Editor’s Note: This item is part of a collection of letters from New York engineers written while their units were at the Siege of Petersburg. Researcher and Engineer enthusiast Dan O’Connell generously donated all of the items in this collection for use at The Siege of Petersburg Online. These transcriptions are copyrighted by Brett Schulte and may not be used without my express written consent. I do not have images of these letters so some errors could be from transcription or in the original.
Camp near Petersburg, Va.
November 7th 1864Dear Parents
I have just received a letter from you and seeing I have time now I will answer immediately before it gets cold. Daniel and myself are both well and in good spirits though I think I should feel better if I did not have to go out to work tonight at the mine but I think we will finish it in three or four days and then I guess our work here will be about completed unless they find another job for us to do. The other Co.’s went back to HQ yesterday.
Well I suppose we wil soon know how the election is going for tomorrow is election day and one party or the other must soon come to grief but I don’t believe in their making such a great splurge about election and if the people at large had taken the matter cooler in former years this war might have been avoided and many precious lives saved by it but the masses have become excited and they know not when to stop in their mad career but the war is upon us and we will fight it out until we whip or get whipped and I sometimes fear it will be the latter.
I see by the papers that the rebels contemplate arming their slaves or about 500,000 of them and guarantee them their freedom and fifty acres of land and I think they will have no trouble and in making them fight as long as they hold out this inducement to them. Today has been quite rainy though not very cool for this season of the year and by jinks I can’t think of any thing more to write about except that I am going to have a mess of sweet potatoews for supper besides all the nick nacks such as hardtack and coffee. Old uncle sam don’t furnish us anything but the nick nacks lately. Please excuse a short letter for this time.
From your affectionate son
Chas W. Personious1
***
Other Letters Written By Charles Personius at the Siege of Petersburg:
- LT: June 10, 1864 Charles Personius
- LT: June 18, 1864 Charles Personius
- LT: July 18, 1864 Charles Personius
- LT: July 24, 1864 Charles Personius
- LT: August 8, 1864 Charles Personius
- LT: November 18, 1864 Charles Personius
- LT: January 12, 1865 Charles Personius
- LT: January 15, 1865 Charles Personius
- LT: February 17, 1865 Charles Personius
- LT: February 19, 1865 Charles Personius
- LT: March 16, 1865 Charles Personius
Source:
- Personius, Charles. (1864, November 7). (Letter to his parents). Personius Brothers Letters (CL 105, Box B, Folder 38). Booth Library, Chemung Valley (NY) Historical Society, Elmira, NY. ↩