Item Number: L00085

Title: Letters from a Confederate soldier 1862-1864

Author: James L. Tucker

Edition: 1st

Price: $25

Shipping: Included

Description:This book is a collection of 65 letters previously unpublished.

In May, 1862 James L. Tucker volunteered to join Company E, 37th Alabama Volunteers, C.S.A. for a period of 3 years or the duration of the War, James was 30 years old and married with 5 children. His wife Morgiana was pregnant with their 6th child on their 150 acre farm in Cottonwood, Alabama near modern Dothan, Alabama.

James Tucker, a son of a Mississippi planter, received a good education which is reflected in the quality of his letters home to his wife. The grammar and syntax were transcribed directly from the original letters in 1995 by Alice Hodges Tucker, a relative. Spelling errors were copied as he wrote them. The original letters written under difficult conditions are fading, so the best we have for some days are the transcripts by Ms. Tucker. The original documents are stored at the Gilmer Co. Historical Society and Museum in Ellijay, Georgia.

Morgiana, moved to her father's (Timothy Peacock) farm in Campellton, Florida with the children to have their 6th child.

James obviously thought it was going to be a short war, because after 6 months of marching and sickness he wanted to come home, but could not get out. He writes formal letters to his wife, assuming others will be reading his letters with comments on fellow unit member's health and deaths. It is easy to trace how he feels the about the outcome of the war over the years and battles in which his unit was involved. James never expresses hate or anger in his letters for the Union even though he had friends and family members killed in battle.

James appears to have contracted malaria, which he describes as bouts of chills and fevers. He writes of sickness and deaths in camp. Measles, small pox , flu , pneumonia and dysentery were common in the early camps with the forming of large units.

The 37th Alabama took part in battles in Mississippi, then moved into Vicksburg, Ms. to fight off Grant's Armies. Their army surrendered and were paroled by the union. James went home on parole then joined his reformed unit in Chattanooga a few months later. They fought Sherman's armies at Dalton, Resaca, Adairsville, Cassville, New Hope, Kennesaw and the Battle of Atlanta, sending home letters that he was OK after each battle. The unit returned to Alabama after the battle of Atlanta before General Hood evacuated the city due to trouble near Mobile.

The Union forces threaten Mobile, Alabama, so the Governor called the unit home to defend "Spanish Fort" north of Mobile. James was discharged for medical reasons in October, 1864.

The letters are in the collection of the Gilmer County (GA) Historical Society and Museum. This book is provided for a donation of $25 to the historical society which helps support this excellent North Georgia museum.

Price does include shipping. They take credit cards over the phone as well. To purchase, please contact:

Wayne Hooper- VP of the Gilmer Co. Historical Society
2960 Foothill Trail
Marietta, Ga. 30066
Cell # 678-296-6345
Email Wayne_Hooper@yahoo.com