Charles Hennrich
27th Iowa Volunteer Infantry
Company D
Submitted by
Kimberly Knowlton
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Military Data
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Burial Information
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Letters he wrote
Family page
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Family Genealogy
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Census Images
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![](charleshennrich1862sm.jpg)
1862
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Military Data
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Enlisted at age 18, on August
20, 1862.
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Residence Garnavillo,
nativity Prussia.
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Mustered September 13, 1862.
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Wounded slightly April 9,
1864, Pleasant Hill, La.
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Mustered out August 8, 1865,
Clinton, Iowa.
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Burial Information
Died 9 February 1937
Iowa City, Johnson, Iowa
Buried in Pleasant Hill
Cemetery
Ireton, Sioux County, Iowa. |
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Letters
Dubuque, Iowa Sept. 22, 1863
Dear Parents,
I received your letter the 19th of September and see from it that you are
all still well. Dear parents, that which you have written in your letter,
t hat we must sleep out under the open sky, is not true. The first two
weeks we slept without blankets but then, since our covers had not come,
Captain Meyer said that we did not want to enter the fighting before we
had covers so he said that he would go to Guttenburg to gather some there,
he thinking that there would be a blanket for every two. During the time
that he was gone another company tried to occupy our camp and Silas Garber
said we would have to occupy a\our camp or they would take it away from us
so we encamped there on a Saturday afternoon and two days later Captain
Meyer came back again with enough blankets to give one to every two men
and now it is better since our regiment received its materials on the 20
and the 21. We have two suitcoats, the one for everyday wear and for
drill, the other for Sundays and dressparade. Dressparade is held every
evening at 5 o’clock, when the whole regiment must assemble. Also, we have
gotten an overcoat, two pairs of underpants, two shirts, one pair of
shoes, and a hat, a cap, and a pair of blue trousers, and two pairs of
socks. You wrote that you had laid aside a blanket to send to me but that
will be unnecessary since we now have clothes enough. We have received no
money as yet but rumor has it that we will receive our bounty money any
day now. Nicholaus of Guttenburg was here in our camp and said that $1500
was laying in Guttenburg for our camp. Dear parents, you asked whether I
would be allowed another furlough and if so that I should come home once
again. I have asked Meyer if we would have another furlough. He said that
we would have another 4 or 5 day furlough before we leave here. We
ourselves do not know yet if we will go down to St. Louis or to Minnesota.
General Pope has given orders that no soldier from Iowa or Wisconsin shall
leave until further orders. The 21 Regiment which was here by our camp
left here the 16 September in a heavy rain sailing for St. Louis. There
they received orders to proceed no further toward their destination at
Rolla, Missouri. It is said that they must return and go to Minnesota.
Dear parents, there is nothing much new here. Every day soldiers come
here. Four regiments are camped here and almost two regiments lay in town
so that the total count runs over 5000 men. One evening when there were
three regiments on the drill ground the dust was so thick as to almost
suffocate one. We have to drill more thru the day that here-to-fore since
we do not know how much longer we shall be here. We have to drill from 6
to 8 am and from 10 to 12 in the morning and again from 2 to 4 when the
whole regiment must drill together. Mornings each company drills by itself
and evenings at 5 oclock there is dressparade. I must close and greet
again all my brothers and sisters.
I remain your faithful son,
Carl Hennrich
When you send me another letter you
must address it differently.
Camp Franklin, Dubuque, Iowa
D.E. Meyer Company
27 Regiment Iowa Vol.
Jackson, Tenn. 30 Jan. 1863
Dear Parents,
The letter which you wrote on the 18th of January I received on the 29th
of January and see by it that you are all well as I, thank God, also am.
The 15th I went into the hospital because I had a bad breaking-out on both
arms. They are now completely healed again and I will soon be back with
the regiment. Our regiment is encamped about one mile from town. Dear
parents you wrote that I had not written for so long but you cannot blame
me for that as we were always on the march until the 10th of January, when
we returned to Jackson. You write that you have heard that our regiment
had been completely wiped out. Pay no attention to such gossip as up to
now our regiment has not even been in battle. WE would have been near one
several times if the rebels had only stood but they always drew farther
away. And when you write that you had heard that the regiment had been
captured, for that the publishers had probably heard something to the
effect that several of the 27th Iowa had been captured, and then they said
that the whole regiment had been captured. On the 21st of December eleven
men of our regiment were captured. They are all that have been captured
from our regiment. We will probably leave Jackson soon since most of the
troops have already left from here for Memphis and from there by the
Mississippi down to Vicksburg. Already a great number of troops have gone
to Vicksburg. Several of our boys who went to Vicksburg with prisoners
have returned. They say that everything was very expensive. They said that
a rebel captain was on the ship while it lay at Vicksburg and paid nine
dollars for one gallon of whiskey and five dollars in gold for one pound
of coffee. You wrote me about the blanket, that August knew nothing about
it. I laid the blanket under the counter while he stood behind the
counter. I told him he should give you the blanket when you came in. He
said that he would do that. Then I met Hofman and told him to tell you
that I had left the blanket with August. I had written your name upon a
slip of paper and stuck it under the string with which I had tied the
blanket. I folded nothing up in the blanket. There is nothing much new, so
far as I know all our boys are still well and as to Fritz having had his
leg shot off there is no truth in that as to date they have not come close
enough to us to shoot off our legs. The weather is quite warm. From the
16th to the 26th we had rain. The weather is now nice and warm. Now I will
close with many greetings to you. Give my regards to all my friends and
acquaintances.
