CIVIL WAR LETTER - 105th Illinois Infantry - ATLANTA is OURS! Sherman Wins !

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
Chattahoochee River
September 8th 1864
Dear Ellen,
I have waited and waited for a letter from you but in vain so I will not postpone writing any longer. The Railroad was torn up beyond Chattanooga so we have had no mail for some time. I expect I will get a lot when it does come as I have not heard from home in more than a month. Since I wrote you last there has ben quite a change in affairs down here.
Atlanta is ours! After so long a time & so much hard fighting, it makes us feel pretty good, I tell you. Sherman done a nice thing this last movement he made. He had our Corps move back across the Chattahoochee River, then moved the remaining forces to the right and rear of Atlanta and came in at Oakland, about 35 miles from Atlanta, built breastworks and waited until the rebs found where we was. They thought we had all gone back across the Chattahoochee and were in quite a pickle to know how to proceed until Sherman bothered them by sending small forces to their rear. Then they sent out reconnoitering expeditions and found him there in force. They then went for him with their whole army and left Atlanta to take care of itself. They charged our men five times and were repulsed every time. Then our men charged them, penetrated their center and divided their army and scattered them in all directions, making a terrible slaughter.
While they were fighting, Old Gen. Ward (our Brigade Commander—or that was—is commanding the Division now) took one brigade and went into Atlanta, took some prisoners, and hold possession of the place. Part of the Rebel force moved off to the east and two Corps went toward Macon. I hear that they have formed a junction in this side of Macon and there is another engagement expected soon though I think the campaign is about over for this time. I hope so at least. We (i. e.) our Brigade is all here at the river guarding the government stores and the railroad bridge. I am with Co. G now and have command of the company, being the ranking sergeant, and the officers are both sick. Lieut. Smith has not recovered from his wound yet but he has been commissioned Captain of our company and our old Orderly has first Lieutenancy. I come in Orderly and there is no second Lieutenant. We have not got men enough to entitle us to one but if our regiment is filled up this fall, I will get a commission. And if Capt. Smith resigns, I can then get one & I think he will. I heard that a span of horses run away with him and hurt him pretty bad so that his wound will probably make him unfit for service. I should like to have him with us though for he is a first rate fellow.
We are going to Atlanta in a few days as soon as we are relieved here and will garrison that place for awhile & perhaps stay all winter though one can’t tell what a few hours may brong forth. We may be ordered somewhere else.
We have not been paid yet and there is not much signs of getting it soon though we are in need enough of it as it has been eight months since we were paid. Well, I must hurry up as I must fix up my tent some yet today. So I think I will let this go until the mail comes in and see what that brings me. I hope it will be a letter from you. I am not much of a believer in dreams, yet I am quite anxious to hear from you and home as I have been dreaming considerable of late about you and it seems to me as though there is something wrong somewhere & I shall not feel natural until I hear from some of you. There seems to be some foreboding of evil which I can’t account for which makes me almost homesick sometimes. Perhaps it is because I have not heard from home in so long though.
Well, I guess I will finish this or it will not go out today. I wait for the mail to arrive. Yours devotedly, — John
TERMS
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