Tag Archives: Christmas

25 December 1864: “This is the saddest Christmas that I have ever spent”

Item Description: Entry dated 25 December 1864, Christmas Day, from the journal of Fanny Cohen Taylor, describing Northern occupation of Savannah, Georgia.  Item Citation: Folder 46, Volume 7, Phillips and Myers Family Papers, #00596, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina … Continue reading

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31 December 1863: “I had an eggnog Christmas Eve night and a splendid dinner Christmas day.”

Item description: Letter, 31 December 1863, from James A. Graham to his mother. Item Citation: From the James A. Graham Papers #00283, Southern Historical Collection,The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Item transcription: Camp 27th No. Ca. Inf’y near Orange … Continue reading

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29 December 1863: “I cannot tell you how disappointed I was, that you were not with us at Christmas, I thought it might be the last Christmas we might ever spend in the old homestead…”

Item description: Letter, dated 29 December 1863, from Eliza Jane Lord DeRosset to her daughter Katherine Douglas DeRosset Meares (1830-1914).   [image] Item citation: From the DeRosset Family Papers #214, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Item … Continue reading

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25 December 1863: “the Boys have good time to day as it is Christmas I can not enjoy it myself…”

Item description: Letter, dated 25 December 1863, from Dexter S. Cowles to his “Dear Brother,” describing fighting conditions and weather near Vicksburg, Miss. He also discusses his difficulty communicating with family members, and notes the presence of African American regiments … Continue reading

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22 December 1863: “I have not broken the seal to my bottle of brandy yet and am going to try and hold on to it until Christmas morning, when it will be compelled to be opened”

Item Description: Letter dated 22 December 1863 from O. Wilson Barrow to his aunt discussing a care package from her. Additionally, Barrow writes about strong abolitionist sentiment in Henry County, VA, news about a loved one who was probably captured, and … Continue reading

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17 November 1863: “I hope we that we will not have any more fighting to do this winter; for I am not so fond of fighting as anybody might suppose.”

Item Description: Letter, dated 17 November 1863 from James Augustus Graham to his mother. In it, Graham describes a picket shift, an encounter with Yankees, rumors about the progress of the war, and asks for food items from his mother. Item … Continue reading

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28 December 1862: “It is said that on Friday last eleven men were shot in and around this place for desertion.”

Item description: Letter, 28 December 1862, from Thomas W. Patton, lieutenant in Company C of the 60th Regiment North Carolina Troops, to his aunt, Charlotte Kerr, Asheville, N.C.   Item citation: From the James W. Patton Papers #1739, Southern Historical Collection, … Continue reading

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25 December 1862: “The boys are in excellent spirits however not much doing in the eggnog line…”

Item description: Letter, dated 25 December 1862, from Isaac Adams Howard of Gonzalez, Tex., to his father, Dr. William Henry Howard. In this letter, Howard, of the 5th Texas Regiment, Company B, gave a graphic description of the Fredericksburg battlefield … Continue reading

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24 December 1862: “This is Christmas eve! Oh what a different mode of spending it this is from what I have been in the habbit of doing!”

Item description: Letter, 24 December 1862, from Union soldier Stephen Tippet Andrews to his beloved, Margaret (Maggie) Little. Stephen Tippet Andrews enlisted in the 85th New York Infantry Regiment on 26 August 1861. He helped organize Company F, and was mustered … Continue reading

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25 December 1861: “Today Being Christmas the Col has excused us from drill and we are trying to pass this hollyday as best we can.”

Item description: Letter, 25 December 1861, from Emmett Cole, a Union soldier in Company F, 8th Michigan Infantry Regiment, encamped at Port Royal Island, S.C., to his sister Celestia. Cole commented on Christmas in the context of war, the Charleston fire, … Continue reading

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