NC, Lenoir, Letters, Sutton Letters During the Civil War
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SUTTON FAMILY LETTERS DURING THE CIVIL WAR

     Kindly lent for copying by Glenn Fields to Heritage Place, Lenoir
 Community College, Kinston, NC.

     Thanks to Sybil Thomas for copying these letters for submission to 
Lenoir County GenWeb.


Introduction

     After the death of my great-grand aunt, Alice Cornelia Hines Warters in 
1972, my family came into possession of the following set of letters. 

     "Aunt Al's" mother was Nancy Parks Cotton Sutton Hines who was first 
married to Henry Sutton. They had two sons, Thomas Hardy and William Henry. 
Most of these letters are correspondences from Henry to Nancy. Henry was
killed on September 17, 1862 in the Battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland (Antietam).
Later Nancy married Daniel Hines, Jr. I bring to light this second marriage 
for two reasons. First, some of the people named in the later letters, which 
were written to Nancy, are relative to this union. Second, even though Henry 
Sutton was my great-great grandfather, I would not exist if it had not been 
for this second marriage of great-great grandmother Nancy. Henry Sutton was my
maternal great-great grandfather and Daniel Hines, Jr. was my paternal great-
great grandfather. My mother and father were half second cousins. An 
interesting fact concerning this is that if Henry Sutton had not been killed, 
Nancy would not have been free to marry Daniel Hines, Jr. therefore, I and a 
whole lot of other people would never have been. So, in essence, I owe my very
existence to the death of Henry Sutton.

     In transcribing these letters, the original spelling, punctuation and 
grammar were retained. For this reason, parts of them may be a bit hard to 
read but definitely not as hard as the originals were.

     Henry and Nancy, along with her brother, William Cotton, lived on a farm 
that Henry's father, Benjamin Sutton, bought from Warren (Worry) Kilpatrick. 
The farm was in the Lane's Chapel community of Craven County, NC. In 
Benjamin's will that farm was listed as "lying south of the Neuse River on 
each side of Moseley's Creek". Moseley Creek is the county line between Lenoir
and Craven counties. The farm contained about 600 acres. It is the custom now,
and probably was then, to have land that lies in two counties listed in the 
owner's home county, which would have been Lenoir. I could find no record of 
this land in the Craven County courthouse. The Lenoir County courthouse and 
its records were destroyed by fire, therefore, no record exists there 
concerning that farm. 

     After New Bern was occupied by the Union forces, Henry felt that it was 
not safe for Nancy and their children to remain in Craven County. He had them 
moved back home to be with his family, the Suttons and her family, the Iveys 
and Parks, her mother being Edith Ivey. Edith was married to Louis Cotton. For
the rest of the time covered by the letters, Nancy received her mail addressed
to either Jericho, White Hall or Mosley Hall. The first two Post Offices were 
in what is now the Seven Springs area and the latter now being LaGrange. She 
continued to reside in this same neighborhood for the rest of her life which 
ended on November 2, 1923.

     Below you will find a list of the people and places mentioned in the 
letters along with the relationship of the people, if known.

     Also, there may found a "subscript" added to some of the letters to 
provide the reader with some extra insight into that particular letter or the
people.

                                      Glenn Fields


Alexander-Alexander Sutton, Henry's brother, six years younger.
Alex-Same as Alexander above.
Ann-Could have been Alexander's girl friend.
Arab-Unknown.
Arnold, Bryant-Unknown.
Arnold, Mr.-Mr. Bryant Arnold.
Aunt Betsy-Unknown.
Barrow, James-Private in Co. C, 27th from Lenoir County
Barrow, Jesse-Private Jesse H. Barrow, Co. C, 27th.
Barrow, Rachel-
Batcheler Creek-Batchelder's Creek in Craven Co. NE of New Bern.
Betsy-Unknown.
Betsy Ann-Daughter of Wm. Cotton, reared by Nancy and Daniel.
Billey-William B. Cotton, Nancy's brother.

Brother Pinkney-(Letter Oct 25,1863)Nancy's cousin Pinkney Page.
Brother William-(Letter Oct 25, 1863)Nancy's Cousin Wm. Page.
Brother William-(letter Oct 18th, 1861) Unknown.
Camp Black Jack-A Confederate camp between Kinston and New Bern.
Camp Gatlin-A Confederate camp on the Neuse River near New Bern.
Captain Whitfield-George F. Whitfield, Commander of Co. C, 27th.
Casa, Bill-Possibly Sgt. William Casey Co. C, 27th.
Ceal-Unknown.
Chloey-Chloea Miranda Sutton, Henry's second oldest sister.
Cob, Doctar-Dr. Cobb.
Cook, Colonel John R.-Confederate Colonel, 27th.
Cosen Amanda-Unknown.
Cosen-Cousin Nancy Sutton, Henry's wife.
Cotton, Nancy-Wife of Henry Sutton.
Cotton, Wm. B.-Nancy's brother.
Cussin exline-Unknown.
Daniel-(Letter Nov. 22, 1891) Daniel Hines, Nancy's 2nd Husband.
Daniel-Daniel Sutton, Henry's oldest brother.
Dea-Dee Hines, son of Nancy and Daniel.
Doity, Nancy-
Doity-old man Doity and Sally Doity.
Echobud-Unknown.
Edith-Edith Cotton, daughter of Wm., reared by Nancy and Daniel.
Elijah-Elijah Fields, husband of Henry's sister Winnefred.
Eliza-Unknown
Father-Benjamin Sutton.
Fields, Sallie H.-Nancy's cousin.
Fields, WJ-Winnie J. Fields, sister of Henry and wife of Elijah.
Fillis-(Phyllis) Ivey.
Fort Layne (Lane)-Confederate camp on Neuse River near New Bern.
Harris, Jack-Unknown.
Herane, Miss Sarah-Miss Sarah Herring.
Herring, Joe-Brother of Annie Sutton.
Herring, Miss-Probably Annie Sutton's and Joe Herring's mother. 
Hines, Tessa-Wife of Dee Hines.
Hunter, Morgan-Unknown.
Isler, Alberta-Unknown.
Ivey, John-Cousin and neighbor of the Sutton family in Wayne Co.
Ivy, Miss Sarah-Unknown
John-John W. Sutton, Henry's brother, eight years younger.
Johnson, Mrs.-Unknown.
Kennedy, E J-Cousin to Nancy and William.
Kilpatrick, Worry-Warren Kilpatrick, landowner in Craven Co.
Lee-Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Little Biley-William Henry Sutton below.
Little William Henry-Henry's and Nancy's youngest son.
Luther-Unknown.
M S A-Unknown.
Mary Ann-Mary Ann Swinson Ivey, wife of John Ivey.
Measley, James-Unknown.
Measley, Luby-Husband of Edith Cotton, daughter of William.
Milly-Uknown.
Miss Pasence-Possibly Thomas H. Sutton's wife, Patience Outlaw.
Moses, Mrs.-Unknown.
Old George-George F. Whitfield, Captain Co. C,  27th  Infantry.
Old Stonewall-Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.
Old Uncle Poke-Unknown.
Old Woman Betsy-Probably Ben Sutton's third wife, Elizabeth.
Our Colonel-Confederate Colonel John R. Cook. 
Page, J J-Cousin of Nancy and William.
Parks, John-Henry's brother-in-law, husband of Chloea Miranda.
Percy-Unknown.
Piney Grove-Piney Grove Church, 2 miles north of Seven Springs.
Ransom, Colonel-A Confederate General.
Ruffin, Thomas-A Confederate officer.
Seymore, John-A Confederate soldier.
Sister Rebeckar-Sister to J. J. Page and cousin to Nancy.
Sutton, Annie-Wife of Henry's brother, Thomas.
Sutton, Aunt Nancy-Unknown.
Sutton, Benjamin-Henry's father.
Sutton, Ivy-Unknown.
Sutton, Mrs.-Nancy Sutton.
Sutton, S. I.-Unknown.
Sutton, Thomas-Henry's third oldest brother.
Swinson, Miss Sarah-Unknown.
Thomas-Thomas Hardy Sutton, oldest son of Henry and Nancy.
Thomas-Thomas Sutton, Henry's third oldest brother.
Union Mills-A post office in Jones County.
Unke John-John Ivey
Uzzle, Winnie-Unknown.
Wardsworth, Mr.-Unknown.
Whitfield, G.F.-Colonel George F. Whitfield, 27th  Infantry Reg.
William-William Cotton, Nancy's brother.
Wm. B. C.-William B. Cotton, Nancy's brother.
Wooten, John P.-Lt. John Pugh Wooten, Co. C, 27th Infantry.
Zenobith-Zenobia, daughter of Nancy and Daniel Hines

**********************

                         Goldsboro   November the__
Dear Cousin
     I would be very glad to hear from you. You promised me you would come to
school here. I want you to come to see me. I want to hear from Cousin Ben 
Sutton. I want to go home very bad indeed. I am going home once more before 
the session is up. The session will be up in 6 weeks and the concert the day 
before Christmas. I want to see Echobud. I want to see Miss Herring. Give all 
my love to all the rest of the girls and Annie Sutton and Joe Herring. Please 
write to me as soon as you get this. Your affectionate cousin until death.
                                Winnie Uzzle
                                Nancy Cotton

**********************

Cousin Nancy:

              I forgot to ask you if you wanted me to knit your gloves for you
to put cloth cuffs on them    Do you or do you want them knit long? Are you 
going to have your quilting Saturday or not? I wish you would    I have not 
Said anything about it to anyone not even to Percy. Mrs Johnson's has not 
come off yet   She has not returned from Goldsboro yet    I expect She will 
bring the whole town with her when She does come. I remain,          
Your friend M S A

**********************

I would suppose you want to marry
So do I and that in a hurry
Provided you will be alright
We will fix it up next tuesday night
Now pleas dont be guilty of forming a plan 
To deceive me like you did another man 
Neither turn and act a foolish part
To gain the affections and break the heart 
Now stop and think and this will prove
That you are nothing more than an April fool

**********************

Miss Nancy Cotton
                                  April 25 /56
Mrs Moses will be under many obligations to Miss Cotton if she will come and 
help her quilt to-morrow.

**********************


State of NC 
          Wayn County          this 10 the Jan 1858

   recived your letter on 19th instant    you requested me to let you know how
all Was    all is well Except mary Ann & Fillis There are Both as well as 
could be Exspected    Mary ann has a Son Bornd the 1th of January    Fillis 
has a Son Bornd the 6th of January    Mr Wardsworth sung out to piney grove to
Day & is a trying to git a nother sing    He will sing here to day month    I 
Dont know when I shall see Henry    he is Gone to Duplin with his fathers Pork
So nothing Else at presant    Come as soon as you Can     John Ivey to N 
Cotton

**********************

                                  June 14th 1861

Dear Son
     I take the opportunity of writing you a few lines informing you that I 
and family are well as common. I received your letter last Saturday and was 
glad to hear that you and family was well. Our corn crop is very common and we
have a bad stand on our stiff land. I think our cotton is doing very well. We 
have a good stand. I would like to know if you have sold any of that corn. The
times up here is hard and the prospect looks worse. There is nothing talked of
but war and the people are leaving very fast. None of my boys is not gone yet 
but Alexander but Thomas has joined a light horse company to be commanded by 
Thomas Ruffin and expects to leave the last of this month or the first of 
July. He expects to go to Harper's Ferry in Virginia and he says he would be 
glad to see you before he leaves but he has not the chance to come down so you
must come up if you can get the chance    if you have not the chance to come 
you must write as soon as you can. So I will come to a close. I remain your 
affectionate Father

                   Benj Sutton

PS Alexander has come home since I began to write this letter. He is enjoying 
good health. He says that he thinks that one of his company was killed by 
jumping off the cars today when he got to the road that went to his house. The
conductor would not stop so he leaped from the cars and had not got up when 
last seen by the company that stayed on. The man's name that jumped off was 
John Seymore.

