CIVIL WAR LETTER - 97th NY Infantry - BATTLE of DEEP BOTTOM near Petersburg VA !

Description

Civil War Letter
Extraordinary Civil War letter written by Alonzo Booth of Company K, 97th New York Infantry.  He wrote from his regimental camp near Petersburg and writes of the 2nd Battle of Deep Bottom !.
This Civil War soldier letter was written by Alonzo G. Booth (1831-1910), the son of Elam Booth (1801-1882) and Sybil Ingalls (1807-1872) of Concord, Erie County, New York.
Alonzo enlisted in August 1863 as a private in Co. K, 97th New York Infantry—sometimes called the 3rd Oneida Regiment or the “Conkling Rifles.” Alonzo joined the regiment at Brandy Station after the Gettysburg Campaign. While there, a sufficient number reenlisted to secure the continuance of the 97th in the field as a veteran regiment. In June, 1864, it was joined by the veterans and recruits of the 83d N. Y. infantry and in August, by the 94th, the 26th N. Y. having already been added to it in May, 1863. During Grant’s famous campaign the 97th served in the 3d and 2nd divisions, 5th corps. Its heaviest losses during this campaign and subsequent operations were in the Wilderness, at Spottsylvania and near the Weldon railroad, but it shared in other engagements Of the brigade at the North Anna river, Totopotomy, Cold Harbor, White Oak Swamp, before Petersburg, in the Hicksford raid and the Appomattox campaign.
Alonzo was unable to fulfill his term of enlistment, however. He mustered out in late January 1865 suffering from rheumatism and “liver complications.”
Transcription
Camp near Petersburg, Virginia
Saturday, August 13th 1864
Not having much to do this morning, I thought I would write a little for it is uncertain where I may be if I wait. We are on the extreme left of Petersburg. Our Brigade is doing picket duty. We are in a very good place—plenty of cool water. I have been here one week. I have been on picket 48 hours. It is very quiet where we are but to the right of us they are not so peaceable—picket firing with now and then a shell can be heard all the time. This morning they are fighting on the extreme right pretty sharp one would think by the noise [see
Second Battle of Deep Bottom
]. If we do not get disturbed, I don’t care how much they quarrel.
John Underhill was over and made me a visit yesterday. They are doing picket duty near us. John looks healthy but not very fat and his horse is not much different. They look as if they had seen hard times. My health is very good now. We are having easy times just now. How long it will last is more than we can tell. Two days out of three we have nothing to do but our cooking and washing. Every third day we have to stand picket two hours on and four off.
This is a very nice-looking country around here if it had not been spoiled by the army. The timber is oak and pine. There is plenty of huckleberries here now and green apples, squashes, and green corn. It is very warm and dry but we are in the edge of the woods. The army have dug wells all about here. There is no water here only by digging for it. About twenty feet is the depth they have to dig.
We are about ten miles from City Point. The soldiers so far as I have seen are very healthy for this time of the year and are in good spirits. Our regiment has lost a great many men since I left them last spring—not so many killed, but a good many wounded. Only five have been killed in my company and about twenty wounded. The 9th New York Regiment has been put into this regiment and some new men have been sent to this regiment. There is 101 men and officers in our company now, but there is only thirty that is fit for duty. The rest are in the hospitals sick and wounded. Our Colonel is commanding our Brigade now.
How is politics and the draft in Concord? Will there be any riots next month? The soldiers are talking politics a good deal as a general thing. They want this war stopped if it can be [done] honorably. How is the hay and grain crop, apples, potatoes, and such like? Write me a good long letter. Write all the news.
Direct to A. Booth, 97th Regt. N. Y. V., Co. K, Washington D. C.
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