The brigade mail boy was arrested and confined for breaking open leters. He is to be shot I reckon. #cw150

Camp near Fredericksburg

May 20/63

Deer farther and family

I take my sete this morning to let you know I am well & hope this may come to hand and find you all well. I haveint heard from home since John Sutton came back. I am looking for George every minite. I think he must be coming. I wood like to see him so I cood her from home. I am uneasy about home. Maby I will git a leter from home this eavning.

I havint much news to write to you. Every thing is quiet along the lines but I don’t know how long it will be so. We was revewed yesterday by old Gen. Lee and Lieut General A.P. Hill. The hole division was in the field. You will her from it in a few days. Hill is promoted to lieutenant gen. He is in G. Jacksons place. He is a fine looking man.

They have run in lots of troops from NC for what I cant tell. We will cross the river which I expect we will be fore long. I hope not for I don’t want to cross the river if we was too so many wood be killed in crossing the river and will cut us to pieces on the bridge. But if they say to go we will go and I think we will hafta stay her as long as we lived. When you her about the battle at chancellorsvill whar we whip old fighthing Joe and can whip him agin if he comes over the River any mor.

Farther you must write to me and write me all the news and report how you have got along about stilling for a can her and behave. I wood like to know all about it for I can’t be satisfied till I her from you. Harris cood not tell me anything.

I will wiat till the mail comes to send this. If I don’t get a leter from hom, I wrote this one and it makes 4 since the fight. The brigade mail boy was arrested and confined for breaking open leters. He is to be shot I reckon. He belongs to the 22 NC Reg. He stold lots of my mail. The mail has come and I got a leter from may but none from home. I hope I will git one to read from you! I will close this time.

Your absent son till deth

L.W. Griffin

Source: Christopher Watford, ed. The Civil War in North Carolina: Soldiers’ and Civilians’ Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865, Volume 2. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003).  Original in G. W. Griffin Papers, North Carolina State Archives.

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Without a lasting peace I do not want to return home, and nor would I want to do so while I am able to do duty. #cw150

May 18^th 1863

Dear Father and Mother

I write you a few lines. I am well but some what tired. I just back from Jones borrow at 3 oclock last night. I did not sleep any for 2 nights. My self and my company is giting along very well expect some 3 or 4 sick. I got a letter form home to day which informed me that the Family was sick with the measles. I can not git to go home now but I think I will before long. I was sorry to here that you was ailing and I hope you will soon git beter.

Father the service is hard on me but I stand it as well as any of my men and had harder days before me. We are still under Gen. Jackson  & I think we will be ordered back to the railroad. The news this morning is that the yanhkeys have taken Jackson Mississippi but it is thought to be a union lie. We gained a great victory at Fredersburg and and we take it that we got 40000 stands of arms & routed the yanks and drove them back across the river

Father I herd form David yesterday. He is giting well fast as can go about and will soon be able to ride. Manuel Stetson is here an will go on in a few days. We are soon looking for Eli Ingram badly. I had two men deserted the other day. They were caught and will be tride by a Gen. Court Martial. This policy will be adopted here after – all men absent without Leave this is arrest & do no come in on there own will be tride. Without a lasting peace I do not want to return home, and nor would I want to do so while I am able to do duty.

They yankeys cant whip us nor starve us out. Wheat crops is beter than usual & thar is a very large crop of corn planted. It looks promising We understand that Gen. Price has got an army in massouri of 60000 men & provisions plenty.

Father I have not time to write more now. I f you here from Joshuas boys please let me know and if some of them has bin killed at fredersburg. Let me know how you and mother is giting along. I sent you some things by Mark which I hope you have got. I know all you want to write soon. I have not had a leter from you sence I left cold creek.

Your son as ever

S. Whitaker

Source: Christopher Watford, ed. The Civil War in North Carolina: Soldiers’ and Civilians’ Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865, Volume 2. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003).  Original in Stephen Whitaker Papers, North Carolina State Archives.

