John W. Lewis was born October 8, 1837, in Virginia. Following graduation from Virginia Military Institute in 1859, he was hired as drill master and professor of mathematics at St. Johns’ College, Little Rock, Ark. When the school closed after the outbreak of war, Lewis returned to Virginia to enlist in the army.

On August 19, 1861, Lewis was commissioned as an officer in the 52nd Virginia Infantry. Promoted to 1st lieutenant on December 2, 1861, he was wounded at the Battle of Port Republic, Virginia, June 9, 1862. In October 1862, he was promoted to captain and ordered to report to Major General T. H. Holmes, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department at Little Rock.

From the fall of 1862 until the end of the war, Lewis served as assistant adjutant general with various commanders in Arkansas, including Major General T. C. Hindman, Brigadier General D. M. Frost, Major General Sterling Price, and Major General J. B. Magruder. He was at the headquarters of the District of Arkansas in Camden when this letter was written. By the end of the war, he had been promoted to major.

Lewis remained in Arkansas following the end of the war, and on January 18, 1866, he married Laura Crease, one of seven daughters of John H. and Jane Crease of the Collegeville area near Little Rock and sister of Mrs. Cara Peyton. The couple had two daughters and was living in Miller County, where John kept a grocery store, at the time of his death in February 1882. He and Laura, who died in 1889, are buried at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Camp near Bunker Hill
October 25th 1862

Dear Father,

I have been expecting to get off every day for the last month or I would have written to you immediately after the Battle of Sharpsburg, but it seems I am doomed to be disappointed as my orders have never come. I was in all the last battles—at Manassas for five days, at Harpers Ferry, and at Sharpsburg. But thank God, I escaped without a scratch. We had some terrific fighting I think at this place where we fought. We fought and whipped at least four to one. I never saw such a slaughter. We did not stand and fire at all—advanced on them all the time and charged them three times. We also made a charge on them at Manassas and drove them from behind a railroad bank. From what I can hear we met with a reverse at Shiloh [Corinth] but gained a decided victory at Perryville, Kentucky. I hope this is about the winding up of the war. The Yankees seem slow to advance up this way.

We were down near Harpers Ferry all this week tearing up and destroying the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. We destroyed about twenty-five or thirty miles. They did not molest us in the least. I have no idea what will be the next move. It may be going on now but I don’t know anything of it. I heard today that Gen. Longstreet was moving through Winchester towards Front Royal.

I have just received a letter from Uncle Jim Crawford saying he had sent you my letter. I have thought it very strange that I did not hear from home. I have not heard a word from anyone of the family since I left Gordonsville. Tell the girls they must write to me. Someone told me that they saw Jasper in Staunton a short time since.

Col. [John Brown] Baldwin wrote to me last month saying I have been promoted and assigned to duty on some General’s staff in Arkansas and would get my orders from the Secretary of War soon. I have been anxiously waiting for them. When they come, if at all, I will take time to pay you all a visit before I go to Arkansas. I sent my horse up to Uncle Linus’ and have been taking it afoot ever since.

I don’t even know where to direct my letter. First I heard you were living at Green Valley but I seen William Burger here last week and he told me you were not but thought you were at the Warm Springs. I hope you will make arrangements to get what salt you need while the works are open. If I could have gotten things home from Manassas & from Maryland, I could have gotten a great many things that would have been very useful.

Father, as horses are now very high—as is everything else—I think it advisable that you should sell any you may have to spare and pay all your debts. There is my horse, Red Wing, will bring $1000 or maybe $750, and there must be many things there of little value to you that would bring a good price. I should like to see you clear of debts. It is my opinion that when the war ends, the man who is out of debt is the best off. In case anything should happen to me, you will place all my land certificates in the hands of Mr. William Woodruff of Little Rock, Arkansas. And I have some two or three hundred dollars deposited with Uncle Ben [?], all of which with what I have elsewhere I want Jasper and the girls to have if anything should happen to me, which I hope and pray will not.

Give my best love to the girls. Tell Mat & Sallie I will soon want socks. With that exception, I am very well off for clothing. Tell them all to write to me. If you have any leather suitable for making boots, I wish you would save me enough to make me a pair when I get home. I did intend writing to you some time ago to send apples to Albert Fossett and get him to make me about five gallons of brandy but suppose it is now too late. Apples are selling here for 75 cents per dozen.

My love to Jasper when you write to him. Tell Kate to save and sell everything she can. Soap is commanding a fine price. My love to all. May God shield, protect, and bless you all is the prayer of your devoted son, — John W. Lewis