New 109th New York Book from the Editor of Dear Friend Amelia

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a short note from Mary Jordan, editor of Dear Friend Amelia: The Civil War Letters of Private John Tidd. Since editing that collection of letters, she has been busy in a collaboration with Joyce Hatch working on a larger effort transcribing and preserving the writings of other soldiers from the 109th New York Infantry throughout the Civil War.  Check out the followiing press release on the book, and stay tuned for more:

The 109th New York Volunteers Remembered

1862 – 1865

By Local Authors Mary Jordan and Joyce Hatch

About this book:

The 109th New York Volunteers Remembered: 1862 – 1865 is a sequel to the author’s prior publications of Dear Friend Amelia: The Civil War Letters of Private John Tidd and Aunt Becky’s Army Life.  The research for this book spanned a period of 40 years of intermittent research by Mary Jordan and Joyce Hatch.

The author’s goal for this new book is to reveal the real heroes of the war, the common soldier, told in their own words, transcribed verbatim in chronological order from letters and diaries of 54 of the soldiers of the 109th..  The accounts of camp life, forced marches and the many battles fought can best be told through the soldier’s own words.  This book allows the reader to follow along in the footsteps of these brave soldiers from their enlistment to the end of the war when those that survived were transported home.

This book includes Appendix A:  One Hundred Ten photographs of the soldiers of the 109th. and Appendix B: The Revised 1910 Adjutant with bibliographies and genealogical information on several of the soldiers and their families with several additional names added and corrections made to the original work.

Also included are tables that depict the distribution of the 1373 soldiers who served throughout the war, showing the number killed in action, death from disease and etc., after each year and each battle.  In addition to the letters and diaries of the soldiers and officers, Newspaper Accounts; Official Records of the Rebellion; Historical photographs depicting places and events experienced by the soldiers and stories written by the soldiers are included.

History of The 109th New York Volunteer Infantry

The 109th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment was raised in Broome, Tioga and Tompkins County in July and August of 1862  War meetings were played out throughout the 24th District by recruiting officers to raise the required ten companies of one hundred men, meeting the quota for a full regiment of 1000 soldiers.

On Saturday, August 29th, the 109th Regiment left Camp Susquehanna in Binghamton, NY for Annapolis Junction, Maryland. There, for fourteen months, the 109th guarded the railroad, bridges and telegraph poles from Baltimore to Washington.  Their primary duty was to keep open the only lines of railroad tracks from Baltimore to the Capital, extremely important in supplying troops and supplies to the Army of the Potomac.

In mid-January 1864 the 109th (known at this time derisively as the Band Box Railroad Regiment) were assigned new duties of escorting newly drafted soldiers to their units at the front.  In April of 1864 the regiment was assimilated into the 9th Corps, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division under General Ambrose Burnside.

On April 27th the 109th left Binghamton for the front and after several days of marching, on May 6th,  saw action for the first time in the Battle of the Wilderness followed by grisly warfare in the Battles of Spotsylvania, Ny River, North Anna River, Totopotomoy Creek, Shady Grove Road, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, Assaults and Siege of Petersburg, Friend’s House, Norfolk and Petersburg Road, King George C.H. Road at the Hare House, Mine Explosion and Battle of the Crater, Weldon Railroad, Globe Tavern, Reams Station, Rifle Pits on the Weldon Railroad, Poplar Grove Church, Boydton Road, Warren’s Raid on Weldon Railroad, Fort Steadman, Fort Sedgwick, Fort Mahone and the final battle at Petersburg.

The 109th NY Volunteer Infantry Remembered is a result of the work of many individuals who contributed letters and diaries, Jerry Marsh, David Cleutz, Mike Colella, and John Goodnough were all contributors to this publication.

This is a soft cover book. 8.5 x 11 inches, 456 pages.  Available at RiverRow Books in Owego and from Mary Jordan, 262 Dimon Road, Berkshire, N.Y. 13736 or by phone 607-657-8379.  Mary Jordan has several scheduled book signings. She will be attending the Binghamton Craft Fair on March 18th, Dryden Senior Citizens Craft Fair on April 8th and Berkshire Fire Station on May 6th.