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I am getting use to all kinds of hard ships in warfare & though I say it myself I know nothing of cowardice #cw150

Camp Lee Richmond Va

May the 15^th 1863

Mr. Wm. Proffit

Dear Father

I take this kind opportunity of writing you a few lines which will inform you that I am again on the southern soil, well and doing finely. I am sorry to inform you that I unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy on Sunday the 3^rd inst. I will now try to tell you how it happened as we were on the march to the battlefield.

I with another corporal were appointed to guard the flag, one of the most dangerous positions in battle. On Saturday night there fell a bomb in my company & exploded in 4 or 5 feet of me & wounded the flag bearer and five or six of my co taking off one mans leg & wounding my lieutenant. When the flag of my country fell to the earth I grabbed it with my own hands. My colonel told me to throw down my gear and hold on to my flag which I did. That night the Yankees charged on us but we soon repulsed them. The next morning we made a charge on them & routed them from their first breast works & proceeded to the second and was ordered to charge them which part of us did. I carried the flag to the breastworks. We routed a long line of them & held our position but the 28^th NC Regt on our right failed to charge them. The enemy commenced firing upon our lines and gave them a chance to retake their works again which gave us no chance to escape. I lay there with two lines of battle cross firing at me at a short distance & three batteries throwing grape at me no more than 3 or 4 hundred yards distant. The first I knew the yanks were in five steps when two jumped over the breast works & grabbed the flag out of my hand & said to me fall in John ha ha ha. John fell in but did no like to do it.

They took us to Washington and kept us about 13 days. They treated us with great respect, gave us plenty to eat. When they brought us from Washington we came down the Potomac through Chesipeak bay by fortress Monroe, then up the james river to citty point near Petersburg where we landed. We came here to camp Lee Richmond last night. I do not know when we will be carried to our regiments but I suppose shortly. I am unable to say what became of Alfred and William. Alfred give out the night before I was taken. We had had nothing to eat for a day or so & marched hard which made him sick & he was sent back to the rear. I think that nothing but fatigue & hunger was the matter. William was in the fight some of his co is here as prisoners. They say that he was not hurt the last they saw of him & I hope he was not. My Col was killed & my Lieut  Col was wounded & the great Gen. Jackson was mortally wounded by his own men & is now dead.

Father I am getting use to all kinds of hard ships in warfare & though I say it my self I know nothing of cowardice & God forbid that I ever should. The lord has been very merciful to me & I fear I have no a heart to praise him as I ought. I want you & all my friends to remember at a throne of grace. I will no close. Give my warmest love to mother, Sis and all my friends. Write soon & direct to Co D 18^th Reg. NCT, Richmond Va, I remain yours with great respect.

J. Proffit

Source: Christopher Watford, ed. The Civil War in North Carolina: Soldiers’ and Civilians’ Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865, Volume 2. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003).  Original in Proffitt Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, UNC-CH.

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Gen. Jackson is dead.We have lost one of our best Generals. A nation now mourns his loss. #cw150

Thursday 14^th [May 1863]

Harrie went to Asheville this morning. It rained a little but cleared off before dinner. I had the headache all day & was quite sick after dinner with it. Harrie came back about 5 o’clock. He got the papers which give a full account of the Fredericksburg Fight. Gen. Jackson is dead. Died from pneumonia & his wounds. He was wounded by our men through mistake. We have lost one of our best Generals. A nation now mourns his loss. Harrie complained of his lungs some after he came back. He says he can’t ride horseback.

Friday 15^th [May 1863]

Mail brought nothing new but four letters as Harrie brought the mail yesterday. My head not entirely well but a great deal better. I took some pills this morning. Aunt Patsey spent the day here. Warped the thread for the children’s dresses. It is 4 of purple (dyed with Willow root) & 1 of white. I crocheted some after dinner as my head was easy nearly.

Source: Diary of Cornelia Henry in Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journal and Letters of the Henry Family. Clinard, Karen L. and Russell, Richard, eds. (Asheville, NC: Reminiscing Books, 2008).

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Rest assured that I value my life too highly to throw it away uselessly. #civilwar150

Camp Gregg, Va.,

May 14^th, 1863

 

My dear Wife

Your letter of the 10^th came today, and I was much gratified to hear that you continue so well and that Pamela has completely recovered. Honey, I do not laugh at you as much as you seem to think, and be assured that your appearance would have no influence in preventing me from writing for you to come. I am not accustomed to tease my wife in that condition. You should come on the first time it is safe. I was very much tempted to write for you as soon as I got back here, but the great uncertainty of our movements prevented.

