On Board Steamer Iron City Ohio River June 4th 1865 Dear Nell. Again I am about to continue my “occasionals” the last of which was issued from Parkersburg yesterday. and in which I gave you the outlines of our journey from Washing ton to that point. Had I possessed a little more time yesterday I would have tried to give you some slight description of the country through which we passed. and today. if you can manage to make out what I am trying to write I will give you a further description. This confounded old stern wheel steamer goes pitching tossing and rolling along. like a “Billy Goat” tied to a post: and aided by a most miserably [point?] pen I can scarcely [illegible in original] a single letter in accordance with the rules of Spencer. Bryans and Stratton or any of the great chirographers of our day or any other.. By a reference to the map you will ascertain the course of the Balto and Ohio R.R. and can find the principal towns along the route. You will see also that the country is repre sented as being rough and mountain ous but no map can ever give me any idea of what the B and O RR is. [Nature?] never found anything one half so rough and art alone could have done it. Crooked. Crookeder. crookedest of all roads. rougher. roughest. slower. slow est. with the poorest. accommodations and meanest regulations that ever existed on any road in a civilized country.. Bring an accommo dation train [illegible in original] near obliged to give the track to everything and spent one half our time in laying on some side track while from three to ten trains passed us… The country from Martinsburg is very mountainous along the railroad and from Grafton to Parkersburg a distance of one hundred miles. there h are 80 bridges and 20 tunnels throug the mountains. the tunnels ranging from 20 rods to more than a mile in length. We were 14 hours running this distance After leaving Martins burg. the principal places were Cumberland Md. and Grafton and Clarksburg West Va. We also passed in sight of Hancock Md. Cumber land is a very pretty town of considerable size. and contains many important business buildings and a “right smart” of pretty girls.. We had a good supper at the River House the best part being some splendid Beef steak. the like of which I have 4 eaten since Mother used to cook steak for us. A few miles from Cumberland we again crossed the Potomac and all was “Old Virginny nebber tire” again. But if “Old Va” did'n't tire I did and have ‘n't fully recovered yet although I am gaining some. At Cumberland the men got hot coffee and again at Grafton. which being the junction of the. N W.Va R.R. and B and O. is a town of some importance and consid- erable size We only stopped long enough to get our coffee and then went on to Clarksburg. where as I stated before we were detained by an accident on the train in advance of ours.. We were well pleased to reach Parkersburg and have an opportunity to straighten ourselves out before proceeding further. I got a good breakfast and then worked at my old business until I had replenished the mens Haversacks. and then looked around the town a while but found it only a one horse sort of a place and was glad to get away. The govern ment has so little steamboat trans portation on this river and is now sending so many troops to the west that they are compelled to seize the regular packet boats on the river and use them. We are now on board one obtained in this way.. a long wide flat bottomed stern wheel keel. Three decker. packet boat running between Pittsburg and Parkersburg. Six hundred men can be quite comfortably accommodated as soldiers on board of her. and the officers have state.. rooms. Being acquainted with a young Lieut I accepted an invitation to share a room with him. 6 The accommodations are good and as it will take us six or seven days to reach St Louis I anticipate a pleasant journey. The Ohio River is not wider at any of the points we have passed yet than the general width of the St Joe and being very crooked it seems hardly possible to run such a boat as ours The country along the banks is broken and we have passed many coal mines and Oil wells both in Va. and Ohio. Last night we stop ped to take on coal at [illegible in original] a city seven miles in length along the bank of the river but being quite dark I could not see its width. On the Va the oil wells abound in large numbers. On account of the fog we were compelled to lay by for a time and when I crawled out I found nearly everyone on shore [cooking?] their breakfast. 7 We were on the Ohio side of the river a few miles above the mouth of Big Sandy run Cincinnatti Ohio June 5th 1865 Having found it almost impossible to write while the boat was in motion yesterday I stopped after scratching the forgoing lines and now while lying here I will take up my disconnected story and jog ahead. After the fog had cleared away and the men had got their breakfast we started and kept along our route steadily passing by the way Brandenburg Ky. Ripley Ohio Maysville and Augusta Ky. and many of the smaller and less important towns whose names I did not learn. and reached this point at about 11 Oclock last night and anchored near the Kentucky shore opposite Newport. 