Soldier's Letter, Civil War, 114th NY Regiment, February 1864

 Oxford Times, March 9, 1864

Letter from the 114th NY Infantry

Franklin, La., Feb. 12th, 1854

Editor Times:  Thinking that perhaps you would like to hear a few words from the 114th, and matters connected with the army of the Gulf, I now take my pen in hand to write as my thoughts may direct.

The army, now under the command of Major General Franklin, is pleasantly encamped on the banks of Bayou Teche, around Franklin.  Probably shall remain here some time yet, for we expect our tents will come on the boat by tomorrow.  The Teche country has the name of being the richest tract of land in the State of Louisiana, denoted for its heavy growth of sugar cane.  Some plantations yield from six to seven hundred hogsheads of sugar annually. The town of Franklin is situated about twenty-eight miles from Brashear City and is the parish seat of Parish St. Mary.  Here lies the ruins of the gunboat Diana, which was burnt by the rebels after the battle of Bisland, our first campaign through the country. Above the town three or four miles is a large plain called the "Indian Bend." Here we have had a number of skirmishes with the enemy which resulted in a defeat of the rebels.  Here the bayou Teche takes a curve and is lost from view amid the wide spreading branches of the live oak, whose brawny limbs are encircled by moss common to the Southern clime.  Off as far as the eye can reach appears the lofty chimney of the sugar mill, while more at the left, herds of cattle are seen quietly grazing the tender grass.  Above this place twenty miles is situated the pleasant town of New Iberia, it being the head of navigation.  Here the rebels once had a foundry where they cast their shot and shell and used them on us at the battle of Bisland, but they were not sufficient to check the determination of true patriots.  At New Iberia we were encamped some time, but it was not long before everything in the shape of forage had played out.  Orders then came for us to march.  It happened to be cold and wet when we started, and consequently the mud was knee deep.  Onward we moved at the rate of seven or eight miles per day.  Wagons were left standing in the roads sunk in over the hubs.  Soldiers were seen straggling hither and there, bound to make the best of it, for it is not every day that we are subject to such marches, but as good luck would have it, we reached Franklin in pretty good order.

Then came a time of general fixing up.  Soldiers were seen coming in from all quarters with a goodly supply of lumber on their backs, while the bayou was filled with numerous rafts floating down the bayou to camp, some loaded with brick that they had smuggled from "massa's" sugar mill.  Others had tables and chairs all for the comfort and amusement of the soldiers.

The regiment is now in good health and is under the command of Lieut. Col. Morse.  We go through the regular routine of camp life such as the drill in the manual, facings and bayonet exercise.  Co. H are now doing Provost duty at Brigade Hd. Qr's and are under command of Provost Marshal Capt. York.  There are a number of our boys strung along the bayou as safeguard for the different plantations, two left for home today on a furlough, such being granted to those that are unfit for duty. We are favored with the best of weather, but little rain has fallen since being here.  It reminds one of the month of May, when everything in nature seems to spring forth with life, and it is seldom that you see many lying idle. While not on duty some are writing, others pass away the time in reading, some in conversation in regard to political movements.  Who will be our next candidate for the Presidency is one of the important questions of the day.  Upon this subject I ask to be excused, but I do know if honest, Old Abe ever runs again, the 114th will give him a large majority.

Yours, Respectfully, H.D.M.

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The author of this letter is possibly Henry D. Mason.  The Adjutant General report for the 114th gives the following information about him:

MASON, HENRY D.—Age, 20 years. Enlisted, August 13, 1862, at Oxford, to serve three years; mustered in as sergeant, Co. H, August 14,1862; killed in action, October 19,1864, at Gedar Greek, Va.  

Death of soldiers in the 114th Regiment:  A large circle of friends and our entire community were made sad last week by the tidings of the death in the late battle under Sheridan, of Joseph G. Washburn, Henry D. Mason, and Chas. F. Green of this village [Oxford, Chenango Co. NY].  They were young men of whom we were all justly proud, and it is hard to give them up.  But they died in the path of patriotic duty, and challenge at once our admiration and our tears.  They sleep in hero graves. They live in patriot hearts.  [Oxford Times, Nov. 2, 1864]