This collection of 62 letters were written by Charles Henry Howe who joined the 36th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at the age of 17, with his family's reluctant blessing, and whom everyone called Charley. The letters are atypically bright with observation and description, and free of of repetitious discussions of family matters. Charley wrote 60 letters between 1862 and 1864. The final two are from the Army to his family, describing the circumstances of Charley's capture by the Confederates in 1864, before being sent to Andersonville Prison Camp.

Spared & Shared Audio - The Civil War Letters of Charley Howe - 36th Massachusetts Volunteers

This Civil War letter was written on the day after the Battle of Antietam. It was written by 14 year-old Lucian Wells Hubbard who was a drummer boy in the 14th Connecticut Infantry.

Transcription, Research and Artwork by William Griffing (Griff)
Hosted and with Narration by Scott R McKinley
Contents used by permission of Spared & Shared
Music "Shiloh's Hill" by Craig Duncan
Recording by Scott R. McKinley (c) 2023

lucienwelleshubbard.wordpress.com/?fbclid=…oxnkSy-I

Spared & Shared Audio - E103 - 1862 September 18 -  Lucian Wells Hubbard (14) To His Mother

This letter was written by 53 year-old private Daniel H. Workman (1811-1886) of Co. I, Symons’ Regiment, Georgia Reserves to his niece, Amanda Jane (Harris) Coltrane (1839-1932), the wife of Daniel Coltrane (1833-1909). In it, he gives advice on waiting to hear from her soldier-husband, and relays that the supplies and fare are abundant in his regiment stationed in Savannah, just a month before its capture by Sherman.

https://sparedcreative21.art.blog/2020/03/10/1864-daniel-h-workman-to-amanda-coletrane/

Spared & Shared Audio - E113 - 1864 November 25 - Daniel H. Workman To Amanda Coletrane

Coming Home is an homage to Civil War soldiers written, recorded and performed by Rande Kessler.

Rande Kessler is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis where he specialized in Ocean Engineering and subsequently served in U.S. Navy Special Operations as a Deep Sea Diver for many years. His final tour of duty was as ship’s Executive Officer.
As a professional artist and musician for over 50 years, Kessler has  performed his original compositions to multiple audiences. In 1997 one of his original compositions was recognized for placing in the top 10% of songs submitted to the Unisong International Song Contest.

His artwork and a selection of his music may be found at http://www.randekessler.com/, where he may also be contacted.

Spared & Shared Audio - Civil War Music - Coming Home by Rande Kessler

Introductory essay to the Civil War letters of Charley Howe, written by William Griffing (Griff). In it, he gives Charley's background story, and describes the overall collection of Charley's correspondence and diaries.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H001 - About Charley Howe

Letter 1: George Washington's Home
Charley opens his first letter with his journey with the 36th Massachusetts from mustering in Worcester, Mass. to disembarking from Boston to Washington, D.C. and catching a sight of Mount Vernon in the process.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/7-september-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H002 - Letter 1. 7 September 1862

Letter 2. "Knapsack on My Back"
Charley discovers that being well-equipped has drawbacks on the march.


https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/11-september-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H003 - Letter 2. 11 September 1862

Letter 4: Get ready to march!

Charley reports that they're to get ready with 3 days' rations for a long march. He predicts Stonewall Jackson's capture and imprisonment 'ere long.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/14-september-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H005 - Letter 4. 14 September 1862

Letter 3: Where is General Burnside? 

Charley marches through a soaking rain in Maryland, and describes the countryside. No unauthorized foraging of Union sympathizers.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/13-september-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H004 - Letter 3. 13 September 1862

Letter 5: ANTIETAM - "After leaving the hospitals I went to the battlefield. O God."

Charley's march finally happens. The 36th Massachusetts arrive at Antietam just 3 days after the battle, and Charley reports on hometown wounded and dead he sees and hears of in the hospitals. 

Warning: Contains graphic description of death.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/21-september-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H006 - Letter 5. 21 September 1862

Letter 6: Broiling in 'line of battle' for hours, and eating only 'A piece of pork as big as your hand and six hard rocks'.

After visiting battlefields and hospitals a week and a half before, army life returns to marching to nowhere, not enough to eat, and Charley finally receives letters from home. He misses 'Old Thump', which is either a dog, a rabbit, or a turkey: Enter your guess in the comments! The text (and the reminisce of Old Thump) are at: https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/29-september-1862/

Note: Charley is attached to Welsh's Brigade, not Welch's. He misspells the name of then Colonel Thomas Welsh.

