Lancaster, Wisconsin, March 5 1909

L. W. Hopkins

 

Dear Sir

            I am what is ordinarily supposed to be an old man more than 83½ years children married & gone. one to California & the other to Oklahoma City & I here with my wife of more than 57 years in the same home I moved into January 1 1854 & have to look after not only my own business but the families of a brothers children who died in the confederate service although a northern & a union man. I have my own home & pension: but no money to squander. The war financially & physically wrecked me. A brother a union man was in Texas lost his life in that service. By the way of New Orleans I got on several [?] $100⁰⁰ to his widow & children. The widow died. I started on the first train through the Indian Territory to find them, bought a round trip ticket collected all I could several hundred dollars & borrowed $500⁰⁰ Eventually found the children /

 

Brought up the four younger children took them into my home, clothed, fed educated them. some of them made my home their home for about 12 years.

 

The youngest married my law partner and is every inch a lady, good mother & grand mother and home keeper & I may say a 1^st class school teacher. So my money had to go In time my brothers family in Mississippi were discovered, are grown up, have partly gone to Oklahoma & are in want—certainly are short of the necessaries of life & I am helping them—Five & one half years spent in the army was expensive. A little over $2000⁰⁰ was invested here—about $2000⁰⁰ owing all around the country. Then small debtors as a rule died in or were wrecked by the war & not 10 per cent was ever collected & it took more than all the rest beside my contribution to carry my family & make the necessary contribution to help my neighbors & had to sell my farm too soon to met my debts.

 

The then Democrat policy of local banks of issue took too reg large farms all his personal property & many thousands of dollars of pet bank shin plasters as we called their wild cat money. No schools no churches no anything that tended to civilize us except Gods Light Artillery (methodist preachers) that came along / Hunted, trained horses, fished, raced horses or sketed or went swiming on sunday and arrived at the ages of 12, 14 & 17 without ever having seen an arithmetic. next year I borrowed one & never quit it till I had finished the Calculus. could read Greek & Latin very well and when I left home a few days before my 22^d birthday I had not a cent in my pocket nor a second shirt & poorer still in general knowledge of the ways of the world & common sense.

 

Now I have a tolerable good library & some 6 or 8 hours each day to spend in reading and have in my miscellaneous library perhaps 2000 books; have some on the union side; but want more on the confederate but have not cash to buy all that is printed I would like to have "Davis on Rise & Fall" two or more volumes.

 

Gen Joe Johnston must have defended himself for his failure when confronting Sherman / in the west If I am correct Dana and Hood asserted him in publications and then there are many other books published on the confederate side of the case.

 

I would like to have more of those than I have: but cannot afford to pay for fancy bindings. I want books for what is "in" them not for what is "on" them. In Baltimore you might be able to find out where the class of books I want can be found at reasonable rates.

 

I have "War of the Rebellion" 1 2 3 volumes

 

I dip at it once in a while.

 

Now if you have any spare catalogues of such books or can lay your hands on them please send me one of each.

 

In war times I stopped at the Barnum Hotel on several occasions & frequently since then when a representive to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the I.O.O.F & became satisfied that Baltimore was quite a place. Well remember going through there with my Regiment the 5^th Wis. I had issued an abundance of amunition to our regiment then full 1000 muskets and saw that the guns were capped & rode by or near the Colonel at the head to Mr Kims Mansion He cautioned his men repeatedly not to fire if molested till ordered. I went over the city and the fort with him, remained several days more

 

Now one word more—

 

I have been on the skirmish line with Gen Hancock. On one occasion an officer in charge took me with him on the picket line. A private who lost an arm under Sherman told me that Grant frequently inspected his whole picket line in person when in front of Vicksburg & he once helped handle cannon in battle in mexico.

 

In the battles with Joe Johnston Sherman was frequently in the advance with the skirmish line & on one occasion when orders had been issued to open the battle early next morning at the urgent request of sub generals retired a few rods to the next line received reports from the whole line issued orders & slept there with his men.

 

Now I never heard that M^cClellan ever was within gun shot of even a long range gun & I was with his army from July 1861 till long after Antietam.

 

Why I should have been detached I could not tell / tell At the time of the first of the 7 days battles while the battle was hot I was ordered to take all the teams I could get & got a long string maybe one mile and soon found that orders had been issued that pohibed me from crossing the chickahominy till I tried a bridge away below I got around before day light and loaded the train with hospital supplies & Q.M. supplies &c and got back safely. when I got back my train was sent to Savage Station. The Regiment was then having a skirmish I passed General Smith (Baldy) he knew who I was by a letter. He commanded a division. Gave me orders. He was there under fire. This was friday as I recall. Sunday a retreat was ordered & McClellan ordered me to take charge of an immense train & his aid to report to me with his outfit & a horse battery I of course obeyed orders as he out ranked me, offered him charge. He replied no I was to remain in charge & he would carry orders for me. As I had fire on more mounted men I could not ask him to carry orders. When he declined he said he had never been off a side walk & could never take that immense train with several hundred prisoners across swamps & streams up hill & down. I was at home in such [?] Each day I was to start last & before night was in the lead having my own way. This aid was a gentleman On the day before the Battle of Malvern Hill was fought he said to me "McClellans heart is broken" To night we must be at Harrisons Landing or to morrow night we will be in Liby prison. I simply said "Oh—a general heart broken like a love sick girl" /

 

We reached Harrison Landing that night in the lead. before daylight were ordered to go back to Malvern Hill and got back in a hurry. I there enquired for McClellan, the battle was raging—the answer came "on a gun boat". I did not believe it; insisted he must be with the troops but did not find him! never believed it till I saw it in his own report.

 

That night another retreat was ordered & I was to pass over that road a third time. did so in the mud & slush and carried off everything & had guns abandoned picked up.

 

To show his lack of qualification I had never seen but one ship before in my life & little of that I was ordered to take 500 western woodsmen and unload the ships at Alexandria when we should have been at the 2^d Bull Run Well I organized my men & unloaded them with a rush. He was not capable of selecting 1^st Class aids who sat as advisers & must occasionally have a deal of common sense to draw on / again. I could repeat matters at Antietam that came under my eye & under my orders when I had the duties of others to perform because of my rough early experience.

 

In brief when I reach Antietam turned my outfit over to others to handle and started for the line of battle to pass from 12 to 20 the mans infantry idle with a large lot perhaps 40 or 50 cannon & some cavelry idle who remained idle all day & when I called for McClellan was told that he was on a hill up towards our right. I rode along the left wing of the line of battle till I found Hancock & then returned to find my Regiment.

 

This reserve if led by Custer or Sheridan could have cut the Confederate army in two. But it may be that the people were not prepared to nip out the cause of the war and therefore let it go on a few years longer and make a clean job of it.

 

Why were you spared? Had God & has He yet for work to do!

 

Had He work for me, smashed repeatedly, on crutches a long time, yet have rallied and am on the go?

 

I started out to have you suggest where I could purchase some books & here I am lost in my [?]—Respectfully & truly yours            John G Clark

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