Browse Items (32 total)

My Dear husband I now seat my self to write you a few lines to let you know we are not well the children is sick with bad colds and I haint seen a well day since you left I have had a very bad head ache ever sens last Sunday but I do hope and pray…

Dear husband I seat my self this evening to write you afew lines to let you know that we are all well at this time ever hoping this will Reach your kind hands and find you in good health I thought you would have sent me a letter by Louis Walker but…

My Dier wife and children I seete my self this morning with A Troub beled harte and a de strest Mind to try to rite a few lines to Let you no that I hierd my sentens Red yesterday and hit was very Bad I am very sory to let you no for I that you A…

A major problem that faced both armies during the Civil war was desertion. As the conflict dragged on into a protracted war of attrition, the loss of men through absenteeism struck hardest at the South. Before the end of 1861 it had become a problem…

You are aware, my friends, that I have given public notice that upon this occasion I would preach a funeral discourse upon the death of the twenty-two unfortunate, yet wicked and deluded men, whom you have witnessed hanged upon the gallows within a…

This document describes numerous situations that Western North Carolina Confederate soldiers were put through, which lead to their decision to desert from the army. Questions such as "Is my loyalty worth it if my family is starving?" and "What good…

The town of Pittsboro petitioned the Governor to protect them from deserters on March third, 1865. The petition claimed that one hundred deserters created 1,000 dollars in property damage. The petition was signed by twelve members of the community. …

"They hung my son by the limb of a tree"

Drawing of a Civil War deserter being hanged from a tree.

Vance’s Proclamation. The “Hideous Mark” to be fixed on Cowards and Traitors to the Confederacy. THE FRIENDS OF THE UNION TO BE MADE INFAMOUS Woe to the Men who Refuse to Fight for the South. THE FATHER OR THE BROTHER WHO HARBORS OR…

A civil war at home: Treatment of Unionists

W. H. Younce, The Adventures of a Conscript (Cincinnati: The Editor Pub. Co., 1901), pp. 57–62.

At home again.

Our purpose was to try to reach my father’s home that night, but about the middle…