Item No. 8541808

Four letters written by Private Charles Roberts in which he discusses a skirmish at Tate’s Ferry, victories at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, the wound he received at the Battle of Resaca, and attending a Lincoln meeting. At age eighteen Roberts enlisted in Company C of the 94th Ohio Infantry. The regiment was organized in late August 1862. Confederates under Generals Braxton Bragg and E. Kirby Smith were then advancing into Kentucky, and with the alarm raised the 94th—without having received any uniforms, equipment, or training—was rushed to the front. They were first under fire at Tate’s Ferry on the Kentucky River on September 1. Roberts’s first letter, written on September 21 from Camp Buell in Louisville, describes the action at Tate’s Ferry:

I heard the bullets buzz anyhow at [the] Kentucky River and the bombs flew the next morning over our heads pretty fast. I seen the rebels’ cannons. There was a big force marching on us and if [we] had stayed there an hour longer we would all have been taken prisoner.

The 94th would lose 2 men killed and 6 wounded according to records. Of some of his comrades Roberts writes, “I think that them boys that fell out was scared more than they was sick.”

The second letter was written more than a year later, in December 1863, after the Union victories over General Bragg’s Confederates at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. “We have had another big fight since I wrote to you,” he writes, “but I come out safe.” He describes charging “Lookout Mountain in one day,” and then the next day charging up Missionary Ridge and taking a “large quantity of prisoners.” The victorious yankees then pursued Bragg to the south, capturing more rebels “in squads all along the road” to Ringgold. “There we burned the depot and tore up the railroad and burned the ties and destroyed all we could.” He boasts that the 94th is “showing them how we fight down here now days.”

Roberts then expresses his disappointment with his brother Bill, who evidently hasn’t written:

I think that he has acted the shit ass. He hasn’t wrote me a letter since I come to war, and if he don’t write to me pretty soon I will forget I have a brother at home. Just tell him if he waits for me to write he won’t get one from me as long as I am in the army. If he hasn’t got a better chance to write to me than I have to him, why I don’t know.

Letter number three was written May 30, 1864, from an army hospital in New Albany, Indiana. Roberts had been wounded May 14 at the Battle of Resaca. He writes briefly to his sister, “I had the luck to get hit this time, but it did not break no bones. It went through my arm and side. It hurt a little, but it is a doing fine. I can go around alright.”

The final letter was written likely in the early fall of 1864 while Roberts still recovered at the New Albany hospital. With the 1864 elections ahead, he writes that “on Saturday we had a big Lincoln meeting” which included a “big dance” and a “big dinner,” followed that night by a “torchlight procession, and a big time in general….” The next day, however:

the drum commenced beating and the rebs was coming and we volunteered and went down and got our guns, but we haven’t gone yet. And I don’t know when we will go. I wish we would go and I know that we would have a good time. The chickens would not suffer much. Oh no, maybe not, but I know that I would eat my share….

Of his wounds he writes, “You want to know whether my arm is well yet or not. [It] is healed up, but I can’t use it much yet, and my side—it hurts me some but I guess it will come all right yet.”

The letters were written on various sized of letter sheets, one featuring a patriotic decoration. The second letter suffers from some paper loss (noted by […] in the transcripts). Otherwise good condition with moderate foxing and toning, and some minor soiling. The full transcripts appear below:

Letter No. 1

September the 21, 1862

My dear father, I take this opportunity to let you know that I am well at present and hope you are enjoying the same blessing. Jim and Tom are well. I want you to send me a little money if you please. I heard the bullets buzz anyhow at [the] Kentucky River and the bombs flew the next morning over our heads pretty fast. I seen the rebels’ cannons. There was a big force marching on us and if [we] had stayed there an hour longer we would all have been taken prisoner. We marched six days and nights and when we stopped we was all give out. We camped in the woods and stayed there about four days and then we moved close to town, and there we are yet. We was drawn up yesterday and expected to move, but we did not. We had an inspection today.

