When Silas Townsend arrived in New Orleans to join the 3rd Massachusetts Cavalry, the veterans had already ridden out of the city to participate on the Red River Campaign. He and other new recruits were left in New Orleans to await their horses and equipments, and to train as cavalrymen. They were quartered at the Fassmann’s Cotton Press on Levee Street in the lower part of the city, not far from the river front. The lower part of the cotton press was used for the horses, while the men occupied quarters overhead.
New Orleans [Louisiana]
March 24, 1864
Dear Father,
I now seat myself to write you a few lines. My health is very good and I am in hopes this will find you all in good health.
We started from Boston Harbor the 9 of March and arrived here the 23 of March. Some part of the voyage was very good and some was rather hard, but we have got through all right. Our regiment left here about three weeks ago on a scouting expedition and now they are some two hundred miles from here at the Red River. I don’t know how long we shall stay here yet — we have not heard yet — but I think we shall stay here until we get drilled which will take three or four months, if not longer. It is a very pretty place here and a little warmer than at home, but not much yet — just about the same as in the summer at home.
I want you to write to me how much money you have paid out of my bounty. How much Bill Douring’s bill was, Sam Briggs’s, and Susan’s bill, and all you have paid out. Write me how much you have paid each one and how much you have got now. Let me know if you have got three hundred dollars from Mr. Tobey or not, and if you have got the 85 dollars from the town. Let me know if you have heard anything from Brownell of New Bedford. You need not pay him if you have not for he cannot get a cent and another thing, he did not do as he agreed so I shan’t.
Let me know if you have heard from my wife and how she is — and the children. Tell Susan I would write to her but she can hear from me just the same from this and it will save three cents. I am getting rathy stingy of a cent now, although I have got ten dollars. But that don’t go so far here as two at home.
Tell [my sister] Mary and [her husband] Dan [Smith] to write to me and I will answer it sometime.
Tell [my sister] Susan to tell Mrs. Sampson to kiss my ass for it was all her doings that I did not have any invitation to Erv Briggs to that party. She told Sam Macomber ¹ to invite all the boys but me but not to ask me for I was not a very likely fellow and he told her I had been in his company around and he never see anything out the way in me and then she said something else she will catch hell for when I get home. I never have told anyone yet that I catched her and a certain man under the fence to the schoolhouse but if ever I hear her yap again about me, old gig Harvey won’t curse so much nights, nor Mrs. Sampson — damned old whore of hell.
I will now close for I have got to fall in to the company for something. So write as soon as you get this. From your ever-loving son, — Silas Townsend
Direct your letters:
Silas Townsend, 3rd Mass. Cavalry, Cavalry Depot, Fassaman’s [Fassmann’s] Cotton Press, La.
¹ Samuel A. Macomber, Freetown, 21, s; blacksmith. Dec. 31, 1863 M. O. Sept. 28, 1865.
New Orleans [Louisiana]
March 30, 1864
Dear Father,
Having a chance now to write, I seat myself to answer your letter I received yesterday. It was dated March the 8th and mailed [from] New Bedford the 9th. It was sent to Galloups Island [in Boston Harbor] and from there to here.
I am well and tough and I am twenty-five pounds heavier than when I was at home. We have not got our sabers yet nor horses but expect to soon. We drill four hours a day now — two in the forenoon and two in the afternoon. It is not very hot here yet — about the same as at home in the summer — and very cold nights — rather colder than at home now I think.
I have wrote two letters to you since I have been here. I want you to write to me what was done with my things and what [my wife] Mary carried home — if anything. Let me know if you have sold the pork or not. Do just as you think best. Let me know if you have heard anything from Brownell, New Bedford. You need not pay him for he cannot get a cent not Charles Peirce without you have a mind to do just as you have a mind about that. Don’t give him over two dollars.
Let me know if you have heard anything from [my brother] George Townsend and where he is now — whether he has [re-]enlisted or not. Write all the news [and] what you hear of the war at home. There will be some [of] the toughest fighting this summer that has ever been since the war begun.
