“Travels Through War Torn Tennessee”
“Travels Through War Torn Tennessee”
Pvt. Henry C. Clark
Location: Stevenson, Alabama
Date: May 11, 1864
Unit: 5th Connecticut Infantry
Stevenson, Alabama�May 11, 1864
My Darling & Beloved Wife,
I take this opportunity of writing you a few lines to let you know where I am and how I am getting along. I don’t feel any better than I have felt. My back and side troubles me considerable but I could not get any examination anywhere on the road. But if the regiment is stationed in the same place, I shall ask for my discharge as soon as I get there and I will get it.
But I hope these few lines will find my darling enjoying first rate health. I hope that you received the letter that I wrote from Louisville the 8th of this month in which I told you about our treatment from Bedloe’s Island to Cincinnati. But from Cincinnati to this place we was treated a little better. But when we was in Nashville we put up at the largest hotel in the City.
It was called the Zollicoffer House but it was not half finished. There was no covering on the roof and when it rained, it came right down through on to the ground floor. We arrived there about half past five in the afternoon and stayed until the next morning about 11 o’clock when we took the cars for this place and just outside of Nashville I saw a great many new made graves. And for about 4 or 5 miles you could see graves and entrenchments where there had been engagements. And when we got to Murfreesboro, there was very strong entrenchments which encircled the whole town so the rebs would have a hard time getting in there.
There was one place we came through called Wartrace and it was rightly named for it showed traces of a war party and as our train came thundering into the depot, there was quite a tumult such as the ringing of bells and gongs which one could hear above the noise of the train. We arrived here about half past 4 in the morning and had to stand around about an hour before we could find out where we was going to put up but at last we found a place and Bob Warner 1 and two other men belonging to the Fifth and myself went into quarters together. I have borrowed about 75 cents of Bob to get some paper and stamps so that I could write to you but I don’t expect to hear from you until I get somewhere to stay a spell and then I will want to have you write for it would only be a waste of paper and stamps.
But I have not got much more to write so I will draw to a close for this time. So give my best respects to all and keep all of my love to yourself with 50 million kisses. So good day hoping to see you before long, I remain your ever loving and affectionate husband,
— Henry
To his darling little [ ]. You need not write until you hear from me again.
So good day, darling pet.
_________________________________________
Biography:
Henry C. Clark was born in 1836 in the state of Connecticut. His parents were both from Connecticut as well, so his family had been in the area for a while.
As Henry grew older, he began to notice a lady from the area, named Lauraette M. Clark, who would soon become his wife. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Henry took an oath and joined the fight. He was in the 5th Connecticut Infantry, Co. B and would be a part in the following battles; Winchester, Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and The Atlanta Campaign. This was a very battle-hardened unit, and in this letter, he would have been on his way to the Atlanta Campaign while nursing an injury from a previous battle.
In this letter, he is describing the war-torn state of Tennessee. By this point, Tennessee had been ravaged by war, and there were traces of it everywhere. Tennessee had the 2nd most major battles during the war. He describes these sites on his way and paints a grueling pictures of the decimated state. After this campaign, Henry C Clark would get out of the war and go on to live with his family in Connecticut until 1912.
