Monday, November 19, 2012

Letter #28 -- Georgetown College Hospital, Washington, DC - November 20, 1862



Camp Parole - Annapolis, Maryland 
Letter #28 is much as the others during John's convalescence at Georgetown College Hospital in Washington.  A short letter...just keeping in touch with the family, and passing along information to them regarding other neighbors in the Deep Creek are.  In this case, John discusses David and Peter Krieger who were both wounded along with John at the Second Battle of Bull Run.  Though I do not have any further information about the circumstances, I assume that David Krieger was both wounded and taken prisoner based on him being sent to the the parole camp in Alexandria.  David Krieger was fortunate to receive a furlough to return home for part of his recuperation from his wounds.  Mary Slotterback is mentioned again in the letters and I am not sure of the relationship between Mary and the Kriegers.

Camp Parole - Annapolis, Maryland
During the early part of the Civil War, the North and the South used the European system of prisoner exchange via parole camps.  This process allowed for the orderly exchange of prisoners on a one-for-one honor system basis.  There were rules regarding the exchange and violations of these rules by either side could result in a collapse of the system and a negative effect on each side's captured soldiers.  Additionally, a collapse of the system would have a devastating effect on the active duty soldier who viewed paroling as a better option than fighting a needless specific battle to the death.  Later in the war, General Grant decided that the North had the advantage of numbers and resources, and decided to end the prisoner exchanges.  While it had the desired affect of attrition, it also helped spawn nightmares such as Libby Prison in Richmond and the infamous Andersonville prison in Georgia.





Below is an excerpt from the Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War -- by Patricia Faust:




Parole of Civil War Prisoners
        Lacking a means for dealing with large numbers of captured troops early in the war, the U.S. and Confederate governments relied on the traditional European system of parole and exchange of prisoners. The terms called for prisoners to give their word not to take up arms against their captors until they were formally exchanged for an enemy captive of equal rank. Parole was supposed to take place within 10 days of capture. Generally it was granted within a few days, especially after a major battle where thousands of troops were involved. Sometimes parolees went home to await notice of their exchange; sometimes they waited near their commands until the paperwork was processed.
        The system grew increasingly complex, cumbersome, and expensive as the war progressed and the number of parolees soared. The prospect of being sent home encouraged many men to allow themselves to be captured in battle or by straggling. Some parolees were permanently lost to she army when they failed to return to their units. Detention camps established by Federal authorities angered parolees, as did attempts to use them as guards, send them west to fight Indians, or give them noncombat assignments. Technically, paroled troops could not be given any duty that would free other soldiers for combat, an interpretation upheld by military courts.
        While paroling was in force, many inequities surfaced in the system. Soldiers assigned to detention camps frequently suffered from shortages of food and clothing and poor sanitation and were victimized by a criminal element among them. The men often became pawns for the governments, officers at one point being denied parole until formally exchanged. Union authorities generally withheld parole and exchange from guerrillas, bushwhackers, and blockade runners, which resulted in retaliatory action by the Confederacy.
        Finally admitting that the war was being prolonged by returning men to the ranks through parole and exchange--which by 1863 was the Confederate army's principal means of maintaining troop strength--Federal authorities severely restricted the program. The alternative, confining captured enemy troops to prison camps, became policy for the 2 belligerents.

Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" Edited by Patricia Faust




Letter #27....




                                                                                                Georgetown College Hospital
                                                                                                Washington, D.C. November
                                                                                                The 20th, 1862

My Dear Father and Mother,

                        I take my pen in hand to inform this few lines to you to let you know that I am well at present time and I hope that this few lines will find you in the same state of good health.  Further I let you know that I received your letter this day and was very glad to hear that you are well at present time and that this few lines did find me in the same.  I am very glad to hear that you draw my money so regular as you do.  Further I let you know that I got paid the day before yesterday and I got paid for 4 months.  Also for July and August September and October and I need it very bad.  But now I must come to a close.  But let Mary M. Slotterback know Peter Krieger went home on a furlo and David is sent to the Perole Camp at Alexandra.  So I am here all alone and don’t know nothing about them.  So I will close my letter by saying goodbye.  Answer soon and don’t forget it.  This few lines from your respectful son.

                                                                                                John W. Derr


Direct your letter as before.

























Monday, November 12, 2012

A Thank You to My Ancestors...



THANK YOU!