Tell [my sister] Susan to write to me if I do not write to her all of the time for it is different here about writing than at home. Let me know if you have heard anything from my wife lately. I will now close for I have not time to write no more. So goodbye until I hear from you which I hope will be soon.
From your son, — Silas Townsend
Direct as before. Samuel Macomber is sick and gone to the hospital. All the rest of the boys are well and tough. I heard Hannah Spooner’s child was dead — died with the measles.
New Orleans [Louisiana]
April 28, 1864
Dear Father,
I now seat myself to answer your letter I received April 27. It was mailed [from] New Bedford [on] April 14. It is the only letter I have received since I have been here. I have wrote several letters to you and have not got but one. I have wrote eight letters to my wife but have not received any yet. I am done writing now to anyone — only those who write to me. If anyone thinks enough of me to write to me, I will answer their letters, but if they do not, I am not going to waste my paper to write to them. If my wife does not think enough of me to write to me, I don’t think enough of her to write to her nor shall I think enough of her to ever come home to see her. You needn’t let her have anymore money unless you think she really needs it.
I want you to carry [my sister] Susan down to her [my wife’s] house [at] Fairhaven and have her to find out if everything is alright and I will pay you for it. Tell Susan to find out whether she [my wife] is going all the time or stay at home. And let me know just as it is. Do not let her mistrust what you are about. I wouldn’t never stay here ten minutes if I knew she was hell-whoring around. I would make her repent she was ever born.
It is only about three weeks since I did write to my wife se could have more money if she needed it, but I do not think she needs any such a cloak. So you done a wise thing not letting her have it. If she has not got decent clothes to wear, you can let her have enough to clothe her decent — and the children — and nothing more if she behaves herself while I am gone. Whenever I get home, we will have something but if she does not, I will spend every cent of it for if I hear everything is alright, then I will save every cent I can. But if not, I will draw the money out of the bank here and spend every God-damned cent of it. If I was anywhere but here, I wouldn’t care whether ever I had a letter or not, but in such a lonesome hole as this, I like to hear from my wife and all the rest of the folks.
I have received your letter stating about my money alright. Tell [my sister] Susan I have not received any letter from her since I have been here.
I will now close hoping to hear everything is alright. I am well at present and hope these few lines will find you all the same. Give my best respects to all enquiring friends. From your ever-loving son, — Silas Townsend
Cavalry Depot, Fassmann’s Cotton Press, New Orleans, La.
3rd Mass. Cavalry
Write soon. I will write tomorrow to Susan.
New Orleans [Louisiana]
May 2nd 1864
Dear Father,
Please to let my wife have some money as much as she needs to buy her some clothes and the children and other little notions as soon as you can make it convenient. If you have not sold the pork yet, when you do, you can let her have that money too (I want you to draw twenty-five dollars out of the bank and let my wife have it for she is in need of it very much).
From your ever-loving son, — Silas Townsend
I want you to see about my wife’s state aid if she has not got it yet and see that she is well provided for as long as I am away. I have wrote to my wife for her to see if you can’t board her for she is abused where she is now. Do the best you can.
From your ever-loving son, — Silas Townsend
Camp of Instruction
Greenville near New Orleans [Louisiana]
[Late] May 1864
Dear Father,
Having just received your kind letter, I now hasten to return an answer, hoping to find you all enjoying good health as it leaves me at present. I received those ten postage stamps you sent me and was very glad to get them for if I had not got them, I could not of wrote any more letters for I had not got a single stamp, nor a cent of money to get any with. They ask five cents apiece for three cent stamps here.
You said Brownell had been to see you [and] that he had not done anything with their horse since for I let his shoes get loose and skinned his ankles all up. That was not my fault. If he gives me a horse that interferes, I can’t help him of interfering. It is not my fault, but his. If you see him again, you can tell him if he is a mind to take what he agreed to let me have the team for, I will pay him as soon as I get the money to spare for we have not got paid off yet. He agreed to let me have the team for one dollar and a half a day and if he he is a mind to take that, I will send him the money as soon as I get paid off, which will be 31 dollars and a half. And if he says he will not take that, tell him I will pay him when I get home from the war — that is, if I have plenty of money to spare, if I don’t forget it. I am very forgetful sometimes. I think I will be then. I don’t want you to pay him a cent.
