket before describing a skirmish with the rebel cavalry at Lewinsville on the 11th: "The rebel cavalry went to come onto a crossroad and our artillery let them have a shot that burst in among them and laid them a sprawling all over the ground. What there was left whirled their horses and run. Then our artillery turned to the rebel artillery and knocked their guns all over the lot. The men was laid in every direction. The devils then rise a white flag and spiked what guns they had left and run." He goes on to note that the "greatest spy that we have got is a balloon. A man goes up in it every day that the weather will admit."
On November 24, 1861, he writes of a "great review of the Army of the Potomac. There was 90 thousand present. Gen. McClellan and the President was present. It was the greatest sight that I ever see." He also expresses optimism about the war: "The Union flag is floating in 6 of the rebel states I think and it is the opinion of a great many that this rebellion will be put down in the course of a year."
A letter of January 5, 1862, carries reports on mutual friends: "Harlow Hartwell died last week. He has been sick some time but the poor fellow is out of his trouble. John Stanton shot off two of his fingers on his right hand some two weeks ago while on picket. It was an accident." On the status of the war, he notes: "We shall have to make an advance before long or old England will make a fuss. I see that the papers do begin to find fault because this army don't do more but it ain't the soldiers fault. If the soldiers could have their way they would go into the rebels and lick them like the devil. I wish that you could hear the soldiers swear about the government letting Mason and Slidell go. If John Bull wants to fight us just let him come. He will go back with the other eye blackened."
The 3rd Vermont broke camp and moved to Alexandria, Virginia, in March 1862, then went to Fortress Monroe in preparation for McClellan's Peninsula campaign, advancing toward Richmond in hopes of capturing the Confederate capital. Morse engaged in his first significant action at Lee's Mill on April 16th, where the Army of the Potomac suffered 165 casualties. Writing from "Dixie Land, on the Road to Richmond" on May 11th, he modestly told his siblings of his wound: "I got a slight wound in the left shoulder blade in the fight at Lees Mills but it has got almost well now…We are on the march toward Richmond so I don't know hardly where we are…Our troops had a hard fight at Williamsburg last Monday. Our regiment was not in it but I went over the Battlefield. The woods & fields was covered with the dead & wounded. One Fire Zouave & one rebel each side of a log with their bayonets through each other. One rebel had on his back a 6lb cannonball had struck him & laid his heart right out by his side. It was a bad sight to see."
On June 2nd, he writes optimistically: "We shall probably have Richmond before many weeks. We have just got the news of the taking of Corinth. We think here that this war is almost to an end. I tell the boys (but they don't all believe it) that we will be to home by the fourth of July. Our cannons here send a shell once in a while in among the rebels camps on the other side of the crick. I can hear heavy guns now on the James River. McClellan has got two balloons with this army. They are up every day a viewing the rebels."
A letter of June 2, 1862, details the beauty of the surroundings amidst the chaos of war: "There is some very pretty places here. Williamsburg is one of the prettiest places that I ever saw and there are some noble plantations from one to three thousand acres…they have years before raised more or less tobacco…This year they are obliged to raise grain for themselves and their army…The girls and women turn up their nose at the Union soldiers but they want to be protected. They all have a white flag out but we generally take what we want in the shape of chickens and young porkers for their insults."
On September 16, 1862, he writes about the Battle of South Mountain: "I suppose you have heard about the big fight that McClellan has had. He done well didn't he? We could hear the cannons and see the smoke. The cannon was booming all day Sunday…I see 500 rebels prisoners down to the city. I wanted to try my old gun on them…but we shall have a chance at them before long…I see one of them Yankee cheeseboxes at Philadelphia."
Morse's "chance at them" came at Sharpsburg the next day—the bloodiest day in American history. On October 13th, he writes: "You have probably heard of our big fight here…The battle of Sharpsburg was an awful slaughter. Our brig. lay on their bellies 36 hours under a raking fire of the enemies. John Stanton was shot through the heart. He was the only one that was hurt in our co. Every house & old barn or shed was full of wounded. The fields was full of dead. We passed across the battle field in route for this place 3 days after the fight. It stank awfully then. The dead was not all buried. They burnt a lot of them." In overall fine condition. Morse would muster out on July 27, 1864.
