The Transformation of Maj. Huse

I’ve just finished transcribing about thirty wartime letters written by Henry H. Huse of the Eighth New Hampshire Infantry between January 1862 and November 1863. Part of a larger collection of family documents owned by Notre Dame, they reveal the transformation of a boyish captain on a great adventure to an embittered major caught up in army politics. The turning point came during the Bayou Teche Campaign in Southern Louisiana in April 1863, after he was knocked over by the concussion of an artillery shell that flew by his head and ripped into the body of his second lieutenant. It is rare in my experience to find a cache of personal letters so revealing.

Key quotes:

“My Dear Mother I am proud to say I am better circumstanced than ever before in my life. Healthy, happy and prosperous, enjoying the good will of superiors as well as inferiors engaged in a holy cause and doing all I can for it, which is enough to make any one happy isnt it.” Sept. 13 1862.

“Think I shld learn to love this fighting business hugely. The roar of hundreds of cannon is great music.” March 25, 1863.

“A solid shot from one Cannon just escaped my head, stunning me by the concussion of the air, and tore my Lieut. literally to pieces. Oh! It was awful heart-rending, yet such is war. He lived after being hit a short time. He spoke first to me and said, ‘Capt. I am killed.’ ‘Oh no, John,’ I answered ‘I hope not.’ He threw his arms around my neck, ‘It is hard to think of Capt, to leave my wife and children he said, but it is for the best and I can bear it bravely.’ I ordered men to carry him back to the rear, and he said, ‘Let me die by your side and with the Comp.’ but I sent him back and never saw him again.” May 3, 1863.

“There is an organized clique here which is determined to rule or ruin everything which they can have any power over.” Oct. 31, 1863.

“So much jealousy and dishonesty, wrangling and fighting for everything, without cause, exists among officers in the army that one never knows who are his friends or whether he has any or not.” Nov. 16, 1863.