SCHLEY COUNTY, GA - 46th Reb Co. B J.H. Purvis letters ***************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm *********************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Harris Hill (http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002514) and Virginia Crilley (varcsix@hot.rr.com) COMPANY B, 46th REGIMENT Civil War These letters were printed in the 100 year history of Taylor County published by The Butler Herald in 1977. Harris Hill did a fine job of studying the letters and discovering who they referred to. You'll note his additions in ( ). Oct 28, 1862 | March 14, 1863 |June 1, 1863 The following letters which were written during this War Between the States are now the property of Walter Purvis, a returned Taylor County Navy veteran, who makes his home in Aurora, Colorado. [1977] They were obtained for this special edition by his sister, Mrs. F. E. Posey of Butler. The letters have been microfilmed and are on record in the Department of Archives and History in Atlanta. Several letters to Mr. Purvis from Mary Givens Bryan, Director of the Department of Archives and History, concerning the old documents, contained other information about the people in the old letters. F(rancis) Marion Purvis, the grandfather of Mrs. Posey and Walter Purvis, was shown on the ''Muster Roll of Company B, 46th Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Army of Tennessee, CSA, Schley County, Georgia, 'Schley Rifles'," as a 'Private' on September 18, 1862. Pension records show he was in Macon, Georgia Hospital, December, 1864. Paroled in Macon, Georgia, April 1865. (Born in Georgia in 1841. Died in Taylor County, Georgia, May 11, 1914.) (He is buried at Mt. Nebo. The dates on his stone are 13 May 1841, died 11 May 1915.) Other family members are discussed in another letter to Walter Purvis from B. C. Yates, Superintendent of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Marietta. They include : "Purvis, Andrew J. - Private, March 4, 1862. Died of chronic diarrhoea in Hinds County, Miss., August 10, 1863." "Purvis, George W. - Private, March 4, 1862. Died of chronic diarrhoea July 3, 1864." "Purvis, Jonathan H. - Private, March 4, 1862. Died of exhaustion on battlefield at Chickamauga, Ga., September 20, 1863." "Andrew J. Purvis - may be buried in a Confederate Cemetery in or near Vicksburg, Mississippi." "Jonathan H. Purvis served in Gist's Brigade, Walker's Reserve Corps at the Battle of Chickamauga in the Confederate Right Wing, under General Leonidas Polk. After the battle many of the Georgia dead were removed to Marietta and buried in the Confederate Cemetery here. It may be that your relative's grave is marked 'unknown' which is the case of many interments." The Jonathan H. Purvis mentioned is the uncle of Mrs. Posey and Mr. Purvis. According to Mrs. Posey, he served as Tax Commissioner of Marion County for several years. Also in her possession is an old diary he kept for a year while living in the southwestern part of Taylor County. Confederate letter from J. H. Purvis, of Marion, County, Georgia, dated October 28, 1862. Company enlisted in Schley. Pocotaligo, South Carolina, Tuesday, October 28th, 1862 Dear parents, brothers and sisters I drop you a few lines to inform you that we are yet in the land of the living and getting along as well as could be expected. I am enjoying fine health, as good as I ever do. Jack (Andrew J. Purvis) is well all to a rising on his foot and it is mending very fast. Brother Wash is still at Charleston. ("Brother Wash" would be George Washington Purvis) I am looking for him today. I have not heard from him since we left last Wednesday evening. I am in hopes that he is well by this time. Fielding (This would be Fielding C. Benton. I believe Fielding was a brother of Jonathan H. Purvis' mother Lucy Benton Purvis. He would have been about 42 at this time and was also a private in company B, 46th Ga. He was wounded at Kennesaw Mt. on June 27, 1864 and was captured a few days later at Covington, Ga. He died at Richmond, Va., April 2, 1865 and is buried at Hollywood Cemetery there.) is well and hearty as common. I hope that these few lines may find you all well and doing well. We are not faring so well now as we did in Charleston. We have no tents but we will get tents in a day or two. I reckon and I reckon all of our things that we left. We have no other kind of bread but crackers to eat. We have had tolerable plenty of potatoes. The potatoe patches sees sighted I will say to you all that I have been over. A battlefield (is) a sight I never want to see again. I tell you it is no pleasant sight to see dead men lying on every side of the road and that was