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H007 - Letter 6. 29 September 1862

Letter 7: "We want to learn them not to meddle with Uncle Sam!"

Not much happening in Camp, and little access to news. Charley opines that the 'cusses' as he calls the rebels, should be starved, and not pitied. They "brought the famine on themselves". A touch of dysentery and a couple of doodles. The shoes in the doodle are labeled 'Gunboots' (or 'Gunboats'). The soldiers are captioned as saying "We'll hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree" and "Ellsworth Pet Lambs". Col. Elmer Ellsworth, 11th NY Fire Zouaves was killed in May of 1861, and became a second Maryr of sorts to the North, after John Brown. "We'll hang Jeff Davis..." was sung to the tune of John Brown's Body. Ellsworth's 'Pet Lambs' were his men, his 'lambs to the slaughter', later known as Ellsworth's Avengers. The inscription of the letter and a larger copy of the image are at: https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/2-october-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H008 - Letter 7. 2 October 1862

Letter 8: "Old Abe...is the sleepy giant-looking man that his pictures represent him".
Charley's regiment is reviewed by President Lincoln, Army Commander, and Corps Commander Ambrose Burnside. Charley gives detailed descriptions of each. The photographs of Lincoln, McClellan, Capt. Custer, and Allan Pinkerton in Antietam were all taken on the same day - October 3rd, 1862 - The 'Friday last' that Charley relates in his letter dated the 5th. Charley relates how all cheer mightily for McClellan  (Lincoln comments privately that the 89,000 troops are 'McClellan's bodyguard').

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/5-october-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H009 - Letter 8. 5 October 1862

Letter from Thomas Benjamin Fargason (1831-1918) of Co. D, 14th Alabama Regiment, a Confederate POW at Johnson's Island Military Prison on the Ohio River. This prison was used to house imprisoned Confederate Officers.

Lt. Fargason writes to a Union Officer, a benefactor, regarding the Union officer's chances in battle, with a caution not to get himself captured, because "Prison life is too bad—especially down South."

https://sparedshared23.com/2023/12/20/confederate-pow-writes-to-union-soldier/

Spared & Shared Audio - E124 - 1864 26 May - Thomas B. Fargason (CSA POW) To Union Soldier

Letter 9: "We ascended and descended two mountains and are now in Pleasant or Middletown Valley". The line marked by hashmarks is not a railroad, but the line of march taken by Charley's regiment. "The three mountains [#s 1, 2, and 3 in the map image] are only a part of a long chain of them which I think are the Blue Ridge but whether they are or not, I have been over a part of them twice and hope never to cross them again".

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/8-october-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H010 - Letter 9. 8 October 1862

Letter 10: "And calculate to take care of number one"

Charley is angry at his mother for having a family friend ask to influence the Colonel into allowing Charley into the regular ranks, and not be kept back as the Captain's "clerk or hired man". Charley asks that his letters be not read aloud to others. Charley mentions that he is doing his best to 'take care of number one', an early use of the term popularized only 25 years before by Charles Dickens (in Oliver Twist, 1838).
Charley quotes the Revised Army Regulations, as pictured here.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/10-october-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H011 - Letter 10. 10 October 1862

Letter 11: A Canteen Full of Syrup
Charley stays in camp cooking and minding the personal belongings while the troops go marching off 'to somewhere'. "For supper I have sometimes flapjacks, pudding or raw salt pork, cut up in vinegar, which by the way is getting to be a favorite dish with me." Charlie has written two letters here back to back, mailed as one.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/13-october-1862/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H012 - Letter 11. 13 October 1862

Letter 12: "...some damn spooney".

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/17-october-1862/

Charley is upset at finding out that family friend Bayard has again been communicating about Charley's enlistment status and the regimental waiter thing.  He enloses a letter from Capt. Hastings on the issue (also narrated). It's the first later from him to home that he signs his name formally, and not "Charley".

Charley encloses a ring made out of the button he removed from the coat of the dead rebel soldier he discusses in Letter 5 (https://soundcloud.com/sparedsharedaudio/spared-shared-civil-war-letters-of-charley-howe-c-h006-letter-5-21-september-1862)

He's more light-hearted discussing the approaching winter, and his language suggests that some humor broadsides such as Bob Hart's "Standard Stump Speeches" have been passed around or performed in camp.

