CHAPTER 1
“Do My Duty”
Camp Butler, Illinois
and
Mascoutah, Illinois
August 1862 to November 1862
On August 25, 1862, Cimbaline and Henry Fike began their Civil War in a swirl of conflicting emotions. Henry, like most army volunteers, had scant military experience. He did not enlist until the second year of the war, a fact that his letters did not explain, but mustered into the 117th Illinois Volunteer Infantry eager to help put down “this accursed rebellion” and willing to accept whatever sacrifices his service might entail. The motivations that inspired soldiers to volunteer varied and often overlapped. Some joined out of principle, committed to the defense of the federal Union and republican self-rule; others, mustering into a unit of neighbors and other men they knew, responded to pressures, unspoken or not, to defend and uphold the honor of their towns. By joining Company K, made up largely of men from Mascoutah and St. Clair County, Henry was joining a war with and for his community.1
Alone, weakened by poor health, and worried about the illness of their young daughter, Cimbaline faced the unknown prospects of war with less enthusiasm. The departure of her husband, like hundreds of others in Mascoutah, threatened to destabilize her household. With the loss of Henry’s teaching salary, she welcomed boarders into the family home, but these young women proved to be a bother greater than the meager income they provided. The unreliability of male kinfolk, whom Henry had asked to manage tenants and pay creditors in his absence, deepened Cimbaline’s concern about the family’s finances.2 The competition to replace Henry at school unleashed jealous rivalries, and the appointment of a new minister widened rifts within the church and community. The piercing gossip of neighbors sharpened Cimbaline’s loneliness, stirred thoughts of moving, and even challenged her marriage. What’s more, nighttime marauders now prowled the town with apparent impunity, demonstrating that even though the nearest battlefields were many miles away, another war loomed on Cimbaline’s doorstep.3
The Fikes’ first letters upend expectations that military life would prove more unpleasant than the supposed comforts of home. The stature and popularity that came from years spent working in the schoolhouse helped Henry win election as the regiment’s lieutenant colonel and appointment as its quartermaster. He clearly valued the confidence placed in him by friends and neighbors. The privileges that his rank conferred likewise proved a source of growing appreciation. Not only did Henry, as an officer, receive higher pay, better housing, and a horse of his own, but he also enjoyed a surprisingly sumptuous diet, a luxury that he came to document by noting his gradual increase in weight. Soldiering, he found, might prove to be an adventure more exciting and comfortable than he had expected.
August 25, 1862, 10 o’clock p.m.
Chinery Hotel, Springfield, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
We had a warm dusty trip. The boys seem in the very highest spirits. Our company and the O’Fallon company filled two cars ‘chuck full.’4 The conductor on the train from St. Louis up locked each company up in its car in order to keep other persons from getting in and passing themselves off as soldiers and thus travel free. Notwithstanding the windows were all up, the cars soon became excessively warm and the boys forced the doors open—the conductor fixed them and locked them again. But pretty soon the boys broke them open again. The conductor shut them again; then the O’Fallon company tore down and smashed to pieces both doors of their car—tore out the stove-pipe and threw it over board, and broke out several side windows, and swore they intended to have air. It is useless to say that a good breeze floated through the car all the rest of the way up. Our boys had their door open but did not act so rudely. One reason why the boys cut up so, was because they got a hint that the conductor was a little secesh [secessionist].5 Some fellow paid the conductor a good joke for his smartness. . . . I want you to read my letters to mother6 and then keep them all filed away.
Your loving husband,
H. C. Fike
August 26, 1862, 9 o’clock p.m.
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
I seat myself on the ground this evening to drop you a few more lines. This morning after breakfast, Col. Moore7 and I went to work, and by noon I had secured my position as Regimental Quarter Master in Col. Moore’s Regiment, which is No. 117. After dinner I went to work. I proceeded out to Camp Butler where I found seven companies on hand.8 The first thing I did was to go to headquarters and make requisition for about 400 blankets, which I drew and distributed to the Regiment.9 I got through just about one hour ago. I was, of course, mustered in to-day and consequently am now one of Uncle Sam’s boys. I have received my appointment from Gov Yates.10 There are several thousand men here now. There are about 2000 secesh prisoners here in custody. 200 of them took the oath of allegiance to-day, and will consequently be released. . . . The boys are all in good spirits and are singing and cheering.11
Located just south of Springfield, Illinois, Camp Butler was where the 117th Illinois and many other Union regiments mustered into service. It also held a large number of Confederate prisoners of war. Sangamon County (Illinois) Historical Society
I will write soon again. I feel very anxious about Ellie. Take good care of her.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
Regiment Q. R. 117 Ills.
Wednesday, August 27, 1862, 3 o’clock in the morning
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry accorden to your request I now write you a few lines—Ellie is not so well as she was when you left home she seen quite well all day Monday—Monday night she was taken somthing like she was at first—Tusday she lay all day without noticen any thing with a hot fever this morning she seems better—her fever is not so high—The Dr. thinkes she is not daingors—I know she is very sick I hope she will bee better soon I received a letter from Webb12 Monday evening wich I will send you—I heard to day that tha was a great meney at Springfield without Blanketes or any thing to sleep on I would like to know if you want anything & I want you to come home as soon as you can. I do feel so lonely sence you left am out of heart about Ellie. I hope she will be better before I write again write soon and offten for I want to hear from you all—Yours truley
Lucy C. Fike
August 29, 1862, 10 o’clock p.m.
