Glen Ellyn man studies great-grandfather's Civil War letters
One hundred fifty years ago, on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces in Charleston, S.C., fired on Fort Sumter to start the Civil War that would last four years and result in the deaths of more than 600,000 soldiers.
The facts of history never used to mean much to Glen Ellyn resident Fred Miller.
But today he can tell you about battles fought in the Civil War, the thoughts and feelings of common soldiers, and the conditions in Andersonville Prison Camp, where his great-grandfather, James Augustus Miller, died in 1864.
#8220;History didn't mean anything until it became personal,#8221; Miller said. #8220;Here's somebody who was involved in a major war, the Civil War, and I've got a personal connection.#8221;
Miller found that connection after his mother died and he inherited family historical documents. He possesses three of James Miller's diaries, one written while he served as a Union soldier. James also wrote 120 letters to his wife, Caroline, during his two years in the Army. Miller has the 40 surviving letters, which his great-grandfather had numbered so he would know whether they reached their destination.
Miller spent more than 10 years compiling excerpts from the letters, photos and other information in a book he titled #8220;My Daily Hope and Truth, Words of Spiritual Inspiration from the Letters of a Union Soldier in the Civil War.#8221; In another book he calls #8220;The Clank of Arms Be Heard No More,#8221; he has integrated the letters with information from a history written about the 152nd New York State Infantry Volunteers in which his great-grandfather served.
He and his wife, Carol, have made presentations on the material to several groups. The letters show James Miller's faith in God and his devotion to his family, they said.
James frequently opened his letters with thanksgiving to God, inquired about family members, gave news of people from his hometown serving with him and concluded with admonitions to his young son to study, not use naughty words and go to Sunday school.
#8220;He would write two or three times a week,#8221; Fred Miller said.
#8220;He always wrote on Sunday,#8221; Carol added. #8220;He must have been quite a religious man.#8221;
Union volunteer
James Miller didn't have to go to war. But when President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 300,000 volunteers, he and several of his neighbors signed up for three-year enlistments in August 1862.
The 32-year-old farmer left Caroline and their son, Merritt, then 4, on their 100-acre property near Morris in upstate New York.
None of Caroline's letters to James survive, but it's apparent from his comments to her that she asked him go AWOL or take a #8220;French Furlough#8221; as many enlistees had done, the Millers said.
James declined.
#8220;What would you give to have me run away from the army and forever after have it throwed up in my face as a deserter? Well I think I shall stay a few days longer,#8221; he wrote in a January 1863 letter to his wife.
Conditions were hard and James did not glory in battle. In one letter, he asked for a needle and thread to mend a hole in his pants. He enclosed a picture of himself in a letter written in May 1864.
#8220;Does it look as though I had turned a Barbarian?#8221; he asked. #8220;I never killed a man in my life. Hope I never shall have a chance, but cannot tell.#8221;
#8220;He hardly wrote anything about any battle,#8221; Fred Miller said. #8220;He wrote about going on picket, which is like patrol or guard duty.#8221;
In one letter, James noted that Gen. (Winfield Scott) Hancock had taken his cap off to him while the soldier stood on guard duty.
#8220;What do you think of that? Of course, I saluted him first,#8221; James wrote.
James also wrote of burying comrades and learning to sleep with bullets whizzing overhead. He commented only briefly on the greater events of the war.
On hearing of the death of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson, he referred to him as #8220;one of their best generals.#8221;
He learned of the Union victory at Gettysburg a few days after it had taken place. Ulysses S. Grant, who became the commander of the entire Union army, gets a couple of mentions.
#8220;Gen. Grant is like a bulldog, to stick and hold till he takes a place,#8221; James wrote.
In a letter dated June 9, 1864, from Cold Harbor, Va., James Miller said he had been in 12 or 13 battles, but not yet suffered injury.
#8220;The Lord is my sure foundation,#8221; he wrote. #8220;I cannot but put my trust in Him for the preservation of life and health.#8221;
Brighter future
Earlier that year in a New Year's letter, James expressed his hope the rebellion soon would be over and the future brighter.
#8220;My earnest prayer is that it may and the clank of arms be heard no more in our beloved country and that there may be no more North or South, but become as one inseparable and live as in days that are passed and gone,#8221; he wrote.
James was not to see that day. On June 20, 1864, in a letter he penned two days before his capture, he longed for #8220;one quiet Sabbath, free from tumult and confusion and noise, instead of the booming of cannon and the flash of musketry.#8221;
James Miller was among 12 men from his hometown captured at Petersburg and the Battle of Weldon Railroad on June 22, 1864. All were sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia. He was among 12,918 who died there.
#8220;There were 32,000 in the prison camp and they had very poor conditions,#8221; Fred Miller said. #8220;They had no covering from the heat or the rain or the cold.#8221;
James Miller was buried side-by-side with other prisoners in a trench grave, with each man's site marked with a stick and a number. Simple monuments were erected later.
Fred and Carol Miller visited James' gravesite in 1998. They have taken several trips relating to the Civil War with Elderhostel, an educational travel program for senior adults.
#8220;I've learned an awful lot about Virginia and different parts of the country,#8221; Fred said.
History is no longer something remote. The Millers, who both lead Bible studies in the DuPage County jail, said they believe they will see James Miller in heaven.
#8220;I think it's going to be interesting to meet him face to face someday,#8221; Fred said.