Civil War Letter to David Brainard Griffin

We have previously published a short article regarding the letters written home during the Civil War by David Brainard Griffin. The letter posted here is part of that collection. David, in his letters, makes note to his wife of other letters that he wrote and received from the family still living in Essex, VT. This letter is from his sister, Mariah. She starts the letter, “Dear Brother Brainard”. We have included a few pages of the original along with a transcription of the whole letter. In the letter she mentions a number of family names including a reference to Grandmother Griffin. The letter is also noteworthy in its description of a common farm along with its animals. Of particular interest is her notation that they produced 350 pounds of sugar that particular spring. Family records note that her grandfather, Samuel Griffin Jr. was a noted sugar producer. This is the first indication I have ever seen that provides any evidence of the quantities they were producing.---- Our thanks to Lynette Wescovich and Nick Adams for this material.-------- David Brainard // Orlow // Samuel Jr. // Samuel // Samuel Griffin of Killingworth, Ct. Barnard June 7th 1863 Dear Brother Brainard it is with pleasure that I seate myself to answer your kind and long looked for letter I began to think that I should never hear from any of you for I have writen to you but have not had a line from you before since you left Essex and I was some what supprised to get one now, and was glad to hear that you was well and your family but sorry to hear that you to have gone to the war you can hardley find a family but what have got Father Sones Brothers or Husband in the armey and how maney there is that will never return to their homes again. Oh how I do wish that this war would end and peace be restored again. Well here I be settled down in Barnard on a farm and like it very much there is 112 acres of land it is a hill farm but those are called the best we have got 1 yoke of oxen 2 cows 4 two year olds 1 yearing 2 calvs and a horse 41 sheep and 16 lambs one old hog and 12 little pigs 8 hens and a cat not any baby. we have not got our farm paid for yet but if we have good luck and Arvin does not have to go to the war I think that we shall have a home some time. we have kept house 3 years the first year Arvin worked by the month the next we took a place and then we bought here come here one year ago last March. before we kept house we staid in Lowell the most of the time Arvin worked in the picker shop and we boarded with Uncle Charles. Well Sylvia and I have been to Church this afternoon we live 3 miles from the village there is a store a tarven a post office and 3 meeting houses and a grist mill there. have a methodist meeting all of the time and others once in 2 weeks. then it is about 3 miles from Gaysville that is in Stockbridge there is 2 stores one meeting house and 2 woolen factorys there. it is 8 miles to Bethel depot and 12 to Woodstock and a little over half of a mile to the School house. I think that it is about 80 miles to Uncle Johns they was all well the last that I knew of them Claridus has gone to the war he went as a drummer. Arvin and I went over there 2 years ago last winter and from there to Essex with a horse and sleigh had a good time have been home twice with a team it is about 80 miles just a pleasant ride we stop in Montpelier over knight Arvin has an Uncle that lives there his Father Mother Brothers and Sisters live in Barnard he has 4 Sisters and 3 Brothers one of them has gone to war one of the 9 month's men if nothing happens they will be at home next month if not before. I have not had a letter from Henry since he enlisted and a long time before. Mother fetched your minature over for me to see but I should not known it I wish that I could see your babys minatures and them to. Arvin has got the teeth ache the worst kind he washed 100 sheep yesterday and got coald and he is troubled with the rheumatism ever so much but he does not stop for that. we are having quite a shower now it has been quite rainy for a week past the grass is first rate but it is not hardley warm enough for other things, but hope that they will come on before long. We have a good orchard of grafted fruit got some apples now they keep very good we made 350 pounds of sugar this spring. I will try now and finish this letter we had a letter from home last week they was all well from home I say, but there is no home there we have no place that we can call home there you do not know how it does seem to go there and now I cand father Thompson is gone how lonesome it must be Grandmother Griffin is still alive but very feable You tell “Nerva” to write to me I have wrote to her twice since you left Essex but have not got any letter from her once I sent it with Jason I think that you will remember it but I will excuse you now. when you write again, if you are ever permited to do so and I hope that you will be, please tell me how old your Children are and what there Names are for I want to know all about them where is Allen Griffin is he married yet and 'little' Hen as we used to call him where is he and all of the rest of the family I wish that I could go there and see them all I should like to go there to live but presume that will not be has Mary got any Children what is her Mans name. I have not seen Dan for a long time they called to Mothers last winter. they talk of drafting here now they are around enroleing the malitia now but I wish that they would settle up the trouble and let the men stay at home and send the men that they have got home it is taking all of the young men that are able to work away from us and what good has it done yet not any. well I guess that you will think that I have wrote enough unless I can write better but excuse the poor writing wont you and write again. Arvin sais that he does not know what to write and he does not get much time to write for he does all of his work alone he works early and late I dropped the corn for him and shall help him some in haying if I am well think that I shall pick hops this fall I did last fall like it very much. now please write again as soon as you get this tell Nerva to write this from your sister Maria and Arvin D. Angell I call him Arvin Angell we have been married six years and six months the 22 of this month

