Received the following message from Jessica Mullican attaching a civil war era letter from her family’s personal collection and stating that it was not written by a soldier, but mentions the war, recent battles, injuries, and crop prices, which I always found interesting. The recipient, Andrew Jackson Wagnon, would die from illness contracted during service two years later in Louisiana.”
I found that the letter was written by James Lewis Latham Sr. (1817-1880), a native of North Carolina, who afterward served the Confederacy in Capt. Jefferson Falkner’s Company (Home Guard) Mounted Infantry. Lewis was the son of Enoch Henry Lathan (1780-1838) and Nancy Jane Garner (1783-1843). He was married in 1852 to Elizabeth Fulton (1820-1866) and had numerous children by her and a former wife, many of whom are mentioned in this letter. In the 1860 US Census, this family was enumerated in Lineville, Southern Division, Randolph County. In 1850, his family was enumerated in Carroll County, Georgia. In this letter, Lewis gives his mailing directions as Blake’s Ferry Post office which was near the Big Tallapoosa River in the east central part of the state of Alabama.
Lewis wrote the letter to his brother-in-law, Andrew Jackson Wagnon (1825-1863) who was married in 1849 to Nancy Jane Fulton (1826-1912). They had been residents in Carroll county, Georgia, previously but were living in 1860 in Sugartown, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Andrew entered the Confederate service in 1862, serving in the 11th (Spaight’s) Battalion (Cavalry, Artillery & Infantry). He died on 15 July 1863 at Opelousas, St. Landry, Louisiana, leaving a wife and at least four children.
[Editor’s Note: The handwriting was extremely poor but I have done the best I could to make it readable.]
T R A N S C R I P T I O N
Alabama, Randolph County
August 4, 1861
Dear brother and sister,
I take my pen in hand to inform you that we are all well at this time, hoping that when these [lines] come to hand, they will find you all as well. I got a letter from you dated April 5, 1861 and was glad to hear from you all and to hear that you all was well. You wrote to me that you had wrote to Sam Avery and John Wales and you got no answer. Sam Avery is living at the same place where he lived when you left here. John Wales move to Hancock, Ala.
I have nothing strange to tell you. Jule Cook was at my house two nights ago and he said that Minien and her man was wed and Minien wanted to come down to my house and the old man would not let them come. They has no children and so sign for it. The old man Eson says that Jefy has got to stay there till he comes of age and Minien is getting is pretty mad a bout it.
Crops are generally good here. Wheat crops was very good off of the [Tallapoosa] river. On the river, they were not so good. Wheat is worth 1 dollar per bushel. Corn is worth 1.25 cents per bushel. Bacon 75¢ per pound. You wrote to me to tel you my boy’s name. I thought that I had told you that but I will tell you again. His name is James Latham and he will be 14 months old the 19th of this month and he is the prettiest Latham that you ever saw. There’s carpeting over the floor now and [he] gets in all the mischief that he can get in. All of the children has grown finely since I moved here and Betty looks better than you ever saw her.
You wrote me to tell you whether I ever expect to come there or not. I want to move and if I could sell my land, I would move to your country. But times is dull here about money.
I commenced this letter Sunday and on Monday the old man Fulton and Ben come down and the old man says that we all would move there if we could sell out, but there ain’t anything doing here—only fixing for the war and going to the war. Young men are scarce here now and old and young are going regularly from this country. They have had a big battle and some of the Carroll [county, Georgia] boys was in it. I hain’t heard of any of them been killed but one I heard had his knee cap shot off. That was Burke—a lawyer at Carrollton. 1
I would like to see you mightily and talk a day or two with you. John and Mary and Sally is going to school and has been going all the year. I want you to write to me when this comes to hand. So nothing more at present. I am your respectful [brother] until death, — Lewis Latham
[to] A J Wagnon and family
Listy says to write on this side. She say she wants you to write something about Scott and William. Well I will tell you something about catching a big fish about a month ago. I had a passel of hocks [traps?] set out in the river and a [paper crease makes word illegible] come and got hung on one of them. He weighed 33 pounds. He was a whopper, I tell you. Direct your letters to Blake’s Ferry PO, Randolph County, Alabama.
1 This was undoubtedly Captain Archibald Turk Burke (1829-1882) who was a lawyer in Carrollton, Georgia, who led Co. F, 7th Georgia Infantry. He was wounded in the leg during the 1st Battle of Manassas in July 1861 and his wife went to Virginia to bring him home to Carroll county, Georgia.
