The 50th New York was originally raised as an infantry regiment in September 1861, from Elmira, and surrounding areas in central and western New York. Converted into an engineer regiment the next month, the regiment served throughout the war, with the various detachments building pontoon bridges, roads, and fortifications. A large number of the extended Personius family served in the 50th, including three brothers in Company “G”: Charles and Daniel enlisted as privates, while Walker was commissioned as captain. This large archive of camp letters is from all three brothers, dating from the fall of 1861 to the summer of 1865. Some highlights include a letter from Harpers Ferry in November, 1862, when Captain Walker Personius assures his parents that rumors of a Rebel attack there are unfounded: I don’t have anything more to say about the Rebels being upon us. It turns out as I expected, though probably they have been a little bolder than usual and our Maryland soldiers are easily frightened. A letter from Charley relates the frantic activity during the Gettysburg campaign, as the 50th rushed to destroy all their pontoon bridges across the Potomac to keep Lee’s army from using them to escape back to Virginia. In March 1864, Walker blames liberal education on the poor condition of the Union Army! It is hard to learn volunteers who have been educated in this free country to become good soldiers. They have to[o] liberal ideas of liberty and free expression of speech. it requires a long length of time to instruct them and remodel their ideas of rights of individuals. To our form of government and society can be laid the cause of our armies’ lack of discipline and disorganization. During Grant’s Overland campaign in the summer of 1864, Charley writes about the slaves flocking to the Union Army, and relates the prowess of what he calls Burnsides’ black soldiers, free black men from Ohio who have enlisted: They say that when they go into battle they take no prisoners… At the battle of the Wilderness they charged upon a battery and took it after our men had charged it three times and failed each time. When the order was given them to charge one of their orderlies shouted out in a clear distinct tone Boys, remember Fort Pillow! You can imagine the effect better than I can describe it. Revenge is so strong with them. Burnside also has four companies of Indians who are equally as good as the Blacks. The 50th served in the Petersburg campaign, building fortifications and repairing roads destroyed by four years of war. Charley writes home with disgust about how the officers got all the food sent by relief organizations back home, noting that the company got 13 chickens to split among them for Thanksgiving, while the Lieutenant gorged on pie, cake, turkey, and mutton. Another letter remarks on a bizarre attempted suicide by a new recruit: A new recruit in our company has just been trying to cut his throat with a jack knife and he made a pretty large cut before he was discovered… the other day he went to the Lieutenant crying and told him that he would give him everything he was worth if he would discharge him and I don’t know whether the fellow is foolish or crazy. At any rate he is not overly smart… The letters run through the Appomattox campaign and conclude in the summer of 1865, waiting their turn to be mustered out.
The 50th New York was originally raised as an infantry regiment in September 1861, from Elmira, and surrounding areas in central and western New York. Converted into an engineer regiment the next month, the regiment served throughout the war, with the various detachments building pontoon bridges, roads, and fortifications. A large number of the extended Personius family served in the 50th, including three brothers in Company “G”: Charles and Daniel enlisted as privates, while Walker was commissioned as captain. This large archive of camp letters is from all three brothers, dating from the fall of 1861 to the summer of 1865. Some highlights include a letter from Harpers Ferry in November, 1862, when Captain Walker Personius assures his parents that rumors of a Rebel attack there are unfounded: I don’t have anything more to say about the Rebels being upon us. It turns out as I expected, though probably they have been a little bolder than usual and our Maryland soldiers are easily frightened. A letter from Charley relates the frantic activity during the Gettysburg campaign, as the 50th rushed to destroy all their pontoon bridges across the Potomac to keep Lee’s army from using them to escape back to Virginia. In March 1864, Walker blames liberal education on the poor condition of the Union Army! It is hard to learn volunteers who have been educated in this free country to become good soldiers. They have to[o] liberal ideas of liberty and free expression of speech. it requires a long length of time to instruct them and remodel their ideas of rights of individuals. To our form of government and society can be laid the cause of our armies’ lack of discipline and disorganization. During Grant’s Overland campaign in the summer of 1864, Charley writes about the slaves flocking to the Union Army, and relates the prowess of what he calls Burnsides’ black soldiers, free black men from Ohio who have enlisted: They say that when they go into battle they take no prisoners… At the battle of the Wilderness they charged upon a battery and took it after our men had charged it three times and failed each time. When the order was given them to charge one of their orderlies shouted out in a clear distinct tone Boys, remember Fort Pillow! You can imagine the effect better than I can describe it. Revenge is so strong with them. Burnside also has four companies of Indians who are equally as good as the Blacks. The 50th served in the Petersburg campaign, building fortifications and repairing roads destroyed by four years of war. Charley writes home with disgust about how the officers got all the food sent by relief organizations back home, noting that the company got 13 chickens to split among them for Thanksgiving, while the Lieutenant gorged on pie, cake, turkey, and mutton. Another letter remarks on a bizarre attempted suicide by a new recruit: A new recruit in our company has just been trying to cut his throat with a jack knife and he made a pretty large cut before he was discovered… the other day he went to the Lieutenant crying and told him that he would give him everything he was worth if he would discharge him and I don’t know whether the fellow is foolish or crazy. At any rate he is not overly smart… The letters run through the Appomattox campaign and conclude in the summer of 1865, waiting their turn to be mustered out.
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