Burke County GaArchives History - Letters .....Judson T. Hargroves Civil War Letter Guinea Station VA May 28, 1863 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Blair Updike peb406@aol.com October 26, 2007, 4:34 pm Camp near Guinea Station VA Thursday at noon. May 28th 1863 Dear Father + Mother Your kind letter was received on last evening and was much gratified to hear that you were all well. I’ve no news of much importance to write. We are anticipating a move very soon in Some direction unknown to us at pr- -esent, we received orders on last evening To keep in readiness to march at a m- oments warning. It may be possible that fighting Joe Hooker is going to cross the Rappahanock again and give us another brush if he does I think yes I know that he will get a worse wh- -ipping than he did before. It is thought that he will either make another attempt to cross the Rappahanock or change his base of operations to some other point probably down on the Peninsular to by old George B. McClellands route to Richmond I think Hooker is like a great many other Of their Generals played out as the old saying is. Something about my fare we get pl- -enty to eat such as it is old Bacon and flour very inferior articles of both; and occasionally we get a few dry peas and pickled Beef which is so salt that a dog could not eat it. Capt Corkers negroe boy that cooks for us goes out and get us milk every other day. It sells very high fifty cents per quart. The Lady with whom Capt Corkers wife is boarding furnishes us plenty of milk occasionally a pound of Butter. Our Mess consisting of five in number on several occasions drank four dollars worth f milk in one day. by this you may draw an indefinite idea of our expenditures for something to eat, two and two and a half dollars is considered reas- -onable for fresh Butter when I can get Milk to drink I don’t care about any thing else. I would like now to be at home to drink milk and eat Butter, and great many other things which abounds at ones home. have you plenty of fruit this year at home or will have. fruit crops especially apples has proven to be a perfect failure in this Section of Country and I am very sorry indeed, as It proved to be very beneficial to our army last Summer while we were on Marches through the Mountains in Northern Virginia and couldent get anything to eat except apples and roasted corn. I think you sold your Cotton extremely high though that was not as high as other things for Instance Calico at three and four oollars per yd. at such rates cotton ought to be worth seventy cents, Dear Father. I want you all to write so that I can hear from home once a week I had not heard from you in three weeks before yesterday. I have wrote about three times o some one of the fam- -ily since the fights on the Rappahanuck I haven’t received a letter from William since the 1st day of May. I answered a leter from Uncle Adam one also from Mid Thom a week or two ago. You must write soon and give me all the news There is one of the greatest revivals going on in our Regiment I ever saw the old men say here that they never saw such before in all their lives twenty four joined the Church here during one week and they ___ go into it through ex- -citement as a great many do at Such times, but they seam not to be ____ ___ deliberately __ had Baptism to- day __ Rev Mr Heyman chaplain of the 49 __ Rgt They joined the Baptist Church Consequently our Chaplain had to send for A Baptist minister to administer the ordanance Our Chaplain being a Methodist. I am glad to see it. To see religion gaining on vice and immorality so fast I think it con- -tinues so long that vice and wickedness will be entirely banished I must close by saying I am well and hope this may find you all ___ of the ____P______ould pay the ___ but it is almost impossible to get stamps Here in Camp. I have got plenty of money but cant pay the postage on my letters with it or I would pay it myself. Tell Stephen B. that I will write to him in a few days I few donot start on a march You all must not wait for an answer all the time for sometimes perhaps I don’t get your letters. And I am sure that such is the case sometimes. I wrote to Sue a few days ago before I got your letter I told her good about not writing to me. Tell Steave the answer to that question he asked me in your letter is “NO” nor have no idea of such a thing. You may show him this he will understand what I have reference to I will tell him about how come Ive to write to her V.C. You must write poor L. Ann. Your Devoted + affectionate son Judson T. Hargroves To Henry and Martha A. Hargroves The boys are all well and enjoying good health. Spring time has just made its full appearance here J.T.H . Additional Comments: Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879), known as "Fighting Joe", was a career U.S. Army officer and a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although he served throughout the war, usually with distinction, he is best remembered for his stunning defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker's plan for the spring and summer campaign was both elegant and promising. He first planned to send his cavalry corps deep into the enemy's rear, disrupting supply lines and distracting him from the main attack. He would pin down Robert E. Lee's much smaller army at Fredericksburg, while taking the large bulk of the Army of the Potomac on a flanking march to strike Lee in his rear. Defeating Lee, he could move on to seize Richmond. Unfortunately for Hooker and the Union, the execution of his plan did not match the elegance of the plan itself. The cavalry raid was conducted cautiously by its commander, George Stoneman, and met none of its objectives. The flanking march went well enough, achieving strategic surprise, but Hooker somehow lost his nerve when the first reports of enemy contact reached him on May 1, 1863. Rather than pushing aggressively into Lee's rear, he pulled his army back around the tiny crossroads town of Chancellorsville and waited for Lee to attack. Lee audaciously split his smaller army in two to deal with both parts of Hooker's army. Then, he split again, sending Stonewall Jackson's corps on its own flanking march, striking Hooker's exposed right flank and routing the Union XI Corps. The Army of the Potomac dropped into a purely defensive mode and eventually was forced to retreat. The Chancellorsville campaign began with the crossing of the Rappahannock River by the Union army on the morning of April 27, 1863. Heavy fighting began on May 1 and did not end until the Union forces retreated across the river on the night of May 5 to May 6. McClellan's army began to sail from Alexandria on March 17. It was an armada that dwarfed all previous American expeditions, transporting 121,500 men, 44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, over 15,000 horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant." The army's advance from Fort Monroe up the Virginia Peninsula proved to be slow. George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was a major general during the American Civil War. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign in 1862 ended in failure, retreating from attacks by General Robert E. Lee's smaller army, failing in the planned seizure of the Confederate capital of Richmond. Captain Stephen A. Corker. 3rd GA Infantry Company A. William Hargroves, his brother who was 29 at the time. Adam Brinson? His mother’s brother? 3rd Georgia Infantry Company A. Thomas Judson Hargroves enlisted as a private and discharged as a Sargent Major. John T. Heyman, 49th GA Infantry Chaplain. Steven Brinson Hargroves, Jusdson’s brother, who was 24 at the time. Called “Steave” later in the letter. Susannah E. Hargroves, his sister, who was 17 at the time. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/burke/history/letters/judsonth707gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.4 Kb