"The next two letters are from Henry to his Father
Chester P o
Chesterfield Co Va
June 21ts
Dear Father
I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let you know
that we are all well at
this time hopeing them to finde you and family
enjoying the Same blessing / Father your kinde letter
directed to John come to hand yesterday and afforded
much pleasure to us to learn that you was all well /
I dont know as there is any thing of importance that
I can call your attention to only you stated that you
had heard that we was ordered to Jacksons army in
western Va / that is fallse /we are here yet / at
least we first went to Richmon / then from there to
Drura Bluff and from the Bluff to this place Close to
the halfway Station between Petersburge and Richmon
on the turnpike Road / you Said you had a notion of
coming to See us untill you heard that we was going
to Jacksons army / if there is any thing of our being
ordered there I dont know any thing about it and I
tell you we would be the gladest in the world to See
you come out here as that maybe the Surest chance to
See us any time Soon / Father I tell you there is
verry little Satisfaction to be
Seen here with us though we are passing the time away
the best we can and I trust that you will Do the Same
/ we can only trust in god who can relieve us of our
troubles and if we have no other hope that hope we
have in God is the only one / if we will love and
Serve him we can be relieved Some time of all our
troubles and Father my only Prayer is that if we ever
meete in this life again that we may be livers and
Servants of the Lord and if we never meete in this
life that we may meete at the right hand of God there
to remain as Children of god forever / Father if you
DO undertake to come to See us you had better get off
at the half way Station between Petersburg and
Richmon and if you could Send us word when you are
coming Some of us would be out there to meete you /
Father I can Say that we hav not been in any Fight
yet and do not no when we Shall get in any / if we
can get along with out it I dont care if we dont get
in any
June 22d 1862
Father as the day is So beautiful and I hav heard of
a little Skirmish that took place with one of the
yankee boats and a
part of one of our field batterries it Seemes that
our men found out that one of the boats had been in
the habit of coming as far up the river as She could
for the purpose of Spying on our men / they went Down
with four rifle pieces of
artillery and planted them as they wanted them and
waited untl the boat came up and passed by them where
the crew had no other protection only to fight their
way back / our men and artillery being concealed
until the boat passed then our heroes opened fire on
them at the rates of three charges with every piece
per minute which Soone caused the heshions to go
under the deck and there remain / when our batterry
opened on them their Sharp Shooters ran out and
Comenced firing at our men but fortunately we had
Sharp Shoters that proved too hot for them and the
yankees was Soone hid in the hull of the boat which
Soone become uncontrolleable for want of Some one to
the helm / She drifted down the river Some distance
and Sunk to the bottom with a white flag waveing on
deck / the boys all Sends their best respects to you
/ more expeshelly John and Alexander / bill Cara
Sayes he wants you to come and bring your little jug
again / father give love to all although we are all
far from each other god is near us and will ever be
with us
There we adore eternal name
and humbly owe to thee
How feeble is our mortal frame
What dying wormes we be
Father I want you to write as often as you can and
come to See us if you can / no more at present only I
remain your most obedient Son
Henry Sutton
"Given the date and location of this next letter it
is certain he is speaking of the Seven Days Battle"
Chester Po Chesterfield Co Va
June 25th 1862
Dear Nancy
I Seat myself to write you a few lines to let you
know that I am well only my mouth is verry Sore
though I am mending / Nancy we hav not been in any
battle yet though I understand that the
battle was opened yesterday
and we are exspecting to be ordered to March every
hour / it is Six or eight miles from our camp to the
place where the hottest fighting is supposed to be /
Nancy if I do get in the battle that is expected here
and come out cleare and can ever come home again
which with the help of god I Shall then I will tell
the long Storry over / Nancy I have finally put my
trust in god the great i am / Nancy if you want to do
well in this world and the world to come trust in god
whose mercies can preserve you through this life and
when your cold body is laid in the cold ground your
