Letter #37 -- Camp Near Petersburg, VA -- July 13, 1864

In July of 1864, John W. Derr would give insight into one of the most (in)famous battles of the Civil War.  Outside of Petersburg, Va, and during a stalemate in what would become the newest of battlefield tactics...trench warfare...officers of the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry regiment devised a scheme to break the lines of the enemy.  The plan consisted of tunneling under the lines of the enemy and filling the resulting chamber with black powder...exploding the black powder...and thus undermining the lines of the enemy.  While the plan was good and the engineering was revolutionary...the follow-up attack was a disaster resulting in a failure of the union army to rout the enemy.

During the digging of what became known as "the Petersburg Mine", men of the 48th PVI spent over a month using knowledge obtained from coal mining in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania to develop an effective mine tunnel under the Confederate lines.  It would later be filled with black powder and on July 30, 1864, exploded resulting in the famous Civil War "Battle of the Crater".  John was part of this mining effort and the letter below is a precursor to the execution of the attack.

I find this letter extremely fascinating and it provides an insight to the man and the effort.  It also gives me connection to the battle, whenever I visit the Petersburg National Battlefield Park.  Additionally, his bit of humor in the closing gives me a feel for the man...

"G.D. the mules they shake too much I can’t write anymore."

John would die a young man in 1876 at age 37.  Depositions provided in the widow pension application reference both his wounds received in battle, as well as his service in digging the mine.

*This is an uncensored reference in advance of the mining and preparation for the upcoming explosion which did occur on July 30, 1864 and resulted in the famous Petersburg “crater” and the breeching of the Confederate lines.  The 48^th Pa. conceived the plan for the mining and destruction of these fortifications; however, an otherwise brilliant plan deteriorated into a debacle when, after the successful detonation of explosives and breeching of fortifications, failed to follow up forcefully with the scheduled infantry attack (Depositions from Official Records (O.R.) indicated that J.W. Derr was actually more involved in the undermining than he indicated in this letter- See deposition of Sgt Otto Bodo, dated June 23, 1880).

                                                                                                Camp near Petersburg, Va.           

                                                                                                July 13^th, 1864

My Dear Father and Mother,

            I take the present opportunity 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.  I received your letter today and I was very glad to hear that you are well all the time and I am happy that I can say the same.  I am also glad to hear that you got my money and I hope you will take good care of it, as you did before.  And if we don’t soon get paid I will be very apt to send for some of it but I hope we will soon get paid off.  We don’t need much money, but I want some once in a while.  I suppose you took good care that you got my pay all in good money for I wouldn’t like to have any bad money for I have to work hard for it.  We hear that the rebels are making a raid into Pennsylvania again but I hope it will be to their sorrow.  I hope they will lose more men then they did last summer at Gettysburg and they didn’t gain much that time by all appearances.  It is for no use to write anything to you about the war for you know more at home then we do out here for we do hear very little but what we see.  But I will let you know that we will have a great explosion here before very long.  We are going to blow up the rebels forts.  They are undermining them now.  They have two or three all ready now and our regiment is working at one and they are near done with it and I hope it will work all right, if they get it going. *

            I have no more to write today so I will bring these few lines to a close for this time with the intention of hearing from you soon again.  So I will remain your affectionate son.

                                                                                                John W. Derr

Answer soon and direct your letter as before.  Give my love to my brothers and sisters and to all inquiring friends.  Tell Josiah Fetterolf if he wouldn’t write a letter to me I would pin his nose up on his forehead.  G.D. the mules they shake too much I can’t write anymore.

Pension Deposition of Sgt. Otto Bodo referencing JWD's participation in the mine

Jim D.

John W. Derr and the Battle of the Crater

I had the pleasure of corresponding this week with Brett Schulte, the author of the website/blog "Beyond the Crater"  http://www.beyondthecrater.com/.  Brett's website is dedicated to the history and research of the Battle of the Crater during the siege of Petersburg, Va, in July of 1864.  Brett's website contains a vast array of information, diaries, letters, correspondence as well as behind the scenes views of the events leading up to and after the mine explosion.  I responded to Brett's call for diaries and letters from soldiers who participated in the digging of the mine as well as the assault on the crater after the detonation of the explosives in the mine.  As a member of the 48th PVI, JWD had significant participation in the digging of the mine.  His letter dated July 13, 1864 describes a bit of information that he probably should not have been writing about in his letters home.  The actual explosion of the mine on July 30, 1864 occurred more than two weeks after JWD's disclosure to his parents.  Below is the transcription of the letter as well as the actual letter facsimile:

                                                                                                Camp near Petersburg, Va.           