Carl Hennrich
Jackson, Tennessee February 23, 1863
Dear parents,
Your letter of the 13th I received the 21st of February and see that you
are all well, as I, thank God, also am. I went back to the regiment again
the 13th of February. I was under the care of a German doctor who has me
pretty well cured. To date we have lain at our old place about a mile
north of the town. We have a pretty good life. We have our tents well
arranged. Our company has made a fireplace for each tent and it is now
fairly arm in the tents. We have enough to eat. We get plenty of rice,
beans, coffee, sugar, and meat. We have crackers again now. Otherwise we
had received flour. Then we took the flour to town and traded it for
bread. We now belong to General Lonnen’s brigade, and to General
Sullivan’s division, the whole of which is under Major-General Hurlbut in
the 16th Army Corps. Last Sunday, the 22nd of February was the birthday of
old General Washington. Our brigade had to go to the drill grounds were a
parade was held and 34 cannon fired. We do not know if we are going to
leave soon or not but judging by the arrangements that we have made here
in camp we will remain here for some time yet. Our company is now in
pretty good health and is now the largest company in the regiment. In the
other companies there are quite a few sick, but that is probably because
our company is practically all German and can stand more. The rebels have
so far left us alone. The last that we have heard of them Van Doren was
supposed to have crossed the Tennessee River with his army. Where he
intends to go we do not know. If he wants to come to Jackson we will give
him a warm reception, for we can hold out against an enemy force of twice
our number, since we are so well fortified. They will not run over us the
way they ran over the 101st Illinois regiment for we have pretty strong
pickets out. We have to be on guard every other day now. I was sorry to
hear that Phillip Dock had been wounded, when I saw him in Carlo and in
Memphis he was so well and happy. According to your letter his ear was
shot away. We had seen before, in the paper, that he had been wounded but
how he was wounded we did not know. Last week a Negro regiment passed thru
here on the railroad going to Memphis, to be shipped from there to
Vicksburg. Several of them already had guns. Jeff Davis has made a speech
wherein he said that he wants to catch every Negro who fights against his
own government with a gun in his hand. They know to that if they are
caught that they will make an example of them. Therefore they fight to the
last and do not let themselves get captured very easily. I must close now
and send greetings to all of you. Greet all my friends and acquaintances.
Your loving son
Charles Hennrich
Answer soon.
Jackson, Tennessee 18th of March 1863
Dear parents,
Your letter of the 7th of March I received the 18th of March and see in it
that you are all still well as I thank God have also been so far. We have
lain, up to this time, at our old camping place. Only the 103rd Illinois
and 50th Indiana regiment, which belonged to our brigade, have marched off
to guard the railroad which runs from Memphis to Corinth. Here in Jackson
all has been quiet up to now. Only in the early part of March there was an
uproar here when the news came that the rebel General Van Dorn was
marching against Jackson, but General Loller got in his way. He had 1,000
cavalry men, 2,000 infantry men and 10 cannon. The rebels however did not
wish to engage in battle but instead withdrew again, as a result no battle
came of it, and General Loller came back to Jackson again. The bushwackers
give rise to most of the mischief here. They attacked a railroad train the
14th of March at Humbolt but they accomplished nothing by it and the train
got into Jackson in good shape. As we wanted to give up the road from
Jackson to Columbus they have taken all the troops away. At Humbolt we
still have quite a lot of wood laying which is to be used in railroad
building. On the 17th of March a railroad train was again sent from
Jackson it lay 30 miles north of Jackson, 100 men of our regiment had to
act as guards for the train. Ten men of our company had to go along so I
had the good fortune to make the trip to Humbolt. We rode away from
Jackson at 8 o’clock the morning of the 17th, and arrived at Humbolt at
9:30 where everything was quiet and there were no bushwackers to be seen.
We took about 50 negros along from Jackson who had to load the train. The
train was loaded with wood and came back to Jackson in the evening at
about 7:30 without having fired a shot. There is nothing much new,
everything is getting nice and green, the plums and other fruit trees are
already beginning to bloom. They have already planted their gardens here.
One farmer said that here they would have had their field work done long
ago if it had not been so wet. The sun shines down pretty hot here
already. The weather is now nice. Now I must close and let me greet you
all many times. Greet Henry Kregel for me. I wrote him a letter on the
18th of January and have not received an answer as yet. Perhaps the letter
never arrived. Greet all again many times. Still something which I must
not forget. Our company is now in the best of health and our company
appears hale and hearty. The 28th of February George Beck, he had worked
for old Hei Kreuger, William Kreuger’s father-in-law, died in Memphis and
also the fat Muller who formerly lived on the Neith farm died here in
Jackson, otherwise all are hale and hearty.
Charles Hennrich
Jackson, Tennessee April 6, 1863
Dear parents,
The letter which you wrote the 28th of March I received the 6th of April.
I hope that this letter finds you in good health as I, thank God, have
been so far. According to your letter you were all sickly at that time,
but I hope that God grants that this letter will find you all well. Dear
parents, so far all has been quiet here and the weather is nice. We had
nice weather for Easter. Only we could not celebrate it as we are wont to
do. On Good Friday, instead of going to church, we shouldered our arms and
drilled. On Saturday the new general of our brigade, Gimball, inspected
out rifles to see if they were in good order. That caused us to think that
we might march at last. The first Easter we had to do picket or outpost
duty. The Easter eggs turned out bad this Easter for in this region one
does not see many chickens anymore, otherwise we would have made ourselves
some. Not far from our post there lives a rebel whose six cows, as they
were going home in the afternoon, came toward our post and we stopped
them, as we are accustomed to do when one comes who has not the pass-word,
and I milked one of them which had enough to make me some Easter-milk
soup. Monday, as we were returning to camp, we heard that we had received
marching orders, for where we do not know but it seems that we are to take
two days rations along. It will probably not be far otherwise we would
take along more rations. Whether we will go by train all the way or not,
we will leave here on the train. There must be something wrong on the
railroad someplace since to-day we have had our cartridge boxes filled
again, 40 cartridges in all, and are ready to leave here at 7 o’clock in
the morning. If we return safely from the expedition I will write you at
once. I must close now with greetings to all of you. I would have written
more but it is too dark. I will send you a letter as soon as I return.
