Item No. 5793241

This letter was written by Private Francis J. McKee of the 16th Ohio. In it he acknowledges the death of his young brother and discusses his regiment’s movements leading up to the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.

McKee opens the letter with the news that his younger brother Henry, a private in the 102nd Ohio, had died in an army hospital just three months after enlisting, and calculates that he may have been passing by on the Ohio River at the time Henry was suffering. He writes:

I got bad news today. I rec’d a letter from you and the letter stated that Henry was dead. He was in the hospital at Covington when we came down the River. I didn’t know it till I was way down to Cairo. If I had knew it I would have stopped there and seen him. But now he is gone to his long home.

He then discusses the nature of the regiment’s river movement—the opening moves of the Vicksburg Campaign. The 16th Ohio had been ordered west to join the contingent of troops gathering near Memphis under the command of General William T. Sherman. McKee writes:

Well, we are on our way down the River to Vicksburg. We got on the boat yesterday morning for Vicksburg. We traveled all night. We went about 90 miles and this is Sunday morning and we are landed here, where there is fifty or sixty thousand of our troops. While we are stopped here there is a large gun boat passed us going down the River. It had 14 large guns on it. If you was here you would see some big sights. I am on the hurricane deck writing this letter, where I can see every boat that passes by. There is another boat load went past. They had a brass band. They played “Yankee Doodle” as they passed us.

He then mentions a rumor “that the Rebels captured 3,000 of our men yesterday at the Holly Springs,” adding that the Union troops had been surprised. The rumor was mostly true. The supply depot at Holly Springs, which supported General Ulysses S. Grant’s overland movement toward central Mississippi, was captured by Earl Van Dorn’s rebel raiders on December 16, capturing about 1,500 Union soldiers and destroying $1.5 million in supplies.

Near the end of the letter McKee writes:

A.J., there is more boats here than you ever seen just in a little bend of the River. You see as much as 40 boats. We left Memphis yesterday morning at 7 o’clock. We are on our way to Vicksburg. There is where we will make the Rebels skedaddle.

In a Christmas Day postscript he writes, “We are at this time 8 miles from Vicksburg. We are launched and we are going to land and scout the country.”

The next day the regiment would land at Johnson’s Plantation on the Yazoo River and on December 27 would suffer heavily in the attacks at Chickasaw Bayou, which would end in a defeat for the federals.

The letter was written on four pages of a letter sheet measuring about 4 3/4” x 8”. Excellent condition with light foxing and toning. Creased at the original folds. Included is the original stamped postal cover with Memphis postmark. The full transcript appears below.

Dec 19th 1862
Camp Oliver, Tenn.

My dear friends
I got bad news today. I rec’d a letter from you and the letter stated that Henry was dead. He was in the hospital at Covington when we came down the River. I didn’t know it till I was way down to Cairo. If I had knew it I would have stopped there and seen him. But now he is gone to his long home.

Well, we are on our way down the River to Vicksburg. We got on the boat yesterday morning for Vicksburg. We traveled all night. We went about 90 miles and this is Sunday morning and we are landed here, where there is fifty or sixty thousand of our troops. While we are stopped here there is a large gun boat passed us going down the River. It had 14 large guns on it. If you was here you would see some big sights. I am on the hurricane deck writing this letter, where I can see every boat that passes by. There is another boat load went past. They had a brass band. They played “Yankee Doodle” as they passed us.

I heard this morning that the Rebels captured 3,000 of our men yesterday at the Holly Springs. They took them and surprise. I can’t say whether it is true or not. That is the report.

A.J., there is more boats here than you ever seen just in a little bend of the River. You see as much as 40 boats. We left Memphis yesterday morning at 7 o’clock. We are on our way to Vicksburg. There is where we will make the Rebels skedaddle.

Well, I haven’t much to write at this time, so I send you and all the rest my love. Tell my Mother that I am well. I am fatter now than I ever was in my life. I weigh 171 1/2. That is heavier than I ever weighed before. Nothing more at this time, but remain yours truly. My best respects to you all.
F. J. McKee

To Mrs. And Mr. A. J. Bell

Write soon.
Write soon.

Christmas Day. We are at this time 8 miles from Vicksburg. We are launched and we are going to land and scout the country.