The following letter was composed by Robert DeKalb Lanier (1830-1873), who enlisted in the 1st Battalion Mississippi State Cavalry in August of 1864 and was subsequently elected captain of Company C. In this correspondence, he details his company’s movements during a raid ordered by the Governor, aimed at dismantling a “nest of Jayhawkers” that threatened the loyal citizens of the Confederacy in the Gulf coast counties. Unfortunately, the raid did not unfold as Capt. Lanier had anticipated, and he unequivocally attributes the failure in execution to the battalion commander, Col. [James H.] Wingfield, 3rd Louisiana Cavalry. He ultimately concludes the letter by requesting commissions for himself and his fellow officers, particularly emphasizing the need for an independent command reporting directly to the Governor.
Robert Lanier was the son of John H. Lanier (1797-1866) and Sally Ross Moseley (1804-1836). At the time of the Civil War, he was married to Isadore D. Johnston (1836-1865), had two young children, and was living with his father on a farm near Monticello, Lawrence county, Mississippi.
The original letter is preserved in the Mississippi Dept. of Archives & History loose papers, Box 311, Series 390, 1st Battalion State Troops (McNair’s) Cavalry Co. C. A copy of the letter was sent to me with a request for its transcription and publication on Spared & Shared by Clark Avera, a descendant of Capt. Lanier. A transcript of the letter was included with the copy but it has not previously been made available on the internet and, since it had numerous errors in it, I concluded to transcribe the letter myself.
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Monticello, Lawrence county, Mississippi
November 1st 1864
His Excellency, Charles Clark, Governor
Dear sir, I as one of your Captains desire to lay before your Excellency the condition of my company. If your Excellency remembers rightly, you detailed three companies while you were at Brandon to make a raid in the counties of Harrison & Jackson, &c. to break up a nest of Jayhawkers who were robbing & burning up the loyal citizens of the lower counties bordering on the Gulf. I am captain of one of those companies (Co. C., 1st Battalion Mississippi State Cavalry). My company went to Columbia—the place appointed by the Sen[ior] Capt. commanding for us to rendezvous. No one came to the place until after two days, a courier reached us [and ordered] for us to report on Bony [Bouie], one of the tributaries of Leaf river 42 miles west of Columbia. We had no ammunition nor was any sent to us. Still we went to the place designated expecting to find the rest of the battalion. Bony was in the very heart of the enemy’s country. We arrived safely, but still we could not hear from the battalion.
After staying there one day, a courier came from Col. Wingfield to the officer commanding the battalion ordering us to report to Summit immediately to repel an expected raid of the Yankees. I did not know where the battalion was & of course could not send the courier on, but promised the courier to send the dispatches on as soon as I could hear from the battalion. That night a courier arrived from Capt Lee, commanding battery, for me to guard the road and suffer none to pass without proper papers. I sent the dispatches from Colonel Wingfield forward and removed to Mt. Carmel to wait for the battalion.
The next day an order arrived from Capt. Lee ordering me to report to Monticello on Thursday. I reported as ordered on Thursday where I for the first time came up with the battalion, and Capt. Lee’s excuse was for not furnishing me with ammunition was “that he forgot to send it to me.” At Monticello, a courier was sent to Col. Wingfield notifying him of our whereabouts and of our readiness to aid him in any manner he wanted. He sent by return courier that our services was not then needed but appointing my company to guard the Pontoon Bridge across Pearl River at Monticello which we have been doing ever since.
Your Excellency will see by this that Company C has been in active service ever since we left Brandon. I have a few questions to ask your Excellency which I hope you will please answer at your earliest convenience. First, has Col. Wingfield the authority to make my company guard the bridge? Second, if your Excellency will give the officers their commissions. Third, if you will give us authority to act as county police to arrest all deserters and suspicious persons. I hope your Excellency will see the reasonableness of these questions. If the Officers has not their commissions it will be impossible for us to compel the attendance of the men at drill, and if you will give us authority to take up deserters, it will relieve the Confederate troops from that duty and put a company in the field from every county. If you grant us this, it will be necessary for us to have ammunition which we are willing to be responsible to the State for.
We would like very much to be detached from McNair’s Battalion and let us be an independent company to be attached to any command we please in case of a raid & we promise your Excellency that we will never shirk our duty, but will always be ready & willing to turn and at your proclamation at a moment’s warning. We desire to impress upon your Excellency the necessity of having our commissions.
Your Excellency’s most obedient servant,
Robert D. Lanier, Capt, Co C. McNair’s Battalion Miss. State Calvary
The Officers are
Robert D Lanier, Capt
James E. Harper, 1st Lt
James L. Lynes, 2nd Lt
James M. Butler, 3rd Lt
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