Best wishes
Charl Hennrich
Dear father, you write of the money
which you are still to get from Germany. I would not wait on that little
which my Uncle still has, I would let them send me the rest. Forgive me
for the poor writing as it is already too dark.
Write me at once again for I think
that by the time it gets here we will be back again.
[The heading, date, and signature of this letter have been lost. The
fragment found and given here is obviously a part of a letter written in
the latter part of June, 1863.]
---------without doing much damage except that they had torn up the rails
and damaged the telegraph. This was all repaired so the by 11 o’clock the
train from Memphis came and could pass again. We have heard nothing of
them for several days now. Dear parents I am glad that you sent me Phillip
Dock’s address. I would have written to him long ago if I had known what
army corps he belonged to. Things are tough at Vicksburg. When General
Grant wanted to blow up the fort he sent in orders to send the women and
children away but they didn’t want to do that. After a few days the women
and children came out and fell on their knees before Grant begging that he
give them food. He chased them back however, telling them at first they
were too stubborn and now they would have to stand it. Over 190 women and
children have already been killed. It would be good if they would all
surrender. Here in the south the women are much worse than the men that
are still at home.
Dear parents, as we have gathered from the officers we will not lay here
much longer. Our army corps, the 16th, is supposed to march thru the
states of Mississippi and Alabama, but I think nothing will occur here
until Vicksburg is taken. Dear parents, you wrote that you have a paper to
read. If you wish to be so good you could send it to me each week after
you have read it and then one could kill a little time reading as there is
nothing to do here except to drill and go on picket duty. It almost seems
as if our army corps had started on a second rest of the Potomic. Now I
will close and send my greeting to all of you. Greet Fritz Dock and family
and I will write to Phillip if he is still alive. Greet Heinrich Kregel
and his family for me.
Moscow, Tennessee July 13, 1863
Dear parents,
Your letter, which you wrote the 3rd of July, I received the 12th and see
that you are still all well, as I, thank God, also am. We were on a
bushwacker chase again the 12th, about 250 men from the whole regiment and
a company of the 5th Illinois cavalry. We marched four miles, where we
halted. The cavalry went on ahead and searched thru the brush and corn
fields but the bushwackers know every hole to crawl into and likewise
always know how to come out again when they are hard pushed. We lay there
almost all day, toward evening our commander left 50 men, under the
command of Captain Hulbruk, there on the ground. They had to lie in the
brush and if the bushwackers should come past again they were to give them
a warm reception. The rest of us marched back again. After marching two
miles we came upon a very nice orchard. Our commander allowed us to halt
and told us that we should stack arms and could go into the orchard and
fill our haver-sacks with apples. We were ready to do so at once. That
lasted less that fifteen minutes when one could scarcely see an apple on
the trees. After all had filled their haversacks with ripe apples we
started lustily off to Moscow. There is plenty of fruit here in the south.
Apples and peaches are now ripe. Plums are all gone. We did not celebrate
the fourth of July as heartily as last year but we had enough beer to
drink. At 12 o’clock 35 cannon shots were fired and in the evening, at the
time when young people usually go to the ball, we had to shoulder our arms
and march along the Memphis and Charleston railroad four miles and had to
stand guard there all night against guerillas. At 2 o’clock some of the
gentlemen came along. We sent them a good morning at once but it was too
dark to really aim. When the powder smoke disappeared we could no longer
see or hear anything. We then marched back. The other day a Negro came and
said he had seen a bushwacker in the brush who had been shot dead. That is
another one who has come over to the union. Every farmer who had not taken
the oath before the 4th of July is having everything taken away from him;
sheep, cattle, swine, horses, and mules. The 6th of July 20 men of our
regiment and 20 cavalry went out. We took sheep and cattle. As we were on
our way back we had 200 head of sheep and 50 head of cattle. The women and
children shrieked and cried that we should leave the cows. One man went
into the herd of cattle and wanted to get his two cows out. One of the
cavalrymen told him to get out or he would bring him out but the Sesesch
paid no attention, then the cavalryman rode toward him and struck him on
the head with his saber so that the blood spurted. The captain asked him
who had given him the wound and he said, “One of the cavalrymen”. The
captain said that he could not help it that he should have stayed out. We
are not short of fresh mutton now. Dear parents I wrote to Phillip Dock
the 23rd of June, but have, up to now, received no reply. The message came
by telegraph on the 6th of July that Vicksburg had surrendered to General
Grant on the morning of the 4th of July. On the 7th 13 cannon shots were
fired. The messages show strength on all sides. General Meade, who
commands the Army of the Potomic, has shown General Lee how he got that
way. General Rosencrans is giving it to General Braag on the pants. I
think that if things keep progressing so the war will soon be over. Dear
parents, I have sent my coat home. I forgot to write it in my last letter
and I gather from your last letter that you do not have the coat and shirt
as yet, because Minnie and Elisabeth are howling that they received no pen
I know that the coat and shirt have not arrived for I had folded several
pens into the bundle for them. If you do not have the things by now then
you must make it known to Fleck at Guttenburg. Dear parents, would you be
so good as to send me Kasper Hoffman’s address as I would like to write
him a few lines.
