These five letters were written by William Shakespeare (“Shake”) McKinley (b. 1842) who was learning the blacksmith profession when he enlisted in July 1861 as a private in Co. I, 21st Indiana Infantry. In February 1863, the regiment was reorganized as the 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery. McKinley remained with the regiment until he was mustered out in January 1866 as a Veteran.
Shake was the son of a saddler named Arthur McKinley (1809-1888) and Ruhama Rowland (1816-1893) of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. In his letters, Shake refers to at least three of his siblings, Daniel O’Connell (“Con”) McKinley (1836-1904), Henry Clay (“Clay”) McKinley (1839-1932), and Keren H. McKinley (1851-1914). Clay served in Co. A, 39th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the war.
We learn from Shake’s letters that while he was a member of the regiment, he was often detached and serving as a scout—particularly in the western theatre of the war. His letters include references to the Battle of Port Hudson, the Red River Campaign, and his humorous encounter with Brig. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel who preferred charges against him for his insolent behavior.
[Editor’s Note: These five letters are from the personal collection of Jim Doncaster and are published here by express consent.]
TRANSCRIPTION LETTER ONE
Camp Dix [Baltimore, MD]
August 14th 1861
Dear Father,
Your letter of the 8th came to hand today. I have written [more] than one dozen letters to Con & Clay. We are tired of staying here. We are encamped near Fort McHenry. Two of our companies are now there and the balance go in a few days. If we—that is, the regiment—stays another month, the Colonel has promised us furloughs & then I will be at [home] for a few days. I am glad to hear that the boys turned out. Also glad to hear that you are all well.
The letter of our company is “I,” but I do not stay with it much as I am one of the scouts (or skirmishers) which were detailed. There are fifty of us & for this reason you cannot expect as many letters from me as from Clay. I will write to Clay as soon as I can. If you write to him, tell [him] that I am well but do not know how long we will stay here. I am going to try for a transfer to the same regiment that he is in but don’t know whether I will succeed.
I am well satisfied we will be paid up on the 24th which I intend sending to you. We have preaching every Sunday & also Thursday night. I have gained the good will of my captain.
Our pickets were fired on the other night and struck one in the shin. The scouts were ordered out when we were fired on by about, we guessed as it was dark, but no one badly hurt. A man was shot through the ear, one through his coat shirt. One ball—I think a pistol ball—passed through the edge of my cap which I intend to bring home. Nothing particular. The boys are anxious for a fight. I must go on parade. No more. Write soon. Mind, Company I.
— Wm. S. McKinley
After supper. I am just ordered off to guard a bridge but if you write, direct as before & captain will keep them for me. Love to all, not forgetting Stephen & Heman, Esqrs.
TRANSCRIPTION LETTER TWO
Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]
September 9, 1861
Dear Father,
I write you from here. I am on my way back to Baltimore. I have been to New York—a guard for Marshall [George Proctor] Kane so I will write but as I have not your letter with me, I cannot answer it yet. I am well. I have been on a scout since I wrote you last. I passed the Rebel picket guard twice with but one companion, [Jacob] Gilbrich, or the scout of the Clay Prairie. Tell me everything the next time I write. I will tell you everything if you will send me the Herald & Whig sometime. I will send you the Clipper or Patriot. I have nothing to state in particular till I write again so no more at present. But give my respects—that is, a soldier’s—to Mr. Slutzman & Koplin.
P. S. The scouts were again brought out to take the oath of allegiance. Also not to drink a drop of liquor while serving in our position. They all took it. Now goodbye.
Direct to Balimore, Md. — Shake
— Wm. S. McKinley
TRANSCRIPTION LETTER THREE
New Orleans, La.
June 22, 1863
Dear Sister Keren,
I received your letter of the second and was glad to hear that you was well as it is a great deal more than I am but I think I will be all right in a few days. This is the second time for me but it does not hurt very much to be shot—at least it did not hurt me. But I think that I shall not be quite so spunky in the future. My company is at Pass Manchac forty miles north of the city on Jackson Railroad. I think that they shall go to Port Hudson where they are fighting hard.
