Civil War Letter of William Bell Miles, by John Dodge Miles

William Bell Miles (1824–1885) came to Franklin County in 1825 from Bath, NH with his parents, John D. and Martha Emerson Miles, who settled on the west side of Lower Chateaugay Lake adjacent to the Drew place. His father, sometimes referred to as “Squire Miles,”(1) was a stonecutter who learned his trade in Bath, where his brother operated a mill. John Miles and John B. Jackson, another early Chateaugay Lake settler, ran the Jackson and Miles mill,(2) located northwest of the bridge later known as “The Forge,” until it was taken over in 1826 by Roswell Weed.(3) In 1832, John was later supervisor of the Town of Chateaugay.(4) William’s surviving siblings were Adaline Young, Martha Jane Kirby, Olive Susan Cantwell, Abner, and Josephine Percy. Martha and Olive were schoolteachers in the early school district;(5) Olive later married William P. Cantwell of Malone, and was an instructor at Franklin Academy. William married Lydia A. Smith prior to 1850, who died in 1856. William then married Lydia Maria Kirby (1829–1902), When William enlisted in the Union Army, he left behind his wife with two young daughters, one of them an infant. During his later years, William was a farmer, and he served as superintendent of the local Methodist Sabbath school,(6) was a steward of the church,(7) and was an election supervisor in Bellmont.(8)

The letter that follows was written during William’s Civil War service in October 1861, at Camp Graham near Washington, D.C., where the 22nd Reg. NYSV was guarding the capital. The recipient, James Sweet of Chateaugay, was an ancestor of the late Dr. James Sweet, also of Chateaugay. In the letter, William mentions both Fanny and Ezra Sweet; Ezra worked in a sawmill on Chateaugay River near the Sweet family farm.(9)

Daniel Dockum(10) has provided information about William’s Civil War service:

William B. Miles was born October 30, 1824. He enlisted in the Union Army with the 22nd New York State Volunteers on April 28, 1861. He was 36 at the time but his enlistment record indicates that he was only 29. He enlisted in Schroon Lake, New York in Company I under the command of Captain Lyman Ormsby.

The 22nd NY was part of a brigade which contained the 22nd, 24th, 30th and 84th NY regiments. The 84th was also known as the 14th Brooklyn. The 2nd US Sharpshooters were also, at times, a part of the brigade.(11)

William’s statement “I have been only two days since I have been enlisted” is odd, considering his April 28, 1861 enlistment date. Has a word been omitted, such as ‘sick’, after ‘I have been’? Another anomaly concerning William’s service record was his age: although he was actually 36 when he enlisted, on his service record his age was given as 29. Finally, since most of the soldiers from Franklin County enlisted in Malone, why did William enlist as far away as Schroon Lake? Did he try to enlist locally, and was turned down because of his age? Did he lie about his age in order to be accepted, in an area where he was not personally known? Given the fact that other area soldier enlistees such as David Blow and Nathan Thurber were William’s friends and neighbors from Chateaugay Lake, it’s difficult to know.

William comments on his living conditions(12) (“…we have poor beds I have not slept on a bed since the twenty egith of last April only on the ground all last week and fore part of this we have had no shelter ober us a few cornstalks…) and gives some information regarding how he supplemented his income scavenging grease: “…the company makes my wages up to twenty dolars a month when I was in camp in washinton…I use to make three dollars a week a saveing grease…”(13)

Finally, William gives an account regarding how he shot a “rebel” soldier while on a scouting patrol: “…I shot one rebel it was when I was out on a scouting party he was behind an old stone chimey and he was first taking aim at one of our men and I was just behind of corn so he did not see me I just took aim and he fell…”

Dockum adds the following details regarding William’s Civil War Service:

The brigade served under Brigadier Generals E. D. Keyes, C. C. Auger, John Hatch, and finally, Colonel Walter Phelps who originally commanded the 22nd regiment.

The brigade was part of General lrwin McDowell’s Corps (Army of Virginia) in the early part of the war. Much of the regiment’s early service (June 1861 to August 1862) was in northern Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, protecting the capital city. They fought at Groveton and Gainesville, Virginia on the 28th and 29th of August 1862 and then in the second battle of Bull Run (Manassas) on August 30. Between these two battles, Union losses were 14,800 killed, wounded or missing. Confederate losses were 10,700 killed, wounded or missing.