Dear parents, I would like to join the United States Regular Infantry but
one must enlist for five years. Major-General Hurlbut had it in the
Memphis bulletin that everyone who enlists for five years will receive
four hundred dollars bounty money besides his monthly pay. I have a strong
desire to join. I received the paper the 9th of July. I will close now
with greetings to all of you. Greet Ernst for me and remind him that he
does not let himself be heard from.
Many greetings to all of you
From your son
Ch. Hennrich
Dear parents you might send me a few postage if you will be so kind.
Memphis, Tennessee December 10, 1863
Dear parents,
I received your letter, which you wrote the 6th of November, the 9th of
December, and see that you have worried considerably about my sickness. It
was not as bad as perhaps many wrote that it was. Thank God I am again on
my legs. We just now arrived in Memphis. We left Little Rock by train at
10 o’clock the evening of the 15th of November for Duvall’s Bluff. The
16th we went down the White River by steamboat and arrived at Memphis the
20th of November. Almost all of the troops have left here for Chattanooga.
Two regiments left here again the 5th and 6th. The rebels had made an
attack on La Grange and Moscow. The latter was held by a Negro regiment.
Commander Hatch of the 2nd Iowa cavalry was badly wounded.
You wrote that it is so cold up there. We have seen no cold weather down
here so far. The nights are a little cool here now but the sun shines
pretty warm again during the day.
Dear parents, you wrote me nothing about the twenty dollars which I sent
you the 14th of October, whether you received it or not. Greet Philip Dock
for me. I thought I would see him here in Memphis but I heard here that he
has already gone home.
I will close now with greetings to all of you.
Charles Hennrich
Memphis, Tennessee the 29 December 1863
Dear parents,
Your letter, which you wrote on the 24th(?), I received the 28th and see
by it that you are all still well, as I, thank God, also am. Dear parents,
how much longer we will stay here I do not know for the rebels, under
Forrest, are beginning to burn the bridghes and tear up the rails again.
The 276th the rebels made an attack upon the passenger train as it neared
Lafayette, the engineer saw that a rail was pulled loose and immediately
stopped the train, as he knew at once that something was amiss, and
started to back up when a heavy fire was directed at the train. The guards
returned the fire at once and the train backed away; at least that is the
tale – (?) report that we received the evening of the 27th. We will
probably have a more detailed and accurate account of it when the train,
which had not arrived on the 29th, does arrive. Our company is now
stationed at the Memphis and Charleston depot in Memphis and must do guard
duty there. It is a dangerous place as the rebels have tried several times
to blow up the depot, thru which two of the bums were shot and the thing
discovered.
Christmas passed fairly good for us here. I spent Christmas eve on guard
and how the New Year will come in, we will have to wait and see.
Now I must close. Many regards to all of you; I wish you a prosperous New
Year, peace, agreement and everlasting happiness.
Brother Fritz, you write me that I should send you a revolver so that you
can shoot the New Year in for me, as you seem to think that we have
nothing to shoot. You can probably shoot about the New Year. Shooting for
fun here is not allowed as when a shot sounds here everyone opens his eyes
as everyone knows that it is not for nothing. It is dangerous here at
night to stand guard or to go uptown. One hears every morning that someone
has been shot. Here everyone will be watching into the New Year. Here one
must keep his rifle loaded at all times and if it becomes necessary also
shoot. I must close and greet you all again. Greet Ernest, he never lets
me hear from him.
Charles Hennrich
Memphis, Tennessee January 25th, 1863
Dear parents,
I cannot wait until I receive an answer to the letter which I wrote to you
the 29th of December but am moved to write because we have orders to
march. When we are once on the march the letter writing will stop for a
while. I have watched a long time for a letter from you, but always for
naught. Therefore I want to write to you so that in case we should go you
will know what way we have gone. It is said that the 16th Army Corps is to
take the field and the 15th is to take over out stand. As far as we know
we have to go down the river to New Orleans and from there to Mobile. It
will probably be a hard march but I think it cannot be worse than when we
went to Little Rock last year. According to the orders we are to go down
the river by boat the 26th. It is not yet sure whether we will leave the
26th of whether it will be postponed several days. Dear parents, the 12th
it was almost our neck, namely, the 12th we went on the railroad train
that runs from here to Corinth as guards. When we were 3 miles the other
side of Germantown, about 19 miles from Memphis, the rebels tried to blow
us up. They had buried several heavy bombs along the track, under the
rails in order to blow a wheel off the locomotive and derail it. They had
fixed it so that as soon as the locomotive came to the place it would set
it off. So it was. As soon as the locomotive came to the spot the bombs
exploded and made a great noise but by good luck it did not hurt the
train, only sprung two rails and the train was going fast enough that it
passed over all right. When they saw that the train was undamaged they
started to fire on us but luckily no one was hurt. There is not much new
here now except that about our trip to Corinth. I must close now with many
greetings to all of you.
Charles Hennrich
Answer soon. Ch. H.
[This letter was misdated by C.H. It was written in 1864 rather than
1863 as shown by the contents of the letter itself; and is placed here in
its proper order.]
