The Civil War Letters of Charles Harvey Hayden Pt. 2

In this letter of October 10, 1862, Charles Hayden writes to his sister Laura, in Westernville, (Big Brook) NY, from the Union hospital in Smoketown, Maryland. In it he informs her of his wounds suffered in the Battle of Antietam. The Smoketown Hospital was one of many hastily created for wounded soldiers. It consisted of an oak grove sheltering about 80 army tents. Two dilapidated cabins served as the only standing structures. Dr. W.R. Mosley, Assistant Medical Inspector for Union forces, noted that two months after the battle in November 1862, there were 469 patients under treatment; 232 were wounded soldiers while 237 other were sick with typhoid fever, dysentery and diarrhea. Many were afflicted with both wounds and disease. When the following letter was written, Charles was in the latter category. However, he realized his good fortune to be alive upon his reflection of the battle and its horror.

Spoketown, MD
Oct. 10th, 62

Dear Sister
I take this opportunity to write a few lines to you. I was wounded in the battle of the 17th of last month. I was wounded in the right breast. My wounds appear to be doing well. I also received a shot in my thumb and finger of my left hand but my fingers are about well. I have had a bad diarrhea which has kept me very weak. We went into the battle early in the morning. I was in the cornfield when I fell. I was left and the rebels passed over me then our men drove them back again. The rebels were charging again when I placed my handkerchief over my wound and standed (stood). (SIC) I came to an ambulance and they took me in and brought me to the Hospital we are in. Nice new tents 5 – of us in our tent – I have been up and out of doors yesterday. I do not know whether they will let me come home or not – the battle was a terrible affair. Men (were) dropping all around – with heads and legs off. The continual roar of cannon balls all make it terrible.
Dear sister write son direct as before.
From your affectionate Brother
Charles H. Hayden

