Lt. John Hudson of the 35th Massachusetts Infantry Autograph Letter Signed on a Skirmish with Confederate Cavalry. ...

Description

Lt. John Hudson of the 35th Massachusetts Infantry Autograph Letter Signed on a Skirmish with Confederate Cavalry. Twelve pages on three bifolia, 4.75" x 8", "Camp of 2d Brig. D. Div. 9th A.C., Virginia" [Near Falmouth, Va]; November 20 and 21, 1862. In fall 1862, the 35th Massachusetts Infantry was moving along the Rappahannock River towards Fredericksburg. On November 14 and 15, near White Sulphur Springs, the regiment was guarding the rear of a wagon train when Confederate cavalry began shelling them from the opposite bank. A brief skirmish broke out, and their lt. col. and adjutant were captured. Lt. John Hudson (1836-1872) describes the event to his sweetheart Sophy [Sophia Mellen] after setting up camp a few days later. It reads in part:

"...For here we went out on a bloodless skirmish, froze to death (as one of my company aptly said) on picket, lost our beloved Lt. Col. [Sumner Carruth] & Adj. [Wales] & got a pretty good shelling from no mean detachment of a reb. battery...Just as our officers were crossing the river, the reports of artillery, fired at our cavalry, reached their ears & ours. Immediately...the 35th assembled under the command of Maj. Willard & proceeded to the support of a battery wh. soon opened upon the supposed reb. position at the top of the hill...Some reb. cavalry had galloped down through the fields & taken our Lt. Col. & Adj. prisoner. The loss of the former is very severely felt by us...

We were soon ordered across the river...& proceeded up the road. Presently Co. D & E were ordered to advance & deploy as skirmishers. We advanced & were decided into a party for the right, a party for the left, & half a company to proceed in a body up the road. Most of the company went left and I with them...Nobody as it happened, fired at us & we at nobody; so we quietly remained without fires as a picket guard all night & were relived just before noon the next day..."

The original transmittal envelope and a typed transcription accompany the letter.

Reference: History of the Thirty-Fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, 1862-1865: With a Roster

Condition: Pencil notation to envelope and upper corner of three pages.

More Information: John W. Hudson mustered into Company D of the 35th Massachusetts Infantry on August 16, 1862. Lt. Hudson went on to participate in the battles of Fredericksburg, Knoxville, North Anna River, Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg. He served on the staffs of Generals Ferrero, Ledlie, and White. He ultimately received the rank of lieutenant colonel before he mustered out at Alexandria, Virginia in June 1865.