8 This morning I turned out as early as possible got ashore and took a stroll through the streets of Newport. before the boat got under weigh and then we only came to this side for orders. It is now nearly ten A.M. and we are only waiting for a pilot before proceed ing on our way. Of course we have but little chance to see Cincinnatti as we know not how soon we may leave and it [wd be?] very unpleasant to have them go off and leave us. I have been up into the city a little ways. but can not say anything concerning the town which can not be seen from the river on account of the big houses along the shore and the immense clouds of coal smoke that hover over it. Newport and Covington are situated directly opposite Cincinnatti on the Kentucky side and in one town 9 Some small stream divides them and I suppose entitles each part to a separate name. Newport is quite a pretty town. Covington I can say nothing of. the stay here in Cin- has been quite long enough and now we are moving again. We shall probably reach. Louis ville to night at midnight. Could we move along without stopping at any of these points it would be much more pleasant. as little or no restriction is placed upon the liquor traffic and when the men can get it you may depend upon it they will. and although we lay at Cincinnatti less than two hours nearly one 4th of the men are drunk and any one not accustomed to it would think from the noise that we had a float ing madhouse instead of a crew of men. sensible rational men. ‘Tis strange that a little distilled corn. or rye can make such brutes of a lot of men 10 Tis very pleasant to see the greeting we receive all along the route. at every town village or farm house we can see the “Old Flag” waving from the windows while the ladies “God Bless ‘em”) wave their handkerchief's the men swing their hats and seem deter mined that “We'll all be gay when Johnny comes marching home” but by the way we are not “marching home” The boys always have a cheer for every one and there is scarce a minute that there is not a cheer from some portion of the boat. The banks of the river still continue hilly and rocky and about the only product of the soil we have seen on the Ohio side is the [illegible in original] which yesterday were very [illegible in original] all along the shore. The weather still continues very hot. my hands are sweaty. and the boat [illegible in original] so that I can not write with any comfort so I will close. and wait further developments 11 Evening Having become heartily tired out with all the various amusements on the boat I have decided to return to my room and make up my log book for the day. We have travelled over a hundred miles since leaving Cincinnatti and are now a few miles below Madison Indiana. We have passed during the day Vevay. Rising Sun. and Madison on the Indiana side of the river and Kent and Carrollton on the Kentucky side. and I think several smaller towns on either side. but none of them of any size or importance Madison is the largest town we have passed and is about the size of Buchanan. perhaps a trifle larger.. Vevay and Kent are situated directly opposite each other. Carrollton at the mouth of the Kentucky river 12 The river is wider and the country better today than yesterday yet too hilly for me. all of these towns are situated on a little flat and surrounded by hills. and the roads by which they are reached from the country back of them come winding over hills. which I. accustomed as I am to mountains should call them mountains rather than hills.. They beat anything in Michigan. But the boat has stopped from some cause and I guess I will stop and see what is the [illegible in original] 13 Wednesday Morning June 6th 1865 We are now lying under a bank for the purpose of enabling the men to clean up and get their break fast and the boat hands to clean up the boat Our journey still continues rather monotonous all passes off quickly. The river increases slightly in width the towns continue to meet us at almost regular intervals and all are nearly alike. Night before last we reached Louisville about midnight but as I was abed and asleep I did not know it until yesterday morning. Three of us then took a walk up town but did not go very far nor see much of the city. Louisville is quite a large city. more so than I was prepared to find it 14 but then we have travelled so much among Virginia towns that like the inhabitants of the “Old Dominion” we have forgotten there was anything of [illegible in original] outside of Va.. Gen Custer and staff were at Lt Louisville. waiting for a boat to take them to New Orleans. where he is to meet Gen Sheridan. Just below Lousiville are the falls of the Ohio river making it almost im possible to go over them at some times. The fall is not large. but a few feet and in high water they are almost imperceptible. yet we had a splendid view of them yester day morning. A large canal is built around them which enables them to run the boats around them. Jeffersonville and New Albany Indiana are almost directly opposite Louisville New Albany is properly five miles below. but it seems almost 15 one and the same with Jefferson ville. Yesterday we passed Branden burg and Henderson on the Ky. side and Leavenworth Danielson and some other towns that I failed to get the names on the Indiana side. At Danielson we stopped for an hour and took on coal and of course we had to take a stroll up town. It was a little one horse affair as a town. the princi pal feature being a large cotton factory in full blast and furnishing employment to hundreds of women and girls. They closed for the day soon after we reached there and we had a good sight at them. but I made up my mind that the lines of the poet who said that “beauty unadorned is adorned the most” wouldnt hold good in this case. because I saw none of the factory girls in their working dress that compared with a couple