Fort Smith, Ark. March 8, 1861

Dear Parents,

When I wrote my last letter to you I did not think that it was to be my fate to become what I now am, a General prisoner, but here I am in a cell 10 feet long by 4 wide, and my feet connected with a chain eighteen inches long and about as many pounds in weight.

And what, you say, have I done!! I will tell you. I have acted like a man, and an action which no honest one would blame me for has made me what I am, a prisoner.

The night before last some of the secessionists in town hoisted a flag opposite of the gate of the fort bearing for a device 8 stars and a pistol and bowie knife crossed. This appeared to be an insult to the soldiers and union so I went out and pulled it down and on being ordered by my captain to put it up again I tore it into ribbands the dirty flag that’s what I am in for chained like a murderer.

But I can’t write any more now so goodbye
My love to all

Pray for your most unfortunate
Charles

Finally got around to updating the Related Links section of the blog. I realized last night that there were several sites that I’ve been visiting for months that I always access from someone else’s page. This has now been corrected, though there are more updates to be made.

No, I haven’t been stalling just to tease, these job search things take time. The first Bates letter will be posted later today.

In the course of my explorations of the Virginia Historical Society, I encountered the Civil War letters of Charles E. Bates. I’ve decided to periodically post his letters in the interest of improving the human interest aspect of this blog. Bates’ observations are entertaining and often humorous, and his squadron served in both theaters over the course of the war.

Born in 1844 in Connecticut, nearly all of the correspondence is with his parents. He apparently ran away and enlisted in the cavalry in 1858, at age 14. The first letters that I found are from Secretary of War John B. Floyd to the Honorable W.D. Bishop, a Connecticut member of the House of Representatives. Mr. Isaac Bates, one of his constituents, had sent him an application for a discharge from the Army for his son, who was a minor. Orders were accordingly forwarded by Adjutant General Samuel Cooper to Fort Leavenworth on May 1, 1858 directing his discharge. I haven’t made up my mind yet on what the continued service of a 14 year old says about the army of the time. The charitable will assume he was large and mature for his age.

The directed discharge apparently didn’t happen. The next item I found was a set of orders dated March 27, 1861 from Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas to the commanding officer of Fort Smith, Arkansas. These orders directed the discharge of “Charles E. Bates, private, Company E, 1st Cavalry, who was enlisted when a minor, without the consent of his parent or guardian.” The order went on to list the various conditions enabling the commanding officer to suspend the discharge, and directed him to immediately report all of the facts pertaining to the case to the War Department. Unfortunately for Bates’ parents, Charles had met one of those criteria before his discharge orders reached Fort Smith.

I continue my efforts to track down as many as possible of the soldiers from volunteer units who transferred to the Regular Cavalry in 1862, primarily from infantry units. I spent some time yesterday and today with a few Pennsylvania and Ohio regiments, and found another 31. Not all of them from the 6th, of course, but the idea is to work on all six regiments.

Rather than work completely at random, I decided to make a list of the regiments in the Army of the Potomac from about this time period (the majority seem to be November-December 1862). I was helped in my choice by the remarks section for two privates from the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry: “wounded at Antietam, transferred to US Cavalry.” The timeframe being about right, I quickly navigated my way over to Brian Downey’s excellent Antietam On the Web site and checked his order of battle listings for the Army of the Potomac. To be sure, all of the AoP didn’t fight at Antietam, but it’s a solid starting point.

Using this listing, I’ve since been chasing muster roll lists. The best site for this that I’ve found is Pennsylvania in the Civil War. The organization and detail of the site is absolutely fantastic. I really like the format, and will likely use something similar as I complete each regiment. I found a good Ohio site as well, but haven’t had any luck as yet with the New York regiments.

Not all regiments had people volunteer for the cavalry, though they appear to have been targeted by particular branches of service. In the 27th Pennsylvania, for example, every soldier but one who volunteered for Regular service chose the artillery (1st or 2nd Regiment) except one. In the 28th, nearly all chose the cavalry. In several Ohio regiments, many transferred to the navy.

It’s slow and tedious, but progress is being made. And I’m almost happy with the officer database format. Other than that, I’ve simply been transcribing a number of manuscripts, but that’s a post for another time.

Curwen Boyd McLellan was born on April 7, 1829, in Merton Hall, Wigtonshire, Scotland. He immigrated to the United States by 1849, enlisting as a private in Company B, 3rd US Infantry on November 17th of that year.

He progressed from private to corporal to sergeant to first sergeant in Company B before transferring to Company A, 1st US Dragoons. On August 7, 1854, he transferred to Company H, 2nd US Cavalry as a private. He was promoted to sergeant in the same company and served there until June 11, 1861.

He received an appointment as a second lieutenant in Company B of the newly forming 3rd Cavalry on May 14, 1861, and accepted the appointment on June 11th. He joined his company in Bladensburg, Maryland on August 26, 1861, according to the regimental muster rolls. His company commander was one Captain August V. Kautz.