the case last Thursday morning. They were mostly Yankees. I say three or four of our own men dead. Our regiment was like they was at Secessionville. We came in a day after the fight. The Yankees got the worst of the fight from the sign along the road. The road was strewed with their plunder. They had bundles of lightwood tied up that left strewed all along the road. They had them if they had succeeded in taking the Rail Road to burn up the bridges, houses and any thing they came to. I hear heavy cannonading this morning in the direction of Savannah. They make the effort to come out again and attack us but I. hope we will drive back again and make them skidaddle faster than they did before. We have companies of our regiment at this place B. D. & G. from Schley Chattahoochee and Stewart. We are under the command of Major A(lexander) M. Speer as fine a man as is living I think. Mother I will say to you not to be uneasy about us for we are in the hands of the Lord. He is just as able to save us here as he is at home. In him I put my trust that it will be his will for us all to meet again on this earth and if we dont meet any more in this world of trouble and sorrow I hope we will meet in heaven where there is no more parting and no more sorrow - where pleasure never ends. Jack Hobbs is not well.(I think Jack Hobbs is A.J. Hobbs who lived 5 houses away from the Purvis household on the 1860 Schley Co. census. He was discharged on account of deafness, April 17, 1863. After the war he filed for a pension in Taylor Co.) He is creeping about not able to do any thing with his back and hip. I dont believe Jack will stand a camp life though he may get hardened to it after a while. Jeff Stephens (probably Thomas J. Stephens, killed at Jackson, Miss. May 14, 1863.) is sick. He has gone back to Charleston to the hospital. He left this morning. You stated you wanted to know what to do with my money. I will say to you all to use it if you have any use for it and if you dont need it I want Pap to pay Daniel Murray some but be sure and keep enough for your own use and probably I might need some myself before I draw again. There is no telling when we will draw money now. Mother you said that you could pay Mackey for hauling of the corn with bacon if you knowed we would not want any more. I expect you had better pay him with bacon. We have got some bacon yet if we ever get it to us. Dont disfurnish yourselves for us. It is very true I like to have the bacon when I can get it. Itcauses us to fare a good deal better in the eating line. I want to know whether you have made any arrangements about salt yet. I am uneasy about salt. I know you cant live without it. I am glad to hear that you have such nice calves. I hope you will have milk and butter a plenty next year. I am in hopes that it will be the will of God to spare us all three and that we will be at home to help you eat the milk and butter. I feel thankful to the Lord for his kind protection to us so far and I hope he will still guard and protect us for the future. We was attacked at two places last Wednesday. We only lost about 15 killed and 40 wounded at both places and from accounts the Yankees lost three hundred. Write to us how much corn you will make. Jimmy (This would be James R. Purvis, youngest of the Purvis brothers. He was 9 in the 1860 census.) be a good boy and dig a plenty of ground please. I am glad to hear that you think so much of us. I want you all to do right. Be good to one another. I cant tell how long we will stay here. Direct your letter to Pocotaligo S. C. in care of Capt. S(amuel) J(ohn) C(alhoun) Dunlap company B 46th Regt. Ga. vols. I am your loving son and brother. J.H. Purvis March 14, 1863 Confederate letter from J. H. Purvis of Marion County, Georgia, dted March 14, 1863. Company enlisted from Schley. Charleston, S.C. Saturday March 14,1863 Dear Mother, Father, Brothers and Sisters I again write you a few lines to let you know that I am yet alive and am enjoying very good health. Jack and Wash (brothers Andrew J. and Geo. W.) is both well and hearty and thankful I am for the blessing that is bestowed upon us. We are all THREE have been highly favored but I dont know what is the cause. It is not for any ot good deeds. I know I do hope and trust it may continue so with us during the war. I hope these few lines may find you all well and hearty. I received your kind letters last Thursday morning and was truly glad to hear that you all was well and getting along as well as you all are. I am glad to hear that Pap and Marion is getting on as well as they are in getting ready to make a crop. I hope you may have good luck in making a crop. I have nothing of any