Letter Home - dated July 13th
1862
Contributed by Robert T Teeter at
rttaznew@juno.com
Notes for Philip Fail Teeter: Philip Fail Teeter, eldest
son of Indiana pioneers Henry and Caroline (Fail) Teeter, studied at DePauw,
now a University. On February 17, 1862, at age 23 he enlisted at Laporte, and
was mustered in the same day at Goshen, for duty in Co. D of the 48th Regiment
of Indiana Volunteers. They joined General Grant's Army of the Tennessee before
May of that year, and were involved in a Major battle at Iuka, MS, in which he
was mortally wounded on September 19, 1862, dying the next day. After the Civil
war, his body was, with those of many other Unknown Union Army Soldiers,
re-interred in the National Cemetery at nearby Corinth, MS. His family placed a
Memorial stone in the Teeter Family Cemetery near his parents home in Galena
Township,IN. A copy of his service record is available, and an account of the
battle is to be found in a book entitled "Rosecrans Meets Price -The Battle of
Iuka". The following is a typed copy of his handwritten letter, reproduced from
a hard-to-read photo copy, addressed to his brother-in-law, Daniel Grime (a
Methodist minister), and his sister, Sarah, shortly before his death (with
mention of his two youger brothers George and Edwin) : "...Camp near
Corinth
July 13th 1862
transcribed from Rough well worn & dirty
paper
Dear Brother & Sister
I am happy to say that I rec. your very kind letter of the 4thinst. & was very happy to hear that you were all well & enjoyed your Independence so well. I am well & hearty at present & enjoy myself as well as could be expected for a soldier. You wrote in your letter that you had not rec. a letter from me since the 14th of June. I do not know the reason for I have written 3 since that time. I wrote a letter to Geo. Jake Teeter June 25th. No answer yet. I recd. a letter from Mother July 3rd dated June 14th. July5th I wrote a letter to Pop & mother before breakfast & mailed it. & On the 4th I wrote a letter to Ed in answer to one I that I got a day or two previous & in those letters I have written the news of our movements.
No doubt you have seen them before this. However it is to tedious to write all over again. Probably I can think of something I have not written about so often. It strikes me very sensibly that I know where I was & what transpired the 4th of July a year ago. We had a celebration but not such a one as I have been used to seeing in that country. We had been on piquet guard 24 hours & had just come off the morning of the 4th. Went into camp and was called up in line of battle & orders to move the camp out to the piquet lines. Then our Brigade guns were fired 33 times in memory of the great day of our American Independence. After the guns quit firing we moved a mile East towards Jacinto on the road Old Stage Route from the Tennessee River to Holly Springs moved our pickets out a mile farther but everything is quiet here now. We hardly know where the enemy is now. But we keep on the safe side. They are building heavy fortifications at Corinth now and at Kie..zi also so that if the Rebels should come upon us here this summer we can give them a tough time with a fierce mein. We have got it so we can sweep the country all around with cannon for two miles. There is not half as much enterprise in the laying out and building of farms here that there is in the North. There has been considerable wealth in some of them but it does not suit my taste, but their wealth does not do them much good now. There is a great many of the citizens in a starving condition here now and some that the Government has to support already in families that has husbands in the Rebel army too.
Daniel, if you could be here and see what I have already seen you would never speak in favor of the Negro again until our own race was a little better situated. Thousands of our men that were Abolitionist of the deepest dye are now all together different men. They say that they knew nothing of the Negro nor how he was treated till they came here. The Negro is treated in all the states where we have been with a few exceptions a great deal better than any of our soldiers. I have often wished that I could have the privileges that the Negro has. I would be contented to stay in the Army. There is thousands of them today that could not be coaxed away from their masters & then there is some that will leave through mere curosity to go with the Officers to cook and wash for them but when we march they have a horse to ride & all their clothing and blankets hauled, but the soldier has to carry his own burdens, fight his own battles & do his own cooking and washing & often times go supperless to bed after a hard march. Now who has the best times? When the weather is very warm they say it is too warm to work & they go fishing or hunting.
Democracy is deeper seated in me than it ever was before but I would have been glad if the ever agitated curse of slavery had never come amongst us but now it has come I want to keep it & the Negro as far from our beloved state as possible. But enough of this & a great deal more than I intended at first. We hear a great deal about this war coming to a close within a month or two but if we get out when our time is out I will be pleased. It looks more dubious every day to me. When I feel well I like it first rate but if a man gets sick & down here it is 10 chances to die to one to live. They are going to recruit this Regt. again. There will be men sent home soon recruiting again. Erwin Squires, Flavius Winch & Stephen Abdill of Marshall Co.started yesterday morning for Ind. They will probably come home as soon as they get able. They have gone to Brownville or Terre Haute Hospitals. I do not know which.
I expect I could get a furlough now of 20 days if I should ask it but I do not want one yet. I would like to come home next Christmas or New Years but I hardly know where I will be then, maybe in this world and maybe in another, but let me be where I will, I want to be found in the discharge of my duty.
Brother Daniel it would pay you more than double to come & make me a visit sometime this fall or even later. It would cost you about $30.00 or so in money but it is worth twice that amt. to see an Army of this magnitude collected in the woods. A Camp meeting is no comparison at all. If you could see 100 Camp meetings right in one sough you might talk.
Dear Brother I have writen 3 pages & I do not know if I have written anything that will interest you. In speaking of crops harvesting has been done here over one month and some of the corn is now good roasting ears but it is rather dangerous for us to eat much of it. They raised a great deal of corn here but not much other grain. Sugar cane grows to a large size here. It is very warm here. The sun is right over our heads so that the shade of a tree at noon is no larger than the spread of the limb. In fair weather we prefer sleeping at night out in the open air on the ground. I have not slept in a tent but 2 nights since the 27th of June & I get tougher every day, but a man is liable to take the cramp colic at any moment which works like the Cholera some. That is the worst here now. I have never had it yet but several have died with it in different parts of this army.
I was somewhat diverted to hear of the battle before Mt Pleasant & the great victory of the young prince. I never heard of a battle before similar to the one spoken of where both grounded arms at the same time. I suppose then that Luther got the belt. I would like if you would tell Luther if he is a fighting man here is the place for him. We can find something for him to do every day and no respect paid to hair either white or black. Tell the boys if there is anyone that has the least bit of sand in their gizzards there will be a chance for them to enlist now soon and not depend on us for their home fireside to be protected by us & they reap the benefits of our labor. Dear brother I wish you would ask of your dear wife if she knows whether she has a brother in the army & if she knows what Regt. he is in or what has become of him. & ask George H Teeter whether he made money enough the 4th day of July to buy a sheet of paper and a postage stamp. I have no room to write more but request you to write soon & except this from myself also.
Your Dear Brother,
P F Teeter
My love to all. Tell Pop that I will send home $50 in a
short time. He can put it to use for me if he chooses, the same as the rest of
my money". (The battle at Iuka was just 36 days later).
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