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Letter of Granville Congrove, Sergeant, Company A, 16th OVI
Web Author's Notes:
The following is a letter written by Sgt. Granville Congrove, Company A, 16th O.V.I.  It was written during the regiment's campaign at Cumberland Gap in 1862 to the publisher of the Zanesville Courier newspaper (1862-1863).  This transcript was provided by Laura B., which she discovered while researching her ancestor in the 7th Kentucky, serving along side the 16th Ohio at that time.  Our thanks to Laura for her thoughtfulness in forwarding Sgt. Congrove's letter.

photo courtesy of FindAGrave.com
Camp Cumberland Gap,
March 13, 1862.

Mr. Shyrock.

    Sir. We are camped on the west side of the Cumberland river fourteen miles from the Cumberland Gap. We have possession of the Ferry at this point. We are building a large fortification on the east side of the river at the ford. We expect an attack before long. If the enemy does not attack us, we will advance upon them. The enemy is expected to be about five or six thousand strong at the Gap, and our force consists of the following Regiments:
   16th Ohio, 49th Indiana, 7th Kentucky, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Tennessee and the 9th Ohio Battery, Capt. Whitmore. Our provisions have been brought from Lexington, distance one hundred and seventy miles, over a mountainous and muddy road. Yesterday we were ordered to march for the Gap, which we did. We started at four o'clock in the morning and about one o'clock we arrived at the Gap. There were two hundred of their cavalry out for forage; we tried to cut off their retreat, but we were too late. When they saw us coming, they threw down their forage, put spurs to their horses and run in their breastworks. We were about one half mile off. We fired at them but done no damage; we went within a mile and a half of their breastworks, but they did not offer to fire at us. We were ordered back to camp, and arrived there at nine o'clock that night.
   The Zanesville Blues are well and I am well. Although I must endure the hardships of camp life, I hope to return to my home again. If I should fall by the wayside, all I ask is for my friends to take care of my family. I hope the day may soon come when the sound of cannon shall be hushed, and the sword and bayonet laid aside and the Eternal foe blotted out, and peace restored to the United States' most noble sons.
Yours Obediently, Granville Congrove.

(Daily Courier, Zanesville, Ohio. Ed. March 21, 1862).
Note: The author of this letter is Sgt. Granville Congrove, Sgt., Co. A, 16th O.V.I., Union Army.

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