Chapter 3
“Little Egypt”
Alton had been sympathetic to the Southern cause for decades. In fact, blood had been spilled there over slavery as far back as 1837, when a mob murdered abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy over his efforts to publish an anti-slavery newspaper.2
If the men of the 17th regiment sensed ambiguous feelings for the war in Peoria, they found no ambiguity in Alton. This section of southwestern Illinois was widely known as “Egypt” or “Little Egypt.” The term might have derived from a belief that the area was a fertile land of grain, much as Egypt had been for the Israelites, or people may have thought the land around the Mississippi River resembled Egypt around the Nile River. Whatever the name’s origins, the Illinois Egypt was rural, poor, strongly Democratic, and anti-black. Its citizens did not look kindly on Union soldiers. Some counties in the region favored secession for themselves, and pushed to make Cairo, a town deep in southwest Illinois, an independent city. However, not all the local Democrats were Southern sympathizers. The Democratic congressman from the region, John McClernand, not only opposed secession but was in favor of using force to keep the Southern states in the union.3
A postwar letter from one of Josiah’s colleagues, Benjamin Baldwin, described the atmosphere the men of the 17th encountered in Alton. Baldwin, who commanded Company B, said that when the 17th’s Illinois reached town, the men “were surrounded by a rough crowd impeding our march as much as possible and trying to induce our boys to partake of their poisonous liquors.” According to Baldwin, the locals harassed the pickets for some time. Once again, the men reached a new town without tents or sufficient arms. More more fell ill, including Baldwin, who subsequently resigned.4
Shortly after reaching Alton and settling in at Camp Pope, Josiah took the opportunity to send his first letter to Jennie.
Camp Pope, June 26, 1861
Miss Jennie Lindsay,
Dear Lady,
With pleasure I take this opportunity of sending a few lines as a testimony of remembrance.
Well Jennie (for that is thy name) perhaps you will say I might have remembered sooner but all I can say, I never forget, the only trouble being that my wandering condition tends to prevent to any great extant the “wielding of the pen” yet the mind keeps acting still in silent thought.
We moved on yesterday for the 3rd time since we came and all inside less than ½ mile and for the first time I have had my place fixed up like living also for writing—but now I fear that I shall be as bad as ever for as Col. Turner5 is commander of the Post pro tem, he has issued orders for about 2 hours of training per day. I have just returned from training since 4 ½ o’clock this morning. It is now 7. Our men were paid off yesterday, and in this forenoon they will get their uniforms, so they feel pretty well and I do too i.e. I like to see my men cheerful.
We have no instructions when we shall move from this place. When I finish this I shall go down to town for the first time except once when we passed through from the river—Oh Jennie I do not like this place and think I never shall leave. I have got acquainted with no persons as yet and from the general outlines I don’t think I will—I have never yet seen a much harder specimen of the genus homo O perhaps I have become prejudicial from anticipating Egyptian peculiarities.
Well Jennie (I know self praise is not good) we have the best Regiment here i.e. we have the best reputation. Aint that good? We have had but very little drunkenness in camp for the last few days—discipline is becoming more thorough every day.
But Jennie I must close. I wrote to Tom Currie6 some days since today I mail it. I send you a paper.
I must bid you goodbye, Jennie. I often think of the happy times at Camp Mather, nor do I expect to meet with such again even though a “southern clime” sounds very practical. My regards to all the Friends—Tell them that the 17th Regiment has not forgotten the bright days of the past—I have not had a buggy ride since I left Peoria. I wish I had that “old white horse” and about a mile of Camp Mather parade ring. But I presume I need not wish now Jennie. Don’t wait as long as I did. Please write soon and let me know how Peoria prospers, and may the sweetest blessings of heaven ever be thy boon is the sincere wish of your friend, Josiah Moore. I was going to put this in another i.e. Mrs. Currie, but didn’t. Oh Jennie I almost forgot to tell you that I loved the program on the boat but I have not forgotten it. It was good company on the boat. I did not know where you were. When leaving the warf til after we had left. Then I found out.