General Joseph Hooker became the new Corps Commander and led them at South Mountain, Maryland on September 14, 1862 then at Antietam (Sharpsburg, Maryland) on September 17. The battle of Antietam resulted in more than 30,000 casualties making it the bloodiest day in US history. They then fought at Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 13, 1862. The Union lost 1,180 killed, 9,028 wounded and 2,145 missing in that battle. The final big battle for the 22nd was under Major General J. F. Reynolds at Chancellorsville, Virginia on May 1–4, 1863. The Union lost 1,512 killed, 9,518 wounded and 5,000 missing in that battle. Confederate losses were 1,581 killed (including Stonewall Jackson) 8,700 wounded and 2,000 missing.(14)

Soldiers of the 22nd then returned home to New York in June 1863. Records show that William Miles mustered out at Albany, NY on June 19, 1863.(15)

[Uplous?] Hill, VA
Oct 11, 1861

Mr James Sweet

Respected

i take this optunity of writing to you in hopes find you well and i am the same

i have only been two days since i have been enlisted

i shot one rebel

it was when i was out on a scouting party

he was behind a old stone chiney and he was just taking aim at one of our men and i was just behind of corn so he did not see me

i just took aim and he fell

that only chance i have had to shoot one and only one i have for i dont have no chance to go very near them for i am cooking for the [company] i belong to and been cooking for them ever since we came to washington

the company makes my wages up to twenty dolars a month when i was [at] camp in washington

you is use to make three dollars a week a saveing grease

o James you have no idea what a buatiful country this is & there is some of the hansomest peach orchards i ever see

we have plenty to eat and wear but we have poor beds

i have not slept on a bed since twenty egith of last april only on the ground

all last week and fore part of this we have had no shelter ober us a few cornstalks

i dont think that this part of the army will make any attacked on othe rebells unless they make attack upon us for they say delay is worst than fighting fighting them

i had a letter from your aunt fanny and your uncle robert and they where all well

he wrote to me that he had been to your house a little summer

Jimmy i cant i cant write you anymore new at present

give my respects to your father and Mother margret and Ezra and his mother and all enquireing friends

no more at present from your friend

William Miles

if your write to me direct your letter

William Miles
22d.Reg. N.Y.S.V.
Camp Graham
Washington, D.C.
in care Capt L ormsby

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(1) Merrill, Charles E., The Old Guide’s Story of the Northern Adirondacks (Burlington, Vermont: George Little Press, 1973), 100.

(2) Seaver, Frederick J., Historical Sketches of Franklin County and its Several Towns with Many Short Biographies (Albany, NY: J.B. Lyon Company, 1918), 174.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Hurd, Duane H., “Chateaugay,” History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York, (Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1880), 462.

(5) Seaver, 182, 176.

(6) “William B. Miles obituary,” Chateaugay Record, vol. 8, no. 4 (May 1, 1885).

(7) Hurd, 464.

(8) Hurd, “Bellmont,” 442.

(9) Recently, James Vaugh, a family member who now has the original letter among the papers left by Dr. James Sweet, contacted me regarding William Miles’ Civil War service. At a later date I received digital copies from James that were taken by his photographer friend in North Carolina.

(10) Daniel Dockum is a great-great grandson of William Miles.

(11) Correspondence to John Miles from Dr. Tom Clemens, a noted Civil War historian. Regarding the brigade and who was in it, Clemens cites Frederick H. Dyer’s Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, vol. 1 (Dayton, OH: Morningside Press Reprint, 1978), 284. Clemens comments further, “That the brigade was called the Iron Brigade can be found in William F. Fox’s Regimental Losses of the Civil War (Dayton, OH: Morningside Press Reprint, 1985), 117.”

(12) In quoting from the letter, I have retained William’s unique spelling and punctuation.

(13) Miles served as a cook for the 22nd NYSV.

(14) Christian J. Heidorf, Shoulder Arms! Letters and Recollections of the 22nd New York Volunteers and a Community at War (Glens Falls, NY: Chapman Historical Museum of the Glens Falls-Queensbury Historical Association, 1998). Correspondence to John Miles from Dr. Tom Clemens: “…casualty figures are from Heidorf’s book, the only history of the 22nd published.…”

(15) NY State Adjutant General’s Records, 22nd NY Vol. Inf., Albany, NY. Dr. Clemens was so kind as to respond to my queries regarding the information he gave to Dan Dockum several years ago.