McLellan served as the regimental adjutant from October 1 to November 30, 1861 before a transfer to Company C. He commanded the company from January to February 1862 in the absence of the assigned captain and first lieutenant. He accompanied the regiment when it deployed to the Peninsula campaign in March, temporarily assigned to Company A from March to August 1862. and served there with distinction. He was made a brevet first lieutenant on May 5, 1862 for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Williamsburg, where he was wounded. He was evacuated to a hospital in New York to recover from his wounds, where he remained until September. He was promoted to first lieutenant in Company L on July 17, 1862, and joined his company in October.

He was assigned to General Pleasonton’s staff in January 1863, returning to his company the following month. In March he was temporarily assigned to command Company C in the absence of all of its assigned officers. He was made a brevet captain on July 3, 1863 for gallant and meritorious service in the Gettysburg campaign, when he was once again on General Pleasonton’s staff through October. He eventually made his way back to the regiment.

McLellan received a brevet promotion to major for gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House on March 31, 1865. A few days later, during the battle of Sailor’s Creek, he was ordered to seize a strongly held group of log huts in a dismounted charge. Seeing his men hesitate, McLellan faced them and said, “Men, let us die like soldiers.” Every one of the men reportedly charged with him, and the huts were seized with a loss of only three wounded.

Curwen McLellan was promoted to captain in the 6th Cavalry on July 28, 1866. He married Susan E. Carmack in Frederick County, Maryland on Christmas day of the same year. He accompanied his regiment to the frontier, where he served with distinction. The first Mrs. McLellan died their without issue in 1869.

On July 6, 1870, Captain McLellan set out from Fort Richardson, Texas with a troop of 56 men from four companies of the 6th Cavalry. He was dispatched in pursuit of a group of Indians who had attacked a mail stage. On July 12th, he encountered a war party of approximately 250 Kiowas led by Kicking Bird near the north fork of the Little Wichita River. After a brief skirmish, McLellan led his men on a fighting retreat in the direction of the fort. He conducted this defensive engagement so skillfully that he lost only two men, and the Kiowas abandoned their chase of the badly outnumbered column the next day. Thirteen Medals of Honor were eventually issued for heroic conduct during the engagement.

McLellan married a second time in 1872, to Alice Gilbert. They had three children, two girls and a boy, before she died in Arizona in 1879. He was again recognized for an engagement with hostile Indians in the San Andreas mountains of New Mexico on April 7, 1880.

He was promoted to Major of the 10th Cavalry on December 30, 1881. He was made a brevet lieutenant colonel on February 27, 1890 for gallant service in actions against Indians near the Red River, Indian Territory and the aforementioned engagement in New Mexico. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Cavalry on May 6, 1892, and transferred to the lieutenant colonelcy of the 1st Cavalry three weeks later.

McLellan retired from the army on April 7, 1893, with over 43 years of service. He married a third time, this time to Margaret Kelso, who bore him another son and daughter. He died August 24, 1898 in St. Louis, Missouri, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to his wife Margaret.

I came across a picture recently of General Alfred Pleasonton and his staff taken in Warrenton, Virginia in October of 1863 (the picture itself can be found at CivilWarPhotos.net and the Library of Congress). I’m not personally a fan of Pleasonton, but as I read the caption something jumped out at me.

Of the 21 officers listed on his staff, 7 were Regulars. They included the Colonel of the 1st Cavalry (who surely had something better to do, like leading his regiment), 2 lieutenants of the 5th Cavalry, and a captain and 3 lieutenants of the 6th Cavalry. Additionally, there was a lieutenant colonel, a captain and a lieutenant from the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry. To say the least, the Reserve Brigade was well-represented, composing half of his staff. No wonder the regular regiments were constantly short officers, as Pleasonton was hardly the only officer doing this.

Interestingly enough, he didn’t have any officers from his own regiment (as much as it pains me to admit it, he was an officer in the 2nd Cavalry throughout the war) on his staff at this time. I wonder why….

Sometimes (many times this week, it seems), the best laid plans go awry. I’d planned a fantastic Civil War weekend this weekend that was to start yesterday with a visit to Harper’s Ferry to look at the cavalry breakout during the Antietam campaign. It was to be followed with a visit to Gettysburg today, the opportunity to finally meet JD in person, and my first visit to the battlefield of Fairfield. Tomorrow was to be my first visit to the Antietam battlefield on the way home, for which Brian Downey had been good enough to provide tips on the best way to see it. I’d taken everything into account, even managing to find a hotel near Gettysburg on this busiest of weekends there.

What I didn’t consider was my mount. On Thursday afternoon, my car died. Completely. Off it was towed to the dealership, who said they probably wouldn’t be able to get to it until Monday. So ended the trip. I could have rented a car and drove up, but really hadn’t budgeted for that this trip.

But there is an upside to this. The time that I would have spent on the road I can now spend on research. A friend loaned me a car and I will be able to get back to the Virginia Historical Society today for some manuscripts that I really wanted to take back to Colorado from this trip. And Gettysburg and Antietam will still be there when I come back at the end of the month.

I was speaking with one of the owners of Owens & Ramsey Historical Booksellers (an excellent bookstore, by the way) in Richmond yesterday when he mentioned the big collector’s show up in Gettysburg this weekend. A brief check of the web shows it to be an annual event and a pretty big deal. Has anyone out there been to it, and if so, is it worth spending valuable battlefield stomping time on?