NOTE: John Seymore did not die from this jump. Records show that he was killed
in the Battle of Sharpsburg, September 17, 1862.

**********************

                                   Fort Layne NC
                              Sept 4th 1861

Dear Nancy I will take the opportunity of Droping you a few lines to inform 
you that I am well at this time and is doing well    I have not got any of the
things that I am needing for camp though I Shall get the Soon    Nancy I hate 
the thoughts of leaving you but I want you to take the rite consideration 
about it and instead of thinking that I have Done rong believe that I have 
done rite    I Shall come to See you in eight or ten Days if I keepe well and 
Dont move off from here    if you can get the chance I want you to write to me
plese     then though Dont go to too much trouble about it    I can tell you 
better how I like it by that time   we think it is likely that we Shall go to 
washington to take that union flag    if we Do I cant come up as Soon as I 
promised    Kiss thomas for me and tell him howdy for me    take good care of 
him and your Self also    if you Do right to me tell me whether William has 
come Down to Stay with you or not    Nancy Pray that I may receive everlasting
blessings from the great powers above and that is all you can Do for me and So
no more at present but I remain your Dear Henry until Death    tell my little 
Man to cut a good water mellon out for me though I have had Some Several times  

**********************

                               Newbern NC 
                            September 25th 1861

Dear Nancy   I take my pen to inform you that I am well at this time hopeing 
these lines to fine you enjoying the Same blessings I have looked for a letter
from you but have not recd any yet   I am afraid you are not Doing well that 
you are worse off than I left you    I want you to write to me as Soone as you
get this and tell me whether you have got well or not and how my little boy is
   Nan I am Doing as well as I can exspect but believe me when I Say that you 
and little Thomas is on my mind all the time I want to See you worse than I 
ever did in my life    Nancy I hav Sent a Sack of flour to union mills in care
of S I Sutton    if you hav not heard from it Send up ther and get it    tell 
william that Father has promised to Buy me Some cotton rope an he goes up that
way he can bring it home and write to me how the business is getting on and 
whether the cotton is likely to Do well yet or not    Nancy I must Say a 
little more to you yet Nancy if I was clear of this bissness I would Stay with
you as long as I could    be careful with my little boy    take good care of 
him and make a good boy of him if it is in your power for god will be with 
bothe of you although I am Far away and when you hav lost all hopes of me he 
is Still with you if you will be with him     Nancy you can Do nothing for me 
but to Pray for me    Pray that god may bless me with the Sight to See that 
and to see that kindness that you hav always treated me with Prey that we may 
be restored to our former positions and Nancy if any Body insults you Dont 
make any fuss about it unless you know you are in the rite cause and then 
trust them with me and if I come home and ever finds you there I Shall look 
upon you as I alway Did and Shall Do all in my mind to provide for you as I 
hav Done heretofore    Nan if you need anything that you cant get write to me 
and if I can get it you Shall hav it and So I must now come to a close    I 
remain you kind husband until Death

Through him who all our __________felt 
who all our Sorrows bare
_______him in whom_________
we offer up our prayer

He bares them up with Divine Strenght 
When at thy feet we fall
Lord cause thy face on us to Shine 
Hear as on thee we call

*************************

                          Craven County 
                          NC Oct 7th 1861

Dear Nancy,
     I once more have an opportunity of writing you a few lines to let you 
know that I am well at this time only badly worried We have to walk from six 
to ten miles every day to work and back at nite and I tell you that is hard, 
not even allowed Sunday Yesterday we walked nine miles and back together with 
about six hours hard work and you know that I am not used to that    Nancy I 
don't know whether I shall get the chance to come home before my time is up or
not    When you get sick I want you to get William to take the mare and buggy 
and come to New Bern and inquire where Capt Whitfield is and try to get to me 
and that will excuse me    A letter does no good    I will come to a close as 
I have not got much time to write    I get a plenty to eat yet and that is 
good    Nancy direct your letter in care of Capt Whitfield    Tell Thomas God 
bless his little soul    I want to see him    If he gets sick send for me also
the same way Nancy you must get on the best you can    Write to me whether you
got that sack of flour. 
              Your friend, Henry Sutton until next time

                     Give my love to William and all but Arab 
                     and Morgan Hunter

NOTE: I feel certain that the statement "when you get sickŠŠ" refers to her 
pregnancy.  In the November 25th letter he tells her to take good care of his 
little boys, so son Henry had been born then.

*************************

                                  Craven County, NC October 
                                         18th  1861

Dear Nancy,
     I once more seat myself to inform you that I am yet in the land of the 
living    though I am not well    I have got the worst cold and caugh I ever 
had in my life    I shall try to come to see you about the last of next week 
or the first of the week after    I sent you two dollars in my last letter    
I want to know whether you have received it or not    Write to me as soon as 
you can    I received a letter From Father this week    He said he had just 
received a letter from Milly and she said she had just received one from 
Brother William    He stated that he and his son was well and doing well    I 
have nothing else to say now so I will close by endeavoring to remain your 
affectionate Henry until death

*************************

                                     Fort Lane Craven 
                             County NC November 25the 1861

                                  Dar Nancy    I take my pen to drop you a few
lines to let you know that I am yet in the land of the living but Nancy I am 
not well    I hav been under the care of the doctor a weeke last Sunday and 
hav been as Sick the most of the time as you ever Saw me in your life but I am
well enogh to write a little at this time    you must know that I am in a fine
way of mending    Nancy I dont want you to think hard of me for not writing to
you about it before for I knew that you was Sick and I thought it best not to 
Say any thing to you about it    I Could a got Some of the boys to a wrote to 
you but did not on that account    thank the Lord I am mending as fast as I 
can    I recd your letter last weeke    I dont know exactly what day as I was 
very Sick at that time    I want you to take good care of my little Boys    
when you write to me again tell me how little Tomy acted after he left me at 
Ivy Suttons that evening Poore little fellow    I never Saw any little thing 
Seeme to be hurt any worse that he was when I told him goodby    he beged me 
to come and go with him    Nancy I tell you I never had any thing to hurt me 
much worse    Nancy you may name your little boy what you want to if you are 
a mind to    it will Suit me as well as any thing you Could name it    Nancy 
I must come to a close as I hav got but very little time before the male will 
leave here So good by goodby Dear Wife I Shall endeavor to remain your Dear 
husband 
                                Henry Sutton

**********************                                       

                                Fort Lane Craven County 
           NC Nov 25th 1861

Mr Wm B Cotton   Dear Brother I take the opportunity of writing you a few 
lines to let you know that I am not well at this time though I am mending very
fast    Wm I want you to carry out this business as you think best   I assure 
you that I was well Satisfied at you percediance when I was up there    Wm you
must excuse me for not writing any mor at this time    I will Do better in my 
next   So good by    I hope this will finde all well and a Doing well    
                     no more from your Brother Henry Sutton

**********************

            Fort Lane Newbern NC Decbr 9th 1861

Dear Wife
         I embrace this opportunity of writing you a few lines hoping it will 
find you and the rest of the family well I am sorry to inform you that I have 
been very sick but thank god I feel some better now and if I Keep on mending 
I will try to get home towards the last of the week    I dont want you to 
give yourself any worry about me for I am attended to as good as I can expect 
   L____ tends to the Hospital & he waits upon me as good as any one could 
but then it is not like being home    I will be shure to come toward the last 
of the week if I Keep mending    I dont want you to get uneasy about me for I 
am getting on very well now hoping to hear form you soon 
                     I remain your affectionate 
                     husband   Henry Sutton

*************************

     Fort Lane   Dec 17th, 1861
 
                 Dear Wife I take this opportunity of writing to you in regard
to my health    It is improving slowly     I think that I shall be able to 
come home in a few days provided I keep improving    If you get ready to kill 
the hogs before I come home get William to go to my Fathers and he will send 
me some salt   I have nothing more that would interest you    Hoping that I 
shall be able to come home in a week or so I remain your 
            Affectionate husband  
                          Henry Sutton

*************************

                     Craven County NC Dec 21th 1861

Dar Husband 

    I seat my self this morning to inform you how we are at this time    all 
is well and doing well at this time    I am sorry to her tha you say you hav 
bin so sick as you hav bin but tho you say you are mending and I am glad to 
hear it I wont to sea you worse now than I ever did in my life    I hope that
I and my Dar children may sea you be fore many days her at home    I hop you 
dont think hard of me for not coming to sea you for thay told me tha wont no 
chance there for my children and told me not to go for you wod be so you cod 
com home in afew days    I thank god tha I may sea you com as soon as you can 
  if I nod when you wod com I wod send out after you and you must rit to me as
soon as you get this fore I wont to here from you ever day    if I cant sea 
you no more to you only remaining your Dar wife until death      

                        Nancy P Sutton to
                          Henry Sutton

*************************

                                   Craven County 
                                NC February 17th 1862

Dear Wife

     I seat myself to write you a few lines to inform you that I am well at 
this time hoping this may find you and all the family well    Nancy I have 
Sold my horse cart    if Ivy Sutton Sends after him let him hav the horse and 
it be all rite    you must try to rent out the land under the hill if you can 
tell William if you cant rent it to somebody there is any Dependance in that 
he must tend the best land and let the other lie out    you must try Henry 
West and Mary    if they wont give half of the corn offer it for one third of 
the corn an fodder and if they wont give that Dont let them have it at no 
price    let it lie out    Nancy god bless you all that is my prayer    Nancy 
if I never See you any more for god Sake an for mine too take good car of 
little tommy god bless his little Soul    Nancy Dont tell him that I am at 
fort lane    tell him that I will come home in a day or two    Nancy be good 
to him as you can    I know he is in need of much correcting and I want you 
to Do that for my Sake but for ever pray that we may live together with our 
little children as we have Done and that the Supreme powers will bless us    
So good by my Dar Wife and children

***********************

                                    Fort Lane 
                                    Craven County 
                                       NC feb 24 1862
Dear Nancy 

     I Seat my Self to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well 
only I hav got the Diareere a little    that is a general Complaint in our 
camp    there is more of us down with it yet and I hope that we Shant get any 
worse with it    very little Sickness in camp at this time only what I hav 
mentioned Nancy I would be verry verry glad to See you but I dont know when I 
Shall get the chance to come home    I would be glad to See the Children also 
Wm though it was a great deal of pleasure to me to learn in your letter which 
I recd last Sunday that you was all well   Nan I put Some things in this box 
one Shirt one Jump Jacket and one pair of Shoes    I want you to write to me 
whether you got them or not    Nancy I am fairing as well as I Could ask for  
we get as much to eat as we want    nothing to Do only cook and eat lie Down 
and go to Slepe till we get hungry again    hog meat Cow meat rye coffee Sugar
Molases flour corn bread and read torry peas to ruin    we can Sell enogh once
a fortnight to bring one dollar a piece    you Spoke of Sending me Some 
drawers Down here    you neede not Send any    I drawed a pair last week    
tell william to take them Shoes if he wants them    tell him he must try to 
plow the colt a part of the time and write to me whether you hav rented out 
any land or not    tell thomas that I was glad to hear that Ceal had Found him
a little bull to pull his little cart that I shall make for him when I come 
home    Nan I hav put Some Money in this letter and when I can get Some more I
will Send Some more    no more at present only I remain your husband   Henry 
Sutton

**********************

                 Fort Lane NC       1862 
       february 26th 

                                   Dear Nancy 

I Seat myself once more to Drop you a few lines    Nancy Mr arnold has come 
Down here to see me about the land    I told him that as Jack harris and him 
wanted to farm together that they might hav as much land as they wanted but I 
want Wm Cotton to choose out his farm and then let them hav the remainder    
he spoke to me about corn    you may let him hav three bbls (barrells) and as 
much more as he wants for the cash    about the house I Dont want any body to 
live there    Nothing More So I will Close my letter    this leaves me in as 
good health as ever was.

