Veterans column: Book, other letters fill in gaps during which no Levi Coman letters exist
After Capt. Levi Coman’s letter from Camp Shiloh, dated May 2, 1862, there is three weeks where no letters exist. Fortunately, Brevet Maj. Charles Dana Miller’s book, “The Struggle for the Life of the Republic,” reports what happened to the 76th Ohio Volunteer infantry during this time:
“On Sunday the 4th of May, we left Camp Shiloh and marched about eight miles towards Corinth, and bivouacked near Monterey on the Corinth Road two miles from the Mississippi line and 12 miles from Corinth. A heavy rainstorm prevailed during the afternoon and night and it was difficult to find shelter. The next morning, we pitched tents and called the place ‘Camp Lew Wallace.’ The sanitary condition of the Regiment at this time was truly deplorable. Over two hundred men attended daily surgeons call. Out of 30 company officers, but fourteen were fit for duty. Lt. Colonel Woods and Major Warner had been sick for some time. Colonel Charles R. Woods was now quite sick. The Quartermaster and Adjutant were both sick. The regiment had lost a dozen men by disease and but one by the bullet.”
Veterans column: 'No foreboding' after Shiloh, as Ohio 76th waits for army at Corinth
The sickness in the camp was so widespread that Lt. Henry Hardgrove who was also with the 76th wrote in a letter home:
“We have about two hundred thousand soldiers here and not more than one hundred twenty thousand of them are for duty.” On May 19, Charles Kibler who served as the Captain of Company D in the 76th OVI, wrote to his wife from a hospital that both he and Coman sick. “Coman and I still occupy the same tent. He has the regular fever ague” (i.e. Malaria). “He has been afraid that his (wife) may take it into her head to come down here and is very much worried over the idea.”
Coman wrote a letter home labeled simply “Hospital May 24/62”:
“Dear Mattie, Captain Kibler leaves for home this morning. I write to send by him. George Davidson came here last night, he has the horses at the (illegible). We were delighted to see George. I am very weak this morning. I think I am much better though weak. I have got the cause of sickness mainly out of me. I hope to be on the repair mend soon. But this is a peculiar climate and one recovers more slowly here than in the North. Capt. Kibler will tell you all about me and how I am provided for. I feel pretty weak now. Goodbye, Levi”
Veterans column: Capt. Levi Coman, of Newark, writes of battle at newly named Shiloh camp
Three days later Coman added to his letter mentioning that Davidson and Kibler hadn’t left yet:
“I did not have a chance to send a letter to the river yesterday so I will add more and send this off early. I had no chill last night slept well. Skin soft and all as it should be. I am decidedly better. The chills are broken and conquered and I assure you I will watch them pretty close for a while. I see no reason why I should not get well right along now. Mr. Davidson is still out with the regiment, I am very glad he came and was successful in his mission. Captain Kibler (illegible) had a can of chicken in to, which was spoiled and ruined almost everything else. I will write you more and longer as I gain strength. Yours ever, Levi”
Whether Coman really was better or just telling his family that is unsure, but the truth of his illness was going to be known soon enough.
Doug Stout is the Licking County Library local history coordinator. You may contact him at 740.349.5571 or dstout@lickingcountylibrary.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Veterans column: Book, other letters fill in gaps in Coman letters
