The celebration of Christmas in the 1860s did not match today’s mass-market frenzy, though the holiday had been observed in some areas of the country in the decades leading up to the war. Soldiers who celebrated the holiday far from home did their best to eat, drink and be merry, as these two letters attest.
Christmas began this morning before daylight with me; two glasses of eggnog came for each before we were out of bed, which took away our appetites for breakfast; then the reveille began to beat, when a large party of infantry seized tin pans and everything that would rattle or jingle about quarters and we followed the band all through the regiment singing and tin-panning the tune of ‘Dixie’—it has been a long time since I have heard, or made so much racket.
—JAMES M. WILLIAMS OF THE 21ST ALABAMA, WRITING TO HIS WIFE FROM FORT GAINES, ON DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALA.
Tell Barbara the noodles were very nice but we had no time to cook any yet. But if they are as as good as the last, they will do. Tell her we are going to cook some and invite some of our friends. Tell Mrs. Weibly we are much obliged to her for those things she has sent us but we have not tasted them yet. We are going to keep the pie for Christmas. Tell Aunt Betsy that was splendid butter she sent, also the pickles. The stockings were very nice but we had just drawn two pairs each, and will have enough of stockings for the winter. Tell her I would like to be up this winter to help to butcher but Uncle Sam has hired me for three years to butcher Rebels and I think I will stay with him….So when you are all eating your big Christmas turkey just think of me standing guard out in the cold. We are both very well and contented and happy as the day is long. I must close by wishing you all a happy Christmas and a merry new year, a big turkey & lots of good things to eat….
—JOHN FALLER OF THE 7TH PENNSYLVANIA RESERVES, WRITING FROM THE COURTHOUSE IN FAIRFAX, VA., WHERE HIS COMPANY WOULD SPEND THE WINTER.
Originally published in the February 2012 issue of Civil War Times. To subscribe, click here.
