Rosie is after him teeth and toenails

We are in Hartford again and nearly ready to return home, and have been so busy all the last week in Glastonbury that I could not write. We returned to Hartford yesterday and intended to start for home tomorrow in the boat and hope to be in Owego Thursday afternoon. We intended to stop in New York [City] and go to Harlem to see Aunt Lydia – Ma’s stepsister – but Ma has taken a hard cold and does not feel able to go & I am in a great hurry to see the boys.

We have heard but once from [my sister] Sarah and then all were well, though she had company all the time and will get tired out I fear. She sent a letter from you that came after I left. I suppose you are either on your way home or perhaps at Topeka. I hope you had a pleasant visit. How did you and Henry [Winans] trade? And how do you like your new team [of horses]?

It is breakfast time and [our daughter] Mary is fretting for me. I want to send this to the [post] office so I must close. Excuse this very short letter. I will write longer soon as I can after we return. – Augusta

I am sorry to tell you that it’s all excitement here again on account of the difficulties in Missouri. The Militia are all again ordered out to report at Atchison next Monday. I think we shall be left to guard the town from Guerilla’s and relieve the regulars stationed there [so] that they may go and help take care of Gen. Price who is now pillaging and burning towns from Jefferson City west. He is reported to have a force of 30,000 and I suppose will find no difficulty in making it larger. According to a telegram sent here by Gen. Rosecrans, [Gen. Price] intends to attack Leavenworth and invade Kansas. Rosie [1] is after him teeth and toenails and I hope will save our going for it’s tedious soldiering…

I was so glad to get your letter today written at Hartford and am glad Ma could go with you. I know it will do her good and am glad you enjoy it. It will take you away from the boys some time and I am afraid they may behave badly. I should have thought Willie would have known better than to strike Johnny's [finger with a hammer] as he did. You must keep a close eye upon them.

I hardly know when I shall get to see you. It is by no means safe to travel in Missouri now. You have seen what has been done on the railroads. You had better take hold and help what you can and do what you can towards paying your way and not let the children be more trouble than possible. Let Johnny help all he can. He might save a good many steps. Be sure and have him read as often as you can. I shall not come after you until after it is safe much as I would like to see you all. You had better do nothing with regard to my pantaloons. I shall try and get me a pair before I start on my own. And will you write often as you can? You had better direct my letters to Lincoln as I hear it intimated that we may be sent to Paoli. At any rate, it is uncertain. The women all about feel very downhearted. I am glad for my part that you and the children are not here at the present.

I suppose you are back to Owego [from Hartford, Conn.] by this time. Have you seen [my sister] Permelia yet? And is your health as good as usual? And does the climate there seem to agree with the children? I was fearful that going from this steady climate into that changeable one might not agree with them. Have you had a good long visit with [my] mother and is she comfortably fixed? How is [my brother] Sammy getting along? Has he a team and plenty to winter on. I let a dozen and a half of chickens go last night at fifteen cents apiece. A great many were caught by hawks when I was gone. I miss [our dog] Dan very much. He left me at Topeka and I expect went back to the old place. I did not miss him until I had crossed the river.

Mrs. Lipscomb sends her love to you and is intending to leave Lincoln next week to go and keep house for her father. Her sister Mary goes to Illinois to teach. Old Mr. and Mrs. [John] Roots started for [LaSalle County] Illinois yesterday expecting to go by Hannibal and St. Joe R. Road, but whether they did or not, I don’t know. Their son George [Roots] from whom they had not heard in a long time had returned there, and had re-enlisted and is about to start back. They want to see him before he goes. He gets a bounty of two thousand dollars. They intend to bring their parents back with them. [2] [3]

Have you written yet to Carrie Winans? I wish you would if you have not. She so often speaks of you and thinks a great deal of you. Old Mr. [William Riley] Wells is quite sick with fever. [4] Otherwise, it seems quite healthy all about. You must excuse this as I have written in a great hurry. I guess you can guess it out. My love to you, my dearest, and all the children. Goodbye for the present. Your husband, -- James

I want you both to behave so well that your Grandma & Aunt Sarah & Uncle Steve will be glad to have you come again. Papa wants to gather a fine bunch of Black Walnuts for you to eat when you come back home again and only wishes you were here to help gather them. I am all alone now. Even Dan, the faithful dog, lost me when in Topeka last and I expect went to his old home. That great big yellow cat came & made me a visit the other night & staid until morning. Ma says that [your little sister] Sissy can walk. It hardly seems possible, but I suppose such is the fact, and says you boys are growing finely. Well Pa would rather hear anything else than to hear you were growing up bad boys. Why how Pa would be ashamed of you and everybody would dislike you. Always be good boys. Obey your mother & love & play with little sister.

