Archive of 75 war-date autograph letters signed, nearly all to his parents, documenting his Civil War service in South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia in Co. F. of the 1st New York Engineers by (Civil War) Haskell, Edson - 1865

Vp [New York, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia], 1865. Approx. 260pp. Variously written in pencil or ink, on a variety of paper, but generally quite legible. A few with original envelopes. [With:] Haskell's manuscript discharge dated Nov. 18, 1864, partly-printed discharge of the same date, a cdv of Maj. Gen. Hunter and Haskell's 1865 marriage certificate. 8vo or 4to. Usual folds. Approx. 260pp. Variously written in pencil or ink, on a variety of paper, but generally quite legible. A few with original envelopes. [With:] Haskell's manuscript discharge dated Nov. 18, 1864, partly-printed discharge of the same date, a cdv of Maj. Gen. Hunter and Haskell's 1865 marriage certificate. 8vo or 4to. Haskell (1836-1877) enlisted at Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York on November 18, 1861 and mustered for a three year enlistment in Company F of the 1st New York Engineers. At the start of the war, the Army Corps of Engineers was severely underpopulated; Civil Engineer Edward Serrell began recruiting for the specialized service in October 1861, with promises of pay one-third greater than infantry service.

The first five letters of this archive are written by Haskell from Camp Washington on Staten Island, as the regiment was formed, trained and awaited orders. The letters describe his daily routine, quarters, the batteries and harbor and relate news that he has passed as an engineer. Among the most interesting of these letters is one dated January 22, 1862 in which he details a visit to Central Park, with a lengthy description of the landscape and ongoing construction.

The 1st New York was deployed to Port Royal Sound and was formed as the 10th Corps Engineers in the Department of the South. Haskell and his company are sent to Hilton Head, arriving at the end of February 1862. The next six months are spent on the island, working on its wharves and fortifications. He describes his quarters and rations, inspection and drills, his work on a powder magazine, flood gate and surveying for new fortifications.

He writes at length about the number "contrabands", i.e. the freed or escaped slaves from Confederate plantations coming to Hilton Head. He writes on March 1, 1862, soon after arriving: "There are a plenty of contrabands slaves here. They chop and raft logs for the wharves that they are building. The women & children are around among the soldiers selling sweet potatoes, oysters and such to them. There are a good many soldiers here on the island and there was a good many that have just left on an expedition and they keep coming." On April 1, 1862 he adds: "The government is making preparation to put in a cotton crop here. The negroes are preparing the ground. Contrabands come in every day. Two came in yesterday who said that they had nothing to eat for 4 days." On May 10, 1862: "There is a good many contrabands and they keep coming in all the time. When they first arrived they are very ragged, both men and women but they are all provided with suitable clothes. The soldiers are down on them because the negroes are used better than they are and have more privilege granted to them by the authorities. And the soldier vents his spite on the negro every chance he can get. Most of the negroes are employed. General Hunter has just commenced getting up a negro regiment of 1500 men to do guard duty through the night and to garrison some of the forts. The officers are to be white men and are to be taken from our regiment. There is quite an effort by some northern society to educate them to work; a job which they have but a slight idea..." On October 5, 1862 he notes the work General Mitchel among the formerly enslaved: "I went yesterday (Sunday) to the ordination of the Negro Church (Baptist). Our chaplain read the ordination service of the Episcopal church and made a few remarks but General Mitchell done most of the talking ... He told them that he was going to have them time by themselves, and was going to educate them and make them good citizens. He has a squad of 50 men building houses for them about 3 miles from head quarters called the negro villages."

In April 1862 he participates in the Battle of Fort Pulaski, giving a lengthy account on April 15: "We fell in and marched through the rain to the docks, stood in the rain all of an hour and then went on board pretty well soaked. At 9 o'clock the steamboat started. About noon we anchored off Tybee Island in full sight of Fort Pulaski ... at seven o'clock the next morning the bombardment of Fort Pulaski commenced. Before the firing commenced Gen. Benham sent a flag of truce and demanded the surrender of the fort in the name of the U.S. " After describing the bombardment, he continues: "At sunset the firing ceased on both sides and the two companies of engineers was divided into squads of 8 or 10 men each and sent out to repair the batteries. We worked all night. " He details the work of mounting two 10-inch columbiads "which dismounted themselves the very first shot they made. One of these guns the boys mounted after sunrise and as soon as they discovered from the fort what they was about they directed all of the guns which they could bring to bare upon that particular place. But the boys stuck to their gun and mounted it while the cannon balls was flying over their heads. A feat which they received considerable praise for. "

