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During my forced isolation because of the Coronavirus, I have spent a number of hours organizing my Civil War collection. In the course of this effort, I turned up a letter that I picked up several years ago and had completely forgotten. It is a short missive, but it tells a very poignant story:
Marion, VA., Nov. 12th/67
Dear Mrs. Stickney,
I have delayed acknowledging the receipt of your present much longer than I expected. I thank you very much for your kind remembrance of
me, and need not assure that I appreciate it very much.
It affords me so much pleasure to know that it was in our power to assist you, and to make your sad visit to Va. as pleasant as possible.
When spring returns, if I am here it will be a pleasure for me to deck the grave of your son with flowers. Ina and the family wish to be kindly remembered to you.
I am with many wishes for your health and happiness,
Your Friend,
Clara M. Smith
Post Address is:
Geo. P. Smith Esq.
Assessor Internal Rev.
Marion, Smyth Co., Va.
The letter was written by teenager Clara M. Smith, who lived with her family in Marion, Smyth County, Virginia. The recipient of her letter
was Abby C. Stickney, mother of Clifford Stickney, a soldier in the United States Army on occupation duty in the South who had died at Marion in October 1867.
I found the following article in the Harris Telegraph (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) October 30, 1867, which paints a tragic story:
LOVE AND GRIEF.
Died on the Way to his Wedding - The Agony of the Stricken Maiden
Lieut. Clifford Stickney died recently of yellow fever at Marion Depot, on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. For some time previous to his death he had been stationed at New Orleans but was furloughed a few days ago to go home to be married. His nuptials had been arranged to come off on the 1st inst., and every preparation had been made for their celebration. But often our most brilliant hopes are doomed to wretched fortune. Before the unfortunate officer left the infected district, the fatal fever had seized upon his system, and when he reached Marion, on his way to his home and his bride, he was unable to proceed further, and had to be put under medical treatment. For a few days it was supposed that his malady was bilious fever, and the physician at Marion, employed to attend the sick of the garrison there, attended the sufferer, and administered medicine such as the case appeared to require.
When it became evident, however, that his disease was yellow fever, Lieutenant Stickney was abandoned by his physician, and a perfect panic spread through the place. One soldier at last volunteered to wait upon him, and the post commander visited him and used every possible means to make him comfortable. When the physician arrived the patient had taken the black vomit, the last stage of the disease, and the almost certain precursor of dissolution. On Thursday morning he died, and a few hours after his eyes were closed and his heart stilled, the young lady with whom the dead man was engaged to be married, arrived with her father. It is utterly impossible to afford any idea of the agony with which she heard of his death. she stated that if she had found him insensible, and within the hour of his death, she would have been married to him, and that she considered herself as married in the sight of heaven, although their hands were never permitted to be joined.
We do not remember ever of having heard of a more distressing story of love and grief. Thinking of her anticipated happiness, and the utter betrayal that met her hopes, we are reminded of these appropriate lines of the English poet:
"The young village maid, when with flowers she dresses. Her long flowing locks on some festival day, will weep o'er thy fate, till, neglecting her tresses, she will mournfully turn from her mirror away!"
Clifford Stickney was a veteran of the Civil War, having enlisted as an officer in Company C, 72nd Illinois Infantry, on August 21, 1862. The young officer thrived in his new position, and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in March 1863 and transferred to the Signal Corps. His local newspaper made note of the promotion writing, "Lieut. Stickney is one of the most promising young officers in the service, and we are not surprised to find him assigned to a position requiring capacity of a high order." (Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1863)
During the Vicksburg Campaign, Stickney distinguished himself, and gained the notice of his superior officers. Captain O.H. Howard, Chief of the Signal Office, Department of the Tennessee, wrote in a report, "When the army entered Jackson (Miss.) the next morning by different roads, much good work was done by the officers of the corps during the engagement which took place. Lieut. Stickney with Capt. Pittman, Engineer of Genl. Sherman's Staff, were the first to enter the city and captured some twenty prisoners." The report went on to state that during the Atlanta Campaign that Stickney "...during the engagement before Atlanta, Georgia July 22d, 1864, on which occasion he behaved most gallantly continuing to work his station under a very severe fire of the enemy, transmitting messages of the most important character while imminently exposed to instant death."
By early 1865 Stickney had been transferred to the staff of Major General Andrew A. Humphreys, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. It was noted that "Lieutenant Stickney was honorably mentioned by Captain Charles L. Davis, Chief of Signal Officers, Army of the Potomac, in his report of operations covering the capture of Richmond and the surrender of General Lee." (Letters Received By Commission Branch, 1867, Clifford Stickney, Accessed on Fold3.com, March 30, 2020)
Stickney continued his rise in the army, and was promoted to major on August 7, 1865. When his volunteer regiment mustered out of service after the war ended, he decided to remain in the military and accepted an
officer's commission in the regular army. (Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861 - 1865, accessed on Ancestry.com, March 30, 2020) Stickney was assigned to Company I, 20th United States Infantry, and in 1867 he was on duty in Louisiana as supervisor of a Board of Registers. (Pension application of Abby C. Stickney, accessed on Fold3.com, March 30, 2020)
I was not able to find any information about Clifford Stickney's fiancee, but I did find a good bit of information on his mother, Abby C. Stickney, thanks to the mother's pension she filed in April 1868. She stated in her claim that she was 47 years old, lived in Albany, New York, and that she was dependent on her son for support since her husband, John Charles Stickney, was deceased. Her claim was approved, and Abby received $17 per month with back payments to October 4, 1867. (Pension Application of Abby C. Stickney, accessed on Fold3.com, March 30, 2020)"
In tracing Abby Stickney, I found her living in 1881 in London, England, with her daughter Caroline, whose husband Orville Powers was an American merchant in that city. Abby died on December 7, 1891, and is buried in Hampstead Cemetery in London. On her grave is carved the inscription, "A Beloved Mother." (1881 England Census, London District 18a, Lambeth, Brixton, ED 18a, page 20, accessed on Ancestry.com, March 20, 2020; also the Findagrave.com listing for Abby C. Stickney)
I was also fortunate enough to find in my research that a large collection of diaries, letters, and even a uniform jacket of Clifford Stickney sold at auction in December 2015. Fortunately the auction house listing is still available online, and it includes photographs of the material and some quotes from his writings. In one journal, Stickney made this observation about some soldier burials: "...The great numbers of graves of our poor soldiers was a noticeable and sad sight. They are buried along the levee, their resting places marked by a board slab on which some comrade has chiseled with a knife their name Company Regt and time of death..." (https://historical.ha.com/itm/military-and-patriotic/civil-war/clifford-stickney-shell-jacket-commission-and-archive-total-2-items-/a/6144-47170.s)
Clifford Stickney would receive a much better final resting place than those he observed during the war. At some point his body was removed to Knoxville National Cemetery in Tennessee, and he rests there to this day in grave B-3131, Row 23. I think that no better epitaph
could be written than this praise by B.F. Fisher, Chief Signal Officer, in his report on the military history of Clifford Stickney:
"Lieut. Stickney possessed in high degree the qualities requisite for the position he held: intelligence and quick comprehension combined with reticence, brave in the face of danger, patient under privations, and energetic in the performance of any duty assigned him. His actions and field service stamped him as a gentleman and a valuable and efficient officer." (Letters Received By Commission Branch, 1867, Clifford Stickney, Accessed on Fold3.com, March 30, 2020