importance to write. We have very pretty weather and has had for several days. You state that you had ice last week. That is what we hardly ever have here. We dont have as cold weather as you have. You wrote something about what I thought about your expressing a box of provisions. I will say to you to do just as you please about it. If you was to express one the best plan will be not to send much cooked victuals. Bacon is what we need more than any thing else and as for suffering we have not suffered any yet and dont you uneasy yourself nor trouble yourself about us if you can help it. I wish you could not trouble so yourself about us. You have nothing to trouble you to what some mothers has. It could be a good deal worse than it is with you so you ought to be thankful that it is no worse with you than it is. Mother dont believe that is is any worse than I write. I try to write the truth as near as I know how as I have said when we have no meat from home we don't get as much as we ought to have though we make out tolerable well. Levi Bridges is in our mess. He got some meat from home a day or two ago so we are not suffering. If you was to express anything be sure to mark it a little plainer than the other box was. Mark it like you would a letter to us. Fielding (Benton, suspected younger bro. of mother, Lucy Benton Purvis) is well and hearty. He is our guard today. Henry Ray (this would be William H. Ray who lived 3 doors away on the 1860 Schley census. He also was in Co. B, 46th Ga.) is well also. I will quit and write more next time. I am yours as ever &c J.H. Purvis. Company B 46th Reg Georgia Infantry (Enlisted from schley County, Georgia) From Marion County Georgia (Note: The previous letter speaks of the writer's concern for the family at home getting enough salt. "I want to know whether you have made any arrangements about salt yet. I am uneasy about salt. I know you cant live without it." Around the time of the Civil War, salt was a necessity for curing meat (since there was no refrigeration) This was important not only for individual families, but for their abilities to sell their meat. Their farm animals (as well as the CSA ones) needed salt to survive. It was used as well in setting dyes and in curing leather for shoes. Most of the salt had previously come from Europe and with the war blockade, salt had to be found in: 1) salt springs 2) mines of rock salt. Gov. Brown offered $5,000 reward for the discovery of salt springs that could produce 300 bushels daily. To assure a just distribution of the valuable salt, Gov. Brown instructed the Justices of the Inferior Courts of each county to create lists of those eligible (these men also had to advance the $ to pay for it!) Distribution was by 1/2 bushel to: a.. Widows of soldiers (free) b.. Families of serving soldiers & widowed mother of soldier ($1) c.. Heads of families ($4.50) An examination of the Schley County salt lists reveals no Purvis names on the list of thos eligible for salt. The categories on the actual lists seem to be for wives of soldiers or widows with sons serving in the army. Under those qualifications, the Purvis family would not qualify. The wives of most of the other men mentioned in the letters thus far are on those lists.) June 1, 1863 Monday June 1st 1863 Camp near Yazoo City, Yazoo County, Mississippi Dear Father, Mother, Brothers and Sisters I am again through the blessings of an allwise providence permitted to write you all a few lines to let you know that we are all three yet alive but not very well. I am enjoying tolerable good health. Jack is enjoying common health. He is rather on the puny list and Brother Wash has been a little sick for several days but has kept up all the time. His bowels has been running off for several days. (Andrew J. Purvis died of chronic diarrhea, Aug. 10, 1863) Fielding (Benton) is well as could be expected, also Henry (Ray) is well all to his legs and knees. The Rheumatism I expect that is working on him. I hope and trust if you ever get these few lines they may find you all to do well whether we do or not. I can say to you that we are not doing well now though we are faring no worse than thousand of others is and has been faring. We can just keep well enough to travel. I dont mind it so bad. We left camp near Canton last Saturday morning and landed here last night about 11 o'clock as near tired down and give up as you ever saw. There was a good many of our Regiment that give out yesterday on the march. Several of our company dropped out but come up this morning with us. Wash stopped a time or two but would get up with us again. The dirtiest roads that I ever saw we have them now - the roads is just