1865 – Letter from a Union soldier to the wife of a friend informing her of the circumstances of her husband’s death

Item Details

Washington, DC, 1865, Letter

Very Good

This four-page letter is datelined “Lincoln Hospital / June 23, 1865” nearly three months after General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. It was sent by Joel F. Crocke, a young sergeant in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment to Mrs. Mary Ort in Newton Hamilton, Vermont. Its mailing envelope is franked with a three-cent Washington stamp (Scott #65). In nice shape. A transcript will be provided.

The letter reads in part:

“I knew the tidings of Henry’s death would be sudden and extremely painful, but I deemed it my duty as his friend to write you in addition to the regular notification. . .. We came here [together] and then he and I thought there was more certainty of his recovering his health than mine. . . For a day or two . . . he seemed about the same but then was taken worse still none of us had the least idea but he would recover. The doctor called his disease intermittent fever and we thought after it had run he would be all right again, but there was some hidden disease at work. . .. While he was sick I used to sit by him and . . . he often spoke of home and very affectionately of you and the children. . .. Be assured he thought much of you. . .. I was with him in the forefront of the evening that he died. . .. He seemed tired and sleepy . . . so I left him that he might rest. I did not once imagine he was so nearer his end or I should not have left him at all. . .. When they found he was going they spoke to me and I went to him as soon as I could, but he was unconscious. I don’t think he realized he was going to die any more than I did. . .. I saw him ‘laid out’ and you may be sure . . . he was washed – a clean shirt and pair of trousers were put on, and then he was wrapped in a clean sheet and put in a good coffin. He was buried with a funeral service here at the chapel and he lies buried in the ‘soldiers burying ground’ near the ‘Soldiers Home.’ His grave is distinctly marked with his name, company and regiment . . . so you can take him up in the Fall. . ..”

Crocker was only 19 when he wrote this heartfelt and comforting letter. I’m not sure that I could have done as well. Crocker, too, never fully recovered. He returned home to Cumberland, Rhode Island, where he died a year later.

Lincoln General Hospital was the largest Civil War hospital in the District of Columbia.  It opened in 1862 and was located on Capitol Hill, 15 blocks east of the Capitol building. The complex included 20 pavilions arranged in a V shape with 25 tent wards and a bed capacity of 2,575. It was razed shortly after the war ended.

A poignant letter that must have provided Mary Ort with at least some relief.

#10540