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
I received a letter from your hand to-day I was becoming very anxious to hear from home. I am exceedingly sorry to hear that Ellie is still so ill. I hope she will get better and soon recover. I hope you will console yourself as much as possible in your loneliness, and let me know immediately, by telegraph if Ellie gets dangerous. If you attempt to telegraph me, have the person who telegraphs from Lebanon to St. Louis, to find out from the telegraph operator if the dispatch is immediately sent from St. Louis to Springfield. . . . If you can not telegraph immediately through to me, send a special messenger on the Rail Road to me.
Your affectionate husband.
H. C. Fike
Reg. Q. M. 117 Ills. Vols.
August 29, 1862
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
It is with pleasure this evening I set down to write or to anser you letter that I just received. The second one I have received from you I am very sorry that you have not heard from home sence you have been gon I have ritten 4 letters to you, one every day & Ellie is some better to day she has been verry sick sence you left. She hasn’t walked but a few steps sence Monday—I have been sick myself sence you left. I hope we both will be well soon I am very glad that you have obtain your office but I would be much gladder if you could be at home. I will stop riten to night it is late an I do not feel very much like riten When I hear that you have heard from me I will write you a long letter
Yours truley
Lucy C Fike
Sunday afternoon, August 31, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline:—
Our regiment have only got under plank sheds which afford a pretty good shelter, from the night air, but if a hard beating rain should come, the boys would undoubtedly get wet. It has showered a little to-day, but wet nobody. I have a good ‘Wall’ tent, which will keep me dry, let come what may, so you need entertain no uneasiness. You wrote me you heard that we had no blankets. We did hear that in Lebanon but we drew blankets the first day I arrived. I drew blankets within two hours after I got in. . . .13
We have a good many men here in camp; about six thousand—all come in within a few days. The government is clothing and arming them as fast as it can. I do not know how long we will remain here—some think we will only stay here until we get fully outfitted and then remove to some other camp for drilling and instruction. I do not pretend to know. One regiment has already left, and the talk is that another one will leave on Wednesday. I will give you a list of what we eat: We have wheat bread and crackers, pickled pork, fresh beef, Irish potatoes, rice, hominy, peas, coffee and sugar—you may depend upon it I have my coffee sweetened ‘all right.’ . . . We had a sermon this morning at 11 o’clock from Rev. Gregg,14 a minister present. The shower of rain that came up interrupted the service, but the minister will resume it again this afternoon. He seems to be a splendid preacher. His text was ‘God is love.’ From present indications we have a good moral regiment. Every night can be heard the singing of church songs in the various camps. This indicates that the soldiers, if not moral and religious themselves, have been blessed with moral instruction, and been brought up in communities where religion is known and taught.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
R.Q.M. 117 Ills. Vols.
P.S. Do not forget to write.
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline:—
I sit down and just snatch a moment to write you a word or two. I have been hard at work all morning, having lumber hauled to make barracks. The cars on the Rail Road landed with about 75 thousand feet of lumber & I had to superintend the hauling of the most of it about one half mile to where we are making our barracks. There is a great demand for lumber, and the Quarter Masters are all on the lookout for their own regiments. You may depend that I watch out for our own. . . . Tell all the folks, that I am trying to do my duty and not to be uneasy on my account.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
September 2, 1862
Dear Cimbaline:—
I want you to read my letters to mother, and she can then get all the news you derive from my letters I saw a few secesh prisoners released today. They were let out at the gate of the enclosures in which they have been confined since the battle of Ft. Donelson.15 They were provided with their dismissal papers, and had provision to do them several days in the haversacks. The manner of releasing prisoners generally is to afford them means of transportation to some point near home. But those released to-day preferred striking out on ‘their own hook,’ to going in the usual way. They said they had relatives down in Franklin county this state, where they would aim to go too at first. I talked with some secesh prisoners to-day who were detailed to dig a well, (they had guards with them.) and they seem to think we can never whip them out They seem to have great confidence in Jeff. Davis.16
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
It is with pleasure I take my pen in hand to inform you that we erived at home to day. I feeld very tired after my jurney. It is very tirsom to travel with a child and espesley with as cross a one as I have. I feeld as tho, I would never want to see Camp Butler againd, I dont think I ever was so glad to see home in my life as I was to day I am well axcept a sore throught Ellie is not very well her little joy is stolen she has some fever an is very cross to day.