Jennie to Josiah
Peoria July 11th \61
Capt. Moore,
Dear Friend,
Your long looked for letter came at last and right gladly was it welcomed by one whose thoughts often wander towards Alton and memory carries her back to the happy hours that are now numbered with the past—But twere vain to repine for the days that were but now are not. So much there is for us to accomplish in this busy world of strife to spend the precious moments of our short existence in needless repinings, but I would not if I could recall one single moment of my past life, for “every joy has had its corresponding sorrow” But it is only by contrast we enjoy the fleeting pleasures of this sinful World. If it were not for the clouds we would not fully appreciate the glorious beauty of the sunshine. It is when we have passed through the dark waters of affliction we are brought to realize the deep and fervent love of “Him who doeth all things well.”
Peoria moves on as usual. It seemed quite deserted for a few days after the departure of the Regiment but it has since fallen into its old routine of July just as quietly as if it had never been disturbed with the cry of Stolen Fish chickens onions and all the other articles to numerous to mention. There has nothing of importance occured since your leaving. indeed the Local Editor of the Mirror became so devoid of news that out of pity for Him I one day while in the City induced the ponies to run away with me so He might have a terrible catastrophe to relate—kind was it not? but it was a kindness I think will not be repeated. I should have answered your letter sooner had I not left home the morning after receiving it for a short visit to Canton in carriage and it proved a very tiresome ride but we were fully repaid for it by the kind entertainment of our friends while there.
I hope you are becoming more comfortably situated than you were when on first arriving.
It is with pleasure I hear their are others who know how to appreciate our model Regiment as well as we of Peoria but it could not be otherwise than good under the guidance of such Leaders but what a responsible position you occupy you Capt. Moore. As a professor of religion might wield a good influence over the hearts of many an erring one, your Heavenly Father has placed you in the midst of a class of men where but few revere their Maker. perhaps you think it the harder to do right so it is for often “when the spirit is willing the flesh is weak” but if you were constantly associated with the good your faith would never be put to the test. it is from Him above you must look for strength to do what is demanded of you, and remember “Christ came not into this World to call the righteous but the sinner to repentance” I know when we try to be good evil is often present with its many alluring pleasures but Beware of them they flatter but to disobey There is no real happiness save in doing good.
“Weary not of well doing” And in due time you will reap the reward of your efforts in the real glories of a brighter and better world. But I must bring this to a close as I know your patience has been exhausted long ere this. And I hope you will pardon this miserably written missive and take “the will for the deed” You know “practice makes perfect” and as I have made it a point never to answer letters (knowing my indifference to do so) I am therefore very far from being perfect. I had again and again taken up pen and paper to write you and as many times laid them down but I at last concluded a poor letter better than none. I hope though you will “return good for evil” and answer soon. And may success attend your every effort at doing good And the peace of God, which the world gaveth not neither can it take away, be with you now and evermore is the true wish of
Jennie
P.S. Can not you try and get a little sick (I mean Home sick) so as to procure a leave of absence we would all be so glad to see you. Farewell for the present.
To date there has been no documentation found for the near-accident Jennie mentions, nor is there any evidence of a publication called the Mirror.
Alcohol, as made clear by Josiah’s comments regarding the decline in “drunkenness,” posed a problem for the regiment (as it did for many others on both sides). His comments about the citizens of Peoria also reflect the sense of community that men in the ranks found important.
Jennie, as dictated by the customs of the time, consented to receive formal correspondence from Josiah, despite the eight-year age difference between the couple. People attached great importance to written communication in the nineteenth century. It was a way in which “a respectable mid-nineteenth century woman might aspire to distinguish herself,” as one historian put it. Jennie’s apology for her “poor letter” was not surprising; people of the time believed letters were “evidence either of … good sense or … Folly … industry or carelessness … self-control or importance,” and that proper letters had to provide information, generate interest, or lead to self-improvement. As will become evident, Jennie and Josiah kept these guidelines in mind throughout their extensive correspondence.7
As noted, the exchange of letters was an important part of Victorian courtship, but they were especially important for the soldier trying to survive so far away from loved ones. The letters served as a “lifeline between home and camp.”8
Josiah to Jennie
Camp Pope Alton Ills.
July 17th 1861
Miss Jennie Lindsay:
Esteemed Friend,
I improve with pleasure the much prised opportunity of once more speaking with my dear little friend Jennie.
