CIVIL WAR JOURNAL OF JAMES B. LOCKNEY
WIS. 28th REGMT., CO. G
July 1865
Copyright © 1986, 1997-2008 [James R. Shirey]. All rights reserved.
Camp 3d Brig. 3d Div.
Clarksville, Texas
July 1st Saturday 1865
[July 9, 1865]
Below is a verbatim copy of Lieut. Col. E.B. Gray's Address
Fellow Soldiers
I am under the necessity of leaving
you for a short time to endeavor to recover my health. It is a most
unpleasant step for me to take and only the most imperative demands of [my]
exhausted physical condition could impel me to such a course. Our term of
service is so nearly out that you cannot remain long behind. I hope to be
so far recovered as to meet you on your way home, & yet go with you to the
State.
To you I have always endeavored to do
my duty as a soldier in such a manner as to render service as little unpleasant
as possible; to me, you as officers & soldiers have ever conducted
yourselves with the highest appreciation of your responsibilities & positions.
I shall ever be proud of the character which the 28th Wis. has won for itself.
I earnestly entreat of you all so to
conduct yourselves for the few remaining days of your service that you can
return to your State, possessed of the proud consciousness that you have not
only done your duty faithfully & well, but that you have done it all to the very
end as becomes men fighting for & maintaining as you have done the integrity &
honor of the noblest country upon which God's sun ever shone.
E.B. Gray
Lieut. Col. 28th Wis. Inf.
Camp 28 Wis. Inf. Vols.
Clarksville, Texas. July 24, 1865
Maj. Gen. P.H. Sheridan:
Sir;
We, the undersigned Officers, non-Com.
Officers & Soldiers of the 28th Regt. Wis. Vol. Inf. do hereby respectfully request,
that if consistant with existing orders from the War Department to be relieved
from duty at this Post, mustered out, and sent home.
Most of us being farmers & men of
families have, and are, sacrificing much. Now [that] the war has closed
our services are required with our families and homes.
We enlisted on or before the 21st day
of August 1862 for three years, but either through neglect, or a want of
knowledge in Military matter, our muster-in by a Mustering Officer appointed by
the Governor of the State of Wis. pursuant to Gen. Orders from the War Dept. No.
75, Series 1862 which muster was the only one at which we were required to take
an oath or obligate ourselves in any way to serve the U.S.
Furthermore, the organization was as full on the 21st day of August as at the
time of muster, leaving no reason why we should not have been mustered a month
or six weeks sooner. Now the War is closed & the country no longer
requires our services, we do not understand why we should be retained here while
most, if not all other Regiments coming out under the same call are either at or
on their way home, on account of or through the neglect of the officers whose
duty it was to have our papers made out, dated, & signed correctly.
Hoping this our petition will meet
with your approval, & praying that if in your power to grant our request.
This was signed first by the
following officers...viz: Capt. J.A. Williams, W.V. Tichenor
July 1865
General Remarks
Few Months in our soldier days have been so tedious & irksome,
so dull & monotonous as the past one. I have had no dates[letters] from
anywhere written during the month. The latest I had from Matt was June
30th but I was not so fortunate as to get those that I think he must have written
since. I much regret that the letter Mother wrote in June has so
long been delayed for I feel confident that it will yet come.. Surely I can ill
afford to lose such a labor of love as that, for who else but God can feel love
as a Mother can? The latest dates are to the 15th or 17th July. A
letter from Lisbon to McKee said winter wheat & rye were very good crops &
harvest was going on. Other crops, spring wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, &c.
were very promising. How I longed for word about Father, to say that he
was well say on 15th. Well, I will be hopeful!
But how grateful should I be for such good cause to be even hopeful as I may be.
I was made sad by reading a letter that one of our Co. received from his sister
in Muskego, about the infidelity of his wife, & rumors of the same came by
other letters to the Co. Alas! why did not his wife think that a
soldier's duty & hardships that were unavoidable were quite enough for him to
bear without such an addition to his daily discomfort & anxiety!
The latest papers we have seen are to the 15th of the month. We hear it
was expected that the Atlantic Telegraph Cable would be laid by the 20th of
July. We have high hopes of its entire success this time. It is
rumored the U.S. made a requisition on the British Government for reparation for
the losses to U.S. shipping by the Confederate cruiser Alabama & other vessels
of the same class. This may be refused now, but even in such matters, Pay
day must come at last. Nothing new to record in regard to Mexico.
[next]
last modified: 1/1/2008