Keren, you did not say anything about little Stephen. Remember it in the future, will you? Tell little Hattie that I should like to see her such a good [while] but it cannot be until this war is over as I shall stay in the service as long as the war lasts. Then I shall come home.
We have nigger soldiers. It would make a dog laugh to see them drill, sweat and grin. I should like to know which company and regiment Sam Boyd is in. If you know, let me know too when you write again. I would like to send you some money but cannot now. We were paid off two weeks ago but I have my board of four weeks to pay as I went to a private boarding house in preference to hospital. But if I have any left, you shall have any left. I wrote to Ellen last pay day but can’t tell whether the letter was burnt on the bayou or whether she has forgotten all about it. But there was a mail on the vessel when it burned and it is quite likely that it was lost. But before I halt, let me ask where Lucinda Newman is. I have asked in every letter but nobody would tell me.
But I must close. Send a few lines to Pap please. Hand them to him. Goodbye. Give my love to the family including Con’s family, little Hattie. Write soon.
Your affectionate brother, — Shake
Direct to W. S. McKinley, Co. I, 1st Indiana Artillery, New Orleans
TRANSCRIPTION LETTER FOUR
Pass Manchac
40 miles north of New Orleans
July 15, 1863
Dear Brother,
I received your letter of 24th today. You seem to think that I am rather negligent about answering your letters. Your letters have been always punctually answered. I did not get the letter you wrote some time since but my not being much with my company must be the cause. I have been in the hospital. I was shot through the left leg by guerrillas while carrying a dispatch on a hand car from Brashear City to New Orleans. I had to lay by two weeks. When I was able to ride on horseback, I was attached to Gen. [Cuvier] Grover’s Signal Corps until the fall of Port Hudson. I was one of the nine hundred that made the first charge & was one of the first inside their out[er] works. Some of the Eastern troops who were among the last in were promoted in the field and the Indianians and Wisconsin boys were passed by. We took about six thousand prisoners at Port Hudson.
Our regiment has been turned into siege artillery and is called the 1st Indiana [Heavy] Artillery. Co. F was captured at Brashear City (80 miles west of New Orleans) last week & paroled. They wiped out about three hundred and fifty of them. The Mississippi is open. A packet leaves New Orleans day after tomorrow for Memphis. I think the fighting in this department will soon be over. I would like to come to the Army of the Potomac. I have been court martialed since I have been in this Department by Brig. Gen. [Godfrey] Weitzel for disobedience of orders & of using insulting language to my superiors when on an expedition on Bayou Teche (western part of the state). He asked me & my comrade Jake Gilbrich to go on a scout to Opelousas. We went but before we got there, Jake was killed. I made the trip alone & returned with required information after five days—two days without anything to eat. When the army was about ten miles from Opelousas, his orderly came to me with an order to start instanter for Red River to find out how many gunboats the rebs had there (about sixty miles). I told his orderly to tell the General that if he changed that order to a request, I would go. The General sent for me & told me that I would go. I told him I could not see it. He had me shackled till the next morning [when] he asked me if I would go. I told him he had not said so much as kiss my ass for the service I had done him at the risk of my life and I would see him damned & damned again before I would obey that order. He released me but preferred charges against me.
Gen. [Nathaniel P.] Banks came up next day and asked my Colonel if he could find a man who would undertake a trip to Red River alone (he did not know of my refusing). The Colonel related the circumstance [and] Banks came to me himself and asked me if I was willing to go. I went and come back in three days—over one hundred miles. When the expedition returned to the city, I had my trial & as an officer has not power to order a man on a scout, I got clear.
I need not give any particulars of the Port Hudson fight as you will hear it before you get this.
