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Preferred Citation

Merritt Burr Woodruff Letters and Photograph, 1862-1863, Accession #11065, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These letters were a gift to the Library on 24 October 1992 from Edith Northrop Hall of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of three items, a photograph and two letters, 1862-1863, accompanied by modern-day typescripts, of Merritt B. Woodruff, a member of Company H, 20th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Both letters are addressed to his sister Sarah.

The regiment was organized at New Haven, Connecticut, on 8 September 1862. It served in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina and participated in several of the war's major campaigns including Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Resaca, the siege of Atlanta, and Sherman's March to the Sea. Woodruff and the 20th Regiment were honorably mustered out of the army in Washington, D. C., on 13 June 1865.

The first letter, 7 October 1862 (on stationery illustrating an armed farmer holding an American flag), is from Sergeant Merritt B. Woodruff of Watertown (enlisted 16 August 1862) to "Dear Brother & Sister Len & Sarah" while stationed at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Woodruff describes the movements of the regiment after its mustering-in at New Haven. It traveled by ship, rail and foot marches to New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D. C., where the regiment camped temporarily. He was not impressed by the capital because "While we were there we had very hard fare the most of the time." During its encampment at Arlington Heights the regiment, as part of the Army of the Potomac, was reviewed by General Silas Casey [1807-1882].

Shortly thereafter the 20th Connecticut moved to Harpers Ferry and occupied Maryland Heights, the site where Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's [1824-1863] troops had been driven out by soldiers [during the battle of Antietam, 17 September 1862] under the command of General Ambrose P. Burnside [1824-1881]; several dead bodies ("burned for they could not be moved enough to bury them") and broken equipment littered the site. Woodruff concludes his letter by pointing out that the regiment has been assigned to General Thomas L. Kane's (1822-1883) [Second] Brigade, XII Army Corps under the command of General Alpheus Starkey Williams [1810-1878].

Also present is a photograph (carte-de-visite) of a bearded Woodruff, ca. 1864, in the uniform of a corporal with rank markings of two chevrons beneath a five-pointed small dark star superimposed on a larger five-pointed light-colored star on one sleeve. The photograph is captioned on the reverse as: "Bundy & Williams/314 & 326 Chapel St./New Haven, CT./M. B. Woodruff/20th Conn. Vol. Inf."

In a letter of 15 January 1863 to his sister Sarah, "Burr" in the camp of the Buckingham Legion near Fairfax Station, Virginia, apologizes for not writing but claims the regiment has been very busy ever since it left "London" [Loudoun] Valley and describes his participation in the initial phases (December 1862) of Burnside's Mud March [January 20-23, 1863]: "I . . . started . . with a load of 50 pounds on my back & in my hands. . . . Soldiering is hard business to say the least." He has heard of Jeb Stuart's [1833-1864] raid on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad near Burke's Station [part of Stuart's Dumfries Raid, December 26-31, 1862]. Burr speculates on the army's next move and fears a possible 125-mile march during the rainy season; discusses preparations for the march; says that he is a member of the color guard and describes its composition and duties, especially the color bearer ("position of danger & also one of Honor"); several references to "Len" (see Woodruff letter) and arrival of "a small box from Jane & my sister"; and he asks for apples and the latest Connecticut newspapers.