Johnson Miller
Corporal
Company “C”
40th reg. Iowa volunteers
Died September 03, 1863 Memphis, TN
“I am in good hart and expect to get throe Safe and return home to you and the little ones …” Johnson Miller June 1863
June the 2 [1863]
On the River above Hielen
Dear Wife
I now write you a few lines to let you know where I am. We left Memphis this morning for vixburg and I will mail this at helena so you can hear from us as soon as possible now you must not be discouraged when you cant hear from me for a good while it may be a month or two at a time that wemay be plased in a fix that we cant pass letters and you must take it patiently just as it comes we are going on our road now to dixey and I expect we will fell the storm of battle before many days now I am in good hart and expect to get throe Safe and return home to you and the little ones but if it be my lot to fall in defense of my country I will try and die in peace with God and trust in him for the protection of you and the Children now I believe you can give the Children a good education and maintain them if i never see you again but i expect to be spared to come home to you before long.
now as for the weather being so hot heare I dont see it as any worse than it is in Iowa now you must excouse my writing for the boat shakes so I cant do any better I have to write with a pencil for I cant use a pen now when I get to a stoping place I will write again so farewell take good care of yourself and the Children
from your ever faithful husband
Johnson Miller
Submitter Leslie Hope
Notes: Johnson Miller, my gggrandfather was b. in Shelby Co, KY March 2, 1828. son of Robert Miller and Jemima May McAlister. He married Sarah Elizabeth Watt February 16, 1852 in Park Co, IN. He was a Corporal, Company “C” 40th reg. Iowa volunteers He died September 03, 1863 Webster General Hospital, Memphis, TN of typhoid just two months after he wrote this letter to his wife.
She managed to maintain their farm and raise the children, Annie Myrtle Miller (my ggrandmother), Mary Jane Miller, James Lewis Miller, David Henry Miller, and William Wallace Miller. My second cousin, Shawna Forsdick, transcribed this letter from a photocopy. Her uncle Charles has the original.
We also have a letter from Johnson Miller’s wife Sarah expressing her disappointment that her sister didn’t come to take a job as a teacher in the local school and help her with the children. Shawna says Sarah had a very difficult time raising the five children and running the farm. By 1870 she did remarry James Bradbury but he was described as a man with a vicious nature and they did not live together for the several years prior to his death. She married a third time to Abraham Renner, but later divorced him. Sarah Watt and Johnson Miller’s children are Sarah died June 1903 in Payette, Canyon Co, ID when she was returning from an excursion with some other women and children. The horse bolted and she was thrown from the wagon.
Letter 1: Sarah’s letter | Letter 2: Johnson’s letter