Tag Archives: secret messages

28 December 1861: “[Maryland] now lies prostrate & can only raise her hands clanking in chains & with one finger slyly beckon her southern friends to come to her rescue.”

Item description: Letter, 28 December 1861, to Edward Porter Alexander from an unidentified writer (later identified by Alexander as simply “Chapman”).  Item citation: From folder 9 of the Edward Porter Alexander Papers, #7, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University … Continue reading

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5 July 1861: “You need not feel in the least alarmed for me, for I candidly do not believe that any attack will be made on us at least for a long time…”

Item description: Letter, 5 July 1861, from Edward Porter Alexander to his wife Bettie. At one point Alexander describes the mobilizing Confederate forces in a coded message, written in an “unknown tongue.” Several pencil notations were written above the coded … Continue reading

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