2023-08 Raynors HCA Live
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/26/2023
This letter was written by Rev. John Williams Proudfit, D. D. (1803-1870), a retired professor of Greek and Latin at Rutgers University, who volunteered to serve as the union army chaplain at Fort Wood on Bedloe's Island-now the site of the Statue of Liberty-where he ministered to the needs of thousands of wounded or sick soldiers.Rev. Proudfit wrote the letter to Temple Edwards (1816-1875), a cabinet maker and master carpenter of Clay township, Wayne county, Indiana. Temple Edwards and his wife Rebecca Pierce (1819-1914) were the parents of at least seven children--the eldest being their son Edom H. Edwards (1841-1865). According to family records, Edom initially entered the war in the 16th Indiana Infantry but was discharged for disability after only three months. In November 1863, he enlisted in Co. K, 124th Indiana Infantry and died of typhoid fever on 15 March 1865.Datelined, Fort Wood, Bedloe's Island New York Harbor March 17, 1865, 3pp. to Temple Edwards, Esq. In full, "It becomes my painful duty to inform you that Edwin [Edom] H. Edwards, Co. B [K], 124 Indiana Vols. departed this life at this post yesterday of Typhoid fever. Your name has been given me as that of his nearest relative. I beg to tender to you and to his other bereaved relatives my sincere sympathy in the calamity which it is my duty to announce to you. He was admitted into the hospital of this post on the 12th and died on the 15th. I can assure his sorrowing friends that he had the attendance of skillful surgeons and kind nurses and everything to soothe his sufferings and promote his recovery. I was in the hospital almost or quite every day and spoke the words of Christian counsel & comfort in his hearing, accompanied by prayer. His death was so sudden that I was not with him at the moment and none of his nurses have been able to report to me anything that he said in his last hours. He was, in fact, extremely feeble & occasionally delirious & passed away in unconsciousness. His funeral service has just been performed & his interment will take place in Cypress Hills Cemetery where the place of his burial will be marked so as to be recognized by his friends. May God support you all under the sorrow of his early departure & enable us all to accept the grace of that divine Redeemer who saith, "I am the Resurrection and the Life!" Respectfully & truly yours, - J. Proudfit, Chaplain, USA at Fort Wood"
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.