Lakewood In The Civil War Letters Home To Rockport, Part 1
The Lakewood Historical Society continues to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with a series of articles focused on Rockport Township (now Lakewood) during that time. Corporal Nathan Hawkins wrote a series of letters home during the Civil War. The letters provide a fascinating look into the life of a Rockport soldier during the Civil War.
Nathan Hawkins of Rockport Township lived on a farm with his wife, Lucy Romp Hawkins, and his three daughters on Lorain Road, in what is now Fairview Park. Nathan’s parents, also of Rockport, were known to be abolitionists whose home on Lorain Road was rumored to be a station on the Underground Railroad.
When Nathan was 30 years old he enlisted in Co. G of the 103rd O.V.I. and rose to the rank of corporal. Nathan felt it was his patriotic duty to fight to preserve the union when he enlisted but wasn’t sure how he felt about fighting for the freedom of slaves. Later, as he experienced more of the war and saw the effects of slavery in the South, he was convinced that abolishing slavery was the right thing to do. In his strongest statements regarding his feelings about the injustices of the day, he wrote, “the more I see of slavery, the more I curse it...since seeing slavery and its consequences I have become an abolitionist but I believe there is a way to settle this matter without any further bloodshed.”
Nathan frequently wrote his wife Lucy, sometimes two or three times a week. He eloquently expresses concerns for his family and his Lorain Road farm, and discusses the politics of the war. He was torn between his duty to his country and the responsibilities to his family at home. He writes of missing his three little girls, Libbie, Carrie and Nettie, and questions Lucy about the progress of the crops and his parents’ health. He craves news from home and about the war and anxiously looks forward to receiving letters and newspapers.
Sadly, Nathan Hawkins did not survive the war. On January 19, 1864, he was captured near Dandridge, Tennessee, along with fellow Rockporter Ansel Jordan. Both died in Andersonville Prison of typhoid fever in 1864.
On the day of his capture, the Confederate army advanced through Union lines. Despite orders from his captain to retreat, Nathan Hawkins stayed behind in camp with two ill friends, Ansel Jordan and Adam Miller. After the incident, Captain Pickands wrote to Lucy:
“On the night of the 19th our Red & Brig was ordered to the front from Dandridge where heavy skirmishing was taking place with Longstreet’s advance. Adam Miller and Ansel Jordan, privates of my Co, were quite unwell and were ordered to remain at Camp & only move out in case the wagon train was ordered to the rear, and in the event to accompany the train. Corporal N.W. Hawkins remained in Camp with them without my knowledge. At 9 o'clock P.M. the train was ordered to the rear and these men with others who were in camp were told the army was falling back but it seems they disregarded the warning and in all probability remained where they were…For several days I entertained the hope that the missing men would come in, trusting that they had eluded the foe and were working their way out of his lines but that they were captured is now almost beyond doubt...”
Lucy did not learn of Nathan’s death until after the war. Nathan’s gravesite is located at the Andersonville Prison Cemetery. His family placed a stone in what is now Fairview Park Cemetery as a memorial to his life and Civil War service. Nathan’s original letters have survived and are preserved in the archives of the Olmsted Historical Society.
2011 is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War--an appropriate time for the Lakewood Historical Society to consider Rockport Township’s participation in the war. For more information on Lakewood’s fascinating history, go to www.lakewoodhistory.org