 |
| Lynchburg, Va, in 1875 |
The Petition of Ammon G. Hancock, of the City of Lynchburg and State of Virginia, respectfully represents:
That he is a native of the County of Bedford, Va, is fifty years of age and has been a resident of said city for the last twenty years, engaged in the business of buying and selling Tobacco. He has at no held (sp.) time held any political office and [illegible] of any kind except that of Justice of the Peace for the County of Campbell. He has had no connection with the army of the Confederacy in any way or held any position of profit or trust under its government. He was not aware that he had subjected himself to any penalties by any thing he has done or omitted during the Rebellion. He accepted the overthrow of the Confederacy as an accomplished fact after the surrender of Genl. Lee, and designed to embrace the first opportunity of declaring his allegiance to the Government of the United States. Accordingly on the 26th of May last, he took the amnesty oath under the Proclamation of President Lincoln of the 8th of Dec. 1863, and supposed that by so doing he was re-instated to all his rights and immunities as a loyal citizen of the United States. He promised, if he had incurred penalties, that amnesty was afforded by the bona fide taking of that oath and meeting the obligations imposed by it – which he honestly intended [intends?] to do.
But he is advised, that being the owner of more than $20,000 worth of taxable property, it is safer for him to obtain, by special applications to your Excellency, a warrant of Pardon, so as to assure him in his rights of property and enable him to peaceably to enjoy it. As a condition precedent, he is willing to [illegible] all right and title to the slaves heretofore owned by him and let them at liberty.
The premices (sp.) considered, your Petitioner respectfully asks your Excellency to grant him a special warrant of Pardon under the provision of the Proclamation of the 19th of May last, so that in all things he may be fully restored to his rights and immunities as a loyal citizen of the United States.
And as in duty, etc., etc.
A.G. Hancock
Of the City of Lynchburg
17th day of June 1865
Letter from Virgil Hewitt to Charlotte Hewitt Hancock. Virgil was the third son of Robert Hewitt, Charlotte Hewitt Hancock's brother, and his wife (and first cousin) Elizabeth Chastain. Robert and Elizabeth Hewitt settled in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where Charlotte's father had moved long before the war. He was a well-educated man who ran a school and the family was prominent in Kentucky. We have letters preserved from three of the four sons. This one is from Virgil, who served with General Helm in the first year of the war, He was promoted to first lieutenant and adjutant to the Sixth Kentucky regiment in October of 1863. He fought at Murfreesboro, Jackson, Chickamauga, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, and then was wounded in Dallas, Georgia during the Atlanta Campaign (May 26, 1864). He returned to fight at the battle of Intrenchment Creek, another battle for Atlanta at the end of July, but was so severely wounded there that he was out for the remainder of the war.
Camp near Tyners Station(1)
October 30, 1863
My dear Aunt,
You must always look over any delay in answering your letters, for a soldier's life, as you are aware, is decidedly wandering and uncertain. Your kind and interesting letter came to hand after the Battle of Chickamauga. It would have been answered immediately but we were bivouacking around Chattanooga with no tents or shelter or any baggage whatever with us. We were of course entirely devoid of any materials for writing.
We are now very comfortably fixed, having some fires to protect us from the weather. It is now pouring down rain. The pattering of the rain upon the tent has a dreary, lonely sound and makes me sick for home and its comforts. Such longings are vain and fruitless of course and I always dismiss them from my mind but it is perfectly natural that one should long for home occasionally, but oft as we are from the pleasures of ladies' society and their refining influences. I know you would be shocked at my behavior were I to visit you now, for one almost becomes a savage from associating with none but soldiers for eighteen months. I think that with your good teaching and kind influence I would soon become civilized and presentable to ladies. Do you not think so? I wish I could have an opportunity of being trained by you for a month or so. It would be quite pleasant to me.