And now before I begin I must tell you Jennie that I shall not attempt a reply to that most worthy epistle of the 11th inst. that came to hand under that dear signature “Jennie,” and my reason is, that the task is too much for this “sojer boy”—but I shall just talk a little as of “days gone by.”
I was going to write a partnership letter with the Adjutant but I thot that I better go on my own capital three ain’t company.
Good morning Jennie,
Well another day has returned and with it news. We have received “marching orders”—we are ordered to be ready to be ready to march by evening, as our orders are sealed our destination can only be guessed at, but I suppose that it will be some point in Missouri. I did think St. Louis or about 100 miles below but we may go up the Mo. [Missouri] river. I have but little compunction of conscience at leaving this semi barbarous Egypt.
Capt Davidson10 is here and will go with our brigade. There has been a Mrs. Webb from Peoria paying us a visit.
But I had almost to tell you that some other folks have been expected here on a visit—you know—Oh I do wish so much that we could have staid here a while longer—then we would have had the pleasure of receiving visitors, but Jennie don’t forget us when we move—tell Mr. Currie to not forget either. I saw his letter to Adjt. Ryan and I should have been glad to have seen about one or a dozen from Peoria, It would look so much like home.
My best regards to all the friends—I am now well and hope that this may find Jennie enjoying life’s sweetest blessings.
As ever: the same
“Sojer boy”
Josiah Moore
P.S. It would be of no use to get sick now, tho if I had staid here a little while I do not know but I should—[illegible]. Is a good time coming—The drum beats for the striking of tents good by for a time. J.M.
Jennie to Josiah
Peoria July 25th 1861
Capt. Moore
Dear Friend,
Through the mercy of Him who ruleth all things And holdeth our lives as it were in the hollow of his hand, I am once more permitted to hold sweet converse with you through the medium of pen and paper. A poor substitute indeed for the actual presence. But a medium of communication that ought in no wise to be depreciated.
Letters often come to us like angel visitants laden with loveing kindness and fraught with the sweet hope of meeting “On some future day” But alas “we know not what a day or hour may bring forth” Who can doubt the existence of a God, if in nothing else then in vailing from us the pages of the future. If we but knew in the starting out in life the many crosses we would have to endure I fear there would be but few who would accomplish their allotted duties. For every one must have their share of sorrow grief and disappointment in this world, but we must go on remembering that “wisdoms ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are paths of peace.”
We had a grand fishing party on last week and contrary to the usual order of things we went to the water to fish. But as for the amount the ladies caught they might as well have fished in a clover field. The gentlemen were more successful on account of haveing a seine. Had you been there you would have met with some familiar faces—Mr and Mrs Weis, Mr and Mrs Currie, Mr. Speers and Sister,11 Capt. Cromwell12 and a few others and last but not least “The Old White Horse”. You may be sure I gave him a slight] little nod of recognition in memory of the happy past. We had any amount of sport, but there was one at least who would have enjoyed it far better had there been one Moore there.
There is nothing talked about now but picnic, parties and telegraphic dispatch.
I suppose Capt. Bush is in his element since his arrival among his colored brethren “joy be with him.”
I have a Lady Friend here visiting from Cincinnati. I received a letter from Sister Maggie13 this morning saying she and a Friend of hers would be down from Chicago next week so there is no fear of my becoming lonesome. But still there is a missing one. On this day the Artillery left Peoria. MrCurrie, Sallie and I attended a picnic on our way home we thought we would call at Camp Mather and see the Company before they left but on arriving we found they had been gone half an hour. What a difference between this visit and the last one before you left. You cant imagine how dreary and deserted it looked. reminded me of the city of the dead. so lonely it seemed. But I must say farewell for time. And I pray God may preserve your life in the coming contest and may you never for a moment forget to whom you owe your existence. you dont know how much I want you should be a good man with a pure heart and true principles and may you never fail in the trust reposed in you is the prayer of
Jennie
P.S. I received your letter on the 22nd and a Waverley this morning.
“I say unto you” write soon. J.E.L.
