June 13, 1863
In this letter to home, Mark declares that his duties are easy and that he has “nothing at all to do more than one third of the time” and spends “the most of the other two thirds laying in the shade reading and writing letters!” This might sound strange that soldiers out on the front would have so much down time. But it was actually common during the Civil War. According to the Civil War Trust’s website, during nice weather, “soldiers could expect to be engaged in battle one day out of 30.” That means for most of a month, they would be in camp passing the time. They did the usual drill practices but otherwise were on their own in finding things to amuse themselves. What would it feel like to have signed up for war and then not be fighting continuously for the cause? Motivated to join the military based on patriotism soldiers found that life in the army was not as exciting as they had anticipated. Mark also mentions to his family the Vicksburg campaign he talked about in his June 12 letter to Roe as well as some skirmish taking place at a Fort Hudson. This was in reference to the Siege of Port Hudson, which saw Union Major General Nathaniel P. Banks moving his army against the Confederates at Port Hudson while Major General Ulysses S. Grant simultaneously was moving against Vicksburg. At the time of this letter, the siege had been going on for almost a month. After a siege of forty-eight days, the Confederates at Port Hudson surrendered once news of the Union’s victory at Vicksburg became known. This victory was highly beneficial to the Union because it allowed it to navigate the Mississippi River from its beginning down to New Orleans. The rest of the letter is more lighthearted, with Mark advising one of his sisters about how to interact with suitors and expressing his undying gratitude for the care package his family had recently sent. He also admits that he hopes Roe recovers soon as he finds life is much better when Roe is in camp. He says that while the other boys in camp are great company, “they cannot fill a brothers place.” I think this indicates how close the family, or at the very least, the brothers were. The constant care packages show that the family wanted to make sure that the boys were provided for and had some reminders of home to carry with them. Works Cited: National Park Service: The American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP). “Port Hudson.” Accessed December 3, 2013. http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/la010.htm. Helm, Gary, The Civil War Trust: Saving America’s Civil War Battlefields. “Life of the Civil War Soldier in Camp.” Last modified 2013. http://www.civilwar.org/hallowed-ground-magazine/winter-2013/life-of-the-civil-war-soldier-camp.html
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June 12, 1863 Mark wrote to Roe again today, filling him in on what had been happening in camp as of late. Roe evidently is concerned that he has lost some use in his limbs. Mark expresses the hope that the hospital surgeon will have some answers about what is wrong and how to possibly strengthen Roe’s arms and legs. With medicine not being the most advanced during the Civil War, this had to be concerning for both Roe and Mark to hear. With amputation being the norm during the war, Roe must have been worried about the limbs being diseased. In one part of the letter, Mark references a speech made to the regiment by a General Hall, who said they Rebels “were getting weak in the knees already over the news from Vicksburg…”. At the time this letter was written, the Vicksburg Campaign was about halfway over, as it occurred from May 18-July 4, 1863. It actually ended up being a very significant campaign of the war. Here again is one of Abbott’s mentions of events that have enormous historical implications. During this campaign, General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of the Tennessee in an attempt to gain control of the Confederate “fortress” at Vicksburg, Mississippi, an important port in the United States. Grant changed his tactic and decided to lay a siege to the city to avoid further loss of life. For forty-seven days, both soldiers and civilians had to endure life under siege warfare before the Confederate regiments surrendered. This Union victory wrenched control of the Mississippi River away from the Confederacy, whose “fate was all but sealed.” It does seem that Union victories were occurring on a larger scale at this point in the war. Yes, there was still just under two years left in the war but the Union was securing major victories such as Vicksburg. This letter is a nice mix of personal and professional. Mark makes sure to check-in with Roe and also tell him about how his life has been going while he is away. But he discusses at length the various goings-on of the regiment and the Union army in general. Obviously, soldiers’ daily lives were deeply entangled with the war effort and much of their thoughts were consumed with how the war was going. Works Cited: The Civil War Trust: Saving America's Civil War Battlefields, "Vicksburg." Accessed December 3, 2013. http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/vicksburg.html?tab=facts. Wegner Herring, Ansley. NCPedia, "Amputations in the Civil War." Last modified 2008. Accessed December 3, 2013. http://ncpedia.org/history/cw-1900/amputations. Photo Credit: National Park Service. "Civil War Series: The Campaign for Vicksburg." Last modified 2013. http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/civil_war_series/24/sec3.htm. |
AuthorTessa Wakefield, student intern at the Concordia College Archives, assembled these blog entries in 2013-2014 for the Isaac Mark Abbott Civil War Letters Collection. The posts summarize the content of the letters, interpret Abbott's experiences and place them in the larger context of the Civil War. Archives
March 2014
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