Autograph letter signed by Brigader General Alfred H. Terry (1827-1890) to Colonel William W.H. Davis (1820-1910), commanding on Morris Island. Headquarters, Folly Island, South Carolina, 7 February 1864. 1 page, 9 3/4 x 8 inches. 

In the letter, Terry advises Davis to be "on guard" against Confederate aggression. He also urges Davis to "notify [his] outposts particularly that on Black Island that more than usual vigilance is required."

Terry, a clerk and militiaman from Hartford, Connecticut, enlisted in 1861 as a colonel with the 2nd Connecticut Volunteers. Tasked with defense of the capital, Terry participated in the First Bull Run. At the end of his 90-day enlistment, he recruited the 7th Connecticut, which notably took part in the capture of Port Royal and was the first regiment to land and plant the Union flag in South Carolina. In April 1862, Terry was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and assigned command of the Morris Island Division of the X Corps. In this capacity, he was heavily involved in the siege operations against Charleston and was subsequently given command of the Norther District, Department of the South, at Folly Island. Davis, his correspondent, had been reassigned from defense of Washington, D.C. to the South Carolina Coast, along with his men in the 104th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. 

Folly and Morris Islands served as crucial Union staging grounds for the bombardment of Confederate-held Fort Sumter and Charleston. Morris Island, particularly, housed a considerable supply of Confederate artillery that was subsequently used in the shelling. Just ten days after Terry writes this cautionary letter to Davis, the Confederate submarine Huntley attacked and sank the USS Housatonic just off of Morris Island, in an attempt to break the Union blockade of Charleston. 

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