like a dry ash bank. It is just like walking on a bank of flour and hardly any water on the road. That is the great difficulty here in this country in marching. We are now on the Yazoo River but how long we will stay here I cant say or where we will go to or started to cant tell. I find there is no Yankees at this place. They have been here or coming, up here in their boats but I suppose they did not stay long. I always thought that Yazoo City was a right smart city but it is not much of a place. It is the brokenest country I ever saw in some parts that we travelled over yesterday and very hilly where we are now. I have seen none of Mississippi yet that I am willing to live in. There is good land and a plenty of it but the water is not here. It is a great country to make corn and cotton but I dont want to live here. I believe Georgia is about as good a place as any taking every thing into consideration. Mother I will say to you that we are getting along first rate considering every thing for I cant see how we have stood it as well as we have. I tell you marching a foot is not like travelling on cars. I hope and trust we will get to some settled place alter a while for I am tired of travelling. Mother don't uneasy yourself about us no more than you can help. We are in the hands of God and if it is his will for us all o come through safe we will do it. I know all my or our help must come from Him. Mother you have no idea how glad I would be if we could [get] letters from you like we use to and if I knew you got our letters. I would like it better but I am fearful you have not go any of our letters since we got to Mississippi. This is the sixth or seventh letter that we have wrote since we was in that little fight. I can't tell you anything about the enemy. I don't know where they are. We are in a country where they have been and I don't reckon they are far off now. I hope we will never come up with them again or them with us. As for the news I have none. We have got where we hear no news. We have very warm weather. Today is very warm and so was yesterday. It is very dry and dusty. Biley is well and heaty. All the boys from our settlement I believe is well. We would get along a great deal better if we had any thing to cook in, what little we get to cook. We get enough to keep from suffering. Marion you done well in not coming with Wash for I tell you knew nothing about hard times. You stay home as long as you can. I want you all to do the best you can. Jimmy you and Sallie be good children. Mary I think of you many a time. I never shall forget you all. Mother I think of you often and never shall forget you. I am so glad you come to see us. I know it is some consolation to you that you saw us once more. I want you to write once a week any how. So farewell to you all. I remain your loving son. This is intended for Emiline too. Yours as ever. J. H. Purvis (Notes: Mary, Sallie (Sarah), Jimmy and Marion are all sibings of Jonathan Purvis. I'd love to know who Biley and Emeline might be. Emeline is most probably Emeline Benton, Jonathan's cousin, age 22, who lived next door on the 1860 census. This letter was written 3 days before the seige of Jackson, Ms. would begin. The 46th Georgia would be a part of this effort as Union forces fresh from their victory at Vicksburg would try to reoccupy Jackson. They eventually would succeed, but it took a week-long seige and when they finally did retake Jackson all the bridges had been destroyed and much of the town booby- trapped. Jackson fell on July 16, 1863. The 46th Ga. became part of the Army of Tennesee and moved on to Chickamauga.) (Notes: Jonathan H. Purvis was the son of Hammond Purvis and Lucy Benton. He enlisted with 3 of his 4 brother in Co. B, 46th Ga. Inf., the "Schley Rifles.") Hammond Purvis married Lucy Benton in Upson Co., Ga. 24 Jul 1824 1850 Marion census, 29 Aug 1850 162/162 Harmon Pervis 50 M farmer GA Lucy 42 F GA Mary 20 F GA Andrew 12 M GA Frances 9 F GA (I believe this is an error as this was a male) Jonathan 24 M GA Geo W. 7 M GA Sarah J. 4 F GA Fielding Benton 30 M farmer 400 GA Fielding Benton and family is found next door to the Purvis HH in the 1860 census. 1860 Schley census, 19 July 1860, p. 46 314/314 Hammond Purvis 61 M farmer 600 530 GA Lucy Purvis 53 F domestic GA Jonathan Purvis 34 M teacher common school GA Mary A. 29 F domestic GA Andrew J. 22 M farming GA Frances M. 19 M farming GA George W. 16 M farming GA Sarah I (or J) 13 F GA James R. 9 M Ga 1870 Taylor census, p. 159, Cedar Creek, 15 August 1870 15/15 Purvis, Harmon 70 M W farmer 400 221 GA Lucy 59 F W keeping house GA Mary 36 F W at home GA Sarah 22 F W at home GA James 20 M W farm hand GA