'True Jersey Blues': The Civil War Letters of Lucien A. Voorhees and William McKenzie Thompson, 15th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers
272
'True Jersey Blues': The Civil War Letters of Lucien A. Voorhees and William McKenzie Thompson, 15th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers
272Hardcover
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Overview
'True Jersey Blues' presents Voorhees' and Thompson's vivid accounts of life on the march, fierce firefights, and everyday occupations convey a true sense of the Civil War as experienced by the men enlisted to fight. The letters from Voorhees and Thompson cover the period from the muster of the 15th Regiment at Flemington (August 1862) through the combat deaths of both writers at Spotsylvania (May 1864). The soldiers tell the story of two failed Federal assaults on Fredericksburg, a race to Gettysburg, the subsequent chase after the Army of Northern Virginia, court-martials, executions, a dress parade for President Lincoln, picket duty, "contrabands" (escaped slaves) coming into the Union lines, and the activities contrived to keep themselves busy in winter camp. These men never lost their faith in the cause they were fighting for or their love of home.
Their pens went silent at Spotsylvania in the spring of 1864 where they sacrificed their lives for the cause they believed in. Here, Voorhees and Thompson tell their story of the Civil War and their fight for victory.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781611470024 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University Press Copublishing Division |
| Publication date: | 04/18/2011 |
| Pages: | 272 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
"True Jersey Blues"
The Civil War Letters of Lucien A. Voorhees and William Mackenzie Thompson, 15th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers
By Dominick Mazzagetti
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Copyright © 2011 Dominick MazzagettiAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-61147-002-4
CHAPTER 1
The 15th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers
Near a year and a half ago to-day
Was formed a band it appears,
Near the village of Flemington, far away,
Called the Fifteenth Jersey Volunteers.
The New Jersey and national colors issued to the 15th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, in 1862 and 1863 can be found today at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. These flags, courageously carried into battle by men from northwest New Jersey, served a practical purpose for the men who rallied around them, and the flags carry the scars of battle. Two young men who left Flemington, New Jersey, with the 15th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, in the summer of 1862 dedicated themselves to the cause of the Union and fought under these colors. To pass their time, to justify their convictions, or simply to keep their friends and families informed, Lucien A. Voorhees and William Mackenzie Thompson maintained a regular correspondence with the local newspapers in their hometown. Through these letters—beautifully written, colorful, witty, and sorrowful—we can witness at close hand the rigors and the horrors of the Civil War.
This regiment saw action throughout its three years in the field—at Fredericksburg, Salem Church, Gettysburg, Rappahannock, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, Petersburg, and more—and witnessed General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. The regiment served the state and the country with distinction. More than two thousand infantry regiments mustered during the war, and only eleven lost more men in battle than the 15th New Jersey Volunteers. At Spotsylvania alone the 15th lost more men in a single engagement than any other regiment in the entirety of the war, save one.
The 15th New Jersey mustered in August 1862 as the Union realized that the war would not come to the quick resolution predicted by politicians and generals in 1861. Short-term military units would no longer serve the purpose of President Abraham Lincoln. He needed more men, and he needed them for the long term. The men of the 15th New Jersey signed on for three years or the duration of the war, whichever would come first. This regiment would fight for the better part of those three years and would not muster out until June 22, 1865. Fighting with the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Shenandoah, the 15th New Jersey experienced the fatigue of long and forced marches, the ravages of disease, and the terror of fierce action. By the war's end, the 15th New Jersey had earned the title "the Fighting 15th," and the survivors from the summer of 1862 would return home knowing that they had served their country well.
MUSTERING AT FLEMINGTON
The summer 1862 call by President Abraham Lincoln for additional men to bolster the Union Army included five thousand to come from New Jersey. New Jersey had already fielded ten infantry regiments, two batteries of artillery, and a cavalry unit. The war had become a long, drawn-out affair. Although enthusiasm and patriotic fervor remained high, some politicians were beginning to question Lincoln's handling of the war, and some families had already felt the pain of lost sons, brothers, and fathers.
At the beginning of the war, recruitments were done haphazardly, but quotas were easy to fill. The first units raised by the state were three-month units, called up by the president just days after artillery pounded Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. The rush of patriotism that swept the North reverberated through New Jersey as well, and four units filled immediately. Later units also filled quickly, even though for longer terms. Up to 1862 recruiting was a statewide effort, and all New Jersey recruits reported to duty in Trenton, regardless of where the recruits lived in the state. It was not unusual, however, for whole companies to come from a single county as men joined together to enlist as a group. As the war progressed, recruiters looked to enhance their efforts in the expectation that men would be more reluctant to join, having seen by now some of the horrors of the war.