Ma says John has most a bushel of Hickory nuts. Pa is glad to have his boy industrious, and hopes he will read five verses every day in the testament and commit one to memory every day. Also read twice in the reader. Ma did not say whether you did or not. Pa hopes above all things his boy will love his book. Pa would feel bad to have him come home no better scholar than when he left. Little Johnny Naylor can read very good. He can read pretty stories and reads his Sunday School Advocate all through when they come. He reads the stories aloud to his mother. I wonder if my boy can do it? Cannot my boy write a little and put in Ma’s letter when she writes? Now be good boys. Help Ma all you can. Bring in wood & chips for Grandma. Don’t go over the railroad alone and always remember how much your Pa loves you and wants you to do right. Your Papa.

Johnny and Willie Griffing in Early 1865
Carte-de-visit, Colburn's Gallery in Owego, New York

Now don’t infer that because I say dearest that I have another one somewhere not quite so dear, but only means that your continued absence with the children only tends to make that word more & more emphatic. We all expect to start for Atchison in the morning and I have to go and drill soon. Our order was delayed in getting here which makes it necessary that we start on Sunday, which I don’t like first-rate. And I just thought I would put in a spare moment to write to you. I do hope that a letter will come in the mail from you today as it will be some time before I shall get to hear from you again. I hope our expedition will prove of some service somewhere and that we may be permitted to return safely. I will endeavor to keep you posted with regard to my whereabouts. You speak of an entire weeks passing without your getting any letter from me. I think you have not received all [I have sent] for I have tried to write twice a week. It will devolve upon you to govern the children. Try and keep them in their place. They will love you all the more for it in after years.

I have just come from the post office and find no letter from you. Still later. Have just been down to the drill. Seven is the hour fixed for starting. I hardly know what things to take along and what is worst of all, I am not fixed as I should be yet. I shall try and make the best of it. Scarcely any men will be left in the country about here and the women don’t seem to be right well suited with the arrangement. The soldiers at Seneca today stopped a Government train and took out what rations they wanted for a few days. Brother [Luther B.] Jones went in to Atchison to get another load for Denver and his wife is afraid that his horses were pressed into the service at Atchison as that is the way they are serving all that come in. Strange liberties men take [during] these war times. I am afraid I shall be away at my next Quarterly Meeting. I was absent at the last and, if so, my Quarterly installment will be minus again.

Do you think it would be safe for you to come, or me to go this fall for you? What do our people think about it? I have paid to have some lime brought as I thought of having that partition concreted up and also I want it sealed about the chamber door so that it will have some shadow of [a chance] when the cold weather comes on. Who shall I get to cook and wash when I get it all fixed and how can I manage to stay the long cold winter all alone? Yet after all, being obliged to leave as I do, I am glad you are where I trust you are safe & comfortable. Enclosed is a piece of Mrs. Stevenson’s dress, which cost 80 cents a yard in Seneca. I am boarding with them this week. They send love. I see that prices on some things are falling considerably…

We are back at Owego again safe and sound after an absence of little over two weeks. We had a very pleasant visit and Ma enjoyed it much although the weather was not very agreeable. We left Hartford [Connecticut] Wednesday at three o’clock in the afternoon on the boat and arrived in New York [City] after eight Thursday morning, over an hour too late for the Express train, which we hoped to take & which reaches here the same afternoon. So we had to wait until ten o’clock for the accommodation train, which reaches Owego at nine o’clock in the evening. [My brother] Steve met us at the Depot. All were well at home. John had set up to wait for us, but had gone to sleep by the fire. But he was wide awake soon as we came in. Willie slept with his Aunt Sarah and had to get up too. Mary was glad to see the boys as well as they were to see her. John’s face and finger are healed and he has had one or two boils but they are well. He has gained in flesh and both are well. Mary cries more than when we went away. I think perhaps it is going about so much. She is very active and restless.

I found one letter at home from you written at Topeka and one from Mrs. Hannum with another from you. Am glad you had a good visit there. Was sorry to hear of Carrie [Winan’s] sickness. It is too bad. Did you and Henry [Winans] trade or did you cut hay for your young cattle?