Affectionate wife
Lucy C. Fike
September 28, 1862
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
After Ellie an I tock a long play an she has gon to sleap I thought I would rite you a few lines tow send by John Moser17 to you to let you know how we wer gitten along & When I arived at home I wos quit tired an all most give out, after resten a day or tow I felt much better. And Ellie to was quit unwell but she has improved sence an seems quit playfull to day. I hope she will git along now. When I come home I wos vext and made to see how thinges was. every was tore upside downg. It was 10 o clock when I got home and the Brexvis [breakfast] dishes was not wash my roomes below I lock up when I come home tha was open an durty an some little thinges misen which I didnot like very well. Tha didnot do anything while I was gon only eat and sleep an fuss. Elen wanted to boss, an Miney didnot like to be best [bossed] so Miney told on Elen in Elen told on Miney.18 I told tham when I hearde ther storeys that I was at home now an I intended to boss an have thinges to my nosen [notion] an if tha didnot like it tha could leave that was the worde with the bark on.19
Monday, September 29, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
I do not pretend to know how long we will remain here in this camp. Some think we will leave in the course of a couple of weeks, and others think not so soon. I cannot say how that may be, but I want us all to be ready when the order comes for us to move, so that we can obey it immediately and thus do our duty. This is what I enlisted in the war for—to do my duty, and so to perform that duty that it may be some help towards putting down this accursed rebellion. Before I left home, I was fully aware that the soldiers had to undergo many hardships and deprivations but then I went into the service fully determined to endure these hardships; so I will not in the least be disappointed if they come. If they do come, which I expect will be the case if we remain long in the service, this determination of mine, I know, will help me to endure them with more fortitude. I want you to give yourself no uneasiness on my account whatever, for I warrant you that I will fare as good as any in our regiment will. I have no fears the least that I will suffer for anything to eat or to wear, inasmuch as everything of that kind for our regiment has to pass through my hands. So you may rest assured that I shall take care of No. 1.—20
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
Mascoutah, Illinois
Henry
Today I have made you twelve dollars wich I will send to you. You cand use than if you think you will like than if not send that home—If tha is anything more you want send word an I will try to send it to you Mary Curtis is to start for Camp tomorrow—If she has such a time as Mrs. Land21 an I did she will be glad when she gites home. I dont intend to tell anyone let that go and sadisfi thamselves. . . . Helen Rahill has got the school out hear Frank Risley applied for it but she could not git it Mrs. Gibbes an Mary Curtis felt very much disopointed.22 This evenning becous tha did not git some letters I left an told tham I knew I would git one for you was somuch better to write then there man was. Tha wished that I would not git one be like tham. But I got one an stop and told tham. I will stop writen for fear I will not have aneything to write next time. It is bed time so good night
Lucy C Fike
October 8, 1862
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
I take my seat to night to fulfill your request I felt worse this time to part with you then I every did. Befor when you left you could say when you could come back. This time you could not say when perhaps never in this world I did not sleep much after you left. I lay along time thinking if we should never meet again what a miserable place you would leve mee now happyness for mee to see in Mascoutah. Oh that I could bee with you, how much happery I would bee. . . . Ellie woke up in the morning I ask her wher her Pa was she look over behind on the beed and said Oh oh gon gon she was quit buisey all day helpen us with thinges. I think I must have a horse off my owen. Then I can go when I want to what do you think about it. Mother came home last eveng she felt very much disopointed not seeing you she did not heare that you wos at home untell Sunday evening. . . . I must stop writen—it is late an raining very heard and I feel very tired after my trip—I hope that I shall hear from you soon and very offten
from your wife
Lucy C Fike
October 9, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline:
I arrived here safe and sound to-day about four o’clock p.m. Our regiment is still here, and probably will be for a few days yet. The reason it is detained is because the government has not yet paid off all the advance pay and bounty.23 We may remain here all the remainder of the present week, but I do not know for certain.
I will give you a short account of my trip up. We arrived in Belleville at sunrise, took breakfast, and there Ausby24 and I took cars for St. Louis—Don25 rode my horse down to St. Louis from Belleville. I went over into the city and telegraphed up here to see if our regiment was about to move—found out they had not gone. I then bought myself a sword, two pistols, a sash, India Rubber blanket & leggings, and a valise (or handtruck) and army saddle. In the afternoon I shipped my horse (‘Selim’ is his name.) to Alton on a boat, and I took the cars up. . . .26
I sent back $30 by Ausby to you. The things I bought cost so, that I could not spare any more. If you need any more before I can send you some call upon Ausby and you can get it. If you need any at anytime let me know too in time and I can, no doubt, help you. I will write a letter to William Slade27 in a day or two about that little note. I don’t want you to stand in need of any thing necessary for your comfort, and will help you anytime to the very last cent I have. Some of those notes of mine that you have will be due in a month or two, and you can get the money on them. If that German renter does not come up and sign those two notes in a few days, have Riley Edwards28 go and see him, sometime when he is down in that settlement.
From
your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
October 12, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
The boys generally are getting tired of this place, and are becoming more and more anxious to leave here and be removed to some point further south than this. It seems that the only thing that detains us here is the want of money to pay off the men their first month’s pay in advance. As soon as that is paid, I guess we will go—I cann’t say and don’t know where.
