Autograph letter by [Joel S. Duffell?, 51st Georgia Infantry?]. Camp near Hagerstown, [Maryland], 8 July [1863]. 8 pages, varying size, smallest 2 3/4 x 4 5/8 in.

A hasty Confederate letter written during the retreat from Gettysburg, featuring interesting reports of Confederate propaganda.

The letter is signed J.S.D., and the names of soldiers mentioned in the letter are from Spalding County, Georgia, where the 51st and 53rd Georgia Infantry regiments were raised. The letter may have been penned by Joel S. Duffell (1818 - 1866), who enlisted as a private on 4 March, 1862, into Company I of the 51st Georgia Infantry. He was appointed 5th Sergeant in January 1863 and promoted to 2nd Sergeant on 1 June 1864.

At Gettysburg, both the 51st and 53rd were brigaded together under Brigadier General Paul J. Semmes' Brigade of Major General Lafayette McLaws' Division of Longstreet's 1st Corps. They took part in the fight on Rose Hill and on into the Wheatfield in support of Kershaw and Anderson late in the afternoon of 2 July 1863. When the Confederates began their retreat from Gettysburg on July 4th, they moved through Hagerstown, Maryland, where this letter was scribbled in pencil on the 8th.

The author writes to his sister Elizabeth with a report of their retreat: "We have come back [with]in 6 miles of Potomac River. It has been raining for 2 or 3 days. I cannot tell whether we will cross back soon or not. We had a terrible fight at Gettysburg...I am sorry that W.J. Clements was killed but he is gone and many other poor fellows. Do the best you can." He concludes with more updates of his comrades: "We have hard times now. I saw B.F. Mattox. He was shocked by a burn. Crock Akins wounded in leg. Wiley Childers not hurt. J.Brown not hurt."

Included on a separate sheet, he writes to Liz: "I saw a citizen with this ticket. I copied it and will send it to you." On the verso he transcribes the political propaganda:  'Peace Ticket for the Next President's Election. Jeff Davis of Miss. for President. Vallandingham of Ohio for Vice President. All Negroes to be sent South. Abe Lincoln to be sent to the Devil."

On a final sheet, he promises to send Liz "a present though it is a poor one" but includes a tale he thinks she will find "rather funny": "Joe Weldon says he is longing for eggs. He says if he was a woman and was in the [family way?] and longed for eggs as he does and was to have a baby, he says it would have a shell on it." His final thoughts ask about news of a draft.

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