Letter from Frederick William Seward to Frances Miller Seward, July 11, 1864

  • Posted on: 15 December 2017
  • By: admin
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Letter from Frederick William Seward to Frances Miller Seward, July 11, 1864
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transcriber

Transcriber:spp:mjn

student editor

Transcriber:spp:msr

Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive

Institution:University of Rochester

Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections

Date:1864-07-11

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Letter from Frederick William Seward to Frances Miller Seward, July 11, 1864

action: sent

sender: Frederick Seward
Birth: 1830-07-08  Death: 1915-04-25

location: Washington D.C., US

receiver: Frances Seward
Birth: 1805-09-24  Death: 1865-06-21

location: Auburn, NY

transcription: mjn 

revision: tap 2017-09-08

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Page 1

Washington, Monday morning
My dear Mother,
If you received all our telegrams
as they were sent, you must have had an anxious
day yesterday about Will
Birth: 1839-06-18 Death: 1920-04-29
. You can imagine that it
was a gloomy one for us. — During Saturday evening
we had been hearing the successive reports of the
battle. The disaster and retreat of Gen. Wallace
Birth: 1827-04-10 Death: 1905-02-15

from Monocacy. Father
Birth: 1801-05-16 Death: 1872-10-10
had just returned from
the War Department at midnight when Mr.
Stanton
Birth: 1814-12-19 Death: 1869-12-24
himself came over and called him up to
tell him of the dispatch saying that Will was
wounded and a prisoner. None of us slept
much the rest of the night and it was arranged
that Gus
Birth: 1826-10-01 Death: 1876-09-11
should go over in the first train to
Baltimore to make inquiries of anyone that
he could find from the battle field. He left
at seven. All the morning the city was filled
with panic rumors of the advance of the rebels
in every direction, and troops were organized
and posted to meet the anticipated attack.
The employees of the Quartermasters Department
and the teamsters, amounting to several thousand
Page 2

were armed, equipped and mustered into regiments.
volunteers were accepted, horses impressed and
the streets were full of bustle, with the marching
of the different bodies of troops. Transports also
began to arrive from Fortress Monroe bringing
reinforcements. Meanwhile visitors were consta[ ntly ]
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Reason: hole

coming in to make inquiry, or offer sympathy
about Will, and more even to bring details
of the nature of his wound & the manner of
his capture, according to reports said to
have come from the field. At three o'clock
we received a telegram from Gus giving
Col. Bliss's
Birth: 1827-12-29 Death: 1896-04-30
account, which apprised us that
though wounded he was not a prisoner.
At five we went down to the railroad to
meet Gus who came by that train. By that
time the citizens began to get reassured and
matters to look more cheerful, as the
enemy had not pursued Wallace, had not
attacked the railroad and had not
presented tremendous or force. On
coming home Fosberg told us that a battalion
of the 9th Artillery, just arrived from Petersburg
had marched up the avenue, en route to
the fortifications. We followed them in
the carriage and on the Tenullytown road
Page 3

began to overtake the stragglers in the rear
of the column. We took in two of them and
presently overtook the main body who had
halted to rest before taking the positions in
the forts. They were dusty & tired but
brown & hearty, all glad to see us and glad
to get back to their old company ground.
Their first inquiry was about their Colonel
of whose reported capture they had heard.
You never heard more enthusiastic praises
than they lavished on him for his bravery
and his conduct them before Petersburgh
and never saw men more delighted than
they were, to find it was not true that
he had been taken. Major Snyder
Birth: 1830-01-09 Death: 1914-10-27
was
in command of their battalions. We found him
and all our other acquaintances and
indeed found none who were not.
was among them. We staid half an hour
while they made their coffee and fought
their battles over again and left them
in excellent spirits. On reaching home
at eight o'clock, we found Gen.
Wallace's dispatch contradicting the report
about Will & assuring us that he was
safe & well. — We think he will be home
Page 4

today or tomorrow. The whole regiment has now
been ordered here, to garrison the forts as
they are trained artillerists. Two battalions
went to Baltimore and so were in the battle
but they will now come here.
With the preparations now made and
the strength we are hourly gaining, the military
authorities are confident not only of resisting
but perhaps of overpowering the rebel force and
^capturing it.^
The country around is full of the raiding
and scouting parties of their cavalry.
So far their infantry does not appear. But
the telegraphs will have advised you about
all military operations long before this
reaches you.
Sam Seward
Birth: 1838-04-16 Death: 1916-02-22
arrived this morning,
Gen. Ord
Birth: 1818-10-18 Death: 1883-07-22
having been ordered here for
duty.
Affectionately your son
Frederick