***********************

                          (No date, but subject fits here)
                   Nancy I recd your letter this morning    I will Drop you a 
few more lines     tell Bryant arnold that he cant have the land at his price 
   tell him that it may lie ther tell him that I Dont want any boddy to live 
at the Rontleg place no way    tell him the rails is all ready Split and if he
will Do up the fence and give one third of the corn an foder he may tend the 
land    tell william to tend the best of my land and if Jack Harris wants any 
let him hav it    two is enogh in one field

*************************

                                  Craven County NC 
                                         Mar 6th 1862

Dear Nancy 

I Seat my Self once more to Drop you a few lines to let you know how I am 
geting on at this time    Nancy I am well and harty fat and fussy ugly and 
impudent lonesome and Dissatisfied I want you to write to me as soon as you 
get this and tell me whether you have got the contents of my letter or not    
ther is money and note in it    write how much money you Recd    nancy you had
better let Worry Kilpatrick hav it all that you Dont neede yourself and let 
him credit my note with it and Sell all the peas and fodder you can and such 
other things as you can Spare    Dont disfurnish yourself in nothing    Nancy 
I want to hear from you and the Children and from william    I hope this will 
find you all well    tell wm to writ to me and tell me how he is geting on and
whether he is working the colt or not and how he is geting on   tell him not 
to work him over half of the time and tend what land he can with a horse and a
half    Nancy god only knows when I Shall come home    I cant tell you    Some
Say we will get off in April    Some Say May    Some Say June Some Say July   
I Shall come as Soon as I can So no more only I want you to keepe in good hart
and tell Thomas god bless his little Soul    I wants to See him verry Bad 
Nancy I want to See you all and if I cant I want to no that you are all Doing 
Well    I will Close By Remaining as ever     your Dear husband    Henry 
Sutton

**********************

                                 Craven County 
                                      NC March 1lth 1862

                                         Dear wife 

     I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let you know that I am well 
hopeing them to find you enjoying the Same blessings tell thomas that I am 
well and want to see him the worst in the world    tell him that I dont know 
when I Shall come home to See him    tell little william Henry that I wants to
See him also and hear him cry Some    tell him he must Stop So much of it tell
william Cotton he had better administer on old claudes estate    tell him he 
can take one of the girls for pay    tell him he had better not take her for 
only During the war    tell him it dont pay to take one for life now and if he
Dont want her hisself to Send her Down here for me    She would be exceptable 
here    Nancy you Seem to be uneasy about that money    I beg your Pardon 
Nancy    I did not put the money in that letter but I will put it in this 
certain    Sixteen Dollars    you may let Mr Kilpartrick hav cotton for all 
that I owe him    I think it has drawed interest    Must develish fast pay him
all I owe him    any way cotton or no cotton take up his acct    we are 
expecting another draw this weeke and if we Do get it I Shall Send it to you 
also and you must pay it to warry L Kilpartrick as fast as you get it only 
Save enogh for your own use and william if he wants any let him have it    
Nancy we are expecting a fight here every Day    the yankees is in the mouth 
of the river and they captured two vessels last week and took 900 bbls of corn
and Some guns that our men was carrying from washington    they may lie there 
the longer they lie ther the longer they are Safe    I assure them When they 
undertake to come here they are bit bad    We Dont intend leaving camp gatlin 
in the hands of no Such heshions (Hessians)    we are on our own soil and we 
will defend it to the last    god will be with us as he has been heretofore I 
pray and when he is with us no man needed to bee against us for he alone can 
kill or he can cure and when the heshions Starts here I advise them to Make 
peace with god before they Start for we are here and when they get in Sight 
they will find us ready for them    Nancy I hav finally come to the conclusion
that I Shall never have to come victim to the heshions that we have now got to
contend with    be it gods will I know I never Shal    Nancy I Dont know when 
I Shall come to See you all    I would come tomorrow if i Could    Some Say we
Shall get Discharged the fifteenth of April    others Say we will not and So I
Dont know when myself    Nancy I hav lost all of my Socks only the paire that 
is on my feete    they have stold them from me    if you can get the chance 
Send me one pair Do So    dont Send but one pair no more only    I remain as 
ever your true and devoted husband    Henry Sutton


*************************

                               Camp Gatlin NC 
                                     March 12th 1862

Dear Father 

     I Seat myself to drop you a few lines to let you know that I am well at 
this time with the exception of a cold and caghf hoping this may find you and 
family all enjoying the Same blessings    want you to write to me as soon as 
you get this   I beg to be excused for not writing to you Sooner  Father you 
know we are all neglectful about writing to each other    well it is So that 
we can hear from one another verry often with out writing So often    I Dont 
know as there is any thing new that I can write to you about at this time 
only I think they are all Scared as bad down here as any Set of people I have 
ever Sene    I understood that the yankees captured two of our vessels last 
week Down in the mouth of neuse river one of them from hyde county loaded with
corn the other from washinton loaded with guns    whether it is so or not I 
dont no    we are looking for an attack her every day or at least the town 
fellows is    I Dont think we shall ever hav any fight here any way   if the 
yankees think it adviseable to Start here let them rip    we are ready for 
them any day    we can upset there calculations for them    we are too well 
Situated to give up our quarters  if they wanted to ever come here they had 
better Started Sooner  its too late now    we will atend to this place without
any yankees    we hav no use for them    if they will Stay in there own 
quarters they will Do well    father remember my love to all Daniel Chloey and
Thomas John Ivey and all there familys    Tell them to excuse me for not 
writing to them and that they must write to me as soon as they can as I am 
glad to hear from you all at any time    John and Alex is well and Doing well 
they also requested me to give their love to all    I Dont know as I have any 
thing more to write at this time    excuse me for not filling up the letter 
and I will close by remaining as ever until Death your Son Henry Sutton
Father come Down to See us if you can and tell all the rest of the family to 
come

**********************

                               Kinston    Lenoir County 

                                    March 29th 1862

            Dear Nancy 

     I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let you know that I am yet in 
the land of the living though I am not well    I have a verry bad cold and 
cagh and I am almost worried to Death moving So often and having to march 
every where we go    we Marched from camp black Jack yesterday to this place 
which is about nine miles and had to toat all of our bagage on our backs to 
day we ar expecting to go five miles below here and all the hard work we hav 
got to Do god only knows what is to go with us I Don't    I tried to get the 
chance to come and See you all when i was up at camp black Jack but faild to 
Do So and I dont no whether we Shall ever See each other any more or not  
whether we do or not god be with us all I pray    My wife and children my 
Father my brothers and Sisters my friends and acquaintances god be with us all
I pray    Nancy give my love to all    that is all I can Say    rest assured 
that I will come to you if ever I can    be well assure of that    our time 
they Say will be certainly out the 22nd day of April but I think it Doubtful 
whether we Shall get off or not before the war is Settled or not Colonel 
Ransom is our commanding general now    furlows is all Stoped and no admitance
home will be granted    our Fair only common and gets worse every Day    we 
have to eat bread without Sifting or Salt    our bed is a plank    cover is 
Scarce though we hav got as much as we ought to hav as our chance is bad to 
move it    I would be verry glad for you to come to See me though two or three
days is as long as we can Stay at one place tell John he must come to See us 
if he can    Thomas and Daniel and all that can    So good by to all I will 
remain as ever  your friend until death      
                               Henry Sutton
     Aunt Nancy Sutton and aunt Betsy also I Suppose is bothe Dead

*************************

                           Camp South west 
                     Lenoir County NC    April 4th '62

Dear Nancy 

     I Seat myself once more to inform you that I am yet in the land of the 
living though am well    Nancy I would be verry glad to See you or hear from 
you and the children and also the Family in general    I hav wrote to you once
before and hav not heard from you though    I hav moved Since then    our camp
ground at this time is the meeting house grove    a pleasant place it is we 
have preeching occasionaly    Alexander is verry poorly  John is well so far 
as i know    I have not heard from home Since I Saw you only I heard yesterday
that they had halled the cotton out and made Manure of it    that is verry 
hard though better than to let the infernal black mouth Slack jawed rogueish 
ungodly unthankful yankees have it    I had rather be a Slave the remainder o
f my days than let them have one pound of my cotton or any thing that a true 
Southern man has worked for and when they make another attempt I pray to god 
that we may give them the worst licking they ever hav had in plundering lives 
if ever I Die without killing Some of them I Shall Die dissatisfied I suppose 
they are over about trenton running our good citizens away from their own 
homes and telling them that is their Soil and it ashame to the world our good 
women and Children must leave their homes and run to Some Distant place for 
Safty    our farms and Stock our furniture and every thing looted by a set of 
lite spirited Scamps that never studied any thing but to learn how to make 
Dolbaby and toys to Send here to cheat us out of our hard honorable labor 
that Nature has So perfectly leant to us and then abuse our Smart commanders 
Such as never will be born in the yankee land    Nancy I will come to a close 
give my love I to all    I remain as ever your affectionate husband     
          Henry Sutton

NOTE: I wonder why he didn't tell her how he REALLY felt about the yankees.

*************************

                        Lanes Chapel     Craven County 
                                   April 1lth 1862

     Dear Nancy

     I Seat myself once more to Drop you a few lines to let you know that I
 am yet in the land of the living though I am not verry  well    my eyes is 
verry Sore    Nancy I hav run the blockade    I got home yesterday and is 
home now but I Shall go back to camp to Day    Wm is well and Seems to be 
verry well Satisfied    he is geting on verry well and when my time is out I 
Shall come to See you if I can and bring you home agin    I tell you it Did 
not look right when I got here yesterday to See nobody but Wm and the negros 
they have throwed the cotton out in the field for Manure    burnt the 
turpentine and god only knows what will be done after a little mor    I dont  
we can only put our trust in god and ever prey that he will have mercy on us 
and he will with his great power restore to us again our freedom    Nancy I 
want you to keep a Sharp look out for old merry Mack    he will leave here 
this morning on his way to See some of the girls in that neighborhood    no 
more only give 
my love to John Parks and all the family    also to Father Daniel and Thomas 
and Cousin John Ivey    Direct your letters to Kinston    I hav not recd narry
one from you yet    I will Close by remaining your Friend

                                       Henry Sutton

**********************

                                 April the 11 1862 
Deer Sister    i take mi pen to let you no that I am well at this tyme an doin
Well    I hope that those few lines ma find you an thomas an litle biley in 
Joy the Same helth    I Wod be glad to See yall and both of the litle boys but
I Cant See them no tyme Soon for I cant get narry pass to Come up to See you 
an them    I Want you to give mi lov to them both an your Self    I Want you 
to all of the girles that I am here caping house by mi Self    tell them I hav
got fifty young chicken an Spect every minuet When I Shal hav many more    I 
hav got Six more hens Seting an two Geese    So now you must look out old 
marry mack for I told you that I Was Goint Send him out to miss Sarah Herrane 
(Herring) an She is Gone    Sister I Want you to Giv mi lov to unke John famly
all So to Sarah an to John Parke famly John parks I Want you to tell all of 
the Girles they got to for Get about you and me   John I Was out a few days 
ago old man Doity to See miss Sally Doity    hit Was Good tymes thene    how 
you reckoned I felt    I no how I felt if you don't ____  I felt____                          

NOTE: This letter was from Nancy's brother, William Cotton. It just ended 
abruptly mid-page.

