Letter of Joseph J. Hoyle to Mrs. Wise, July 17, 1863

Letter of Joseph J. Hoyle to Mrs. Wise, July 17, 1863

One of the more difficult aspects associated with being an officer for a regiment involved informing loved ones that their soldiers had fallen. This was the only letter listed that revealed this aspect of Hoyle's duty. However, with the number of men fallen Hoyle likely wrote numerous letters similar to this one addressed to Mrs. Wise.

Joseph J. Hoyle

Jeffrey M. Girvan, ed., Deliver Us from this Cruel War: The Civil War Letters of Lieutenant Joseph J. Hoyle, 55th North Carolina Infantry (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2010), 132.

1863- 07-17

Document

Wake County, North Carolina

The following letter was found in the Peter Mull Collection, North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Bunker’s Hill, Va.
July 17th, 1863.

Mrs. Wise:
It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of your husband Levi Wise. He was killed on the 14th inst, while bravely fighting the enemy. He died a patriots death, and I hope is gone to rest. You have my heart-felt sympathy in your grief for that loss which cannot be returned. Nothing he had was secured. Yours with respect
Lieut J.J. Hoyle
Comdg. Co. F 55th N.C.
Bunker’s Hill, Va.
July 17th 1863.