In November 1862, Haskell's company is transferred to Fort Pulaski, where they work on repairing the damage to the fort, remounting the artillery and building a new magazine. He tells news of the war related to his department, including a November expedition to destroy railroad bridges between Charleston and Savannah and the death of General Mitchel: "Our Generals called it a partial result and considerable gained by it. But it was such results as I do not believe in, for we got tremendously whipped and lost 225 men in killed, wounded and missing. But our company succeeded in tearing up some 200 feet of rails on the reach and cutting the telegraph while they were guarded by a few companies of infantry and they all barely escaped being taken prisoner. They found the bridges all guarded by strong batteries. Just as our company and 4 companies of infantry came up to tracks there was a train of open cars going pass loaded with troops. Our men hid behind the fence and when the train came up fired into it and they think they killed a good many. Since then General Mitchel has died and two or three of the other head men ... some think that they had yellow fever ... others think they was poisoned by eating fish that they bought of the negroes..."

Much of his war commentary during his nine months on Fort Pulaski includes descriptions of the iron clads and monitors. On March 5, 1863, for example, he writes: "The rebel steamer Nashville was destroyed last Saturday by one of the Monitors (The Passaic). She ran by a 13 gun battery and run up the river where she lay and fired two shots into her the first went clear through and the second a shell burst in the magazine and this blew the Nashville to atoms." On June 21, 1863 he writes: "The rebel ram Fingal [i.e. CSS Atlanta] that was built at Savannah and which has kept us in a sweat for nearly a year, here and at Hilton Head, was captured by one of our monitors last Tuesday without firing a shot..." He details the action and movements of the ships before continuing sarcastically: "...The means for building the ram was furnished by the ladies of Savannah and there was two boat loads of them followed the ram down to see her destroy our battery and gun boats, but they went back closely followed by one of our gun boats and you must imagine their joy..."

Haskell provides news of the Battle of Fort Wagner on Morris Island, including the role of African American troops. He writes on July 15, 1863: "... Gen. Gilmour is working his way toward Ft. Sumter and Charleston. There has been some hard fighting on Morris Island..." On the 24th he writes: "... our forces had taken eleven batteries on Morris Island and there was two that they had not got possession of yet and that our forces had taken 700 prisoners ... yesterday it was reported by some fellows that came from the head that there had been more fighting on Morris Island that the two remaining batteries had been stormed three times and our forces had been repulsed each time with tremendous slaughter. The 55 [i.e. 54th] Mass. color reg. was one of the storming parties. They were 1200 strong. They lost 700 in killed wounded and missing and the NY 48 was another..." Interestingly, that same letter includes a commentary on the New York draft riots: "I see by the late NY papers that there is a riot in NY city to resist the draft ... I should say that it was to burn buildings, murder and to plunder the city. I hope that they will be put down..."

At the end of July 1863, his company is transferred to Morris Island, South Carolina to participate in the shelling of Fort Sumter and Charleston, where he remains until February 1864. His letters provide great detail of the shelling, his work on the artillery and the condition of Fort Sumter. For example: "We are hard at work building batteries and mounting guns ... We have just finished a three gun battery on a small island about two miles from our camp. All of the material except the sand had to be boated, guns and all. The guns are pointed toward Charleston and the city may feel the effects of them ... Two sides of Ft. Sumter are knocked down and the other sides are full of holes and badly shattered & she has not fired a gun in a number of days but we cannot get possession of her until our forces take Fort Wagner ... Our regiment is what is called sapping Fort Wagner, that is digging trenches in the ground and they are within 100 ft of the fort. We have some killed by grape and canister and by the sharp shooters ... The rebels had rifle pits outside of the fort and from these pits they annoyed our boys very much. The 24 Reg. Mass. made a charge on these pits and took 80 prisoners and drove the rest of them into the fort ..."

