February 5, 1862

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Camp Michigan

Feb 5th, 1862

Dear Sister and Brother, it is with pleasure I sit down to write you a few lines to inform you of my health. It is good at present and I hope these few lines will find you all well. I received your letter baring the date of Jan 22, and I was glad to hear from you that all was well. I have plenty to eat but was sorry to hear that Boney was dead. Tell Charles Caswell he can come to see me and to bring his wife with him, I should like to see her too. 

Our Regiment has been on picket duty for the last four days and counting. Coutis [sic] had one skirmish with the Rebels and killed several of them with out receiving any loss. I was not in the fray but heard it and started for the scene, but the fun was over before I could reach the scene of action. Our men retreated, there was but seventy-one of our men and the rebels had some four hundred.

Jane spoke of England interfering with with us in our present troubles, but there is no danger, they dare not interfere. As far as I am concerned I would rather they pitch in as not.

I have sent you my likeness, it is not very good but it is better than none. I did not put on any accouterments for I thought you would rather see me in my old fashion.

I had a letter from Lem not many days ago, they are all well. Henry and Hiram Hyde have enlisted, they are in the 6th Regiment. They must be to Baltimore now, and Frank has enlisted somewhere. Buby, I will be home soon to eat those apples. Tell all my enquiring friends that I send my best respect to them. Tell Margette to wait patiently until I return. George, when I am back I will fetch you a black girl. 

You must write soon. This is from,

   Sam

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Written by pen on a plain piece of paper and folded like a book.

Charles Caswell was a neighbor of the Taylors (Samuel's sister and brother, Samuel lived with them before the war and worked on their farm).

Company H and I of the 3rd were involved in a skirmish with the rebels on February 3 near Occoquan village. They had been sent on a scouting mission, and when the companies pulled up on the opposite side of the river than the village, they surprised some rebels who were drilling on the other side. The confederate troops ran at the companies "Bull Run" style, and took positions within several houses. Captain Lowing of Company I told the men to "Show them what the new Austrian rifles can do", and the men from the 3rd fired several times, and after dropping four of the opposing soldiers, they retired to a more protected area. 

The firing, being heard at regimental headquarters, caused the reserve of each company to be sent forward. 30 men were sent from Company G, and it appears to be that Samuel was one of them, though that fact is not verified. The reinforcements were disappointed to arrive a little too late, for the scouts were already falling back and the extra troops followed them back to Camp Michigan.

By this time, the 3rd had all but disposed of the old shoddy gray uniforms made for them by a Grand Rapids contractor and had replaced these with the standard issue uniform, with the exception of getting black greatcoats instead of the standard light blue.

Samuel mentions the chance of England interfering with the war. It was a great hope of the south that England, after using up all its cotton stores, would come to help the Confederate States so they could keep the fabric mills running. Unfortunately for the south, 1860 had been a bumper crop of cotton and the storehouses in England were stuffed to the rafters. By the time England begun to run out of cotton, Abraham Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the confederate states (not the northern states, of which there were a few who still retained slaves). Because England had outlawed slavery years before, they could not support a country that was now fighting to keep slaves due to the proclamation and the fact that the north was now fighting in part to free the slaves.

Buby (or Bub) is Samuel's nickname for his 10 year old nephew Levi, the son of Tunis and Sarah Jane Taylor.

Levi and his father Tunis Taylor many years
after the war.
 

June 18, 1861

Washington 

June 18, 1861

My dear brother and sister, I sit down to write you a few lines and let you know where I am and how I am. I am well at present and I hope these few lines may find you the same.

We were called to march to sooner than we expected to, for we left Grand Rapids on the 13th and got to Washington the 16th. We had a good time and a long ride of eight hundred miles. We went through Baltimore at about Seven o’clock. All was quiet we were all armed and our guns loaded, we expected an attack. We are encamped”on the heights in the District of Columba close to Virginia.

There is someone killed almost every night here. Our guard shot at a man last night but did not hit him, it seems as if this is a dangerous place. Here everyone has to look out for himself, and is not allowed to go out of camp unless he is armed. Last night there was a traitor captured in woman’s dress. He had a buggy and a bushel of caps for guns. We heard that the there was a battle at Alexandria yesterday, that is thirteen miles from us.

I like it here, it’s the best country I ever was in. It is a little warmer here but the night is cool. The water is not very good, it seems to be soft and warm. The crops are better in Michigan than Ohio or Pennsylvania but some parts of Maryland can’t be beat.

We went through tunnels through the mountains for a half mile, it was dark as night. We go to sleep on our arms during the nights, for the enemy is watching us.

I must bring my letter to a close, you must write all the news when you read this. You must direct your letter to Washington’s Regiment of Mich. 

Kiss Bub for me so good by

                           Samuel Matthews

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Written by pencil on one sheet of paper on both front and back side.

The trip from Grand Rapids was an interesting trip for these men who had spent most of their life in Michigan. Wherever the regiment stopped throughout Michigan, they were greeted with celebration and "baskets filled with all the good things that can be found at any time…hot coffee, cakes, oranges, lemons, apples etc." They received an almost identical welcome while traveling though the rest of the northern towns and cities on their way to the capital, with the exception of Baltimore. 


Previous to the arrival of the 3rd, the 6th Massachusetts had been assaulted by Southern sympathizers while marching through Baltimore on their way to DC. So this would not happen to them, the 3rd loaded and primed their guns and their colonel made it know that "if a man in my regiment is hurt, the streets of Baltimore will run with blood". It was a tense march, but the people of Baltimore realized that the 3rd was not to be trifled with and let them pass.

The battle that Samuel erroneously calls the battle of Alexandria is probably the battle of Vienna, VA, really only a skirmish with eight killed and four wounded.