Soul will be placed at the right hand of god there to
be forever blest / Nancy we hav Prayer meeting every
evening at Seven oclock unless it is rainy / the
meetigs are conducted verry well indeede / three
verry good ministers to lead in prayer / Nancy they
Say this battle is going to Settle the dispute and I
pray to god that it may if it is gods will / we are
tired of it now and I think the yankees is also
/Nancy I once more call your attention to my poore
little children for gods Sake take good care of them
/ when I say take good care of them I meane make good
children of them / I want to See you all ? I expet
poore little Thomas is forgotten me / god bless his
little Soul / I havenot forgotten him / as I hav not
got time to write much more I will close by remaining
your dear husband until death H Sutton
Nancy write as often as you can as I hav not recd but
one letter from you Since I hav been in Va so god
bless you all
"This letter was written just after the Seven Days
Battle"
Chester field Co Chester Po
July 3rd 1862
Dear Wife
I Seat myself to write you a few lines to let you
know that I am well at this time hopeing them to find
you and family enjoying the Same blessings / Nancy I
am worryed verry bad on account of Marching
So much though I hope we Shall See a little peace now
for awhile / you Just ought to no how the yankees is
thrashed around Richmon / well they are Sorty leaving
here as the gall Said about being religios / Nancy I
dont think it is any use for me to try to tell you
any more about it as there is so much of it / I
Suppose there cant be any yankees found any where
about here only the prisners and the dead ones any
quantity of them / I Suppose the live ones is all or
as many of them as can get on the gun boats is on
them and the ballance is under the cover of the gun
boats and marching off in double quick / Nancy I dont
know Whither this will Settle the question or not / I
prey to the most Holy God that it may / Nancy I want
you to ask all my people why they dont write to me
and write to me as soone as you can and tell me what
it is / I can tell you it is mortifying to me when
Ithink how little they care for me / I hav been in
Service now every Since the first of September and
Some of them never has Sent me a letter yet nor no
respects whatever / if I hav give them any cause for
treating me So tell them to forgive me and prey for
me and if they are not able to buy paper envalopes
ink and stamps / do you write to me about it and I
will Send them Some / I have beged them to write to
me and they wont write and I dont know what is the
matter / Since I hav been in Va father and Thomas has
wrote once apiece and they are all except you / one
might write one weeke another the next and I would
get the chance to hear from them often / tell Ann
that Alexander was in a battle the other day but was
not hurt / I heard Capt. Ruffin was either killed or
taken prisner / his company Sufferd verry bad / give
my love to all / may God forever bless us I Prey / we
got in a tight place last monday / we thought we
Should Suffer verry bad but did not / at last the gun
boats and three batteries on land was playing on us
all at the Same time / its gettng dark and I must
come to a close / write to me how all the people is
more espechelly little Thomas & Henry god bless them
I prey forever / tell every boddy to write to me / I
would be glad to hear from them at ant time and So no
more at present from your most devoted husband H
Sutton
"This next letter is very interesting it is from
Henry's brother John W. Sutton to their Father. In it
he mentions James Barrow being very sick. In the N.C.
Troops rosters it shows where James Barrow died on
the 10th of July 1862, two days after this letter was
written. Also John would die eleven days later.
Chesterfield County Va
July the 8 1862
Dear Father
I hav th pleasure of writing to you once more to let
you no I am Ageting Along. I am enjoying very good
health at present only I am very badly worried / we
have binn A marching or in Aline of battle nearly
ever since last thursday nite / this morning I got
bak to the camp. henry an Alexander (Alexander was
the other brother in the company)is well and the
company in general is as well as common only James
Barrow is very Sick / we have had some of the hardes
fighting for the last week that has ever been nown /
they commenced fighting last wednesday and fought
every day forseven days/ times seems to
be very Quiet now / the yankeys has all taken their
gunn bots (boats) on the James river and we dont no
whither they are to attact us on this side of the
river or giv up as it is and Keep on where they
belong and make peas (peace).
