Pettit, James M.

James M. Pettit (1833-?) was 28 years old when he enlisted in the 64th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on September 2, 1861. His father, Dr. Eber M. Pettit (1802-1885), served as a deacon in the Fredonia Baptist Church in upstate New York, Dr. Eber Pettit and his wife Euretta ran an Underground Railroad station in Versailles, New York, and were abolitionists. Eber wrote about these experiences in his memoir, Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad (1879), which he dedicated to Frederick Douglass. James Pettit and his wife Lucy were also active in the Underground Railroad. The Pettit family also operated an infirmary for orphan and destitute Indian children in Versailles. The collection of material was donated to the library archive by the Pettit family, descendants of James M. Pettit. The correspondencess describe, sometimes in great detail, the hardships of camp life during the Civil War, the horrors of battle, the Union Army, troop movements, medical facilities and Pettit's determination to survive despite illness and injury. After James Pettit entered the service, his mother Euretta wrote: "it is a day of terrible trial in our beloved country. Whatever may be your destiny and if forward you must go to battle, my prayers shall be that you go in the name and strength of God and that in Him may you put your trust." During the war, Lt. (later Captain ) Pettit was involved in a number of famous battles including Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, but throughout, as demonstrated in his letters, Pettit remained confident that he would come through safetly. "I am too much a believer in destiny to fear death on the battlefield. It will never be my fate to die there. I feel it so strongly that the intuition amounts to a certainty."

Civil War Officer.

Second lieutenant in the 64th Regiment (known as "Cattaraugus" Regiment), commissioned in November 1861. He was promoted to captain in July 1863. The Pettit family was from Versailles, New York, where they operated the Thomas Asylum for Orphans and Destitute Indian Children on the Cattaraugus Reservation. Pettit and his family were abolitionists.