The image depicted is NOT Charley's ring. This was recovered in Georgia in 2018 https://civilwartalk.com/threads/civil-war-button-made-into-ring-dug.162723/

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H013 - Letter 12. 17 October 1862

Letter from Capt. Albert J. Barnard, Co. B, 116th NYI. 

https://sparedcreative21.art.blog/archives/albert-j-barnard-16-march-1863/

Prior to the Battle for Port Hudson, La. near Baton Rouge, "Allie" Barnard describes the disorganized fighting supporting Commodore (later Admiral) Farragut's fleet as it 'ran the guns' upriver, with the U.S.S. Mississippi running aground. Scuttled, the 24 tons of gunpowder in its hull exploded, creating a sonic wave heard 20 miles away, as graphically described by Capt. Barnard. Also described are interesting foraging details regarding accommodations, victuals, and sleeping with pigs.

Spared & Shared Audio - E127 - 1863 16 March - Albert J. Barnard To His Mother

Letter 13: "A year ago was the massacre of Balls Bluff. 'I wasn’t there!'" 
Evidently the phrase "And I was there!" goes back further than modern times.

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/21-october-1862/

Charley shares camp details. He has finally received the "Spice Bag" which aids him (in some fashion) with "the trot". A soldier from home he reported as in the hospital earlier was actually in prison. Winter is in the offing, and he speaks again of bad weather bring "fever & ague". Ague (pro-nounced 'EGG-Yew') is an old term for flu-like fevers and chills, commonly used as a word for malaria.

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H014 - Letter 13. 21 October 1862

Letter 14: "What little I have seen of Virginia gives me a liking for it..."
https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/1-november-1862/
Charley's regiment is on the move! While scrounging for unauthorized fence rails and straw to make camp with, his tent and kit go missing...

McClellan impresses Charley. The General may be slow, he reports, but because the 'one grand line of battle' is 200 miles long, Charley invites people to "come out here and see the magnitude of the army and think of what work it must be for one man to dispose of it..."  The irony of that line won't be apparent to the regular soldier in the Army of the Potomac for some time. McClellan was relieved of command 4 days after this letter was written.

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters of Charley Howe - C-H015 - Letter 14. 1 November 1862

Letter 15: Bodies in the Aftermath near Snicker's Gap, Virginia
https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/3-november-1862/
No closer to Winter encampment than before, Charley marches south from Waterford with Burnside's troops, still led by McClellan. They encounter corpses following a sharp artillery skirmish out near Snicker's Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and encamp in Philemont. He reports weather both hot and cold.
Pay is overdue, and needed because "...rations so short that we need considerable spondulicks in order to live." "Spondulicks" being slang (British, evidently) for a large amount of cash money.

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H016 - Letter 15. 3 November 1862

Letter 16: Burned Bridge on the Rappahannock - En Route to Warrenton, Va. 
https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/8-november-1862/
Charley rides in an ambulance due to ill health - rheumatism - as the army marches south. West of Manassas, Va. and only 140 miles from Richmond! Not mentioned (or known?) by Charley, is that General McClellan has been relieved of command on the 7th, the day before, and that General Burnside is now in command of the Army of the Potomac, with Fredericksburg being the next city ahead...

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H017 - Letter 16. 8 November 1862

Letter 17: Relics From White Sulphur Springs and the Goddess of Liberty en Route to Falmouth, Va....and Fredericksburg

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/22-november-1862/
The 36th Mass. has had quite a march from Warrenton and are now in Falmouth, directly across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg with is occupied by the 'Rebs'. Charley are sure they will 'skedaddle' when faced by Burnside. Longstreet's Corp faces Burnsides' superior forces.

Unknown to Charley, Gen. 'Stonewall' Jackson's men are marching even further, from west of Snicker's Gap, south down the Shenandoah Valley to join Longstreet on the day that Charley writes this letter. 

Photo: Charley’s relics from the White Sulphur Spring Resort (the 1×2″ domino was added for scale).