Vicksburg February 2, 1864
Dear parents,
I received your letter of January 18th the 2nd of February and see by it
that you are all still well as I, thank God, also am. Dear parents, we are
now going to spend some time in the field, when we will return I do not
know but we will hope for the best. We left Memphis the 28th of January
and arrived at Vicksburg the 30th where we lay for two days on the water
and the 1st of February we marched 3 miles beyond the town and are laying
here until the Army is all together. In Vicksburg I ran across several
acquaintances from the 16th Iowa regiment, namely both of the Thomson boys
and the Zucker boy. They are all well and look fresh. It is said that we
will leave here the 3rd of February to go to Jackson, Mississippi. There
the rebel General Johnston is said to be making ready for a stand. If he
stays put it will be a lively dance. We have left all surplus stuff in
Vicksburg in order to be able to march better. The weather is pretty warm
down here already. One can go about all day in shirt sleeves. I wrote a
letter that 25th of January when I thought I would not be able to write so
soon again. I do not know much that is new right now. It is now almost
night and we must get ready for the march of to-morrow. Greetings to all
of you. Greet little Ernest for me and also Heinrich Kreckel and his
family. Heinrich Waterman sends greetings to his family and says he has
received their letter. He is still well and lively. At the moment he has
no time to write as he is too busy. You will be so good as to tell his
parents. Heinrich and I, we were a couple of buddies and will not fail
each other in time of need. You must not become uneasy if you do not
receive a letter for some time.
Charles Hennrich and Henry Waterman
Vicksburg, Mississippi March 7, 1864
Dear Parents,
We have returned to Vicksburg, in good shape, after a month’s march and
again have marching orders for 30 days. As far as we know we will have to
spend the 30 days aboard a boat, going further down the Mississippi.
However, we do not know where we are going. We returned to Vicksburg the
4th of March. We had nice weather for the whole of our march. We left
Vicksburg the 3rd of February. The 4th we crossed Black River on a
railroad trestle where, the same evening, the advance guard became
engaged. Night ended the shooting and the rebels drew further back during
the night. The 5th the fighting started right in again and continued until
dark. Although only the pickets were engaged there was a considerable loss
of dead and wounded on both sides. Toward evening three cannon and their
crews were captured. The cavalry forced their way into the town almost to
the court house but had to fall back to the infantry again. The morning of
the 6th the riders arrived in Jackson, the rebels had withdrawn over the
Pearl River. We chased after them as far as Meridian, Mississippi, a
little village where there is a big railroad center. We lay there several
days and tore up the railroad. Our division tore up 20 miles. The 20th of
February we started our return journey and arrived in Vicksburg again the
4th of March. The country thru which our army passed is all laid waste.
All is burned down. Many were not left enough provisions so that they
could eat in the morning. The towns thru which we passed were almost
completely laid waste. Jackson, Hillsborough and Decatur were burned the
worst. That was going. You can easily see what route we took on the map.
The first town which we passed thru was Jackson and then Brandon,
Hillsborough, Decatur, and Meridian. On the return we came thru the
following; Marion, Marion Station, Canton, Lexington and Brausville, on of
four hundred miles. I wanted to send something but if we go on the boat we
will need it all. If we should happen to march by land I will send my
overcoat and dresscoat. Dear parents, I have sent two letters and received
no reply. I would have left writing to you until I had received an answer
but since we are leaving again in such a short time I wanted to write you
a few lines. Dear father, in the end I will yet come into the country
where you wanted to go a few years ago, namely Texas. Now I must close and
let me greet you many times. Answer soon.
Charles Hennrich
Alexandria April 13, 1864
Dear parents,
Just as the times often undergo change so something of a change has
occurred for me and one such as is apt to befall a soldier, and yet it has
all come out pretty good. We had a battle on Pleasant Hill the 9th of
April and it got pretty hot and a bullet wounded me in the arm and of
course gave me a lot of pain. But the bone was not broken and I think it
will not be long before it is well again. Many were so badly wounded that
they will remain cripples for life, and therefore one cannot but say that
I have had luck in my misfortune in that I was not shot dead. Also many in
our company are worse off than me and perhaps those who are to-day well
may be shot to-morrow and it is just as well, if one is to be shot, if it
happens quickly for he is better off as then it is quickly past and he
gets thereby at least enough forever. Also Fredrich Winch has been badly
wounded in the shoulder and the company had 18 dead and wounded which they
got in a charge on the rebels which cost many men from both sides. I would
write you more but I think this is now enough for I am myself not able to
write for it is the right arm which is wounded and just in front of the
elbow through the fleshy part. I do not know if you should write again
because I do not receive the letters now. Still you may, if you wish ,
write here to Alexandria and address it to “Wounded in Hospital”. Then it
may be that I will get it before we leave here. Fritz Bendgegerdes and
Mollering are still contented. Live happily until we meet again and I
remain your truly loving son.
Charles Hennrich
Greet Fredrich Bendgegerdes from the writer of this letter and tell him
that his school mate is also wounded and is now finding out how one feels
when one is wounded.
Your real though unknown friend,
Henry Kerksiech
Elkport May 19th, 1864
Dear Carl,
We have received your letter of the 9th of May and see that you can write
again. Then everybody in the house cried for joy that you have been so
lucky as to still have your arm. We received your letter from Alexandria
too but Winche’s Fred has as yet given no report as to how things are with
him. We have seen in the paper that 27,000 men fell in a short time, dead
and wounded. By that one can see and feel how many young men are left
lying on many battlefields. I have often thought how foolish it was of the
old lady Dock to cry so about Phillip when he died in the hospital. It was
at least not on a battlefield. But the damned old Frank Banka did not bury
his dead on the battlefield. He let them lay. General Smith said so in the
paper. But dear Carl, you will certainly have thought many times of your
father, how he begged of you to stay here. I am sure that you have thought
of it many times. Oh dear Carl, you cannot blame me that I complained
about you so much. When was I so glad as when you and Ernest came home on
Sundays? But now your mother’s heart is almost broken, when I think of the
13th of April. I dreamed that night that I had you in my arms and you were
dying. I cried until I received the letter that you had written. Ernest
was here over Pentecost and your sister Minnis is at the old Krugers. She
has no one with her anymore except Fritz. She gets five dollars a month,
and Ernest gets sixteen dollars a month. No one dares to say that he
should go to the army. He gives the big praire farmers such a mouthful
that they were glad to keep quiet. And Fritz now has a nice brown horse by
the red mare. We sold the black one for one hundred and fifty dollars and
bought the brown one again for one hundred and thirty five dollars. We are
going to have a colt in a few days now. Dear Carl, Schecker also wrote us
a letter saying that you had been wounded. Your father would like to know
if you couldn’t be discharged because of your arm for if it is weakened,
your right arm by a shot. Keep yourself still a while in the hospital and
let your arm get well healed. It is better for you, you don’t have to go
back into the field so quick. Further news we do not know. I must close
with many greetings.
