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The following is an essay written by Mr. Stephen C. Sisson. Mr. Sisson is the ancestor of Private Foster Sisson who served in the 21st Michigan. This essay is based on letters Private Sisson wrote to his wife during the war. U.S.
Army Compiled
By Stephen Sisson
This blazing headline, and the Battle of which it spoke, must have seemed a distant reality to many in the sleepy towns of Southwest Michigan. Even so, Lincoln’s call for loyal American men to stop an insurrection of forces “too powerful to be suppressed by ordinary course of judicial proceedings” was answered by many in this area. Indeed, by the end of the war, “…more Michigan men had donned the blue than Lincoln had called for in his April proclamation (of 75,000 militia). Besides raising a total of forty-five regiments, …Michigan contributed soldiers to over fifty other military units and sent nearly six hundred men to serve the Union Navy.”(Williams,1, parenthesis added) Many of these loyal soldiers’ names, stories, tribulations and triumphs have unfortunately been swallowed up by the ensuing years, and will never be known by those who owe them a debt of gratitude. Thankfully, this is not the case for all. Some soldiers, out of great concern for their loved ones, took the time to relay their daily activities, thoughts, and emotions in letters to their friends and families back home. It is doubtful if any of these brave men had any idea, nor any concern for how many generations their words would touch. One of these loyal Americans, I am proud to say, is my ancestor, Foster Sisson. Through his voluntary enrollment in the Michigan 21st infantry, Foster demonstrated his love for his country. And through his letters to his wife, Sarah, and their children, Hudson (“Hud(d)y” -age 10) , Lewis (“Lewy” -age 7), and Clara (“Clarry” -age 3), he showed his intense love and concern for the welfare of his family, even in the midst of his own sufferings. Foster S. Sisson was a simple farmer from Hastings, Michigan, when on September 6, 1864 he heeded the call from his president, Abraham Lincoln, as a volunteer in the Union Army. It had been nearly three and a half years since formal hostilities had begun in the American Civil War at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April of 1861 (Brinkley, 404). Foster was mustered to Camp Draft, in Jackson, Michigan, where he stayed for a period of about ten days, and wrote four letters to his wife Sarah, and his children. Though these letters are of little historical/military significance, they provide invaluable insight into the daily life of a common Union Soldier, as well as the ideals and values of the man whom we are attempting to better understand.
In his first letter, dated September 16, 1864, Foster writes of common events in the barracks, including in-fighting among the soldiers; “Sometimes there is plenty of fighting agoing on here Some of them gets there heads cructd every knight…”(Sisson, 1), thievery; “While we was gone to dinner old powers the blacksmith at hastings got caught Stealing in our quarters So they put him in the guard house”(1), the expected departure of his brother Henry to the south; “W H Sisson goes south today,”(1) and false rumors of Union victories -“I have just heard that grant occupies petersburg how that is I don’t know but hope it is true”(1). He also asks his wife to write often, keep him posted on the conditions of the farm, and implores Sarah to “Tell the children that I have a plate like little Clarrys to eat from…” undoubtedly as a means of helping the children remember him while he is away. In his second letter, dated September 18, Foster writes of the weather, the possible desertion of one of his fellow volunteers; “Sam has not got back yet probably he has skedadled…”(Sisson, 2), daily life “There is everything a going on here Some a singing Some a raiseing the devel there is a prair meeting in the other room now… a lot of fiddling and dancing…”(2) and his first hints of home sickness –“I should like to eat dinner with you today butter and potatoes would taste good …we have had no letters from none of you yet,” and his concern for Sarah having too much work while he is gone “I am afraid you will work too hard do not work to hard let the work go first –if we stay here I shall try to get a furlow and come home as soon as I can.” Again, he asks his wife to “write as soon as you get this…” and asks that “Lewy and little Clary make some marks in the letters.”(2) His third letter,
dated the 21st and 22nd September 1864, concerns more of the same daily life
as his first two letters, excepting that Foster tells Sarah that he had received
one-third of the one-hundred dollar bounty paid volunteer soldiers, and says
that he will send her twenty dollars as soon as he finds a safe route to