Essex, Vt Congregational records 1797

We have information from the Essex town records that indicate one of the first items of business taken up by the new community of Essex, Vermont was the organization of a Congregational Society. The town records note that the first meeting for the project was held in the home of Samuel Griffin. The formal church records however do not start until 1797. Prominent in the list of original church members is the name of Samuel Bradley. Samuel was to serve as a Deacon in the Society until his death. The Bradley family name is well represented in the records as are the Griffins and their allied families in particular the Kelloggs (Orlo) and the Days, Zilpha Griffin having married David Day. On page 2 we see the name of John Griffin’s wife Mary.

David and Minerva Griffin's children

Many men in both the North and the South were quick to volunteer for service for their respective countries. At the onset of the war the general feeling among the soldiers on both side was that after a sharp clash the conflict would not last long. As the war drug on the enthusiasm for the war began to wane. Without enough volunteers to fill its ranks both side instituted a military draft. The longer the war stretched on the less popular the draft became. Cities and states were forces to offer sign up bonuses, and reenlistment bonuses in order to fill out the ranks. On average most men left the Army when their usually two year enlistment was up. Such was not the case for David Brainard Griffin. He joined out of a true sense of patriotism. He was eligible to leave the Army after two years. But as he so vividly expresses in the letters he wrote to his family he was determined to stay in the Army until the Union was restored. That decision was to result in his death at the battle of Chickamauga. Knowing that he was going to be a long time away from home in his letters he requested that his wife Minerva have a “likeness” taken of her and the children so that he had something to remind him of his family back home. The photo’s displayed here are in all likelihood copies that his wife kept that have been handed down through his generations. One is of the two girls, Alice Jane and Ida May, the second is Minerva and her son Edgar Lincoln. They come to us courtesy of his granddaughter Lynette Wescovich via the good offices of Nick Adams.

David Brainard Griffin Civil War Letters

Sometime around 1790 Samuel Griffin and his wife Mercy Bailey along with their three sons, John, Samuel Jr. and Dan left Killingworth, Connecticut and moved to the newest frontier in New England, Vermont. In Essex, Chittenden, Vermont. Samuel and his three sons carved out very successful farms from the virgin territory. The Griffin brothers all raised large families and maintained generational presences in Chittenden County. There are multiple generation of Griffins buried in a family plot in the Essex Common Burial Ground.---------- As was true in much of New England there came a time when there was not enough farmland available for the next generation. What we see in Vermont is a generation moving west. One of those moving west was David Brainard Griffin who was the grandson of Samuel Jr. David had married his cousin Philinda Minerva Griffin, the granddaughter of Dan Griffin. On the Blog we have documented their journey west. The family eventually settled on homestead land in southern Minnesota. -------- With the coming of the Civil War a patriotic David Brainard joined the 2nd Minnesota Volunteers. His unit served in the western theater of the war. Throughout his service David kept up a weekly correspondence with his family and his beloved “Nerva”. His letters have survived handed down through his descendants. Early in this century they were published to wide acclaim. At one point they were a featured item at the Chickamauga battle site park where he lost his life. I became aware of the existence of the letters some time ago and have been searching for them for sometime. Much to my delight I recently discovered that David’s grandchildren had taken on the task of republishing the letters. They are now available to the public at large. A copy can be purchased on the Internet site, www.Civil-War-Letters.com.----------- I have written articles on a number of the Griffin cousins who served in the Civil War. By no small coincidence studying the Civil War is one of my treasured hobbies. I mention this to preface the statement that I find the letters to be one of the most unique insights into the life of the every day soldier that I have ever read. David’s description of his patriotism is truly remarkable. His description of army life is very rich. His soldier’s view of life in the south and his perspectives on the slaves and slavery is very rare in period letters. There were Griffins cousins from every branch in the Griffin family tree that served in the Civil War. Many lost their lives. David’s letters offer us a truly rare insight into the lives they led while serving.---- Brad Griffin