My health darling is very excellent, and I take as good care of myself as possible. Rest assured that I value my life too highly to throw it away uselessly. Honey it looks little probably that I should outlive you to see your wishes carried out, but if such should be the case, no one could be mentioned who I should prefer to take charge of our children, but you know Pamela may be expected to marry some of these days, and some one else’s wishes would have to be consulted. Tell Pamela that I am surprised that she should prove so false to poor browbeaten little Turner. That now she has placed her affections upon Dorsey and desert Turner, I do not know what the dear will do, for you never though as much of him as of Dorsey. Poor little fellow, all seem to be deserting him.  I love him as dearly as a father ever did his child, not that I do not love Dorsey as I should for I think a great deal of him, and always think of them together and not Turner alone as you sometimes seem to think.

The Yankee papers are beginning to confess a great defeat, and some of them say it will be some long time before they can try it over. Do not believe all you see about the last words of Jackson, for some designing person is trying to injure Gen. Hill by saying that he frequently said that he wanted Ewell to have his Corps. After it became apparent that he would die, he was delirious most of if not all of the time. It is strange what a jealousy exists towards A.P. Hill and this Division, and for what cause I cannot see, unless it is because he and it have been so successful. I hope to stick to him for he sticks to me.

The next move will probably be here and on Richmond, from the White House simultaneously. The White House is on the Pamunkey just above its entrance in the bay that runs up by Yorktown.

I have sent for my box and will probably get it Saturday

[letter is incomplete]

 

 

Source: William Hassler, ed., One of Lee’s Best Men: The Civil War Letters of General William Dorsey Pender (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).

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Woke up this morning with a sense of a heavy misfortune. Asked myself what had happened & remembered that Jackson was dead! #cw150

May 12, 1863

Woke up this morning with a sense of a heavy misfortune. Asked myself what had happened & remembered that Jackson was dead! Omitted to write yesterday that my nephew Thomas Jones had brought his wife to fathers. We go up to see her this morning. I shall offer her a home until the war is ended — for she cannot return into the lines of the hated enemy & since Hill’s repulse at Washington, they have grown more stringent & oppressive. The papers are full of McClellan’s & Burnside testimony respecting the command & conduct [of] the Army of the Potomac. I take little interest in any of them, or anything they say. They only offer an additional proof, if proof were wanting, that neither Lincoln, Halleck, Stanton, McClellan, Burnside, or Hooker understand the first principles of a gentleman. Deficient alike in self respect & respect for each other, they know not what is due themselves from their subordinates, or their subordinates from their own hands. Faugh! they disgust me, a set of cold blooded quill drivers. They have neither the instincts or the impulses of gentlemen.

Source: Edmondston, Catherine Ann Devereux, 1823-1875, Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston 1860-1866. Crabtree, Beth G and Patton, James W., (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1979). http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/478.html

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I have no news of much importance to write you only General Jackson departed this life yesterday.#cw150

May the 11^th 1863

S.T. Jackson

Dear Brother

I take the present opportunity of dropping you a few lines to let you know that I have not forgotten you. If you have me it seames that you don’t intend to write to me any more or if you do I don’t get your letters. I want to know what is the matter that you don’t write or have I done any thing to keep you from writing. If so let me know what it is so no more on that subject at present.

I am well at present and hope these few lines will come safe to hand and find you and all the family well and Coles & Family. I have no news of much importance to write you only General Jackson departed this life yesterday. He rec’d a wound in the last battle at Fredericksburg in his left arm. Our own men done it but I heard today that it was a bumshell that struck and that he never recovered from the shock.

It is a great loss to us and I fear that it will bother us to find a man to fill his place though I hope we will and soon (god can give us a man to stand tall in his place). I hope it is for the better if it is gods will for us to gain our independence it is all right. I saw about 2000 yankey prisoners yesterday going to Richmond. There has went some 5000 by us to Richmond and a good many others so no more on that subject.

