The Civil War Letters of Fannie Austin

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Pvt. Thomas Huntley
Company F
26th New York Infantry
Volunteers


Fort Lyon, Va. April 7 62


            Dear Neice,    I received your letter of the 23 and was glad to hear that you was all well    I should have wrote to you before but I was going out on three days picket to wacth for burke and his band of outlaws     I went down six miles below occuquan    you will find A secesh envelope and A ten dollar confederate bill   I have seen A good many of the 14th boys lately   they are gone down the river on this expedition     when you write again I wish you would let me know if you have heard anything from jule bennett or frank whiting lately for while we were on picket there division come back from manasus and went down the river   I think that we shall soon hear from that army that is gone down the river     poor secesh begins to quail and I think that the war will soon be crushed and over with    there is A report that this regt is to be discharged in A few days but we cannot tell anything about the truth of the report    but of course we all hope it is so    I shall go up to manassus in A few days and see if I cant find something worth feething home     I feell more sick to day than I have ever since I have been soldiering     I have got it breaking out about my body the cause of which I think is through eatting so much salt pork and beef this winter that my blood is got in A bad fix    but I guess in A few days I shall be over it   tommy bryden was over here this week and went on picket with us    he looks well and tough    bates battery that george mannering belonged to went down the river last Monday for active service     I think before mcclelan made A move there was three hundred thousand men around washington     it is all still about our going away from here   now I think that that is played out now    I should like to see you all very much and I think I shall before long  give my love to your father and mother and all the rest of the folks   I must conclude for I do not feel well enough to sit up so long   but I am A good deal better than I was yesterday     so good bye for the present from Tom Huntly
P.S. I wish that you would send me A dozen stamps I am got out of money for we have four months pay due the first of may


EDITOR'S NOTES:

Thomas Huntley (a.k.a. Huntly)(abt. 1833- Dec. 26, 1921)was an English immigrant (abt. 1851) who settled in Kirkland Township, Oneida County, New York. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted on May 3, 1861 in Utica, Oneida County, New York, to serve two years at the age of 28. He was mustered in as a Private in Company F, 26th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Second Oneida)on May 21, 1861. A few months after writing this letter, his regiment saw action at the Battles of 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Thomas Huntley was mustered out with his company in Utica, New York on May 28, 1863 at the end of his two years of service. He applied for invalid (disability) benefits on October 3, 1885. Thomas Huntley died in his 88th year and is buried in Sunset Hill Cemetery, Clinton, Kirkland Township, Oneida County, New York.

Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the Year 1899, Vol. 5, James B. Lyon, , State Printer, Albany, 1900, Pg. 62.

Julius (Jule) F. Bennett enlisted on September 23, 1861 in Kirkland, Oneida County, New York, at the age of 18. He mustered in as a Private in Company B, 57th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment the following day. During his term of service, his regiment saw action at the Battles of Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. On March 15, 1864 Jule Bennett was transferred to the 118th Company, 2nd Batallion, of the Veteran Reserve Corps due to his being an invalid. On July 19, 1864, he applied for invalid (disability) benefits. His mother (Charlotte Robinson) outlived him and she applied for survivor benefits on August 6, 1890. Besides Jule, Charlotte bore four other sons who served in the Civil War.

Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the Year 1900, James B. Lyon, , State Printer, Albany, 1901, Pg. 09.

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Whiting from Kirkland Township, Oneida County, New York enlisted in Utica, Oneida County, New York on October 15, 1861 at the age of 23. He was mustered in as a Private in Company B of the 57th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on October 22, 1861. He was discharged at Providence, Rhode Island on November 3, 1862 due to a disability. He reenlisted on November 30, 1863 in Company D, 16th Heavy Artillery Regiment at Utica, New York. He did not muster out with his regiment on August 21, 1865 due to his being sick at Fort Monroe, VA Hospital. Frank Whiting died before March 5, 1901 as his wife Sophia C. Whiting applied for widow survivor benefits at that time.

Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the Year 1900, James B. Lyon, , State Printer, Albany, 1901, Pg. 140.

Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the Year 1897, Vol. 5, Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers, New York and Albany, 1898, Pg. 906.

Thomas A. Bryden from Kirkland Township, Oneida County, New York served as a Private in Company E of the 101st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He enlisted at Utica, Oneida County, New York on November 19, 1861 at the age of 19 and was mustered into his company on December 2, 1861. He was last recorded as being with his unit on October 31, 1862. However, the 1865 New York State census shows that he reenlisted, survived the war, and served a total of three years altogether.

Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the Year 1902, Vol. 2., The Argus Company, Printers, Albany, 1903, Pg. 295.

George W. Mannering from Kirkland Township, Oneida County, New York enlisted at Clinton,Kirkland Township, Oneida County, New York on August 17, 1861 at the age of 22 to serve three years. He was mustered in as a private in Battery A, of the First New York Light Artillery (Bates Battery)on September 12, 1861. The month after this letter was written on May 31, 1862, at the Battle of Fair Oaks, (a.k.a. Battle of Seven Pines) owing to the loss of most of their horses, they were forced to spike their six cannons to keep them from being captured by the Confederates. George W. Mannering was among the survivors who were subsequently transferred to other units on June 07, 1862. He was transferred as a Private into the 8th Independent Light Artillery Battery. He was mustered out on September 12, 1864 at Norfolk, Virginia. After the war George W. Mannering moved to Wisconsin where his wife Ella filed for survivor benefits following his death.

Annual Report of the Adjutant-General of the State of New York for the Year 1897, Vol. 1, Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers, New York and Albany, 1898, Pg. 259.