I am fortunate to live in this great country and to have had ancestors who fought in the various conflicts to keep all of us free.  My tribute today is to my Father, Grandfather, Great Great Grandfathers and my Mother...all of whom contributed directly to supporting our freedom.




Here's my Dad, Donald J. Derr in 1945...A World War II Navy Veteran:







Here's my Grandfather, Robert V. Price...a World War I Army Veteran:






Here's my Great Great Grandfather, John W. Derr...A Civil War Veteran (48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Co. D):








Here's my other Great Great Grandfather, John Z. Wagner... A Civil War Veteran (55th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Co. E):








And here' my Mom, M. Jane Price...a World War II Victory Farm Volunteer as a teenager:





 
My mom always wanted help the effort during World War II and so as a teenager in High School, she volunteer to work on a Victory Farm in Connecticut for the Summer of 1944.  This quite an adventure for a teenage girl from the coal regions of Pennsylvania.


Victory Farm Volunteers was an organization which recruited teenage boys and girls to work on various farms in support of the war effort during World War II.  My mom, like many teenagers of the time, volunteered to work on farms around the country to provide the "man power" lost when the young men went off to war.  It provide both a level of farm continuity as well as a morale boost on the home front.  My mom would later recount how she worked on a tobacco farm in Connecticut...which later in life she regretted due to the type of crop she helped farm.  However....many troops enjoyed the tobacco produced at that farm and her efforts are...in my opinion...very heroic!













 Thanks,

Jim D.





Letter #27 -- Georgetown College Hospital, Washington DC - November 11, 1862


Letter #27 continues on the discuss of the drafting of John Beaver, a family friend.  John is concerned about the welfare of both Beaver as well as his wife Anna and their children.  To ease the impact of the loss of the husband, father and bread winner on the farm... John's parents sent John's younger brother George over to the Beaver household to help with the chores and day-to-day farm activities.

John mentions the Slotterbach family and his happiness that Mr. Slotterbach and the other "Deep Creek Boys" are in South Carolina, where the fighting is light...comparatively speaking.

***Interesting note is that my other Great Great Grandfather John Z. Wagner was a member of the 55th PVI and was one of the Deep Creek Boys that John Derr mentions....indirectly.

Another interesting reference John makes in this letter is the term "Dutch Paper"

I googled Pennsylvania Dutch remedies and found a website....  http://braucher.webs.com/healingcharms.htm

There I found this Brown Paper charm that was/is used by the Amish/Pennsylvania Dutch...Could this be the Brown Paper that John is referring to?  Something his Mother sent to him to help with the healing process?


Amish Headache Charm

On a piece of brown paper, preferrable the type used for wrapping meats, write the following:

HEADACHE
HEADACH
HEADAC
HEADA
HEAD
HEA
HE
H

Soak the paper in vinegar for three minutes.  When ready, let it drip-dry then place on the head of the individual with the headache.  Lay your hands on the person's head and repeat three times:

Up Jack got and home did trot
As fast as he could caper.
He went to bed to mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

Some may notice right away that this charm is actually the sequel to the ever-popular "Jack and Jill" rhyme...
Brown paper and vinegar is an old Amish cure-all, most especially for wounds.  The paper is wetted with vinegar then placed directly on the wound.  This acts as a disinfectant and the brown paper helps the blood clot faster.






And now...Letter #27






                                                                                                Georgetown College Hospital
                                                                                                Ward No. 2, Nov. 11, 1862



My Dear Father and Mother,

                        I take my pen in hand to inform this few lines to you to let you know that I am well at present time and I hope that this few lines will find you in the same state of good health.  Further I let you know that I received your letter yesterday and I was very glad to hear from you and to hear that you are all well.  But I am sorry to hear that John Beaver is drafted for I think that Anna takes it very hard.  But I am glad to hear that you let George go up to her.  That will ease her a good bit.  Dear Father I wish you would let me know whether you did draw my pay for July and August and September and October.  I would like to know whether you did draw it or not for I hain’t been paid anymore since the last of June and I thought maybe you couldn’t draw it at home wither.  So let me know whether you did draw it or not.  Further I let you know that I got that Dutch paper in your letter and I was very glad for it as it may do me some good.  Further I let you know that we had a good snow here the other week but it is all gone now again and it is summer again.  Tell Mrs. Mary Slotterback that I am glad to hear that her husband and all the rest of the Deep Creek boys are so lucky as they are down in South Carolina and that she should let them know that I am well and where I am and that I was wounded but only slightly in the leg.  Now I must bring my letter to a close for this time.  You must excuse my bad writing and all my mistakes.  Answer this letter as soon as you get this from me.  This few lines from your dear and respective son.

