The following letter was written by Pvt. John A. W. Hickey (1827-1863) of Co. E, 30th Battalion Virginia Sharpshooters. According to muster rolls, John did not enlist with the Sharpshooters until 12 February 1863. They also inform us that he died at Emory & Henry College Hospital, Washington county, Virginia on 30 June 1863—just two weeks after this letter was sent to his wife. His cause of death was given as “Febris Remittens” or intermittent fever. An obituary published in the Abingdon Virginian (10 July 1863) states that John Hickey was in poor health prior to the war yet he attempted to volunteer in 1861 but was rejected as unfit. When he was conscripted early in 1863, however, he was accepted for service and ordered to report to Dublin Depot.

Hickey wrote this letter from Dublin Depot which functioned as a vital Confederate logistical and tactical point on the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad. He wrote the letter to his wife, Margaret Elizabeth (“Betty”) Minnick Hickey (1830-1933) on the farm near Abingdon. They were married in 1847 and had three children at the time that John entered the Confederate service.

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

Dublin Depot, Virginia
June 15, 1863

Dear Betty,

I drop you a few lines to inform you of my whereabouts and health. I am not very well. I have had the diarrhea for several days though I have perfmed [my] duty all the time. The water here is so bad and we have nothing to eat but corn bread and fat meat.

We are at Dublin yet but I think we will leave here before long. Where we will go, I have no idea but it is more than likely we will go to Kentucky. But it is very uncertain. We may go somewhere else. Men are getting very tired of this war. They are deserting from the Army of the Potomac by scores.

As to my coming home this summer, it is very uncertain. But I will come home a day or two if I can. But you need not look for me till you see me. I would like to have some butter if I could get it and a cheese if you had it. You don’t know how hard the poor soldier has to live and if he buys anything, he must pay six prices and a man getting $11 per month can’t stand it.

Write soon. So goodbye. — John A. W. Hickey

[to] Margaret E. Hickey