Item No. 5349210

In this October 1862 letter, Private Levi Lewis of the 35th Alabama Infantry, Company F, writes home to his family about his experiences leading up to the Second Battle of Corinth.

In the fall of 1862, Confederate armies were advancing north on multiple fronts as part of a coordinated offensive. While Lee and Bragg would fight more famous battles at Antietam and Perryville, respectively, another offensive was taking place under General Earl Van Dorn in Mississippi. Van Dorn planned to reclaim West Tennessee after capturing the Union supply depot at Corinth.

Writing after the battle, Lewis writes about his regiment’s movements in the days leading up to the fight:

Well I guess you want to know what I have been doing since I have been out. Well I will [tell] you a part, I can’t tell all. I got to camp on Sunday and drilled a week, and then we were ordered on Sunday to march to rout some Yanks. We started at 4 in the morning and marched til 9. When we thought that [we] were about to come on them, when they run, and we pushed after them and run them til in the evening. Our cavalry stopped them and we double quicked there and formed a line of battle, and moved on, and found that the Yanks had gone. We went some 2 miles and camped til morning.

Lewis then continues that they “started to Corinth and marched on til Friday,” October 3, when the 35th Alabama—part of General Albert Rust’s brigade—took a position across from the Union Army’s left flank and “commenced the attack and fought all day, and run the Yanks in their breastworks.” Later in the letter Lewis adds how the regiment captured a gun that had been harassing them:

Our regiment Friday was in the front of the cannon and a shell was thrown and bursted in our company and killed two and knocked down six more, and then we were ordered to charge and we soon silenced that piece and captured it. The General says that the 35th saved him, and that is a great prize, for is though we did not flinch.

(The captured piece was a 20-lb Parrott rifle called “Lady Richardson” belonging to Richardson’s Battery D, 1st Missouri Light Artillery.)

Lewis writes that the camped on the battlefield, and continues with discussion of the fighting on October 4:

And the next morning the fire was open at 4 o’clock, and we were drawn up in line of battle and marched in front of a battery, and they commenced shelling us, and we were ordered to lie down, and there we lay and the shot and shell flying over us thick. If our regiment had been standing up I don’t think that there would [have been] one third come off though. We did not lose a man that day. George, it was the closest place I have been in though.

He then writes about how he shielded himself with his faith:

I thought that God would take care of me, for I am determined to trust in him. I think if there ever was a time when a person ought to live right more than another, it is in camps. When I started I promised to live religious and I am determined to. I promised Cal if I never saw her that I would meet her in heaven, and I want to meet you all there. If I should fall on the battlefield or from sickness, I want to meet you in heaven. I want you all to pray for me that I may discharge my duty as a Christian and a soldier.

At the end of the letter he includes a few lines specifically for Cal:

Cal, you must write to me every chance and let me know how you are a-getting along, and if you have not got the boots made, try and have them ready and send them by the first one that comes. And send me all of your socks, for I can get from 2 to 3$ a pair, and I want you to send me some for myself.

The letter was written in pencil on four pages of a letter sheet measuring about 7 1/4” x 9 1/2”. Excellent condition with light foxing and toning. Creased at the original folds. The original transmittal cover is included, addressed to Mr. E. C. Lewis, Maysville, Madison County, Alabama. The full transcript appears below.

While Lewis’s name does not appear in either the HDS or the NPS databases, he is included in the Alabama Civil War Service Records Database (https://archives.alabama.gov/research/CivilWarSoldier.aspx?id=118869).

Marshal City, Mississippi
Oct the 17, 1862
Near Holly Springs, Mississippi

I seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well and hope that when these come to hand it will find you all well. It is useless to say how bad I want to see you all, though I can’t tell how long it will be, though I hope it will not be long. Well I guess you want to know what I have been doing since I have been out. Well I will [tell] you a part, I can’t tell all. I got to camp on Sunday and drilled a week, and then we were ordered on Sunday to march to rout some Yanks. We started at 4 in the morning and marched til 9. When we thought that [we] were about to come on them, when they run, and we pushed after them and run them til in the evening. Our cavalry stopped them and we double quicked there and formed a line of battle, and moved on, and found that the Yanks had gone. We went some 2 miles and camped til morning. Then we went back to the camps and stayed til Saturday, and then started to Corinth and marched on til Friday, when we commenced the attack and fought all day, and run the Yanks in their breastworks. And we camped on the battlefield. And the next morning the fire was open at 4 o’clock, and we were drawn up in line of battle and marched in front of a battery, and they commenced shelling us, and we were ordered to lie down, and there we lay and the shot and shell flying over us thick. If our regiment had been standing up I don’t think that there would [have been] one third come off though. We did not lose a man that day. George, it was the closest place I have been in though. I thought that God would take care of me, for I am determined to trust in him. I think if there ever was a time when a person ought to live right more than another, it is in camps. When I started I promised to live religious and I am determined to. I promised Cal if I never saw her that I would meet her in heaven, and I want to meet you all there. If I should fall on the battlefield or from sickness, I want to meet you in heaven. I want you all to pray for me that I may discharge my duty as a Christian and a soldier.

As for the battle, I guess you have heard all about that. Our regiment Friday was in the front of the cannon and a shell was thrown and bursted in our company and killed two and knocked down six more, and then we were ordered to charge and we soon silenced that piece and captured it. The General says that the 35th saved him, and that is a great prize, for is though we did not flinch.

George, I want you to write to [me] and all of the rest. I can’t write to all separately, so all write for I want to hear from you all. I will write Cal a few lines and you must send it to her.

Dear, it is not worthwhile to say that I am well, as I have done so. So there is not […line here is obscured by the fold…] I don’t think of you, and I pray that we may soon meet and never to part as we are now. As I had to stop to clean up the camp, I will finish my letter. Cal, you must write to me every chance and let me know how you are a-getting along, and if you have not got the boots made, try and have them ready and send them by the first one that comes. And send me all of your socks, for I can get from 2 to 3$ a pair, and I want you to send me some for myself. Dear, I want you to get anything you need that is to be had. Write me all of the news of the neighborhood. So I will close. Give my love to all and receive a double portion for yourself.
Levi Lewis to his Dear