**********************

                               Kinston N C May 8th 
                                            1862

Dear Nancy

     I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let you know that I am not verry
well at this time although I keep trying to go yet    hopeing this to find you
and the children all well and also the whole family    Nancy we have moved now
to Kinston    god only knows where we Shall be three days from now to Richmond
as apt as any where but let me go where I may yankee blood or independence is 
all that I Crave at this time laying aside all other hopes until that is 
finished    I am willing to submit to anything that our gallant commanders 
will lay before me    if I am Slaughtered in the Struggle I believe that our 
cause is Just therefore Gods will be Done is my honest and humble prayer 
forever    Nancy take good care of my Poore little Children make them be good 
to other Children and behave well to grown people Nancy always endeavor to do 
this    for Gods Sake if I never See them again learn them never to tell a lie
tell Thomas that it is a sin and try to learn him what is the meaning of Sin  
Nancy give my love to all    write everytime you get the chance    so no more 
but remaining your Dear Husband Henry Sutton

************************

                               Kinston Lenoir County 
          May 23d 1862 

                            Dear Nancy 

     I Seat myself to write you a few lines to inform you that I am well at 
this time hopeing them to find you and family enjoying the Same blessings    
I recd your kind letter you Sent by John and was verry glad to hear that you 
was all well and that you had good luck in geting to home    I met with Some 
dificulty in geting to camp though I got here Safe at last and all was right 
with old George    you no he is as good a Capt as ever was commishiond in the 
Southern confederacy    he will Do his part if the private will Do theirs    
we are here yet and in good Spirit yet though times is verry hard    Nancy 
give my love to all    I must tell you what a nice treat I got yesterday   
old uncle Poke was Down here yesterday    he gave me a nice Cake and an apple 
Jack    I tell you it was nice enogh for me    tell all the nighbors howdy 
and give my love to all and ever prey that you an me may live together in 
peace again at our house Nancy take good care of my little Boys    make good 
Children of them if i never See them again    So I will Close by remaing your 
Dear husband until Death     Henry Sutton

     Tell John Parks and Thomas and Daniel Cousin John Ivey and father and 
every Body to come to See us    I would be glad to See Some of them every day 
and tell them that if they cant come to See me to wright to me as often as 
they can    paper costs are rite high but money is plentiful and not much 
value

NOTE: The 27th left Kinston on train and went to Richmond.  All reports of 
the time mention the extreme rains in the Richmond area at that time.  The 
ground was so wet that the teams and wagons, etc. could hardly maneuver.

***********************

                               Richmond Va 
                                  June 4th 1862
Dear wife 
     I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let you know that I am yet in 
the land of the living though I am not verry well at this time    we have 
been exposed a great deal    I have been wet every Since I left Kinston and 
every thing that we have got is wet though I hope we Shall fair better after 
this    I can Say to you that we hav not been in any fight yet but we are 
expecting to be ordered in to a line of battle every minute there was no 
fighting yesterday as I have heard of nor none to day    there was hot times 
about five miles below Richmond last Saturday and Sunday but our boys was to 
hot for the yankees everytime    we captured Several pieces of artilery and a 
large number of ____ Such as we hav to fight in the place of yankees Several 
Small arms and all their bagage and provisions and medical Stores together 
with Several other things two tegios to mention    I tell you the North 
Carolina boys has got their manes up and if any regiment gets in to a fight 
now ours will for our colonel is a blooded Snag    I tell you he kept us 
Stedily moving from the time we left Kinston until we got to the battlefield  
Nancy I want you to content yourself the best you can and you can only live 
in hope and prey for better times to come    rest assure that I Shall come 
home as soon as I can Nancy give my love to all and bless my little children 
I prey take good care of them Nancy    make good children of them for god 
Sake    Nancy it is our Disobedience to god that has brought our troubles on 
and obedience will relieve us    I Dreamed a bad Dream about little Thomas 
last Sunday night which has mad me uneasy every Since    Nancy write to me as 
soon as you get this and tell all to write to me as I never can See any 
pleasure So great as the moments are when I am reading respectful letters 
from some of my people    Direct your letter to Henry Sutton Richmond Va Co C 
27 N C Reg in care of Colonel John R Cook hopeing this to find you all well I 
come to a close by remaining as ever your Dear Husband     Henry Sutton

NOTE: The first action that the 27th was in was in New Bern.  The green troops
were no match, even with their high spirits, for the seasoned Union troops.  
Due to the overwhelming forces against them, the men of the 27th ran.  I have 
heard that some of them didn't stop until they reached Kinston. 
     In the rest of Henry's letters, take notice that he only mentions action 
that they have heard or heard about.  The reason that they were not involved 
in any action was that their reputation, that had been established in New 
Bern, preceded them to Richmond.  They were not trusted to be put into battle.
This stigma remained with the regiment all the way to Sharpsburg.  Even there 
they were the last regiment in the last brigade to enter the action.  If you read 
THE 27TH AT SHARPSBURG by Zack Bogue (Heritage Place at Lenoir Community 
College has a copy) you will learn that the 27th redeemed themselves in that 
battle.

**************************

                             Chester County 
                        Va     June 13 1862

Dear wife 

     I Seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know I am yet in the 
land of the living thanks to the kind Providence for its blessings    Nancy I 
can Say to you that we hav not been in any fight yet though we are expecting 
to be called out every minute as we can hear heavy canonadeing nearly every 
Day about eight or ten miles off in the Direction of the Chickihominy River    
we Suppose it to be of our troops Shelling the enemy to prevent them from 
building briges So that their forces can cross their is Skirmishing around 
there every Day and our Southern boys never fail to carry the day    the enemy
Says that it is no use to them to carry a baterry of artilerry in the field   
they Say the Rebels is as eager after a field piece as hounes after a haire   
they Seem to think the best way they can fix to whip us is to keep out of 
range of our guns and bayonets and whip us by telling wilful lies    they 
report a great victory on Saturday and Sunday the 31th day May and the 1th day
of June    well I can tell you how they gained it    they opened fire on our 
boys and Stood up verry well until our heroes proposed locking bayonets with 
them when they Squandered worse than Sheepe until they got waist Deepe in 
Chickihominy Swamp    then as you know it is useless to try to ketch a mink in
the mud and  our boys not feeling Dispoosed to wet their feete after the lying
reches the Stood on the outside and Shot them until the last one of them had 
gon out of sight then fell back to their camp in good order and is now holding
the field where the yankees was allowed to burry their dead under a flag of 
truse    the yankees Say that our troops had fell back from Richmon two or 
three weeks ago    that is the most lie they hav ever told yet and I think 
when they get to Richmon it will be like Some of them has already confessed 
that had got there a few days too soon    well they may get there but they 
will hav the chance to show their Spunk on the way    I must tell you how the 
Ladies of Petersburg and Richmon treated us when they Saw us passing through 
the citties    well they waved the beautiful confederate flags at us and one 
of them waved a black one    I tell you our boys give more cheeres for that 
one than any other that they had Seene Nancy I hav not recd any letter from 
you Since I Saw you and cant hear form you    I want you to write to me as 
soon as you get this as I want to hear from you verry bad    Direct your 
letter Chester Post office Va    we hav moved eleven miles from Richmon Just 
half way from there to Petersburge    Nancy I am not verry well at this time 
nor hav not been Since I left N C though I keepes Doing my bisness and hopeing
that I Shall get well Soon    Nancy Dont neglect to write to me as Soon as you
get this    I want to hear from you all worse than I ever Did in my life    My
little children though Dear to me as they are I Should be better Satisfied if 
I never had had them about me god bless their little Souls    take good care 
of them if I never See them again    try to make good Children of them if you 
can learn them never to tell A lie as it is the worst of all habits tell littl
Thomas that if he will be a good Boy that I will bring him the prettiest thing
when I come home that he ever has Seene    hopeing this to find you all well I
come to a close by remaining as ever your Dear Husband    Henry Sutton

***********************

                              Chester P o 
                                 Chesterfield Co Va 
June 21st

                      Dear Father I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let
you know that we are all well at this time hopeing them to finde you and 
family enjoying the Same blessing Father your kinde letter directed to John 
come to hand yesterday and afforded much pleasure to us to learn that you was 
all well I dont know as there is any thing of importance that I can call your 
attention to only you stated that you had heard that we was ordered to 
Jacksons army in western Va    that is fallse we are here yet at least    we 
first went to Richmon then from there to Drura  Bluff and from the Bluff to 
this place Close to the halfway  Station between Petersburge and Richmon on 
the turnpike Road    you Said you had a notion of coming to See us untill you 
heard that we was going to Jacksons army    if there is any thing of our being
ordered there I dont know any thing about it and I tell you we would be the 
gladest in the world to See you come out here as that may be the Surest chance
to See us any time Soon    Father I tell you there verry little Satisfaction 
to be Seen here with us though we are passing the time away the best we can 
and I trust that you will Do the Same we can    I only trust in god who can 
relieve us of our troubles and if we have no other hope that hope that we have
in God is the only one if we will love and Serve him we can be relieve Some 
time of all our troubles and Father my only Prayer is that if we ever meete in
his life again that we may be livers and Servants of the Lord and if we never
meete in this life that we may meete at the right hand of God there to remain 
as Children of god forever Father if you Do undertake to come to See us you 
had beter get off at the half way Station between Petersburg and Richmon and 
if you could Send us word when you are coming Some of us would be out there to
meete you    Father I can Say that we hav not been in any Fight yet and do not
no when we Shall get in any  if we can get along with out it I dont care if we
dont get in any

June 22d 1862    Father as the day is So beautiful and I hav heard of a little
Skirmish that to place with one of the yankee boats and a part of one of our 
field batterries it Seemes that our men found out that one of the yankee boats
had been in the habit of coming as far up the river as She could for the 
purpose of Spying    our men there went Down with four rifle pieces of 
artillery and planted them as they wanted them and waited until the boat came 
up and passed by them where the crew had no other protection only to Fight 
there way back    our men and artillerry being concealed until the boat passed
then our heroes opened fire on them at the rates of three charges with every 
piece per minute which Soone caused the heshions to go under deck and there 
remain when our batterry opened on them    their Sharp Shooters ran out and 
Comenced firing at our men but fortunately we had Sharp Shooters that proved 
too hot for them and the yankees was Soone hid in the hull of the boat which 
Soone become uncontrolleable for want of Some one to the helm She drifted down
the river Some distance and Sunk to the bottom with a white flag waveing on 
deck    the boys all Sends their best respects you more expeshelly John and 
Alexander    bill Casa (possibly William Casey) Sayes he wants you to come and
bring your little jug again   father give love to all  although we are all far
from each other god is neare us and will ever be with us
               There we adore eternal name
              and humbly owe to thee
             How feeble is our mortal frame
            What dyind(g) wormes we be
Father I want you to write as often as you can and come to See us if you can  
no more at present only I remain your most obedient Son            Henry Sutton

