Letter from Elias Monfort to Mother, dated 17 August 1861. Monfort writes to his mother about the practice battle they had and weaponry. He also writes about a Confederate camp that was successful in capturing a Colonel and Lieutenant. Elias Montfort was born in Indiana in 1842. After attending Hanover College for two years, he joined Company A, 33rd Regiment, Ohio Infantry and served as a private for the Union Army during the Civil War.

Transcript: Beverly, Va Aug 17, 1861

Dear Mother
You may think strange of me for not writing to you before but I have writen to sister & Frank & Father & I thought a letter to any one in the family was the same to all & I know that any of the others had more time to write than you. I am enjoying the best health I could wish, I was weighed on monday & weighted one hundred & fifty three pounds. I am getting fat. It is very cold in these mountains at night. it is nothing strange to see frost here in the morning And the people here say they often have frost in evry month in the year. We had a sham battle here the other day one of the most comical things I ever saw. our mess & the sargents mess we had a stove pipe battery & the sargents had some barrells for guns. They fought for a long time we took their battery & they took our fina ly one man fell down as if he were killed & then we had as surgical operation. we raised quite an excitement & all the officers turned out. Even the col[onel] took a good laugh at us the[re] were 27 rifled cannon arrived here last night en route for Huttons ville. I thought there will be a large battle there in a fue days. it is only 12 miles from here and three miles from there is a camp of 21 thousand rebbles [sic] under Genl. Lee who has just arrived from western Va and is strongly entrenched in the mountains. Genl. Renolds has about 12,000 men at Huttons ville & has communscation [sic] with 20 000 more in different directions by telegraph who could all be there in 6 hours. I do not think our regt. will ever see a battle unless it is in intercping [intercepting] the retreat of the rebels some where. some of our scouts one of whom was in my mess left camp last monday week where gone about 12 days during which time they was 50 miles the succeeded in passing the enimies [sic] pickets by cralling on hands & knees two miles saw all that was going on in the enimies [sic] camp & succeed in taking a colonel & Leut. Col. prisoners who were taking dinner at a farm house in sided of their lines. one col. tried to hollor [sic] & give the alarm but thew [they] told him if he attempted it again they would kill him on the spot They lay in the bushes all day & at night passed the pickets & came to camp which was 15 miles with nothing to eat for two days & nights. we have 1,080,000 rounds of cartrage which [are?] at rich mountain & 4,000 stands of ammo 4 cannon &c. I am call for special duty and will have to close.
Your Affec. Son
E. R. Monfort
Love to all
P.S. pleas tell father to send me a little money as I need some

Creator

• Monfort, Elias Riggs

Subject

• Monfort, Hannah Riggs

• Weapons

• United States. Army. Ohio Infantry Regiment, 33rd (1861-1865)

• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

Publisher

• Hanover College

Language

• English

Identifier

• MSS166_Box1_F2_2_1

Location

• Beverly, Virginia, United States

Keyword

• Hanover alumni

• Hanover College, Elias Riggs Monfort Papers, MSS 166

Date created

• 1861-08-17

Rights statement

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/