Soldiers served to protect their communities, but were also expected to take the community’s moral sense with them into the service. In many ways, Jennie’s concerns were justified. One Illinois soldier claimed that while it was not impossible for a soldier to lead a Christian life, it was pretty difficult. If military life did not eliminate morality, it certainly seemed to reduce the shame soldiers felt over their transgressions. According to a soldier, “war is pretty sure to relax the morals of everybody it come in contact with.” Many of the men were away from home for the first time and thus outside the influences of parents, siblings, clergy, and teachers who had held them to high moral standards. Under such conditions, it was all too easy to partake in drinking, gambling, swearing, and other similar behavior. Many younger soldiers adopted these habits because they felt it made them look tougher and more mature. The 20th Illinois, stationed at Alton with the 17th, for example, experienced gambling binges and drunken riots in the summer of 1861 before a man in the ranks had fired a shot at the enemy.14
As a more mature person who had spent time away from family while at school, Josiah might have had an easier time resisting the vices prevalent in army camp. There is also some evidence that more idealistic officers, such as Josiah, had a stronger sense of religion and commitment to the cause.15
Jennie’s reference that the only topics of conversation were “picnic, parties, and telegraphic dispatches” indicates that daily life had changed little for many civilians in the North this early in the war. The first major battle of the war at Bull Run (Manassas), had been fought in northern Virginia not far outside Washington on July 21, just a few days before she her July 25 letter. The news of that battle, an embarrassing defeat for the Union, had not yet reached her. The first major engagement in the war’s Western Theater would not take place until August at Wilson’s Creek, Missouri. The 17th Illinois would not participate in that fight, but the regiment’s baptism of fire would come soon enough.
1 Amy S. Greenberg, A Wicked War (New York, NY, 2012), 135.
2 Lehrman. Lincoln at Peoria, 137.
3 Ginette Aley and J. L. Anderson, “The Great National Struggle in the Heart of the Union: An Introduction,” in Ginette Aley and J. L. Anderson, Union Heartland: The Midwestern Home Front During the Civil War (Carbondale, IL, 2013), 3; Jon Musgrave, “Welcome to New Egypt!,” American Weekend Magazine, a supplement of various southern Illinois newspapers, January 6, 1996, listed in www.illinoishistory.com/egypt.htm; Weber, Copperheads, 23-24; Russell McClintock, Lincoln and the Decision for War (Chapel Hill, NC, 2008), 70, 266.
4 Letter from B. Baldwin to Frank Peats, May 4, 1883.
5 Colonel Thomas Turner of the 15th Illinois Infantry. This and all other detail on names of Illinois soldiers mentioned in the letters are from the Illinois Secretary of State website; Illinois Civil War Muster and descriptive rolls database (www.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/civilMusterSearch.do). Tom Currie is the husband of Jennie’s cousin, Sarah (Weis) Currie. She married Tom in 1859. Based on the names of Peoria residents sprinkled liberally through the letters, Josiah evidently made a number of acquaintances while there.
6 Tom Currie was the husband of Jennie’s cousin, Sarah (Weis) Currie. She married Tom in 1859. Based on the names of Peoria residents sprinkled liberally through Josiah’s letters, it is evident he made a number of acquaintances during his time there.
7 Drew Gilpin Faust, “Ours as Well as Men,” in James McPherson and William J. Cooper, eds, Writing the Civil War (Columbia, SC, 1998), 237-238; Richard, Listen Ladies One and All, 150.
8 Ibid, 148.
9 This is the same letter. Josiah continued writing on the same page the following day.
10 Probably Captain Peter Davidson, 2nd Illinois Artillery, Battery L.
11 Probably Josiah’s younger sister and her husband John Speer.
12 Captain John Cromwell of the 47th Illinois Infantry.
13 Maggie is Jennie’s sister, born in 1840 and married to George Updike in 1858.
14 Clarke, War Stories, 100-110; Rable, God’s Almost Chosen Peoples, 144; Woodworth, While God is Marching On, 184-188. Confederate soldiers felt the same temptations. One wrote to his wife, “[Y]ou wanted to know if I was trying to get religion or not. I have been trying and I intend to try all that I can, but I tell you it is a hard place here in camp.” Bob Blaisdell editor, Civil War Letters: From Home, Camp, and Battlefield (Mineola, NY, 2012), 32.
15 Rable, God’s Almost Chosen Peoples, 28.