Wistoiy% Trails County Historical Society

Location: Mail Address: Agriculture Building Box 81 9811 Van Buren Lane Cockeysville, Md. 21030

Editors: JOHN W. McGRAIN and WILLIAM HOLLIFIELD VOL. 18 AUTUMN 1983 NO. 1 The Hersey Family's War for the Union — Part 2

Edited by Elmer R. Haile, Jr., and Amelia K. Haile

This is another installment from the collection of Civil War let- ters in the Baltimore County Historical Society library. Both were writ- ten to Joseph S. Hersey during his service but after Lee's surrender. The first letter is from 13-year-old James Wiley, a miller's son, who vented his anger at John Wilkes Booth. The second letter is from the soldier's wife, Susan Reynolds Hersey. A member of Company B, 187th Pennsylvania Infantry, Hersey was mustered out on August 3, 1865. The Herseys had two children: Sophia, who became Mrs. Adam R. Steitz, and J. Foster Hersey. The family members are buried at West Liberty United Methodist Church, Seventh District, Baltimore County. — Editor

April 28th 1865

Dier freind I take this plesent opurtunity this after nune to rite you A few lines but I cant hardly rite for the mill shakes nee. well we er all well at present and I hope tat thise few lines may find you in joy ing J. Foster Hersey, son of the Union veteran Joseph S. Hersey. Original the same. well Josy i am going to school this summer. it begun on last provided by Miss Dora Hersey. Munday. the first day we had 25 cholars. pap went to baltimore but the grinding cum in yesterday so fast that I could not go to school today. no more at present well Josy them old per of pigins that I got at comesses ther was sum your little friend body shot one of them and I shot the other one this morning. well Josy James R. Wiley we haf not herd frum Jimmy yet. we er all think that he is dead. well Joseph S. hersey Josy you said tht you was not well but trust in god to get better. well I york Co P.A. suppose that you herd of the murder of the presadent. well I hope that Josy would you pleas send me a good union song if you pleas the Asasin may have his brains scattered and his hart blowin in to twenty peasus and burned after words for I am shure that his bons wil richen the ground and the oil would ceep the ground moist and all traters served so to. we haf gut a nue name for that party the cut May 12, 1865 throats and horse thiefs. that is A good name for shutch vilens. the Dear Husband copses heads they haf gut yoused to that name. well Josy I think that I have seated myself foir the seckont tim this weeck to wright to this war is pritty near over. you. I have bin writing you one letter evry weeck. as you now our post of is so far of. I have a chance to send this letter this after noon. I will well I must stop riting for to brake corn ers. wright for if it is with you as with me a letter would be welcom any tim no more at present. which I now it is. we are all well I hope you are. we have so much rain giv my best respec to John howet. now it rained all night last night. I thought of you in your little shelter mother sends her and mary pap and nery Jane best respex too yous tents and to day is a very nice day. pap went to the fising last tusday and John howet. and has never got back yet. we will be loocking for him horn to day. PAGE 2 HISTORY TRAILS AUTUMN 1983 Josie I do not now as I have very much news. I hop your Colonel will ADDENDA: not suceed in his sham he is about. I think if he was fed on hard tacks and bean sup. wages 10 dol a mounth. he woul not be so anchous to Joseph S. Hersey was one of three brothers from a York County, stay. I hop you will be horn soon as it is the general talk the war is Pa., family who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. For over. thay are relesing the men. George Jimson is at horn. George his brothers, war service was harsher. Trostle (?) I received a letter from you. one from Milton on wensday. They were the sons of Solomon and Hannah Springer Hersey, he did not go from Philadefphia. he thinks they will stay there the who settled at New Park, Pa., near the Pennsylvania- line, remander of his tim out, thay are discharging the drafted men and about 1830. The father was descended from a pioneer family of sick there. he thinks agen the Is of this mounth thay will now what French origin in Cecil County, Md. The Springer name was Swedish thay are going to do. he had received a letter from Sallie Barns. She and Hannah Hersey's ancestors had been prominent in the early set- had heard from her husband and was in better heart a gen. she has not tlement of Wilmington, Del. writon horn for som tim. we do not now what can be the reason. thay Their second child and oldest son, Cpl. Francis Asbury Hersey of have heard Jimie Wiley was dead. he died a few days after he was the 87th Regular Pennsylvania Infantry, was reported missing in ac- wonded. the Capton wrought to them. thay do not now the paticlars tion at the in July 1864 and spent time in a Con- yet when and where he died as we now there has not bin none of us federate prison camp at Richmond before he was paroled in October. over sinse thay heard the news but must go for thay are in great dis He also lost a finger in the war. tress. Josie I am in a great hury as Melisa is going to fawn soon now Later he was a farmer in Hopewell Township, southern York after her bonnet at the milners. you must excuse this scribling. I am in County, dying in 1884 at age 61. a hury. I ought to wright milton a little. Bell is a sleep now I am rock- The youngest of the five children of Solomon and Hannah ing and writing. did I tell you we are going to have a telagraft up Hersey, Third Sgt. John B. Hersey, was the unluckiest of the brothers. alongue the road here. thay have it stacked out from McCals fery to Mustered into the 166th Pennsylvania Infantry Nov. 8, 1862 he came the Cros roads. the Bos was here this morning to see if pap could find down with smallpox while still at Camp Franklin, York, and died in pots from here to Strawbridgs. the men will be here alongue the 10 or York December 7 at the age of 32. He left his widow, the former Mary 15 of next mounth to put them up, pap has just Corn with his fish. he Ann Shirey, and three young children. has som for he is throwing them out at the spring. did the bons after I Following the sanitary practices of the time, Sgt. Hersey's body received them. I have to bonds 100$00 and 50$ one and I draw in- and those of other victims of contagious disease were destroyed in terest the fifteenth of next August. the rest of your money I lent out as quicklime. He is one of the war dead