In January 1864: "You must remember that it takes a tremendous force to throw a hundred lb shell over four miles and it is with the utmost difficulty that we can elevate our guns sufficiently to do it. It requires from 36 deg. to 40 deg. and this elevation allows but little recoil to the gun and the consequence is that we are using up more guns than the damage to the city amounts to. But our Colonel has invented a new wooden gun carriage and day before yesterday one of our men with myself laid the platform and put the carriage ... on it and the artillery fellows mounted the gun and tried it. It works first rate and yesterday fired 175 shells into the city and got smoke to rising in a number of places..."

At the end of April 1864, with the shelling of Charleston continuing, his regiment is reorganized and he is sent up the James River toward Richmond to join the Army of the Potomac in the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, writing on April 27: "the second battalion which includes our regiment starts for Fortress Monroe tonight ... the whole of the 10th army corps are going to operate with the army of the Potomac ... The report is that there will be no movement the present season and that all but the most important places will be evacuated and that those will be garrisoned by colored troops..."

Arriving at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia in May, he writes: "The infantry landed and had a skirmish and took 600 prisoners. Then we built docks to land the cavalry and artillery. The troops advanced some 12 miles, our battalion stayed at the landing until most of the stuff was landed which took 24 hours and then we followed on ... built fortifications and obstructions then we again advanced and had quite a severe fight and torn up the railroad between Richmond and Petersburg ... they said that in one of the battles the 25th SC Reg lost all but three men ... We hear that Meade has licked Lee and that he is falling back to Richmond ... We are now about 14 miles below Richmond..."

After fortifying the breastworks at Bermuda Hundred, his company is moved to Dutch Gap to work on the canal being built to flank the Confederate battery on the river. He writes on August 13, 1864: "The river here is very crooked. It runs around five miles and comes within 200 yards of meeting again. The rebels have the most of this five miles filled in with torpedoes and obstruction and a powerful battery to protect them..." After describing the topography he continues: "We are digging across here so as to let the monitors go through and thus cut off the rebels battery and their obstructions. But the working party has had a rough time of it today. The rebels have shelled us from their batteries and their iron clads. There has been some killed and quite a number wounded ... I think that Gen. Grant will stick to them until he fetches them out of Petersburg and Richmond ... There will be some hard fighting in northern Virginia and Maryland ..." He adds the following week: "We are at work on the canal. Not exactly at the canal but on the fortifications to protect the canal and are building a corduroy road across a swamp able to get to the canal. We are encamped on the opposite side of the river from the canal and have to cross the river in small boats to our work; the negroes does most of the work on the canal and it does not progress very fast..."

In October he is moved forward to Deep Bottom, writing on the 16th: "... Our reg was in the late advance on the north side of the James toward Richmond and have seen some rather rough times ... Our company are at work on the advance line. They say about 5 miles from Richmond. I am with four other engineers in charge of building a ten gun fort. We have about 300 men helping us. I have charge of 75 who are cutting away the wood around the fort and carrying timber for it and obstructions to put around it ... The rebels are about a mile from this line of works ... Wednesday the 12th there was quite a fight here but there was nothing materially accomplished on either side save the killing and wounding of quite a number of men ... things indicate a forward movement very soon..."

His letters from Deep Bottom at the end of October and the beginning of November largely concern the presidential and local elections, sending his father his ballot to ensure that his vote would be cast. On November 18, 1864, with his 3 year term up, Haskell is discharged at Varina, Virginia, and the archive includes both a manuscript discharge and the official partly-printed one he subsequently received. The archive includes one additional letter, dated May 19, 1865 written from City Point, Virginia, suggesting he re-upped for another shorter term. He writes: "... For the past ten days we have been busy from 4-1/2 o'clock in the morning until dark at night fitting up boats for transporting troops and horses. The twenty-fifth corps (colored) are going to Texas to settle the hash with Kerby Smith. One division has already gone and the boats are being fitted up as fast as possible for the rest ... I have been to Richmond and Petersburg ..."

A very good Civil War archive of letters by an enlisted man serving as an artificer and engineer on the Georgia and Carolina coast, participating in the the Battle of Fort Pulaski and the bombardment and siege of Charleston and Fort Wagner, and along the James River in the Richmond-Petersburg campaign.