Civil War soldiers’ letters are still being discovered, 150 years after the conflict ended. Letters from Florida soldiers are especially rare, given the state’s small population and relatively frontier status. Lately, one such letter came up for sale, from a scion of one of the state’s leading families.
George Washington Wright (1839–1918) was the son of Pennsylvania-born Drake judge and onetime mayor of Pensacola, Florida, and his wife Josefa de la Rua. The younger Wright was managing a lumber mill near Pensacola when the war broke out. He enlisted in the 1st Florida Cavalry in 1861, was taken prisoner in 1862, and after exchange, re-entered service in the 6th Alabama Cavalry of Clanton’s Brigade. He was promoted to lieutenant and later to captain. He survived the by Bruce S. Allardice and Wayne L. Wolf
100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War features newly restored images of scenes in the famed city, taken 1860–1865.
The cameramen include the better-known, such as George N. Barnard and George S. Cook, as well as some lesser-known ones: Samuel Cooley, Charles Quinby, the partners Haas & Peale, Osborn & Durbec.
Text by Stephen Davis and Jack Melton accompanies each featured photograph, describing the pictured scenes and the history surrounding them. The selected images depict a variety of settings: that portion of Charleston known as The Battery, the “Burnt District” (the area of the city destroyed by the Great Fire of December 1861), the Charleston Arsenal, and the many churches that allow Charlestonians to call theirs “the Holy City.” Special sections of this book are devoted to the huge Blakely guns imported from England by the Confederates and close-ups of Barnard’s views.
The history of Civil War Charleston goes back to The Defense of Charleston Harbor (1890) by John Johnson, Confederate major of engineers, and to Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-’61 (1876) by Capt. Abner Doubleday, Federal second-in-command. Since Charlestonians have contributed to the history of their city, notably Robert N. Rosen and Richard W. Hatcher III. The historical text surrounding 100 Significant Photographs draws on these and other works. A unique feature is its reliance upon the writings of actual participants, such as Augustine T. Smythe (1842–1914) and Emma Edwards Holmes (1838–1910).
As a contribution to this literature, 100 Significant Civil War Photographs: Charleston in the War offers rewards for all readers, from the casual novice to the serious student.
This letter to his father is written amidst the fighting near New Hope Church and Kennesaw Mountain during the Atlanta Campaign. In it he expresses the hope, all-to-common in soldier letters, that the “hard fighting” was about to end. He also mentions that Confederate confidence and morale is high, casting doubt on claims of some historians that morale in the Army of Tennessee was low due to Joe Johnston’s constant withdrawals. Wright’s difficulties obtaining a uniform, and getting paid, illustrate the grinding circumstances that even well-off officers faced.
Powder Springs, GA May 31, 1864
If you can arrange with Bruno or Moses [servants] to get them [the suit] for me (I understand they are in Selma) I will refund the money in the course of a month or two or as soon as paid. I will have plenty of money when paid and I will refund promptly.
The government is owing me six months wages. Henry [Henry Thomas Wright (1842-99) George’s younger brother] is at the front as aide to Genl. Finley [Jessie J. Finley, commander of the Florida Brigade in the Army of Tennessee]. I have just heard from him and he is safe— though his command has suffered severely. He is only acting aide for the occasion. I suppose he thought this would be the closing fight, and it would not do for the war to end without his having been in a fight. Fighting and skirmishing has been going on continuously for five or six days. And the enemy has made many night assaults, but have always been
Carolina Antique Arms
Civil War Period Arms & Equipment
Michael Dyches
August 2020
repulsed with great loss. Everything is quiet this morning. The troops are all in very high spirits and they generally consider this the last hard fighting that we will have with this army. I have just seen Louis Hyer.2
I am very much in need of the suit of clothes and hope you will take some steps to secure them. I would not trouble you if I could attend to it myself.
Love to all, In all duty,
Bruce S. Allardice is Professor of History at South Suburban College in Illinois. He is a past president of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago.
Wayne L. Wolf is past president of the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Roundtable.