I want you to cheer up and be in as good spirits as you can, while I am away. I hope I will not be separated from my dear family more than a few months at furthest. You will feel lonesome sometimes undoubtedly, but cheer up, and remember there is a better time coming. Go around and visit among the neighbors and you will thus pass a great deal of your lonesomeness until I come home to stay. You wrote that Mr. Carr had vacated the house he had rented from me, and wanted to know how long he had been in it. He went into the house on the 21 day of August and was therefore in it nearly two months. I want you to charge him for two months, at $5 per month, which will make him owe you $10. He may not want to pay for two full months; but that is the custom to count pieces of a month, the same as a full month.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
October 12, 1862
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
I received a letter from you last evening staten that you wos well allow your trip to Camp wich I was very happy to hear. I did not hear as soon as I expected to & This has been a very lonsom sabath. Now Church to day town seems quit still. . . . We have heard bad nuse from Cornth sence the last battle Mrs Britt has come home. James is wounded in the back of the nake [neck] Mr Britt wos killd in the first of the Battle lay on the feel two days before his wife found him and when she found him his hole fase wos shot off an was stript of all of his clothes.29 . . . I didnot sleep but alittle for thinking about you and the poor solgers—to think off the many thousenes that wos out in camp that stormey night. Yes and mit say thousenes out without campes or even nothen to lay on. Hundreds out on guard in the rain an cold with out aney thing to ceep tham warm and tow think off hundreds of power women and children at home sufren while thinking of ther freandes for away from tham This wor is a horble thing, wod to god that this rebelion could be put downg in one day & and . . . I feele quit lonely all so still. Ellie is asleep. She beates all for michief that I ever saw I cannot leave her one minit She gites up in a char an croles on the beed or on the table in the window pules out the fire tares up the carpet turned over the chares dables in the watter gites in the cubbred pules of her shoes and stockens and then if slapes her she will git up in my lap and huges and kisses me and then go sen do the same thing over. . . . rite often yours in love L.C. F
9 Oclock 44 1/2 minutes
When I would like to see you on you big fine black hors in full dress. Now and then I hear you spoken of as a fine looken Offerses and rother the best one in the Regment I would like to see for myself. Mother wos hear when I reveiwd you tow last letters and heard tham red. She ses mine has not come yet I guess he has forgot he has a Mother no body cares for me. Ellie offten ses my Pa my pa is gon when we ask her wher you are. Now she is standing behind me pulling at the map. . . . I would not take the world for her. When we go to beed she will fold her little armes aroung my neck an kiss me When go to sleap. Then I allways think of you I must stop riten. I feel very bad. Lucy Fike
October 14, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
You wrote considerably in your letter concerning the exposure and deprivations of our soldiers. I know that a soldier’s life is one made up of hardships and many times of wants and even sufferings. But then, who is there, that is a true patriot to his country, that would not be willing to undergo these things in behalf of his needy country? To-night, since dark has set in, two fellows in the tent next east of mine, have been playing for an hour or so upon the guitar and violin. Among other airs performed, they played the good old tune of ‘Home, sweet home.’ I thought I never heard any music as sweet in my life as it was. I had to stop writing a while and listen; and while thus listening my mind naturally ran back to home, and I sat a long time musing upon things and affairs of our own happy fireside. It seems to me now, that if I ever live to get back home again to stay that I shall enjoy it better than I ever have before. I don’t mean by this that I am any ways homesick now; far from it. To be sure, nothing would afford me greater satisfaction than to be with you, but then, I feel that I am here to do my duty, and I must do it, and when I come home to stay, I will feel much better by it. I have written to you already about renting our house. If you have any more chances to rent it, ask $5 per month, if the person wants it only a few months or by the month, and make them pay monthly. If they want it by the year take $50 for the whole year.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
October 18, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
Amos Day30 promised me he would see to having your wood and coal hauled. I will write him a letter some of these days, and keep his memory refreshed in that way. If you need corn or the like, have Ausby to speak to some of our renters to haul and fill up our corn crib. They ought to fill it up before bad weather. You should have some hay, if you keep a cow. You might get this, perhaps, from the renter on my old home place. As soon as I get hold of some money I shall remember you without fail. I want you and myself both to live as economically as we can until we get free from debt. But still I want you to have all the money need to keep you well and independent, and you shall have it, if it takes all I can earn to do it, while I am away. However, you need anticipate no fears on that score.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
October 19, 1862
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
Our new Preacher has mooved and live in Andersons31 hous north of us he preach to day in our church to day tha wos quit a good crowd out to hear him. People genrley think his femley will be liked better then Risleys is. most every body is out with tham now. Thav have thoudout good meney steres [stories] and hintes about peeple in Mascoutah. I dont know but one famley hear that calls in to see tham offen. That is Uncle Tomey Rainforth.32 The people will be glad when tha are gon. Frank espesley. I wos about turnen Miney of last week she didnot want to go. She told me if I would cep her she would stay for $3 a month an come home every sunday night at 10 clock Mortha Blacker wantes to come and stay withe me for the same prise but I donot want to take her from Mrs Ross33 for fear of heard feelenes & Mother got a letter from James Thursday evening. he is at the hospitle near Caro Mouncitty [Cairo Mound City]34 he is quite unwell with his wound has the fever with it. He wantes some one to come and see him an wanted Mother to send him $5.
Sunday evening.
This has been a lonely day to me. I went to Church this afternoon at 3 Oclock to hear Rev. Brown preach. He preach his sermon an give out his hame asked some Brother to rase the tune. No one did so he ask some sister to lead in singing. After a while tha squeld it out. Then he ask some Brother to lead in prayer. all was silent. Then he ask Mother to pray. She prayd a pretty good prayer preyed for the Union for the sick solgers for the well ones for the Offersers then for our enimons [enemies]. after all she prayd for our quartley meeting & After meeting some of tham concluded that we had better git up a singing class.
October 29, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
This afternoon a great many of our regiment, and I among them, went to town and heard Parson Brownlow35 speak. There was an immense throng assembled to hear him. He spoke in the rotunda of the State House, standing upon the first platform above the lower floor. . . . Parson Brown-low spoke nearly two hours, and such speaking I never heard or saw. The immense, vast crowd, at times, when he would be dwelling upon some cruel, horrid scene he had witnessed in Tennessee, would be still as the hall of death, and the tears would be flowing in torrents from hundreds and hundreds of eyes, and in a moment afterward, his speech would bring forth the loudest cheering and stamping, and clapping of hands and yelling that I ever heard. Taking it altogether, I never witnessed such a scene. It was well worth my trouble to go to see him, and hear him. He is anything else than easy upon the southern traitors and their Northern sympathizers.
