Joseph M. Chambers, born into a large farming family with extensive connections in Illinois and Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Union Army at Monroe, Green County, Wis. in April 1864. The 38th Regiment was organized at Madison, Wis. and was immediately dispatched to Virginia. Joseph's uncle, Chambers V. Mussen, served in the same regiment, although in a different company. With his regiment, Chambers fought at Cold Harbor and Petersburg. Chambers's writing and accounting skills (he had attended school in Galesburg, Wis., apparently with considerable success) landed him a position of the company clerk in charge of drawing rations. In the early fall he fell ill with diarrhea and had to spend a month at a hospital. He returned briefly to his regiment, still at Petersburg, but soon dispatched to the office of the Adjutant General of the 9th Army Corps. To the great relief of his family he spent the remainder of the war in relative safety, overseeing ordnance returns.
From the description of Letters of Joseph M. Chambers, 1858-1865 ( bulk 1864-1865 ) (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 303579585