The Civil War Letters of Charles Harvey Hayden

This is a continuing article from the Local paper in My hometown, I just thought that I would repeat this article about a soldier from the area that served in the Civil War. By Al Grenning In July of 1861 the United States seemed destined to self destruct in a gathering Civil War. One of the largest military engagements in our country's history had just taken place. Union Troops were overwhelmed by Southern forces and chased all the way back to Washington, DC. The nation's fate hung in the balance. It was called Bull Run by the North and Monasas by the South. Here in the Western Adirondacks, citizens reacted with patriotic outrage and revengeful fervor. Congress immediately authorized states to organize volunteer regiments for defense of the Union. Within days of Congress' action, Governor Morgan of New York State granted Oneida County the authority to raise its third all volunteer infantry regiment. By the end of the month it had been officially decided that this newest New York regiment, the 97th New York Volunteer Infantry was to be raised, drilled and commissioned here in Boonville. Boys, young men and middle-aged married fathers all eagerly responded to this call to arms. Charles Wheelock, a local militia officer and merchant, would be it Colonel and Commander. On November 1, 1862, Charles Harvey (Hervey) Hayden of Big Brook, NY (Westernville) enlisted fro two years of service as a private and was assigned to Company "I", one of ten companies in the regiment. He was in his mid 20's, unmarried, and among the first volunteers to enlist. As a young boy he and his sister Laura lost their mother to disease. Although it isn't clear, it appears they were given up by their father and raised by relatives or close family members. Charles and all other enlistees drilled through early fall and winter of 1862 on the flat in front of Park Hill. Eventually more than 900 men volunteered, completed their training, and left by train for war from Boonville in March 1862. Although the regiment experienced conflict, including the Battle of Second Manasas in its first months of service, it wasn't until mid-September that it received its real baptism of fire. The 97th was among 115,000 American soldiers involved in the Battle of Antietam, called Sharpsburg by the South. Early on the morning of September 17, 1862, Boonville's regiment, along with others in Brigadier General Abram Duryea's Brigade, led an initial attack from the north through farmer D.E. Miller's cornfield. This was the offensive thrust of James Rickett's Division, First Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Conservative estimates place the human cost of the battle at more than 23,000 casualties, the most suffered on a single day of conflict in this country's history -- before or since. On the evening of the 17th only 40 men were left unscathed and present for duty in the 97th. Strategically, Antietem marked the first occasion that Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was blunted in battle by Union forces. President Lincoln wisely used the stand-off as a political basis to issue his Emancipation proclamation. However, none of this was of immediate concern to Private Charles Harvey Hayden of the 97th NY because he found himself lying in the corn, shot through the body. Every Civil War soldier knew that men who were body shot had virtually no chance of survival. A mine ball had entered the pit of Charles'' stomach and exited under his arm. As serious and critical as this wound was, it did not prove mortal! Instead, Union field surgeons with advances in hospital care nursed him back to health over a period of many months. In fact, his health was sufficient to allow him to re-enlist in January of 1864. The letters and diary that have been handed sown are from Charles H. Hayden's extended period of convalescence. Almost all are written to his sister Laura. In them he expresses his personal reflections on the war, religion, politics, death, and her welfare. Since he was unmarried and they had lost their mother in earlier years, Laura became the central person representing home and family for Charles. Overwhelming events of the time obviously led the two siblings to a mutual commitment of faith and welfare. From the letters, it can be seen how their close bond gave each other strength. All letters closed asking for a timely response. The first two letters in the series are dated July 6 and 8, 1862, and were written before the major battles of Second Monasas and Antietam. In this first surviving letter Charles describes the regiment as having experienced artillery action and some fighting. He was understandably impressed. The second, longer letter reflects more on the hot months of summer and offers a unique window into general camp life. Camp Near Washington July 6th 1862 Dear Sister, I take opportunity to let you know that I am alive and my health is rather better than when I wrote you last. I have been under two cannonadings and one battle, and still my life is preserved. Write soon from your brother Charles H. Hayden Camp Near Warrenton July 8th 1862 Dear Sister, I received your letter this morning and was glad to hear from you, but was sorry to hear that you had been sick - I had almost given up hearing from you as I had written twice and received no answer - I am glad to hear that Pa is getting along so well. I hope that he may always prosper - I hope the acquaintances you are forming may prove for your happiness. Be sure your heart goes with your hand - I am glad Pa approves of him. I hope he may prove all you could wish - I am sorry that you have (a) disappointment but we are liable to be disappointed even in those we hold most dear - should you be disappointed again. I hope you may continue to live on and hope on striving to be a good girl - For I know the effect which disappointment is liable to have upon the mind. We have been encamped at (indistinguishable) Station for the last three or four weeks living very uncomfortable for Soldiers. We moved from there last Saturday to this place about twelve miles (away). The weather is so warm that it is hard marching now. Yesterday and the day before were the hottest days I think I ever saw. We have but little drilling now. Our drilling hours are from eight to ten and from five to seven o'clock - We live in little tents made of two pieces of cloth about one half as large as a sheet. Two of us button our pieces together and stretch it across whole boards in two crotches and this forms our tent - when we start on a march tent, blanket, oven coat, knapsack, gun and equipments forms a pretty good load but generally we get part of it carried - Since I began this letter I have been off and got all the cherries and black berries I could eat. The black and red cherries all we want - The water here is first rate and the country quite hilly - the place we left the country was level and the water poor. I do not know how many men we have here but several thousand making it look quite like a city when lit up at night. I and William Wright Settlement went out five miles beyond our lines the other day but saw no rebels. Took dinner without much reluctance got by some slaves consisting of hoe cake butter and milk. - You said you wish that I could be there to spend the fourth with you. I wish I could have been. I think we might have had a good time - You spoke of my getting a furlough without they are sick or to go home with the sickness - The railroad which had been damaged by the rebels has been repaired to this place which gives us quick communication with Washington. Direct Washington DC 97 REG NYSV CO K From your brother Henry Hayden

