CIVIL WAR LETTER - 105th Illinois Infantry, 1,200 Have Died in Gallatin TN !

Description

CIVIL WAR LETTER
CIVIL WAR SOLDIER LETTER - 105th Illinois Infantry
John Thomas Becker (1838-1917) was a young teenager when his father, Richard Becker (1813-1881) moved his family from New York State to the undulating Illinois prairie in 1852, settling in South Grove township, DeKalb county. Here, near Owen’s Creek and not far from the town of Franklin, John grew up working the land, raising wheat and livestock, hoping one day for a farm of his own. The family’s means were meagre and John’s opportunity for education severely limited in this rural farm community where most children attended school only when they weren’t needed in the fields. We learn from John’s letters, however, that he gained sufficient knowledge in the “three R’s” to teach younger children part-time for at least three years prior to 1861 but he readily acknowledged his own limitations.
A CDV of John Thomas Becker (1838-1917) taken after his discharge from the 105th Illinois Infantry
Sometime in the late 1850’s, John had an occasion to meet a young green-eyed, red-headed teen named Eleanor Belt (1840-1932) of Sylvester, Green county, Wisconsin. Eleanor—or “Ellen” as he called her—was living with her Aunt Amelia Wood in nearby Hicks Mills, Franklin Township, DeKalb county, Illinois. Perhaps she was teaching school there when they met. In any event, they became fast friends and developed an understanding between them that set them apart from other acquaintances. It seems clear they considered marriage before the Civil War erupted but Ellen thought it best they wait until the war was over. It would not last much longer, she contended, and she didn’t want to risk being a “war widow.”
CDV of Eleanor Belt (1840-1932) taken by Wm. H. Owen who opened a studio in Evansville, Wisconsin in 1866. Eleanor married Sgt. John T. Becker on 24 August 1865 just weeks after he was discharged from the 105th Illinois Infantry.
And so John enlisted in
Co. G, 105th Illinois Infantry
in August 1862 after the failed Peninsula Campaign convinced the North the rebellion could not be suppressed without a surge of troops. John was 24 years old when he enlisted, his induction record stating that he stood 5′ 10″ tall with black hair and black eyes. When he left home to join his regiment at Dixon, Illinois, John and Ellen pledged to write each other faithfully and, for the most part, John lived up to his end of the bargain.
John survived the war though he did not escape unscathed. He took a bullet in the arm at the Battle of Taylor’s Hole Creek in March 1865 and then contracted painful erysipelas in the military hospital at Fort Schuyler in New York before his discharge in July 1865. He then returned home to Illinois, married (24 August 1865) his beloved Ellen, and enjoyed a life in farming.
NOTE - The images shown in this description do not come with the letter.
A Ruby Ambrotype of John Beck and Eleanor Belt which is presumed to be their “wedding photograph.” The couple standing behind them may have been their older siblings who stood up with them at the wedding?
Transcription
Gallatin, Tennessee
April 19th 1863
Dear Ellen,
Your letter of the 12th I have just received & read & feel in duty bound to answer it though I scarcely know what to write as you say. But then the thing must be “did” in some shape. Today is Sunday & I meant to have gone to church today but it rained so I thought I would write some letters to pass away the time.
I received a letter from our folks last night and had just answered it when I got yours so I think I will have a busy time today as I have to write one to Overacker—you know him; he is in the 8th Illinois Cavalry. Maybe you think your letters are less acceptable to me when I hear from you so often than mine are to you? But in this you are mistaken (don’t criticize that word) for nothing does me more good than to hear from you. I should have but a sorry time of it here in the army if I had not someone to write to and to hear from that I know I can trust and love & whom I can think about these pleasant evenings when I got out and sit all alone by myself & think & anticipate of the future when I trust we shall bear a closer relation that at present for Ellen, you are the only girl that I ever was acquainted with which I could fully trust or put confidence in and this one thing—if nothing more—would make me love you. And I sincerely hope you have the same confidence in me for I can say without boasting that I have a truer sense of honor here in the army than I had at home, notwithstanding the demoralizing influence which surrounds me.
But I must write you a little of the general news although there is not much to write about. Everything is quiet here at present. [Lt.] Harrington is going home on a leave of absence until his health improves. The Captain [John B. Nash] is sick again and I think he will resign his commission for if he stays here, he will die. He can’t stand it in the army. [Photographer William] McClellan is here in town—the artist that took our pictures in Sycamore last Fourth. He has his apparatus with him for taking pictures & I will have mine taken as soon as he gets started and send to you. ¹
And now you must excuse me for this short letter for it will take me some time to write my other and I was up late last night and feel tired. Write soon & believe me yours as ever, — J. T. Becker
I will write in an envelope the way you may direct after this. There has 1,800 been discharged and 1,200 died in this place since last November.
¹ Photographer William McClellan was active in Sycamore, Illinois, Union City and Coldwater, Michigan, Kansas, Texas, and California. Bio details available in “Directory of Early Michigan Photographers,” by David V. Tinder, available for free online.
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