Collection of Eight Letters by Confederate Soldiers, Members of the "Caddo Guards" of Shreveport Louisiana

Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana: 1862-63. A collection of eight letters, totaling 24 pages, handwritten in ink and pencil. One letter appears to be incomplete, possibly lacking a second leaf. The letters were sent by Zachariah Jordan Howell, and his brother-in-law Joseph Dickson Whitworth, while serving in the Confederate Army with Company A, 25th Louisiana Infantry, also known as the “Caddo Guards.” The letters were all sent to Howell’s wife and Whitworth’s sister, Isabella Jane (Whitworth) Howell, back home in Greenwood, Caddo Parish, Louisiana. Included are seven letters written by Howell between June, 1862 and April, 1863, as well as one letter sent by Whitworth in March, 1862.

Howell was born in Chester County, South Carolina, and moved to Shreveport in 1856, where he worked in the cotton industry, before moving to a plantation near Greenwood, Louisiana. He enlisted as a private, and rose to the rank of lieutenant, fighting in battles at Perryville, Kentucky and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He participated in the attempted relief of General Pemberton in Vicksburg, before being assigned to Shreveport, where he surrendered to Union troops (Joiner, “Little to Eat and Thin Mud to Drink”, xxiii).

These letters, sent by Howell to his wife, record life in camp and on the march, news about fellow soldiers and other family members, sicknesses and deaths, anecdotes about fellow members of the company, his desire to return home and see his wife and child, and his predictions as to the war’s end. The first letter was sent after the fall of Corinth, Mississippi, detailing the company’s difficult and dramatic flight from the city:

“We left Corinth on last Thursday night the 29th ultimo—and march to this place about thirty miles through a perfect cloud of dust, with our guns, knapsacks, blankets, & accoutrements on our backs…we had to drink muddy water out of the small holes in the creeks…there was forty or fifty thousand men ahead of us which lean the country of everything pretty much to eat—we dined on hard bread with one slice of pickle for about three days, & the last day we marched without anything to eat…” (June 3, 1862 Near Baldwin, Tipper Co., Miss.)

The second letter was also sent from Mississippi. Howell discusses the company’s inability to receive letters, the discharge of a “worthless” soldier, company payroll (“poor pay if it was not for country for being away from home”), and sicknesses and deaths: “The men that die here in this camp we have to bury without coffins as there is none to be had or lumber to make them—we wrap their blankets around them and put them into a hole” (July 3, 1862, Camp Near Tupelo, Miss).

The rest of Howell’s letters were sent from camps near Chattanooga and Tullahoma, Tennessee. Howell writes several times about his desire to return home, his brother-in-law Joe, his family members back in South Carolina, the nearby Yankees, and his predictions as to the war’s end:

“I wish the Yankees would let us alone, and I am sure we would them—but there is no prospect of such good luck…I would advise all at home to prepare for a continuation of the war—notwithstanding thousands predict an early termination of the war, but mark what I say—that we will not have peace in ’63” (March 7, 1863, Tullahoma, Tenn.)

“I believe if we can hold our own until next December when Lincoln’s Congress will meet I believe that peace will follow before its adjournment” (April 18, 1863, Tullahoma, Tenn).

“If Mr. Smith & Joe both has to go to the war I do not know what you will do at home for a protector…I have just received a letter from F.M.G. Yorkville So. Ca. in which he says Margie & Amanda are both well—They have the small pox in York District…have been vaccinated…Mr. Joe Poag had a brother killed in the last Manassa fight—his name was Randolph, & one wounded” (Feb 14, 1863, Tullahoma, Tenn)

One interesting letter includes a passage about the scarcity and high prices of basic goods:

“All articles are at an enormous price here—it cost us to live on the meanest kind of fare about sixty dollars a piece per month…coat is worth $150, pants $75…Eggs $2.00 to $3.00 per dozen, chickens $5 a piece…milk $4.00 per gallon…” (April 18, 1863, Tullahoma, Tenn.)

The final letter in the collection was sent by brother-in-law Joseph Dickson Whitworth, detailing his enlistment and journey to New Orleans, and his advice to his sister on settling her debts with payment in cotton:

“We arrived here on the 13 inst after a long and tedious trip, apart of the time with 250 soldiers on board, which made it very uncomfortable yesterday we were all sworn in the Confederate service for the war we are in camp about 1 or 2 miles from the city, in an old cotton shed, where we are drilling all of everyday…Mr. Campbell says it is impossible for them to send you any groceries so you will have to barter cotton for anything you may want” (New Orleans, March 15, 1862).

Fading to a couple of letters, which are still legible, one letter incomplete, else very good. Item #12840

Price: $2,500.00