we have gained every
fight that has bin fought and are well prepared to
meet them Again if they are Amint (a mind) to cum. we
have lost Agrate eal (a great deal) of men but it is
supposed that the yankey loss is about three to our
one / I have seen Alex but I cannot tell you much t
present/ our brigade was not ingaged but exposed to
the bumms / we was placed so as to Keep the yankeys
from flanking the other armys while they was A
fighting /
we have got About fourteen thousan
prisoners at Richmon including three generals and
Agood menny oficers of a lower degree. I must cum to
A close. we all want you to cum to see us very bad
and you must cum if you cn to see us. writeto us if
when you wll cum and we will meet you at the
railroad. you get off at the half way station between
Petersburg and Richmon. nothing more at present /
give my best respects to all
inquiring
J.W.Sutton
Petersburg VaJuly 28th
1862Dear Nancy
I Seat myself to write you
a few lines to let you know that I am well at this
time thanks to the kind providence for his mercies
hopeing these lines ma find you and family enjoying
the Same blessings / Nancy I can Say to you that I
was fortunate in geting to camp Safe last friday and
has been blessed with an opportuity of Staying with
Alexander every Since and I am proud to Say that he
is mending very fast / he does not know that any of
the boys is dead yet(I assume he means James Barrow,
a family friend and brother John) / Nancy I think
there is another battle exspecting Soone I dont know
only I think So and if it is So I trust in the lord
that this may end the war and let us all come home to
live with our beloved ones and live in peace once
more / Oh Nancy when I think of that joy that I hav
once Seene at home with you and now that I am in
distress every moment of my life you dont know what I
feel but trusting in the Lord that Some day we may
meete in Heaven there to enjoy that peace and
hapiness that is promised by that great one that can
comfort us with the greatest care and pleasure / he
only requires us to come to him in humble Submishion
and trust in him / that is all we neede and all I
want / Just as I am though tossed
aboutWith many a conflict many a
doubtWith fears within and foes
withoutO Lamb of God I
ComeNancy trust in the lord and he will
comfort you / prey that we may come together and live
at our respective home once more / Nancy you dont
know what a feeling I had when I parted with you last
/ poore little Thomas may the lord bless him is my
Sincere prayer / Nancy you can only take good care of
my poore little children and learn them to obey you
and to be kind to all that accompanies them / if I
only knew thghat they would always have a
dispositjion to do that it would be a great comfort
to me / Nancy give my love to all / tell them to look
to the lord for all needs / tell father that
Alexander is mending I think verry fast / tell him
Jesse Barrow is verry Sick / no more only I remain
your Dear husband
H Sutton
Peters
Burg VaAugust 4th 1862
Dear Wife
I Seat my self to write you a
few lines to let you know that I am not verry well at
this time / I hav got the worst Caugh I almost ever
had in my life / I cant rest one hour of a night /
Alexander is mending as fast as he can / tell Father
that he is able to come home but furlows is Stopped /
there is no news of importance / the yankees is
landing on this Side of the river / it is thaught
that they will be a hard battle here / I hope the
Lord will be with us and if it is his will I prey
that we may gain a decisive victory and let us all go
home to our poore familys / the lord only knows how
the result will be for I dont / I only prey that the
Blessed Lord will protect us Nancy / I hav not recd a
letter Since I Saw you / I would be verry glad to
hear from you all So you must write as soon as you
can and tell all the Family to write as soon as they
can as I would be verry glad to hear from you all at
any time / Nancy I want you to take good care of mu
poore little Children / if I never See them again and
the lord bless you all is my honest
prayer/Father of men thy care we
blessWhich crowns or familys with
peaceFrom thee they Spring and by
thy handThey are and Shall be Still
SustainedHopeing these few lines to find you
and family well I come to a close by remaining your
devoted Husband until death
Henry
Sutton
Time to repent thou dost
bestowBut of the power
impartAnd let my eyes with tears
overflowAnd break my Stubborn
hart
Petersburg
VaAug 18th 1862Dear
wif
I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let
you know that I am yet in the land of the living and
am well and harty at this time / I recd your kind
letter last night and was glad to learn that you was
all well / Nancy it is no use to grieve about our
home nor our rights / we Shall get them one day / the
yankees may Plunder and destroy every thing they can
but I hope they will only be the loosers of all at
last / Nancy you must do the best you can / you know
I cant do any thing at all / you wished to know what
I had to say about Selling the things / if you can
get them I think you had better Sell the hogs and
keepe the other things / if you can you must ask the
people in the neighborhood to assist you if they can
and pay them their own prices / you had better try to
sell all the provisions / if old mr Doity and Jack
Harris wants it let them hav it /�I think you had
better get one of them to attend to the cattle and if
Wm Cotton is not willing to go Down there to Stay any
longer you had better get them to hav an eye over the
plantation / tell them that if I ever come home I
will Satisfy them / Nancy if you do go down there you
had better try to move your beds and everything that
belongs in the house for if the Scamps ever comes
back there they will apt to burn every thing that
they can get hold of and if we loose every thing that
we ever possest in this world lets next Seeke for
grace / if we have grace within our Souls it will be
a comfort when all friends on earth failCome
let us Seek the Grace of godAnd all
with one accord
In a perpetual covenant join
Come let us join ourselves to Him
Who died our Souls to Save
Who died that Sinners Such as we
Eternal life might have
And may we ever through His grace
This covenant bear in mind
No more forsake the Lord or God
Nor cast His word behind
Oh let the days already part
Sufice to have Spent in vain
Let Satan no more prevail
Nor in our members reign
Thee Father Son and Holy Ghost
May we by faith receive
And henceforth die to all belowAnd
to Thee only live
Nancy you must excuse me for not writing to you any
sooner as we have ben on another one of them marches
for the last two days and I never got back to camp
until Sunday night / tell Father that I recd a letter
from him dated the 6th and was glad to learn that his
health had improved / tell Father to excuse me for
not writing any oftener as I have had to be gone
down(?) every Since the 9th and never got back until
last evening / you must give my best respects to all
/ Nancy I must tell you a little about our march / we
all went down last Saturday was a weeke ago / every
thing was quiet until last friday when we advanced
four miles down river and the yankees found that we
was coming / they left in double quick / our advanced
guard went to the entrenchment and got their tools /
the fools had mounted Stove Pipes on their
breastworks to See us with but we went there and run
them off / they are evacuating James river as fast as
they can So I will come to a close / May Lord bless
you all is the Prayer of your Dear husband Henry
Sutton / Nancy take good care of my little children
and trust in the Lord
"This letter was written just before Second
Manassas."
