Soldier's Letter, Civil War, 114th NY Regiment, June 1863

 Chenango American, July 23, 1863

Letter from the 114th New York Regiment

Before Port Hudson, La., Monday, June 29, 1863

Dear American:  I have not forgotten you, but the inconveniences of a "life in the woods," besides the lack of paper, have rendered it almost impossible to write home, even.  Then, again, we have to be constantly "prepared for action, " our "traps" and accoutrements ready to put on at a moments notice, in case we are called upon to make or repel a charge, sleeping with one eye and both ears open, and our hands upon our gun.  The last you heard from me, we (the regiment of Chenango) were at Brashaer City until marching orders, but to what point it was not known, though we all supposed that Port Hudson was our destination, and so it proved, as you have before probably heard.  We left Brashaer on Friday the 29th of May, and on Sunday the 31st, we entered the woods which surround the rebel stronghold.

Your readers have seen the letters of the New York correspondents to the Time, Tribune, and Herald, describing the fighting the troops went through when they first came here, how they drove the rebels from point to point, out of rifle pits, ravines, and temporary breast works, until they came to the inner fortifications which surround the town, where they were checked, though not driven back, and it will not be necessary for me to enter into detail.  Even if I were disposed to favor you with all news, I could not, for there are "barriers" in the way which a "mere private" cannot overcome, and which no one but a licensed correspondent of some "great daily" are permitted to penetrate.

You have read much, probably, about the [battle of] Port Hudson....[unreadable].... I look over the ground which has been gained at the point of the bayonet and in many a hand to hand struggle, that our troops must have fought like fiends incarnate to drive the rebels as far as they did.  The ground is cut up into ravines and gullies, on the banks of which a handful of determined men ought to withstand a hundred, yet our troops charged up and down the precipitous sides with such resistless fury that their terror struck opponents sought shelter beyond the last line of their defenses, where they knew they could not be followed.  This last line of the rebel works is upon the Port Hudson side of a deep ravine which runs nearly around the beleaguered town, and consist of earth works thrown up, and a broad ditch up on either side, the inside of the wall being built with a terrace or platform for men to stand upon to defend against scaling.  You can imagine what an amount of work the rebs must have done since last fall, when I tell you that their lines are from five to seven miles long, and since we came here they have thrown up works inside of these.  Our troops have not been idle, and save the disastrous charge of the 14th of June, in which Col. Smith lost his life, there have been no false moves.  I have not dared to attempt a description of what I saw of that, to many, fatal Sunday.  Companies of the 114th B, G, E, F, and D, were selected to lead the storming party, the whole under command of Col. Smith and Maj. Morse.  Col. Smith and Maj. Morse headed the column, and as we approached the bluff and they gave the word to charge, we rushed up the hill in the face of a deadly fire from the rebel riflemen.  But no body of men could do an impossibility, and after our Colonel and Major were wounded, Capt. Bockee gave orders to the men to protect themselves by every available means.  Co. B, was upon a round ledge of ground, exposed to a scathing fire from front and flank, and the only means we could employ to protect ourselves was to lay flat upon one bank.  Companies E and G charged through a ravine and succeeded in getting into the ditch at the foot of the rebel works, from which there was no egress without fearful danger, until night lent her aid.  It was between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning when we made the charge and from 6 a.m. till nightfall were we exposed to a constant fire from the enemy and the excessive heat of the sun.

It is an awful sight to see men maimed and shot down at your side, and an intense feeling of dread comes over the system when at each moment you expect to fall, pierced by the fatal bullet.  I have hard men say that they did not dread to enter battle, but a thinking man, a man who has a father and mother, sisters, brothers, and especially one who has a wife and children to leave to the cold charities of a selfish world, cannot but fear to meet death in such a manner.  Yet a good soldier does his duty, without murmuring, leaving himself in God's care, and if he goes through the struggle and comes out safe he thanks Him for it.

You have, e're this reaches you, received a list of the killed, wounded and missing, through official sources, and I will not undertake to furnish names.  I will speak of only one of the members of Co. E, Corporal John Stoughton, who has been missing since the fight of Sunday, and who, it is feared, fell upon that fatal field. The last seen of him, he was loading and firing from the cover of a stump and probably fell at that point, though no trace of him has been found.  He is missed from the ranks of his company, where he was very much esteemed. When our people removed the dead from the field, the features of the fallen had so changed and the stench was so intolerable, that a search could not be made with any success, and they were buried will all that their pockets contained that would help recognize them.

Thursday, July 2:  Yesterday I had permission to visit our lines of approach, and as I had a desire to look over our recent battlefield, I turned my steps thitherward.  I never experienced a greater surprise, for the pick axe and spade had completely changed the surface of the ground, making fine, safe roads for the approach of troops to the very foot of the rebel parapet.  If it is the design of Gen. Banks to gain a footing at this point, he certainly will succeed, for our sharpshooters are on a level with the rebel, and if a man shows his head he is picked off without ceremony, thus protecting a storming party until they are ready to scale the parapet.  

Just received instant marching orders.

Yours in haste,   A.