Samuel Wragg Ferguson, aide-de-camp to General P.G.T. Beauregard, writes to his godmother from Manassas Junction, on July 10th, 1861, just days before the First Battle of Bull Run. He mentions preparations being made to set up hospitals for the sick and wounded, the capture of the privateer Savannah and Jefferson Davis' warning to Lincoln not to deal harshly with the crew. He writes that Union prisoners in Richmond, who were allowed to roam freely, were "arrested and confined in consequence of the accounts received of the trial of the crew of the Savannah." 4p.
Samuel Wragg Ferguson, aide-de-camp to General P.G.T. Beauregard, writes to his godmother from Fairfax Court House, Virginia, September 13th, 1861. Ferguson details a recent skirmish in Lewinsville pitting Union troops against Confederate Col. J.E.B. Stuart's men in which "we got seven killed, wounded and prisoners and know that they carried off many of their dead...fact is they wont stay to be killed." He writes of the secret construction of a battery along the Potomac that "will entirely stop the navigation of the river" and warns his godmother not to let "any communicative person hear any thing of this." On the envelope is written "there is a secret in this." 5p.
This letter from Capt. Thomas West Daggett (1828-1893) to South Carolina Gov. Francis Wilkinson Pickens (1805-1869) was written from All Saints Parish, South Carolina, on June 1, 1861. Daggett was captain of the Waccamaw Light Artillery and in charge of the coastal defenses from Winyah Bay in Georgetown Co., South Carolina, to Little River Inlet in Horry Co., South Carolina. In the letter he resigns as captain of that unit and states his reasons for doing so.
Letter from John Lynch to Bishop Patrick Lynch concerning a tax collector seeking payment from the Convent. John is unsure of the Convent's tax liability and asks the Bishop for assistance. He hopes the Bishop can travel to Columbia from Charleston soon to attend to the matter but writes, "I fear from the stopping of the telegraph today that the war has commenced." April 12, 1861. 2p.
Second letter from John Lynch to Bishop Patrick Lynch on this date. John describes a flag the Ursulines have made for the Emmett Guards writing, "it is the common infantry size, on one side blue, with Palmetto tree, with an Irish Harpleaning against the trunk..." He has heard the guard may be disbanding and, if so, asks the Bishop to offer it for sale to "some of your Irish Companies." He informs the Bishop that the telegraph is working again and they are being deluged with news about the attack on Fort Sumter. April 12, 1861. 3p.
A newspaper sketch of the Battle of Fort Sumter. The illustration reads 'The main battery at Fort Sumter guns bearing on Fort Moultrie and the channel during the action of April 12.'
Letter from James B. Heyward to an unknown recipient carried by one of his overseers, C. R. Hains, who is reporting for duty. In his letter, James protests the conscription of plantation overseers into the Confederate army claiming they "have large numbers of negroes under their charge" and that "in his absence the timid become panic struck and the bold mischievous." He also argues that the overseers "by means of espionage know every thing that is going on" and that well run plantations can better provide supplies to the war cause. 4p. November 12, 1861.
Copy of letter sent from Bishop Patrick Lynch to Francis Lynch. Bishop Lynch writes to Francis concerning a number of Charleston residents who are inquiring about leaving the lowcountry for Cheraw over uncertainty with the war. He also tells Francis to allay their father's fears over a Union invasion of Charleston, likening the panic in the city after the recent fall of Port Royal with that "at Washington, after the battle of Manassas." November 13, 1861. 4p.
Letter from John Lynch to Bishop Patrick Lynch concerning news from the Bishop's plantation and his medical practice. John writes about the ongoing construction at the plantation and of a runaway slave, Emmett, who was briefly jailed but escaped. John told the overseer's son that "if Emmett should come around the plantation to tell him to come in and go to work as I did not blame him for trying to escape from prison." He also confides in the Bishop that his medical practice is on the verge of blossoming "if bigotry does not override everything." November 13, 1861. 2p.
