The following letter was written by Thomas Emory Jefferson (1820-1863) of Cherokee county, Georgia, who was married to Mary Frances Foster in 1844 and made a living as a school teacher prior to the Civil War. Leaving his wife and three daughters, Thomas accepted a commission as 1st Lieutenant of Co. E, 36th Georgia Infantry when it was formed during the winter of 1861-62. Its first major engagement of the war was at Champion’s Hill and then again in the defense of Vicksburg where those who were not killed or escaped were surrendered to Grant’s army on 4 July 1863. The date of Thomas’s death is not known but he was killed in or about Vicksburg. He is now buried in the Cedar Hill Cemetery at Vicksburg

[Note: This letter is from the private collection of Jack Dunagan who made it available to Spared & Shared for transcription and publication by express consent. Jack is a descendant of Lt. Jefferson.]

Transcription

Chattanooga, Tennessee
May 2nd 1862

Dear wife & children,

I this morning with pleasure seat myself to write you a few lines by which you may know that we are well. I am well this morning as common, hoping when these come to hand, they may find you all well.

Dear wife, I will give you a slight history of our travels to this point. We arrived in Atlanta on Thursday morning and staid there through the day. We left at 7 o’clock on the cars and arrived at this point, Chattanooga, Tennessee, on the same night about daylight. We staid in though the day. We all made down our beds under the car shed that night and slept till about midnight when we were all called up and run off on the cars to the Tennessee River about 5 miles from this place to a bridge where we expected to meet the enemy. The bridge was burned down in the morning. ¹ We were formed in line of battle but we never saw the Yankees at all. We learned in the evening that they had fallen back. We then fell back to Chattanooga where we struck our tents and we are here now.

There are some 3 or 4 thousand soldiers here. They are expecting that we will be ordered away from here soon to meet the enemy below this point somewhere. I want you to reconcile yourself the best you can. I am better reconciled than I expected to be. I have not slept any since I left home scarcely till last night I slept very well. It has been the hardest thing I have ever passed through in my life, to reconcile myself to be away from you all. But I am here now and I will be content if I can. I intend to live right and I want you to do the best you can at home. Try to make something to eat for next year for we are going to have hard times sure.

I think if the Yankees does not come on to try to take this place in a day or two that our regiment will fall back to Dalton or Atlanta to drill for a month or two. I cannot tell much about it now. We may be in a fight in a few days and we may not. There is great excitement here. I want you to pray for me every day of your life that I may be spared to see you all again and if it should be my unhappy lot to fall, I hope to meet you in heaven.

May God be with and bless you all. I will write to you again soon. I want you to write to me every week sure. You will direct to care of Capt. Gilbert, Col. [Jesse A.] Glenn’s Regt., Chattanooga, Tennessee

Your loving and devoted husband until death, — Thos. E. Jefferson

to wife, Frances Jefferson

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¹ A pontoon bridge was later erected over the Tennessee river at this same location.