1862 Civil War VA letter LETTERHEAD BATTLE of Seven Pines (FAIR OAKS) 85th PA

  

Jonas was discharged on a surgeon's certificate on 24 November 1862. (more history of the battle of Fair Oaks below the transcript). Letter on "The Union Volunteer" letterhead. We have had another hard battle on the last day of May.

We was driven back two miles and lost everything but what we had on our backs and had to stand in the rain for twenty four hours and the mud and water up to our knees and are still without tents or blankets. We are fourteen miles from Richmond. I don't expect to get home against harvest so you will have to get along as well as you can without me. I would like to know how the grain looks. Our division is cut up very bad and I don't know what they will do with some say we are not going to be sent back to Washington City or Baltimore but I don't know (what) they will do with us.

I hope they will take us out of these fine swamps for we will all die here. Well I don't (have) anything more to write at this time so I will bring my letter to a close for the present by saying that I want you to write as soon as this comes to hand. The 85th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was organized at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, beginning October 16, 1861, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment under the command of Colonel Joshua B.

Served their time around Washington until March 1862 when they moved to the Peninsula and saw action at the Battle of Williamsburg and the Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks). The 85th Pennsylvania Infantry was organized at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, beginning October 16, 1861, and mustered in for a three-year enlistment under the command of Colonel Joshua B. The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive up the Virginia Peninsula by Union Maj.

McClellan, in which the Army of the Potomac reached the outskirts of Richmond. On May 31, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps that appeared isolated south of the Chickahominy River. The Confederate assaults, although not well coordinated, succeeded in driving back the IV Corps and inflicting heavy casualties. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, it was the largest battle in the Eastern Theater up to that time (and second only to Shiloh in terms of casualties thus far, about 11,000 total).

Seven Pines therefore marked the closest Union forces came to Richmond in this offensive.