136

"Old Gen. Grant ought to be choaked."

John W. Fessenden.

Letter describing the Battle of Shiloh in gory detail.

No place, 10 April 1862
Autograph Letter Signed as "J.W.F." to his wife Mary Righter Fessenden. 6 pages, 7¾ x 5 inches, on two sheets; mailing folds, minimal wear. With typed transcript.

John White Fessenden (1821-1899) of Twinsburg, OH was a married music teacher and carriage painter with seven children when he enlisted as a private in the 49th Illinois Infantry.

Fessenden offers a dramatic narrative of the Battle of Shiloh. On the first day, Grant's Army of the Tennessee was caught by surprise and badly routed: "They advanced without a check, making our men flee before them like sheep. They had artilery, & we had non. . . . In less than an [h]our they were in our camp. . . . You never saw such excitement. There were more than five thousand able-bodied men that could fight, but they could not be ralyed. Some swam the river. . . . If our men had not got frightened on the start, there never would have been this defeat, but it was a perfect surprise to our armey, then there was no generalship display on our side. Every reg't fought on its own hook. Old Gen. Grant ought to be choaked."

Overnight, Buell's Army of the Ohio arrived to reinforce Grant. On 6 April, "the Rebels, drunk on the success of the day before, were sure of victory, but Buell took command & things went differant . . . driving them back untill about ½ past 2 o'clock, when they were put to flight, and as they fled they slashed our tents and cut the roofs."

Fessenden's unit was soon able to return to the camp they had fled from the day before. "Look to your right & left, you can count 20 dead men, mostly laying on their backs, some with heads blown off, some with a bawl through the eyes & head, others with the lower part of their faces blown off. . . . Now this will give you an idea what I saw for 2 miles every way. . . . Others who were wounded in the head & had begun to decay were frightful-looking objects. I presume they will not all be buried for a week to come." All of the regiment's personal effects were found to be ransacked or destroyed.

With--a slip of paper signed by the 49th Illinois commander William R. Morrison, 1862; and 3 documents relating to Fessenden's disability pension application, 1879. They are rich in biographical and medical detail.

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