MS - 009: Ambrose Henry Hayward Papers

Processed by: Melodie Foster
April 2000

Provenance:
Purchased from Argosy Books Stores, Inc. of New York City, April 1968.

Biography:
Ambrose Henry Hayward (1840-1864) was a native of North Bridgewater, Massachusetts. At the start of the Civil War he was working as a needle maker in Philadelphia where he joined Company D of the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Hayward enlisted on his 21st birthday, May 21, 1861, and was mustered in as a corporal on June 28. He was promoted to 2nd Sergeant on December 1, 1862 and nominated for a Medal of Honor for his actions at Antietam and Chancellorsville. Hayward reinlisted December 24, 1863 and was made 1st Sergeant on January 1, 1864. He died on June 19, 1864 in the hospital at Chattanooga, Tennessee, of a leg wound received in the Battle of Pine Knob, Georgia, on June 15, 1864.

He was survived by his parents (Ambrose and Hannah Hayward), sister (Hannah C. Hayward) and five brothers (Augustus, Melville (of the 7th NY), Albert, Julius and John Hayward), and is buried in the National Cemetery at Chattanooga in grave 231.

The 28th Pennsylvania, known as the Goldstream Regiment, participated in a number of the largest battles of the Civil War including 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Lookout Mountain. The 28th served primarily in Maryland and northern Virginia until September 1863 when it moved south to Alabama, Tennessee and finally Georgia, where it took part in Kennesaw Mountain, the Sieges of Atlanta and Savannah, and Sherman's March to the Sea. From January to April 1865 the 28th participated in the campaign of the Carolinas and was present for Johnston's surrender before marching to Washington. The company was mustered out July 18, 1865.

Scope and Content Notes:
The Ambrose Henry Hayward Collection consists primarily of correspondence from the period April 14, 1861 through August 17, 1864. The bulk of the letters were written by A.H. Hayward to his father, sister and brothers, but the collection includes 3 letters written by Melville Hayward of the 7th New York (6/22/1862, 7/10/1862, 7/23/1862), letters from Henry's commanding officers regarding his service and four letters regarding Henry's death.

Also included in the collection are several newspaper clippings about the 28th Pennsylvania, Hayward's 1862 promotion to Sergeant, and 19 envelopes addressed to Mr. Ambrose, Mr. Albert, Mr. John and Miss Hannah C. Hayward of North Bridgewater, MA and to Mr. Augustus Hayward of New York City.

All letters have transcriptions, though many are slightly inaccurate. The collection is arranged chronologically. The letters provide firsthand accounts of camp life, major battles and minor skirmishes during the Civil War as experienced by a high-spirited and patriotic Union soldier.