Georgia Infantry CONFEDERATE CIVIL WAR LETTER Before Battle Chancellorsville
This marvelous Confederate Civil War letter was written by Pvt. Lipsey enlisted for three years at Savannah as a private on 8 May 1862 and was promoted to corporal on 1 September 1864. He was wounded at least three times during the war first on 5 July 1863 in a skirmish near Fairfield, Pennsylvania, on the Gettysburg Campaign (Gordons Brigade); second at Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864; and finally at Farmville on 6 April 1865 where he suffered a fractured jaw and was captured.
He was released at Newport News, Virginia June 25, 1865. Service records indicate that Lipsey stood 5 feet 7 inches tall, had blue eyes and dark hair. Lipsey was the son of Amasa B. James lived in Jones County, Georgia, before and after the war.
James mentions his older brother William L. The letter was written a few days before the Battle of Chancellorsville from near Hamilton Crossing a railroad depot just 6 miles downriver of Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock.
The 26th Georgia was part of John B. Gordons Brigade at the time (despite Lipseys dateline in the first letter). They initially served in Lawtons Brigade of Stonewall Jacksons Second Corps but Lawton was severely wounded severely at Antietam (September 1862) and did not return to service until August 1863 and only then as a Quartermaster. Camp Gordons Brigade near Hamilton Crossing, Va.
I hope and trust to God that this will reach and find you the [enjoying the] same like blessings from God. My dear wife, I haint got no good news to write to you only everything is quiet on our lines at the present time. I dont know how long they will stay so. They think the Yankees will cross the river again shortly.
If they do, we will whip them again. I want you to write to me. I haint had a letter from you since the 3rd day of May. I dont know what is the reason.
If you have wrote, I never get your letters. I want to hear from [you] very bad. Give all the connection my best respects after taking the first yourself.
Tell Mary howdy for me. You dont know how bad I want to see you and the children. That all the pleasure I see is when I get a letter from you. I havent heard from brother William in about 2 weeks.
He had been sick but I hope he has got well. We have got back to our same old camp again.
I hope we wont have to march as much this year as we did last. I heard the boys had left Savannah and gone to the west. I dont know whether it is so or not. We hear the Yankees is about to take Vicksburg. We have got back to our same old trudge of standing picket hard again. I swam half across the [Rappahannock] river and met a Yankee and give him some tobacco and he give me some coffee.We shook hands and told one another howdy. You must excuse my bad writing and mistakes. I must come to a close by saying I remain your affectionate husband until death. I get a plenty to eat.
We're members of the American Philatelic Society, the U. Philatelic Classics Society, the Confederate Stamp Alliance and the Illinois Postal History Society. We only sell genuine, original letters (no copies or reproductions).
Some of our letters have been transcribed and nicely presented for future genealogists and history buffs on the Spared & Shared blog. The item "Georgia Infantry CONFEDERATE CIVIL WAR LETTER Before Battle Chancellorsville" is in sale since Friday, October 14, 2016. This item is in the category "Stamps\United States\Covers\Postal History". The seller is "cmvolz" and is located in Washington, Illinois. This item can be shipped worldwide.