The Most Agreeable Bunk in the Regiment: A Buckeye Boy at Patterson Creek

Writing to his sister Flora in far-off Wisconsin, Private Herbert Smalley of the 7th Ohio reported how well soldiering agreed with him; as a matter of fact, he bragged that he had “the most agreeable bunk in the regiment.”

          “I wish you could be here beside me a moment, looking over my portfolio at the motley crowd who are scoffing their allowance of hard bread,” he noted. “The different portions of the glove are pretty well represented here in our bunk. We have a downeast Yankee, several Germans, a Welshman, a Swiss, three Englishmen, an Irishman, a Californian, and three Buckeyes. I think we have the most agreeable bunk in the regiment. We have three farmers, one rolling mill man, one furnace man, one file cutter, one tailor, one watchmaker, one second-hand theater actor, one sailor, one fisherman, one brakeman, one jack-of-all-trades, and one printer besides one candidate for the lunatic asylum. Don’t you think we have quite an assortment?”

          Private Smalley’s account of life during the war’s first winter first saw publication in the February 20, 1862, edition of the Manitowoc Herald published in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

 

Early in the war, the Union Army's troops were usually sheltered in conical Sibley tents like the one depicted above. The tents, though relatively commodious, proved too unwieldy and bulky and by the end of 1862 were largely replaced by the much-maligned but far more practical shelter halves. 

Camp Kelly, Patterson Creek, Virginia

February 4, 1862

My darling sister,

          I received your dear good letter about five minutes ago and it did me more good than a good dinner would a starved man. When I first heard of your going to Wisconsin, it was a great disappointment to me for I was expecting to go to Painesville on furlough in which case, I should miss seeing you. But since you are so pleasantly situated, I am glad for your sake that you went. I suppose I ought to stop and eat my dinner but I am afraid my fit of inspiration would pass off meantime. I perceive we have a change in our usual bill of fare, our cook having got us up some coffee and hard bread instead of hard bread and coffee which we had this morning.

          I wish you could be here beside me a moment, looking over my portfolio at the motley crowd who are scoffing their allowance of hard bread. The different portions of the glove are pretty well represented here in our bunk. We have a downeast Yankee, several Germans, a Welshman, a Swiss, three Englishmen, an Irishman, a Californian, and three Buckeyes. I think we have the most agreeable bunk in the regiment. We have three farmers, one rolling mill man, one furnace man, one file cutter, one tailor, one watchmaker, one second-hand theater actor, one sailor, one fisherman, one brakeman, one jack-of-all-trades, and one printer besides one candidate for the lunatic asylum. Don’t you think we have quite an assortment?

          I think when the war is over we might start quite a respectable colony down here in this wilderness and show the natives how to do business. We think some of buying a lot of candles to illuminate with in honor of the freezing up of the mud in this part of the world. The snow is about three inches deep now and it is quite cold. There is quite a move made towards reorganizing our martial band; a new fife major has arrived from Ravenna and what remains of our old band has been out several times to practice. The major is a good fellow but not much of a fifer. I think I can rather get ahead of him myself with a little practice. Co. A boasts of one of the best drummers in the service, now as he has been ten years in the regular service.

Colonel (later General) Erastus B. Tyler

          I suppose you are aware that Colonel [Erastus] Tyler has got to be acting brigadier general. He has command of six regiments: 110th Pennsylvania, 7th Indiana, 1st Virginia, 7th Ohio, 29th Ohio, and another Indiana regiment. A day or two after I wrote you last, a part of our regiment and the 29th Ohio had another extensive scouting expedition though this time it resulted a little more satisfactorily than before. This took a load off the general’s mind and a bigger one off the floor of a Secesher’s granary.

          It was raining as usual when we got the order to pack knapsacks and fall in. We got into line with our muskets at “secure arms” to prevent wetting the charges and struggled through the mud to the depot where we stood half an hour in the rain waiting for the train. It came at last and we were stowed in quite snugly considering the weather. You asked me if I am obliged to carry a musket. I am not but do it from my own choice. I have a Minie musket of my own which I bought and which is a crack shooter so that although I am not obliged to, I make a practice of going on all the expeditions of the company.

          Well, the cars ran to Green Spring where they made a halt and scouts were sent up the Springfield road to ascertain the whereabouts of the enemy’s if possible. We stayed at Green Spring a quarter of an hour and the boys got out and kicked off double-shuffles to get their feet warm. Then the “Giraffe” as the boys call these old camel-back engines intimated its intention to advance and we turned into the cars again. In ten minutes more, we were in South Branch. As soon as we were out of the cars, two scouting parties were detailed from the right of the company, one of 15 men and the other of 5 men, both in charge of a sergeant, and were sent out. One went up the south branch of the Potomac towards Romney and the other up a mountain hard by and the remainder of us took up our quarters in a house by the railroad bridge.

          About noon, an engine came down with the colonel who ordered us over the bridge to a farmhouse where we were set to work loading corn on the train, there being some 500 bushels in a barn there. While we were loading the corn, another train went a mile and a half down the track where they got 2,500 bushels of oats. About dark, the 29th Ohio came down just in time to miss all the fun. About an hour after dark, we left the bridge and returned to this place, after burning the houses at the bridge.

          A sergeant has just stuck his head in the door and given us orders to draw and cook three day’s rations and prepare to march. We all anticipate a great move within a few days and perhaps a heavy fight. I fear we shall march too soon for me to mail this in which I shall have to carry it. If we march on Romney there will probably be a great battle before it is yielded up by the Rebels.

          I had intended to write you a long letter but these marching orders have cut it short. I shall write you again as soon as we get where I can. The bugles are sounding all through camp and I expect we will leave very soon. Excuse this greasy sheet for I am dishwasher today. Write to Patterson Creek and your letters will be forwarded to me.

With much love,

Herbert

P.S. The sun is shining for the first time since we left Romney. All quiet on the upper Potomac.

Nearly two months later, the Manitowoc Herald published a short notice pointing out the bravery of young printer boys like Herbert Smalley. “The Painesville Telegraph alludes to the courage of two printer boys, E.V. Smalley and H.L. Smalley, in the battle of Winchester. The first was promoted for his bravery. The second, our boy-soldier correspondent Herbert, shouldered a musket and fought like a little hero. These brave boys are brothers of Miss Flora Smalley of this place.” Herbert would survive the war but just barely. After suffering being severely wounded in the left arm May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville, he was discharged February 22, 1864 and returned home. He applied for a pension then attended Oberlin College but passed away March 19, 1866 just three days shy of his 20th birthday. The Glider-Lehrman Institute owns one of his wartime diaries which was picked up on the battlefield. 

To read more about the Battle of Kernstown, check out these posts:

With Infernal Fury: The 5th Ohio is Blooded at Kernstown 

Charging by Fours with the 1st Ohio Cavalry at Kernstown

 Jeff Parsons of the 67th Ohio at the First Battle of Kernstown 

The 67th Ohio Commemorates First Winchester 57 Years Later

Sources:

Letter from Private Herbert L. Smalley, Co. A, 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Manitowoc Herald (Wisconsin), February 20, 1862, pg. 2 

"The Bravery of Printer Boys," Manitowoc Herald (Wisconsin), April 17, 1862, pg. 3


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