The Civil War Letters of Galutia York

Index of Letters

There are nearly 50 of Galutia York's Civil War letters in the Special Collections Department of the Colgate University Libraries. They have been transcribed and edited by Sue Greenhagen, Technical Services Librarian at Morrisville State College. Click on a date to see the transcript of that day's letter.

August 29, 1862 - To Parents from Norwich, New York.
Reports illness; went to get likeness taken but was too late; regiment to leave Tuesday; asks family to come down and visit him.
September 10, 1862 - To Father from Baltimore, Maryland.
Arrival at Baltimore; describes trip from Norwich to Binghamton via Chenango Canal.
September 20, 1862 - To Parents from Camp Belger, Maryland.
Dispels rumor of capture at Yorktown; hires out washing; General Wool to review camps; many men sick including Captain Tucker; talks about daily diet; soldier killed near camp.
September 30, 1862 - To Father, Mother, Brothers, Sisters from Camp Belger, Maryland.
"Hamilton Regiment" (157th NYSV) arrives; 114th being divided up for guard duty; describes location of his tent from pictures he sent home.
October 8, 1862 - To Parents from Camp Belger, Maryland.
Asks for money to get boots tapped; describes how leather wears out on coarse soil; asks mother to send some good mittens; identifies figures on Camp Belger letterhead; 20 men sick in camp, 2 died; spends spare time reading, writing, fixing clothes, playing checkers.
October 9, 1862 - To Sister Emily from Baltimore, Maryland.
Talks about Amasa Wright's letter home; sent Emily a picture of Captain Tucker.
October 14, 1862 - To Brother Henry from Camp Belger, Maryland.
Does own wash and hangs it in the tent; is in awe of railroads and steamships that he's seen; asks if Henry went to the fair in "Negro City" (Madison County Fair in North Brookfield); "Hamilton Regiment (157th NYSV) came through with the Hamilton Brass Band; the Band stayed 4 days; has to go on dress parade.
October 19, 1862 - To Parents from Camp Belger, Maryland.
Has to drill so much, doesn't have as much time to write; expects war won't be ended "in a good while;" doesn't have money to get clothes washed; wants parents to write long letters; wishes he had a loaf of Indian bread and a pan of milk; asks father to send some butter and cheese; also wants a pie and a cake or two.
October 24, 1862 - To Brother Henry from Camp Belger, Maryland.
Ordered to leave Camp Belger, packed, orders changed; Captain Tucker took part of the company on a camping trip - Galutia was on guard duty and didn't go; wishes Henry could come visit; plans to hire a horse in order to ride home for a visit; wants father to send cheese, butter, apples, onions, cake, johnnycake, and maple sugar; two soldiers ran away, were caught in Pennsylvania - it is the third offense for one, Galutia guesses the man will be shot; has a good rifle which shoots 500 yards.
October 28, 1862 - To Parents from Baltimore, Maryland.
Glad to hear from home - "a sunny spot in a cloudy day;" has a bad cold; company is guarding the West Warehouse; Amasa Wright is sick - he's a 19-year old from Clarkville; has soap but no hot water; has moved to Medical Purveyors; needs mittens; continues letter on October 29 - wants parents to send eggs; doesn't want a pillow, can't march with it; will get paid next Friday, has only enough money until then; thinks about enlisting in the navy, would get $100 bounty.
November 4, 1862 - To Brother Henry from Camp Belger, Maryland.
Expects to be sent to Texas; doesn't know if he could shoot a rebel or not, hasn't ever shot his gun.
November 8, 1862 - To Parents from Baltimore, Maryland.
Not over his cold, but it's better; they are on the steamboat Atlantic in the bay at Baltimore; expects to sail that afternoon; has only 25 cents and one stamp - hasn't been paid yet; Atlantic is too big to dock - they had to take another boat out to board; had 6 inches of snow; reports no liquor - "haint bought any nor wants to;" doesn't expect a furlough any time soon.
November 15, 1862 - To Parents from steamship Atlantic.
Are at the James River within 2 miles of Fort Monroe; ship ran aground at Baltimore - took days to leave; has "nothing to do and plenty of help to do it;" saw Fort Monroe; 1/4 acre covered four feet deep with cannon balls and shells; pile of grape shot as large as a hop house; 300 cannon with cannon balls that weigh 440 lbs. each; 2 cannon weighed 60 tons each; pay is $13 a month butthey haven't been paid yet; a soldier came down with the measles - he expects to get them since there are 400 men piled together on board the ship; sees ship masts sticking up in the James River [Cumberland].