Canadian Currency and The American Jeep

Well, I found that my truck needs to have wheel bearings in the front passenger side tire, so next week I gotta get them installed. Lucky me, seeing as I just spent 1100 dollars getting everything else fixed up there. Oh well, life goes on. The baby is good, I am good, and Kates doing good, enjoying her new job back at the casino. Making lots of money, thank god. I got my review the other day and got another 3 percent raise. yeah me. Now hopefully they can change my hours to 4-12 so that we can move out of this house and get our own. hope, hope, hope. I found this really neat site called Where's George? At this site you can enter the serial number of any U.S. bill and see if anyone else has entered it and if they have it gives you information, like how far it has traveled and the speed of which it traveled from them to you. I knew about this site three years ago and just recently found it again in my bookmarks. Its a neat little site to screw around in. They also have a Canadian version called Where's Willy? It works the same as the Where's George? site only for Canadian currency.

Star Wars Episode III

Well, Kate talked me into going to the new Star Wars on Thursday. We went to the 7PM showing on Thursday, and I have to say that it was a very good movie. Showed and explained a lot of things that were just sitting there waiting to be explained. The effects in the beginning seemed a little off but then they picked up. You will see the one I thought was a little off in the beginning when a deck falls on an unconcious Obiwan and it moves him but his body moved like a manican not a limp human. The movie was great, the theatre was packed and the new theatres at Carousel were very nice, stadium seating, chairs that leaned back and aisles that wer big enough to let people through without much disturbance. That was especially important for someone as tall as I.

Creative Nomad MuVo

I have been using the MuVo for about three months now and I have to say that I really do enjoy it very much. I do have one additional complaint. I found out that the thing had fast forward and rewind, but th eonly problem with this is that to fast forward 10 minutes you need to hold onto the button for about 8 minutes. This may seem like an exageration, and it may very well be, but when you are trying to go through almost 2 hours of a show and it takes most of the ride to work to do it then I would say that its slow. But hey as long as you dont accidentally hit the skip button when you are attempting to pause the playback you are ok, otherwise hold onto your buttons, your in for one long ride.

Site Changes

Hello all, been a while since I last posted to this site. I finally had some time to update and add a few things. I also moved somethings around just so that I could add the news to the left side. I have updated my read list finally, there are a few books that I have read since it was last updated but I didnt add them all. I also added a few new links to other websites although at the time of this post there seems to be a problem with the This Week in Tech site. Its a relatively new site and the operator is adding things and trying new software so hopefully it'll be back up by the time you read this post. The Systm link is also not got too much on it right now, but it is going to be an in depth tech site. The creator said in another week or two the actual show should launch. It is going to be internet only and you will probably need to have a high speed internet connection to download it. They said it was going to be around 300 Mb per episode, so you could technically do it on dial up but it would need the entire night to download. The link to my site is there but I am not going to update that site till I move to another website host. That will probably happen in the next month or so, and then hopefully I can get it to do what I want a little easier instead of having to wait for an eternity to talk to a support person. Of course this could just be that I'm an idiot and am not doing something right, but the other one I am looking into is cheaper and offers a lot more and come highly recommended from a trusted source. I would like some feedback on what you think of the placement of the items. If you think I should move them just comment or email me, whichever. If you like the layout then please tell me that too. I also noticed that I have hit 500 visitors to the blog. not such a big deal for some of you but, I persoanlly think its a big deal.

Its spring and I was thinking about cleaning computers

I had this idea that has been in my brain lately and finally decided to ask your opinions on it. Would any of you would have interest in some one to come to your house and clean up your computer? Say this person would come to your house twice a month and would run anti-spyware programs, update your system and generally clean up the operating system, and if necessary do minor repairs or upgrades. I was just wondering, your responses would be greatly appreciated.

Creative Nomad MuVo

Audio Posts

Another new thing

big posting day this has been. I just wanted to tell you all that I now own a camera phone and as such I have created a Moblog. A Moblog, for those of you that dont know what it is, is a place where I can send pictures from my phone so that you can see them. Its a good way to share photos with all of you. Hopefully this one will be kept up better than these other two. I will add a link to the sidebar on the left. talk to you later joe