May 29, 1861

Grand Rapids, Michigan

May 29th, 1861

I take my pen in hand to write you a few lines and let you know how I am. I am not very well at present and it has been very unpleasant weather since I have been here, I took a very heavy cold when I first came here. I have had a Diarrhea since I have been here, but I am better now. I like the soldiers life so far very well.

I belong to the Third Regiment and the Seventh Company, which goes by the letter G. Our regiment is very large, containing one thousand and eleven men. We have not got our military clothes yet but we expect them soon, they are at Grand Rapids and they will be in camp today or tomorrow. We do not know when we shall leave here or where we shall go, but I think we shall go to Detroit, at Fort Wayne.

Last Sunday we went down to the river to go swimming and a man got drowned by the name of James Hammard. He was from St Johns and was in the river forty minutes but he could not be brought to life again. Last Friday I went visiting to see Mr. Martin. I found them all well, Mary Ann wants to see you very much. She has got two girls, young winners. She has but two children, they are doing well and have got a good home within five miles of the Rapids. Tideah [sic] lives 11 miles from the Rapids and I have not seen him yet but I mean to go there Saturday if I can. She has got two girls and lost one boy last summer who was 8 years old.

 No more at present, I hope these few lines may find you enjoying good health so goodbye. I send my love to you all and Buby in particular.

                                                               S Mathews

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The first letter we have of Samuel Mathews. Written by pen on stationary with a flag in the upper right corner, and, like most of his letters, folded like a book. During his stays at winter quarters and established camps he usually wrote with pen and ink, but during the summer and campaigns the letters were decidedly pencil. The reason behind this is because a soldier would rarely want to carry a pen with nibs, powdered ink, and a glass ink bottle in his already too heavy knapsack or blanket roll.


The "military clothes" Samuel mentions were the grey uniforms that the 3rd. originally left with, a "shoddy suit of gray, furnished us by a shoddy contractor at Grand Rapids, who made a fortune out of the speculation". These wore out soon and were replace by the standard blue uniform.

His sickness he described was very common all throughout the war. Many of the men, especially from Michigan, had lived all their life in rural communities and were not subject to the many viruses and diseases the the city born people became immune to, and so if you put 1,011 of such men together in a non-sanitary place with very few immune to most sicknesses and poor food, there is bound to be some problems.

Writing Home. Hardtack and Coffee, by John Billings