send it. “I” Companies’ first movement was by rail on Monday, September 26, from Jackson Michigan to Nashville, TN. The regiment stopped in Louisville, KY for one day, and Foster relates in his letter from Nashville, “we stopped at louisville one day I had a chance to look around a little the place is an awful nasty city …the women are dirty and black as a crow they don’t but a few of them wear any hoops nor much of anything else but rags they are a hard looking set the most of them are peddling something apples or tobacco cakes or pies or some thing else they are a great many of them bare footed and are as humbly as the devel”. But Foster had also seen the mountains of Kentucky and the beautiful Cumberland Valley, where he wrote again to Sarah, “it (is) six hundred miles from you and the children but I have not forgot you yet neither do I think I shall either I should like to see you all but I don’t expect to at present but live in hopes that I shall some time …If I don’t get so dirty and lousy by the time I get home that you will perhaps hate me I shall be glad I have not had my clothes off since I left home …I should be glad to write letters to you all of the time but I have such a hard place to write I sit on the floor and lay my paper on my napsack and I am setting so humped up but I will finish the sheet…” (Sisson, 5) Between October
12, and October 29, 1864, Foster wrote five more letters to Sarah and his
children in Hastings. He wrote mainly of the days events, of his concern
for his family in his absence, and inquired the reason for the lack of correspondence
from Sarah. Even so, he writes, “I want you to have things good and
comfortable,”(6) “…write whether you get the house fixed
or not and whether you have a chimney built or not and whether you have got
a new stove or not if you have not, I wish you would get one and a good one
that suits you get the boys some boots dress yourselves warm and good send
the boys to school when it is fit for them to go but don’t let them
freeze take good care of little Clarry as well as the rest don’t let
her forget that she has a paw …I don’t get many letters from
you and I cant tell why it is”(6) “…don’t let little
Clarry forget me…”(4,7,12,16) The relative frequency of Foster’s letters abate at this point, as he was less than one week from significant troop movements, including Sherman’s March to the Sea. He had yet to see any fighting, but his regiment had moved from Chattanooga, TN, to Dalton, Georgia, where they would soon receive orders to march to Kingston and join the 14th army corps.
In The Personal Memoirs of WT Sherman, Sherman himself writes:
On the 22nd of November, Fosters company reached Milledgeville, then turned towards Savannah, “…and arrived at the works in front of that place on the 10th of December, …on the south side of the canal, being the most exposed position on the whole line. There the men being obliged to lay in trenches, without tents and lightly clad, few of them having blankets, suffered extremely from the cold, and also from hunger, as their rations were short. The regiment continued in that position until the 18th, when it moved back north of the canal, and remained there until the evacuation of Savannah on the 21st…”(Robertson, 418) On December 18th, Foster wrote to Sarah with his most descriptive account of the fighting, yet he spared his family the details of the grievous difficulties of the previous few weeks. He writes:
In another letter
dated December, 1864, Foster writes of “…the long march We marched
400 miles in 4 weeks …we had a pretty good time on the march we took
everything that we could eat and burnt the rest houses fences any amount
of cotton and everything else was burned to the ground …we expect to
gobble all there is here in a few days old sherman is a figureing after them
every day …we can hollow to the rebs so that they can hear what we
say they can do the same by us so we sauce each other every day.(12) Two more letters home were written between January 18, February the 15th. They re-iterate his concern for the well being of his family, his disappointment in not receiving correspondence, and tell of the presents that he will bring his children upon his return. “…I will write a little to the children I should be glad to see you all but I cannot yet I hope I shall one of these (days) and then I will play and talk with you and tell you some good storys I did not get any presents for you for I could not find anything nice or pretty here for you but I will try to find some things one of these days hudy and lewy must be good boys and go to school and mind ma and help do the chores and write some letters to paw and little Clarry must be a good girl and play with her kitten and her horse and wagon and remember pa and when I come home I will fetch you some nice things to play with So no more for this time…” (14) By March 14th,
the date of Foster’s last letter, the tide of the American Civil War
had long since shifted in favor of the Union. As the men continued their
long march toward Raleigh, there were fewer and fewer Confederate forces
to stand between Foster and his hopes of returning to Sarah and the children.
