griffing@fnal.gov
The
Civil War Letters of William Beynon Phillips
[click on each image to enlarge]
Headquarters,
2nd Artillery
Penn.
Vols
Fort
Bunker Hill
[Washington,] D. C.
August 7, 1863
Dear Annie,
No
doubt that I have had some pretty names from you for not writing before this. I
have some excuses, but I am afraid parading them now would make matters worse,
so I have nothing to do so as to gain your favor but to prostrate myself before
you, and cry for pardon, which – by the by – is not a very hard job for us,
to beg of the ladies. So, please hearken unto the prayer of a poor soldier
&. I do most sincerely hope you will be graciously pleased to pardon me this
once. I shall never do so again. There,
that is over. I feel easier now. But you
must not do as the Catholics [do and] make me do penance, by not writing me as soon as
you possibly can saying your pardon, & I am anxious to hear from you.
No doubt you will notice that our Quarters is changed. We removed over here on the 13th of July. [Our] Headquarters is in a house of a Mr. Queen, between Forts Totten & Bunker Hill. [It is an] elegant place. Times are improving with me over here. Times & things go on so smoothly that only when I read the papers I know we are at war. It is going on 3 mos. since I handled a Rifle or cried “Here” to the “Roll Call.” If this is war, what is peace? I am very lucky also in the “grub” part. Being on the staff, I mess with the Commissary & Quarter Master Sgts. of the Brigade. [There is] plenty to eat of good things & a lady to wait on us. Big time, I assure you.
Dear
Annie, one year today I became a soldier of the U.S.A.
I was 10 months of it a “bona
fide” “Soger.” I can say now that that’s enough for me in one lifetime.
[It's] not so much [that] I cared of the hard duty & harder life & table, but it is
the compulsion to be obliged to take the overbearing of officers, etc., who at the
same time are beneath you as a man, & a gentleman. But thank God I am now
[out] from under their claws. Well 12
months a soldier & 24 months more to stay -- what a beautiful prospect to be
sure! But yet this will admit
some consolation. The regiment’s time is out in 14 months, when we will all I
hope be discharged some time; & another thing the war may be over in another
six months. I wish earnestly it would, for the sake of the country & the
thousands of precious lives that would be spared. This regiment is the luckiest
one in the whole war. All the battles of the war has not seen the bloody 2nd
P. V. When every man almost
was sent from Washington
to help Gen. Meade [turn back the Rebels in Pennsylvania], the 2nd
There is quite a talk that we are going to Charleston [SC] this fall. If we go, Charleston has but a small show against our batteries. Just think of 1000 artillerists of the 2nd pounding Fort Sumters, etc. This regiment is of splendid material, very patriotic, & well drilled, & it would be a good policy for the government to send us into the field and have some of the old shattered regiments [take] our place. It is not fair that some regiments is shoved through in every battle, while others are never shown the enemy. How many of my acquaintances in Camp Curtin, Pa. left for the field the same day as us, [who] are no more, their lives sacrificed on the country’s altar, & we are spared. But it is very likely that before this terrible war is over, there will out of this regiment many a “Knight to earth be borne, And many a banner rent & torn.”
I
am pretty certain of having a furlough this fall & I shall be very happy to
avail myself of the glad time to see you. I
am just going to lay matters before our Colonel & no doubt after staring me
out of countenance will give it with a grunt. You promised me your photograph
some time ago. Now I shall expect in your next letter. So, dear
Address
William
B.
Phillips
Care of
Headquarters 2nd Artillery P.
V.
Fort
Bunker
Hill
Washington,
Footnotes
The
home (called "Chillum Castle Manor") occupied by the Headquarters of the 2nd Artillery Pennsylvania Volunteers
belonged to a prominent Maryland farmer named Nicholas
Louis Queen (born about 1777). In the 1860 US Census, his land holdings
in Ward 4 of the District of Columbia were valued at $50,000. His household
furnishings were valued at half that figure. In 1830, one of Nicholas' daughters
married Jehiel Brooks, a opportunistic lawyer who sought various patronage jobs
from the government. He was named Indian agent for the Caddo and Quapaw tribes
in Northeast Louisiana, entering various claims against the government during
his tenure there for Indian lands he attempted to claim for himself. The Queen
and Brooks families were clearly Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War.
Afterwards, Jethiel Brooks filed suit for damages done to his father-in-law's
property while it was used by Federal forces; he also entered into a legal
dispute with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad about tracks built on the edge of
that same property.
These lines are a variation from Sir Walter Scott's early 19th century romantic
poem "Marmion." The actual lines read, "And many a banner will be
torn, And many a Knight to earth be borne."
Philadelphia native Lt. Florence W. Grugan,
born about 1828, enlisted as a Private with Montgomery Company, Commonwealth
Heavy Artillery [PA] in April 1861 with duty at Fort Delaware, but his term of
service ended in three months. He later enlisted as a Lt. with the 2nd Regiment,
Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery.
griffing@fnal.gov