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H018 - Letter 17. 22 November 1862

Locating the wounded, Post-Gettysburg: "Some has their nose and lips shot off."
---------------------------------
This letter voiced by Julie Hoverson.
---------------------------------
Michigan mother, Mary Ann Seymour writes to daughter, Maggie, about waiting to hear from son, George Seymour, who had been wounded in the fighting at Gettysburg while serving with the 16th Michigan Infantry, Co. I. The 16th Michigan is recognized for their valor on their monument at Little Round Top. https://gettysburg.stonesentinels.com/union-monuments/michigan/16th-michigan/
-----------------------------------
https://sparedshared9.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/1864-mary-seymour-to-margaret-seymour/

Spared & Shared Audio - E133- 1863 23 July - Mary Ann (King) Seymour To Margaret Seymour

"...but do not like the idea of being BUTCHERED!" Charley expresses real anger at the dangers the soldiers have been put through
Charley participates in and witnesses the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862. He also attests to the commonplace practice of Union pickets trading much-desired coffee to Confederate pickets for tobacco. 

https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/18-december-1862/

Sound Effects by McKinleyCo. 2024
Photograph by L.O.C. "Fredericksburg, Va. Burial of Union soldiers"

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe -C- H021 - Letter 20. 18 December 1862

"I wish you would send me a little back pepper in some of your letters."
https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/23-december-1862/

Charley speaks lightly in this letter, without referencing further the aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg, only sharing news of neighbors or friends spotted among the troops, and goods needed from family, like pepper.

How, I asked myself, would a soldier on the march carry peppercorns? Charley's "Spice Bag" (see Letter 13) was worn and contained a potpourri-like assortment.  In their haversacks, or bedroll, I found out. Well, then how did any real spices like pepper and salt not to disappear into greasy mush along with salt pork and the coffee beans and hardtack with everything damp from rain and frost? Not easily..., but some haversacks would have pockets, and many soldiers would carry pokes. Pokes can be simply small sacks or even kerchiefs sinched with string. See image from https://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/military-forums/authenticity-forums/primary-resources/17284-the-look-of-poke-bags

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters Of Charley Howe - C-H022 - Letter 21. 23 December 1862

Introduction to three letters from 28 year old Dublin born-and-raised Private Michael Spratt of the 6th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry (the 35th Pennsylvania) to his friend Charles (or Charley) in Manchester, Pa. (and later Equinunk, Pa.) where Spratt and his family had moved after leaving Ireland when Michael was 18.
 https://sparedshared23.com/2024/09/03/1862-3-michael-spratt-to-friend-charles/

[Note: These letters are from the private collection of Tom Clemens and were made available for transcription and publication of Spared & Shared by express consent.]

Spared & Shared Audio - E136 - Introduction to the Michael Spratt Letters 1862 - 1863

"...the gallant Meade gave the order to advance with fixed bayonets. Ah, my boy, this moment was the grandest I ever saw..."

https://sparedshared23.com/2024/09/03/1862-3-michael-spratt-to-friend-charles/

Michael’s first letter conveys the details of his experience in fighting with the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves on the battlefields at South Mountain and at Antietam. In both engagements, the 6th Pennsylvania Reserves fought under Brig. Gen. George G. Meade in the famed 1st Brigade composed entirely of Pennsylvania Reserves (1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and the 13th). It was the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves who were known as the “Bucktails.”

Spared & Shared Audio - E137 - 1862 - 25 September - Michael Spratt To Friend Charles - Letter One

"Burnsides as predicted made a good butcher and the abolition press had something to converse over for a while after the combat which proved so fatal to our cause."

https://sparedshared23.com/2024/09/03/1862-3-michael-spratt-to-friend-charles/

Michael's second letter was penned after the Battle of Fredericksburg and following Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. He mentions how the army previously had marched and fought victorious battles under the "renowned" McClellan and having personally spoken with McClellan on two occasions! "When I see you, I will tell you about it. I will also tell you many comic things which happened". Alas there is no record of what those anecdotes might have been. 
This letter is also more philosophical in nature than the first, reflective of the causes and outcomes of the war, perhaps to an extent that modern minds may not realize that common soldiers thought and expressed about as vehemently as they do today. To that point, the listener is cautioned of the offensive and racist language used in this letter.

Spared & Shared Audio - E138 - 1863 - 11 January - Michael Spratt To Friend Charles - Letter Two

" As one of the boys says, 'We have waded to our ankles in blood, but by God, we'll have to wade to our knees yet before it is settled'."

sparedshared23.com/2024/09/03/1862…friend-charles/

 The third letter (partial) probably dates to March 1863. Michael tells his friend that it is far better to come or stay and help finish the fight, then to remain at home and listen to the cries of those who lost family and friends. The listener is cautioned of the use of racist and offensive language in this letter.

