Can’t get enough of teeny tiny print and great quotes from local Bethlehem History? Here are some links to the microfilm containing letters and cultural references from 1863. And for those of you who care more about the quotes and less about old newspapers, here are some quotes that highlight the contents of the prints linked.
1/15/1863——-Letter begins by hoping that Moravians will continue to visit soldiers at camp. The letter continues to account the happening at camp, and also asks that the people from home write to their loved ones who are fighting about happy positive things instead of the dark distresses of life at home.
“But there are so many dwellers in tents who do get messages, and they feel so good, it puts the whole camp in better spirits. Here and there sits one mystified by the silence of home correspondents, who can not appreciate the sense of loneliness and symptoms of ‘nostalgia’ (as the surgeons have it,) which creep over the volunteer when the mail brings him no letter, it makes separation deeply sad.”
“Send on, then, dear friends, letters that will hold up, rather than weigh down, the heart of the soldier who is trying faithfully to do his whole duty. Don’t lose your faith as to final success. Grit at home tells upon grit on the field.”
2/19/63 ———Chaplain William Henry Rice updates the people at home about the soldiers’ movements after the Battle at Fredericksburg.
“The camp was still there, no change; we left it, admonished of the work before us by the roar of distant cannon, playing the first overture in the Fredericksburg Opera: we returned with the thunders of an hundred guns, the rattling of ten thousands of muskets, the shrill music of countless shells ringing in our ears; our hearts heavy with the terrible realities of our first battle field and that not a victory.
“All got along swimmingly that night, and the daylight when it brought, not the greeting of the home cock of the morn, but of the trumpet notes “fall in” never revealed a muddier and more astounded set of soldiers. But “fall in” was the word, and if the regiment didn’t fall in, it certainly waded in.”
4/23/1863——- On April 15th, Hagen wrote home about his visit to the soldiers in Washington. Washington DC and its surrounding landscapes are described by Hagen in a way that allows the reader to imagine the scenes of war and desolation.
“As we approach Washington, we begin to realize that we were near the seat of war. Fortifications and soldiery were all around us, and military matters constituted the prominent feature of the scene. But there was one object full in our view which is ever new and interesting to the traveler, namely the magnificent Capitol. Despite the cost and circumstance of war, it is fast approaching its completion.”
“While there the tomb of Washington’s mother, in the rear of Fredericksburg, was pointed out to me. A large white monument marks the sacred spot—but in front of it the rebels have large earthworks, near which one of their brigades was drilling. Shameful sacrilege! To stand, as it were, on the very grave of her who bore the Father of our Country, and from thence to draw the best blood of our nation’s heart—witness the late fearful carnage on this ground—in order to uphold and perpetuate that monster crime, and “sum of all villainies,” which has entailed upon us this sanguinary war.”
6/4/1863——– On May 28th, the 46th writes to the newspaper about their recent battle at Chancellorsville. This is a very upbeat letter claiming that the soldiers are able to enjoy themselves through the hardships.
“Should and of your readers suppose that our Colonel or other officers live better than we, let them dispel the illusion, for it is no uncommon thing to see our Colonel sitting among a group of his boys, on the ground, and hear his ‘thank you’ as he receives a piece of bacon just done brown. Don’t imagine, if you please, that such fare and such hardships—as many might term them—grieve the soldier, for never does he laugh or sing louder, and never is he more jolly than when wading through mud and fording streams. In short he loves to be on the move, and heeds but little the condition of the roads.”
6/11/1863——–This letter is in defense of the Eleventh Corps generally and the 153rd specifically. The 153rd had the reputation for being cowards in battle, but as this letter iterates, the 153rd fought as bravely as they could in some truly difficult circumstances.
“It had been commanded, till recently, by Franz Sigel. No sooner was he got rid of, than the command was given to General Howard, an utter stranger to every man in his command.”
“The corps formed the extreme right wing of General Hooker’s army, who, in undertaking the movement, resorted to the bold manoeuvre of dividing his own forces to attack a united adversary”
“Our right wing rested upon nothing – neither a hill nor a defile, not even a wall or fence. This was wrong; but instead of making up for the weakness of the position by masses of soldiers, the corps, the weakest one in the army, was left without intrenchments, two miles from the center, where Hooker entrenched himself.”