You need not send them shoes that I wrote to you for I have bought a pair since and don’t need them at present. So I must close for the present by saying write soon and direct your letters to Richmond Va 26 Regt NC Troops Co H General Pettigrews Brigade. Give my love to mother and Martha and all the family and Cole and family. So no more at present only I remain your loving Brother

J.A. Jackson

Source: Christopher Watford, ed. The Civil War in North Carolina: Soldiers’ and Civilians’ Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865, Volume 1 and original in Richard A. Cole papers, North Carolina State Archives.

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unfolded the paper & I saw that it was in mourning. I felt that Jackson was dead! & so it proved! #cw150

May 11, 1863

Went out Hascosea after dinner with Mr E on horseback. Everything is terribly backward there. The garden wants work & the flowers resent the neglect by refusing to bloom. A little girl ran out from the house of one of our neighbours & stopped us to ask for some flowers for their May party next Friday. Promised to send them, much to her gratification. Ah! me what happiness have May Queen’s conferred on me in times gone by & what a contrast to the times does a Queen of May now present.

The mail came in after tea & heavy news it brought us. A chill went through my heart as Mr Edmondston unfolded the paper & I saw that it was in mourning. I felt that Jackson was dead! & so it proved! He died of pneumonia on Sunday the 10th, eight days after the amputation of his arm, died in the fulness of his reputation, the brightness of his glory, a Christian patriot, unselfish, untiring, with no thought but for his country, no aim but for her advancement. I have no heart to write more, tho the paper is full of news. I care for nothing but him. It is as tho a Divine voice has said again “Little children keep yourselves from idols.”  He was the nation’s idol, not a breath even from a foe has ever been breathed against his fame. His very enemies reverenced him. God has taken him from us that we may lean more upon Him, feel that He can raise up to Himself instruments to work His Divine Will.

Source: Edmondston, Catherine Ann Devereux, 1823-1875, Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston 1860-1866. Crabtree, Beth G and Patton, James W., (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1979). http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/478.html

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I hear that Gen’l Jackson is thought to be in a very serious condition. He will be a great loss to the country #cw150

Camp Gregg, Va.,

May 9^th, 1863

My dearest Wife

I had promised myself to write you a long letter tonight but fear I shall not as my shoulder is a little stiff.  I have been a little under the weather yesterday and today, but feel better tongith since the medicine I took operated.

I hear that Gen’l Jackson is thought to be in a very serious condition. He has pneumonia contracted by wrapping himself in wet towels after he was wounded. He will be a great loss to the country and it is devoutly to be hoped that he may be spared to the country. Some think in his absence Stuart will be made Lt. General, but I hope not. Rhodes it is said has been promoted. The Yankee loss is much greater than I expected. We will probably get from the battlefields at least 25,000 muskets, 10,000 of which probably belonged to our men that were killed, wounded and straggled.

I got today 1 doz. white handkerchiefs brought from Baltimore. I was very sorry to hear that Pamela was sick. I hope she is better. I am so glad that your health is much improved. Honey, excuse this short letter. God bless you my dear wife… My love to all.

Your loving Husband

Source: William Hassler, ed., One of Lee’s Best Men: The Civil War Letters of General William Dorsey Pender (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1999).

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grant us a speedy peace on honorable terms is my prayer Oh! most merciful God. #cw150

Friday 8^th [May 1863]

We have had another victory at or near Fredericksburg Va. Gen. Jackson had an arm broke. We lost on Gen., killed. Paxton & Gen’s AP Hill & Heath were wounded. I have not seen the casualties yet. The loss on our side not so great as on the yanks. Oh that they would see the error of their ways & turn from their wickedness before too late. I would ask Thy blessing Oh Ruler on high on us as a nation, give our soldiers courage & endow our rulers with wisdom from on high. May they be enabled to govern the men with kindness & grant us a speedy peace on honorable terms is my prayer Oh! most merciful God.

Source: Diary of Cornelia Henry in Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journal and Letters of the Henry Family. Clinard, Karen L. and Russell, Richard, eds. (Asheville, NC: Reminiscing Books, 2008).

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