You said you had wrote three letters to me since I have been here. I have got only two of them.
I cannot write much war news for everything is kept as still as can be. I think we are getting the worst of it up the Red River. Our force has been all cut to pieces and drove back to the Mississippi River. We lost some guns coming back over the dam. Had to throw them away to get over the dam. Our troops are coming here from the Red River as fast as they can get down here. They say the rebs number eighty thousand strong and I don’t doubt it. If we want to ever conquer the South, we have got to do something pretty soon.
I shall see my three years in the service if I don’t get killed before that time unless they do better than they have done lately. What did [my brother] George think of the war [and] how soon it would end? Let me know. I had rather have his opinion of it than the biggest man in Massachusetts. Write me all the news you hear of the war.
It is quite warm now. If I was at home, I should not think of going outdoors but this is nothing to what it will be bye and bye.
There is about eight thousand troops here now where we are. The river lowers very fast. I am very well contented — never tougher in my life, nor better contented than I be now. If I was single, I would go to California before ever I came home but it hain’t time yet to talk about such things as that. So I will close hoping to hear from you soon.
From your ever-loving son. — Silas Townsend
3rd Massachusetts, New Orleans, La.
The following comes from a regimental history: “About this time, there came an order which surprised and disappointed the officers and men of the 3rd Cavaley. On the 25th of June, by Special Order No. 52, Headquarters, Department of the Gulf, the regiment was dismounted, and commanded to serve as infantry. Accordingly, horses, saddles, bridles, sabers, carbines, and revolvers were exchanged for rifles and the equipment belonging to a regiment of infantry. transports were now arriving to take the Nineteenth Corps to Algiers. The men bade goodbye to Morganza on July 3rd, and once more found themselves passing down the rolling river, upon whose banks they had spent so many days. Past Port Hudson, the scene of their former exploits; past Baton Rouge, where they had first landed on that December morning in ’62; past Donaldsonville, where Fort Butler stood, still defiant, as in days gone by, — the regiment was borne onward until their arrival at Algiers, on the opposite bank from New Orleans.”
Morganza’s Bend, Louisiana
June 18th 1864
Dear Father,
I have just [received] your letter and now hasten to return you an answer, hoping to find you all in good health as it leaves me at present. I have received in one of your letters ten postage stamps and now received five and was very glad to have them for if I had plenty of money I could not get them here where we are now for we are up to the front. I would like for you to send me ten more and if you can keep account of them, and when we get paid off, I will send home some money, and then you can take your pay when we will get paid off.
I do not know they are going to put us into infantry and make us lug a gun and knapsack the rest of the war three years. I don’t think they will get but little duty out of me in infantry. If I had wanted to of gone in the infantry, I should of gone in the 29th Regiment, but here I am and I have got to get along with it the best I can.
Susan said George Tinkham would not give you my apron. You tell him that I say give you my apron and furthermore, to give you the balance due me on them shoes. Mr. [Horatio] Tinkham will remember because he gave me one Sunday seven dollars. He got fifteen dollars. That was all the shoe boss would give him then because he did not know how much they come to. I think there is about two dollars due me now. I do not exactly know. Anyway, you take the apron and take care of it.
I am going to write [my brother] George Townsend if I can. I have been to Belle Plains.
We do not get much war news here now. The rebs are close to us now but I do not think we will stay here but a short time. They are not going to put us in infantry for nothing but I do not think they will make much by it.
I will now close for I cannot think of anything to write so I will close hoping to hear from you soon. I wrote to you some time ago to send me two dollars but I have not heard from it yet. If you have not sent it, you can send it now. Put it in a letter and I will risk it.