                                                                                                John W. Derr


Direct your letter to Georgetown College Hospital, Ward N. 2,  Washington D.C. 









Jim D.


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Letter #24 -- Georgetown College Hospital, Washington DC - September 27, 1862



As I discussed in previous posts, there were two "lost" letters that were recently rediscovered.  The first was published a few weeks ago (http://www.jwdletters.com/2012/10/letter-21a-georgetown-college-hospital.html) and was one of the many letters written home from Georgetown College Hospital in September of 1862 while convalesced from his wounds at the Second Battle of Bull Run.

This letter...Letter #24 is much as the others, in so much as, he writes short and specific letters home to inquire about his and his family's affairs.  Unlike today, where a soldier can recuperate in a hospital ward with comrades and some level of entertainment...books, magazines, TV, etc... the Civil War hospital was a different affair.  The nation was ill prepared to deal with the realities of war...wounding, disease, and the dying.   The romantic notion of a heroic war was replaced with the thousands and thousands of the wounded, sick and dying.  Sanitation in the nations capital was abysmal with open sewers, encampments of soldiers, animal stockyards in close quarters, which bred disease and death.

A soldier, such as John, must have felt bored, depressed and lonely waiting for his "minor" wound to heal.  Letter writing and letter receiving was one of his few joys and releases.




Letter #24.....




                                                                                                Georgetown College Hospital
                                                                                                Monday September 27, 1862


My Dear Father and Mother,

                        I take my pencil in hand to inform this few lines to you to let you know that I am very well at present time and I hope that this few lines will find you in the same state of good health.  Further I let you know that I received two letters yesterday that you had wrote to me.  One was wrote in August the 10th and the other on the 14th.  And I didn’t get them till yesterday and I was very glad that I got them after all.  Further I let you know that you stated in one of your letters that you didn’t get my likeness what I did send home.  I wish you would let me know whether Francis Dengler got it and they didn’t give it to you or whether it didn’t come home at all.  Had it directed to F. Dengler because mine and Solomon Yarnell was together.   Further I let you know that my leg feel very well this morning.  It begins to heal but it goes rather slow.  But now I guess I must come to a close this time because my pen is out of ink.  Answer this letter with good courage and as soon as you can without much trouble.  This few lines from your dear son.

                                                                                                John W. Derr

Direct your letter to John W. Derr Georgetown College Hospital Ward No. 2  Washington, D.C.



Jim D.



Friday, November 2, 2012

Letter #26 -- Georgetown College Hospital, Washington DC - October 29, 1862

Another letter a bit late in the publishing....

In the very short Letter #26, John acknowledges the receipt of a letter from home.  He also discusses the drafting of a neighbor...John Beaver.  Beaver, a neighbor, was drafted in 1862 and John discusses his sorrow that a man with "a houseful of small children" would be drafted.  Knowing the horrors of war and having seen friends and comrades wounded and killed, he is sad to think that a father of many children may never come home.

John frets of not being able to come home to convalesce and resigns himself to the fact that he will have to stay in the army for his full three year commitment.  With his recent wounding, he is doubting his own survival in that terrible war.







                                                                                                Georgetown College Hospital
                                                                                                October 29, 1862



My Dear Father,

                        I take my pen in hand to inform you this few lines to let you know that I am well at present time and I hope that this few lines will find you in the same state of good health.  Further I let you know that I received your letter on October the 26 of the month.  Further I let you know that I am very sorry that John Beaver got drafted and has to go to war because he has a houseful of small children at home.  I would sooner go twice in his place then to see him to go and leave his family at home.  But it can’t be helped none.  And I was very glad to hear from home and to hear that you are all well and I hope that you all may stay well.  Further I let you know that my wound begins to heal very nice.  I am able to walk around all the time but I can’t see no chance yet to come home.  I think I must make up my three years if I live so long.  So I will close my letter for this time.  Answer soon again this few lines.  From your dear son.


                                                                                                John W. Derr


Direct yours as before.












Jim D.