SUBMITTED BY: Fredric William Booth
Introduction:
These letters written by Joseph Goldinger, a private in Company E of the 103rd Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, while he was stationed in North Carolina. Joseph was about twenty years old when he enlisted, for a period of three years, on December 12, 1861 at Camp Orr, Kittanning, PA. His term of service actually began when he was mustered in on January 12, 1862. Joseph wrote these letters to Esther and David Goldinger, his parents. His brother, Daniel, became the great-great-great-grandfather of Megan Markiw.
In Joseph’s letter dated January 24th, 1864, he writes that his sister “…Catherine was married the 31st day of December.” She married James Clark Altman. Their daughter Mary Esther married James Winter Martin. Their daughter Clara Myrtle married my Grandfather, William Kehna. My mother, Charlene Anne, married Ferdinand Calvin Booth, then John Thomas Shimek, thus Joseph Goldinger is my great, great uncle.
Joseph Goldinger’s Letters:
January the 13th 1863
Newbern North Carolina
Dear Father and Mother I take this present opportunity of informing you that I am living and well at present and I hope these few lines may find you all enjoying the same blessing. I received your letter and I was glad to hear from you all once more. I got the postage stamps. Justus George is well. Ezekiel Ekis is well. Samuel Marshall is well. Him and me had a talk together this morning. He told me to tell you if he ever got home he would come to see you. I don’t know whether I will see him again or not. His regiment is going into another brigade. Their colonel has got to be brigadier general. He owes me five dollars and a half. He told me he would send it to you when they would get their pay.
We got marching orders yesterday to go to Sharbston in South Carolina. We are going by water. It is likely we will have some fighting to do there. I thought would write you a few lines and let you know where we are going. It is likely it will be some time before I can write again. I have not time to write much at present. Write to me as soon as you get this letter. Direct your letter to Washington City DC, 103rd Regiment Co E PV and the letter will follow us. Nothing more at present but remember your son Joseph Goldinger.
The last war news we had here General Rosencrance [William Starke Rosecrans] had been fighting the rebels five days in succession and he was driving them every day. He is out in the West. The 103rd regiment gets the praise of doing the best fighting at Kingston. There was fifteen of the 103rd killed there and sixty-five wounded and there was two of them died since. I think if the head men of this war was as tired of it as the soldiers it would soon be over.
Plymouth June 4 1863
Dear father and mother
It is with the greatest of pleasure that I take up my pen to inform you that I am living and well at present and I hope as these few lines leaves me in good health they may find you all enjoying the same blessing. I received your kind and welcomed letter last night dated May the 8th. I was very glad to hear from you all once more. You stated that you had got my money safe. You stated in your letter that it was very sickly at home. I like this place very well. Everything is quiet here at present. There is no rebel soldiers handy here. The guerrillas bothers us some but the mosquitoes bothers us more than the rebels.
As it is all quiet in North Carolina General Hooker had a fight with the rebels up in the Potomac. He fought them for five days then he fell back in good order. Our loss is from thirty to thirty five thousand killed wounded and missing. That is the report we have here. We heard yesterday evening that our men have Vicksburg surrounded. The rebels is getting the worst of it. Taking it [although] we are killing a great many of them. They are not doing us much harm. They have whipped us a few times but that doesn’t discourage us any. We are taking their property from them and driving them out of the house and home. We have fought them over two years and if they don’t give up we can fight them two years longer. I never want to see them gain the day.
Well father and mother there has been some hundreds of our brave heroes laid low on the battlefield since I wrote to you before. They have left their homes to return no more. They have left their parents and their brothers and their sisters and their friends to mourn their loss. I hope they are better of than we are. I think they died fighting for a just cause.
We have very dry weather here at present. We have not had any rain of any account for five weeks. Everything is drying up. The weather is very warm. I am going to send you five dollars of money in this letter. Write as soon as this comes to hand. I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time. The boys is all well. Give my best respects to all inquiring friends. Nothing more at present but still remain your son.