                                                                                                July 13^th, 1864

My Dear Father and Mother,

            I take the present opportunity 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.  I received your letter today and I was very glad to hear that you are well all the time and I am happy that I can say the same.  I am also glad to hear that you got my money and I hope you will take good care of it, as you did before.  And if we don’t soon get paid I will be very apt to send for some of it but I hope we will soon get paid off.  We don’t need much money, but I want some once in a while.  I suppose you took good care that you got my pay all in good money for I wouldn’t like to have any bad money for I have to work hard for it.  We hear that the rebels are making a raid into Pennsylvania again but I hope it will be to their sorrow.  I hope they will lose more men then they did last summer at Gettysburg and they didn’t gain much that time by all appearances.  It is for no use to write anything to you about the war for you know more at home then we do out here for we do hear very little but what we see.  But I will let you know that we will have a great explosion here before very long.  We are going to blow up the rebels forts.  They are undermining them now.  They have two or three all ready now and our regiment is working at one and they are near done with it and I hope it will work all right, if they get it going. *

            I have no more to write today so I will bring these few lines to a close for this time with the intention of hearing from you soon again.  So I will remain your affectionate son.

                                                                                               John W. Derr

Answer soon and direct your letter as before.  Give my love to my brothers and sisters and to all inquiring friends.  Tell Josiah Fetterolf if he wouldn’t write a letter to me I would pin his nose up on his forehead.  G.D. the mules they shake too much I can’t write anymore.

I know this jumps the gun a bit on posting on the 150th anniversary of the creation of this letter, but I suspect that it doesn't violate any "rules" to post it more than once.  I appreciate the interest of Brett and his loyal following on the "Beyond the Crater" website and I encourage all of you to visit his site....it is just plain excellent.


In addition to this letter, I have other documents...well copies of other documents from the National Archives....which provide corroborating evidence of his work in the actual mine.  JWD's official records in the Archives, provide the pension application information and affidavits that I have previously mentioned in other postings.   These affidavits from fellow soldiers tell about how JWD participated in the digging of the mine and indeed became very ill from working in the cold damp conditions.  He eventually contracted bronchitis and was out of active duty for a few weeks after the mine explosion.  Below is the pension deposition from Sgt. Otto Bodo of the 48th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Co. "D"  (Click on image to enlarge):

Pension Deposition from Sgt Otto Bodo

Petersburg Mine Entrance in July, 1864

Petersburg Mine Entrance Now

Crater Now

Lastly....I really enjoy the humor that JWD put into some of his letters...such as the postscript for his friend Josiah Fetterolf.  He was irritated that his friend did not write enough letters to him...something you can understand... as a letter to a soldier in the field was worth its weight in gold.  Also, his cursing of the mules in his wagon train.  JWD, at this point in the war, also served as a teamster which allowed him to continue in the army service with a handicap from his leg wound at Second Bull Run.  It brings a more realistic perspective on the man.


Jim D.

Documents, Thoughts and Apologies

Ok...I've been very negligent with the blog over the last 3 weeks.  I was on vacation in England and in India, but to be perfectly honest, I had internet access at both places and decided to be lazy.  I'm finding the that longer I go between posts, the tougher it is to stay focused, get inspired and get excited.  This happened over the last 3 weeks as I had kind of a writers block trying to decide how to organize this blog.  The general layout is fine...e.g...publishing the letters on the same day 150 years after they were first penned by John W. Derr (JWD), but the real challenge is to put some context around the letters and the man.  This is the so called "putty" in the story which is a lot more challenging to construct and organize.

My last post revolved around various affidavits that were submitted by family members and fellow soldiers in the 48th PVI.   I plan to post more of those documents in the future.  They will be timed to correspond with the events they describe.  For example, the pension depositions by fellow soldiers in the 48th PVI regarding the digging of the Petersburg Mine, that resulted in the Battle of the Crater in July of 1864, will be accompanied by a letter written by JWD just before the explosion occurred.  In that letter, which had no censorship, he describes how "there will be a great explosion" and how they are undermining the rebel lines.  This be my overall approach to the design of the blog.  The "putty" posts in between letters will put other documents, thoughts and comments into play as backup and context filler.

For this week, I plan to present some of the many documents I have that are part of the pension application process pursued by JWD's wife, Magdalena.  The more I delve into these documents, the more fortunate I feel that I am to still have them in my possession.  They are an invaluable asset in the development of this project.


It was common for war veterans and veteran widows to obtain a copy of the subject soldier's discharge orders.  Many times original discharge papers were lost or destroyed in the course of returning home from the war and so it was necessary to obtain copies from Washington, DC.  I can't imagine how long that must have taken, especially after the pension law was passed in the late 1870s and hundreds of the thousands of soldiers and widows applied for copies of discharge papers, as well as the actual pensions.

In this case, the discharge certificate copy was requested in 1909 by JWD's wife, Magdalena, a full 33 years after his death and nearly 30 years after the pension was first issued to her.  The reason for this will become clear later in this 4 year project when I show the overall battle she had with the pension board...one she fought to her dying days...and part of our family's "secret".

Discharge Copy #1 showing JWD's service from 1861-1863

Discharge Copy #2 showing JWD's service from 1863-1865

Pension Certificate for Soldier JWD to support Magdalena Derr and her sons

George W. Derr...son of JWD and Magdalena and my Great-Grandfather