of others 16 who did'n't work in the factory and who did adorn themselves in clean dresses and “[illegible in original] hats.” with curls. “Oh! my but wa'n't they terrific” The confounded old steamboat blew that worst of all things the whistle (and then let me state that the whistle. on the then devilish Ohio river steam wheelers is the worst of all whistled and I was saved. Some of our boys who started from Washington with the command had been left there a week ago. and I almost envied them. We ran all night last night passing Evansville. and have about an hours run to the Illinois line; will probably reach Cairo to night. and then nearly two days run to St Louis.. It is now the prevailing opinion that we shall proceed to Leavenworth before stopping. The people are growing scarce as we descend the river and appear to be poorer than “Jobs Off Ox.” It would please you to see the boys when we stop along the banks. Night before last we stopped near a small farm house and soon as the boat touched the shore the men rushed off and started for the house and I almost feared they would serve it as they would have done in Va but after scaring the pretty. girl almost out of her senses they ceased but one wretch having “cheek” enough to go in the house when he helped himself to a dozen or more of eggs.. As soon as the boys found it out they set to hooting him till he went and carried them back but he never will hear the last of “Eggs” 18 This morning one of the men stole some onions. the boys surroun ded him caught him put him into a blanket and tossed him in the air. hooted him and heaped all the derision possible until he slunk away completely disgusted. Another borrowed a fishing line and took from a boy at the house and refused to return it the boys ran him aboard the boat caught him and taking the hose pipe that the hands were using to wash the deck gave him a good shower bath. They are bound that no man shall steal from a people in a free state. and are taking the proper course to stop it. The officers could do nothing toward stopping such a thing and wisely allow the men to do as they choose with the offenders. 19 not I can ^ avoid again speaking of the pleasure we are taking on this trip. One thing that adds to the pleasure is a small party that were taking a pleasure trip from Pittsburgh when the boat was seized They originally consisted of the Captains wife with three little girls whose ages range from 10. to 14 years. and a little boy aged about 12 years. At Cincinnatti the Captains wife went back but the rest are going through to St Louis The little girls are all good singers and it is pleasant to listen to them evenings as they sing a great many songs.. The managers of the boat are all jolly good fellows and every thing passes off pleasantly. A great many of the men are becoming very much dissatisfied at having to go west when by the conditions of Secretary Stanton's order of May 10th they should now 20 be discharged. I am myself disposed to “grin and bear it” and feel no inclination to campaign although I can not dispute that we are by every precedent and right entitled to our discharge. But I am willing to remain until October. as I do not think I could make any more at home during the intervening months than I can here. It is now the impression that from St Louis we shall go to Leavenworth and from there to the frontiers or to Texas. This will give us an opportunity to see the country. and the men will all be more contented at home. If discharge next October at St Louis I think I shall spend a few weeks visiting in Minnesota. Ill' and Wisconsin. I beleive I'll tell you a little bit of news concerning myself which I learned at Washing ton 21 When the cavalry arrived at Washington Col Litchfield rejoined the regiment and immediately set to work to fill up the vacancies in the officers. and recommended for promotion nearly every 1st Sergt in the regt to the grade of 2nd Lieuts. among them myself. Among the number were also my friends Clark and Jackson. E.D. Cooke of our Co and a Sergt from St Joe. Several 2nd Lieuts have been appointed 1st Lieuts and some 1st Lieuts. Capts among the latter was Lieut Loomis. which pleases me you can bet. Col. Litchfield resigned and Lt Col Briggs. (“Our Briggs) has been made full colonel without hurting any one's feelings. 22 Colonel. Stagg who has commanded the brigade since last November has received the “Star” and we have another General of our own. He is an officer of great abilities and experience and can command a brigade better than the average of such commanders but never had the confidence of the men like the “Little Poodle” It is thought that Col Litchfield resigned on account of this pro motion as he being the senior Col. of the brigade was entitled to it.. Although I would very well like to have it said that the “Shush rats” had made a Brigadier I would rather Gen Stagg should command our brigade than Col Litchfield 23 Friday Morning June 9th 1865 As we are within three hours ride of St Louis I have decided on finishing this letter and if opportunity occurs mail it on reaching St Louis. The pre vailing opinion which I mentioned a few days ago seems to have settled down to a certainty and we now confidently expect to go on to Fort Leavenworth before resting. If we are to go at all I hope we shall do so without a change of boats.. But to resume our journey. We reached Cairo at 9 P.M. of Wednes day. where we intended to procure rations but after looking around and weighing everything in the scales of our consideration it was decided