The following partial letter is missing the signature page and there is no accompanying envelope to aid us in confirming his identity. The date and camp location make it certain he was in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry and friends from West Boyleston mentioned in the letter suggest the possibility that he was from Co. C where the company was recruited, but I can’t be certain of this.
Though he is not identified, the letter remains interesting for the description of the punishment meted out to a civilian huckster who undoubtedly refused to keep his distance from Camp Andrews while the regiment was in training. The “poor fellow” was made to wear a “barrel shirt” and marched around the camp at the point of a bayonet to the delight of the whole regiment.
The letter was written on patriotic stationery “Ellsworth’s Last Letter.”
T R A N S C R I P T I O N…