Brown, Francis
Rank:	Private
Regiment:	1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Regiment. Co. C (1864-1865)
Service:	1864 ca.August-1865 September?

Background note:

Francis Brown, of Manchester, N.H., served in one of the many heavy artillery units manning the defenses of Washington during the latter stages of the war. Stationed first at Fort Williams, Va., but transferred shortly to Fort Smeades, near Fort De Russy, the move from Virginia foiled Brown's attempt to be detailed to a surgeon. Soon after his unit's arrival, however, the enlisted men forced the removal of the regiment's two cooks from their jobs, dissatisfied partly the cooks had been selling portions of the company's coffee supply for personal profit. Brown was chosen to fill one of the cookhouse vacancies, and turned this appointment to profitable advantage by selling grease from the cookhouse.

A Protestant evangelical with strong religious convictions, Brown found the ugliness of the war and camp life a test of his Christian values. While he received encouragement from family members during these trials -- including his wife, Mary, and brother-in-law, Jonathon Sleeper -- his shiftless son Frank compounded Brown's worries, proving even a greater agitation for Mary.

Scope and contents:

The Francis Brown Papers consists of twenty-six letters, twenty-three of which were written by Brown to his wife and son while in the service of the 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery in the defenses of Washington. In a tortured prose typical of a person without a great deal of practice in letter writing, Brown describes his duties as cook, the menu for the troops, and his methods of supplementing the army diet, such as fishing and collecting fifty cents from each man to purchase fruits and vegetables. He also discusses a side line he had developed to earn extra income: selling grease from the cookhouse. In addition to bits of everyday camp life, Brown discusses reforms in system of draft substitution, absentee voting by soldiers, and the problems caused by drunkenness and prostitutes. In writing to Frank, Brown urges him to help his mother and to practice his writing so that he can write to his father.

The collection also contains one letter from Mary to Brown and two from Jonathon Sleeper to Brown. Nearly every letter is accompanied by an envelope pre-printed with Mary's name and address, an oddity for a private soldier.

M-2093
Recat. 11/97 rsc

Link to subject index to the Francis Brown Papers

Alphabetic index to the Schoff Civil War Collections

Return to:

Homepage	Manuscripts	Collections	Staff	Hours and policies