***********************

                             Chester Po Chesterfield Co 
Va June 25th 1862

                           Dear Nancy I Seat myself to write you a few lines 
to let you know that I am well only my mouth that is verry Sore though I am 
mending    Nancy we hav not been in any battle yet though I understand that 
the ball was opened yesterday and we are exspecting to be ordered to March 
every hour   it is Six or eight miles from our camp to the place where the 
hotest fighting is suposed to be   Nancy if I do get in the battle that is 
expectd here and come out cleare and can ever come home again which with the 
help of god I Shall then I will tell the long Storry over    Nancy I hav 
Finaly put my trust in god the great i am   Nancy if you want to do well in 
this world and the world to come trust in god whoes mercies can preserve you 
through this life and when your cold body is laid in the cold ground your Soul
will be placed at the right hand of god there to be forever blest   Nancy we 
hav Prayer meeting every evening at Seven oclock unless it is rainy    the 
meetings are conducted verry well indeede    three verry good ministers to 
lead in prayer    Nancy they Say this battle is going to Settle the dispute 
and I prey to god that it may if it is gods will    we are tierd of it now and
I think the yankees is also Nancy I once more call your attention to my poore 
little children    for god Sake take good care of them    when I Say take good
care of them I meane make good Children of them    I want to See you all    I 
exspect poore little tomas is forgeting me    god bless his little Soul    I 
have not forgoten him    as I hav not got time to write much more I will close
by remaining your dear husband until death H Sutton

                     Nancy write as often as you can as I hav not recd but one
letter from you Since I hav been in Va so god bless you all

*************************

                         Chester field Co Chester 
                            Po   July 3d 1862
                                          Dear wife 
I Seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know that I am well at this
time hopeing them to find you and family enjoying the Same blessings    Nancy 
I am woryed verry bad on account of Marching So much though I hope we Shall 
See a little peace now awhile    you Just ought to no how the yankees is 
thrashed around Richmon    well they are Sortry leaving here as the gall Said 
about being religios    Nancy I dont think it is any use for me to try to tell
you any more about it as there is so much of it   I Suppose there cant be any 
yankees found any where about here only the prisners and dead ones    any 
quantity of them I Suppose the live ones is all or as many of them as can get 
on the gun boats is on them and the ballance is under the cover of the gun 
boats and marching off in double quick    Nancy I dont know Whether this will 
Settle the question or not   I prey to the most Holy God that it may    Nancy 
I want you to ask all my people why they dont write to me and write to me as 
soone as you can and tell me what it is    I can tell you it is mortifying to 
me when I think how little they care for me    I hav been in Service now every
Since the first of September and Some of them never has Sent me a letter nor 
no respects whatever yet if I hav give them any cause for treating me So tell 
them to forgive me and prey for me and if they are not able to buy paper 
envalopes ink and stamps do you write to me about it and I will Send them Some
I have beged them to write to me and they want write and I dont know what is 
the matter    Since I hav been in Va father and thomas has wrote one apiece 
and they are all except you    one might write one weeke another the next and 
I would get the chance to hear from them often    tell Ann that Alexander was 
in a battle the other day but was not heart    I heard Capt Ruffin was either 
killed or taken prisner    his company Sufferd verry bad    give my love to 
all    may God forever bless us I Prey    we got in tight place last monday  
we thought we Should Suffer verry bad but did not    at last the gun boats and 
three batteries on land was playing on us all at the Same time    its geting 
dark and I must come to a close write to me how all the people is more 
espechelly littl Thomas & Henry    god bless them I prey forever    tell every
boddy to write to me    I would be glad to hear from them at any time and So no 
more at present from you most devoted husband H Sutton


************************

                              July the 8 1862
               Chesterfield County Va
Dear Father I hav tha pleasure of writing to you once more to let you no how 
I am Ageting Along.  I am enjoying very good health at present only I am very 
badly worried    we have binn A marching or on A line of battle nearly ever 
since last thursday nite    this morning I got bak to the camp.  henry an 
Alexander is well and the company in general is as well as common only James 
Barrow very Sick    we have had some of the hardes figting for the last week 
that has ever bin nown    they commenced fighting last Wednesday and fought 
every day for seven days times seems to be very Quiet now    the yankeys has 
all taken there gunn bots on James river and we dont no whither they are to 
attact us on this side of the river or giv it up as it is and Keep on were 
they belong and make peas.    we have gained every fight that has bin fought 
and are well prepared to met them Again if they are Amint to cum.   we have 
lost Agrate eal of men but it is supposed that the yankey loss is About three 
to our one    I have seen Alex but I cannot tell you much at present our 
brigade was not ingaged but exposed to the bumms    we was placed so as to 
Keep the yankeys from flanking the other armys while they ware a fighting    
we have got about fourteen thousan prisoners at Richmon including three 
generals and and Agood menny oficers of a lower degree    I must cum to a 
close    we all want you to cum to see us very bad and you must cum if you can
to see us.    write to us if when you will cum and we will meet you at the 
railroad.   you get off at the half way station between Petersburg and 
Richmon.  nothing more at presen give my best respects to all inquiring


                         J. W. Sutton

NOTE: James Barrow who was mentioned as being very sick died on July 10, 1862,
two days after J. W. (John) wrote the letter.  According to NORTH CAROLINA 
TROOPS 1861-1865 they were at Camp Jackson.
     The seven days fighting that he speaks of was the Seven Days Battle.
     Also, J. W. (John) Sutton took sick with "bilious fever" and died on July
19, 1862 in a hospital at Petersburg, Virginia.  I can't remember where I got 
this information, but it said that of the sons of Ben Sutton, John alone was 
brought back home and  buried in the family cemetary.
     All together, Ben Sutton had eight sons to serve the Confederacy in its 
army.  Four of them did not survive.  They were Henry, John, Alex and 
Frederick (died in New Bern, NC and is buried there with others under the 
Confederate Monument).

***********************

            July the 10th 1862 Craven County
  Dear Sister I take my pen to let you no that I am Well at this tyme but I 
hav been rite Sick for to or three days but I hav Got beter so I can Work    
Sister I hope that these few lines ma find you an family all Well at this tyme
I wod be glad to See you an thomas an William but I dont no When I Shal See 
you if ever any more or not But I pray to mi god that We can meat a Gain in 
this World of trouble again    But if We Should never meat a gane We must pray
to our God that We meat in heaving When fighting is over you must come down to
See me for I cant come to See you    Sister I liv a lonesome life her by 
mySelf    I Wod Be Glad to hear from Henry But hit Seames like I Cant hear 
from no Boddy from Wane County    But I can hear from the yankey every day or 
to   there ant meane (many) on this Side of batcheler Creek    our men run 
them bak on the other Side this Weake    they killed 7 of them an took some of
them an killed Won of our men an Shot Won horze thru the nec    Sister I 
thought that I Wod Come upto See you all When I Got done mi Crop But I dont no
when hit Will Be by then    Sister mi Crop is very nise if weath July hapings 
to hit I Shal Make Won hundred bussels of Corn for Somebody But I dont no hoe 
the dam yankeys I reken    I have Sent Mandly home to his master an now I hant
Got no body but my Self    since I saw thomas kornegy he is a frad to let ine 
___them ___of his negros Cross our line    A frad they Wod never arrive an go 
to the yankey    I Went over an Sead him bout the note    he Sed he wod give 
henry credit on the note I hav got elder umphrey to Worke With me till get 
down home  Giv my lov to all of the inqirin kines an to Miss Sarah Ivy and 
Miss Sarah Swinson    Giv my lov unke John an famly an everyboday else    
Something more at present only I am your obedient brother
                       W B Cotton




                              Petersburg Va July 28th 1862 

Dear Nancy I Seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know that I am 
well at this time thanks to the kind providence for his mercies    hopeing 
these few lines may find you and family enjoying the Same blessings    Nancy I
can Say to you that I was fortunate in geting to camp Safe last friday and has 
been blessed with an opportuntiy of Staying with Alexander every Since and I 
am proud to Say that he is mending very fast   he does not know that any of 
the boys is dead yet    Nancy I think there is another battle exspecting Soone
I dont know only I think So and if it is So I trust in the lord that this may 
end the war and let us all come home to live with our beloved ones and live in
peace once more    Oh Nancy when I think of that joy that I hav once Seene at 
home with you and now that I am in distress every moment of my life you dont 
know what I feel but trusting in the Lord that Some day we may meete in Heaven
there to enjoy that peace and hapiness that is promised by that great one that
can comfort us with the greatest care and pleasure   he only reqires us to 
come to him in humble Submishion and trust in him   that is all we neede and 
all I want

       Just as I am though tossed about
       With many a conflict many a doubt
       With fears within and foes without
          O Lamb of God I Come

     Nancy trust in the lord and he will confort you    prey that we may come 
together and live at our respective home once more   Nancy you dont know what 
a feeling I had when I parted with you last    poore little Thomas may the 
lord bless him is my Sincere prayer    Nancy you can only take good care of my
poore little children and learn them to obey you and to be kind to all that 
accompanies them    if I only knew that they would always have a disposition 
to do that it would be a great comfort to me    Nancy give my love to all    
tell them to look to the lord for all needs    tell father that Alexander is 
mending I think verry fast    tell him Jesse Barrow is verry Sick    no more 
only I remain your Dear husband      H Sutton

NOTE: Jesse Barrow survived his sickness as evidenced in NORTH CAROLINA 
TROOPS, 1861-1865.  He was wounded at Bristoe Station and was later retired 
to the invalid corps by reason of disability.

***********************

                       Peters Burg Va 
         August 4 th 1862

                                       Dear wife 
I Seat my self to write you a few lines to let you know that I am not verry 
well at this time    I hav got the worst Caugh I almost ever had in my life 
I cant rest one hour of a night Alexander is mending as fast as he can    tell
Father that he can walk over the house and has a verry good appetite    he is 
able to come home but furlows is Stoped    there is no news of importance   
the yankees is landing on this Side of the river  it is thaught that they will
try to take Petersburg Soon and if they do there will be a hard battle here   
I hope the Lord will be with us and if it is his will I prey that we may gain 
a decisive victory and let us all go home to our poore familys    the lord 
only knows how the result will be for I don't    I only prey that the Blessed 
Lord will protect us    Nancy I hav not recd a letter Since I Saw you I would 
be verry glad to hear from you all    So you must write as soon as you can and
tell all the Family to write as soon as they can as I would be verry glad to 
hear from you all at any time    Nancy I want you to take good care of my 
poore little Children if I never See them again and the lord bless you all is 
my honest prayer
 
        Father of men thy care we bless
        Which crowns our familys with peace
        From thee they Spring and by thy hand
        They are and Shall be Still Sustained
                                             Hopeing these few lines to find 
you and family well I come to a close by remaining your devoted Husband until 
death   Henry Sutton

        Time to repent thou dost bestow
        But of the power impart
        And let my eyes with tears oerflow
        And break my Stubborn hart