November 20, 1862 - To Father and Mother from Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Is on the steamship Atlantic; talks about eating and sleeping aboard the ship; troops go on shore to "stir around and air ourselves;" lice as big as a kernel of wheat with U.S. stamped on their backs; expects to come down with the measles; got paid a total of $21.23 - will send $15 home; talks about shinplasters and greenbacks.
November 21, 1862 - To Parents from Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Has read his Bible; got paid up to November 1 but is still owed one month's back pay.
November 23, 1862 - To Parents from steamship Atlantic.
Has very bad cold; "in this cussed hole;" packs knapsack and goes ashore when he finishes letter; Amasa Wright still sick.
December 1, 1862 - To Father and Mother from Chesapeake Hospital, Virginia.
Has the measles but is gaining; is hoarse - hasn't spoken in 4 days; brought to the hospital "last Tuesday" but was sick 3 days before; longs to be home to help "drink up that barrell of cider;" assures mother that he doesn't use tobacco.
December 7, 1862 - To Parents from Chesapeake Hospital, Virginia.
Feels good but is still weak; is still hoarse; fleet has gone - doesn't know where they went; 20 men in Company G are in the hospital with the measles; the nurse's name is "Bully" and "you had better behave;" is in brown cottage in 7th ward; can see Hampton, Virginia, "that the rebbels burnt."
December 11, 1862 - To Brother Henry from Old Point, Virginia.
"I like souldiering first rate. It suits me well;" is at hospital; fleet has left him behind (Banks' Expedition); clothes were taken when he got to the hospital.
December 13, 1862 - To Father and Mother from Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Still hasn't gotten clothes back; hasn't been outside for 3 weeks; hasn't heard from the regiment; lists soldiers left behind from Company G; the "head hospital is the Ladyes Seminary;" nurses ("girls") come from all over the U.S. to go to school; his cottage is about 5 rods from the Chesapeake shore.
December letter, undated.
December 18, 1862 - To Father and Mother from Fort Monroe, Virginia.
At the Chesapeake Hospital; hasn't gotten his clothes back yet; hasn't been homesick but once (on the ship); many are deserting; petty thefts at the hospital; heard from the 114th in Banks' Expedition:
- 4 companies on the Thames;
- hit by shell, had to unload at Port Royal;
- men threw everything overboard so the boat wouldn't sink before they got off.
December 19, 1862.
December 25, 1862 - To Brother Henry from Old Point, Virginia.
Got his clothes back; can go out and travel around; says soldiers well enough to get up and dress will be shipped out; doesn't know if they will go to the regiment or to another hospital; has to be ready to go at a "minute's warning;" could get a furlough if he enlisted in the heavy artillery but he's already served 5 months of his enlistment; 6 to 8 men run away every night; hasn't shot a gun since he left home; sent home a piece of wood from the Atlantic.
January 2, 1863 - To Brother Adelbert from Chesapeake Hospital, Virginia.
Has been out traveling; saw copperheads; "do you want me to catch one for you?"
January 3, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Old Point, Virginia.
He has had a number of letters with news from Brookfield; weather is good and he is traveling about; a contraband does the washing; rumor is that they will go to Texas.
January 7, 1863 - To Brother Henry from Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Is now in a hospital tent - it's healthier there; rumor is they will go to Texas within a week; army has placed guards around the hospital to prevent desertions; thinks some men enlist just to collect the bounty and then run away.
January 12, 1863.
January 14, 1863 - to Father and Mother from Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Is on a sailing ship in the bay with 7 other ships; expects to leave for New Orleans in a week or two; boat has a lot of lice; tells mother he is not homesick and not to worry about him; got vaccinated for smallpox ("it worked well"); 200 more men just came on board.
February 1, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Quarantine, Louisiana.
Let's parents know he has arrived in Louisiana; the sick will go to Quarantine Hospital; doesn't know where the regiment is, thinks it may be in Texas; describes orange trees and alligators; has nothing to do and nothing to read.
February 8, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Quarantine, Louisiana.
Has a hard cold and a very hard cough; went to New Orleans but had to come back when 2 men came down with smallpox; expects to get smallpox and "kick the bucket;" reports outbreak of mumps; saw rice plantations and picked one out where he wants to live when he gets "through souldiering;" "I am going to have this war settled by next June."
February 14, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Quarantine, Louisiana.