The July 1862 call sought to use local chauvinism to its advantage. This call was to be filled by military districts (mirroring congressional districts) to allow for a more personal appeal to potential enlistees. Each of the five regiments of one thousand men apiece would serve for "Three years, or during the War" and the men at each soldier's side would be friends, relatives, and neighbors. To emphasize this strength the units would muster quickly and within each district. The local muster would also assure that a greater percentage of recruits would report for duty. For the most part, the companies in each regiment reflected the counties in each district. The ranks of the 15th New Jersey Volunteers would be filled with men and boys from Morris, Sussex, Somerset, Warren, and Hunterdon counties gathered together by company. Muster would be in August at the Flemington Fairgrounds, renamed "Camp Fair Oaks."
Flemington in 1862, as today, was a small village within Raritan Township serving as the county seat for Hunterdon County. At the time of the Revolution, Hunterdon County was the most populous county in New Jersey, but by the Civil War the growing urban centers to the east had outpaced the agricultural communities in the western part of the state. Flemington claimed just more than one thousand citizens in 1862 and served as the focal point for the many farmers in the rolling hills and fertile valleys surrounding it, offering a center for commerce and a well-laid-out Main Street with churches, stores, and hotels. Flemington could boast three weekly newspapers in 1862—the Hunterdon Democrat, the Hunterdon Republican, and the Hunterdon Gazette. Hunterdon County, with proud citizens and strong lines to "Revolutionary sires," mirrored many other agricultural communities throughout the northeastern states, and the village of Flemington was a picture of the town that farmers and merchants gravitated to for their everyday needs.
At the northern end of Flemington, the main street still forks into a Y intersection and there now stands a Civil War monument, common to so many small towns and villages throughout the country, North and South. The monument stands twenty-two feet tall and was dedicated on Memorial Day 1892 in "Grateful Tribute to the Self-Sacrificing Valor" of the "Loyal Sons" who served in the Civil War. The Union soldier, "at rest," looks South. Not far away to the east, "Camp Fair Oaks" has only recently succumbed to development. Until the last several years, a forty-acre plot of this land served as the annual home of the Flemington Fair, continuously running from 1856 to the present. Lucien A. Voorhees visited the fair in 1863 while on recruitment duty after the battle of Gettysburg.
The call in 1862 to gather in Flemington to preserve the Union did not go unheeded. Patriots throughout the county expected the ranks to fill and expected that their sons would bring honor to the state. The Hunterdon Republican had high expectations for the 15th, hoping that this regiment would emulate the "fidelity and courage" of the "Jersey Blues" who had served before them. This newspaper, a solid supporter of Lincoln and the war, predicted that "thousands of young, ardent, patriotic men in our State" would "embrace this opportunity to do battle for the Union and Liberty." As the Republican saw it, "No soldiers have achieved a more glorious reputation than those of the Jersey line." And, indeed, many of the men in this unit would take these words to heart.
Recruiters were sent out from Flemington to the towns to exhort young men through patriotic appeals and local pride. Bounties also served as an inducement. A recruit would receive a two-dollar "premium" at enlistment plus a month's pay in advance (about thirteen dollars). The hundred-dollar federal bounty was paid twenty-five dollars upfront, when the regiment was filled, and seventy-five dollars at the end of the three-year enlistment. States and local governments could supplement the federal bounties in order to fill their quotas and avoid the necessity of a draft. New Jersey paid six dollars per month to the family of a recruit or two dollars per month to a single man. Local bounties added to that amount.
By the end of August, the 15th New Jersey had 947 officers and men, just under a complete regiment of 1,046. They were arranged in ten companies, A through K (no J). The companies were organized by county. Company A and Company G were filled with Hunterdon men; Somerset men formed Company E; three more companies came from Sussex, two from Warren, and one more from Morris. One of the two Warren companies, Company H, filled a portion of its muster with Hunterdon men as well, from several towns bordering the counties.
The commanding officer of the 15th was Colonel Sam Fowler of Sussex County, appointed by New Jersey Governor Charles Olden for his prominence as a lawyer and Democratic politician, not his military acumen. Perhaps the Republican governor wanted to appoint at least one Democrat. Fowler had the distinction of being the only colonel without any military background appointed to lead one of the five regiments raised in the summer of 1862. The colonel was well received despite this obvious lack and attempted to compensate by recruiting subordinate officers who had already seen fighting with New Jersey's early regiments. Captain Edward L. Campbell came from the 3rd New Jersey to serve as lieutenant colonel. Captain James M. Brown came from the 7th New Jersey to serve as major. Lambert Boeman of Flemington was the first captain of Company A and William H. Slater of Frenchtown, the first captain of Company G.
The local newspapers reported on the progress of the regiment in its recruiting efforts. Colonel Fowler and others spoke at rallies in the various counties. James Brown and William Slater were singled out as they worked to bring together the Hunterdon County companies. Stories ran in local newspapers about the generosity of the bounties and the dangers of exposure to a draft if the units could not be filled readily. One article suggested that the volunteer regiments, like the 15th mustering in Flemington, might spend the war on guard duty or in defensive forts with neighbors and friends while draftees might soon find themselves at the front with strangers. As it turned out, although the men of the 15th were surrounded by friends and family, they did not find the comfort or safety of guard duty or post duty during their three-year enlistment.
