Soldier's Letter, Civil War, From Port Hudson, November 1863

 Chenango Telegraph, Norwich, NY, December 23, 1863

Letter from Port Hudson 

Port Hudson, La, Nov. 24th, 1863

My Dear -----, How I wish you could be here for a day or two!  I could take you around this old battle ground and show you graves of many of the noble dead whose memory rises in the mind like holy incense.  I could show you friend and foe stretched beside each other.  I could take you to spots made sacred with the sons of rich old Chenango whose bodies lie mingled with the common dust, yet whose memories rear a glorious monument to their praise.  I could accompany you over a line of works of defense stretching along for seven miles in a half circle, and stop at almost any point to witness a strange fact that so tremendous was our shower of lead that we could almost gather a handful of bullets at one sweep.  We could see the wonderful effects of our stupendous iron missiles in the cutting asunder of huge trees, the ploughing of the ground, and the blasting of the banks where they happened to locate, showing effects resembling those of some wonderful eruption from the regions below us.  Every sand bank was used as a covering from our shells, and as if to make security doubly secure, holes were dug down into them large enough to take in the body of a man.  Being without tents, and feeling insecure in log or bush huts, our foes took refuge in these dens, from whence they could draw some picture of the graves they began to dig for themselves when they conspired to break up this Government.  A curious fact comes to my knowledge in regard to these holes.  I visited one a day or two ago which contained the body of its occupant. Our fire was so deadly at that point that sooner than be blown to atoms by our shells, he remained and died of suffocation.  His friends, instead of removing him, just covered up the mouth of the den and left the poor fellow there just in the position he took when he entered.  The tremendous fire which necessitated such death, must have been awful in the extreme, and the endurance of our foes, illustrated by this incident suggests a determination worthy of a better cause. A monger in old iron could make money by a visit to these parts.  He could bring as many ships as composed the famous Spanish Armada and find fragments of shot and shell enough establishing an iron foundry here so great is the supply of the fragments of this metal, 

There is a remarkable feature about the few buildings comprising this town.  Whereas formerly ventilation was a subject not considered by the architects who planned them, and consequently the means for securing its benefits were few and imperfect, now, however, there exists no such fault.  "Yankee" soldiers remedied the evil.  A few shells blown from a few big guns made ventilation enough, and now they have windows in abundance, and some occupants say that in a cool night there is more than enough.  Not a building escaped; and when I convey the fact that there are no more than a half dozen in the town, except negro cabins, numbering thirty or over, you will not wonder.  considering that three hundred thousand bales of cotton were shipped here yearly, is it not a wonder that the place is so much smaller than Wood's Corners?  If Norwich had such a river as the Mississippi flowing through it, I am sure it would be many thousand times a greater place than it is.  But history is too plain on this point.  Therefore, I need not waste my ink.

I must now give you some idea of our colored troops.  It will interest you to learn that in the Corps d Afrique alone there are now thirty regiments fully organized. Gen. Thomas reviewed them here last week, and expressed himself wonderfully pleased at their proficiency.  Rebels at the North, like their friends in the South, dislike this fact exceedingly. We regret the very unpleasant sensations they must experience over the fact of such powerful accessions to our arms as is furnished by these plantations in the shape of stalwart black men; but we nevertheless feel ourselves highly favored and greatly encouraged on this point.  I would like you to see the work done by these men, not only in the matter of drill, but in the huge fortifications which rear themselves as high as the cedars all along our front.  Some would gladly see the poor boys who have left home and friends in the north to bear their share of the toils, now called for by their country do all this work, for by so doing -?- would remain untouched, and the enemy have the wider range for this artillery.  One of the most remarkable features connected with these troops is their anxiety for education.  Instructors are at work, and now after about two weeks labor, nearly all are spelling.  Soon they will read and write, and the brains pronounced by some incapable of education, will themselves be the witnesses on the subject. Thank God, where the American flag goes, their education must go, and though it be crushed to earth for a while, it will, like truth, rise again for nobler strides and greater victories.

As to slavery, that is like the steamer Mississippi sunk in front of us; it has "gone under," and the same may be said of the masters.  Their fate is like that of the Midianites, and not very unlike that of the Egyptians.  I must tell you of the Union element in this State at the present. At one time I had no confidence in the loyalty of any native Louisianian, no more than in any South Carolinian, but I have now.  The Unionism of these parts is like that of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware at the present time. The Union with Slavery anywhere in it is an idea which the great majority of the people thoroughly denounce.  In New Orleans today there are powerful organizations holding sessions every night, sparing no pains to sift the whole of society, and to brand every traitor so that he may be known and watched. Treason is becoming as unpopular now as loyalty was at one time. The good work is going on, and by some lessons in perseverance, we shall learn that the end is not far off.  T.W.C.