Letter #34 - Spotsylvania Court House, VA -- May 16, 1862

With the appointment of Ulysses S. Grant to lead the Union forces in the eastern theater, the lives of the 48th PVI were about to change dramatically.  May of 1864 would usher in the start of the Rapidan Campaign and would include some of the most horrific battles seen during the Civil War...The Wilderness...Spotsylvania...Spotsylvania Court House...The Assault on the Salient...Stannard's Mills...North Anna River...Line of the Pumunkey...Totopotomoy...Cold Harbor...Bethesda Church...and the start of the Petersburg Siege.

The letter of May 16, 1864 provides a rare description of the difficult situation faced by the 48th PVI.

John describes "firing at the rebels" during the the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House battles.  The unit survives the battles well, but there are some casualities...John Boyer and his cousin John D. Weikel.  He sends home some level of reassurance for other family and friends...Daniel Derr, Elias Derr (17th PA Cav.) and Isaac Yarnell and Emanuel Bolich.

                                                                                                

Spotsylvania Court House, Va.

                                                                                                May 16^th, 1864

My Dear Father and Mother,

             I take this present opportunity to inform this few lines to you to let you know that I am well at present time and I hope this few lines will find you in the same state of good health.  You must excuse me for not writing to you any sooner because we was busy this two last weeks after the rebels.  We had two pretty hard fights since.  We are out and are now laying on the battle field for the six last days firing at the rebels and are fighting with them every day.  But all the boys from around there are safe yet as much as I know.  But John Boyer got wounded today but it ain’t very bad.  It is only a flesh wound through the left leg above the knee.  And John D. Weikel is missing.  Nobody knows anything about him and I don’t know where he is or where he got to.  He got away from us in the morning that we went into the battle.  He was along when we advanced in line of battle.  Thank God that I am safe yet and I hope that I always may get through safe.  We have some hard nuts to bite.  But I hope we will be successful in taking Richmond for we are bound to have it or else all die.  This is the cry all through the Army.  I also seen some of the 17^th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  I seen Daniel Derr and Elias Derr and Isaac Yarnall and Emanuel Bolich and they are all well and look hearty.  So I must close this few lines for it is getting dark and I have no more to write for this time.  This few lines from your beloved son.

                                                                                                John W. Derr

Answer soon and direct your letter to John W. Derr, Co. D 48^th Regt. Pa, 1^st Brigade, 2^nd Division, 9^th Army Corps Washington, D.C.            

Union trench works at Spotsylvania Court House battlefield

Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

John D. Weikel had joined the 48th PVI Co. D when the regiment completed it's furlough in March of 1864.  Joining the regiment at Pottsville and entering the exciting world of the Army!  John, and the other cousins, more than likely were tasked by the family at home with the job of keeping an eye on the new...novice private.  It was quite a time for a new recruit to enter the Civil War and it is not surprising that he went missing in the fog of war.  





P.S.  John D. Weikel was found and mustered out of the regiment with his fellow 48th PVI-ers in 1865.

Jim D.

Letter #33 -- Annapolis, MD -- April 8, 1864

As my wife aptly pointed out...I missed a letter this month.   Unfortunately, I erroneously remembered that the next letter was to be on April 22nd.  My mistake...my apologies.

So...in the belief that better late than never...I present Letter #33....


April of 1864 finds the 48th PVI preparing to deploy to Virginia later in the Spring.  For six weeks the 48th drilled, paraded, and essentially sharpened their discipline after a 2 month furlough.  Complaints were rampant, but this seemingly silly set of dress parades and drilling, would be critical for the survival of most of the regiment.  Like a football team coming to Spring training with all the rust and out of shape men, the 48th needed some training to regain their fighting form.

Annapolis provided an excellent training ground with easy access to the Chesapeake Bay for transport to the lower peninsular regions of Virginia.   The stay at Annapolis did not come without tragedy with a few men of the 48th dying.   More specifically, on April 8th, the death of William Smith from John's own Company D.  No mention of Smith is made in the letters, but it is probably coincidental that this letter was written on the same day of his death.

This letter speaks mostly of family matters.  His 20 year old sister Saloma (Salome and Salomy in the records) was off into the working world...going to help the Hepler's as a maid.   The Derr family was a poor farming family living on a piece of land that was valued at $1000 in 1860.  The family having purchased the farm in the prior decade, the father (Peter), needed all the cash infusions he could get to maintain this marginal piece of earth.  For the most part, when the children left the home to work, those monies returned to family to maintain the core family business....in this case...the farm.  The letter also indicates that John's 17 year old brother, George was off to work on the Boyer's farm as a laborer...again...to provide cash for the family farm.  John is giving his father advice on what kind of work George should be doing.  With the war on, and many men away, there was a shortage of labors for county and state jobs.  John suggests that George works that, rather than laboring on the lower paying Boyer farm.