 |
| Battle of Chickamauga by Kurtz and Allison |
The Battle of Chickamauga was bloody and decisive. It was a complete and utter rout of the enemy. The fight lasted two days - Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th. On Saturday our Brigade was posted on extreme left of our line and was engaged in attracting the attention of the enemy whilst the main attack was made on the right. There is something grand and sublime in an artillery fight. The cannon belching forth, every discharge a perfect hail of shell and shot, carrying death along with it, whilst the thundering report echoed and re-echoed among the neighboring mountains. Whilst we were in the midst of the fight we received orders to march to the extreme right. This was about 4p.m. We immediately withdrew and proceeded as ordered. As we neared the right wing of our army the deadly war of rocketry and the wounded coming to the rear told us plainly that a terrible conflict was then progressing and that each volley sent a spirit back to its creator. Oh, how solemn a scene is a battle field. To think that every second an immortal soul wings its flight to an unknown and untried reality [illegible]. It is sad, sad, sad. It was dark when we arrived upon the battle field. As we marched we passed hospital after hospital of our wounded and met them in large numbers hobbling off the field. It was really amusing to hear their replies to questions asked by our boys as we passed. One fellow in particular I remember - a tall, strapping fellow - was limping to the rear. I asked him if he was wounded, to which he replied in the negative. I then asked him what was the matter. In a very piteous tone he informed me that he had been knocked down by a bomb. The tale was so ridiculous that I burst out laughing right there - the idea of a man being knocked down by a bomb shell and not wounded. I knew immediately that he was scared.
We built large fires that night for the air was very chilly. Ere retiring for our bed upon Mother Earth, Fayette(2) came from Headquarters to see me. We talked a short time and parted about 10. No one can imagine one's feelings upon retiring to bed at night upon a battle field with the certainty of a desperate conflict on the morrow. The heavers were filled with bright starts which seemed to look solemnly down upon the bloody scene. I gazed upward at them and wondered if I would have the pleasure of doing likewise on tomorrow night. Then my mind sped away to loved ones at home. Oh, what a pleasure to sit by Ma's side tonight with my head resting on her lap whilst I gazed into those eyes which so often beamed upon me with a mother's love. Such a pleasure would certainly make me strong for the conflict tomorrow. Then I saw her kneeling in prayer as she retired and I knew she was praying for her absent sons. With such thoughts as these floating through my mind, I sank to sleep on the night preceding the bloody fight of Sunday at Chickamauga.
About 3 a.m. we were aroused by the stirring notes of the drums and soon all were ready. It was yet dark and very chilly. We had to march a mile or more yet to gain our position in line of battle, which we reached about daylight. Here we remained inactive until 10 a.m., when Gen. Breckenridge(3) rode down our line and informed us that in five minutes we would begin the fight and he wanted us to carry everything before us. In five minutes the signal gun was fired and before its report had died away the command "Forward [illegible] center, march!" was given. At that command the boys marched steadily forward for five or six hundred yards, when the enemy met us. First came an occasional shot from a skirmisher, then often and more often the bullets came until there was one deafening roar from one end of our line to the other. The brave fellows fell fast but on we marched. The battle raged with terrific fury for several hours, when there was a cessation at sundown. We renewed it and completely routed the enemy. They fled in every direction. Thus ended the Battle of Chickamauga.
I thanked God for the preservation of my own life and Fayette's. Fayette has gone to the hospital sick. I have not heard from him since he left. I miss him so much. I would be miserable without him in the army. He is much sick.
My love to Uncle Ammon and Uncle Wils, also to Tex, Brud, and your children (4). I would like so much to see all of you but that pleasure is denied me.
Write soon to your devoted nephew.
V.
Direct to Chattanooga
Virgil Hewitt
Notes:
(1) Tyners Station is today Tyner, Tennessee, and is within the city limits of Chattanooga. The Battle of Chickamauga, described here, had taken place September 19-20, 1863. The first of the Battles of Chattanooga began in October and continued until the end of November.
(2) Fayette Hewitt, eldest son of Robert and Eliza (Chastain) Hewitt. Fayette served adjutant-general in the trans-Mississippi department under "President" Davis, and then under General Breckenridge. See his letter below.
(3) Major General John C. Breckenridge, commanded one of the divisions on the right wing, under Lt. General Leonidas Polk.
