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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Comer Family Papers #167-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of Southern women and their families in the 19th century, Series A.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Mills B. Lane of Savannah, Ga., before 1940.

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• Barbour County (Ala.)--Economic conditions.
• Barbour County (Ala.)--Social life and customs.
• Comer family.
• Comer, Catherine Lucinda, d. 1898.
• Comer, Hugh Moss, 1842-1900.
• Comer, John Wallace, 1845-1919.
• Confederate States of America Army of Tennessee.
• Confederate States of America Army--Military life.
• Families--Alabama--Social life and customs.
• Lumber trade--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Mothers and sons--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Plantations--Alabama--Barbour County.
• Slavery--Alabama.
• Slaves--Photographs.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Photographs.
• Students--Georgia--History--19th century.
• Widows--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Women--Alabama--Social life and customs.

• Braxton Bragg Comer Papers (#168)
• John Fletcher Comer Journal (#1714-z)
• Laura Beecher Comer Papers (#169-z)

John Fletcher Comer (1811-1858) was a cotton planter and owner of a lumberyard and corn mill in Barbour County, Ala. He married Catharine Lucinda Drewry (d. 1898) in 1841, and they had six sons: Hugh Moss Comer (1842-1900); John Wallace Comer (1845-1919); St. George Legare Comer (1847-1870); U.S. senator and Alabama governor Braxton Bragg Comer (1848-1919); John Fletcher Comer, Jr. (1854-1927); and Edward Trippe Comer (1856-1927). There was also at least one daughter in the family. Following John Fletcher Comer's death in 1858, the family continued farming and operating the corn mill and lumberyard. During the Civil War, John Wallace Comer served in the reserves of the Army of Tennessee.

Nineteen letters dated between 1860 and 1864 and undated to and from various members of the Comer family. The earliest letters are from Catharine Lucinda Comer in Cowikee, Barbour County, Ala., to her son Hugh Moss Comer, who was attending school in Warrior Stand, Ala., describing family and neighborhood life, and giving details of the family businesses and finances and news of the farm and slaves. In 1861, Hugh Moss Comer received a letter from schoolmaster J. A. Arnold describing his new school's rates, living arrangements, and course of study. Hugh Moss Comer then enrolled in Arnold's school in Polk County, Ga., where he continued to received letters from his mother and his brothers, keeping him informed about the family and neighborhood, and mentioning the advent of the Civil War.

During the Civil War, Catharine Lucinda Comer received two undated letters from her brother P. A. Drewry, who listed the wounded soldiers in the regiment from their neighborhood and kept her informed about the condition of her son, John Wallace Comer, also a Confederate soldier. John Wallace Comer wrote several letters to his mother and his sister, describing the death of his corps commander, Leonidas Polk, at Pine Mountain, Ga.; his own wound and recovery; and the heavy fighting during the New Hope Church campaign in Georgia in 1864. A family friend also wrote to the Comer family in 1862, describing the plight of the Army of Tennessee and criticizing General Braxton Bragg's Kentucky campaign ("I don't think that ole Brag ever ought to have control of anything withought it was som ole woman chickens. This was mor mens lives lost by that retreat than if we had fought the yankes").

Undated items include a poem about a faithless sweetheart and a letter from Hugh Moss Comer to Catharine Lucinda Comer about having shoes made for him. There is also a photograph of John Wallace Comer in Civil War uniform with his slave, Burrell.

• P-167/1