John is interested in the whereabouts of his cousin John Weikel.  Weikel had returned home on a furlough earlier in March, and as was the typical of the time, was charged by John with carrying back articles from home.  In this case...butter.   Lastly, John is interested in knowing more about the recently married friend, Daniel Bolich, and his wife.  The marriage must have taken place sometime between the time the 48th left Pottsville and when this letter was written.

                                                                                                Camp near Annapolis, MD.

                                                                                                April 8^th, 1864

My Dear Father,

            I take the opportunity of informing this few lines to you to let you know that I am well at present time and I hope that these few lines will find you in the same state of good health.  I received your letter today and I was very glad to hear that you was well all the time and I am the same.  You wrote that Saloma was going at Joseph Heplers for maid and George was going at Boyers.  I would like to know what Geroge is getting a month there.  I think it would be better if he went to some public work.  He could get twice as much pas as he can at or with them farmers….I wish you would let me know whether John Weikel was there or not.  He went home on furlough and I told him to got there and fetch me a few pounds of butter along and he ain’t back yet.  You must let me know something about Daniel Bolich’s new wife some times how she is getting along.  I have no important news to write for this time, so I will bring my letter to a close for this time.  This few lines from your son.

                                                                                                John W. Derr

Answer soon and direct your letter to J.W. Derr, Co. D, 48^th Regt. Pa. 1^st Brigade, 2^nd Division, 9^th Army Corps, Annapolis, Md.

Jim D.

Friends - What about John Snyder?

I was doing a bit of research today, deciding that it would be better than watching another football game...or what seems to pass for football in Washington, DC.  I know I am laying myself out there for the Pennsylvanians who root for that not-to-be-named eastern Pennsylvania team...but what the heck!  As I was saying...I decided to do some research and did a Google search on a name contained in one of the later letters from JWD.  That name was, Emanuel Bolich, mentioned in a letter from May of 1864.  I came across the CivilWarTalk forum website  www.civilwartalk.com  and saw a posting from a couple of years ago talking/asking about information on an Emanuel Bolich from the 17th Pa. Regiment.  Interestingly, JWD's letter had Bolich contained within.  Additionally, the Bolich's being a prominent family in the Barry Township area of Schuylkill County, meant that many of the other documents I have in my possession have Bolich's contained within...e.g.  Mortgages, land sales, etc...  I decided to post to the forum in hopes that any information that I might have can help this family researcher in their quest.  I guess that is one of the reasons I am doing this blog...in hopes that names I have contained within the letters might help another person doing like research on their ancestors.  Hopefully, JWD was mentioned in some other soldier's letter and the favor can be returned.  Thus is the investigative nature of this kind of work.

Tonight, I did a little bit of research on John Snyder...mentioned in Letter #2 posted last month.  The reason I have very little is because I found very little.  Actually, during the research I found many John Snyders referenced in the ARIAS system (Pennsylvania State Archive database), but determined that only one could possibly be THE John Snyder that JWD referred to in his letter.

John H. Snyder was a private in the 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, company E.  Snyder enlisted in the 96th on March 14th, 1864 at the age of 23.   I have no information on what he was doing prior to his enlistment late in the war, but his occupation is identified as a "wheelwright".

Though he is mentioned only once in the letters, I found his story as interesting as any of the others I have researched.  What I do know is that John H. Snyder enlisted in the 96th PVI in March of 1864, just in time to fight in the bloody battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse,  during the Rapidan Campaign of May 1864.   According to Samuel Bates account in his book "History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865", John H. Snyder was listed as missing in action (MIA) on May 10, 1864 at the battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in Virginia.   This means that Snyder was active in his unit for less than 2 months before he went MIA during this vicious battle.   I have been unable to find any record of him resurfacing during or after the war, but he is not listed anywhere that I can find as a Killed in Action (KIA).

I was saddened by the thought that apparently he was never found, never identified.  He continues to be listed as MIA in the official records.  Since JWD fought at these battles, I wonder whether he saw him...talked to him...or fought with him during the time he went missing.  I guess this is just one of the sad stories and duties that returning soldiers such as JWD had to tell to anxious family members back home.  I can only imagine.

Pennsylvania State Archives ARIAS Record of John, H. Snyder

Samuel Bates, History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 (page 400)

Jim D.