Tag Archives: South Carolina

18 April 1862: “…at this time, out of 800 men who formerly were active firemen 500 of them are in active service.”

Item description: Letter, dated 18 April 1862, from Moses Henry Nathan, Chief Engineer of the Charleston Fire Department, to William Porcher Miles, member of the Confederate House of Representatives and chair of its Military Affairs Committee. Nathan writes to ask … Continue reading

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15 April 1862: “What are our forts worth – what safety can we feel even for Sumter?”

Item description: Letter, dated 15 April 1862, from William Henry Trescot to William Porcher Miles. In the letter, Trescot expresses his concerns over the defense of Charleston Harbor. William H. Trescot was a diplomat, legislator, and military officer born in Charleston, … Continue reading

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17 March 1862: “I had heared of his death before your last letter reached me, and have written since, but Celestia when I saw the curly lock of hair, I had to weep again…”

Item description: In a 9 March 1862 letter that we recently featured, Union soldier Emmett Cole wrote to his sister Celestia that he had just learned from a mutual acquaintance that Emmett and Celestia’s younger brother Edgar, who was too … Continue reading

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11 March 1862: “Dear Charles don’t apply the torch to your barns. it is too dreadful and I cannot but think it unwise. What God bestows upon man for subsistence should not be recklessly disposed of in destruction.”

Item description: Letter, 11 March 1862, believed to be from John Gough North, Badwell Plantation (S.C.) to his son-in-law Charles L. Pettigrew of Scuppernong, N.C. North writes of the scarcity of provisions, the movement of slaves, and cautions Charles against … Continue reading

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10 March 1862: “Subordination to Lee is one thing, subordination to Pemberton an entirely different thing.”

Item description: In this letter, dated 10 March 1862, William Henry Trescot, a South Carolina state legislator, wrote to William Porcher Miles, a member of the Confederate Congress, to complain of the injustice of Brigadier General Roswell S. Ripley being … Continue reading

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6 March 1862: “We are now in the midst of a great calamity”

Item description: Entry, dated 6 March 1862, from the diary of Margaret Ann Meta Morris Grimball. In this entry, Grimball writes from Charleston that eighty-four of the slaves had left Grove Plantation and run away to Edisto, causing her husband, … Continue reading

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23 February 1862: “[the General] issued an order that we should appear today with our hair cut short. we thought if we wanted us to shear our hair short he must set the example, for he is the most frizzly headed old scamp in the whole Brigade.”

Item description:  Letter, 23 February 1862, from Emmett Cole to his sister Celestia. Item citation: From folder 2 of the Emmett Cole Letters #5002-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Item transcription: [Editor’s note: … Continue reading

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5 February 1862: “…if they succeed in pulling up enough of the stoccade to let the old Wabash crawl through, you may bet your boots that old Pulaski’s Bomb proof Parapets will shake like a Michigander with the ague.”

Item description: In this letter, Union soldier Emmett Cole writes to his brother Edgar, who is at home in Barry County, Michigan. Emmett discusses his feelings about death, saying that “I am resolved whereever I may be to go without … Continue reading

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2 January 1862: “…yesterday was New Year down here in Dixie and one I shall never forget…”

Item description: Letter, 2 January 1862, from Emmett Cole, a Union soldier in Company F, 8th Michigan Infantry Regiment, encamped at Port Royal Island, S.C., to his sister describing the Battle of Port Royal Ferry, fought on New Year’s Day … Continue reading

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31 December 1861: “The fire which has swept through our dear old city is indeed an appalling calamity.”

Item description: Letter from “Uncle Henry” to Carie (Carey) Pettigrew about the Charleston fire, 31 December 1861         Item citation: from folder 249 in Pettigrew Family Papers #592, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina … Continue reading

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