The Letters of Augustus Hesse

Augustus Hesse - Priv.; Res. Weymouth; farmer; 29; enl. Aug. 5 1862; must. Aug. 10, 1862; wounded July 2, 1863, at Gettysburg, Penna., as Corpl.; must out June 6, 1865, as Sergt.

• June 16, 1861

• August 22, 1862

• September 8, 1862

• January 4, 1863

• January 6, 1863

• January 26, 1863

• March 6, 1863

• March 26, 1863

• May 31, 1863

• June 16, 1863

• June 21, 1863

• July 23, 1863

• August 2, 1863

• September 3, 1863

• September 20, 1863

The letters on this web site were written by Augustus Hesse, a soldier (eventually a Sergeant) in the 9th Battery Mass. Vols. Most of these letters were written to the Weston sisters. The Weston sisters (Maria Weston Chapman, Caroline, Anne Warren, Deborah, Lucia, and Emma) are well-known abolitionists (especially Maria) from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Their brothers were Dr. Harvey Eliphaz Weston and Richard Warren Weston. The letters eventually came into the possession of Richard Warren Weston's daughter, Helen Weston, who did most of the collecting of the letters in her aunts' possession. Some letters were burned, according to something Peveril Meigs, Jr. wrote, "These were too personal ones."