I am not very well at present. I had the ague and fever but it is broken. I will stay with my company until next Sunday. I then start for Camp Moore from there. I do not know where they want me to go. But before I close. I tell you I fell in love with one of the prettiest women in Louisiana. I saved her from insults of two guerrillas once and when she heard that I was shot, she came from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to nurse me. She is just heavenly. I and Sergeant Dick Brann [of Brazil] have taken notes from the time we came into the service. I will copy them one day & send them to you if you wish it. It may interest you some. I’m not saying that I would make a reporter. I have not drank a drop of liquor for two years & am five ten and half high [and] weigh 165¼.
Our old colonel has been promoted. The staff officers are Col. John A. Keith, late Lt. Col., Lieut. Col. B[enjamin] F. Hays, late Major. Major none as yet. Adjutant H. C. McMillan. Line officers are as follows:
Co. A, Capt. Wm. A. Roy, 1st Lt. E[den] Fisher
Co. B, Capt. Wm. Grimsley, 1st Lt. John Day, 2nd Lt. Wm. Harper
Co. C, Capt. E[lihu] Rose, 1st Lt. Wm. Bough, 2nd Lt. William Harper
Co D, Capt. W. H. Hinkle, 1st Lt. Wm. Harper, 2nd Lt. Jesse Haddon
Co. E, Capt. J[ames] W. Hamrick, 1st Lt Sam Hartley. 2nd Lt. Joe Siddons
Co. F, Capt. [Frank] Noblet, 1st Lt. Jas. Brown, 2nd Lt. George Harding
Co. G, Capt. Jas. McLaflin, 1st Lt. Ben Harrower, 2nd none
Co. H, Capt. Jas. Connelly, 1st Lt. Wm. Winner, 2nd Lt. Frank Sherffy
Co. I, Capt. R[ichard] Campbell, 1st Lt. W[alter] C. Elkin, 2nd Lt. Sam Armstrong
Co. K, Capt. Clayton Cox, 1st Lt. none, 2nd Lt. Lawrence Cox
I guess you can make it out. As I am not able to say where I will be in case you write again—as Gen. Banks says I am the best scout he has and he intends to keep me at work—direct to New Orleans in care of Lt. Walter C. Elkin.
From your brother, — Shake
To H[enry] C[lay] McKinley
TRANSCRIPTION LETTER FIVE
Baton Rouge [Louisiana]
April 15 1864
Dear Father,
I arrived here on the 12th instant, safe and well although I am not very at present. It is not more than a headache. We are under marching orders. It is said that we love in two days, Our destination is Shreveport in Western Louisiana. We do not take our large guns. We will go as cavalry. We have had a big fight. In a few days you will get the particulars of the battle. It will give us the best of it. I hope that the people will think so. But I can tell you that we are whipped and badly whipped [see Red River Campaign]. The 13th Army Corps are demoralized and the 19th Corps will have to fight the next battle. The rebs took Nimm’s entire battery—the best battery in the service. Our loss is three thousand, five hundred—two Generals and four Colonels among hte lost. We took five hundred prisoners. The rebels have concentrated their whole force on the west side of the river at one place. They are fifty thousand strong while we are forty thousand. We will take our old place in the front—at least I hope so.
I have orders to report to Gen. Arnold for duty as courier but I will not go until our forces take Shreveport. This is the first time I have ever written just before going into action which will be in two weeks at the farthest. But I write this for it may be my last. But let come what will. I am ready. If I should happen to fall, you will know of it as I have asked our Chaplain to write to [you] if such be the case. And if I am one of the lucky ones, I will write to you in time.
There are still many Rebs along the river. We were fired into coming down but nobody hurt. Our men had a skirmish at Port Hudson. We lost a small piece of artillery. The things look flourishing here. Trees are in leaves. We get any amount of vegetables.
But as I have nothing more to write, I will close. From your affectionate son, — Shake
P. S. If you answer, direct to W. S. McKinley, Co. I, 1st Ind. Baton Rouge, La. to follow regiment.
Give my love to Ma and children. — Shake
Also to Con’s family.
Spared & Shared 22 