Archive Record
| Title | John Ward letter to William |
| Collection Name | Ward Family Papers |
| Date | June 29, 1861 |
| Description |
A letter from John Ward, addressed to "Dear William" (likely his brother, William Greene Ward), written from Camp Anderson, Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. The letter is four pages long, consisting of a single folded sheet with handwritten text on both sides. It describes the challenges and the responsibilities of military service, his salary, and the politics of the time. A printed illustration at the top of the first page is a political cartoon titled "Why don't you take it?," with two dogs representing Winfried Scott and Jefferson Davis. The text of the letter contains references to the Vienna engagement [Battle of Vienna, Virginia], Seward, Jefferson Davis, George Baldwin, Bache family, Lou [probably Louise] Aspinwall, and others. (Keywords: Civil War, Military, Politics, New York) Partial Transcript: [bottom of page 1] To discipline 80 or 90 men, to show no partiality, to discriminate etc requires incessant care & it is no joke to be a captain I assure you. I feel the responsibility of taking care of Captain Ward's company, much more than I did the commanding Capt. Barr's. I rather think that the four hours we now allot daily to drill are [begin page 2] insufficient to keep men from drinking. Would that we were in the country! It would be infinitely better for the men. We all feel disappointed at not being called into action, & yet a march at this season would prove fatal to a great many. (This is a description of a single item within the Ward Family Papers collection, MS004.000. It is part of Series 1: William G. Ward & Descendents Papers.) |
| Biography and History | John Ward (1838-1896) was a military officer, lawyer, and author. He was the son of William G. Ward (Sr.) and Abby Maria (Hall) Ward. John Ward served in the New York State Militia and the National Guard, State of New York in the 1860s and 1870s; he was Captain of the Twelfth Regiment at the time this letter was written. John Ward authored "A Memoir of Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Ward, First Rhode Island Regiment, Army of the American Revolution, With a Genealogy of the Ward Family" (1875); "The Overland Route to California, and Other Poems" (1875); and "Campaigns of the Twelfth Infantry, N. G. S. N. Y., 1861-62-63." John Ward was the brother of William Greene Ward (Jr.) of Staten Island, who served as commander of the Twelfth Regiment. |
| Legal Status | Images and text in this database are copyrighted by the Staten Island Historical Society unless otherwise noted. Items represented here are from the collections of the Staten Island Historical Society. Materials reproduced for personal non-commercial use must credit the Staten Island Historical Society. Commercial licensing is available. |
| Physical Extent | 4 pages (1 folded sheet) |
| Acquisition | From the Ward Estate |
| Catalog Number | MS004.001.ITEM.0001 |
| Object Name | Letter |
| Archival Description Level | Item |
| Parent Record | MS004.001 |
| Subjects |
Families Military personnel Military service War Military life |
| Earliest Date | 1861 |
| Latest Date | 1861 |
| Lexicon Sub-category | Documentary Artifact |
| Creator |
Ward, John |
| Associated People |
Ward, John Ward, William Greene |
| Support Acknowledgment | Online Collections Database record made possible by the Staten Island Historical Society, 2011. |