that we would not and according ly left there at two A.M. yesterday 24 We paused for a short time on our way down at Paducah Ky. and following up our practice of seeing every place where any opportunity occurred we jumped ashore as soon as the boat touched. We had no time. however to explore the town very extensively but made up our mind that it contained the most unaccommodating set of inhabitants we had met with since leaving Va.. and were not sorry to leave. At Cairo we took a more extensive stroll. but although poets and writers of lovesick sentimental novels. may [illegible in original] all they will of the beauties of moonlights I “could'nt see it. from where I stood” that night or else Cairo must be a mighty pretty unhandsome city. 25 We did however find a mighty nice Ice Cream salon and feasted ourselves upon Ice Cream and strawberries and lemonade sweetened with Port Wine. and we really did pass an hour or two very pleasantly.. The liberality of the “[illegible in original]” was really refreshing to our spirits that were thirsting for sympathy. from our true and loyal sympathizers of “Egypt” nothing that they had was too good for us and as for pay do'n't speak of it – No green backs that we had were too much for them. So we left Cairo feeling very grateful to the kind hearted inhabitants for releiving our spirits and our pockets of a great load. Yesterday morning on turning out. I found myself in sight 26 of the small town of Commerce Mo. and about ten A.M. we passed the larger more important and more noted village of Cape Girardeau Mo. Here we found large fortifications. and a considerable number of soldiers. The Catholics have a large college or Institute a really magnificent and extensive building with nice grounds. They have also a nice little church. The town itself was a very pretty little place. situated on a side hill and commanding a good view of the river for some distance both above and below. The houses are nearly all of brick and much larger than is common for so small a town. and everything bore a very refreshing air of civilization and enterprise. We are now within sight of Jefferson Barracks twelve miles below St Louis which place we expect to reach about ten Oclock 27 A few miles below we caught sight of the [illegible in original] Court House dome at St Louis.. Since passing the mouth of the Wabash the country has changed the banks of the river are or rather were more level and the country quite beautiful. The river was wider and the towns less frequent. We passed Mound City Ky about 8 P.M. Wednes day. We of course could not see the town. The [illegible in original] fleet lay at anchor in the river and we caught a sight of one monitor and six or eight Mississippi Gun boats. These boats are very different machines from the gun boats of our Atlantic coast. being of the “mud turtle” or “shell back” order.. So much has been said written and painted of the “Great Father of Waters” that I do not feel as though I could say anything to add any interest 28 Every thing that has been said concerning it seems true. Its width its muddy waters. its snags and lastly but not leastly. the steamers that plow its muddy waves. Its tanks have been lined with those famous “wood piles” which have been the subject of so many jokes. and we are frequently passing the steamers.. Writers and travellers may curse as they will the steamers of the Mississippi but to my inex perienced eyes. they look like float ing palaces. where one. and more especially one who has passed days months and years in the wild scenes of a soldiers life would fare. that he had been transported to the third heavens of terrestial joy and comfort. 29 They are certainly the most enormous water craft that I ever saw and the passenger boats seem to be got up with no stint of money to make them what they should be. Externally they seem to be the most gorgeously built boats I ever saw. Their dimensions. were I to whisper them. you would accuse me of exaggerating while as to speed. such stories as our boat crew tell of them would be deemed incredible. What would you thing of the speed of a boat. that goes fifteen miles per hour up stream from New Orleans to Cairo.. against a current that must run from five to 8 or nine miles per hour. Yet the “Ida Handy” one of the nicest packets on the western waters does it regularly 30 I must again speak of our own good craft the “Iron City” which with the exception of the “Ida Handy” is the fastest boat we have yet seen. We have passed every thing we have seen since leaving Parkersburg. and my one great hope now is that if compelled to go to Leavenworth they will grant us the “Iron City” The crew is the most gentlemanly one we have ever seen since it has been our lot to travel by boat and it will be with regret that we bid them “adieu” and our journey from Parkersburg will not soon be forgotten. But as we are slowly nearing St Louis and ere long the hurry and bustle of packing up prepara tory to disembarking will take place. 31 Present my regrets to every one that our prospects now serve to forbid my celebrating the Fourth of July with them, but I guess I shall be there in 1866 to help them. I hope Mother will not be too sadly disappointed at the turn affairs have taken. October is now the golden month of Promise and when its sombre days shall come you may hope to welcome home your wandering but ever affectionate brother Ed. P.S. I think your letters will not fail to reach me if directed to St Louis, Mo. However I shall not fail to keep you posted on affairs in the “Far West”