(4) Uncle Ammon is Ammon Hancock, Charlotte Hewitt Hancock's husband. Uncle Wils is Wilson C. Hewitt, one of Charlotte Hewitt Hancock's older brothers. No idea who Tex and Brud are.
 |
| Fayette Hewitt (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6101155/fayette-hewitt) |
Headquarters(1)
Jan. 15, 1864
Dear Aunt,
Your letter announcing the sending of the second box was not received for some time after it was due. Since it came to hand I have been so busy - the general big attack on Richmond - that I have not had time to write to you. The first box was received shortly after I wrote you last - the other has not yet come to hand. I am sorry Uncle Wils(2) went to so much trouble to get the boots and overcoat. I would have written to him not to buy them but I did not know whether it would reach him. I believe I wrote you at one time to tell him I could get along without an overcoat and afterwards that he need not get the boots. I had no idea he would have to go away from home for them. I thought perhaps he could get me a pair made in Bedford County(3) without any trouble and I had just paid $150 for a pair of shoes and they asked $250(4) for boots - I thought I might save a little by getting them made in the county somewhere. But I had no idea of putting you and Uncle Wils to the trouble you have been in getting the articles I asked for and I am very sorry you did so, for I might have gotten them here.
I have had a long letter from Fox(5) telling me how he has been enjoying himself with you all. I should have liked very much to have taken my Christmas dinner with you. As it was I had to content myself with [illegible] beef and corn bread. I have no doubt it was a great treat for Fox to get with you once more, for I expect he does not live very famously in Richmond now since the present high prices for provisions.
I have just stopped to read a long letter from Fox enclosing a couple of letters from home. All well - Hannibal(6) talks a great deal about the little negroes (sp, 7), the dogs and the canary bird. I should not be surprised at all if he were to send in his next letter the pictures of the little negroes (sp, 7) and his favorite dogs. I know he would never think of sending his own or Ma's.
 |
| Chattanooga during the Civil War |
The army lies still - it is impossible to move at this season on account of the roads. We are about to be mounted. The men are all anxious to be on horseback and placed under Morgan(9). I think we will probably be mounted. I greatly prefer being with Infantry but will go with the Brigade. I have not been promoted - was offered it but refused because I would have been separated from men whom I love and who have every confidence in me.
We are about electing members of congress - the army has to vote - or rather [illegible] soldiers. My name was placed before the Convention for our District but I refused to let it be used. I shall leave the army for nothing so long as the war shall last(10).
Love to all - a good, warm kiss to all the children - Lil and Lucy(11) are of course included among the children. In which direction from Liberty(12) is Mr. Hopkins' farm?
Good Bye
Fayette
Notes:
(1) There is no location included with the letter, but General Breckenridge fought the battle of Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, TN, on Nov. 25, 1863, and afterward his army had retreated toward Dalton, GA.
(2) Wilson C. Hewitt, born 1816, one of Charlotte Hewitt Hancock's older brothers.
(3) Bedford County, Virginia, just northwest of Lynchburg, where both the Hancock and Hewitt families lived, although Fayette's father, Robert, had moved to Kentucky with his own father and many of his siblings before Fayette's birth.
(4) Given the rampant inflation at the time, it is very difficult to adjust this to "modern" dollars, but this would be around $320 for a pair of shoes and $535 for a pair of boots.
(5) Fox Hewitt, Fayette's youngest brother and the youngest son of Robert and Eliza (Chastain) Hewitt. He was a clerk in the Treasury Department of the Confederacy until May 1863 when he joined the 25th VA Battalion and served on the fortifications of Richmond for the remainder of the war.
(6) Hannibal Hewitt (seriously, what's with these names?!), the second son of Robert and Eliza (Chastain) Hewitt. I don't know anything about his service record. It seems he was at home in Kentucky, at least at the time this letter was written.
(7) I maintained the original language, with humble apologies to anyone who is offended. It gives me some hope to realize that the children mentioned here were so close to freedom that they likely would never remember the days of slavery.
(8) Virgil Hewitt, third son of Robert and Eliza (Chastain) Hewitt. He served with General Ben Hardin Helm, and in October 1863 he was made Adjutant of the 6th Regiment, fighting in the Battle of Chickamauga (see his own letter).
(9) Not sure to whom Fayette refers. There was a General John Hunt Morgan who led a foolhardy raid into Ohio in 1863. He was a Kentuckian, a cavalryman, and served under General Bragg (with whom Fayette was at the time). However, Morgan had only recently escaped from a Union prison in Ohio (at the end of November), and was in more-or-less disgrace at the time. He was killed in September of 1864.
(10) After the war, Fayette served as State Auditor and Quartermaster General for Kentucky.
(11) Not certain who Lil and Lucy are. I would assume cousins, but whose children I'm not sure. Ammon and Charlotte (Hewitt) Hancock had a daughter named Lily, but she was born in 1864, so presumably she's not the person intended. Ammon had a sister named Lucy, who is living with the family in 1870. She would not have been a blood relative of Fayette, but perhaps she was living with the family during the war, so he knew her?
