The Civil War Letters of John S. Casement, Union General and Builder of the Union Pacific Railroad

John S. (Jack) Casement was working as a contractor for an Ohio railroad when he met Frances Jennings. In 1857 they married.  Railroad work took Casement and his brother Dan across the northeast until the Civil War broke out in 1861. Jack was appointed a major in an Ohio regiment. That August, Confederate forces surprised the battalion in which Casement served. Chaos broke out among the Union troops; most fled or were captured.  Casement restored order among the remainder and led them to safety.  In 1862 Casement served in the Shenandoah Valley against Stonewall Jackson. After his heroic actions at the Battle of Winchester, March 23, 1862, Casement was appointed colonel of the newly formed 103rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment and fought in the operations around Knoxville. He continued to lead his regiment during the first phase of the  Atlanta Campaign in 1864. During the Siege of Atlanta, he assumed command of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, XXIII Corps. His brigade held the center of the Union line at the Battle of Franklin, where he is often credited with "saving the day for the Union." He was appointed as a brevet brigadier general in January 1865 and was transferred to North Carolina along with the rest of the XXIII Corps. During the Carolinas Campaign, he took a prominent part in the Battle of Wilmington, which was his last major combat.

After the war, relying on his leadership qualities and railroad experience, Casement was contracted to build the Union Pacific portion of the Transcontinental Railroad. He hired the workers (many of whom were former military personal), gathered the materials and supplies, and went into the field. As during the war, his post was at the front, in the construction camps (which he ran like an army), at the end of the line where the work was being done, or in his car at the tail of the work train. Scrappy and hard-working, he oversaw not just the laying but the grading of the track as well. Under Casement’s leadership, the Union Pacific laid 1,087 miles of track, from Fremont, Nebraska, west to Utah where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met to form the Transcontinental Railroad. His was a magnificent achievement that compares well with the Central Pacific Railroad, which laid 690 miles. He even drove in the famous golden spike.

Frances Jennings Casement’s father was a well known abolitionist in Congress, and her husband Jack was an abolitionist as well. While building the railroad Jack was elected as a nonvoting representative to the U.S. Congress from the Wyoming Territory. Frances became acquainted with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton when they lobbied along with her husband for Wyoming statehood and women’s rights in that territory. Frances soon became a noted worker for voting and women’s rights in her own right. She founded the Painesville Equal Rights Association in 1883 and served as president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association from 1885 to 1888. She attempted to bridge some of the differences that caused dissension between the two major national suffragist societies of the time, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. These organizations united in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, incorporating many of her ideas. She was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 2001. Her influence on Jack Casement was revealed when tentatively accepting the contract from General Dodge (the then Union Pacific chief engineer), he was quoted, "I live in a democratic household, but my wife generally outvotes me."

Jack and Frances corresponded while he was away at war and later while he was building the Union Pacific. Some hundreds of letters were written, and they are of such consequence that they were showcased in Ken Burns' American Experience production, Transcontinental Railroad. With a few exceptions the Casement letters now reside at Kansas State University. The family held on to these few, and we recently obtained them directly from a descendant of Jack and Frances. There are 13 letters totaling 32 pages from him to her; one with 4 pages from her to him. Many still have their envelopes. The letters are well-written by an obviously intelligent and sometimes eloquent man, and show a deep love for each other. No wonder Ken Burns was interested.

“Our regiment was in the worst of the engagement and behaved most admirably both officers and men. They are the pride of this army. The cape to my coat is completely riddled with balls, but thank God I was not touched nor my horse…”

“We are quite anxious to hear from General Grant’s Army. We believe him to be making a grand movement which if successful will do much toward bringing this war to a speedy close. God grant that he may be successful. We have a very large army here.. Sherman’s army is rather loose on the handle. I am not a bit sorry that we have not been with them… I am not sorry for South Carolina…”

Here are excerpts from the letters:

July 29, 1861. Casement is in Western Virginia and believes “we have got secession hemmed in as far as this country is concerned.” There are “no engineers but I guess we can do it without”.

July 30, 1861. He reports that the people of West Virginia “are rushing in to take the oath of allegiance by scores. They have kissed the red nearly off my Bible.” He reports a servant as saying “‘For Lord’s sake is dese the people we comed to fight for? One good nigger knows more den all of dem.’ I think he is about right…one half of the men can’t write their own names.” On the shabbiness of the area: “Everything here is of the poorest kind, horses, hogs and cattle, dogs, men & women, all apparently off the same piece.” On race: “For you see all shades in one family, and they all seem to fare alike, except on market day, when it readily becomes apparent which blood is of the most value. Darn their skins! We have got to be missionaries, school teachers and soldiers at once in order to benefit this people a whit.” He is thinking of her. “Dearest I wish I could see you tonight and tell you how very much I love you.”

August 23, 1861. He relates that some of their men “were fired upon by the enemy from ambush killing two and wounding eight…Six of our men got away, three were wounded. The rest were captured and are still prisoners…On the same day a party of Cox’s men led the rebels into ambush and killed thirty of their men, which makes the thing nearly even.”

October 14, 1861. An anniversary letter filled with emotion. “Today is our fourth anniversary. How often I have thought of you today and contrasted our situation today with four years ago. Quite a contrast surely. But darling, one things is certain. I love you more today than I did then although I thought then that such a things was impossible…”

November 19, 1861. “The folks here expect their friends in the Southern army to spend Christmas with them. I am afraid they will be disappointed.”

February 11, 1862. “We form the brigade nearly every day to listen to speeches from our gallant Col. commanding the brigade. They are very entertaining…”

March 26, 1862. The Battle of Winchester, at which Casement won plaudits. “I have not had time to write you in some time for we have been on the tramp. We had a battle near Winchester Sunday. They attacked us and got licked. We lost a few men in killed and have a great many wounded…Company D had a few killed…Neither do I know how many of the enemy were killed but I think it over 200 and a great many wounded. We took about four or five hundred prisoners. Our regiment was in the worst of the engagement and behaved most admirably both officers and men. They are the pride of this army. The cape to my coat is completely riddled with balls, but thank God I was not touched nor my horse…”

April 4, 1862. Casement was building bridges. “Gel. Banks said to me today that bridging etc. was the solid part of war, so I was glad to know I could be useful.” On the motivation to fight, he writes, “I am a little different from most of the officers. I am not fighting for glory, consequently I have nothing to stimulate me to action but duty…” As for reconciliation, he advocates “more fighting” now, but he hopes to “again see a happy nation.”

May 2, 1862. “Shields is anxious to get out of Banks command as usual. Small men hate to be controlled by great ones. Banks is truly a great man.”

October 13, 1862. “Since this cruel war has been in existence what would I not give to take you in my arms and tell you of my love for you as I did five years ago… Would if we could be permitted to enjoy each other’s society. Let us hope that the day is not far distant that we will be permitted to live less for our country and more for ourselves…”

October 26, 1864. “I have just returned from a reconnaissance…”

April 2, 1865. The war is ending, and he can feel it. “We are quite anxious to hear from General Grant’s Army. We believe him to be making a grand movement which if successful will do much toward bringing this war to a speedy close. God grant that he may be successful. We have a very large army here.. Sherman’s army is rather loose on the handle. I am not a bit sorry that we have not been with them… I am not sorry for South Carolina…”

August 10, 1865. The war over, he is involved in cotton trading.

Frances’s letter is dated December 28, 1861. She urges him to watch his health, and says “I love you so much and think of you constantly…May God bless and protect you from temptation and danger.”