Frederick Sawyer, Company G [letter to his mother]

Nelly Roberts included her son’s letter in her application for survivor’s benefits.  Either she or a Pension Bureau employee glued it to a larger sheet of paper.

Norfolk, Va., Nov 20th, 1862
My Dear Mother,
Brother John and myself after staying in Suffolk a short time came on here. I have got a lot of work but I am afraid it will not last long. I have not seen John in several days. I expect he has gone to Old Point. If I can’t get plenty of work, I shall go into the army tho I hate to do it. I am well & John was when I saw him. Give my love to all at home. I shall send you three dollars with this letter. That is all I can spare now. I will send you more as soon as I can.
Your affectionate son,
Fred Sawyer
per RD”

 

The letter ends with “per RD” which suggests a person with those initials acted as a scribe to Frederick Sawyer’s dictation. The soldier’s mother “furnished two sons and two stepsons” to the the U.S. Army’s “colored troops.”  A statement in her pension application indicates that both stepsons were killed at the Crater. Her remaining son John, who’s mentioned in this letter, described the family ties in his sworn statement supporting his mother’s quest for financial relief.

 

Frederick Sawyer’s Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) shows that he enlisted January 1864 and died July 1864.
— Compiled military service records of volunteer Union soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops [microform]: 1st through 5th United States Colored Cavalry, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry (Colored), 6th United States Colored Cavalry (1997). Reel 0012 – 1st United States Colored Cavalry: Sample, Abraham (Abram) – Smith, Ives (online at  https://archive.org/details/compiledmili0012akesunit/mode/2up).