Please tell General Grant that I must go home

In 1862, Jonathan Johnson began active service as Captain of Company D, 15th Regiment, NH Volunteers, and went to war. One year later, at the age of forty-seven, he died, leaving his wife Nancy a widow with eight children at home, four of them less than 16 years of age.

Capt. Jonathan Johnson succumbed to what they called “swamp fever”, contracted while fighting in New Orleans. He was sent home to Deerfield to die. His son George never returned home, and was buried in a double grave after the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864. Both had gone to war to preserve the Union, and believed that slavery was an iniquitous institution. Both died for that cause.

During his year of service, Capt. Johnson kept a diary and regularly wrote home. His last day on duty was 24 hours spent in battle. Johnson, worn out by three continuous weeks of nasty Civil War fighting, was hospitalized in Baton Rouge, La.

We can only imagine the conditions under which the soldiers endured - quarters crowded with the sick and wounded, inadequate staffing, insufficient medical supplies, and the heat of the lower Mississippi. Food was scarce while snakes and alligators were in abundance.

The trip home to New Hampshire took two months. Along the way, the Captain wrote a informative letter to his 12 year old son, Benjamin.

"If you expect a harvest, you must put in the seed. Take care of what you put in, and do it in season. Mother earth is the best paymaster there is. She always puts her fruits in their season, while the paymasters of the United States pay only when they get the money. We have not been paid yet. Therefore, plant and sow plentifully, and you can be sure of your pay. "

I am the caretaker for the Granite Cemetery in Deerfield, NH where Captain Jonathan Johnson is buried. The gravestone to his immediate right is his wife, Nancy. The son, George is buried next to his mother. There is no chance that I will forget to place new American Flags by their markers for the men.

As for Nancy, she went the distance overcoming unspeakable tragedy. The average life expectancy in 1865 was 40. Nancy made to 94 years and five months. Somebody had to harvest the crops and take care of the remaining seven children. She deserves a new flag, too


Paul Murphy

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