Friday morning, October 31, 1862
I feel as well as I ever felt in my life. I now ‘pull down’ 161 pounds, which is 11 1/2 pounds more than I weighed when I first left home in August last.36 I have had no good opportunity yet of getting my picture taken. The first chance I have, I will get it, and send you. Since we officers, having been messing together, we have fared quite well indeed. We have as good to eat as we desire. A man does our cooking.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
November 2, 1862
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
This is sunday I donot feel very much like going to church to day At home and feel very lonsom and all most like I had lived longe enuf in this trubleson world. I feel sometimes like I could not cepe hous any longer I onley wish that I could sell every thing we have got and I wos a thousen miles from hear. Eney how out of Mascoutah It gites worse every day. Seenes like every thing is tore up side downg Nothen goes on rite. It is heardley safe for a deasent women to be on street after dark. The men has nearley all gon crasey about the wemen. some you would not think off37
November 6, 1862
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
The Colonel told me this morning that we will go as soon as cars can be had for our transportation—he thought perhaps we might get off by Saturday or Sunday. We are to go to Alton, and there take a boat, and proceed down the river, by Cairo, on to Columbus in Kentucky. If you will look on the map hanging up on the wall, you can see that Columbus is about twenty miles below Cairo on the east bank of the Mississippi River. When we get there we will be about as far from Mascoutah as we are now. . . . I was glad to hear that you all seem to be so well and hearty. I hope you will take good care of little mischievous Ellie while I am absent. Give her plenty of playthings to amuse herself with & thus keep her out of mischief. As soon as she can say a few words get her a little primer, and by the time she can talk good, she will know her alphabet. It would be a great comfort to me if I could be home ever evening and spend the pleasant hours with you and have a ‘big play’ with Ellie. No doubt it would be a source of comfort to you also. But since we are necessarily so parted, we must cheer up and keep in lively spirits. I feel very cheerful myself, and I hope you will do so too. If some of your neighbors do not do what is exactly right, you never mind it, and keep straight forward on in the discharge of your Christian duties. . . . If you have not already done it, you had better give those accounts to Philip Postel38 to collect as soon as you can. When you write tell me how Amos Day keeps you furnished with the necessaries for housekeeping. If any of my renters come at any time and pay you any money let me know, and I will tell you how to appropriate it, after you have taken out what you need. If that man on my farm west of Fayetteville, does not come and sign those notes in a week or so, have Philip Postel to attend to it for you.39
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
Sunday, November 9, 1862, 6 o’clock p.m.
Camp Butler, Illinois
Dear Cimbaline,
Tomorrow afternoon we purpose to leave. We expect the train here at twelve o’clock. We can load up in the course of an hour or two and then we will be off for Alton, where we take a boat for Memphis, in Tennessee, instead of Columbus, Kentucky, as I before wrote. . . . Memphis is a good ways from home, I know, but people don’t all die that go down there immediately. I want you to keep cheerful and visit around a good deal, and grow to be a hearty, robust, stout good looking cheerful ‘duck of a wife’—just the kind I want to find you when I come home. Bless Ellie’s little soul, I would like to see her often, and have a play with her. I know she will be a great deal of company to you. I am glad you find her so mischievous as she is. I think it a good sign for her. I always found my mischievous scholars, as a general thing, were the smartest and quickest to learn. . . . Do not forget, if I am not at home when Ellie is two years old, to mark her height on the door that opens into the kitchen, right above where I marked her height at one year old and weigh her and set it down in the back the Testament. . . . I must stop for to-night and sow [sew] a button on my pants. You may know I am fattening, for I am bursting off all the buttons, nearly every day. You would have laughed if you could have seen me early the other morning, sitting up on top a box by the stove, sewing up my pants before I could put them on. But such is camp life, and I take it in the very best of spirits—and always will.
H. C. Fike
On board the Empress, On Mississippi River,
Dear Cimbaline,
I am seated in the steamboat cabin this evening, and shall endeavor to give you a slight sketch of our journey since my last letter, which I wrote on board the boat coming from Alton to St. Louis. . . . The boys seem to keep in very good spirits. They have poor accommodations about sleeping, having to occupy the outer decks of the boat, which is rather unpleasant, it being quite cool. They nearly all have good shelter overhead, but it is open all around only when canvass is hung up. They have pretty cool sleeping of nights. The officers all have good rooms, and warm comfortable quarters, and beds to sleep in. Our mess, consisting of the Colonel, Lt. Colonel, Chaplain, Adjutant, Quarter Master’s Sergeant, and myself, have our mess-chess along, and have our cook provided our own meals; we think fifty cents a meal a little too steep, when they furnish but very little better than we ourselves have. The boat we are on is a very large and nice one. It is loaded very heavily with freight, and has a good many passengers on board, and besides all this, all our regiment about 850 men, and then still besides about three hundred head of beef cattle, which they are taking down to Columbus, Kentucky for our army. So you may judge that we have somewhat of a crowded time. Our regiment has a brass band, and a string band, and a lot of us have got up a kind of singing club, and among us all, we manage to keep the crowd entertained with music. Besides this there are belonging to the regiment as regular musicians, twelve drummers, three fifers, & ten buglers, making one and all about fifty musicians. We officers, who had revolvers, had considerable sport to-day, as we came along, practicing shooting at ducks, snags, and everything we could see. I killed a duck in the operation. As we passed any body on the shore of the river the boys would send up a shout. And I tell you the way they would make the welkin ring when we would pass by a town. At a town called Liberty, we stopped, for the crew of the boat to take on wood. Quite a crowd of citizens collected on shore to look at the soldiers on the boat. There was a young lady among them who had a quantity of apples, which she threw in among the boys, and such other scrambling and shouting you never saw. The men are not allowed to go on shore at any of the landings.
