Item No. 9026888

An interesting Union soldier’s letter penned by Asa W. Googing, writing from Laurel Hill, Virginia, on October 23, 1864. Googing, a private in the 11th Maine, writes to his mother during the final months of the war, describing his comfortable quarters, winter preparations, the unlikelihood of battle after having gone through two already in October, and expectations of returning home soon.

Googing opens by reassuring his mother of his good health and safety, noting that her letter “finds me well and in good quarters with but very little duty to do, and no signs of any fighting. He then explains how “we have got pretty well fortified and are logging up our tents for winter quarters, or at least those that are not going out this fall.” He explains further that “we that are going home do not fix up much.” Googing’s 3-year enlistment would soon be exipring.

He then writes of receiving $80 in pay, choosing not to send it home as he plans to purchase a suit of clothes for his anticipated discharge. There’s a domestic tone as he advises his mother not to overprepare for his return:

I am afraid you are giving yourself unnecessary trouble about my clothes against the time I get home. You need not worry about my not being suited, for I am so used to wearing coarse clothes and having things fixed up any way I could get them that any thing that you choose will suit me.

Googing further reassures her regarding his safety, commenting that there is no current fighting and that “everything is as quiet here now as though we were in garrison.” He briefly mentions that “we have had two battles this month, but I don’t think there is any probabilities of there being another one before my time is out.” The 11th Maine, as part of General Benjamin F. Butler’s Army of Virginia, fought October 7 at the Battle of Darbytown and New Market Roads, and again at Darbytown Road on October 13.

In a particularly interesting passage, Googing references General Benjamin Butler, offering a carefully worded endorsement:

You want to know what I think of Genl. Butler. I have not the time to tell you all I think on paper, but will do so when I get home, if you wish to know. But this much I will say. I wish we had some more just like him. Perhaps he is not so good a General as a great many others, but the most of his services comes under another head, of which I will explain to you when I get home as far as I am competent.

Before closing the letter, he mentions that another soldier named Curtis Hooper is “in the hospital.” The letter was written on three pages of a four-page bifolium letter sheet measuring about 4 3/4” x 7 3/4”. Light foxing and toning. Creased at the original folds. The full transcript follows below.

Laurel Hill Va. Oct. 23d 64

Dear Mother
I received yours of date 16th this morning. It finds me well and in good quarters with but very little duty to do, and no signs of any fighting. We have got pretty well fortified and are logging up our tents for winter quarters, or at least those that are not going out this fall. We that are going home do not fix up much, but we have built us bunks from the ground and are fixed so as to lay warm.

Today is pay day with us. I received $80.00, but shall not send any home for I am going so soon myself and I shall want the most of it to fit myself with a suit of clothes. I am afraid you are giving yourself unnecessary trouble about my clothes against the time I get home. You need not worry about my not being suited, for I am so used to wearing coarse clothes and having things fixed up any way I could get them that any thing that you choose will suit me.

I have drawn two flannel shirts and have got two blue flannel ones that I have had some time, so you see that I have been looking out for the cold weather.

I don’t want you to make any more preparations for me than if I had been gone a week, for you know the old Gent might get jealous and I want to be on good terms with him.

I am not exposed to any Rebel shot or shell of any kind now, so you need not worry any at all. We have had two battles this month, but I don’t think there is any probabilities of there being another one before my time is out. Everything is as quiet here now as though we were in garrison.

You want to know what I think of Genl. Butler. I have not the time to tell you all I think on paper, but will do so when I get home, if you wish to know. But this much I will say. I wish we had some more just like him. Perhaps he is not so good a General as a great many others, but the most of his services comes under another head, of which I will explain to you when I get home as far as I am competent.

Curtis Hooper is in the Hospital. The rest are all well, I believe.

I believe there is nothing more I can write. I suppose I shall not get more than one or two more from you, but I will write when we get ready to start for home.
Your Affectionate Son
A. W. Googing