"Boston, Mass., September 1, 1921A copy of the son's letter to me under date of September 12, 1920, which appears in this circular, refers to these letters and their contents. Limited space forbids printing the letters, even though Comrade Liscom kindly offered to curtail the stories somewhat.
To the Members of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment Association:
...The last meeting was held at Young's Hotel, September 17th, 1920, with twenty-three members of the regiment and eighteen sons and others present,...
...Charles S. Liscom, of the sons, gave us an interesting talk, and then read a number of letters written by his father, Albert M. Liscom of Company C, during the years 1861-2.
[excerpt]It was from the above correspondence printed in the 13th Regiment Association Circulars, that I first learned of the existence of the Albert Liscom Letters. Today these letters are part of the military archives collection at the Army Heritage Education Center in Carlisle, PA. I discovered the letters around 2001. It was not until last summer, that I finally got the chance to visit Carlisle, and make digital photos of the "13th Mass" materials in the archive.
Dedham, Mass., Sept. 12, '20
Comrade Swan: I am reminded of a former offer of mine to prepare something relative to the part taken by the 13th at Bolivar Heights and Dam No. 5, and the rather lively engagements there in October and December, 1861. The history of the 13th does not give any details of these scraps, but in a way I think they were of some importance, for those engaged got probably their earliest training and experience in real battle conditions during these fights and gave the enemy something to chew over.
...My father seems to have been quite a letter writer and sent frequent and newsy letters home, with much attention to detail. He sent home some 91 letters in all, from Aug. 6, 1861 to Jan. 25, 1863, although the latter part of the time he was confined in hospitals, due to breakdown in health in 1862, just before 2nd Bull Run Battle." Charles S. Liscom.
I started transcribing the Liscom letters in October. They are a bit tricky.
Albert's cursive is very fine, and most of the letters are written in pencil almost too light to see. Digital technology gives me the benefit of darkening the letters in photoshop for better copies, but its still a chore. I was very excited to get this material, because in the early part of the war, Company C, had a different itinerary from the other 9 companies in the regiment, and this is the only source of information I have at the soldiers' level. I recently learned from another source, (the letters of Elliot C. Pierce, from the Mass. Historical Society,) that,
"Capt Kurtz of Co C. stationed at Frederick is the one that broke up the Maryland Legislature taking 18 prisoners you see the 13th is at work" [Captain John Kurtz, pictured. He soon left the 13th for a Lt. Col.'s commission in the 23rd Mass. Vols.]
Albert left the regiment two weeks before the battle of 2nd Bull Run. The hard campaigning had left him lame. He checked into a hospital, and it seems his health never improved. He could get around okay, and made frequent forays to the city of Washington (disguised in civilian clothes so he could escape the dreary hospital) but his endurance was gone, and he really was unfit for duty. October 29, 1862, he wrote home:
"I went down town yesterday morning with Mrs Brown we got back about two O’ck. And had dinner. After which I was anxious to go down town again it was so pleasant...He spent most of this time actively trying to get a discharge from the army, which did not arrive until late June, 1863. By January of that year, his long absence induced his officers to report him a deserter:
...I wanted To go to some place of amusement. I went to the Avenue House and found Mrs Goff and a young lady with her a Miss Thomas from Dedham Mass a very agreeable young lady. They said they would be pleased to go. So we four went together to Graves Theatre To see Miss Lucille Weston play Lucretia Borgia – the after piece was the loan of a lover. We had a fine time. Got back to the Hotel between eleven & twelve."
"Learn by your letters – that I have been mistrusted as a deserter – as soon as I read your letter I sat down and wrote to Lt. Livermore – giving an account of myself – and this morning I got the Dr to add a line certifying that I was regularly admitted here as a patient. I requested an answer to know if my explanation was satisfactory. - but I suppose my long silence has given rise to suspicions that I had sloped – but I think my letter with the Drs signature will quiet all suspicion."It is apparent from his letters however, he did not wish to go back to the regiment, and would do anything short of desert to get out of the army.
