CIVIL WAR LETTERS OF MICHAEL FREYBURGER OF SHELBY COUNTY, IL.
From Shelby County Ancestors, Shelby Co. Hist. & Gen. Society, Shelbyville, IL Vol. 3
Birds Point Camp Lyon
Jan. 7th 1862
Dear Ann, I have not received an answer to my letter that I have written from Cairo. We left & came to this place on Christmas & I shall always remember that day. We had to carry our luggage up the steep & slipry bluff. It was a terrible job. I imagined our little ones setting by that fire that night cracking nuts. I am in very good health myself, but the health of the company is every thing but good. We have about 13 in the hospital & altogether about 30 unfit for duty. We have lost one man by death with the measles. He had a bad constitution, he lived about Mt. Auburn. James Turney had the measles, is about through with them. Wm. Turney has been with us about two weeks. He is going to stay with James until he gets entirely well. He with the rest of our sick went to the Mount City Hospital this morning. His parents need not be uneasy about him. We are going to leave here tomorrow for Cape Girardeau some distance up the Missipi. Mr. Ward has been to see us the other day. I went with him offer to Cairo to see John. He is a perfect skeleton. He said he would go up & see you all when he gets able. I have seen the grave yard of the infantry, counted nearly 100 graves. One Iowa reg. lost upwards of 20 men in 4 weeks. It is asserted by those that have reason to know that we will draw our pay tomorrow before we leave. Since we have arrived here we have been out scouting. The night after the secesha tried to get hold of the City of Alton (a steamboat) at Commerce a little piece up the river, but did not find any armed secesha. We were nearly 24 hours in the saddle but Lady Morgan was a firy coming home as she was going out. The particulars of our scouting Wm. Turney will tell you when he gets home. I sent the children some pacans by him which I have gathered here. We will draw our parade suit as soon as we arrive at Cape Girardeau. We have drawed our sabres & our carbines & pistols are on the way. A fire broke out here the other day & burnt down the barracks of one company of Cav. Almost entirely some of them lost their saddles, blankets, swords & pistols. We have had no snow here yet. The weather is very mild, we had at Cairo but on the day following it turned to rain, since then it has been cloudy pretty much all the time. Four gunboats went down the river today towards Columbus. We heard the firing down there distinctly. James Crutchfield has been sick, but is better now. I understand by Bills letter to the boys that you had the measles.
I hope however that you may be restored to health soon. Take good care of yourself & the children. Rest assured that I never lay my head upon my pillow but that I think of you all. I look forward to the day when peace & union shall be once more restored & if I shall meet you & the children alive again I shall be sufficient rewarded for
a lifetime of hardships & danger. Write to me as soon as you can.
Yours affectionately,
Michael Freyburger
Camp Lyon Jan. 10, 1862
Dear Ann,
I received your letter a few moments ago and I now hasten to reply. I heard with sorrow of your sickness and my most tender sympathy is with you. You generally give up to quick and I trust you will recover before long. Take good care of yourself & the children. We have received our pay, but contrary to our expectation we had to pay for our saddles which the government furnished us. The amount for the saddle was 32 d. Philip has paid me ten dollars on that note. Thom Crutchfield paid me 20 for Uncle Wm. We have not left this place yet on account of the boat not arriving. The day I wrote you my last letter 2 reg. of infantry left here & some cavalry to attack some seceshs some 15 miles from here. While they were marching in the dark they were fired into by the rebels. Four were killed on the spot about 11 wounded. It is supposed that some were killed by our own men in the hurry of the moment. The rebels made themselfs scarce immediately. I saw one of the wounded men come in, he was shot on the top of the head. The blood had run in streaks down his face. 5 of the poor fellows were buried yesterday. 1 died of his wounds since the night of the scrape. There is every endication of a forward movement. We are looking for a large number of troops from St. Louis. Several re. have gone down the river, every man that can be spared from Cairo, Fort Holt, this place have marching orders, and it is supposed that Columbus sill be attacked. It has been so foggy here for a few days that boats can scarcly run on the river. I think you had better sell your hogs as soon as you can for fear the cholera will get among them. The capt. is not here at present, when he comes I shall see if I can come home. I do so as soon as possible. It I cannot come will express by money & uncle Wms. As soon as you get this letter write to me about your mother. This is the first trouble I have seen since I left home. My prayer to God is that you may recover, but if he has decreed otherwise & I should not see you again on earth I cherish the fond hope to meet you again where the word good bye is never heard, where sickness comes not, where the wicked cease from troubling & where the weary are at rest. I have inquired tis impossible now to get a furlough at present. I will send my money home by Mr. Miller who will leave it at Lufkins on the Friday. I expect we will leave for Cape Girardeau. I try to come home as soon as I can. May God bless you all. Tell the children to be good & mind their mother.
Yours affectionately,
Michael Freyburger
Cape Girardeau Camp Fremont Jan. 15, 1862
Dear Ann,
I shall address this letter to you hoping that you are recovering from your illness. I shall continue to hop until I am informed otherwise. We left Bird Point on last Sunday & arrived here on the same day at 3 o'clock p.m. We like this place much better than any place we have been yet. Birds Point was almost as muddy as Cairo. We could scarcly get our forage from the boat on account of the mud. Four men belonging to our regiment at the Point were shot while cut on picket. Three of them were shot in the head, one through the heart. The camp they belonged to were from Knox county. I saw them after they were killed, they all layed as though they were asleep. This town boast of about 5000 inhabitants. It is built almost entirely of brick and was no doubt a place of considerable business. It has five very large mills. There is a fort on one of the bluffs. This place has been settled by the French almost one hundred years ago. The larger portion of our camp is lodged in a five story mill. And about 30 of us are nicely housed in a cooper shop and you may depend upon it we feel our selfs very much at home. There has been cold weather here for this latitude, but we would call it pleasant winter weather at home. On last Monday it snowed here about 2 inches deep on a level. The weather has moderated. Our horses look remarkable well considering that they lived on half rations for a week before we left the point. I have heard nothing of James Turney since we left. The report about Columbus is to uncertain to say any thing about. Some of our gunboats went down there and we heard the firing very distinctly. We are looking with great anxiety for the mail this afternoon. Let me conclude by advising you to look upon the bright side of the picture, take everything by the smooth handle, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Tell the children I often think of them. Take good care of them while they are sick.
May God take care of you all.
Yours forever,
Michael Freyburger
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ILLINOIS ARCHIVES have indexes on men who served in Illinois units during Indian Wars, Mexican War, Civil War, and Spanish American War. They will search one index and report on two soldiers per request. The archives will also check a census record for one request. No self-addressed stamped envelope is necessary. The address is: Illinois
State Archives, Archives Bldg., Springfield, IL 62756