After the battle at Fayetteville, N.C. on March 11, he penned one of his
most memorable and honorable experiences. The context of this story is especially
important, as Foster and his battalion had been marching for many weeks,
hundreds of miles through snake-infested swamps and treacherous mountains,
with just enough rations for a few days. “…Near Fayetteville,
North Carolina …Now while I am here I will write a few lines to the
children One day while I was eating my dinner two little boys about as large
as hudy and lewy came up to me the smallest one looked very wishfull at me
and then I thought of my children at home so I asked him if he was hungry
he said that he was he said that the soldiers had taken everything that his
maw had he said that his paw was in the army and that his ma had seven little
children and nothing for them to eat I had but three hard tack hardly enough
for my dinner but I gave each of them one and eat the other myself I felt
better than I would if I had eat the whole myself for I thought if my children
was hungry how bad I should feel and I knew that the most of the soldiers
had no mercy even on little children…” Again, he closed his letter
with “…write often take good care of the children don’t
let little Clarry forget me tell all to write hudy and lewy must be good
children and write some in the letters and mind ma and when I send the trinkets
that I have got there will be a present to all of you So write soon So good
by ma good by hudy good by lewy and good by little Clarry (16) On March 18, Fosters division, in the left wing of Sherman’s army under General Henry Warner Slocum, had become separated from Sherman’s right wing. “Slocum’s column halted late in the day near the village of Bentonville, and went into camp. On its roads to the east, Howard’s wing was six to twelve miles distant. For all his resolve to keep the moving army concentrated, Sherman had allowed it to straggle apart.” Confederate General Joseph Johnston took advantage of this division of forces and ordered a major concentration of Rebel troops right in the path of Slocum’s wing. “He approved, sight unseen, a spot two miles south of Bentonville …as an ideal site to assemble the troops for a surprise confrontation. He then called together his three corps.” (Davis, 232)
What ensued in the early afternoon of March 19 was a routing of Federal forces, and later a fierce battle for ground between the Blue and the Grey. As Confederate Colonel McClure, who had seen Sherman’s army on many occasions said, “Seldom have I seen such continuous and remorseless roll of musketry. It seemed more than men could bear …Soldiers in the command who have passed through scores of battles …never saw anything like the fighting at Bentonville.” (Davis, 237) It was here at the Battle of Bentonville that Private Foster Sisson received a mortal wound to his head. Ten days later, on April 1, 1865, he succumbed to his wound and died We read in a letter from Foster’s Brother in Law Alfred E. Fowler to Foster’s wife Sarah, “…after Foster was wounded Augustus (Foster’s brother) helpt him off the battle field the rebs was driving us at the time he had his knapsack on all of his things he had to leeve it on the ground and the rebs got it …Sarah bee of good cheer Foster dide in a good cause alltho its hard to part with a friend” (A.E. Fowler, 2) One almost wishes
for the ability to return, recover and re-write this script, to provide the
happy ending that so many of us hope for. We can almost imagine the homecoming
celebration, the tears of joy and the long missed embraces. But this is no
work of fiction, and we can only know from Fosters’ great affection
for his family, that the tears that his family shed were of great sorrow,
for the loss of their dearly loved father and husband. It is not. Foster is but one loyal American who gave his life in the service of his country, and the tears shed by his family and friends upon learning of his wounding and death have been shared by over a million families throughout American history. Although each time it is a great tragedy, we must also remember with pride that these great citizen soldiers have not died in vain and the flag, for which they sacrificed all, still flies in the land of the free and the home of the brave. …Some of these soldiers, out of great concern for their loved ones back home, took the time to relay their daily activities, thoughts, and emotions in letters to their friends and families. It is doubtful if any of these brave men had any idea, nor any concern for how many generations their words would touch.
Foster S. Sisson Bibliography
Davis, Burke. Shermans March. Random House, New York. 1980. Fowler, Alfred E. Letters home. As yet unpublished. Robertson, JNO (compiled by) Michigan in the War, Revised Edition. W.S. George and Co. 1882. Sherman, Gen’l W.T. Memoirs of W.T. Sherman. Charles Webster
and Co., New york. 1891. Williams, Frederick D. Michigan soldiers in the Civil War. Michigan
Historical Commission, 1960.
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