(12) Liberty was the previous name for Bedford City, Virginia
Letter from Fox Hewitt to Charlotte Hewitt Hancock. Fox Hewitt was the youngest son of Robert and Elizabeth Chastain Hewitt. He was a clerk in the Treasury Department of the Confederacy until May 1863 when he joined the 25th VA Battalion and served on the fortifications of Richmond for the remainder of the war. (At least, that's what his cousin remembered, but note that this letter suggests that he's working in the Treasury Department still in 1864.)
Richmond, Virginia
December 15, 1864
My dear Aunt,
Your kind letter would have been answered sooner but that I have been very busy at the Office. The rest of the clerks in this Office have been detailed for 30 days from the field and we are working very hard to get up the work of the Department which is a long ways behind.
Mildred(1) treated me badly about her wedding by not inviting me, nor letting me know it was to take place. Your letter was my first intimation of it. You can tell her for me when you see her that I never intend to speak to her again, and that I don't care if she breaks her leg [illegible] so that she may be a fit companion for that husband of hers.
 |
| Richmond in 1865, after it was recaptured by the U.S. Army |
Fayette's health is so bad that he has not been with the Brigade for several weeks, and I am fearful his health has been permanently injured by his last arduous campaign.
I am very grateful, my kind aunt, for your very warm and cordial invitation to spend the Christmas with you. Schwarzman's(5) family made me promise last summer that I would pay a visit to them at that time. If I leave here at all I will have to go there, but there is so much work to be done in the next few weeks in the Office that I have not much expectation of being able to leave here for a single day. Nonetheless thanks to you dear Auntie, for your kindness. It would indeed be a great relief and happiness to be with you for a short time, but I will have to put it off until some other time, soon I hope.
There has been no truce boat for two months, consequently no letters from home.
I enjoyed myself very much while Burkett was here and regretted he could not stay with me longer. How long did he remain with you?
What are Brud [word not quite legible] and Tex doing now? Love to them, Uncle Wils, if with you, and the boys (6).
A merry Christmas to all of you, especially Miss Lily(7).
Your affectionate nephew,
Fox Hewitt
Notes:
(1) A relative? An ex? I have no idea if he's honestly upset or just joking
(2) Virgil Hewitt, Fox's younger brother and third son of Robert and Eliza (Chastain) Hewitt. He served with General Ben Hardin Helm, and in October 1863 he was made Adjutant of the 6th Regiment, fighting in the Battle of Chickamauga (see his own letter). He was wounded at the Battle of Dallas, near Dallas, Georgia, May 26, 1864.
(3) Fayette Hewitt, eldest son of Robert and Eliza (Chastain) Hewitt. Fayette served adjutant-general in the trans-Mississippi department under "President" Davis, and then under General Breckenridge.
(4) Probably this should be Newnan, GA, just southwest of Atlanta. General John Bell Hood, who had lost a leg at the Battle of Chickamagua the year before, was the general in charge of defending Atlanta from General Sherman. Atlanta had been liberated September 2, 1864 (or had fallen, I suppose, depending on one's perspective), just a couple of months before this letter was written. From then through December, Hood was engaged in the Tennessee Campaign, trying to cut Sherman's supply lines from Ohio. Since Sherman was heading in the opposite direction, and was perfectly happy to live off the land, this was not much of a problem. Hood would have been near Nashville at the time this letter was written. Col. Cofer, mentioned here, was probably Col. Martin Cofer of the 6th Regiment Kentucky Mounted Infantry. Couldn't find much information about where exactly they were in the fall/winter of 1864.
(5) A friend?
(6) Yeah, no idea who Burkett, Brud, or Tex are. Uncle Wils is Wilson C. Hewitt, born 1816, one of Charlotte Hewitt Hancock's older brothers, and "the boys", presumably are James, Earnest, and Edwin Hancock, the sons of Ammon and Charlotte Hewitt Hancock. Fox mentions there have been no truce boats, and therefore no letters from home. His immediate family lived in Kentucky, which by this time was entirely in Union hands.
(7) Ammon and Charlotte Hewitt Hancock's youngest child, Lily Hancock Thornhill, born that year. She was the one who preserved these letters.
No comments:
Post a Comment