Monthly Archives: April 2013

30 April 1863: “I would not therefore encumber myself with artillery, but would take the best guns and horses. Use however your judgment.”

Item description: Letter, dated 30 April 1863, from Robert E. Lee to Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. According to a note pasted on the letter, it was Lee’s last official letter to Jackson prior to the Battle of Chancellorsville. Jackson was wounded on 2 May … Continue reading

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29 April 1863: “Today Genl Lee came over to my position and we had a long con-versation with each other…”

Item Description: Letter, dated 29 April 1863, from General Lafayette McLaws, a Confederate officer from Savannah, Georgia. It it he writes to his wife, Emily Allison Taylor McLaws, discussing the Chancellorsville campaign, relating a story of a North Carolina regiment … Continue reading

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28 April 1863: “Warm and rainy. Our guard is the same, however, rain or no rain.”

Item description: Brief entry, dated 28 April 1863, from Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass., Dep’t of No. Carolina, an account, written by John Jasper Wyeth of Co. E, of the experiences of the 44th Massachusetts … Continue reading

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27 April 1863: Drawing of the U.S.S. Steamer Allison, by Herbert E. Valentine

Item description: Drawing, dated 27 April 1863, of the U.S.S. Monitor, drawn by Herbert E. Valentine, a private in Company F of the 23rd Massachusetts Volunteers, who served in the United States Army between 1861 and 1864 in eastern Virginia, North … Continue reading

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26 April 1863: “…we are in the best quarters we have had since leaving Boston, so we ought not to grumble.”

Item description: Diary entry, dated 26 April 1863, by John J. Wythe, who served in Co. E of the 44th Massachusetts Volunteers. He describes his accommodations (a house on Broad Street) in New Bern, North Carolina, during the Union Army’s … Continue reading

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25 April 1863: Nine iron clad Monitors attacked Fort Sumter and the other defences of Charleston on the 10th and were signally defeated

Item description: Diary entry, April 25, 1863 of David Schenck (1835-1902). Item citation: From folder 4 (volume 3) of the David Schenck Papers #652, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Item transcription: The … Continue reading

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24 April 1863: “Every day serves to increase my anxiety to exchange my present service for some other less laborious and equally necessary branch.”

Item description: Letter, dated April 24th, 1863 from Ruffin Thompson to his father, William H. Thompson.  In it he recounts details of camp life and his failed attempts to transfer to a less physically taxing position. Item citation: From folder … Continue reading

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23 April 1863: “…yesterday I went down to the river and ketched some fish and I fride them for breakfast so I had good breakfast…”

Item Description: Letter, dated 23 April 1863, from Eldridge B. Platt to his sister Adelah E. Platt. More about Eldridge B. Platt: Eldridge B. Platt (b. 1847) enlisted as a drummer in the 2nd Connecticut Light Battery on 12 August 1862. By … Continue reading

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22 April 1863: “The whole district is against us & no certain information can be gained any where.”

Item Description: Letter, 22 April 1863, from John McRae to Peter Mallett about McRae’s efforts to round up deserters in Wake County, N.C.John McRae (1793-1880) served as postmaster at Fayetteville, N.C., with his father, Duncan, 1801-1853. He then went into private business … Continue reading

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21 April 1863: “Okra the best Substitute for Coffee”

Item Description: “Okra the best Substitute for Coffee” (newspaper article), The Daily Journal (Wilmington, N. C.), 21 April 1863, page 2. Transcription: Okra the best Substitute for Coffee Everybody, we presume, knows how to cultivate Okra.  It is a most delicious table vegetable, … Continue reading

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