Is not well, has had diarrhea and a bad cough; is on land now; soldiers do their own cooking; nothing between the 114th and the rebels but a bay; a soldier died of smallpox; needs fishing supplies so he can fish in the Mississippi River; "I have got so far away from home that I haint going to qrite to any one only home;" wishes he had a book so he could keep a diary.
February 19, 1863 - To Brother Henry from Quarantine, Louisiana.
Still has diarrhea and a hard cough - thinks it might be the effects of the measles; describes camp and what they have to eat; "mosquitoes are thicker than hair on a dog and as large as bumblebees...the blacksmith keeps them to drill holes in iron;" describes nearby levee; dreamt about being home, but woke up in his tent "as usual."
February 25, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Quarantine, Louisiana.
Climate doesn't agree with him; describes camp as "a low wet hole inhabited by crockadiles, frogs, mosquitoes and rats;" ships loaded with cotton captured; lists prices on provisions; because of illness his patriotism is all gone.
March 5, 1863.
March 6, 1863 -
Heard about "theives around South Hamilton;" asks about draft in New York State; "If they do [use the draft] tell Henry to gro young 1 year."
March 12, 1863 - To Brother Henry from Quarantine, Louisiana.
Is feeling better; expects to get back to the regiment; but "as long as I am away from the reg. I shant have to fight and that is one consolation;" "should like the fun of shooting 3 or 4 of the darned rebs;" has had fresh vegetables to eat; is going to have oyster stew for dinner; hasn't been paid in 4 months ("Uncle Sam is good for it"); asks Henry to send him fishing line; has grown a beard, and will have a "bully mustache" when he gets home.
March 20, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Camp Dudley, Louisiana.
Is camped across the river from Quarantine, in a former rebel campsite; weather is very hot; many sick; reports an accidental shooting in the 50th Mass.; "I am contented as a kitten but when I don't feel well I get to thinking of home;" hasn't had a letter from home in 2 months.
March 29, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Camp Dudley, Louisiana.
Finally got letters from home, ("It put new life right into me"); thinks regiment may be fighting at Vicksburg.
April 6, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Brashear City, Louisiana.
Is back with the regiment; only 40 men in Company G that aren't sick; doesn't think he can get a discharge or furlough; began drawing whiskey rations; tells parents to "keep up good courage."
April 10, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Brashear City, Louisiana.
His cough is getting better; sees regimental doctor; 114th sailed for Berwick City; lemons cost 5 cents apiece.
April 14, 1863 - To Brother Henry from Brashear City, Louisiana.
Went down to the wharf and saw rebel prisoners; hears fighting up the bay; another soldier broke his knife.
April letter, undated - To Father.
Is getting along well; Dr. Beecher put him on light duty; saw army sail up the bay; expects to head for Virginia in 2 months.
April 21, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Brashear City, Louisiana.
"I am on the gain;" rebels are retreating; the 114th did well in battle; army has captured rebels, horses, mules, artillery, sugar; "I have done my own washing...and now the wench does it that goes with the co."
April 22, 1863 - To Father from Brashear City, Louisiana.
The army has been reinforced and has taken 15,000 prisoners; is feeling better.
April 29, 1863 - To Brother Henry from Brashear City, Louisiana.
"Am in good spirits;" regiment brought back livestock; they must go out again to reinforce Banks; doesn't have good water to drink ("that is what gives us the diarrhae so much").
May 7, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Brashear City, Louisiana.
Company G has gone up to New Iberia; the rebels are surrounded at Vicksburg and can't get away; the Mississippi River will be "cleared from the rebs;" some rebels are giving up and taking the oath of allegiance; reports an attack on General Banks who wasn't hit ("he don't wear his shoulder straps when traveling"); rebels pay $80 a barrel for flour.
May 8, 1863 - To Father and Mother from Brashear City, Louisiana.
Asks questions about home; "what is the general opinion of the war up there?" To Mother: Had beef tea for breakfast; is feeling first rate; wishes to have a meal at home; "when this you see, remember me."
May 16, 1863 - From Stephen Tuttle to York Family from Berwick City, Louisiana.
"...Galutia is no more. he died on the 14 inst at 2 oc P.M.;" "the place he is buried is a beautiful elevation on the bank of the river;" "his death has cast a gloom over all who knew him."
May 25, 1863 - From Captain Charles E. Tucker to the York Family from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Captain Tucker, of Company G, sends his condolences to the York family.

Maintained by Sue Greenhagen.
E-mail: greenhsh@morrisville.edu