From your ever-loving son, — Silas Townsend
Direct your letters to Silas Townsend, Co. A, 3rd Mass. Cavalry, New Orleans, La.
Algiers, Louisiana
July 9th 1864
Dear Father,
I now seat myself to write you a few lines hoping to find you all in good health as it leaves me at present. We got paid off yesterday but I did not get all of my pay by ten dollars. It was through a mistake. I should of received fifty dollars instead of forty. A veteran gets ten dollars more than a recruit but it was through a mistake and Major [John F.] Vinal says he will see to it and I shall get it next pay day. I am going to put sixty dollars in the Express Office for you — Adams Express — and send it to New Bedford to John Townsend and as soon as you get this letter I want you to go to New Bedford and get the money. Put fifty dollars of it in the bank and give my wife ten dollars. She wants to get her some underclothes which will make fifty dollars in the bank and ten dollars to my wife will make sixty dollars.
I wrote to you some time ago to send me two dollars but if you have not sent it, you need not now. But if you have, it won’t make any difference. I want you to keep account of everything — what money you put in the bank and what you pay out and have not paid out — and postage stamps. Keep account of everything and I will pay you for all of your troubles and I want you to see if my wife has got everything she needs to make her comfortable, If you will, it will oblige me very much for I much rather you would take care of her than anyone else and then I can know how things get along. Take as good care of her as you can for I think it will be a long time before I get home.
My wife said in her last letter you was trying to find a shop somewhere. I hope you will. She said she could come there if you could get one. I hope you will find one somewhere for she would be better contented there than anywhere else. You can get just such a one as you have a mind to. I will not find any fault. Probably I never shall get home to work in it.
There is got to be some very hard battles soon — and long ones too. And our regiment has got to go too. We have been dismounted — our horses taken away and all of our equipments — and now we have got to go afoot and carry a gun. But never mind, it may be all for the best in the end.
Read this [enclosed note] now to yourself if it should be my fate to fall in this campaign. Read this to yourself part of it. Don’t let mother hear it all. I have just put the money — sixty dollars — in Adams Express Office at Algiers, La. July 11. I have paid the express and had it insured and paid the insurance. The freight and insurance was two dollars so you will not have anything to pay. Write as soon as you get the money.
[enclosed note]
You do the best by my wife and children you can as long as the money lasts, and you must use your own judgement when to let her have money. There will be maybe a poor soldier that never will come out of this campaign, but it may be that I shall come out alright. I think we will leave here tomorrow. Where we are going, I do not know until we get where we are going. But I will write to you again if I have a chance whenever we get where we are going. I will write the first chance I get so you must not worry about me if you do not hear from me again very soon for I may not have a chance to write very soon again. You can write just the same and direct your letters the same as you have done.
I will now close hoping to hear from you soon. I have not received any letters from you for a long time. Write as often as you can. As soon as you get this letter, go to New Bedford and get the money from the Express Office. I shall send sixty dollars. Give my wife ten dollars. Write all the news about the war you can get [and] what folks think at home for we can’t hear one word here.
I will now close hoping to hear from you soon again and to hear of you all in good health. So goodbye until I write again. From your ever-loving son, — Silas Townsend
Co. A, 3rd Mass. Cavalry, New Orleans, La.
P. S. I don’t know as you can read this. I wrote it in a hurry.
Algiers, Louisiana
July 15th 1864
[Dear Father,]
With pleasure I now seat myself to let you know I am well. I want you to keep these two pictures for me until I get home. I sent last night by mail a company roll directed to you to Middleborough. I want you to keep it until I get home or let my wife have it. I will now close hoping to hear from you soon. I will write again as soon as I get a chance.
Silas Townsend
Co. A, 3rd Mass. Cavalry
New Orleans, La.
"They will get but little duty out of me" 
How interesting! Did he get home? I noticed that his love of care of his wife seemed much better than at first. He never realized these interesting missives would be so widely read! Love reading first person letters… thanks for sharing!
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What I know of Silas: https://silastownsend.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/hello-world/ Thanks for your comment Betty.
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