Mascoutah, Illinois
Dear Henry
I set myself downg this evening after returning from Church. to write you a few lines to let you know we are in resible [reasonable] health. . . . No-then very strange a going on in Towen as I know off. We have been truble with some on among the hous for two or three nighths. Nocken on the windowes and through one the window and crack it. One night while I was gon some one came and nock on the window and told Miney to open the door she ask who it wos. He ses you know who I am open the door she would not. he went off. Another night some one come and tryed to git in. Three nights some one tryed to come in the hous. I intend to git a revolver an truble som of tham if tha truble me a gain. Miney is agoing to leave hear next Monday—Mortha Blacker is coming to stay with me Miney does not want to go a way. I thought Mortha would bee company to me at nights Just now Miney told me that Match [?] abuths girl ask her the other day if you did whip me some times she said she heard so. That you wos so meen to me. I should like to know how you and anderson settle up about the Buggy Miller came and paid me $29.50 rent What shall I do with it
I received two letters from you last evening. I read the one you rote at Camp Butler. then I redd the one you rote at Allten I feel very sorry that I rote anything to you about the nuse I had heard I wish now I had not said any thing about it untell you come home again. you seem to feel so bad about it. But I will tell you I wos told this nuse. I plege my word that I never would tell you who told me. befor tha would tell me whot it wos. I have been sorry sence that I ever made such a promis. I told the person then that I wos sorry that I ever made such a promis. If I even thought such a thing of you I never could live happy. I will tell you one thing. the person wos a man that told me this nuse. a bout you comeing from Charty [?] Otenes with a women The other part a bout you stopen at Risleys Mrs. Risley told it her selef at Mrs. Matheuse and Miss Addy Mathews told me she told about Anney and I she said she supose Anne an I had quit a battle. but she wis sure of one thing that Anne gave me what I meeded. spoke very slitely of me in every respect. Her and tha girels gave tham the hole histry of Rayhills40 folkes and me. Tha told tham that I did not know much. that you never went about with me very much. You never come in their house but once with me then you acted as tho you wos asshamed of me and tha belived you wos you after came in at night and set tell ten oclock with tham tha supose I did not know it sence we had wordes with each other you seen frenleyer then you and did you did not care for me. Tha knowd you wos asshame of me Anne said one day when tha wos speaken a bout the school. . about heaen a Exibission she said she entended not to have any this year. Tha said if you wos hear tha would have one. No she ses we woudent for I would not let him. I have manege him and ruld him. and I can a gain. I never would be ruld by him like Hanher was that one thing serten. Frank said when I went to Springfield an Camp Butler I saw more then I ever seen in my life. This is onley and interduction to what tha have said a bout us It seemes a little heard to have tham to go aroung and talk so after we have gone than so much and been so good to tham I allaways told you tha wos such a famley. But you would not belive me. You allways seem to think the sun rose and set in there hous. And when I told you tha tolk about me you seem to think I wos to blame. Tha wos all right and go thare as often as ever you did. Now tha have this to through up that you seem frenleyer after this happen then you did before that you knew that i wos to blame. I think I have reten enufe a bout this. It allways makes me mad. when I think of it. . . . I wish you would write Amos Day a letter to sture him up to his duty
L C Fike
Saturday, November 16, 1862.
On board Steamer Empress about
100 miles above Memphis
Dear Cimbaline,
We have passed several nice looking places. We have seen on the shore a good many negro plantations. The proprietors seemed to have good nice houses to live in, surrounded by about fifteen or twenty nigger shanties—looking like a small village. We passed, this afternoon, Ft. Wright or Fort Pillow, on the Tennessee shore.41 It is situated on a very high bluff. A small force is stationed here. A great many boats are now running the river, carrying troops down to Memphis, and other places below here. While we were stopped this forenoon, I took a little stroll out into the Arkansas woods. There is a great deal of mistletoe growing here on the trees. It is an evergreen that grows in large bunches all over a tree. I expect mother can describe it to you. I climbed up a large sycamore tree about fifty feet high, and got some. I will send you a small twig of it in this letter. I will also send a small twig of a cotton-wood tree, as little mementoes of the productions of Arkansas soil.
From the inhabitants, who live along here, we learn that the rebels are taking steps to press in every man immediately. Every night we stop, we put out a strong picket guard. Last night there were three regiments of us together, and we had out a pretty large line of guards, and then sent a company or two out scouting to see if there were any of the rebels to be seen hereabouts. Some reported to us this morning that the rebels are at work through here. One man and wife came to the shore where we were landed and had a small lot of furniture. They said they wanted to go north the first opportunity they could get. This country, along the river, generally looks very shabby.
Your affectionate husband,
H. C. Fike
1. Duerkes, “I For One Am Ready”; Murdock, Patriotism Limited, 16–41; Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, 2–5.
