CIVIL WAR LETTER OF DR. W.M. JEFFRESS Jackson Parish, Louisiana Contributed by Peggy Chandler Beaubouef Date: Jan. 1998 ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************ CIVIL WAR LETTER OF DR. W.M. JEFFRESS (Submitted by Peggy Chandler Beaubouef) Willis Marion Jeffress was born in 1827 near Brookhaven, MS, the youngest of five children born to Rev. Jim Jeffress and Mary Parks Jeffress. He married Marinda Wright, a school teacher, on 1 Jan 1852 in Lawrence County, MS. Willis and Marinda moved to Jackson Parish soon after their marriage and had six children. (See listing following letter.) Willis Marion Jeffress was a doctor in the Confederate Army during the first year of the Civil War according to Jewell M. Jeffress and Alta M. Jeffress, compilers of the "Jeffress Family History", source of the family data shown here (Jackson Parish Library, Jonesboro, LA). He was attached to Co. D of the 12th Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers. The following is a letter he wrote to his father-in-law, Major James Wright. Permission to publish this letter was graciously given by Mrs. George Rogers of Saline, LA. She is the great-granddaughter of Willis M. Jeffress, granddaughter of Julia Jeffress and Reuben McDonald, and daughter of Henry and Esther McDonald Scroggin. Mrs. Rogers has possession of the original letter. Dr. Jeffress died 28 Apr 1862, not many days after writing this letter. It is not known if he was killed in battle or died of disease, as so many did. His letter differs from the normal "How's Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob?" genre. Apparently his father-in-law was, or had been, in the military, therefore he concentrated on relating military matters of interest to him, making this letter historically significant. (I took the liberty of inserting punctuation but left spelling, phrasing, etc. as found in the original text.) Fort Pillow, Tennessee March 23rd, 1862 Dear Father, I improve the present oportunity in writing you a short epistle to let you know that I am well and give you the news from this part of the Army. In order that you may know all about our trip from home to this place I will commence from Jackson, Mississippi. When we got there we were told that Columbus was evacuated but our Maj. would not believe it so he telegraphed to Gen. Beauregard to know when to go. Beauregard telegraphed back for him to go on to Columbus, but when we got to Grand Junction we found out for certain that Columbus was evacuated and that our Reg. was at Island No. 10. We turned for Memphis. I found Memphis to be considerable city with some of the finest buildings I ever saw. We got on a steamboat and left for our Reg. When we got there we found our Troops in great excitement expect-ing an attack from the yankees, which were in sight of New Madrid, a little town in Missouri about 10 miles below Island No. 10. In order that you may better understand where these places are I will give you the best geographical description that I can; Island No. 10 is a small island in the Mississippi River oposite New Madrid Bend, about one mile one way and one-half mile the other. Our Reg. with a good many others were stationed on the bank of the river oposite the Island. Where we were stationed was in Tennessee near the Kentucky line about forty miles below Columbus. I will now tell you something about the bombardment at Island No. 10 and New Madrid Bend which commenced on Saturday the 15th. Just the gun boats came down in sight of our batteries and opened fire on them but were too far off to do any damage and our men concluded not to return the fire until they got closer. So the yankees kept up the fire that day and the next day without being interupted by our batteries. The next day, Monday, they advanced a little closer when our guns opened fire on them. After five or six shots from our guns two of the gun boats were struck and one was about to sink when they sent two other boats down and carried her off. In the mean time one of their tug boats came down to pull an old boat out of the way that our men had partly sunk in the river on a narrow pass to keep them from passing and one of our gun boats put after her and hauled her in. During all this time they (the yankees) had done us no damage and up to the last heard from there, they had done us no damage and all the damage that was done on our side was by one of our cannon bursting which killed 3 of our men and wounded 7 more. We were on the bank of the river when the cannonading commenced. The bomb shells would burst over us high up in the air, too high to do any damage. We were ordered back from the river about a mile from under the shells. We stayed there one day and then ordered to this place. This place is the best fortified that I ever saw. It is on a high bluff with a breast work on the river for about one-half mile and cannon planted all along, and a breast work commencing at the lower end and running back for about 2 miles from the river and extending all around all of our Troops and back to the river, and all the timber cut down for some distance beyond the breast works so that the yankees cannot have the timber for a shelter. We have about 10 or 15 thousand men here, enough I think to hold it against 50 thousand yankees. [SUBMITTER'S NOTE: Southern arrogance at its best!] Gen. Beauregard and Jeff Davis is concentrating a large force at Jackson and Corinth. They have been expecting a big battle in that country and we expected to be ordered out there but we have just heard that Gen. Buel has fallen back so we may stay here for sometime. I have nothing more interesting to write at present. I want you to write to me as soon as you receive this. Direct your letter to Fort Pillow, Tennessee to the care of Capt. J.H. Seale, Co. D, 12th Reg. La. Volunteers. Give my respects to en- quiring friends and accept my love and respects for yourself. I remain your affectionate Son, W.M. Jeffress To Maj. Jas. Wright CHILDREN OF W.M. & MARINDA JEFFRESS: 1) Julia Jeffress - b. 7 Jan 1854 d. 10 Dec 1938, married Reuben McDonald 21 Jun 1882. Julia was known as "Granny McDonald" and lived her entire life within a few miles of her birthplace in Jackson Parish. She is buried in the McDonald Cemetery near Jonesboro. She and Reuben had eight children, Alice, Ester, Willis B., James, Bessie, Faedra, Foster, and Jeffress McDonald. 2) John Jackson Jeffress - b. 1855, d. 12 Feb 1902. Married Bettie E. Carroll 30 Oct 1879. Their children were Callie Elizabeth, Minnie Vera, Laurine Leslie, Charles Wilburn, Willis David, Rex Coleman, Eva, Walter Neville, and John J. Jeffress. 3) Robert P. Jeffress - b. 9 Feb 1857, d. 25 Feb 1925. Married Ada Callie Anders. Their children were May Olive, Carl, Emmett, and Raymond Jeffress. Robert was a physician and practiced in Jackson, Winn, Bienville, and Lincoln Parishes. 4) William Jeffress - b. 23 Jan 1859, d. 4 Jan 1945, married Alice McDonald. Their children were Lovie, Mary, Ed, Tip, Elizabeth, Robert, Walter, Margaret, and David Jeffress. William was a successful businessman and lived for a time in the Rio Grande Valley near Harlingen, Texas. He is buried in Jonesboro Cemetery. 5) James Franklin Jeffress - b. 26 May 1860, d. 22 Apr 1862. 6) Willis A.M.M.P. Jeffress - b. 23 Feb 1862, d. Sep 1863.