Autograph letter signed by Captain John W. Lewis (1837-1882), 52nd Virginia Infantry, written to his father. Camp near Bunker Hill, West Virginia, 25 October 1862. 2 pages, 7 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches.

A native of Lexington, Virginia, and a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Lewis served as a drill master and professor of mathematics at St. Johns' College in Little Rock, Arkansas. When the school shuttered at the outbreak of the Civil War, Lewis returned to Virginia and enlisted in the Confederate Army and was commissioned as an officer in the 52nd Virginia Infantry. Promoted twice in 1862, first to 1st Lieutenant, and later to Captain, Lewis sustained wounds at the Battle of Port Republic on June 9, 1862. 

By late October, at the time of this correspondence, Lewis had managed to fully recover, despite having been involved "in all the last major battles -- at Manassas for five days, at Harper's Ferry, and at Sharpsburg...thank God, I escaped without a scratch." Indeed, Lewis was among the lucky members of the 42nd Virginia, from which over 70 men were killed and wounded in those battles combined.

Of the "terrific fighting" he witnessed, Lewis writes in part: "We fought and whipped at least four to one. I never saw such slaughter. We did not stand and fire at all...[we] advanced on them all the time and charged them three times."

Most recently, Lewis and his comrades wrestled "down near Harper's Ferry...tearing up and destroying the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. We destroyed about twenty-five or thirty miles. [Union forces] did not molest us in the least."

This hard labor was still a welcome respite from the horrific action seen by Lewis's regiment, and he was eager to receive his new assignment following his promotion from a month earlier: "I [should] get my orders from the Secretary of War soon. I have been anxiously waiting for them."

Finally, in March of 1863, Lewis was dispatched to the District of Arkansas, where he served as assistant adjutant general with various commanders, including Major General Thomas C. Hindman, Brigadier General Daniel M. Frost, Major General Sterling Price, and Major General John B. Magruder. He survived the war but elected to remain in Arkansas, where he married Laura Crease in 1866. The couple had two daughters and lived near Little Rock, where Lewis worked as a grocer until his death in February of 1882.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]