Philippine Hennrich
Answer soon.
Memphis July 26, 1864
Dear parents,
I want to let you know as to where I am. I hope that these few lines will
find you in good health as I, thank God, also am. The trip went pretty
good. I arrived in Memphis Thursday the 21st where I heard that the
regiment would arrive in Memphis the 23rd. Our regiment arrived the
afternoon of the 23rd and immediately marched about one miles outside the
town and camped. Our regiment had had a hard march from the 23rd of June
to the 23rd of July when they arrived at Memphis. At Tupelo they had
fought a three day battle where, on the third day, they scattered the
rebels in all directions. Our regiment got thru it in good shape at that.
They lost 27 dead and wounded, and these were lost as ours and the 32nd
Iowa regiment made a bayonet attack on a whole rebel brigade. They knocked
over a lot of rebels and chased them several miles. Herman Mollering and
Peter Wendel were wounded in this engagement. The boys for whom I brought
along the clothes were glad for they were in need of them. We will not
stay here long as everything is being made ready for another march. Some
say we are going down the river to Vicksburg again and several officers
think that our division is to aid General Canby. He wants to go up Red
River again. If we go there again then probably not many will come back
because of the bad water which we learned to know last spring. We will
have to wait until we march and then we can tell pretty well where we are
going. Henry Waterman is still in the hospital. I was there yesterday and
told him that he should see to it that he gets a furlough. He said that he
feels pretty good and will come back to the regiment soon. I will go there
to-morrow morning again and see how he is getting along. Now I must close
with many greetings to yourselves and Watermans. Tell Watermans that the
“wurst” tasted pretty good. Michel Thein greets you and his parents. Greet
Fritz Dock and his housekeeper. Greet Fritz.
Charles Hennrich
I sent a letter to Watermans the 22nd as soon as I found that Henry was in
the hospital. You can find out whether they got the letter.
Memphis, Tennessee September 1, 1864
Dear parents,
Your long awaited letter was received on the 30th of August, and from it I
got no good news. As far as I am concerned I am, thank God, well; and I
hope that this letter finds you in good health.
Dear parents, we returned to Memphis the 30th of August from an
expedition. We left here the 4th of August going to Holly Springs by train
where we arrived in the evening of the same day. We stayed there until the
17th when we started our march afoot to Waterford. The morning of the 18th
we left from there for the Tallahatchie River which we crossed the same
day and pushed on four miles to Abbeville on the other side of the river
where we went into camp at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Here, the same day,
the cavalry had contacted the rear guard of the enemy. The heavy rains
brough our advance to a stop for several days, the roads being so bad that
our artillery could not get thru. We lay there until the 20th when we
advanced to Oxford, a village 20 miles from Abbeville. AS we neared Oxford
the message came to us that old Forrest, with 5000 of his cavalrymen had
taken Memphis and had captured 500 soldiers and 150 officers and had
released all the southern prisoners at Memphis and had shot General
Washburn. The whole army was held at this point. You cannot imagine the
uproar there was, one asking the other what old Smith was going to do. We
thought that Forrest had captured all the boys left behind. I thought for
sure that Henry Waterman would have to visit a southern prison for a time.
We began, in an hour, to retrace our steps but no one knew now where we
were headed for. We marched back four miles and halted there for the
night. The next day we went back further arriving at the Tallahatchie
River that evening. There we lay over the 24th since the high water had
washed the bridge away and one had to be built again. The 24th the rebels
made an attack on our rear but were driven off after some skirmishing in
which many of them were killed and wounded, the cavalry taking many
prisoners. The 25th we proceeded toward Waterford and arrived there the
same evening. The heat was so terrific that many of the soldiers gave out
and could go no farther. The 26th we went on toward Holly Springs and we
concluded that we were headed back to Memphis. We 28th we started our
march back to Memphis where we arrived the afternoon of the 30th. Now we
received more news of his visit to Memphis. He came into town at 4 o’clock
in the morning where everyone was nicely asleep. He did not keep himself
in the town long for the 8th Iowa regiment, which takes care for the
patrol duties at Memphis, cane into a hand to hand conflict with the
rebels and drove them out of town, where a real battle took place which
lasted an hour during which the rebels were driven back. They had to leave
their dead and wounded on the field since they were pressed so hard that
they could not even take their wounded. He had captured about 150 soldiers
which he escaped with. He lost more that he made by it. It was a clever
stroke if it had only panned out better. General Washburn had gotten out
of the way just in time.------------------
[The rest of this letter was not found.]