The image is from a gallery of F. D. Briscoe Battle Paintings, reproduced from Glass-plate Negatives in the W H. Tipton Collection, Gettysburg National Military Park, where the 6th Penn. Inf a few months later served gallantly, with heavy losses and earned 6 (!) Medals of Honor.

Spared & Shared Audio - E139 - 1863 Presumed March - Michael Spratt To Friend Charles - Letter Three

"...next month will bring mud enough for us."
https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1862-2/28-december-1862/
Post-Christmas Fredericksburg, Md., 1862. Charley describes a mix of slight holiday merriment combined with an eerie recollection of a trip to the hospital and seeing a man having his leg cut off and "Beside the table was a lot of legs and arms piled up cob-house fashion".
Captain Hastings has been accused of small thefts of company food stores, which Charley describes colorfully.

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters of Charley Howe - C-H023 - Letter 22. 28 December 1862

"We had a terrible fight at Gettysburg." A soldier from the 51st or 53rd Georgia Infantry writes home, on the march following the Battle of Gettysburg.
https://sparedshared23.com/2024/11/15/1863-joel-s-duffell-to-elizabeth-d/
He writes of those know at home who have died or been wounded, and he describes a Northern "peace ticket", meant to be humorous, with Jefferson Davis for President, Vallandingham (the anti-war Northern Democrat arrested in May 1863 for giving anti-war speeches) for Vice President, "All Negroes to be Sent South" and "Abe Lincoln to be sent to the Devil." 

Image: The Confederate Retreat From Gettysburg https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-fa7f-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99)

Spared & Shared Audio - E140 - 1863 8 July Joel S. Duffell to Elizabeth D

Letter 23: "You can't imagine how nice pepper is on beans"
https://charleyhowe.home.blog/1863-3/1-january-1863/

Charley celebrates New Year's 1863 with a gill of whiskey issued to the men in Winter Quarters (New Year's Eve being "...the coldest night we have seen since we left Old Massachusetts..."). He has spotted a friend, [George] Franklin ("Frank") Osgood from Clinton, Mass. who relates his capture, life as a POW in Richmond, and exchange. And so, barely three months after joining the Army of the Potomac, Charley has come full circle at the dawn of 1863. Followers of these letters might remember that Frank Osgood showed up back on September 21st, 1862 letter in letter five, as being wounded in or around Antietam. Not mentioned in the letters is the fact that Frank was later captured there.  

Quartered outside of Fredericksburg, and looking ahead to 1863, Charley wishes for winter camp to NOT be moved, and although he states that he will not comment on General Burnsides command decisions, Charley still thinks that only McClellan can command this army.

Spared & Shared - Civil War Letters of Charley Howe -C-H024 - Letter 23. 1 January 1863

"New York is all excitement about the War." 
https://sparedshared23.com/2024/12/30/1861-david-watson-conkling-to-louise-l-randall/
The actual war has only begun the previous month, and yet soon-to-be-married David Watson Conkling breaks from the passionate details of his wedding plans in a letter to his fiance to mention the early fervor for war in New York following the shooting of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, a personal friend of the Lincolns, shot while tearing down a rebel flag flying over a hotel in Alexandria, Va. the previous week. 

Spared & Shared Audio - E141 - 1861 28 May David Watson Conkling to Louise L. Randall

"...I will leave on the morrow for that heinous settlement, Yankeedom"
https://sparedshared23.com/2022/07/23/1864-f-h-murdock-to-cousin-john/
Letter voiced by SARA HADDOCK
A young lady named FH Murdock is being sent north (from New Orleans?) to attend school (and avoid possible military conflict down south) at the will of her mother, and writes to her cousin, John, about the experience, and the Confederates she admires and will miss. She quotes from a popular song of the era, "Homespun Dress", which was sung to the tune of "Bonnie Blue Flag", a Southern favorite during the Civil War.  See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3pHzjhgF8A or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_29kLIeI1M for a more modern take on the song.

Spared & Shared Audio -E142- 1864 25 February - FH Murdock to Cousin John

Unpublished and unknown Civil War era letters
Transcribed and researched by William Griffing
Produced by Scott R. McKinley
Voiced by Scott R. McKinley, Julie Hoverson, and Sara Haddock 
Music by Craig Duncan and Dennette McDermott.

Spared & Shared Audio: Letters from The Civil War

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