2. For the response of rural women in the North and West to wartime challenges, see Joseph L. Anderson, “The Vacant Chair on the Farm: Soldier Husbands, Farm Wives, and the Iowa Home Front, 1861-1865,” and Ginette Aley, “Inescapable Realities: Rural Midwestern Women and Families during the Civil War,” in Aley and Anderson, Union Heartland, 48–168. See also McElligott, “‘A Monotony Full of Sadness.’”
3. For violence on the Illinois home front, see Miller, “To Stop These Wolves’ Forays”; Buck, “‘Contest in Which Blood Must Flow’”; Anderson, “Fulton County War at Home.”
4. The “O’Fallon company” likely referred to the men of Company I; of that unit’s one hundred members, the largest number (forty-four) came from the railroad town of O’Fallon. Fred Delap, Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls Database, Illinois State Archives, Office of the Illinois Secretary of State, https://www.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/civilMusterSearch.do (hereafter Delap, ICWMDR).
5. Although a Union state and home of Republican president Abraham Lincoln, Illinois also included many antiwar Democrats and Confederate sympathizers. See Phillips, Rivers Ran Backward, 127–128, 211–235; Barry, “Colonel Mitchell’s Wars”; Allardice, “‘Illinois Is Rotten with Traitors!’”
6. Here Henry refers to his seventy-year-old, twice-widowed mother, Nancy Fike, who lived near his home with Cimbaline and Ellie. His father, Abel, who was Nancy’s second husband, had passed away in 1852. United States Federal Census (hereafter USFC), 1860, Town of Mascoutah, St. Clair County, Illinois, 545–546; History of St. Clair County, 276–277; Abel Abraham Fike, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27843166/abel-abraham-fike, accessed December 9, 2023. For the relationships between soldiers’ wives and their in-laws, see Nicole Etcheson, “No Fit Wife: Soldiers’ Wives and Their In-Laws on the Indiana Home Front,” in Aley and Anderson, Union Heartland, 97–124.
7. A schoolteacher from Lebanon, Risdon M. Moore, thirty-five, was elected colonel of the 117th Illinois. Delap, ICWMDR.
8. Established in the summer of 1861, Camp Butler first sat on the banks of the spring-fed Clear Lake, six miles east of Springfield. Peterson, “History of Camp Butler.”
9. Unlike quartermasters a year earlier, who suffered frustrating delays as northern mills shifted to the production of coarser and heavy woolens demanded by the army, Henry Fike was able to fulfill his request with remarkable dispatch. Risch, Quartermaster Support of the Army, 351–359.
10. Governor Richard Yates, a Republican, served from 1861 to 1865. See Bohn, “Richard Yates.”
11. Union victory at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862 resulted in fifteen thousand rebel prisoners being transferred to a makeshift prison established at this new location, and prisoner escapes became a nightly problem. Colonel William Hoffman, the commissary-general of prisoners, observed: “The camp is not inclosed and the detention of prisoners there depends more on their willingness to remain than upon any restraint upon them by the guard.” United States War Department, War of the Rebellion (hereafter OR), ser. 2, vol. 3, 367. See Peterson, “A History of Camp Butler,” 78–80.
12. Henry received a letter from “L Webb,” written at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, just days before Fike traveled to Camp Butler. This is likely Loren Webb, a Methodist minister who, in the spring of 1861, volunteered for a three-month enlistment in the 9th Illinois Infantry, from which he resigned as captain on July 10, 1862, only to reenlist in the 11th Minnesota Infantry. L. Webb to H. Fike, August 19, 1862, FP; Delap, ICWMDR; Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System database, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm, accessed December 9, 2023 (hereafter CWSS).
13. Army regulations stated that soldiers were to receive a pair of gray, all-wool blankets every five years, with one to be issued in the first year and another two years later. See Risch, Quartermaster Support of the Army, 351–359.
14. This is likely the Reverend Martin B. Gregg, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of East St. Louis, Illinois. History of St. Clair County, 178.
15. Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant’s capture of Fort Donelson on February 16, 1862, aided the Union army’s advance up the Cumberland River into central and western Tennessee.
16. Franklin County sat in the portion of southern Illinois known as “Little Egypt,” above the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at the town of Cairo. For the political conservatism of this region, see Burke, “Egyptian Darkness.”
17. John Mosar, a twenty-year-old private in Company K, was also from Mascoutah. Delap, ICWMDR.
18. According to the 1860 census, three young women—Mary Warner, Hannah Matthews, and Martha Ritter—lived as boarders with the Fikes. As subsequent letters will reveal, Cimbaline cycled through several boarders during the war. Here she may be referring to Ellen Barth and Minna Schiermeier, who in the recent census appeared as the unmarried daughters of local women who were listed as the heads of their respective households. USFC, 1860.
19. One dictionary explains that to take the “bark off” was “to give one a hiding.” Mathews, Dictionary of Americanisms, 77.
20. The quartermaster’s peculiar station, in which nearly all regimental supplies passed through his hands, meant not only that could he easily satisfy his own needs but also that such a privileged position might draw the suspicion and ire of his comrades. See Lenette Taylor, “Supply for Tomorrow,” 14–15; Keating, Greatest Trials I Ever Had, 35.
21. Mary Curtis was the wife of James Curtis, a lieutenant in Company K. In this case “Mrs. Land” could refer to three women whose husbands also served in Company K: Minerva Land (wife of Captain Nathan Land), Mary Land (Private John H. Land), or Sarah Land (Corporal James Land). Delap, ICWMDR; USFC, 1860.
