The following letter was written by Stephen Stanley Crittenden (1829-1911) who enlisted on 1 February 1861 at Greenville, South Carolina, and was elected a 1st Lieutenant in the 4th South Carolina Infantry. They fought at 1st Manassas under Shank Evans but when it came to reorganize in April 1862, various companies were consolidated and they became known as either the 4th or 13th South Carolina Battalion. Stanley, the 1st Lieutenant of Co. D, was wounded in the left breast on 1 June 1862 at the Battle of Seven Pines in Virginia. Late in the war he served as a Lt. Colonel in the 3rd South Carolina Reserves.

Stanley wrote the letter to his first wife, Eliza Jane Lynch (1838-1865), with whom he married in 1855. His second wife was Sarah Ann Rou (1839-1911).

Sadly, Crittenden’s life ended tragically. Local papers carried the following death notice: “Col. Stanley S. Crittenden of Greenville, aged 82 years, a writer and former postmaster of Greenville, committed suicide Wednesday morning by shooting himself to death in his bathroom. Death came instantly. Col. Crittenden was lieutenant colonel in the staff of Gen. Mart Gary in the ‘war between the sections.’ He helped the late general and Bishop Ellison Capers organize the South Carolina division of United Confederate Veterans, and himself commanded that division for some time.” Another paper added that the Col. had been “much depressed over the death of his wife several weeks ago, and this, coupled with other troubles, had much to do with his sudden death.”

Transcription

Columbia, South Carolina
Sunday, 4 o’clock p.m. [1861?]

My dear wife,

I have picked up an old piece of paper as youy perceive to write you a few lines for tomorrow’s mail. Yours and sister Marcia’s welcome letters were received yesterday and gave me great pleasure. I return Marcia’s for you to read. The box of good things also came in plenty time for supper last night and our whole mess are very much obliged to you. The things are very nice & the butter particularly acceptable. We are living very well—some of us continually getting something from home and buying fish, eggs, &c. in this market. So don’t be afraid about our living.

I never slept sounder or felt better in my life than since I have been here. Still I think of you my darling and the dear babies all the time & wish very much to see you all. Richard Foster got a furlough for 4 or 5 days and went home with his wife. We are liable to be called from here any time to Virginia and if you felt like coming, you could easily stay at Janny’s Hotel a few days & I could be with you all the time. But then my darling, you would feel so badly again when we had to say goodbye.

I volunteered with some 60 of our cavalry & two of the regiments for Virginia if needed. You will see by today’s paper that the Governor considers all the volunteers as liable to be ordered to Virginia without volunteering again, as defending Virginia is defending our own state. We may be ordered there in a few days or we may not be sent there at all.

This Sunday and we have drilled twice. This morning I took the company by invitation to hear Dr. Reynolds of the South Carolina College. He gave us a fine discourse.

The box that you sent only cost 10 cents—the cartage from the depot. The railroad charges nothing for packages I believe to the volunteers. If we stay here long, I may write to you for some of my summer clothes, those and some handkerchiefs & cotton socks being about all I will need. Write me, my darling, all that you are doing. You and your Ma might stay at the farm a good deal if you felt like it.

I said something to Maj. Whitaker I believe about sending the epaulets. I have forgotten what I left the keys there as you know. She & Edward write often Remember me to Oliver, Harriet and all the servants. Tell them to take care of everything—horses, cows, hogs, corn, &c….Tell Oliver to fence in the whole new ground. get all the bark from the oaks & pile it carefully as he gets it, haul it the new way to the tan yard & get the money for it….

With love to your Pa and Ma & to yourself, my darling, & our babies. Your own, — Stanley