Joseph Chase Rutherford Correspondence
Collection Overview
An 1849 graduate of Woodstock Medical College, Joseph Chase Rutherford practiced medicine in Blackstone, Massachussetts and Orleans County, Vermont. He was an examining surgeon of recruits early in the war, and he also invented a method of...
Show moreAn 1849 graduate of Woodstock Medical College, Joseph Chase Rutherford practiced medicine in Blackstone, Massachussetts and Orleans County, Vermont. He was an examining surgeon of recruits early in the war, and he also invented a method of invisible writing that was used by the federal government during the war. Rutherford was commissioned from Newport on August 8th, 1862 and made an assistant surgeon of the 10th Vermont. He was promoted to surgeon of the 17th Vermont on March 6th, 1865. While operating on a soldier after the battle of Orange Grove, he developed an infection in his thumb that partially disabled him for the rest of his life. He returned home to his practice in Newport after the war.
Dr. Joseph C. Rutherford wrote faithfully to his wife Hannah from the time of his appointment as assistant surgeon of the Tenth Vermont Infantry in August 1862 to his mustering out as surgeon of the Seventeenth Vermont Infantry in July 1865. He informed her of his medical duties, his relations with the soldiers and officers, and news about soldiers from the Newport, Vermont area. Rutherford's letters convey a strong sense of pride in his work, but increasing frustration over his failure to win promotion, particularly after the severe battles of 1864. He finally received a commission as surgeon of the Seventeenth Vermont in March 1865. Rutherford described the battle of Orange Grove (Nov. 27, 1863) and Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign, but only one letter (May 17, 1864) survives from the nearly continuous fighting of May and June, 1864. Many of the letters contain advice to Mrs. Rutherford on financial matters and the treatment of their children's illnesses. Rutherford also expressed strong opinions about copperheads, traitors, and Southerners. The collection includes three letters from Edward Belville (d. 1864) of Derby, Vermont, a private in the Eighth Vermont Infantry. One of these (July 16, 1863) gives an account of the assault on Port Hudson, in which Belville was wounded.
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(1 - 5 of 5)
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- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
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Topics include a his experiences on November 27th in the Battle of Mine Run that took place near Locust Grove (Orange County, Virginia), meager food for Thanksgiving meal, marching to the forest known as the "Wilderness", the way in which the wounded were cared for, praise for Capt. Steele and...
Show moreTopics include a his experiences on November 27th in the Battle of Mine Run that took place near Locust Grove (Orange County, Virginia), meager food for Thanksgiving meal, marching to the forest known as the "Wilderness", the way in which the wounded were cared for, praise for Capt. Steele and the service all the men did for their country.
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- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
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From Brandy Station, Virginia Rutherford writes of his swollen left hand due to infection resulting in his whole body having tremors and shooting pains, taking a dose of morphine, the rainy weather, winter quarters being built, of Chaplain offering to help erect Rutherford's cabin, his dedication...
Show moreFrom Brandy Station, Virginia Rutherford writes of his swollen left hand due to infection resulting in his whole body having tremors and shooting pains, taking a dose of morphine, the rainy weather, winter quarters being built, of Chaplain offering to help erect Rutherford's cabin, his dedication to duty for the wounded and the approaching of Christmas.
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- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
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Writing from Georgetown Heights, D.C. he tells of the regiment's march, towns they marched to (Poolsville, Luxbury, Winchester), expresses his fear more of capture than of being wounded, had an attack of dysentery and is recovering.
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- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
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From mud soaked camp near Warrenton Junction topics include repairing a railroad, dismay at the laying waste such beautiful countryside, his strong views on slavery, on the white men who partake in slavery, on the Southern values of trying to keep property in the family resulting in intermarriage...
Show moreFrom mud soaked camp near Warrenton Junction topics include repairing a railroad, dismay at the laying waste such beautiful countryside, his strong views on slavery, on the white men who partake in slavery, on the Southern values of trying to keep property in the family resulting in intermarriage, the results of that and his philosophy of why the war is so hard to put down due to the Southerners' mind set and the basis of what the Union is fighting for.
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- Title
- Joseph Rutherford to [Hannah Rutherford]
- Description
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Topics include J.C. Rutherford reassuring his wife that he is still alive, the men are on alert, he nervous at the prospect of a fight, sending her $20 and advising his wife to be economical with it as he does not know when he will be paid next.