22. As Henry’s niece, seventeen-year-old Helen Rayhill was well positioned to secure this opening at the school where he had recently worked as teacher and principal. Her apparent rivals were Frank Risley, a former clerk from the nearby town of Lebanon who served as a sergeant in Company C, and Calvin Gibbs, who had worked as a teacher before mustering into Company K as a private. Census manuscripts do not indicate whether the latter’s wife, Celia Gibbs, worked as a teacher as well. History of St. Clair County, 277–278; Delap, ICWMDR; USFC, 1860.
23. Cole, Centennial History of Illinois, 277–278.
24. When the war broke out, Ausby Fike was forty-eight years old—nearly twice the age of Henry, the youngest of the Fike siblings. Ausby was a merchant and former county judge to whom Cimbaline turned for aid in managing the farm’s affairs during the early months of Henry’s enlistment. USFC, 1860, 547; History of St. Clair County, 78, 278.
25. Doniphan Fike, sixteen, was Ausby’s second-youngest son. He mustered into Company K of the 117th Illinois as a musician. History of St. Clair County, 278; Delap, ICWMDR.
26. Selim was the name of a thoroughbred racehorse that had been owned by the Prince of Wales and had won several major prizes from 1806 to 1808. Taunton, Portraits of Celebrated Racehorses, 49–53.
27. William Slade, an unmarried twenty-one-year-old farmer, was not among the St. Clair County men who volunteered to enlist in the summer of 1862, but a year later he mustered into the 26th Illinois Infantry. USFC, 1860, 257; Illinois Adjutant General, Regimental and Unit Histories, 76; Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers, RG 94,m539, National Archives, https://www.fold3.com/image/293777712, accessed December 9, 2023.
28. The identity of this tenant is unclear. Census returns from Mascoutah reveal more than two dozen households with inhabitants who had been born in Prussia, Saxony, Hessia, or other German-speaking areas in Europe. The concentration of German immigrants was particularly high in the nearby town of New Baden. Riley Edwards was a farmer who lived in Madison County, just to the north of Mascoutah. USFC, 1860; Illinois State Marriage Index, Madison County, July 18, 1861, Volume 6, Page 175, License 11, https://www.ilsos.gov/isavital/marriageSearch.do, accessed December 9, 2023.
29. Mary Britt was the widow of Captain William Britt, a member of Company F in the 9th Illinois Infantry, who was killed at the Battle of Corinth in Mississippi on October 3, 1862. James A. Fike, a corporal in the 9th Illinois and the only son of Henry’s older brother Nathan, was wounded in the neck at Corinth but returned to service, finally mustering out at the end of his three-year enlistment in August 1864. Application wc39430, RG 15, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of Civil War Veterans, National Archives and Records Administration, https://www.fold3.com/image/297517763, accessed December 9, 2023; Delap, ICWMDR; History of St. Clair County, 135.
30. Amos Day, thirty-three, was a Mascoutah farmer. USFC, 1860.
31. This likely referred to Anderson Fike, thirty, the oldest son of Ausby. USFC, 1860; History of St. Clair County, 278.
32. Thomas and Nancy Rainforth lived a few houses away from the Fikes. USFC, 1860.
33. Mrs. Ross was likely Aledy Ross, thirty-two, who in the 1860 census lived in Mascoutah with three young people identified as servants. Martha Blake, only seven years old at the time of that enumeration, still lived with her parents. USFC, 1860.
34. Cairo sits at the far southern tip of Illinois, at the mouth of the Ohio River; Mound City is located about five miles upstream.
35. The “Fighting Parson,” William G. Brownlow was a Methodist minister and newspaper publisher from eastern Tennessee whose fierce denunciations of slavery and secession earned him many enemies in the South. After being expelled from the Confederacy, Brownlow embarked on a widely celebrated six-month speaking tour across the North. Said one Springfield paper, “Suffice it to say that his speech was such a one as no one other individual living, perhaps, could make, and its effect was correspondingly great.” “Great Mass Meeting,” Illinois Daily State Journal, October 31, 1862, 2; Coulter, William G. Brownlow, 208–234.
36. A postwar study published by the U.S. Sanitary Commission reported that the average weight of Civil War soldiers was 141 pounds. Henry, at five feet eleven inches, was three inches taller than the volunteers of the same age, and the weight gain that he will describe during his service says perhaps more about the relative comfort in which Union officers lived than it does his peculiar stature. Gould, Investigations in the Military, 403.
37. Few Civil War newspapers from St. Clair County survive, but the local news in one Springfield paper suggests that Mascoutah was hardly alone in its struggles with crime. Days before Lucy’s letter, a piece titled “Another Burglary” noted, “There are evidences of the presence of skillful burglars in our city, which should place our citizens upon their guard.” Illinois Daily State Journal, October 31, 1862, 3.
38. Philip H. Postel, forty-three, was a wealthy mill owner in Mascoutah. USFC, 1860; History of St. Clair County, 354–355.
39. Fayetteville lies eight miles due south of Mascoutah, on the banks of the Kaskaskia River.
40. Charity (Henry’s older sister) and Charles Rayhill lived on a farm three miles east of Mascoutah. History of St. Clair County, 113, 278.
41. Through the summer of 1861, Fort Wright, Tennessee, had been the rebels’ forward-most defensive position on the Mississippi River, but by the time that Henry passed, the post was occupied only irregularly. Confederates had abandoned nearby Fort Pillow on June 4, 1862.