Description:

Private Complains of Lack of Pay at the Beginning of His Service with the 15th Maine Infantry

[CIVIL WAR]. Alonzo D. Cushing, Autograph Letter Initialed, to his wife Mary Cushing, February 1, 1862, Augusta, [Maine]. 4 pp., 5" x 8". With two-color letterhead, reading "THE WAR FOR THE UNION / "Stand by me, and I'll stand by you."/ Gen. McClellan." Expected folds; some soiling on folds; very good.

"a Solders cr[edit] is as good as a dogs and we have not found one thing here as reppresented."

Private Alonzo D. Cushing of the 15th Maine Infantry wrote this letter to his wife from Augusta, Maine, the state capital, where the regiment was mustered in on January 23, 1862, for a three-year enlistment. He was a farmer in Aroostook County in northeastern Maine, near the border with Canada.

In his letter, Cushing complains about the war and the lack of pay and how conditions were not as they were represented when he enlisted. He also tries to parent from a distance by writing to his older sons to obey their mother in his absence. After fulfilling his enlistment with service mostly along the Gulf Coast, Cushing mustered out of the regiment in Virginia in January 1865 and returned home.

Complete Transcript
Augusta
Feb the 1 1862
Dear Wife
I am well and hope you will excuse my silance I have been expecting money all most every day for two months when we got to Bangor I had 125 in Previus silver I sent 1,12½ to you by Abe Jefords the stage driver to be left at Hinds store So you see I have had but one yorker 10 cts hear and a Solders cr is as good as a dogs we have not found one thing as reppresented I am sold this War is all a cheat the Ofisers and contractors the winner tax pairs and soldiers the loser when I solder a gain it will be on my one hearth stone the pay master is hear and we expect pay soon I shall send the money to you use it as you please I dont think our Regament will leave hear until we gow home and that will be this spring I am doeing nothing a my traid and out except we should gow to fortyfieng thare is a bill in the Leaguslature to give us 22 Bounty and one to pay every Wife 100 and every child 50 please informe me howe meney we draw for if this happens I shall be disapointed
Ellis this a good opertunity for you to show what kind of a man you are a gowing to maik bad Boys seldom maik good men write me as soon as posable one reason why you disobay your Mother and I will write you 10 why you should Almon my son how meney times have you promised me you would be good my son think how mutch this grives me to hear you disobay your Mother I beg of you to be a good Boy that I may hear a good report of you next time write me a letter
Frank I hear a good report of you you never will know how mutch happeness it afords me untill you leave your Boyes under similar surcamstances my son you shall have a handsom present when I return please write whate will please you best Boys thrash 10 Bushels oats for L of Rael give the calfes some oats have you yoaked the stears how dose the fig grow Marry Hosea Hatty dont forget your Farther Wife I shall write more poticular when the money comes look to Hinds store
Your Husband A D C

Historical Background
In March 1862, the 15th Maine Infantry regiment went to Mississippi and served there and in Florida until mid-1863, when it transferred to New Orleans until October. From October to December 1863, the regiment participated in the Expedition to the Rio Grande and remained in Texas until the end of February 1864, when it returned to Louisiana for the Red River Campaign from March to May 1864. In July, most of the regiment moved to Fort Monroe in Virginia, where it participated in the final stages of the war in the East. Of the regiment's 348 deaths, only 5 were killed or mortally wounded in battle; the others died of disease.

Alonzo D. Cushing (1820-1883) was born in Maine. In 1842, he married Asenath Preston Richardson (1822-1903), and they had seven children—Ellis (b. 1846), Almon D. (1849-1864), Frank (b. 1851), Mary Olive (1853-1932), Harriet (b. 1855), Hosea H. (1858-1940), and Georgia Gertrude (1867-1917). In 1860, he was a farmer in Presque Isle in Aroostook County, in northeastern Maine. His household included his wife Mary, and their six children, the middle four of whom had attended school within the year. During the Civil War, he served as a private in Company C of the 15th Maine Infantry from December 1861. By November 1863, the regiment was in Brazos de Santiago, Texas, and Cushing was "sick in quarters." After the war, they moved to Essex County in northeastern Massachusetts, where he was a blacksmith. Cushing began receiving an invalid pension in December 1881 and died of consumption in August 1883.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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