With sincere gratitude to Julian Burley for his purchase and preservation of Captain Charles W. Abbott’s letter and for his permission to use the letter’s image and text for 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story.

Captain Charles William Abbott, Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, went on to become a lieutenant-colonel and second-in-command of his regiment (public domain).

His company had barely gotten back to camp after surviving the brutal combat of the Battle of Sabine Cross Roads during the Union’s 1864 Red River Campaign across Louisiana when his men were expected to suck it up, turn around and march back toward the enemy for what would ultimately turn into the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana later that day—9 April 1864.

He was Captain Charles William Abbott, and he was the commanding officer of Company K—the second to have headed “the all-German company” that had been recruited for service with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in August 1861 by Captain George Junker, who had been killed during the Battle of Pocotaligo in October 1862. Unlike his predecessor, though, Captain Abbott would turn out to be a survivor of multiple battles and would later be commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel and appointed as second-in-command of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

But in April 1864, during the opening weeks of the Red River Campaign, he was still “middle management”—a company captain who had to explain to superiors why he needed more supplies for his company when his own commanding officers were thinking that he and his men had already been given their designated allotment of food and other items necessary to perform their duties in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.

Captain Abbott’s brief report, penned on 12 April 1864—three days after the Battle of Pleasant Hill, from the U.S. Army of the Gulf’s encampment at Grand Ecore, Louisiana, documented a significant hardship faced by Union Army troops when they were suddenly ordered into combat—the unanticipated loss of unit-related supplies and personal belongings. That same report also presented key details about his company’s movements before and after its most recent battle, as well as its post-battle casualty status.

Transcription of Captain Abbott’s Letter:

Report by Captain Charles W. Abbott, Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Grand Ecore, Louisiana, 12 April 1864 (courtesy of Julian Burley, used with permission; click to enlarge).

Grand Ecore, La.
April 12th 1864.

I certify on honor that on the 9th day of April 1864 at Pleasant Hill, La., the Camp and Garrison Equipage enumerated below were lost under the following Circumstances. The Regiment to which my Company belongs were ordered to leave their knapsacks in Camp, and prepare for action. During the Engagement the Enemy got possession of our Camp but were driven from the field. During the Engagement One Sergeant and One Private were wounded, and Ten Privates missing. The Regiment lay on their arms during the Night in a different locality and were ordered to retreat in good Order at 2 O’clock A.M. April 10th. It was therefore unpossible [sic, impossible] to recover the Camp and Garrison Equipage. The following is a List of the Stores abandoned:

21 Knapsacks
31 Haversacks
19 Canteen’s & Straps
18 Shelter tents

4 Camp Kettles

Chas. W. Abbott Capt.
Comdg. Co. K. 47th Pa Vols

The undersigned, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is cognizant of the facts as above set forth, and that they are correct, to the best of his knowledge and belief.

G. W. Alexander
Lt. Col. 47 R.P.V.

Sworn to and subscribed before me; at Grand Ecore, La. this 12th day of April 1864.

Sources:

1. Abbott, Charles W., in Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1865 (K-47 I and F&S-47 I). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
2. Abbott, Charles W., in Civil War Muster Rolls (K-47 I and F&S-47 I). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
3. Abbott, Charles W. Report from Captain Charles W. Abbott, Company K, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, to senior officers of the U.S. Army of the Gulf’s XIX Corps (19th Corps), Grand Ecore, Louisiana, 12 April 1864. Nazareth, Pennsylvania: Personal Collection of Julian Burley.
4. Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
5. “History of the Forty-Seventh Regiment P.V., The.” Allentown, Pennsylvania: The Lehigh Register, 20 July 1870.
6. Schmidt, Lewis G. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.