We Will Meet Again: Letters Home

 

Unidentified African American soldier in US military uniform with wife and two daughters during the Civil War.

Library of Congress

Words of Warriors

I don't fear nothing in the shape of man.
-Private Edward Francis, Co. B, 114th United States Colored Infantry

In January 1865, the 114^th US Colored Infantry [USCI], one of the regiments organized at Camp Nelson, was sent to the battlefronts at Petersburg and Richmond in Virginia. Although the men were serving far from their homes in Kentucky, they tried to keep in contact with their families and friends through letter writing. Most of the African American soldiers in the 114^th USCI had been enslaved before enlisting in the US Army. Consequently, they often lacked the ability to read or write. The men’s illiteracy did not stop them from desiring to express their thoughts, emotions, and experiences with loved ones. They often relied on the regiment’s white officers and chaplains to dictate messages home and read letters sent from family members. There were so many Black soldiers seeking these services in Virginia in the winter and spring of 1865 that some officers such as Lieutenant Warren Goodale found it “very trying to have to read for them the letters sent by their mothers & wives.”

Private Edward Francis was one such soldier in the 114^th USCI who expressed his thoughts on paper. Writing to his wife who remained enslaved in Kentucky, Francis emphasized how much he missed her and their three children. However, duty called. Mlilitary service provided Francis and his comrades the opportunity to escape the chains of slavery, earn a living to support their families, and make a firm and courageous declaration for civil rights post-emancipation. While participating in the siege operations at Petersburg in February 1865, Francis declared, “Pray the Lord how soon we will meet again at home & I want to live & die a brave man if I never see you again & I have been away from you so long. I don’t fear nothing in the shape of man.”

 

A Black soldier, identified as a member of the 114th United States Colored Infantry, stands guard on a pontoon bridge that spans the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, 1866.

Robin Stanford Collection, Southern Methodist University.

We did come out like men.

The Civil War may have ended in 1865, but for thousands of African American soldiers, their service was far from over. Several USCT regiments, especially troops of the segregated Twenty-fifth Army Corps, were transferred from the Eastern Theater to Texas. Private Edward Francis described the USCT's difficult journey from the Virginia to their new station, including a journey along the sea, writing: "I traveled on the Atlantic Ocean. I was very sick but I soon got well..." Franchis and his comrades were joined by thousands of other volunteer troops who were placed under the command of Major General Philip H. Sheridan. The army was tasked with guarding the US-Mexico border and ensuring that the French puppet government under Emperor Maximilian did not pose a threat to American sovereignty.

For Black soldiers, post-war duty in Texas was a long and monotonous. The 114th USCI and 116th USCI remained in service until 1867. Soldiers used letters to express their experiences in a new region to family members back home in Kentucky. A few even wrote directly to the commander-in-chief.

Written correspondence remained a majority priority for black soldiers in their new duty stations. According to Lt. Goodale of the 114th USCI, who penned a letter from the regiment's new camp at Brownsville, Texas on July 5, 1865, "The men like to send and receive letters, and few of them can read or write." For those who could not write, officers like Goodale transcribed their soldiers words to paper, "Some of the Company officers are always willing to write as many letters as they have time for and then it is rather a part of the Chaplain’s duty to write for those who need his assistance." Letters, whether written by a soldier's hand or expressed by word of mouth to an officer or comrade, was a intimate expression of the thoughts and experiences of USCT soldiers. It was a common, simple activity, states Goodale: "When a man can tell just he wishes written, it is not difficult to write their letters."

Pvt. Francis sent multiple letters to his wife while the 114^th USCI was stationed at Brownsville. In a letter written in August 1865, Francis conveyed his love and concern for his distant family: “I hope you will remember me. I hope that you will talk to my little children & not let them forget me. My dear, I want to see you worse than everybody else.” Francis was thankful that he had “been blessed with health & strength so far,” and encouraged his wife to “take good care of yourself.” Many formerly enslaved African Americans who joined the US Army used the opportunity to learn to read and write from officers and literate comrades, and Francis was no exception. Francis dictated his August letter, but in it he revealed, “I am learning to write myself & I can scratch right smart.”

Besides sending letters, soldiers highly valued receiving messages from their families at home. Francis received a letter from his wife on September 21, 1865, and enthusiastically wrote back to her the same day. “I was glad to get it because it come[s] from your kind hand,” Francis stated, “It give[s] me much comfort to hear from you again.” Revealing the importance hearing from loved ones was to soldiers deployed across the country, Francis concluded “I feel like a new man since I have got[ten] a letter. Still feeling thankful that the Lord has bless[ed] me.”

 

Private William Wright, Co. H, 114th USCI, in uniform with book, likely the Bible, on table. Wright was from Franklin, Kentucky, and enlisted with enslaver's consent at Camp Nelson in 1864.

Library of Congress

The Condition of our families in Kentucky and the Condition of ourselves

We have stood up together with Comrades and have proved not only to the people but to the world that we have been faithfull and prompt to all duties.
-First Sergeant William White, 116th United States Colored Infantry, to President Andrew Johnson, July 3, 1866

Literacy offered African Americans the opportunity to share their grievances. For members of the 116th USCI, the promise of unpaid dues inspired them to write President Andrew Johnson from Texas on July 3, 1866. Many men, both white and black, enlisted to collect bonuses/bounties offered by state governments and the War Department. The men who joined the 116th USCI were promised a bounty of $300, nearly double of their annual pay from the army. A group of men, led by Sgt. William White, wrote a lengthy letter to Johnson hoping to receive the bonuses in order to support their families back in Kentucky. The regiment, explained White, "have fulfilled all posts that we have been put." Despite this, their commander, Colonel William Woodward, "treat[ed] the soldiers so mean as we have been treated," writes White. Woodward was later accused of stealing of over $5,000 of his soldiers' pay. He was honorably discharged and fled before official charges were pressed.

The soldiers were most concerned with the plight of their families at home. According to Sgt. White, "we are a nation that was poor and had nothing when we came to the service." Before enlistment, the men had neither "house nor money" and "no place to put [their families]," explains White. He continued, "We left our wives and children no place for them to lay there heads." As a result, "we left them not counted on equal footing as the white people." The men enlisted with the promise to take care of their families, and had faithfully "executed our duty in the Army of the United States." They fought in the war "to either make us a a nation of people [either] in this generation or next to come," writes White, echoing the sentiment of Black soldiers across the country. The letter concluded with a request that the president reply.

No evidence can be found that President Johnson ever replied to the letter. Was the bounty ever paid?

National Park Service staff at Camp Nelson National Monument is still determing the answer.