Heading: (Civil War)
Author:
Title: Small notebook of typed notes on Confederate Civil War veterans, transcripts and synopses of reminiscences and accounts by them, etc.
Place Published: Texas
Publisher:
Date Published: c.1934
Description:

Approx. 29 pages, on rectos of 29 leaves; plus a few blank leaves. Plain paper in three-ring binder, 19.5x12.5 cm (7¾x5").

In 1934, Bernice McLerran of the Temple Daily Telegram in Temple, Texas, conducted a series of "mail interviews" with surviving Confederate soldiers in Milam County, Texas, sending them letters inquiring about their origins, enlistment, service in the CSA, and related information. To these they were requested to respond by mail, or to make a personal connection with Ms. McLerran. (One of these letters is present, with a handwritten pencil response on the back.) The results of these inquiries are recorded in this notebook, a rare gathering of names, personal data, and reminiscences of some of the last surviving Confederate soldiers, some seventy years after the great conflict. Here we learn of J.W. Ford, of Buckholts, Texas, who "celebrated 90th birthday, December 28, 1934. Member of Co. B., first Tenn. Cavalry... Ford saw service under... Jubal A. Early. Ford was captured and put in prison at Camp Morton, Indiana, where he stayed 11 months and almost starved to death. Weighed when left prison, only 82 pounds..." A pencil note at the bottom of the page noted he died April 2, 1935. A J. Jackson of Rockdale, Texas, provides nearly three pages or reminiscences, beginning with his enlistment at Montgomery, Alabama, in July 1862, with service throughout the war, including being "sent to Chickamanga [sic] and were engaged in a desperate battle on September 20, 1863. I received a slight wound in this battle which was the only wound I received throughout the war. From here our command was sent to Missionary Ridge..." A significant and historically valuable compilation. Also present are three original snapshot photographs of one of the elderly soldiers and his wife and friends, one of the last surviving Confederate soldiers in Milam County, Texas.

Some wear to covers, else very good.