![\"HardshipHardtack\"](\"http:\/\/www.bassettbranches.org\/newsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/HardshipHardtack.jpg\")
<\/a>\nHardship and Hardtack
\nBy CF Duprey<\/p>\n
Richard Bassett leaves his farm, his wife and two little boys to join the army in order to preserve the Union, not knowing that four weeks into his service, he’ll be a prisoner of war and unfairly branded a coward.<\/p>\n
Based on the letters the very real Richard sent home to his wife during his first year of service, HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK details his struggle to survive in a time of turmoil.
\nLike most Northerners, Richard Bassett expected the war between the Union and the rebel states to be over quickly. When it isn\u2019t and President Lincoln puts out another call for volunteers, Richard leaves his farm, his wife and his two young boys and goes to do his part. Erasmus, his younger brother, goes with him on the grand adventure that is preserving the Union.<\/p>\n
Only, a month into their service, still green and only partially trained, they\u2019re thrust onto the front lines of a battle that will brand them forever. When their general surrenders them to the Confederates, Richard wonders if he\u2019ll ever see home or battle again.<\/p>\n
HARDSHIP AND HARDTACK follows the 126th New York Volunteer\u2019s first year of service in the Union Army and is based on the letters the very real Richard Bassett sent home to his wife, Mary. He details life as a prisoner on parole, their subsequent return to active service and the painful waiting as their names are dragged through the mud and their reputations unduly tarnished. It is not until nearly a year has passed that redemption comes in the form of another battle\u2014at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Richard was featured in two earlier newsletters. The first showed entries from a diary from his brother Erasmus.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.bassettbranches.org\/newsletters\/2006\/200609\/200609.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n The second entry features Richard later in life.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.bassettbranches.org\/newsletters\/2011\/12\/201112.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Richard Allen Bassett descends from #6B William Bassett of Connecticut as follows: William Bassett and wife Hannah (Dickerman) Ives John Bassett (b. 1652) and wife Mercy Todd Joseph Bassett (b. 1697) and wife Miriam Bradley Joel Bassett (b. 1733) and … Continue reading