Joseph Goldinger to his father and mother David Goldinger and Esther Goldinger Good by Direct to Washington City DC Co E 103 Regiment PV
Plymouth NC
September 8 1863
Dear father and mother I take this present opportunity of informing you that I am living and well at present. I received your kind and welcome letter this morning dated August 23. It gave me great pleasure to hear from you once more but I was sorry to hear of you being sick but I hope when these few lines comes to hand they may find you all enjoying good health. I don’t want you to bother yourselves about me. If I live and keep my health until my time is up I will be home then. If the war is over before that time I will be home sooner. I would like very much to see you all once more. I would get a furlough and come to see you but I can’t get one. The married men is getting furloughs first in our company.
There is only two gets furloughs out of a company at a time. Then there is no more give until they come back again. (When) It comes my turn our time will be near up. I am taking the times as easy as I can. The times is wearing away as fast as it can. Everything is quiet here today. We have had no late war news here. We heard here that General Lee was going to make another raid in to Pennsylvania. I think if he does he is apt to get another thrashing. I can’t tell you this time that the boys is all well. The most of them has got the ague and fever. We have very warm weather here. This is a very hot. The corn is ripe here. They early corn was up in August. You stated in your letter than Nancy Jane received a letter from me with ten dollars of money in it. I was glad to hear that you got it safe. I am going to send you ten dollars in this letter.
If you get it safe I have some more to send. Write as soon as you get this letter and let me know if you got the money or not. You can make use of this ten dollars. If you have not, Father, enough to feed my colt this winter take of my money and buy as much as you need. I got that steel pen in your letter. It is a very good one. I am very sassy of it. I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time. Write as soon as this comes to hand. Nothing more at present but still remains your son Joseph Goldinger
to his father and mother
David Goldinger
Esther Goldinger
Direct to Washington City DC
103 Regiment Co E PV
Plymouth NC October 14 1863
Dear father and mother
I take this present opportunity of informing you that I am living and well at present and I hope when these few lines comes to hand they may find you all enjoying the same blessing. I received your kind and welcome letter. It gave me great pleasure to hear from you all once more. You stated in your letter that you have been sick but I hope these few lines will find you enjoying good health. I had good health until I got the ague. My health has not been so good since. You stated in your letter that you got my money safe. I was glad to hear that you got it safe. I am going to send you ten dollars in this letter. If you get this safe I will send you more when I get paid again. You stated in your letter that my colt was getting along fine. I am sassy to hear of it. You said you were offered fifty dollars for it. I guess you may keep it until I get to see what it looks like. I expect it will be big enough to ride when I get home
Well father I can’t tell you much about the war at present. Everything is quiet here at present. We don’t get much war news here. They say that we will stay here this winter. You stated in your letter you had frost. We have had no frost here yet. The weather has got cooler than is was. It is very sickly here at present. The most of the boys has got the ague. The weather has been wet here. Ezekiel Ekis is not well yet.
I heard that you had a great excitement about politics in your part of the country. There is no arguing here about politics here at all but I wish that Curtans [Andrew Gregg Curtin, Governor of Pennsylvania 1861-1867] would be elected governor again. I think he has done as well as he could do.
