Palmer B. Holdridge Civil War Letter #3: Baltimore Sunday Sept 14, 1862

NOTE: Disclaimer and explanation of formatting included at the end of this post.

Baltimore Sunday Sept 14

Dear Catharine,
     You will probably be surprised
at my not writing before, but I have been
busy ever since we arrived here. The one hundred
and fourteenth arrived here last Tuesday
night, thirty hours after leaving Binghamton.(1)
We left Norwich Saturday night on canal
boats and reached Binghamton Sunday
night, 45 miles. Monday noon we left for
Baltimore by the way of Elmira and Harrisburg
and reached here about 5 o’clock Tuesday afternoon.
From York in Pennsylvania to Baltimore we
found the rail road guarded by Union
soldiers. We were told there that the Rebbel
pickets were only twelve miles off.
     When we reached Baltimore the Reg. was
drawn and marched through part of
the city. We passed through the street where
the Massachusetts soldiers were shot a year
ago last April. The bullet marks were
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visible on the buildings where the affray(2) occurred
but none of the ruffians who created it were
to be seen. On the contrary, Union flags were
displayed from most of the buildings and
by the women and children in the streets.
But appearances are deceiving as events have
shown here in Baltimore.
     A few nights since a building
containing government stores was fired and
the contents consumed.
     Several Union soldiers have also been poisoned
recently and according to the statements of
the city officers(3) scores of wagon loads of stores
destined for the rebel army are conveyed
out of the city every night.
     We are encamped
in a beautiful grove about one mile from
the city. It is said to be the best camp
ground in the United states.
     It is situated on a slight emenince
and is surrounded by red cedars and
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weeping willows. Our tents are placed in
rows with streets between them which are
swept clean every day.
     We are told that this
same grove was used by the soldiers of the
Revolution for a camping ground.
     We heard heavey cannonading here night
before last in a southwest direction which
was supposed to be an engagement between
a part of General McClellan’s forces
and the rebel general ?. We received but
little reliable news in regard to the war.
Late accounts represent the rebels to be
marching on the city and upon
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Cincinatti. But
still later accounts represent them
to be again upon the retreat both
from Maryland and Cincinati.
     Should they advance ? Baltimore
they will probably meet with a warm
reception from the ? as fifteen
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regiments stationed here and if likely
to get possession of the city it would
probably be fired by Fort McHenry the
guns of which are pointed towards the
city.
     I have not time to write much
more as we have got to go on dress
parrade soon. I had the pleasure of standing
on guard night before last and lying
on the ground in the open air part of
the night, but I can sleep on the ground
or on a board ? as comfortable as
anywhere if it is not too cold.
I cannot perceive any difference between
the weather here and in York State except
its being less changeable here.
     The one hundred
fourteenth numbers one less than it did
when it came here. One noble fellow in
Com. G. died last night in the city
hospital. Two have had fits in camp to-
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day. One a member of our company is a
fit now, but the general health of the
Regiment is excellent.
     I had written ? ? last
night when the drum beat for dress parrade and when
parrade was over and ? had drawn one ?
?was dark. But I have good news this morning the
firing are ? Friday ? was a battle between
our forces and the rebels at Fredericksburg in which
our men came off conquerors and took 2,500 prisoners
and from the ? of dispatchers from all directions
I should conclude that this tide of war was again
turning in our favor. Perhaps you would like to know
who I tent with and so on. William and I tent
together with four other fellows. George Cromphin?
You have heard of him. Truman Wedge, a brother of
a Luitenant Wedge and two other fellows one
named Leossell, the other Williamson Williamson?
has been in the hospital several days, but is now
getting better. They are all glorious good fellows
and we have some high times. We have barely?
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room to lie in the tent hemed closely together.
     I had supposed that I had acted
childish in leaving home, but they all tell
me that it was a great deal harder to leave
their families and homes the last time than
it had been before. There was many down-
cast looks for a few days, but such feelings
cannot last always. A soldier will have
occasional feelings of sadness, but they
will not last long. There is always something
transpiring to attract his attention and
direct his mind from sorrowful reflections.
But I must bring this letter to a close. I
want you to write as soon as you get this
and tell me all the news. There is one thing
I had liked to had forgotten yesterday
afternoon. There was a woman ? away with
by a house in front of our ?. She was
in a covered carriage and when the horse
was running with all his might the
carriage was upset and the woman was
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precipitated down a steep embankment of
some twenty or twenty-five feet. We supposed she was killed
but soon saw her walking toward a house near-
by, led by two other persons. When I saw it the
accident, I thought in a moment that I would
write to you and ask you not to incur the
risk of driving a horse alone on any account.
Do not ride or drive anywhere unless there is
a man to drive for you. Don’t take offense
at this but I should fear to have you Write
immediately, enclosing a few postage stamps
and Direct to Palmer B. Holdridge Baltimore, MD
     Co. D. 114 Reg. NYS Volunteers
Goodbye—How is Freddie? Kiss him for me.

1 Binghamton, New York
2 Definition. Affray: a fight between two or more people in a public place that disturbs the peace
3 The first half of this word is not visible in the photocopy.

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Explanation of formatting:
Effort is made to keep much of the spelling, line breaks, and page breaks preserved as shown in the original letter book on file with the William L. Clements Library. Some names of third parties and other select data sets are considered, with footnotes added. A question mark (?) will often indicate a word or letter that was not clear. It may be used to replace the word or letter. Other times it may show on the end of a word, if the transcriber was unclear about that specific word, but chose to transcribe it.

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In August 2011 permission to publish "a typed transcript... to my publicly accessible ... family tree websites" and "Provide copies of my photocopy to any interested relatives" was granted.

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