**********************

                                               1862
                         Petersburg Va     Aug 18th 

Dear wif I Seat myself to Drop you a few lines to let you know that I am yet 
in the land of the living and I am well and harty at this time    I recd your
kind letter lat night and was glad to learn that you was all well    Nancy it 
is no use to grieve about our home nor our rights   we Shall get them one day 
the yankees may Plunder and destroy every thing they can but I hope they will 
only be the loosers of all at last    Nancy you must do the best you can    
you know I cant do anything at all    you wished to know what I had to say 
about Selling the things    if you can get them I think you had better Sell 
the hogs and keepe the other things if you can    you must ask the people in 
the neighborhood to assist you if they can and pay them their own prices    
you had better try to sell all the provisions    if old Mr Doity and Jack 
Harris wants it let them hav it    I think you had better get one of them to 
attend to the cattle and if Wm Cotton is not willing to go Down there to Stay 
any longer you had better get them to hav an eye over plantation    tell them 
that if I ever come home I will Satisfy them    Nancy if you do go down there 
you had better try to move your beds and every thing that belongs in the house
for if the Scamps ever comes back there they will apt to burn every thing that
they can get hold of and if we loose every thing that we ever possest in this 
world let next Seeke for grace    if we have grace within our Souls it will be
a comfort when all friends on earth do fail

          Come let us Seek the grace of god 
          And all with one accord
          In a perpetual covenant join 
          Ourselves to christ the Lord

          Come let us join ourselves to Him 
          Who died our Souls to Save
          Who died that Sinners Such as we 
          Eternal life might have

          And may we ever through His grace 
          This covenant bear in mind
          No more forsake the Lord our God
          Nor cast His word behind

          Oh let the days already part 
          Sufice to have Spent in vain 
          Let Satan no more prevail 
          Nor in our members reign

          Thee Father Son and Holy Ghost 
          May we by faith receive
          And henceforth die to all below 
          And to Thee only live

Nancy you must excuse me for not writing to you any Sooner as we have ben on 
another one of them heavy marches for the last two days and I never got back 
to camp until Sunday night   tell Father that I recd a letter from him dated 
the 6th and was glad to learn that his health had improved    tell Father to 
excuse me for not writing any oftener as I have had to be gone down every 
Since the 9th and never got back until last evening    you must give my best 
respects to all    Nancy I must tell you a little about our march    we all 
went down last Saturday was a weeke ago    every thing was qiet until last 
friday when we advanced four miles down the river and the yankees found that 
we was coming    they left in double qick    our advanced guard went to the 
entrenchment and got their tools    the fools had mounted Stove Pipes on 
their breastworks to See us with but we went there and run them off    they 
are evacuating James river as fast as they can    So I will come to a close   
May Lord bless you all is the Prayer of your Dear husband Henry Sutton 
Nancy take good care of my little children and trust in the
Lord

**********************

                               Camp Walker Rapahanock 
River Va    August 27th 1862 

                                          Dear Nancy I 
am blessed with another opertunity of writing you a few lines to let you know 
that I am well and harty at this time    thank the kind Providence for his 
mercies    Nancy we left Richmon yesterday on our way to old Stonewall    we 
arrived at Rapahannock river this morning about two oclock and has Stoped here
until futher orders    it is reported that Stonewall has driven the yankees in
their gunboats at Mannassass Junction where they Started last winter    I hope
we Shall hav a fine time on the Potomack this winter coming    if the war is 
not ended Soone May God have mercy on us and end it Sooner is my prayer    
Nancy I would be glad to See you all but I dont know when I Shall ever See you
any more    Nancy if I never See you again on earth let us look to the lord 
That we may meete in Heaven there to remain forever where Peace and pleasure 
never ends    I want you to try to teach my little children that there is a 
Supreme being and that it is thire duty to love and Serve him and that he will
protect them not only in this world but in a world without war    May the God 
of Heaven forever bless you all    Nancy give my love to all to Father to 
Brothers and Sisters not only to relation but to friends around    tell them 
that I think the day is coming when I Shall come home and live in peace again 
Nancy I dont know as there is any thing more of import that I can write to you
you need not write to me until you get another letter from me as we dont know 
when nor where we Shall have to go    If we get Stationed any time Soon I will
write immediately So that you can write to me    I want you to take every 
thing the best you can and bear your troubles with a christian hart    our 
troubles may be great and our misfortunes may be many but if we will prey for 
others when they cuss us we are doing our duty in praise to the lord   Nancy I
will come to a close by remaining your Dear Husband until Death           
Henry Sutton

NOTE: This letter would prove to be the last contact that Nancy would have 
with her husband, at least in this life.

**********************

(No date, but with the inquiry concerning Henry, it must fit in this general 
chronological position)

Dear Sister,
             I received your Kind and affectionate letter and was glad to hear
from you but was sorry to hear that you was not well    I hope when this 
reaches you it will find you and the children better    John said for me to 
inquire about Henry    there is no news from him    I havent seen anyone that 
I could find about him    I hope he may be alive but I am afraid we will never
see him again in this world    there is no news to communicate    every thing 
seems quiet from all appearance    I dont think they will be any fight up this
way soon for there is no Yankees around us as I Know of   They want make me 
mad if they never come where we are again for going into a fight is not a good
position    I would be glad to see you but it is out of my power to do so now 
I however hope we may get ordered back to NC before long    I understood that 
Lee had a small fight with the Yankees the other day & he drove them back    I
dont Know that it is correct only as I heard    I am tired of this war & want 
to see the end of it bad    I am afraid it will be a long time before I shall 
have the pleasure of seeing you    I heard that Rachel Barrow fixed up a whole
company of soldiers & they tared & feathered her    I wish they had sewed up 
her cock for the boys says it is only nine inches long    I recon Old Woman 
Betsy see's that her children name can be talked of as well as mine & Henrys 
was for getting half white children    We whold prayer meeting every night 
under our fly   you must not think hard of me for writing you ____ a letter 
but I just thought I would let you Know what the boys said about Rachel. Write
soon for I am always glad to hear from you    so nothing more at present only 
write soon to your affectionate Brother
                       Alex Sutton 
Direct your letter as you did before

***********************

                            Winchester Septr 29th /62

My Dear Wife 

                              I again seat myself to drop you a few lines to 
let you know how I am getting along. I have caught up with the Regiment at 
last. I have got well and hearty again. when I got up with the Regiment I 
found it cut to pieces very bad. Henry is either killed or wounded. he was in 
the big fight over in Maryland. I did not get up with the Regiment until after
the fight was over. We got sixteen killed and wounded in our company    
John P Wooten was killed, all of our wounded men fell in the hands of the yankys 
except what could walk off. We are now stationed in five miles of Winchester 
but I do not know how long we will be here. All of our men that was in the 
fight lost thier nap sacks and blankets so they have not got any clothes 
except what they have got on    our fair is very bad, we get nothing to eat 
but Beef and flour bread without greece. And we are in a section of country  
that we cannot but any thing to eat. I am in hopes that we will  go back to 
Petersburgh this winter    there is some talk of ____ back to Petersb____


NOTE: The page is torn off and missing, thus ending abruptly. I am assuming 
that this letter is from Henry's brother Alexander because of the following 
reasons: 
(1) the accompanying envelope is from Private A Sutton Co C     27th Reg NC. 
Alexander was the only Private A. Sutton listed in NORTH CAROLINA TROOPS-1861-
1865 in Co. C.
(2) It was mentioned in the last few letters from Henry that Alexander was 
mending and this letter states that he has recovered and caught up with the 
regiment.
(3) The preceeding letter is definitely from Alex. The hand 
writing is not the same and the spelling of Yankee is     different. The 
general language is also different. At this time I do not know if Alex was 
married.  In a previous letter Nancy was told to tell Ann that Alex had been 
in a battle. One might deduce from this information that Ann was Alexander's 
wife.

     The envelope containing this letter was addressed to Mrs Elizabeth Sutton
Mosley Hall  Lenoir County  N C.  The greeting of the letter is "Dear Wife". 
Alexander could have been married to Elizabeth or the letter could have been 
sent to his wife in care of his step-mother, Elizabeth Sutton, wife of 
Benjamin Sutton.      	
	This letter was written after the Battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland.  Henry
had been killed there and so had Lt. John P. Wooten.  Lt. Wooten died on 
September 18, 1862 from wounds received the day before.

**************************

                 October the 4 th  1862
                                           Craven County 
                                           NC

Dear Sister I arive at home on friday mourning after I leaft you on Wenesday    
Dear Sister I take mi pen to let you no how I Geting along    mi Cold dont get
much Beter as I no of    I am not Well at this tyme    I hope that these few 
lines ma find you an famly all Well at this tyme    Sister I believe it that 
the yankeys has bin on this Side of bachlors Creake Since I Went up there an 
to miles on this Side But I think that thay Say thay hav seen them on the 
other Side    Sister I Want you to Send those Carts rite a Way for fear the 
yankeys ma com an Get those things    I think that you had beter Send them 
rite a Way for I think hit Is best to Get them a Way as Soone as you Can no 
boday dont no for the best every body Ses the Sooner the beter for you an I 
think So must be best you Can    Suite your Self an If you Send rite a Way 
Sister Misr ____ doit (Doity, possibly Daughety) told me to Giv his lov to you
for his miss Nancy Doity the Same they Sed not for Get them   Sister I think 
If you Can Get too big Wagons to Come down here an Care the hogs off from here
hit Will best fore you an henry    Send about Won or to Carts an to handes to 
Cary them Carts over there    Doctar Cob is halling hising off from here    
Carias a bout twenty five hed at aload an to Wagons will Cariay all of yours 
off an We can Sel the Corne Rite here to the Confed Government    an you must 
Rite to me as Soone as you Get this an let me no What to do 
                                     So nothing more
                                   at prasent
                                 W B Cotton

***********************

                              Winchester V A Oct-13/62

Mrs Sutton 
          Madam 
                It becomes my painfull duty to informe you of the Sad fate of 
your Husband Mr Henry Sutton    he was wonded in the battle at Sharpsburg M.D.
on the 17th of Sept. I Should have written you before this, but I have been 
waiting with the hope that I should hear from him and be able to Communicate 
Some more welcome news but I have not heard from him at all.  he went with me 
in a charge that was made during the fight and did not return.  we charged 
Through a field of corn and I did not See him fall and Therefore I can not Say
whither he was killed or wonded   two Regt charged the enemy for 1/2 mile or 
more and not receiving any support We had to fall back to our old position 
and our wonded and others that give out was taken by the Yankees. I hope that 
Henry was only wonded or give out and that he may not be killed. but I can 
not tell what fate he met    if I can gain any information in reguard to him 
I will let you know it immediately. You have my heart felt Sympathy in this 
your Sad bereavement  I can only Say one thing that Should give you 
consolation and that is your Husband did his part in a faithfull discharge of 
his duty, he acted as a man well worthy of the noble Cause in which he was 
engaged as a brave Soldier and true Patriot    With High Reguard I remain 
your friend

                            G. F. Whitfield

NOTE: Colonel Whitfield appears to have been an officer and a gentleman. This 
letter to his friend and neighbor was routed to her by way of his own wife. 
The letter was under separate cover endorsed "give to Mrs Sutton". In that 
way, she would be notified of about Henry's by him with the assurance that 
she would not be alone when she received the news.
     My grandfather, who was grandson of Nancy, once told me that he heard 
that the last time Henry was seen, he was trying to get across a rail fence
in battle. In this letter, Colonel Whitfield says, "We had to fall back to 
our old position..". The story of this engagement is excellently told in 
detail by Zach Bogue in THE 27TH AT SHARPSBURG which is in part on REBYLL'S 
CONFEDERATE HOMEPAGE. This rail fence was the beginning and ending point in 
this charge where the men of the 27th North Carolina and the 3rd Arkansas 
proved themselves battle worthy.