Well I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time. I have not much to write at present. Write as soon as this comes to hand and let me know whether you got the money safe or not. Give my best respects to all inquiring friends. Nothing more at present but still remains
your son
Joseph Goldinger to his father and mother
David Goldinger
Esther Goldinger
Direct your letter to
Washington City, DC
103 Regiment Co E Pa V
Plymouth NC November 18 1863
Dear father and mother
I take this present opportunity of informing you that I am well at present only I am bothered some with the ague yet. I don’t expect to get rid of it while we stay here but I hope these lines comes to hand they may find you all enjoying good health. I received your kind and welcome letter this morning. It gave me great pleasure to hear from you all once more. You stated in your letter that you (got) my money safe. I was (glad) to hear that you got it safe. I will send some more when we get paid again. I think that we will be paid before long. The boys is all as well as can be expected. They are all bothered by the ague more or less but the ague is nothing new here. I got a letter from uncle Martin Georges this morning. They are all well. They stated in their letter that Justus had went to South Carolina with some conscripts. Uncle has bought a farm two mile above Franklin. They stated in the letter that they would move on it again spring if they could sell the foundry. They stated in their letter that John was drafted but he was exempted from the draft. Well father there is one thing about this drafting that is hardly fair and that is the rich can pay their fine and stay at home and the poor must do the fighting. I think a poor man’s life is as sweet to him as a rich man’s is to him. I think any man who is able to come and pays his fine is a coward. Such a man is of no use to his country. It is easy thing to stay at home and talk about the war and read the news. Well father everything is quiet here at present. We don’t hear much news here. I expect you hear as much news at home as we hear here. We have nice warm weather here. We have had a few white frosts here is all the cold weather we have had yet. The weather has been dry for some time. Well father it is hard to tell how long this war will last yet. I think the rebels has a hard time of it. I was talking to a rebel soldier the other day that had deserted from the rebel army to come to ours. He told me that the rebels had to pay $50 a pair for shoes and $100 for a pair of boots and $25 dollars a bushel for salt. The citizens comes to our picket lines every day begging for salt. Our generals won’t give them any. He is afraid of them being guerrillas. Well father I want you to write to uncle Jacob Marshall to find out whether Samuel is at home or not. I have not heard anything from him since they left our brigade at Newbern. I heard that the regiment that he was in was disbanded.
I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time. I have not much to write at present. Write as soon as this comes to hand. Give my best respects to all inquiring friends.
Nothing more at present but still remains your son Joseph Goldinger
to his father and mother
David Goldinger
Esther Goldinger
Direct to Washington City DC
103 Regiment Co E PV
Plymouth, NC December the 15 1863
Dear father and mother
I take this present opportunity of informing you that I am living and well at present and I hope these few lines comes to hand they may find you all enjoying the same blessing. I received your kind and welcome letter on the 12 of December dated November the 30. It gave me great pleasure to hear from you all once more. I have a little shake of the ague every two weeks but it is not near as bad as it was at first. Well father everything is quiet here this morning. Only there is a great excitement in our regiment about joining the veteran core. There is a good many of our regiment joining it. There is only one of our company joined yet. That is ______ _______ Kennedy. I guess you have seen him.
Our colonel is mad at our company because we won’t join. He says if it was not for our company he would get the most of the regiment to join it. There is one good thing. He can’t make us join it. They are offering $402 bounty and 13 dollar a month for three years but I believe I won’t sell myself for three years more. I am willing to serve my time out and if the war ain’t over then there will be more chances. I did not come out in the first place to fight for money. I came out to fight for the Union and I will fight for the Union yet but I think there is good many of our officers just came out to make money. When there is a battle on hand they make sure to keep far enough in the rear where there is no danger when the privates does fighting. Then they will brag a bit. It (is) as if they had done it themselves.
Well father the boys is all well at present. You stated in your letter that you had heard that Adam Benner was dead but it is not true for (I) seen him this morning and he is well. He has got back to the regiment again. Well father I am going to send ten dollars of money in this letter to you. We was not paid yet but we signed the pay rolls the other day. I think we will be paid before long. I had ten dollar a past me and I thought I would send it. I will send more when we got paid.
Well father I guess I will have to put you to the bother of sending me two pair of socks. I am wearing the last ones you sent me yet but they are pretty near wore out. When you send them leave both ends of the package open and it will not cost so much to send them. Them was a good honest pair of boots you sent me. I am wearing them yet. I have wore them every day since I got them but one day. They will wear me a good while yet. I can get plenty of socks here but I can wear a pair of them out in a week. They are not worth taking.
Well father and mother I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time. I have not much to write at present. I want you to write as soon as this come to hand and let me know if you got the money safe or not.
