The Third Letter Narcissus Graham

(It has been 4 month and 4 days since the second letter)

 Morristown

 Feb.7, 1780 (Monday)

Capt. John Harmon att Suffield in Connecticut, Favor of Sam’l AllenWorthy Capt.

I shall improve this opertunity as a favorable one to salute the news of your Resigning, which reached my Ears the 18th of January, as I came to Camp.

I’ll relate the march I had from Salem, which continued from the 14th to the above date. The 14th I set out with little resolution & gave over the thoughts of ever reaching Camp, but I made ahead as far as Haits, which was ten miles. The Snow was far beyond whatever I did see. In general, up to my knees & some worse & better. My Eyes gave Vent to ease the heavyclod which is heaped in my Breast, of Misery & Distress.

The 16^th in like manner but with the greatest Vexation & Perplexity. (The) 16th I got 18 miles over the River, as far as Soverrends with two Weary Travelers.

The 17th went 31 miles, within nine miles of Camp.

18th I came to Camp, but before this I see Dady at his Quarters, who informed me of your Resigning & being gone home, which I could not hardly believe before he repeated it several times.

 It wounded me to the bottom of heart. Horror, Dispare & Fear increased with no Ease. I felt like one in Dispare, Raving at the thought of Desolation & upon the Brink of Distruction. O pity a Cruel Unfortunate. Hardships fatigue me not, O heart, & be still o’ mind. O My Dearest Capt., I have hope to believe that your mind won’t slip & forgit me, but excuse my unworthiness. I do hope that you will assist in getting me out of the Service & I do request your making Robert hire me a man & don’t let the want or thought of money Spare. I do believe you won’t forget what time you spent here the last time you was in Camp. It’s a little better here now, for we have Provision more Plentyer than then – even to a Supply. But, Dear Sir, a Body has as good Starve as Freeze. Consider my situation, in this inclement Season, without any Supply of Clothing to the least Individual Ragg, nor an’t likely to git anything. I ha’nt a Shoe to my feet of my own. Lt. Fanning says it an’t likely that any Clothing will Come in very soon which by Necessity will Render me very miserable in this Cold Weather. Can heartily wish never to draw another Ragg if I could possibly git Clear from the Service. But, Honored Sir, I ask your repeated Pardons for taking the boldness to write & to subscribe myself your well-wisher & unworthy & begging, Humble Servt

Narcissus Graham

P.S. Be pleased to give my Duty, love & Kind Complyments to all inquiring Friends. I am in usual health at present & the rest of the company in like manner. I have tried to hire a man but I can’t git any. I should be glad that you would tell Dady I had not time to write as I began your (letter) first. I conclude with the kindest Complyment to yourself & Family. Allen has got a Discharge & I have another opertunity unexpected & there fore I shall write one to Dady. 

The Second Letter Narcissus Graham

(2 years 3 months and 16 days have passed since  Narcissus wrote the previous letter.)

Nelson’s Point

Aug. 3, 1779 (Saturday)

Rev’d Father: Sir:

In short – I am unwell, but not so but that I have been about & done my Duty till now, but hope (I am) gitting better. My kind Duty to your Self & Spouse, my love to Brothers & Sisters.

I should have wrote to the rest if had time & therefore must be excused, not having but two or three minets. I received the things that was sent me by Capt. Harmon, which I humbly thank for.

I was at Salem, at Uncle Robert’s, & all well. Cozen Robert has been very unfortunate in & by the art of War. He went out in the Militia & was taken & carried into York Gaol, where I suppose he remains to this Day.

The Army are in good health & in enraged Spirits against those thieves of the Country who waste & destroy the towns & plunder the People. If it wa’nt for those blood-thirsty Tories who lead on to destroy, the Country would have been free this two years, if they had been out of the way.

Subscribing my Self, your Affectionate Son,

Nar. Graham

P.S. I hope & wish that I shall be free soon, for my Mind runs to & fro like a Crazey man, my nature gives faster than age Requires. I find that I can’t travel, not steady, more than twelve miles in a day.

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Some insights to life in 1799

http://foygonebefore.blogspot.com/

From 1799 Newspapers

08/08/1799 Maryland Gazette

08/06/1799 Poughkeepsie Journal (New York)

http://newspapers.com

The First Letter Narcissus Graham

Narcissus Graham is my 4^th great grandfather on my mother’s side. He is the son of Rev. John Graham, Jr. He was a proponent of the fundamentalist religious revivals that swept through northeastern America in the mid-18th Century, later referred to as the Great Awakening, or the First Great Awakening. Narcissus Graham was born 15 Oct 1762 at West Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut and died 16 Feb 1829 at Winnsboro, Fairfield, South Carolina.  My mother’s side has two men that were involved in the War of Independence (Revolutionary War) and served in the Continental Army. One was General George Walton, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Georgia and a United States Senator. The other is Narcissus Graham who enlisted in the Continental Army on Mar.17, 1777 at age 14 and served first as a fifer. Their lives give us a look at that period from two very different perspectives.

The information that will follow in this blog and the series that will follow about the letters of Narcissus Graham is from documents I found on Ancestory.com. A lot of information is available about George Walton, so I wanted people to hear the voice of Narcissus Graham and get a glimpse of his world through his words.

James Myers, Jr.

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Fife Player on the Right

Narcissus Graham enlisted in the Continental Army on Mar.17, 1777 and was put initially in the Fife & Drum Corps of Capt. John Harmon’s Company in the 4th Connecticut Regiment commanded by John Durkee, Esq.

The War Department’s records show that, upon enlisting, Narcissus was issued “1 coat, 1 vest, 1 shirt, 1 Hunting Shirt, 1 pair shoes, 1 overalls – valued at $25 & 30/90, leaving balance due to him of $22 & 30/90.” This apparently had to last him the next 6 years.

He was on furlough from Dec.1777 to March 1778. He was furloughed again Nov.20, 1779, for 30 days. He was sick in Suffield, May 10, 1780, & reported sick at Danbury in August 1780. The last muster roll his name appears on was on May 27, 1783.

In 1941, Miltimore Brush of Germantown, NY, had 85 letters written by Narcissus during the war. They had been bound between layers of silk gauze but were written on the cheapest kind of paper, many on mere scraps. They tell of his suffering & privations & his desire to get out of the military by hiring a substitute. However, he stayed for the entire war.

This series of blogs will be about the letters the author of Rev. John Graham & his descendants chose to include in that book. Let’s hear the voice of Narcissus again.

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Valley Forge

April 18, 1777

Kind Parent: Sir: 

After my kind Complyments to you, I should inform you of my health since I left home & hope these will reach you. I have no news to write at Present, only it is very sickly time in Camp. The Smallpox, the army has all had & fever does very frequently set in. I want to hire a man in my place very much for it is very hard times for soldiers. I wish I had done something while I was home. I find fifing hurts me, that it wares my Constitution out very much. I feel it every day more. If there is a man to be hired that can fife I hope it can be done soon. Capt. Harmon I suppose will soon leave the regiment & then I hope by that time I can leave it, too. A soldier is a poor, lousey Creature deprived of all the comforts of life.

End of Letter