***********************

         Febry the 25 th 1863          Craven Couty
                   For the tyme has come
                                W____ _____
Dar Sister I take the please of Writing you a few lines to let you no that I 
am not well at this tyme    I hav had the mumps very bad but I am Well of the 
mumps but mi years ____ ____ now   I hop that these few lines ma find you in 
Joying Good helth    I hav had bad luck    they hav took mi Corn a Way from 
me and I am a Goint to Sel every thing I hav Got an come to you    So I Want 
you to Get John parkes to Come down With his Cart Cary my things your ___an 
____ an aney thing and I will pay him a Good prise for hit an if he Cant Com 
tell John Ivey to Com    I Will pay him to Cary mi things    tell him to Com 
as Soone as he Can for the Sldiers hav Giv up the mosly Creak Write here at 
me an I Want to Get I a Way from heer befor the yankes Com    Just as Soon as 
he can    they hav Got intrenchment at the old mill    They had let the 
bridge down at the Crek Whine We had to com to the feal crossing the crek and 
every thing the old bumms   So tell John parks to Com if he plese    Come if 
he Can by the first day of march    Nothing more at this tyme
WB Cotton to   Mrss Nancy Sutton   Com am not fraid to com

***********************

     March 30th 1863
Dir Sister I feel it my Duty to rite you a line to let you no that I am well 
an hope thes few lines may rech you and family well   I would like to see you 
and your children but the lord nows when that will be   it will be sooner 
than I Suspect I trust in the lord ma we all meet again in this world and if 
not I hope to meet you in heven where Parting is no more    I received youre 
letter & was glad to here from you & to here that you was well & the children 
tell Betsy I am much oblige to her for writing so often    I have got one 
letter from hur since I left home    tell the old man I want him to Rite to 
me    No News here So nothing more at this time I Still Remain your loving 
Brother till Deth    Rite Soon
                          Alex Sutton

NOTE: Alex Sutton was to go on to be captured in the Battle of Bristoe 
Station, Virginia.  He was imprisoned at Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC 
and then transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland.  Later he was transferred to 
Cox's Wharf, James River, Virginia where he was received for exchange.  
According to his sister, Winnie, he died on the way home from Virginia and 
was buried along the way somewhere up there.

**********************

             April 11 1863

Dear Nancy I rite you A few lines to let you Now that I am Well and hope these
few lines May reach you and the famly all Well Nancy I Whish that you Wood go 
to fathers fathers and git some things fore Me out of My trunk    git My dress
patern Musling    I Want to Make it to Ware to See Elijah and send them spools
of Whit thred and Eliza New Whit apron and look in fed chest and git My 
briches butons out of My havy sack    Send My Stamps out of My trunk and I 
will do as Mush for you Some time    ____is goin to See Elijah and he said 
that he wood pay My Way and I want to go    they aint Much News    Say that 
our folks is got Washing(ton) sirouned and has dim fiting down theare yesturdy
and to day. So Nothing More at present
                             W J Fields 
                             (Winnie J Sutton Fields, 
                              daughter of Benj. Sutton, Sr. 
                              and sister of Henry)
and filas send Mine and Elijah garitips (daguerreotypes: on glass type 
photographs)
          I want them taken over

NOTE: Winnie was married to Elijah Fields, son of William C. Fields who was 
the Sheriff of Lenoir County during the war.  His sister, Olivia Fields Pope 
wrote, in depth, her recollections (MEMORIES OF WARTIME) of life in Kinston 
during the war and a copy of that can be found in Heritage Place at Lenoir 
Community College. Winnie wrote her recollections and they can be found there 
as well.

**********************

           In diches Near Petersburge Sept 1st "63 
           Dear Sister
                       I avail myself of the present opportunity of droping 
you a few lines which will inform you that I am well and hope these may find 
you favored with the Same blessings of Life and health. I recieved your kind 
letter of the 22d a few days ago but have neglected to answer it until the 
present time. You Said you wanted me to let you know what rent I charged you 
for the wheat patch Ann let you have    I wrote a letter to Ann what to do 
about it    you can See her and you and her can make the arrangement. I cannot
 e at home to know any thing about the affairs there So I want my wife to do 
as I was not to ever See home any more for God only knows whether I Shall ever
See her again or not but I put my trust in the mercy of a kind protector to 
Shield me from all harm but if it be the will of Him to take me from them I 
can but hope to meet them where war will not part us no more   you Seem to 
have not yet given up in despair about your husband    Oh may god yet deliver 
him to you again but I can have but little hope for your ever Seeing him again
in this life but my prayer is you may meet in a better land than this 
distructed country. So Dear Sister ever put your trust in a merciful God for 
your eternal welfare    our earthly pilgrimage is but afew days So let us 
endure all troubles and privations of this life for the promise of a happy and 
eternal life where there is no war nor deaths to Separate us from each other  
I use my utmost efforts to keep from doing any thing that will offend my God 
yet in Spite of all man cannot help form Sinning but Jesus have provison if 
e will take up his cross and follow him he will intercede for us    Oh Such a 
friend as Jesus    how can any one turn from one who died to redeem our lost 
Souls. Nancy put you faith in Jesus and all will be well with you my prayer is
for your good Success and that of your little boys I want you all to help pray
for a Speedy peace and a permanent peace I hope god will grant our land peace 
before there is much more blood Shead. I do not know that I could give you 
much information about the war matters So I believe I will not endeavor to 
give any news at all concerning the war matters. As I have nothing more worthy
of note I will begin to come to a close I wish you to ever meet with good 
Success and may the blessings of God ever be with you and your little children
you must write Soon and let me heare from you again I yet remain your
affectionate Brother untill death. Thos Sutton

I have never heard whether you got your paper (the Wilmington Journal) or not 
I want you to let me know whether you have or not

NOTE: Thomas was a Sergeant in Co. D, 66th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. 
He and his brother, Daniel were captured at Mosley Hall (LaGrange) in March, 
1865 and transferred to Harts Island, New York Harbor where they were held 
until they took the oath of allegiance to the United States of America on 
June 19, 1865 and returned home. They both died in 1894, Thomas on June 22 
and Daniel July 11.  

**********************

              army of Northan Virginia   
                Monday    October 5th 1863

Dear Cosen
              it is with pleasure I take my Seat to drop you a few lines to 
let you know where I am and to See if I can hear from you    I Expect you will
be Some what Surprised to Receive a letter from me for it has been So long 
Since you heard from me you may of forgoten me entirely    I have not heard 
from you in Several years until a few days ago    I was conversing with Leiut 
Barrow of my Brigade who told where you were and give me your address So I 
thought I would writ you a Short letter and See if you would correspond with 
your (cousin)    nothing would give me grater pleasure than to get a letter 
from you and William    it is not wearth while for me to give you any news in 
this unless I knew you would get it but if I get an answer to this I will then
give you all the news I know you will See from the heading of this I am in 
Virginia in the army and have been fer going on two years and have not met up 
with any of my Relatives yet but I heard that Ciceroe was in the Servis and 
was kiled at South mountain last year    I could tell you Something about 
Manday but I dont know that you will get this So I will close for the Present 
but hope I will hear from you soon
                               J. J. Page

**********************

               Army of Northan Virginia           
                        October 25th 1863
Dear Cosin
            it is with grate Pleasure I Seat my Self to answer a letter I got 
from you a few days ago it found me very well indeed and geting along as well 
as could be Expected considering everything    you will See from the heading 
of this letter I am in the army of northan Virginia and have been for going 
on two years    it is the hardest Place I Ever Saw   we only get a bout half 
Rations and have to march So dredful hard and then the Exposure is Enough to 
kill any body    you want to know what has become of Father's family    Father
is living in florida and has been for the last 12 or 14 years but my Dear 
Mother is dead    She has been dead a bout 3 years    She left a house full of
little children but Sister Rebeckar is a least grown and Father is Keeping 
house yet and has got all the children with him but my Self and Brother 
William    we are hear in the army both in the Same company    brother Pinkney
was hear with me but he is dead now    he died in Richmond the 10th of last 
march at the Hospital    I do not know what was the matter with him    all of 
Fathers children you ever Saw is Dead Except three which is my Self William 
and Rebeckar but Father has 4 with him now 2 brothers and 2 Sisters    Perhaps
you would like to know Somthing about your Cosen Amanda who left that part of 
the Country with Old man Herrings family    She is living in Tallahassee 
Florida    She married a man by the name of Lee but he is dead now and She is 
a widow with one child    She is geting a long very well    I got a letter 
from her only a few days ago    Dear Cosen I could tell you a grate deel more 
if I could See you but time and Space are urging me to Stop for the Present 
but I do hope the time is not far off when this unholy and uncivil and 
unprofitable war will close and we may Return to our homes and live in Peace 
as we once did    I hope you may have a long life on Earth and Peace after 
Death    give William my kindest Regards and tell him to write me and you must
write Soon to your Cosen Jas. J. Page   J. J. Page

          Dear Cosen you must not think hard of me for not paying the Postage 
of my letters for I have not got any Stamps nor cant get any consequently I 
cant Pay the Postage    you must not forget to write Soon to your Cosen

                                      James J. Page

**********************

               Army of Northan virginia                 
                             December 13th 1863
Dear Cousin
             with pleasure I grasp my Pen this cold Evening to reply to your 
welcom letter which I Recieaved from you Some time Since and I would of 
answered it before now but I was on the march when I got your letter and could
not write until I Stoped    consequently I hope you will not think hard of me 
for not writing Sooner    your letter found me in very good helth indeed but 
my Brother is not So well    he has been Sick for Seversl days but is Some 
better now    I hope he will be all right again Soon    Dear Cousin I have not
got any news to write that will interest you only about the last campaign of 
which you have already had a more correct acount than I could give So I will 
not truble you on that Point for if you are as tired of war as I am you dont 
want to hear it mention    it is dredful cold hear and looking like Snow and I
hope it may Snow for it is all that will Keep a fight off one month longer    
I got a letter from Manda and one from Father only a few days ago    they are 
all well and doing as well as could be Expected considering Everything    as I
have nothing to write that is interesting I might as well Stop for the Presant
give my kindest regards to your Brother William and all our Relatives in the 
old north State    I hope we will meet again on Earth but if we do not I hope 
we may meet in heaven    Now I will cloes until I hear from you again which I 
hope will be Soon    dont neglect to write often to your Cousin
                                Jas J Page

PS I hope you will not think hard of me for not paying the Postage on my 
letters but I cant get any Stamps for love or money So you must look over it 
   I will do better as Soon as I can git Postage Stamps    nothing more at 
Presant only I am your cousin as ever         J J Page

             Corpl Jas J Page
       in care of Capt CA Bryan
          Co (C) 5th Florida Regt
                  Perrys Brigade
                  Anderson Division
                   A P Hills Corps
                       Richmond
                          Virginia
Direct your letters as above mention and it will besure to come  writhe Soon 
to your Cosen Jas J Page

***********************

                Army Northen Va Near Orange            
                           January 29th 1864

                                          Mrs Sutton
it is with pleasure I write you a few lines to let you no I am well and hearty
I can say to you I am in better helth than I ever was before    I am heavier 
now than I ever was    ever hoping these few lines may reach you and your Dear
little ones in joying the same good blessing    I can say to you I received 
your kind note 28th of this month and was very glad to no there was one more 
hoo had sympathy enough for me to write and I a pore Conscrip to Miss sutton  
I think there will bee severial hoo was urgan the men to leave there comfort 
homes to come in this trouble that will wish they ware back    the worce has 
not come yet I am afraid and it is bad enough now    I wish I could see you 
one more time to tell you more than I shall write    Our Country is ruined and
it Cant never be mended    my life is of no satisfactry to me    I saw a pore 
man tied up to a stake and shot by his Coffin    he was first marched round 
the Brigade with the Dead march plaid after him and he was crying and praying 
for mercy    he was a good soldier had bin in ever fite but one and then he 
was wonded    his sweet heart wrote him to come home then or never and mary 
her and he went and married 2 hours before the gard caught him and he was shot
for it    that is our writes we pore men is fiten fore    I cant write as much
as I want to now   give my love to the girls and shear a friends  porcion your
self    it is hard times here now excuse all
                            E. J. Kennedy

NOTE: This is one of the saddest letters that I have ever read. One can only 
imagine the emotions felt by that young man, to have been made an example so 
as to control the othersŠŠŠas E. J. wrote, "and that is our writes we pore men
is fiten fore".