Nothing more at present but still
remains your son Joseph Goldinger
Joseph Goldinger to his father and mother Plymouth North Carolina
David Goldinger
Esther Goldinger
Direct to Washington City, DC
103 Regiment Co E PV
Plymouth NC Jan the 24 1864
I take this present opportunity of informing you that I am living and well at present and I hope when these few lines comes to hand they may find you all enjoying the same blessing. I received your kind and welcome letter on the 23rd of January dated January the 4. It gave me great pleasure to hear from you all once more. I was glad to (hear) that you got my money safe. You stated in your letter that Catherine was married on the 31 day of December. I think she has done very well. I think she got a good conditioned man. I think he will do his part. Well I suppose David will be getting married next. Catherine has left me and Nancy ____ing in the big ____ but they will be getting old and we are young yet. We can go where we please. We are at home where ever we stop.
I got my socks a few days before I got my letter. There was a piece of cake in them. It was very good. I guess it was a piece of the wedding cake. I was very glad to get the socks. You stated in your letter that you had sent a pair of socks with John Cupp for me. He has not got back yet. He is taking a long stay. If the captain had of knowed he was going to act that way he would not have give him a furlough. He was not any worse with the ague than the rest of us.
Well father I sent a soldiers memorial to you a few days ago. I don’t whether you have got it yet or not. It is rolled up in a long roll. It is the memorial of our company. It will show you all that we have been doing since we have been out. I paid one dollar a half for it. I want you to take good care of it for me. I want you to get a nice frame on it for me if you please. Take of my money to pay for it. I want you to let me know if it got damaged any on the road. If I live to get home I will keep it as long as I live. I will keep it in remembrance of old Company E.
Well father our old regiment is broke up. Is over three hundred of them joined the veterans. There is over half of our company joined. All of them that joined is going home the first of next month. I did not join. I thought it would not pay to enlist for three years more for thirty days of furlough. I don’t know what they will do with us that don’t join. I don’t care where they put me. I can serve my time out any place.
Well father you stated in your letter that you had very cold weather. We have had no cold weather here of any account. We had a little snow. It was hardly worth talking about. Well father I have never seen a sled since I left old Pennsylvania. There is no sleds used in this part of the country. Well father I was on provo guard last night in town. I was helping to guard some rebel prisoners. Well father this is a very warm day. Our cold weather is about over here. Every thing is quiet here today. Well father I think there won’t be much more fighting done in North Carolina. I think it will come back to the union again. They are deserting and coming in here every day.
Well father I am going to send you ten dollars in this letter. I want mother to take as much of it as will buy that young son of Daniel’s a new dress. I want her to buy it a full suit and a nice one. Well I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time. Write as soon as this comes to hand and let me know whether you got the money.
Nothing more at present but still remains your son
Joseph Goldinger to his father and mother
David Goldinger
Esther Goldinger
Plymouth N C
February 26th 1864
Kind father and mother I take the present opportunity of informing you that I received your kind and welcome letter February 25 dated February 17th which gave me great pleasure to hear from you all once more. I am living and well at present and I hope when these few lines come to hand they may find you all enjoying the same blessing. You stated in your letter that you got the money safe and the memorial too. I was glad to hear that you got all safe.
Well father this is a nice pleasant day. We had about a week of cold weather here. We had about two inches of snow. I was on picket the coldest night we had. I thought morning was never going to come. I had to walk my beat all night to keep from freezing. The wind blows very hard in this part of the country.
Well father everything is quiet here at the present. The rebels attacked Newbern some time ago but they failed. Our men drove them back. The rebels thought our veteran soldiers was all at home but they found that we was all veterans. We heard that they were going to attack us here but I guess that they have gave it up for a bad job. It is reported that General Banks has taken Mobiel in Georgia. It is reported that he took it by storm. He broke in on them about midnight. I hope it is true. If it is true it will be a big loss on the rebels. Well Father one year ago things looked a little dark on our side but everything appears to be going on right at the present time. I think if our men has as good success the year coming as the year past the war will be over. I hope they have good success. They may have good success.