memorialized at the Soldiers I toldd you. I hop you will be hom to enjoy it soon. I think Foster Monument in Prospect Hill Cemetery, York. would now you. he talks so much about you. the fruit and grain loocks All three of the Hersey brothers have descendants in the York very prospering now. excuse this bad scribling. my love to you and and Baltimore counties area. also my friends. from yours truly — Caroline Gable, Susie L. Hersey Great-granddaughter of John B. Hersey Household Living Expenses at the End of the 18th Century As Gleaned from a Merchant's Account Journal by James W. Jones, C.P.A. especially interesting to the theme of this paper. These will be dealt with later. Details of all transactions are not complete in the entries Most persons accept the present daily chores or tasks as but sufficient transactions were detailed so that it is possible to necessary activities of life, seldom giving thought to the like necessity recognize the merchandise although many spellings are inaccurate of ancestors to perform the same acts with lesser conveniences. Many due in many cases to the limited formal education of most persons in persons fail to realize the harmony between the home and the mer- those days and the unfamiliarity of immigrants, for instance, with a chants who supply the family needs. new language. The Baltimore County Historical Society attempts in various ways In this paper an effort will be made to segregate various pur- to preserve customs, household utensils, farm implements, carpenter's chases and sales according to general household use. Thus, there will and other workmen's tools. Literature and other records are being col- be a category of furniture, one of clothing and material, one for kit- lected, among which are several account ledgers of numerous business chen utensils, one of food, one for other household necessities. men. One of the group of account books is a journal of an unidentified Baltimore merchant. FURNITURE UTENSILS The author has reviewed the entries in this journal and has ob- Furniture bowl tained a purview of the goods purchased and sold and some of the ac- pump cannister tivities of the inhabitants of Baltimore Town between 1795 and 1800. rings for drawers dish This merchant's journal contains records of transactions with scantling Dutch oven ninety-nine customers (Account Receivable) and thirty-one creditors forks (Accounts Payable). There are seven other accounts which are goblet AUTUMN 1983 HISTORY TRAILS PAGE 3 pickling jar green bage mens stockings knives green base thread measuring handkerchief ticklingburg blue and white mug pocket handkerchief velvett iron pot hatt wheal form tea pot Mention was made in paragraph four of seven other accounts. tumblers While each of these had significance to the merchant, the one that ex- wine glasses hibits the evidence pertinent to this paper is the account HOUSE EX- HOUSEHOLD NECESSITIES FOOD PENSES (pages 9, 34, 61 in the ledger). This account is understood to almanacks allspice be the diversion of the merchant's stock for personal use or outside ac- book brand and shorts quistion for direct household use. candles brandy The information in the journal entries for this account has been cat gutt cheese classified by the author into five categories, basically the same as the comb chocolate merchandise sold, but enlarged to include such items of cost and ex- ink powder coffee pense as might be required today. While most of the following are in- watch key cyder eluded in prior lists of items purchased and sold, these were acquired pen knife limes especially for the "house." nails Indian meal needles molasses Food: apples, bacon, beans, beef, bran, bread, butcher, butter, paper nutmegs drops, flour, hawg, onions, pork, brown sugar, sundries [not black paste oranges otherwise identified in journal entry] stone pitcher black pepper Clothing: braid [this may have been binding in previous list], plank rice India callico, India linen. poplar plank rum reel salt petre Necessities: bed ticken, chairs, cups and saucers, curtains, soap spirits white dishes, looking glasses, stove and pipe, wood [sawing and sprigs sugar hauling], sundries [not otherwise named]. tape loaves sugar tobaccoobacco tea The term "marketing" appeared at least fifty times and might c wood Hyson tea imply to some the weekly task of our younger days. There was no whiskey regularity of entry, but, in some cases, a reference to a past date was wild boar made for that recorded transaction. CLOTHING AND CLOTH There are other references in the HOUSE EXPENSES account bandanna handerchief hose which are of interest. Such items as "hireling," "Baker for hire," barcalona hose, silk & worsted "hire of Loice," "Stage hire," "Dr. Smith," indicates a need for out- bed ticking worsted hose side services. There is included an entry for "city taxes," one of the binding brown Holland certainties of life; and "panes for window glass for Askew house." An duffle blankets kerry interesting item is "cow feed" which may imply that the merchant boots kirsey kept a cow, although no other items seem to be related, but it was shoe buckles knapsack possible when consideration is given to more available land at that buckram Russian linen time. buttons mools scarlet mantle There were a few credits to this HOUSE EXPENSE account. The buttons muslin merchant had received several times from Thomas Hutchens, W. callico tweld nankeen Johnson, James Johnson, various sums for "board". callimanco nanking Another of the seven accounts referred to in paragraph four is cassamer osnabugs one entitled CHARGES in the journal. From these entries we glean check jacket pattern the following: rapin [wrapping] paper, empty hogshead, book [this cloth scarlet vest pattern would be the journal], ink powder, measure, curtins, drayage, lisance superfine cloth ribbons [license], small writing disk [desk], lock and newspapers. coating sattenete While this journal has considerable interest to accountants as an cravatt schawl example of early book-keeping, it also portrays for other present-day Russian duck scone silk inhabitants the transition from English currency of twelve pence, durant silk twenty shillings in the pound Sterling, to that of the newly established green durant silk twist decimal system of one hundred cents to a dollar following the found- flagnell shawls ing of the government of the United States. All entries were made in fustain Russian sheeting dual currency which made certain that no misunderstanding would gloves spats arise over the sums due. PAGE 4 HISTORY TRAILS AUTUMN 1983 Library Notes

