Civil War Confederate Soldier’s Letter from the Atlanta Campaign / SOLD

Description

Civil War Confederate Soldier’s Letter from the Atlanta Campaign  

 

Camp in the Ditches Near Atlanta, Georgia August 14, 1864  

An original Civil War letter penned on August 14, 1864, by J. Bovee Hughes, who served with Company E, 2nd Mississippi Infantry, while entrenched outside Atlanta, Georgia, during one of the war’s most intense campaigns. Written in pencil by firelight, the letter offers a vivid firsthand account of life under constant Union bombardment during General William T. Sherman’s advance on Atlanta.  

 

Hughes opens his letter with the remarkable statement:  

“In the ditches, Atlanta Ga… I pencil you a few hasty lines tonight by fire light. Albert Stephens is holding a torch of pine for me…”  

He goes on to describe the dangers surrounding him as artillery shells pass overhead while he attempts to write:  

“The yanks keep throwing shells over me and it sorter bothers my writing. There goes one now over my head making a noise resembling a large turkey gobbler flying…”  

 

Beyond the dramatic battlefield narrative, Hughes reports on the condition of friends and relatives serving in the Confederate army. He notes that his brother, O. D. Hughes, had been wounded in the leg but was recovering, reports the death of Cousin Hiram Robbins on July 20, and mentions William Evans being seriously wounded. He also identifies his regiment as serving in General William Featherston’s Brigade, Major General William W. Loring’s Division, while preparing to join the 31st Mississippi Infantry, firmly placing the letter within the military operations surrounding the Atlanta Campaign.  

 

The letter additionally reveals the everyday concerns of a Confederate soldier, discussing family correspondence, financial matters involving the sale of a repeating rifle, and his longing to hear news from home despite the constant danger at the front.  

 

A compelling firsthand battlefield account from one of the defining campaigns of the Civil War, this letter combines personal family correspondence with vivid descriptions of combat conditions, making it an outstanding artifact for collectors of Confederate manuscripts, the Atlanta Campaign, and Civil War history.  

  

Inventory Number: CON  701