The recruiting strategy worked as the ranks of the 15th filled relatively quickly and men began gathering at the Flemington fairgrounds. On August 29, less than sixty days after the call, the regiment left the camp for assignment outside of Washington, D.C. Almost without exception the enlisted men of the 15th New Jersey were raw recruits, not seasoned veterans. Each man was issued a muzzle-loading British rifle, similar to the Enfield used by British troops. They practiced loading but had little time for target practice before boarding the train headed south. Their first assignment would be to bolster the defenses of the capital, which appeared to be under threat from Lee's Confederate armies. Their train passed through Lambertville and continued to Philadelphia where the New Jersey boys, like all passing units, received a free meal, compliments of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon. Their destination was Camp Kearney, a relatively makeshift encampment named for New Jersey's General Philip Kearney, recently killed at the second Bull Run. The camp served as home to several New Jersey regiments already on the line. Soon the 15th moved down the road to Camp Morris.
THOMPSON AND VOORHEES
One of the compelling aspects of Civil War history remains the enormity of the written record left by the soldiers who marched from post to post and fought the battles in towns, woods, and fields. These were literate men with free time between marching and fighting to write home to family and friends. Many had never left their hometowns before the war. And many would never return. Their hours of boredom—sometimes stretching into days and weeks—would be filled by describing their surroundings, or their eagerness to be on the move, or the latest military and political gossip that passed through the camps. Then, oftentimes without much warning, they faced the horrors of the war firsthand and witnessed slaughter and devastation that they could not adequately describe in words.
Two of the Hunterdon County men who served in the 15th New Jersey Regiment used their free time to carry on a weekly correspondence with local newspapers: Lucien A. Voorhees (sergeant, Company A) was a nineteen-year-old clerk from Flemington; William Mackenzie Thompson (private, Company G) was a twenty-four-year-old teacher from Franklin Township. They began their correspondence with the Hunterdon Gazette almost immediately after the regiment left Flemington. By December, they had moved exclusively to the Hunterdon Republican. Each was a weekly county newspaper, but the latter, in harmony with its masthead, strongly supported President Abraham Lincoln and the war. The third weekly extant in the county, the Hunterdon Democrat, received considerable mention in the letters from these two soldiers but always in derision for its "Copperhead" politics and its lack of support for the Union and the war.
We know very little about these two soldiers other than what we can glean from their correspondence. They were too young to have made an impact on their communities prior to enlisting in August 1862, and they offer little insight in their letters about their families, friends, or life in the rolling hills of northwestern New Jersey.
A picture survives of Voorhees, in his uniform, staring directly at the camera, poker straight and with a slight hint of defiance on his face. He was living with his parents in Branchburg (Somerset County) at the time of the 1850 census and in Quakertown, Franklin Township (Hunterdon County), in 1860, although the muster roll for the 15th lists him from Raritan Township in 1862. His parents were Cortlin Voorhees and Elizabeth Voorhees. His trade is listed as "clerk" in the 1860 census at age seventeen.
William Thompson is more of a mystery. He did not leave a picture, but a description in the records of the 15th survives, providing some help in bringing him to life. First of all, his home is listed as "Scotland." Foreign-born soldiers were not uncommon in the Civil War, especially from Ireland and Scotland. His most notable feature must have been his height: five feet, two and a half inches, hence his nom de plume, "Little Mack," in honor of George McClellan, the commander of the Army of the Potomac at the time of his muster, as well as his stature. He had a "light" complexion, "grey" eyes and "fair" hair. The record lists him as a "teacher" from Franklin Township.
Voorhees proved the more consistent of the two correspondents. He rarely missed a week once he got started and often, when activity or excitement was high, his letters arrived more frequently. He covered many subjects, not just military life and military activities. Thompson's letters were sporadic. They provide information about the regiment, its men and their movements. Voorhees clearly enjoyed passing on his observations, his opinions, or his take on what was happening. Thompson was more of a straightforward reporter of military events, writing only when he felt events warranted the interest of his readers. Thompson did occasionally veer from his self-imposed restraint, however, to address political issues that directly impacted the soldiers in the field. In all, these two men wrote at least 101 letters to the Hunterdon Gazette and the Hunterdon Republican over the course of twenty months from September 1862 through April 1864. It could be that other letters were written that did not make it to the newspapers due to intercepted, lost, or misplaced mail. This would appear likely, especially at the end of the correspondence, when Thompson becomes more infrequent than usual and Voorhees appears to miss a week here and there in what was otherwise a regular weekly correspondence. On the other hand, neither correspondent refers to missing letters in the letters that were printed.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from "True Jersey Blues" by Dominick Mazzagetti. Copyright © 2011 Dominick Mazzagetti. Excerpted by permission of Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
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