Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Joseph Baer Civil War Letters, May to December 1862, Accession #10689-a , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The letters were purchased by the Library from the Book Broker, Charlottesville, Virginia, on January 14, 1987.

Biographical/Historical Information

The regiment had been mustered into United States service on October 11, 1861. During the course of the events discussed in these letters Baer's regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade, (James) Shields' Division, (Nathaniel Prentiss) Banks' V Corps, Department of the Shenadndoah (March-May, 1862); V Corps, Department of the Rappahannock (May-July, 1862); and Ferry's Brigade, Suffolk Division, VII Corps, Department of Virginia (September-December). According to Charles M. Clark's The History of the Thirty-Ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Veteran Infantry (Yates Phalanx) In the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 , Baer enlisted at Rook's Creek on August 12, 1861. He was later wounded during the final assault on Fort Gregg (Petersburg Campaign) on April 2, 1865, and was promoted a month later.

Scope and Content Information

The major portion of this collection consists of eight letter, May to December 1862, written by Joseph Baer, a Union soldier of Company C, Thirty-Ninth Illinois Infantry (known as the Yates Phalanx), (Orris Sanford) Ferry's Brigade, (John James) Peck's Division, IV Corps, Army of the Potomac.

Baer's letters are addressed to his wife Sarah at their home in Low Point, Woodford County, Illinois, while he was stationed at Suffolk, Virginia. He also writes from other Virginia locales such as Columbia Bridge, Front Royal, and Harrison's Landing and describes camp life and picket duty, the weather, and various farming and family matters. Also mentioned is his regiment's operations against Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's forces during the Valley Campaign and Union expedititions and skirmishes at Blackwater Bridge near Suffolk. In addition, Baer mentions or describes: "the boys" wrestling outside his tent as he tries to write a letter to his wife (July 23); his need of postage stamps (June 27); the transfer of a Pontiac, Illinois regiment to Tennessee where they have "god to se the allafent" (gone to see the elephant," i.e., to see the sights and to gain experience for life); an expedition to Blackwater Bridge led by General (Robert Sanford) Foster which included the Thirteenth Indiana Regiment and of the successful capture and burning of a Confederate camp (November 19). In his December 31 letter Baer describes local Confederate soldiers as being well-armed, fed, and trained, and of his decision not to pretend an illness in order to obtain leave to visit his family.

Several of the letters bear patriotic letterheads, and the envelope for the July 23 letter has an embossed likeness of General George B. McClellan holding an American flag with the caption "Commander of the Federal Forces on the Potomac."

Also present is a letter written June 27, 1862, by "Charley" to "Nellie." He comments about hearing the sounds of fighting near his regiment (Battle of Mechanicsville, June 26) and tells her that accurate accounts of the battle could be found in newspapers. His July 2 postscript, written on the James River six miles from Fort Darling, site of a Confederate battery on Drewry's Bluff south of Richmond, states that he and comrades had spent the last three days in combat (probably the Seven Days' Battle).

Additional information on the Thirty-ninth Illinois may be found in The Union Army , Volume III, and in An Enlisted Soldier's View of the Civil War: The Wartime Papers of Joseph Richardson Ward, Jr. edited by D. Duane Cummins and Daryl Hohweiler. Both works are available in Alderman Library.