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri September 29, 1864
Dear parents,
I received your letter the 29th and see by it that you are still all well
as I, thank God, still am. We left Memphis thinking that we were going to
Atlanta. We were held at Cairo when the news came that Atlanta had been
taken. We lay there several days and then had to board the boat again and
went to Jefferson Barracks, 10 miles below St. Louis. We lay there until
10 o’clock at night of the 25th of September when we received orders to
prepare ourselves with three days rations to be ready to march. Our
brigade was immediately loaded on a train and away it went until full
steam to Mineral Point, Missouri, 61 miles from Jefferson Barracks, where
we arrived at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and unloaded. The rebels, 15,000
strong, under General Price were moving against Pilot Knob. Six companies
from the 14th Iowa regiment were immediately sent by train from Mineral
Point to Pilot Knob, 20 miles away, where they arrived in time to entrench
themselves and the rebels had almost surrounded the tow. Our regiment and
the 32nd Iowa had orders to hold Mineral Point until further orders. The
morning of the 27th our outposts were attacked and a skirmish between
outposts ensued, lasting until 10 o’clock when we received orders to
retreat to DeSoto, 20 miles back on the Iron Mountain R.R. where we
arrived on the 28th. The 29th we left there, by train, for Jefferson
Barracks, where we arrived at noon the 29th. The last that we have heard
from Pilot Knob the rebels have laid siege to the fort. The rebels wanted
to storm the fort and attacked four times five lines deep but were
repulsed each time. The 64 pounders are supposed to have mown them down
like hay. What our retreat signifies I do not know but we were not driven
back. We are laying here now under marching orders and it may be that we
will leave for Rolla, Missouri to-morrow. I must close because I have to
go on watch. I had much more to write as to what happened on our trip. I
have received the letter from Henry Waterman and I will write him more of
the details when I have more time and you can just as well read it there.
Greetings to all of you.
Charles Hennrich
You must not hold this poor penmanship against me as this has been done in
a hurry.
Cairo, Illinois November 28, 1864
Dear Parents:
After waiting over a month without receiving an answer I finally take up
my pen again to write a few lines.
We returned to St. Louis the 18th from our long hard march which we
started the 2nd of October. We might have marched every day without
overtaking the rebels and therefore we were obliged, on the 12th of
October, to break camp at 12 o’clock at night and march. We made camp at 9
o’clock in the evening and received orders to eat. By 12 o’clock the whole
army was again on the march. At day break we passed thru Independence
where our cavalry, under General Pleasanton, had made an opening thru the
rebels. The dead and wounded still lay on the battlefield. The rebels were
driven back, pursued by our cavalry. We laid over there that day. First
the dead were buried there and then our wounded were taken to Kansas City,
a distance of only seven miles. The rebels suffered severely. They had
three times as many dead and wounded as we, for our cavalry practically
all have repeaters and the rebels could not stand up to that.
I was in the hospitals where the rebels lay and it looked pretty bad. They
had three big frame houses full of wounded. The rebels had left doctors
behind to treat them.
The next day we went as far as Harrisonville where the news reached us
that General Pleasanton had captured General Marmaduke and Gabel with 2000
men and practically all his artillery. We lay there several days and then
took up our knapsacks again. Before we left Harrisonville one of Bill
Anderson’s bushwackers was captured. He was set upon a horse which was
driven under a tree, the rope was slipped around his neck and tied to a
limb and then the horse driven away from under him.
We arrived back at St. Louis again the 18th of November having put back of
us a march of almost 800 miles.
The 25th we were again loaded on to boats and shipped to Cairo where we
arrived the 28th. We will probably leave here yet today, where to I do not
know. Our regiment has just now left. I have not been with the regiment
since I returned from furlough. I am a watch at the headquarters of our
brigadier-general. When I will go back to the company I do not know. Or
colonel is now commanding the brigade. Now I will close with greetings to
all of you. You must excuse my poor penmanship since this was done in a
hurry so that I could get it away with the mail.
Ch. Hennrich
Spring Hill, Tennessee December 20, 1864
Dear parents,
Once again I must take up my pen. It appears that you have given up
writing all-together. I hope that these few lines will find you in good
health, as I, thank God, also am. Dear parents, we have had some times for
the last five days. You have probably seen in the paper of t he two day
battle that was fought at Nashville, Tennessee. In it my bunk-mate, Henry
Waterman, was wounded. He was wounded the second day as we stormed the
breastworks. Michel Thein was also wounded. Dear parents, it was a
terrible sight for one could not head himself speak because of the loud
cannon and musket fire. The battle was started the 15th at 6 A.M. and
lasted until darkness on the 16th. We came into Nashville the 30th of
November and had to march two miles west of the city the 1st of December
and went into battle formation at once. The 13th, General Schofield had a
battle at Franklin, Tennessee, 18 miles from Nashville, with the rebel
General Hood who had an army of 60,000 men. General Schofield had to
retreat and arrived in Nashville the 1st with the 23rd and 4th Divisions
and a division of the 17th army corps. The corps formed its line on ours
and the 23rd was held in reserve. The 2nd we went one-half mile further
and took possession of the bluffs which surround the town. There
breastworks had to be thrown up and batteries had to be placed. Our line,
from left to right ends, was almost twelve miles long. Our corps, the 16th
held the center. The 3rd, the rebel showed themselves whereon firing
started between pickets. The 4th the rebels started to dig themselves in
and our batteries started to bombard them. Picket firing continued and an
occasional bomb was thrown from then on until the 15th when the army
received orders to leave the breastworks at 6 A.M. and attack the rebels.
