A Perplexing Civil War Soap Opera?

[TerryB]

At first I thought the first letter implied that John had been in captivity for four months--clearly wrong. But it really says that Bessie and family had not heard from John in four months. So his last letter was probably mailed around Christmas of 1864. I'd love to have that one! I'd also like to be a fly on the wall when he told them he was joining the CS Navy!

 

[TerryB]

Uncle Erastus Hopkins, mentioned in Letter #1, was also a minister, lived in SC in the 1830s, and was later active in the Underground Railroad.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=85667703

http://westernmacwsesquicentennial....opkins-house-in-1904-king-street-northampton/

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.283108141757754.61627.260096860725549&type=3

 

[TerryB]

Bessie's line probably includes Colonial era Rev. Samuel Hopkins;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Hopkins_(1721–1803)

Coming as she did from a family of theologians and ministers, her high level of writing skills is understandable. The stifled sexuality may originate there as well.

 

[TerryB]

The whole story vaguely reminds me of "Mourning Becomes Electra."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_Becomes_Electra

 

[TerryB]

I'm currently trying to dig up any connection between John's mother, Ellen Wheeler, and Gen Joe Wheeler, whose father was from Conn. If there is a family connection, we really do live in a small world.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I was JUST thinking the same thing- was getting ready to minimize, go over to Ancestry because ' Hopkins ' and ' New England ', sounds awfully familiar.

Was also just thinking, who needs soap operas when there's real life to draw from, gee whiz.

 

[TerryB]

I was JUST thinking the same thing- was getting ready to minimize, go over to Ancestry because ' Hopkins ' and ' New England ', sounds awfully familiar.

Was also just thinking, who needs soap operas when there's real life to draw from, gee whiz.

Ancestry was down much of yesterday and is due for maintenance today. Haven't looked yet.

 

[TerryB]

Northampton, Mass turns out to have been home to two opposing camps of abolitionists, including some who favored African colonization. So it's somewhat surprising that Elizabeth Hopkins Myers writes John that "peace must very soon be restored under the old order of things." Hard to say exactly what she meant by that, except that the context is her urging John to take the oath rather than be exchanged and sent back to the Confederate army. That would "bring desolate" his whole family, all of whom were "now on this side of the lines." So her implied meaning may well be that the South would be restored to the Union status quo ante.

Also, if you look at the 1860 census, it seems to list Rev Joseph H. Myers as having $3,000 in real property and a whopping $35,000 in personal. That would be very hard to explain if he owned no slaves. I'm still digging into that issue. The 1860 scan is good, and I can't make out any decimals in those figures.

 

[TerryB]

It occurs to me that John probably held no sentimental attachment for these letters. Others are alluded to, such as one from Uncle Erastus, the abolitionist. John may have saved those and left these behind. If he'd kept them, we never would have seen them.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Yes, Ancestry said my tree wasn't available, I clicked on it anyway and it WAS there. A lot of search options were not, so it's wierd, whatever might be going on there. You wonder if some jerkoid was finally successful with a virus or something, they've been repairing. Security there must be amazing, bet it's an irresistable target for those kooks who feel it's their duty to disrupt things.

Yes. Hopkins was familiar- geesh, where's my head? Very early, too early to be of use here, although I'd have to guess if one ran these trees back the same ancestors would be there.

It's been fairly easy to find connections between a lot of these Civil War names through Ancestry- looking on Public Member trees for common ancestors always works, if the members have done that. With the early settlers, a lot of people have. SO many turn out to have been 4th or 5th cousins, I am certain did not know it. I don't think it will have been a case where anyone twisted their trees to be able to include someone cool to have in their tree, either- Civil War folks, even the pretty famous ones ( apart from the biggies ) are unknown to most folks, am sure you knew this, I did not. Little shocking!

You do wonder what happened to the letters and items which are missing in a lot of cases- when were they tossed, if they exist, where ARE they, who would have them, not know it? I've tried to track down which family member, for instance, might have the big, oval framed photo of my grgrgrandfather in his uniform I've been told is ' out there'. Prob passed down, but to which household as children grew and parents died? By this generation, is he now unidentified, maybe ended up in an antique store anyway? Sorry, do not mean to be so off thread- have always wondered about missing documents, letters, photos- in all liklihood burned as trash long, long ago- but what if they were not?

 

[TerryB]

Yes, Ancestry said my tree wasn't available, I clicked on it anyway and it WAS there. A lot of search options were not, so it's wierd, whatever might be going on there. You wonder if some jerkoid was finally successful with a virus or something, they've been repairing. Security there must be amazing, bet it's an irresistable target for those kooks who feel it's their duty to disrupt things.

Yes. Hopkins was familiar- geesh, where's my head? Very early, too early to be of use here, although I'd have to guess if one ran these trees back the same ancestors would be there.

It's been fairly easy to find connections between a lot of these Civil War names through Ancestry- looking on Public Member trees for common ancestors always works, if the members have done that. With the early settlers, a lot of people have. SO many turn out to have been 4th or 5th cousins, I am certain did not know it. I don't think it will have been a case where anyone twisted their trees to be able to include someone cool to have in their tree, either- Civil War folks, even the pretty famous ones ( apart from the biggies ) are unknown to most folks, am sure you knew this, I did not. Little shocking!