***********************

          Camp near Orang C H Va
                    January the 29 1864
                    hyley essteemd friend Wm B   as thes few lines leaves me 
I am well    it is the truth to you I tell    I hope thes few lines may come 
safe to hand and find you well as eny man    I received your letter that you 
wrot last and was very glad to hear from you so fast    how can that thing 
ever be I can hear from you and you not from me 2 to one    I am sure I write 
and send to you my hearts delight and when I get one from you in return you 
are sure to say you get non    I have no nuse to write at this time    Billey 
I was very glad to hear from you and hear you ware well    I am fatter now 
than you ever saw me if I could see you now and get up stares with you I could
tell you a site    it is very warm here now and has bin for a week Billey you 
need not wait for me to come home to get married    get your Girl now whilst 
it is winter    the summer will son be here and the wether will Bee warm and 
you may ceep wating till you have to come in this trouble and you never can 
enjoy your life agane    I wish I had married before I left    if I had I 
could of goton a furlow this winter    my Captain asked me iff I was maried and 
I told him no and he said I could not come then    I got a letter from 
Luther yesterday    he was well    he is at Black water Va near Petersburg    
let me hear from you soon iff you pleas     E J Kennedy
To Mr Wm B Cotton

***********************

Sallie H Fields
                      Hickry grov Feb 13th 1864
     Mrs Nancy Sutton Dear Madam    I seate my self to inform you that I will 
not come to see you so I will send by hardy the cloth    I want you to make my
boy a hat    if you pleas Cosin nancy I want you to make the hat out of the 
black and trem it with read sord    I did not measure it    you can make it 
large enough for your little boy and it will be large enough for mine I dont 
no wether theas is enough or not    it wont take a vary large one for him    
trim it with read    Cosin Nancy you make as you please and it will suit me   
wen you get it done come and fetch it and stay all night with me and I will 
pay you for it    this leavs me and family all well. Cosin Nancy you will hav 
to do the best you can with that old black for it is not fitten    I remain as
 ever your friend untill death
                                 Sallie H Fields

*************************

                Camp Near Petersburg
                       November 18 th 1864
Friend Nancy   I will try to write a few lines to you to sho I am well excep a
cold and caugh    truley hopeing these few lines will come safe to hand and 
find you and your little Babes in the best of helth I received your kind 
letter a few days past and was very glad to hear from you and to hear you ware
all as well as you ware when you wrote    Nancy you are apter to get a letter 
from me than mother and I want you to pursuade Wm B C to go to mothers and fix
me up a box of something to eat and carey it to goldsboro the 17 of December 
for we have hyard a man to fetch them for us and you no I need something    I 
will pay him for his trouble I have writ to him and you both    you tell him 
to go to mothers and let her no it the Day before and kill me a Squirel and 
tell father Dickey to ketch me a fish    I want some eggs and butter and a 
chicken I can cook the chicken and eggs to if I can get them    salt them and 
they will keep    I need not menchon what I want for any thing will be 
exceptable sure for I need something to eat    tell Mother to send me my pare 
of socks for I have no socks nor gloves and cant get eny    the girls sends 
the other young men sum thing but me they Dont cear for and I will be so by 
them if I live to see the war end    I will go some where elce to find me a 
girl    Nancy I hope the big meeting will prove a good work    you all may 
hold out faithful to the end and pray for your enemys like I have Don meny 
times     I must close I remain as ever your unworthy survant   E J Kennedy
 to Mrs Nancey Sutton

NOTE: This letter expresses the plight of the confederate soldier in Lee's 
army, especially near the end when supplies and rations were practically 
nonexistent. They were hungry, deprived and tired and one can only imagine 
what a "care" package like the one that he requested would mean.

This letter ends the correspondence that Nancy received during the time of the
War. I know that some of the letters were given to some family members and I 
feel that there are still some of them out there somewhere. If by chance 
anyone reading this should have some of the letters, would you please contact 
someone at Heritage Place at Lenoir Community College so that they could be 
copied and the copies placed in the collection?

***********************

                           Kenansville NC, Feb 8th 1867
       Dear cousin Nancy,
                           As I am going to write to cousin Lottie on Some 
buisness I will write to you in regard to what we were talking about that 
night at your house    you told me you wanted me to be a waiter and if you do 
I am going to send to Wilmington and have me a white dress made    What I am 
going to tell you is this    please have your wedding on Friday    if you do 
not it may be so I can not go    if you will have it on Friday you know that
 will be so near the last of the week that I can go    Let me know at least 
three weeks before the time or write just as soon as you get this and if there
is any thing that you can not get at Mosely Hall let me know and I will get it
here and carry it to you with pleasure    I believe I will get married that 
night if I can get any one to say yes    I will speak to you to engage me one
you know    cousin Nancy I am only joking but it would be a nice time    I do 
not want you to fool me    if you do I will hate it after going to the expense
of buying a dress and I am going to send after one    Be sure to let me know 
if I can get you any thing.  I will do so willingly. I have not time to write 
any more    Be sure to answer this as soon as you get it & I will write you a 
long one.   I am 
                    as ever your friend
                     M S A

NOTE: The wedding she speaks of is that of Nancy to Daniel Hines, Jr. Nancy 
has waited over five years with no word from Henry. Now it is time to move on.

***********************

              Lenore Conty NC
                        April 23d (18)/67
     Deare cosen
I am as will as common at this time and also the rest of the famley is all 
well and I hope this will reach you the Same, and I am a coming a Sunday and 
please hav my Shirt readdy for me    if you can posbull do So and I have got 
a crow to pull with you and you may no what it is for you Know what you told 
me when I wase heare  nothing more at this time onley I remain yore frend

     James Measley

***********************

                                  Stokesville 
                       Coffee County           ga 
                                    Nov the 8 '91
Dear Mis   it is with much pleasure I take my pen in hand to drop you afew 
lines of my helth    I am swell and and geting Along swell    I and my family 
the same I truly hope when these few line come to you they may find you and 
your family swell Please tell me is any of the boys and girls maried yet    
you must not think that I have forgotten you I have not    I did not Do what 
you said I was going to do    you ought to just see my baby nora(?)    give my
love to All your Children    Tell Betsy ann and here family howdy    tell miss
Pasence (Patience) and her Family howdy    tell cussin exline(?) I did not do 
what she said I was going to do    Please send all the newse    we ar just in 
good wat Picking our Cotton here    the highest horse we can get we can not 
set on his back and pick the top of the Cotton    We get one dollar and A half
per hundred   Glen send his love to you all    Nothing more    write soon your
 friend Alberta Isler

**********************

                            Lenoir Conty
                                 November 22 1891
Mrs Alberta Isler    your letter com to hand and I wase glad to her from you 
all    this leaves all well    I hope this may find you the same    your 
sister winney is sick    your Brother Anderson got shot the yother day by 
nother man Aseley(?) dun (Dunn)    the lode blode of(f) wone side of his 
cheake and yeare he is mending fast    you wonted to now if any of the girles 
or boyes wose mared    no not yet    Dea and Edith is goin to get mared this 
winter A bout Christmast    Dea is going to sea mis tecy (Tessa) Hines   luby 
mealeys (Measley) is coming to sea Edith    John is in gorgay (Georgia)    he 
wose well when I herde from him    he went of with powel. Maray (Mary) weas 
hundred 20    Zenobith (Zenobia) weas hundred 25    Bety (Betsy) ann is well  
tomes (Thomas) is well   henry is well and All of the nabores    Daniel hant 
got nobody to help him this fall to help onley the girles    Dea is worken 
fore his self    he tended corne in the pocosn    he tended cotton here ten 
acers    he will mak 5 bales

(Letter ends abruptly mid-page and evidently was never finished and mailed as 
it was in her possession at the time of her death)

**********************

RECOLLECTIONS OF WINNIE FIELDS

NOTE: Winifred Fields was the daughter of Benjamin Sutton, wife of Elijah 
Fields and sister to Henry Sutton. This Memory is not part of the Sutton 
Letters but is appropriate to include. The Memory written by Elijah Fields' 
sister, Olivia Fields Pope, is already posted to the Lenoir Co Archives Site.


(This recollection shared by Martha Marble)

**********************

My husband, Elijah Fields, fought through the Civil War, was a volunteer in 
the 61st Regiment, Company E, Clingman's Brigade, Captain Byrd.

From Enlistment to surrender he never had a furlough, was in many of the 
hardest battles of the war, several times had holes shot in his clothing; but 
was never wounded.

He was with his regiment in the battles at Fort Sumter, James Island, Kinston,
 Williamston, Plymouth, and Tarboro in his own state; also at the front at 
Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, Petersburg and for a long time was near Richmond, Va.

He was captured once in Virginia but was recaptured before he was imprisoned, 
he saw and shared all the hardships that fell to the lot of the Confederate 
Soldiers.

Have heard him tell how they once had to march barefoot in the snow, suffered 
from hunger, cold, slept on the ground, sick and weary but never thought of 
giving up the struggle, and in the four years of hardship never saw me or his 
baby daughter.

At the time I had nine brothers in the Confederate Army, the oldest Capt 
William Sutton was an artillery man and was stationed at Fort Fisher. Seven 
were private soldiers in Lee's Army. They were: Tommie, Daniel, Henry, Alec, 
John, Fred, and Levi Sutton. My youngest brother, Ben Sutton, joined the State
Guards near the close of the war, he was only a boy when he enlisted. Fred was
captured by Yankees while he was sick with measles and died of exposure, was 
buried in New Berne in an unmarked grave.

Henry was left with the dead in the slaughter at Gettsysburg (sic), John died 
of hemmorhage caused by excessive heat after a forced march with his company, 
he alone was brought home and interred with the family.

Brother Alec was captured and imprisoned, while in a Yankee prison he had a 
severe attack of fever, was parolled but was so weak he died in Richmond while
on his way home, like thousands of others who died in his day, he lies in an 
unknown grave.

My father's home at White Hall was used as a hospital by the Confederate 
soldiers while they camped in that section. I spent my time there while my 
husband was fighting for his country, and am glad to remember that we did all 
in our power to relieve the sufferings of the unfortunate ones.

My father died in '64, as all his sons were in the war, it left all the women 
and children in the family at his home without protection and as the Yankees 
had destroyed everything they could find, we went through suffering and 
endured privations that the younger generation and those of our own time, who 
lived in sections where they never saw real war, can never realize. Even now 
when it has been a memory for 50 years the very thoughts of it all make me 
know that the Civil War will never be over until all of us who lived through 
its hardships and injustices can forget it in death.

              Mrs. Winnie Fields

NOTE: Winnie Fields died May 6, 1923