“Yet the troops, instead of being massed in columns, capable of throwing their strength into any direction, and of offering a stubborn resistance to any change, were spun out into a gossamer line, like the poor victim of the guillotine strapped upon his board, leaving but two men at any given point to receive the shock of any mass to be hurled against them.”
7/23/1863——– The following is written by Alex Selfridge to his parents, printed in the Moravian with permission from his parents. The letter accounts the major happenings of the Battle of Gettysburg, as well as the month that followed.
“One fellow rushed from the rebel line, risked both his own and our fire, scaled the breastworks and jumped in among our boys. The first thing he did was to distribute his cartridges among the boys them to give it to ‘em. This happened only a few feet from where my company lay.”
“When the fighting was over we went into the woods and there beheld the horrid ghastly sight of men lying dead, mangled and cut in every conceivable way. It is only at such times when one can fully realize what a terrible thing war is.”
8/20/1863——-Presentation to Colonel J.L. Selfridge of a medal commending him for his service, given to him by his regiment. While printed in the Moravian, the following extract from a letter contained in the Pittsburgh Evening Chronicle of August 12th.
“The medal is made in the shape of a star, (the insignia of the corps,) bearing the following inscription: “Presented to Colonel James L. Selfridge by the officers of the 46th Regiment Penn’a Volunteers, as a token of their high esteem and regard,” and the names of the battles in which the regiment and Colonel have participated as follows: “Winchester, March 23rd, 1862,” “Middletown, May 24th, 1862,” “Winchester, May 25th 1862,” “Cedar Mountain, August 9th, 1862,” “Sulpher Springs, August 27th, 1862,” Rappahannock, August 29th, 1862,” “South Mountain, September 14th, 1862,” “Antietam, September 17th, 1862,” “Chancellorsville, April 30th, May 1st, 2d, 3rd, 1863,” “Gettysburg 1st, 2d, and 3rd of July, 1863.””
4/16/1863——-Resolution of Respect – this is an agreement between the soldiers of the 153rd Regiment on how to respect and honor the dead.
“At a meeting held on the 8th day of April 1863, by Company A, Captian Owen Rice, 153rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, in Camp near Potomac Creek Bridge, VA, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted.
Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God, to remove from our midst after severe illness, our esteemed comrade, Charles B. Shafer, thereby again bringing forcibly to our minds, that, ‘in the midst of life we are in death,’ therefore –
Resolved, That whilst we mourn the loss of our departed comrade, we bow with humble submission to the will of God; knowing that ‘He doeth all things well.’
Resolved, That in the death of our beloved comrade, we have lost a good soldier, as well as a good companion, and one, who was ever ready when called upon to do his duty.
Resolved, That we must truly and heartily sympathize with the bereaved mother and relatives in this their hour of trial and affliction; and may God in His infinite goodness and mercy, grant unto them ‘that peace of mind which passeth all understanding,’ and give them grace to hear their loss with Christian fortitude.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the mother and relatives of deceased, and that the same be published in the Moravian, Easton, Argus, and the Correspondent and Democrat.”
9/3/1863——–An article of Female Modesty gives a clear idea that women in the Moravian town of Bethlehem were meant to be seen and not heard. The following quote, shown here in full, makes it clear that self sufficiency and forwardness were great faults in women and should be avoided at all costs.
“Among the faults which disfigure the character of the present day not the least is a practical under valuing of modesty by too many of the young of the female sex. This evil does not manifest itself in gross forms. It is not a want of chaste manors; it is not absolute immodesty. Self-sufficiency and forwardness are its distinguishing features. It discards humility as an antiquated virtue, and smiles at an unobtrusive deportment as a relic of a former age. The world progresses, and in some work on female education many young persons seem to have found, or fancy to have discovered, a law of progress with regard to female behavior too.
The family is one of those relations of life in which such a want of modesty may but too often. Daughters usurp the places of their mothers, not indeed in the kitchen, but fully in the parlor. They attempt to rule the house. Restraint is irksome to them, advice is “old fashioned;” retirement is not to be thought of. To make themselves prominent, to follow their whims and caprice and annicments regardless of others; to be pert and bold and even impudent; all this appears to be looked upon as a matter of course, a prerogative of young misses in the nineteenth century.”
The Civil War/Cemetery Project - Touchstone Theatre 
April 11th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
[…] We start with recordings of letters from Col. Selfridge. For more on Selfridge, check out the earlier entries of transcripts from The Moravian, circa 1862 and 1863 […]