Camp Walker (?) Rapahanock River Va
August 27th 1862
Dear Nancy
I am blessed with another opertunity of writing you a
few lines to let you know that I am well and harty at
this time thanks to the kind providence for his
mercies / Nancy we left Richmon yesterday on our way
to old Stonewall / we arrived at Rappahannock river
this morning about two oclock and has Stoped here
until further orders / it is reported that Stonewall
has driven the yankees in their gunboats at
Mannassass Junction
where they Started last winter / I hope we Shall hav
a fine time on the Potomack this winter coming /if
the war is not ended Soone May God have mercy on us
and end it Sooner is my prayer / Nancy I would be
glad to See you all but I dont know when I Shall ever
See you any more / Nancy if I never See you again on
earth let us look to the lord / That we may meete in
heaven there to remain forever where Peace and
pleasure never ends / I want you to try to teach my
little children that there is a Supreme being and
that it is their duty to love and Serve him and that
he will protect them not only in this world but in a
world without war / May the God of Heaven forever
bless you all / Nancy give my love to all to Father
to Brothers and Sisters not only to relations but to
friends around / tell them that I think the Day is
coming when I Shall come home and Live in peace again
/ Nancy I dont know as there is any thing of
importance that I can write to you / you need not
write me until you get another letter from me as we
dont know when nor where we Shall have to go / If we
get Stationed any time Soon I will write immediately
So that you can write to me / I want you to take
every thing the best you can and bear your troubles
with a christian hart / our troubles may be great and
our misfortunes may be many but if we will prey for
others when they cuss us we are doing our duty in
praise to the lord / Nancy I will come to a close by
remaining your Dear Husband until Death
Henry Sutton
"This is the last letter Nancy would recieve about
Henry. The following letter is to Nancy from Colonel
George Whitfield, Henry's commanding officer, telling
her of his demise.
Winchester V A Oct-13 / 62
Mrs Sutton
Madam
It becomes my painful duty to informe you of the Sad
fate of your Husband Mr. Henry Sutton / he was wonded
in the battle at Sharpsburg M.D. on the 17th of Sept.
I Should have written you before this, but I have
been waiting with the hope that I should hear from
him and be able to Communicate Some more welcome news
but I have not heard from him at all. he went with me
in a charge that was made during the fight and did
not return. we charged Through a field of corn and I
did not See him fall and Therefore I can not Say
whither he was killed or wonded. two Regt charged the
enemy for 1/2 mile or more and not receiving any
support We had to fall back to our old position and
our wonded and others that give out was taken by the
Yankees. I hope that Henry was only wonded or
give-out and that he may not be killed. but I can not
tell what fate he met /
if I can gain any information in reguard to him I
will let you know it immediately. You have my heart
felt Sympathy in this your Sad bereavement / I can
only Say one thing that Should give you consolation
and that is your Husband did his part in a faithful
discharge of his duty, he acted as a man well worthy
of the noble Cause in which he was engaged as a brave
Soldier and true Patriot / With High Reguard I remain
your friend.
G.F. Whitfield
Be sure to read
the 27th at Sharpsburg
on my
main page"
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