CIVIL WAR LETTERS OF
MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE RICHARDSON
(Mark L. Richardson)

NOVEMBER 9th, 1862

This letter was written while Mark was stationed at General Grover's Headquarters on the Potomac near Washington, D.C. It is addressed to his cousin, Deborah Blanchard Rideout of New Gloucester, Maine, in care of Dr. Henry T. Cummings of Portland, Maine. Dr. Cummings was husband of Deborah's sister, Mary A. (Rideout) Cummings. Deborah Blanchard Rideout was my great grandmother. This line is detailed at my Rideout page.

Front of Envelope. Identifies Mark as assigned to Company C of the 23rd Maine Infantry Regiment.

Back of Envelope. Note 3 cent stamp and Washington, D.C. postmark, November 13th, 1862.

(Page 1)
Gen. Grover's Head Quarters Nov. 9
Dear Cousin
I have been thinking of writing to you for sometime and as I have plenty of leisure time and have seen a little of war I hope my letter will be interesting to you. If it is then I shall have some inducement to write again perhaps. I hope this will find you in better Health than when I left Portland, although I tho't your appetite was very good than for a sick Person (I must joke a little you know) as for myself my health is much better than it was at Camp Lincoln for I have not been sick a Day since I left and I have been exposed to all sorts of Weather besides, but it seems to agree with me first rate.
Our trip from the Camp to Washington was very Pleasant and thus I enjoyed much at Fall River Mass we took the Boat for Jersey City we passed right close to the Great Eastern and I had a good view

(Page 2)
of it we also had a good view of N. Y. City and surrounding Country and I was so much taken up with sight seeing that I forgot all about eating and by the time we landed at the City begun to feel as though a little dinner would do me some good. and was much gratified to find that the Citizens was in rediness for us with a Warm Dinner and at it we went in true Soldier style.
We arrived at Baltimore next having spent most of the Day there and I improved the time by running around the City it is a very fine town but the Citizens do not seem to have that friendly feeling towards the Soldiers that other Citys do. I was much disapointed in Washington for I expected to find something nice but I must say it is one of the meanist Cities that I ever was in although the Public Buildings are very fine. I visited the Capitol and spent all of one Day in it and then I did not see half that I wanted to

(Page 3)
although I saw some of the most splendid Paintings and Statuary that I ever saw and was well Paid for my trouble.
We are now encamped on the Potomac about 80 miles up the River from Washington and are in Gen. Grovers Brigade we are in camp on a Slave Holders Plantation and I find that his Rail Fence makes first rate camp fires. The other day I saw 12 large Turkeys come into our camp (Turkeys and Hens are very tame down here). The weather has been very Pleasant most of the time till last Saturday it came of cold and Sunday there was nearly 4 inches of Snow on the Ground which gave me rather a cold idea of the Suny South but it is all of now and the weather is warm again. I rec.d a letter from Jennie she said that she had written you about my pictures that was left there You may keep one if you wish to and give all the rest of my Cousins one that wish it. Bertha must have one certain and then send the rest to Jennie if you will

(Page 4)
tell Bertha I appreciate that Present she gave me for it is just what I need. I will close now excuse Poor Writing for I do not have a very convenient Place to write
love to all
from your Cousin
Mark
P. S. if you think it is worth an answer I should like to hear from you or any of my friends. if you write you had better do so soon for there is a rumor that we are going to Texas but cant be certain
Direct to Co. C 23 Me Rg.t
Washington D C
Gen Grovers Brigade

"Jennie" seems to be Mark's sister Jane E. Richardson. "Bertha" is Deborah B. Rideout's sister (sometimes spelled Bethia).

The date of the letter, Nov. 9, 1862, corresponds to the day Union General Ambrose E. Burnside arrived in Warrenton, Virginia, to take over command of the Army of the Potomac from General George Brinton McClellan, about a month and a half after the Battle of Antietam, fought some 30 miles further up the Potomac outside Sharpsburg, Maryland.

According to Dyer's Compendium, the 23rd Maine was organized September 29, 1862, at Portland, Maine, for nine months service. It left for Washington, DC, on October 18th and was attached to General Cuvier Grover's Brigade in the defenses of Washington. The regiment first encamped at East Capitol Hill until October 25th when it was assigned to guard duty along the Potomac River, first at Seneca, Maryland, at which place this letter was apparently written, then to Edwards Ferry in December, and finally Poolesville, from April 19th to May 5th of the next year when it returned to Washington. The regiment was next moved to Alexandria on May 24th, then back to Poolesville on June 17th, and then Harper's Ferry where it was mustered out of service on July 15th, 1863.

The regiment was transferred to the command of A. B. Jewett in February of 1863, then to General J. P. Slough's Brigade in the Defenses of Alexandria in June. It lost 56 enlisted men by disease. Mark's later letters mention outbreaks of measles (not serious) and typhoid (very serious and probably the cause of the enlisted mens' deaths).

In a chapter on "Maine Regiments" in the Civil War in the second volume of the Maine Historical Society's three volume centennial edition of Maine, A History, (1919), it is noted that the 21st through the 28th regiments were enlisted for 90-day service only, and of these, the 23rd, 25th, and 27th never saw battle. The 23rd was noted as containing an unusually large number of "men of culture and means".