Have you had any molasses sent in? Or any provisions? And has anything been done to the house or fence? And what have you done about clothes? I did not get cloth for your pantaloons in Hartford. Everything that was decent was so high I thought I would wait until you came. I had to get a shawl, which cost me $13.50 – the wholesale price. They sell for considerable more and I bought some cloth for your shirts which was 50 cents a yard, although I could not get it here for less than 65 or 70, and also some for myself and some calico for Mary’s dresses and aprons. I would like to have bought other things for the children & cloth for your clothes but could not. My fare to Connecticut & back was over twelve dollars. Besides, I used my through ticket to New York [City]. But I had some money given me so that I did not have to borrow any of [my brother] Steve and have five dollars left. But shall have to get more clothes for the children before long.

I have done nothing as yet about photographs. Shall have to make clothes for the boys first. Aunt Mary gave me an overcoat for you & some pantaloons that will answer for the boys.

I do not know what to say about your coming this fall. I had not intended to stay and fear you cannot get your winter clothes comfortable. On some accounts, I would like to stay, but on the children’s account, would rather be by ourselves [in Kansas] during the winter. They are not used to noisy children here, but if I could stay, they would put up with it and do everything to make it pleasant. They take it for granted that I will stay [through the winter] but if it is peaceable & safe [to travel home through Missouri], I think we had better go this fall. But I do not want to go if it is dangerous getting there, or if the Indians are expected to be troublesome.

Ma has had a letter from [my brother] James. He was well & if not too late when his time was out, talked of coming east. And [she] also had a letter from [my brother] Ralph. He is out of business. [He says the] stores are nearly all closed & he may be home any time & try to get into business north somewhere. I hope they will come while I am here. A cousin of Ma’s has just been here. He says he always when alone gets a second-class ticket when traveling. He has been to Galena [Illinois].

The April number of the [Ladies] Repository has not reached [my sister] Sarah. Is it there on the top of the bookshelves? Have the other numbers come?

You can do as you think best about coming by way of Mr. Curtis.’ I wanted to go there but if you think best not, I can give it up. Mr. Calvin Beecher died very suddenly in Michigan while on a visit to his children. Mr. James Fiddis has lost his two boys with diphtheria. Mr. Harvey Coryell of Nichols is dead. Have not seen your folks on the hill yet. Hope this will find you well. Write often, -- Augusta

[1] General William S. Rosecrans was known as "Rosie" by his troops. By 1864, General Rosecrans' star had already risen and fallen after his defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga where he was outmaneuvered by Gen. Braxton Bragg. Late in 1864, Gen. Rosecrans was transferred to the far western theater of the war. For a biography, click here.

General William S. Rosecrans, or "Rosie"

[3] George Felix Roots was the son of John Roots and Hannah Durrant (see footnote 2). According to William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas, "The family are English, and came to America about 1850. The son, George F. Root, came with three others to Nemaha County in 1856, from Illinois, and made a claim on the stream named by him, Illinois Creek; having some knowledge of surveying, he and his party, having a compass, ran out their own lines, settled as 'squatters,' and finally bought the land at $1.25 per acre. In 1860 Mr. Roots returned to Illinois and enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Fought at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Perryville, Chickamauga, Peach Tree Creek, and with Sherman to Atlanta. His regiment then turned north with gallant old Thomas, and at the battle of Nashville was nearly annihilated, losing every officer, commissioned and non-commissioned. Mr. Roots coming out from under the war-cloud unscathed, returned to his Kansas farm, and in 1866 married Miss Emma Ensign, of Centralia. They have five children. Mr. Roots now has 210 acres, a fine farm naturally and made valuable by his labor and care. Upon this he has two houses, a fine orchard, hedges, etc."

[4] William Riley Wells (1809-1893) was born in Orange County, New York. According to his obituary, he moved to LaSalle County, Illinois in 1845. In the spring of 1855, he came with George Felix Roots and two other men to Nemaha County to look for claims. That fall, Wells returned to Illinois. In May, 1856, he returned with his family, including his son Adolphus and Adolphus' family, to settle the claim. An article in the Seneca Courier Tribune of October 5-8, 1924 reports that, "Judge Mitchell says William Wells...had one of the stations on the underground railroad. There was a station at Old Albany, one at the Wells home, and one at Alex McCutcheon's house at Centralia." According to the book Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, etc., Standard Publishing Co., Chicago 1912, p. 905, "Although a member of the Congregational church at the time of his removal to Kansas, William R. Wells became one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal church in Nemaha County and remained a consistent member of that church until his death." Mr. Wells held several Nemaha County offices, such as justice of the peace, county commissioner, and township trustee. He is buried in the Seneca city cemetery. Source -- descendant Kimberly Coe Baker of Topeka, Kansas.