Item No. 4125963

In this October 1863 letter, Union General Daniel Tyler writes about a “worthless” Maryland regiment, his quarrel with the Secretary of War, sending disloyal citizens to Fort Delaware, and his upcoming resignation.

Tyler was an 1819 graduate of West Point and served with the Army until 1834. He became a successful manufacturer and railroad executive in the years leading up to the Civil War. He returned to the Army in 1861 and was made colonel of a regiment of Connecticut infantry before being promoted and leading a division at the First Battle of Bull Run. In early 1862, Tyler served briefly in the western theater before being ordered to take command of Union parolees at Chicago’s Camp Douglas that fall. He would command various posts in the east before his retirement in January 1864.

Writing to an unidentified colonel, Tyler opens the letter with scathing criticism of Colonel W. L. Schley’s 5th Maryland Regiment, which had evidently been sent to his department by General Erastus B. Tyler in Baltimore:

I think Genl. E. B. Tyler sent me Schley’s Regiment “to torment me before my time,” for a more worthless, villainous, mutinous set of scamps I never saw. But I am after them with a sharp stick, & will stick but Delaware full of the rascals, but that I will stop their insubordination. Schley is a poor stock, & if he won’t die or resign, he ought to be cashiered—this is my private opinion.

After noting that General Robert Schenk “has returned” to command of the Middle Department, Tyler asks his correspondent, “Have you seen that unreasonable Stanton?” Tyler had clashed with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton over the general’s strict discipline while in command at Camp Douglas. He writes:

I have cause of quarrel with him, but I am too old & peaceable to quarrel with anybody out of the Rebel Service. I will neither quarrel nor grumble, provided Stanton will accept my resignation, which I shall offer on the 1st or 2d of next month, after making out the Monthly returns due on the 31st just from this Department. The first of Nov’r will be the proper time for the resignation, as that time the draft will be through, & matters generally closed up…

Tyler then briefly discusses disloyalty among the people in Sussex County, particularly in the town of Laurel. “That old Dearborn [a wagon] being sent back to Laurel plays the dickens there,” he writes, “& resulted in sending six Sussex Scamps to Fort Delaware, under charges that may, if prosecuted, keep them there during the war. These Laurel folks feel beat & bad and very our prisoners.”

The general wraps up his letter by requesting information on a court of inquiry before returning to the subject of his resignation. He asks the colonel, “Now, as to my resignation, can’t you put yourself, or be put, into my vacancy? I wish I could help do this, but I am an old fogy & Stanton seems to have found me out. That is my misfortune.”

Tyler’s resignation would take effect January 19, 1864. A brief docket note on the back page of the letter reads, “Gen Tyler. Has the misfortune to be an old fogy & will resign.”

Tyler signed his letter on page 3. It was written on a 4-page bifolium letter sheet measuring about 8” x 9 3/4”. Creased at the original folds. The full transcript appears below.

Wilmington, 12th Oct. 1863

My dear Colonel,
I think Genl. E. B. Tyler sent me Schley’s Regiment “to torment me before my time,” for a more worthless, villainous, mutinous set of scamps I never saw. But I am after them with a sharp stick, & will stick but Delaware full of the rascals, but that I will stop their insubordination. Schley is a poor stock, & if he won’t die or resign, he ought to be cashiered—this is my private opinion.

I see Genl. Schenk has returned, of which I am glad, & for more reasons than one.

Have you seen that unreasonable Stanton? I have cause of quarrel with him, but I am too old & peaceable to quarrel with anybody out of the Rebel Service. I will neither quarrel nor grumble, provided Stanton will accept my resignation, which I shall offer on the 1st or 2d of next month, after making out the Monthly returns due on the 31st just from this Department. The first of Nov’r will be the proper time for the resignation, as that time the draft will be through, & matters generally closed up, & […] the election of Representatives to Congress then over. I would advise breaking up the Sub-department as it now counts.

That old Dearborn being sent back to Laurel plays the dickens there, & resulted in sending six Sussex Scamps to Fort Delaware, under charges that may, if prosecuted, keep them there during the war. These Laurel folks feel beat & bad and very our prisoners.

Can you get any information on to the […] Court of Inquiry? I enclose a note from Scott as difficult for me to understand as a Sy[…] oracle. Can you tell what he would have me infer?

Now, as to my resignation, can’t you put yourself, or be put, into my vacancy? I wish I could help do this, but I am an old fogy & Stanton seems to have found me out. That is my misfortune. Now, when you get this, write me something & oblige.
Your friend
D Tyler