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Lee, Thomas Jefferson ...A Confederate Letter Home Mr. William May, Tallahassee, Fla. sent a copy of the following letter to Harold C. Fisher, Yazoo City, Mississippi on April 15, 2000. The original letter was written by CSA soldier Thomas Jefferson Lee of Neshoba County, Mississippi. (The soldier was the son of Noel Lee and his wife Eliza W. Atkinson) Mr. May says: "This is a copy of a copy transcribed by Lulu Lee Arnett, daughter of Thomas Jefferson Lee. She sent it to her sister in law, Maria Wiggins Lee, Fitzhugh Lee’s widow. She said in her letter to Maria that the original was brittle and breaking. I’m sure it no longer exists. Lulu wrote the letter to Maria in August of 1938. Mr. May’s wife is descended from the Lee Family. RUSSELVILLE, TENN. AUG. 21, 1861 My Dear parents, Brothers, Sister, Friends, Neighbors, etc I take the liberty of writing you a few lines which leaves me well and well satisfied. I was treated with many kind hospitalities, arrived at Corinth on Friday, and to my great surprise, found my company with the whole of my regiment at that place. You cannot imagine the gratification it gave me to meet up with our brave boys. The most of the measles subjects have convalesced fine, though some few of them look to be considerably weather-beaten. Sile Hawkins has Typhoid Fever. We sent him to Knoxville this morning to a Southern Mothers' Society, where he will be well cared for. Joe Ingram went with him as nurse. We were three days and nights on the RR getting to this place. We are not far from the Virginia line, on the east Tennessee & VA RR. We traveled about fourteen hours in Alabama. Huntsville and Chattanooga re considerable places, making cannon at each one by the wholesale. Pa, I have read of mountains and seen broken country, but none to compare with Tennessee. We passed around the Cumberland mountains a considerable distance, lying entirely to our right, while the Tennessee River was on the left. You might look out one side and could not see the top of the rocks, and on the other where it was a hundred feet to the water in the river. We ran in this position for miles and finally went in the mountains on one side and came out on the other. We went through day-time and it was as dark as Egypt. I couldn't see my hand before me. After night, we went through again at a different place and much longer than the first. We crossed the Tennessee, Alabama and Bigbee Rivers. The Tennessee was a great deal larger than I expected to see - about 3/4 of a mile where we crossed. We got to Knoxville Sunday evening, called for Brownlow but he did not answer. The citizens informed us that there was about fifty Union men at that place - We then hurrahed for Jeff Davis and the South and they had philosophy of mind enough to play shut-mouth I understand that this county (Jefferson) went sixteen hundred votes for the Union and only six hundred for separation. The Union men are as thick as hops all around us - A good many in this town. Our boys got hold of one of them and came very near killing him. It took all the officers in the regiment to stop them. Our officers are daily expecting orders, as we were only ordered here to await a future move - Some expect to go to the Cumberland Gap and others to Virginia - As for my part, I don't know where. We are certain to move in a few days and you may then listen daily for a battle. Our regiment can drill without any trouble the Yankees had better retreat when we get to them or they will fall like the leaves of Autumn before a (illegible). Just some, from the battalion drill for the first (time) since we have been here. The Tennesseeans say that we are far superior to any they have seen. We are about seven hundred miles from home by railroad. The postage on letters from here is ten cents. Pa, I would like to be at home with you all, by my country and all is at stake and I am willing to sacrifice my life on its alter - Let the battle rage, artillery flash and I will fight until I die. I am determined that my name shall never go down to the future posterity disgraced. No, give me death in preference. If it is my fate to die in this campaign, God grant that it may be on the battlefield. To say that I fear death, I cannot - I only want to see my country released from the bondage that it is now under. I am willing to die. News reached us this morning that a Southern boy had killed Lincoln, but I expect it is false. I don't expect to see any of you short of the expiration of my campaign and perhaps never. All of our neighbor boys are well. Tell Thomas Yates that William is in excellent health. Tell Thomas and Sue to write to me, as I intend this for them as well as you - It is a family letter. Give my best love and respects to Uncle Suggs and Aunt Kate (Note: This would be Aaron Suggs Lee and his wife Caroline). I feel like I was lost since they left. (Left? A. S. Lee was a Captain in the Confederate Army. Perhaps he was already on duty elsewhere). Pa, I feel that they are as good friends as I have in this world - They have treated me as a Father and Mother and I fear that we haven't got another Suggs Lee in our company. Dugan has been elected Captain. Pa, Jep and Till are not included in this letter, as I know they are not my friends and their friendship I never want. Tell everybody to write. I must close. The solemn thought of perhaps never seeing you all again makes my heart swell almost to bursting. Farewell for perhaps the last time. May the God of Battle protect us through the death struggle for liberty is my prayer. Your Affectionate Son, etc. (write soon) Thos. J. Lee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thomas Jefferson Lee was born in 1840 in Wilcox County, Alabama, and was brought to Neshoba County, during 1844-45. His parents were Noel Lee and Eliza Atkinson Lee of Neshoba County. (Noel Lee died at Vicksburg in 1863. Mr. Bill May knows these details) He joined the Mississippi State Forces at Plattsburg, Winston County on April 20, 1861, and was assigned to Company F of the 14th Mississippi Inf .Regiment. The unit was known as THE BEAUREGARD RIFLES. He and a number of his cousins served under their uncle, Capt. A. S. Lee of Neshoba County. He was sent to Corinth, a gathering point for thousands of soldiers, and like hundreds of others was stricken by measles and typhoid fever. He was sick from July of 1861 until December 19, 1861, and was discharged from the army as physically unfit while at Bowling Green KY. He was immediately assigned as a hospital nurse. He was accepted again by the army on October 12, 1862, and added to the rolls by Capt. P. B. Dugan at Holly Springs. He apparently was on hospital duty and not with his old Regiment when it was captured at Ft. Donelson in February 1862. He served actively with the army, again until he was captured at the Battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864, and sent to military prison at Camp Douglas, Ill. The 14th Mississippi Inf. Regiment was engaged with the enemy during the following campaigns: Ft. Donelson, February 1862
If you have questions or problems with this site, email the Web Master: LeFloris Lyon. I am unable to do your personal research. I do not live in Neshoba County MS and do not have access to additional records.
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