Well Father I was on two expeditions since I wrote to you. Before the first one we was at Winsor. We had a little skirmish with the rebels there but they did not stand and fight. They run off and left everything they had. We followed them about three miles on a double-quick but we could not catch them. There was about two hundred of them and most of them was cavalry. We had no cavalry with us. We took some of them prisoners. There was about four hundred of our men. We had nothing but infantry and one piece of cannon. The rebels had one piece of cannon with them but we came up on them so quick they did not get time to fire one shot at us. We set fire to their camp band burned it up.
Then we started for Plymouth. I was on another expedition since at Eadington [Edenton, NC] but we did not find any rebels there. Eadington [Edenton] is a nice little town. It lays handy to the sounds. They boys is all well at present. The veterans has not got home yet. They were disappointed in getting their furloughs. They were to get their furloughs the first of February and they have not got them yet. John Cupp has not got back yet.
I am going to send ten dollars of money in this letter. If you get this safe I will send some more when I get paid again. I am going to send you the draft of our breastwork and camp. It was taken by Harrison Pugh of our company. I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time. Write soon and let me know whether you got the money or not.
Nothing more at present but still remains your son Joseph Goldinger to his father and mother
David Goldinger, Esther Goldinger
Plymouth N C March 16th 1864
Kind father and mother I take this present opportunity of answering your kind and welcome letter which came to hand this morning March the 16 dated March the 9 which gave me great pleasure to hear from you all once more. I am living and well at present and I hope when these few lines come to hand they may find you all enjoying the same blessing.
Well father you stated in your letter that you heard we was all taken prisoner but that ain’t true. I won’t let them take me prisoner as long as I can help it. The rebels don’t use our prisoners very well. We treat their prisoners as well as we are treated ourselves. There was a party of North Carolina soldiers went out on a scout from this place the other day. They took five rebel prisoners. They were home on furlough. We took them out of their own houses. They will get a long furlough now. The rebels are deserting and coming in to us every day. The rebels can hardly keep their men on picket. They run off and come in to us. The rebel soldiers is getting out of heart. They are beginning to see there is no use to fight anymore for they never will gain the day. I hope the day will soon come that our glorious banner will wave over every state in the union. Then I think we will live in peace once more.
Well father it is a little cool here today. We had a little snow here last night. The folks has been making garden here for some time. Well father everything is quiet here this morning. The boys is all well at present. Them that re-enlisted has not got their furlough yet. They were to get them the first of February. They were badly disappointed. John Cupp has not got back yet. I had a letter from cousin Samuel Marshall the other day. He is well. He stated in his letter that the most of the regiment that he was in had re-enlisted but he stated that he did not enlist again. You stated in your letter that the people was volunteering in your part. It is better for them to volunteer. I don’t like hear of them being drafted. It would be much better for them if they would all volunteer. They are no better than we are.
You stated in your letter that you got my money safe. I was glad to hear that you got it safe. I well send more when we get paid again. Well father I guess I will have to bring my letter to a close for this time as I have not much to write at present. Give my best respects to all inquiring friends. Write soon.
Nothing more at present but still remember your son
Joseph Goldinger to his father and mother
David Goldinger
Esther Goldinger Good-bye
Direct to Plymouth N C
103rd Regiment Co E PV
CONCLUSION:
Joseph was confident that he would not be captured and that he would survive the war. Sadly, he was wrong. Joseph and most of his regiment were captured at Plymouth, North Carolina on April 20, 1864. They were sent to a prison camp in Florence, South Carolina. On October 16, 1864, Joseph died of starvation. At the time, there was a Yellow Fever epidemic raging in the camp, and Joseph was buried in a mass grave, along with victims of the epidemic.
That prison camp is now designated a National Cemetery. The site of the mass grave is a large open area in the center of the cemetery. It is surrounded by markers that are engraved “Unknown Union Soldiers.”
These letters were kept by Joseph’s mother, Esther Goldinger. In June of 1882, Esther applied for a pension. She provided the letters as proof that Joseph had sent money home during his years in the Army. She was granted a pension on the grounds that Joseph would have helped support her in old age if he had not died while in the army.
