The surviving Civil War letters of Henry H. Willard provide a brief glimpse of his duties and experiences in the 4th Indiana Cavalry during the Civil War. All eleven letters are addressed to his mother, and it is possible that Willard may not have been as candid with her as he might have been with another correspondent, for they are generally lacking in the "local color" of many military correspondences.
A highly literate man, Willard's letters are interesting and enjoyable. Occasionally including gossipy comments about affairs at home, they reveal comparatively little about Willard's responsibilities in the military, either as a soldier or as a functionary in the headquarters of the 14th Corps. The letters written from Kentucky during the last two months of 1862 do provide a sense of a Union cavalryman's initiation into war, including foraging for supplies, dealing with civilians, and seeing the south for the first time. A letter written in the aftermath of Stone's River (1863 January 11) includes some powerful description of the devastation of Tennessee and the grisly sights of the battlefield.
The collection includes two particularly fine letters. In the first, Willard argued that while he was prepared to employ African-Americans as laborers on fortifications, he was concerned about fitting them out for combat. The exercise, he argued, was dangerous because the south could arm ten Black men to every one at the north, and Willard was personally repelled by the thought that he might be taken prisoner and guarded by a Black man (1863 March 9). A second interesting letter, includes a good description of the progress of the Tullahoma Campaign (1863 July 6).
Willard, Henry H.
Rank: Private
Regiment: 4th Indiana Cavalry Regiment, Co. E (1862-1865)
Service: 1862 August 22-1865 June
As a private in Co. E, 4th Indiana Cavalry during the Civil War, Henry H. Willard performed some of the most unglamorous cavalry duty imaginable in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Mustering into the service late in August, 1862, a time of critical need in the Union army, the 4th Cavalry were immediately divided into two battalions and rushed to the front. Four companies were sent under the command of Maj. John A. Platter to Henderson, Ky., and the remaining companies, including Willard and Co. E, were ordered to Louisville, and from there, into the interior.
Shortly after arriving in Kentucky, the necessities of war further divided Willard's detachment, as the elusive raiders of John Morgan threatened to invade Ohio. While Willard remained in Kentucky, a portion of his battalion was ordered back into Indiana to guard the river crossings, and thereafter shadowed Morgan through northern Kentucky. Once reunited in October, the battalion continued in pursuit of Morgan, wending southward to Gallatin, Tenn., and taking part in several minor engagements. On January 6, 1863, Willard's battalion settled down for the winter in Murfreesboro, and for some time, Willard was detached to serve in the Assistant Adjutant General's office at the headquarters of the 14th Army Corps. Although he contracted an "inward fever" and lost 35 pounds, he apparently never considered seeking a discharge, and continued at his post.
On June 24, with the entire regiment once again reunited, the 4th Indiana Cavalry left Murfreesboro to take part in the Tullahoma Campaign. Although uncertain, it appears that despite his Captain's efforts to bring him back into the ranks, Willard may have continued to work for at headquarters of the 14th Corps. The regiment later went on to take part in the Chickamauga, Franklin and Nashville, and Atlanta Campaigns, remaining in Tennessee and Alabama through the conclusion of the war, up to and including the final campaign of the war against Mobile. Willard was discharged from the service in June, 1865, shortly before his regiment was mustered out.