1864 CIVIL WAR LETTER WRITTEN BY A SOLDIER IN THE 1ST VERMONT CAVALRY
Who was captured at Gettysburg
4 pages, 5 x 8, in pencil, written by Merritt H. Stone.
Bedloe’s Island, N.Y., Jan. 17th/64
Dear Father,
I suppose you will [be] expecting a letter from me by this time, but probably not from this place. I am on the way to Annapolis. We started from Brattleboro last Thursday, arrived here on Friday, probably shall leave here in a day or two. The day that I left home [I] went to Burlington thinking I would report there the next day, but Dr. Thayer had gone away & might not be back for a day or two, so I thought best to report back to Brattleboro when I got ready, so on Tuesday night I went to Waterbury where I stayed until Thursday & then went up to Stowe expecting to stay until Saturday, but Uncle Jim wanted me to stay until the next Tuesday as he was going to Bellows Falls to attend the Grand Judge & go with him, so I done so as I was in no great hurry to get back. I was gone 12 days over my time. When I got to Brattleboro I explained to the old Doctor who gave me leave to stay, he said that he hadn’t given any such leave & put me in the guard house over night. In the morning I had another talk with him when he released me, but said that I had been reported to General Pitcher & that I should have to go to the village & report to him, so I started but hadn’t gone but a short distance when he called me back and said on looking over the papers he had found the clerk had failed to report me to the general & he would let it drop & do nothing more about it, but in a day or two he sent off a squad of about 40, among them were those that went from Annapolis with me, as he thought us well enough to go back to parole camp. I had as soon go, as stay. There was no hopes to go home again before I left the state, but it is all for the best. I presume when I get to Annapolis I shall try to get a furlough & go home from there, but there is no certainty of my getting one. When I got to Brattleboro I found the letter there with the money that you sent before I left Annapolis, also one from Ella that she wrote just before I went home. I am well and gaining flesh every day. My visit home done me good. I guess you needn’t write till you hear from me again as I don’t know for certain where I shall go to from here.
My love to all,
From Merritt
Very fine. Bedloe's Island, where Private Stone wrote this January 17, 1864 letter from, was located in New York Harbor. The island was the site of Fort Wood, which was completed in 1811, and was manned during the War of 1812. That began a 50 year history of military occupation of the island. In 1861, it was used to house sick Confederate prisoners of war. It is now known as Liberty Island and is the site of the Statue of Liberty.
Merritt H. Stone, enlisted on August 25, 1862, as a private, and was mustered into the 1st Vermont Cavalry. He was captured on July 3, 1863, at Gettysburg, during Farnworth's cavalry charge, and paroled on Nov. 17, 1863. He was mustered out of the service on June 21, 1865. This letter came out of a larger grouping of his letters and we guarantee the ID.
1st Vermont Cavalry
Of the 258 regiments of cavalry in the service of the United States during the War of the Rebellion, but few, if any, performed more arduous, or took part in more engagements than did the First Vermont; which, during three years at the front, participated in 75 battles and skirmishes, and achieved a reputation as one of the best fighting regiments in the army, standing fifth in the list of cavalry organizations suffering the greatest loss in killed and mortally wounded.
1st Vermont Cavalry at Gettysburg
On the field of Gettysburg where, under the lead of the gallant Farnsworth, it penetrated within the enemy's lines for nearly a mile, encountering the fire of five regiments of infantry and two batteries, leaving its leader on the field, the only general officer killed within the lines of the enemy.
During its three years of active s...
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