I've been transcribing the letters in reverse order, as that is how they were photographed. I've completed the letters from May '62 to Jan '63, but there is little new information for me in these. I finally jumped ahead (or backwards if you please) and found some of the earlier letters to transcribe, but only got to 3 of them before setting this project aside. I was pleased to find a few references to the popular Color Sergeant Roland Morris, (KIA at Gettysburg) within these letters, but I was getting little else in return for the effort it took to do each letter transcription. (I've transcribed over 100 pages and have at least as many to go).
Oddly enough there is an interesting account about the Oct. 1861 "Battle of Bolivar Heights," in the collection, but it seems to be written by someone other than Albert !
I will return to Albert's letters one day, but I'm currently concentrating on the period of Jan - April 1863, for the website. I ordered a series of letters from the Massachusetts Historical Society which arrived around Christmas, and I gave them priority. These include several letters of Charles F. Adams, Company A, (about 14 letters, Aug. '62 - July '64) and materials that belonged to Major Elliot C. Pierce, of the field & staff, (Sept '61 - Sept. '63) I will post about these next.
Here is the Bolivar Heights letter, which was probably not written by Albert:
Harpers Ferry Va
Oct 18th
My
own dear faithful Maria,
Since
I last
Wrote you Marie I have been
through a fight of 7 hours & escaped unharmed. Early Wednesday morning before we had eat
our? breakfast news came that our outposts had been driven in by a large force
of the enemy.
I swallowed my breakfast as speedily as
possible I started with about 600 men in the field but only 200 or 300 were in
the thickest of the fight & our comp’y were exposed all the tjme so their
bullets from their rifles & their shells & cannon balls from their
batteries & they had 2 batteries 1
on Loudon Heights across
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Shenandoah & 1 right front of
us of 2 or 3 guns 1 of which we captured.
When we first advanced they opened their fire upon us with their rifles
& it was terrific & not being supported we had to fall back under cover
of the houses We had orders to advance
again the bullets fell around us like hailstones over us beside of us at our
feet & the way they whistled through the air was astonishing & our boys kept advancing under cover of
everything they could find & at last we got into a brick house &
determined to hold it at all hazards befor we all got into the house 1 of the
Wisconsin boys got hit in the heart & died instantly I was very near him when he fell
P3
P4
Revolver case Your
Frank had them strike all around him but was not hit at all Oh Marie you cannot form even an idea of the
feelings when in battle I did have the
least fear but seemed as if I wanted to fly right at them & pay them for
Killing & wounding our men But
thanks to our Commander Lieut Jackson (who I am happy to say proved him self a
man of good judgement & bravery & who thought a great deal of the lives
of his men) we did’t? be come rash or
wild but kept cool & maintained our position Why the Wisconsin boys had so many Killed was
they were ordered to advance to near their batteries by their Capt & then had to advance &
were cut off by their cavalry & 2
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of their men were not
only Killed but their bodies were stripped of almost all their clothing &
their dead bodies mutilated. Well Maria to go on with my account of the
battle when we got into the brick house we thought we would be able to hold it
but Maria we found our mistake for they began to fire their shells at it. We then fell back amid a shower of bullets to
the town & our Col (Col Geary of the Penn 28th ) told
us not to advance again but to hold our position until we could get a cannon
across the river so there we staid exposed to the fire of their shot &
shell from their rifle cannon for about 2 hours we?
p6
when they were shelling us But dearest Maria none of us were
killed & we all were surprised when we heard that such was the fact how
thankful we felt & we all say that it was miraculous none of our company
were killed. (The Paymaster is here now
& paid us off this morning) Well we
held our hard fought fort until about 11 O’K at night when Col Geary gave
orders to retreat as he had heard that Gen Johnston was advancing with a large
army we crossed the river & you
may believe that when we got here we were about tired enough to sleep all of
our troops did not get across until about morning. We achieved a glorious victory Maria &
although the
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enemy had about 2000 or 3000 men we drove them off &
besides they had 2 batteries. Col Geary
said he never saw a harder fought battle & he has been in some 12 or 15
battles. We expect the enemy will try
& drive us away from across the
river they may be able but I doubt
it. Thankful for our preservation &
hoping for a letter from you soon darling I remain your own true soldier
boy.
Franklin????