You do wonder what happened to the letters and items which are missing in a lot of cases- when were they tossed, if they exist, where ARE they, who would have them, not know it? I've tried to track down which family member, for instance, might have the big, oval framed photo of my grgrgrandfather in his uniform I've been told is ' out there'. Prob passed down, but to which household as children grew and parents died? By this generation, is he now unidentified, maybe ended up in an antique store anyway? Sorry, do not mean to be so off thread- have always wondered about missing documents, letters, photos- in all liklihood burned as trash long, long ago- but what if they were not?

I did a little checking when the site came back up, but there were no family trees. I'm sure the Wheeler tree is out there somewhere, though. Most of his bios online are no more than two paragraphs.

I'm still mulling over how John's letters from Bessie were saved when it's almost unheard of to find a letter from home in a CSR, even a prisoner's. That can be something included to establish that when he died, the CS owed his family money, or in some cases we have lists of personal effects that needed to be signed for. So here's something to ponder. Bessie wrote that she arrived in Northampton on Jan 21, 1865. From other records I've studied, it took about three weeks to travel by ship from New Orleans to New York. The military chaos in Savannah probably caused her some delay--the city fell on Dec 22--in being able to book passage once she decided what to take with her. Her husband remained behind, but in another house because theirs (whether rented or or whatever) had been taken over and converted to a hospital. That will bring chaos on you for sure. Once the city fell, it may be that Joseph stayed behind in order to be able to hear from Johnny, last heard from about the time the city fell. Could it be that John was paroled before the letters got to him? Let's see... he arrived at Point Lookout on April 3, and Bessie seems to have gotten the news from one of the uncles about a week later. She entrusts her first letter to Rev Samuel Hopkins [no doubt her father], and the carpet bag, a day later (the 11th) to Uncle J.K. Myers. We don't know how long it takes these men to spring into action, but surely no more than a week. It's also hard to say if Bessie's harping on him to take the oath was what made up his mind or if he really needed no prodding. Much of her overweening can be chalked up to, "I'm the only one who knows you well enough to explain the situation to you, so don't listen to your buds and try to go back, the war's over and you don't wanna be the last guy killed in it---hey, the peace will probably be status quo ante, so take the oath already!" That's how I read it. She also says that some of her reasons for practically begging him to come to her first can't be put in a letter. Hmmmm. But the subtext almost cries out that John probably ran away to sea without his father's permission and maybe to get away from Bessie? If so, he may just have left those letters behind. Then the clerks dutifully file them away in John's file in case he sends for them. Other letters from uncles, etc., are mentioned, but none were in his file. Why? Because he valued those? But, on the other hand, I never found a copy of his actual oath or a parole, though all records agree he took the oath on May 2 and was allowed to go to Baltimore to book passage to New York. If it took a week for a letter or the bag to get to him, he then had two or three weeks at the most to decide what to do. If the surrenders didn't help him decide, maybe the Assassination did. It's interesting that in his pension app he stresses that he took the oath after Johnston surrendered, so maybe Lee's didn't convince him. I really do think the best explanation is that John wasn't interested in rushing up to Northampton, and simply left those letters behind.

 

[TerryB]

I just saw a newspaper account of Bessie's wedding that IDs her as the daughter of Rev. Samuel Hopkins, no doubt the same one mentioned in her letter. In 1857, her future husband was pastoring a church in New Jersey. One thing about Methodist and Presbyterian ministers--they move around a lot.

 

[TerryB]

I believe I've answered the question of how and why the letters were preserved. On the outside of the envelope dated April 13th, 1865, postmarked Northampton, Mass, someone wrote "Too long." Then, in another hand (very similar to Bessie's), someone wrote sideways on the letter dated April 12 "Too long by far acP." The letters were much bigger than Bessie's, but since the last question she asked Johnny before closing the letter was "How long have you been a prisoner at Point Lookout?" my first reaction was that she was answering her own question. But when I look at who signed John's release order, it was a major of the 2nd Mass Cav whom the clerk's styled "Asst Commsy Gen of Prison in the absence of the Comding Gen." That august title could very easily morph into "acP." So the letters were too long to pass muster, either because they might contain code or cipher, or more likely, the officer(s) in charge of censoring incoming mail didn't have time to read them. Bessie does ask John if he is allowed to receive sealed letters, adding that she has things she can't write in an open letter. The clerks likely kept John's letters back from him, thus they wound up in his file.

 

[TerryB]

I've written up this story at my blog and also transcribed the letters.

http://myrebelroots.blogspot.com/

 

[TerryB]

Apparently John's experience in the Civil War stood him in good stead later on in life. He became a master mariner and later sea captain. I'm now running down info on his possible gun-running activities to Cuban rebels in the period leading up to the Spanish-American War.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/dauntless.htm

 

[TerryB]

An Erastus Hopkins expert left me a comment on my blog. She doubts the romantic inferences we having been drawing re Bessie's feelings for John. The readers may decide for themselves. I can't say I'm convinced one way or the other.

It just now dawns on me that John was probably named after his grandfather, the Rev. John Wheeler of Burlington, Vt., one time president of the University of Vermont. Rev. Wheeler died in 1862.

 

[TerryB]

Here's a link to a downloadable genealogy for Gen. Joe Wheeler. It seems to rule out any connection to John Wheeler.

http://wheelerplantation.org/index.php/help/ancestors