Send me all Kentucky money, and in small bills. I like it pretty well anyhow. Tell Aunt Mary and Lib to send me a letter. Tell Aunt Anna that she must not get mad because I have not wrote to her, for I have wrote to nobody but you. Tell her that I want her to write to me though. I was very glad [to] hear from you. Tell Charly Louis to write to me and tell me how he gets along. I think that them boys that fell out was scared more than they was sick. If you see Bill I want you to tell him to write to me and let me know how [he] is.

Send me a letter as soon as you can. No more at present, but write soon.
Charles Roberts to
Israel Roberts

Direct your letters to same that you did.

September the 21, 1862
Camp Buell

Letter No. 2

The first of the month [December 1863]

Dear father, I take my pen [in] hand to let you know that I am well at present and all the rest of the boys is, and I hope when these few lines come to hand that you will be enjoying the same good blessing. We have had another big fight since I wrote to you, but I come out safe. We charged Lookout Mountain in one day and the [next] day we marched […] and charged in […] and there […] and large quantity of prisoners, and the next morning we drew 4 days rations and marched on after the rebels, and we kept taking them in squads all along the road. We went on to Ringgold and there we stopped for two days. There we burned the depot and tore up the railroad and burned the ties and destroyed all we could. We got a pile of meat and honey and other things. There was not a boy got hurt in our company. […] is well and so is […] broke the […] in a little in this fight, just showing them how we fight down here now days.

When you write to me I want you to tell me where Bill is. I think that he has acted the shit ass. He hasn’t wrote me a letter since I come to war, and if he don’t write to me pretty soon I will forget I have a brother at home. Just tell him if he waits for me to write he won’t get one from me as long as I am in the army. If he hasn’t got a better chance to write to me than I have to him, why I don’t know. Give my love to all.
Write soon.
To Israel Roberts

C. Roberts
1863

Letter No. 3

30 [May] 1864

Dear Sister, I take this opportunity [to send] you a few lines to let you know how I am getting along. I had the luck to get hit this time, but it did not break no bones. It went through my arm and side. It hurt a little, but it is a doing fine. I can go around alright. I am at Hospital 4, Jeffersonville, and when you direct you letters just post Jeffersonville, Ind. Hospital No. 4 and when you get this I want you to send me some money. Pap has got some of mine and you can send some to me, for I haven’t got any money to get anything at all. Well, I must close.
Write soon
C. Roberts

To
F. W. Stuart

All write

Letter No. 4

General Hospital Branch No. 4
New Albany, Ind.
This is the [?] of this month

Dear Sister
It is with the greatest of pleasure that I seat myself to [write] you a few lines to let you know how I am getting along. I am well at the present—that is, as much as commonly.

We have had some big times here since last wrote to you. On Saturday we had a big Lincoln meeting here. We had a big dance. The soldiers went in free and [had] a big dinner, and at night we had a torchlight procession, and a big time in general, that you know. On Sunday after now the drum commenced beating and the rebs was coming and we volunteered and went down and got our guns, but we haven’t gone yet. And I don’t know when we will go. I wish we would go and I know that we would have a good time. The chickens would not suffer much. Oh no, maybe not, but I know that I would eat my share and I know that I would conscript a horse and then I would [go] out [and] find them, which is much of their time too sometimes.

Well I will finish my letter this morning. I got your letter yesterday. I was glad to hear from you. That money comes very handy for I haven’t been paid off yet.

I am glad that Jim has got home. I would not care if I was there too, but I ain’t and so it is never mind. I will be there some time to stay, if I live. You want to know whether my arm is well yet or not. [It] is healed up, but I can’t use it much yet, and my side—it hurts me some but I guess it will come all right yet.

I hear that our corps is got back some and I am glad of that. Maybe they will get to rest some, for I think it is time.

Well, I can’t think of anything more to write this time, so I will close. I still remain your most affectionate brother Charles Roberts

To
F. W. Stuart

Write Soon
Write Soon