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- Lance McDonald on 26 March 1863: “Ah what changes since then…”
- Lance McDonald on 20 March 1863: “…will you do me the favor to have the boy placed in jail before he is aware that the Dr. doesn’t get him, or I fear he will run off before I can get him.”
- Lance McDonald on 17 March 1863: “I have a frail good for nothing body, but I have more heart for the work than some of these big fellows…”
- Michael Ward on 25 February 1863: “Troops have been pouring in in great numbers from North Carolina.”
- 28 January 1863: “Well, Judge, if they are our enemies we will have to admit they have fine music…” | Civil War Day by Day on 18 January 1863: “I made twelve garments last week and worked sixty-two button holes and sewed on as many buttons. Can you equal that?”
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Tag Archives: picket duty
31 March 1863: “A man in the 23rd NC deserted to the Yankees on picket…”
Item Description: Letter, of 31 March 1863, from F.J. Haywood Jr. The letter is addressed to “My Dear Captain” and relates bits of camp gossip and chatter about the sighting of a “Yankee Balloon,” a desertion across enemy lines, and … Continue reading
Posted in Southern Historical Collection
Tagged balloons, conscription, desertion, picket duty, Richmond
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18 February 1863: “Of the colored race those the nearest white are the most to be pitied they look kind of sad as tho they do not like the position they occupy”
Item Description: Letter, 18 February 1863, from Silas Everett Fales, a soldier with the 42nd Massachusetts Infantry, to his wife Mary. Fales wrote from Bayou Gentilly and then New Orleans, about army life, the climate and bustling activity in the … Continue reading
Posted in Southern Historical Collection
Tagged 42nd Massachussetts Infantry, Bayou Gentilly (La.), camp life, New Orleans, picket duty, race, Silas Everett Fales
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10 February 1863: “When we first began the life of a soldier our biscuits would have given a mule the despipsia; now rolls, light and luscious, grace our table.”
Item description: Letter, 2 February 1863, from Ruffin Thomson, 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, to his “Pa” (William H. Thomson). More about Ruffin Thomson: Ruffin Thomson was the oldest child and only son of William H. Thomson and Hannah Lavinia Thomson. He studied … Continue reading
Posted in Southern Historical Collection
Tagged 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiment, food, Fredericksburg, picket duty, Ruffin Thomson, William H. Thomson
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30 May 1862: “I sent an officer to them yesterday morning to attempt to give him some instruction. Apparently to little purpose.”
Item description: In this letter, 30 May 1862, General Joseph E. Johnston wrote to another Confederate general (possibly General Stonewall Jackson), regarding the improper behavior of cavalry pickets from the 10th Virginia Cavalry, “Wise’s Legion,” as reported by General Robert … Continue reading
Posted in Southern Historical Collection
Tagged 10th Virginia Cavalry, Col. J. Lucious Davis, Gen. Joseph Johnston, Gen. Robert E. Rodes, picket duty, Wise Legion
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9 December 1861: “It would do you good to hear the slaves tell about their masters leaving”
Item description: Letter from Emmett Cole, Company F, 8th Michigan Infantry Regiment, to his sister, Celestia. His letter describes the work of striking camp at Hilton Head; the scenery while traveling by boat on the Port Royal River to Beaufort, … Continue reading
Posted in Southern Historical Collection
Tagged 8th Michigan Infantry, camp life, food, Hilton Head, picket duty, Port Royal, slaves, South Carolina
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