Letters of Capt. J. B. Duncan, 32nd IL Vols.

Civil War Letters of Capt. John B. Duncan, Co. H, 32nd Regt., Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 1861-1864; 80 items.

A veteran of the Mexican War, John B. Duncan was a well-respected attorney and justice of the peace from Illinois when the Civil War erupted in 1861. Already in his mid-40s, Duncan left his comfortable life behind and during the late summer and fall, helped raise a company of the 32nd Illinois Infantry, which moved into Dixie under Grant's command, moving to Fort Henry in March and then to Pittsburgh Landing, where they witnessed their first major engagement: the Battle of Shiloh.

Although during the battle of Shiloh Duncan was recuperating from an illness at Cairo, Ill., he was well informed of what happened in the Peach Orchard, where his comrades bore the brunt of the Confederate assault. Ten days after the battle, Duncan witnessed the results: "A boat past here [Cairo] yesterday for St. Louis with several of the wounded of my company on board, among the number was Frank Hamilton shot through the joints of the right shoulder shattering it badly, and also flesh wounds in both thighs, John Sargent leg taken above the ankle… It would be useless for me to undertake to describe my feelings on seeing these poor wounded soldiers. In spite of myself the sympathetic tear would flow… The 32d Reg behave most gallantly, were exposed in a ravine, to a desperate charge of vastly superior forces. My Co went into the fight with sixty off men, and came out with about thirty. I don't know how many are prisoners, but I suppose not more than two or three most of the wounded will recover, if not all, but three or four will never be fit for duty. There was undoubtedly carelessness on the part of the Generals, or our army would not have suffered so severely: they were completely surprised, the enemy having planted their artillery in good range and the line of battle formed before our forces were aware of their presence, in fact many of our men were in their tents and at breakfast when the fire of the enemy was opened on them."

His next letter provides details on killed and wounded in his company and more analysis of what happened. "They were truly in a tight place, in a ravine loading and running up a little hill to fire until they were left entirely alone with more than four times their number advancing on them and firing at every opportunity until they had got a position on each flank of our Regt and commenced pouring in a deadly fire on each flank and in front when out men were forced to retire and the danger was so imminent that they retreated in some confusion, and they all say with whom I have talked that one minute more and they would have been surrounded and either killed or taken, yet I am truly proud to tell you, although many of our men were killed and wounded, that, with two or three exceptions in Co. H, they faced the music like heroes, and stood as long as it was possible for any set of soldiers to stand...."

Though badly depleted, the 32nd joined the pursuit of Confederate forces into Mississippi, where he reported "we have been advancing step by step toward Corinth, where the enemy are or have been entrenched, moving twice or thrice a week, from one to three miles at a time, throwing up breastworks and digging ditches at every camp... [on picket] we were near enough Corinth to hear their Musick at night and morning...." From Corinth they moved on to LaGrange and then to Memphis and Bolivar, fighting guerrillas and a hostile citizenry, as well as Confederate regulars. The severity of the situation comes through in a number of letters, but none more than that of Aug. 6, 1862, where Duncan relays rumors that had been flying between the front lines and home front: "when the trains of cars were captured, the soldiers, or some of them, run and scattered over the country, and that two of them went to a house to get water, and the man told them he had no water for damned Yankees, and called up his dogs and set them on and that they tore one of the men very severely and hurt the other pretty bad."

In the same letter, Duncan took on another subject with his usual directness and clarity of expression: "There is considerable complaint among some of the men, and a few of the officers of the regiment about employing negroes in the army, a good deal more I think than need to be. So far as fighting to free the negroes is concerned, there is no one so far as I know, except it is a few abolitionists, who has any intention or even the most distant idea of attempting to free the negroes, holding that as any part of the object or purpose of the war, but we are fighting for the purpose of holding the constitution and enforcing the laws; and if traitors will run the risk of losing their slave property, by taking up arms against the government which has protected them always in the enjoyment of that property, and the consequence of their rebellion is the loss of their slaves, they have nobody to blame but themselves. The officers nor soldiers of the army do not hunt up negroes to kidnap or steal them, they put themselves to no trouble at all to get them, on the contrary, negroes run away from their masters and come to our lines and the orders from the commanding General is, that all negroes known to belong to secessionists, coming to our lines, shall be set to work for our army so far as profitable labor can be found for them... There is no man more opposed to freeing negroes, and allowing them to run at in the Northern States, than myself; but we need not calculate that this war will end in five, or perhaps ten years, if it ever ends successfully to the government, while we continue to fight the rebels, and yet protect them in the enjoyment and possession of their property. My policy would be, if the negro comes to us, put him to work, and thus exempt our soldiers, white men, from hard or menial labor, and when we are done with them, turn them loose, and , when the war is over, if the master can reclaim them, let him do it. If they prefer staying with the masters let them stay, until by competent civil authority they are declared confiscated, if this ever done, as I suppose it will be...." An enlightened man on matters of race, Duncan was not.

The letters from the late summer and fall 1862 feature regular reports of skirmishing with guerrillas in Tennessee and equally regular reports of low morale and high desertion in his regiment. All this ends, however, on Oct. 7, 1862, when Duncan's wife received a letter from one of his comrades: "in an engagement with the enemy Sunday (5th) your Husband was wounded by a shell from the enemy, cutting off left leg just above the ankle. He is doing well suffering but little pain... We whooped Rebels badly & our loss was comparatively small, only one man from his company (Parsly). Your Bro A.M. Wright came off unharmed...."

Accompanying this letter is a scarce field-printed General Orders No. 112 from Maj. Gen. S. A. Hurlbut congratulating his division on their performance at the Battle of the Hatchie Bridge. Duncan wrote a long 8p letter describing the battle, in which Hurlbut's 4th Division tried to cut off Sterling Price's forces retreating from Corinth. After setting the scene in considerable detail, he describes attempting to help his men up the bank of the river under heavy fire: "I stood there some minutes and had succeeded in getting some dozen of my own men and a few others around me in the midst of a most terrific shower of grape, canister, and musketry encouraging those with me and trying to rally others when a shell exploded, striking me on the left leg about half way between the ankle and knee shattering it to pieces in a terrible manner, yet I did not know I was seriously hurt for some seconds, for a piece of the same shell struck a man from Co A in front of me... I was watching him and listening his screams until he got down and hearing someone else scream I went to move round to see who it was and in the act of moving fell. The same shell struck Bill Parsley on the leg shivering it badly...." Duncan spent nearly a month in hospital before he was able to return home.

Thereafter the collection consists largely of letters written to Duncan by soldiers in his regiment. Duncan died of disease July 19, 1864.

Duncan's letters are interesting for the manner in which he seems to engage in an extended conversation with his wife, keeping her informed of what he and the men were doing in the field, and through her, keeping the entire community posted. At times, his letters have the air of a sort of extended community newsletter. An exceptionally rich and well informed set of letters from an experienced mid-level officer, fantastic tactical awareness and written in a highly publishable. Provides extended, well thought out and detailed accounts of skirmishes and lengthy ruminations on subjects ranging from slavery to military discipline, the conduct of the war, and more.