by Amelia K. Haile

One hundred acres of Loudon Farm was purchased for use as a cemetery and The Loudon Park Cemetery Company was incorporated January 27, 1853. Within the next few years, Maryland, a border state, became divided in sentiment between the Union and the Confederate States. It is believed that more than twenty thousand sons of Maryland went across the Potomac and enlisted in Virginia regiments while only a few thousand Marylanders fought for the Union cause. It is not certain how Loudon Park Cemetery came to be selected as the resting place for the Union and Confererate casualties. The United States Government began to bury Union soldiers in a section of the cemetery. There was need to bury some Confederate soldiers, and some Union lot holders offered their lots for this pur- pose. Eventually the cemetery company traded ground with deed holders and Confederate Hill was begun for the Confederates. The library of the Baltimore County Historical Society has rosters of the Confederate dead compiled by the Compatriots of the Colonel Harry W. Gilmor Camp 1388, Sons of Confederate Veterans. The Confederate dead are listed by States in the Confederate Cemetery, a part of Rose Hill Cemetery, Hagerstown, Maryland. The library has a descriptive list of the burial places of the re- mains of Confederate soldiers who fell in the battles of Antietam, South Mountain, Monocacy, and other points in Washington and Frederick Counties. It also has a list of the Confederate soldiers and sailors who died at Point Lookout, Maryland, while prisoners of war. The roster for Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Frederick, Maryland, was It is stated on apparently good authority that Secretary Morton of prepared by Harold, Wayne, and Keith Goettner. The burials are in the Department of Agriculture would look with profound satisfaction the Confederate section of Mt. Olivet Cemetery. on the abolition of the entire department. These records may be of interest to persons researching veterans — American Miller, 23 (September 1, 1895): 671. of the Civil War.

Woodstock Items. — It is asserted that there are more legal pro- Ordered that the Treasurer pay to Jacob Wolf the sum of six and ceedings in the magistrate's courts at Granite, Baltimore county, than 50/100 Dollars for arresting 2 Italians. Constable bill. even at iniquitous Towsontown. — County Commissioners Minutes, December 11, 1883 (6:112). — Ellicott City Times, September 29, 1877.

Ordered that the Treasurer pay to Benj. T. Ridgely the sum of eight and 56/100 Dollars for killing crows in 1882. Catonsville Railroad. — The rails for this road are now laid on — County Commissioners Minutes, June 4, 1884 (6:225). the Frederick Turnpike out to the 5th mile-stone, and it is intended to have the track finished, and the cars running to Paradise Hotel by the 4th of July. The present contract is to finish the track to the 6th mile- A rapidly revolving belt in the Laurel Mills in this place, may be stone, in the western part of Catonsville. From thence to Ellicott's rightly called an electric belt. So great is the current of electricity that Mills the distance is three miles. by placing glass upon the floor, then a board on the glass, a person — Baltimore County Advocate, June 21, 1862, p. 2. then standing on the board and placing the ends of the fingers of one hand within about half an inch of the relolving belt, and holding a nee- dle between the fingers of the other hand, the current passing over the Church Improvement. — St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church at body is so great as to rapidly ignite the gas by holding the needle to a Texas, 8th District, is about undergoing extensive repairs. Proposals burner in close proximity. There is an item for Professor Edison. were asked for a new roof, replastering and repairing of the building, [Gleaner. Laurel, Prince George's County.] &c., and the following bids were received; Benjamin Howard, — Maryland Journal, Towson, August 31, 1878 $2,716.31; Mr. France, $2,460; Mr. Flowers, $1,975; Walsh & Sons, of Baltimore, $1,900. The Messrs. Walsh, being the lowest bidders, the Off—Two girls, slaves, ran away from the property of Mrs. Good- contract was awarded to them. Rev. P.B. Lenahan is pastor of the win near Timonium, on the 19th. inst. church. — Sun, May 27, 1854, p. 1. — Baltimore County Union, July 31, 1886.