General Smith, with the 16th, made the attack and at the same time fifty
cannone opened fire and gave the rebels full rations. The battle was soon
general along t he whole line. General Hatch, with the cavalry, took 13
cannon and 12 army wagons the first day. The infantry took four more and
1000 prisoners. That night all was so quiet that one could hear a leaf
fall from a tree. The morning of the 16th the thunder started again. The
cannon fire lasted until 1 o’clock when they stopped and the infantry
stormed the breastworks. One brigade of the 4th army corps was repulsed
twice but the 3rd time the breastworks were taken. By 4 o’clock the last
of the emplacements had been taken and the whole rebel army put to flight.
The rebels threw everything away in order to get away easier. The
battlefield from which the rebels were driven was covered with guns and
cartridge boxes. The cavalry started right after them and in the next few
days took many cannon and between three and four thousand prisoners. We
lost three to four thousand dead and wounded. How many dead and wounded
the rebels lost I can’t say. We captured 4000 prisoners and 27 cannon the
second day. We have now, at this time, between 8 and 10 thousand prisoners
and our adjutant says we now have receipts for 62 cannon. The 17th we
received marching orders and with many Hurrahs we went on after the
rebels. On the way we met hundreds of captured who were being taken back
to Nashville. On the way here everything looked terrible. Everything which
hindered them they threw away, army wagons and caisson were left laying
for our cavalry was so near at their throat-----[The rest of this letter
has been lost.]
Camp in the field near Pulaski, Tennessee December 28, 1864
Dear parents,
I received your letter the 27th of December and see that you are all well
as I, thank God, also am. I hope that these few lines will find you all in
good health. What surprised me was when I saw that Fritz had become a
soldier. I wish he could have come to us for one can give the young
recruit a great deal of help. Dear Parents, since my last letter from
Spring Hill, as I was interrupted by the thunder of cannon, we had to
march then at once and take up another position. The rebels did not halt
again. Our cavalry, under General Hatch, were so close at their throats
that they let their cannon stand, cutting the harness from the horses to
save themselves. The 24th we reached the Duck River, a river like the
Turkey River. Old Hood was pressed so hard that he threw his cannon, 15 in
number, into the river. We pulled them out again. Our way lay full of
cannon balls, bombs and cartridges which they had thrown away in order to
lighten their wagons. We crossed the Duck River on the 25th near Columbia
on a pontoon bridge. Our army started to cross on two pontoon bridges on
the 23rd and they were not yet all over by the 28th. We have had bad
weather ever since we left Nashville. Yesterday the news came that General
Washburn had captured 7 cannon and several thousand men from General Hood
as Hood tried to cross the Tennessee River. If he can’t cross the river
then good night Hood. Then he can finally go into winter quarters. As he
said when he lay before Nashville he wanted to make his winter quarters
between Nashville and Louisville and wanted to starve out General Thomas
and his army in Nashville. So thought Hood but Thomas gave otherwise. The
Tennessee soldiers under Hood are running all over saying that they do not
see why they should fight any longer here. On the way where both armies
passed it looks terrible. The families have lost everything. The houses
were practically burned over the heads of some. Others were not left
enough for the next morning’s breakfast. Dear parents, you probably
celebrated Christmas better than I did. We were engaged in following Hood
and had to change our customs. Early on the morning of the 25th one could
hear the thunder of cannon. That was really a fine Christmas greeting. We
are camped now near Pulaski and will probably march further in the
morning.
You wrote that Fritz was in Davenport. When you write him a letter, write
him that he should write to me at once.
And Elizabeth has let herself be heard from which gave me great joy and I
wish Ernst would let himself be heard from, if he cannot write then let
little Elizabeth write for you.
Now I will close and send greeting to all of you. Greet Fritz Dock and his
family. Fritz should have been here with us and he would have had his eyes
open for he could have had a good look at a battlefield.
Greet Watermans for me. We have heard since we left Nashville that
Heinrich is improving.
Many greetings to you all.
Ch. Hennrich
I wish you a prosperous New Year. [The last letter in 1864.]
Eastport, Mississippi January 27, 1865
Dear parents,
I received your letter the 27th of January and see that you are all well,
as I, thank God, also am. I hope that these few lines will find you all in
good health.
Dear parents, up to now things have gone pretty hard with us here for four
days we could get nothing to eat. They could not get enough up the
Tennessee River for us and so we had to live on corn and meat. To-day a
big fleet arrived again with provisions aboard. God knows who was to blame
that they could not get enough food to us with the high waters as they are
now on the Tennessee. Our old General Smith does his best for the boys but
he cannot always be everywhere. Dear parents, we are pretty well situated
here now. We have built ourselves blockhouses with fireplaces in them and
everything would be fine if they would only see that we have enough to
eat, and if you still get a paper then send it to me as the time gets
pretty long here when one has nothing to read. It gives nothing much new
here since great crowds of rebels come to our outposts every day and
surrender. They say that Hood’s army has played out completely. The most
of them do not want to fight any more and many are deserting. The brush is
full of rebel deserters. The last that we heard of him he was in Tupelo,
Mississippi with the remainder of his army.
How long we will stay here we do not know. They are again preparing a
fresh fieldtrain and General Thomas, the rock of Nashville, arrived here
himself a couple of days ago.
Dear parents, you wrote me that Heinrich Waterman was dead. I cannot
believe that because our second lieutenant arrived yesterday from
Nashville and said that he was improving; and we received a letter from
Michel Thein who wrote that his wound was healing well and that he felt
pretty good.
Dear parents if you would be so good and send me a few postage stamps then
one cannot buy any here. I also received a letter from Fritz today. I
wrote him that if he could send me a few he should do so but I am not sure
of it. Now I will close with greetings to all of you.
Charles Hennrich
Answer soon.
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