Title

Letter, unknown soldier writing about the hanging of David O. Dodd

Creator

Files

Date Original

1864 January 19

Description

Letter from an unknown soldier discussing his military life in Little Rock. The letter talks about the hanging of David O. Dodd.

Transcription

[Page 1] Little Rock Ark Jan 19
A D 64
Dear Mother and
and Brother and Sisters
It is with Pleasure that
I have setel[sic] myself to
Pen Aline[sic] to you to inform
you that I am still on
the land and amongst
the living and in better
Health than I have ever
sence[sic] I first came to
St Louis for which I am
thankful[.] I have had
only one letter from you
sense[sic] I left St Louis and that
was written there and
forwarded but then
I suppose you have no
time to write[.] I shal[sic] now
tell you what we are doing
[Page 2] we have been working
on a fourt[sic] some[,] we
Drill some and forage some
I was out 5 days and just
came in nigt[sic] before last
I will give you a descri
tion[sic] of the trip the day
we started we went 16
mildes[sic] and at nigt[sic] we camped
in the timber[.] put our
piquets[sic] out and went to
sleep[.] the nigt[sic] was fine
the sky was our covering
we started next morning
and went 5 mildes[sic] to
a rebel and loded[sic] eleven
wagons with corn out of
his field and came back to
wheare[sic] we camped the
nigt[sic] before[.] that nigt[sic] I
was on picket[.] the nigt
was fine and the boys
had found some slow deer
[Page 3] and we had a fine
Supper[.] the next morning
it begone[sic] to wraine[sic] and
wrained[sic] the whole day
and the frost was coming
out of ground and
we had to spend the day
in prying the wagons
out of the mud and pulling
mules out[.] well it was
a fine time[.] we maid[sic] 7
mildes[sic] and camped at
a saw mill and came
into camp the next day
tiered[sic] and glad to wrest[sic]
but we are all write[sic] now
wredy[sic] to do any thing
that comes up heare[sic]
was a spy hung heare[sic]
last weake[sic] I saw hime[sic]
hung[.] it was no peasent[sic] site[sic] I could not healp[sic]
[Page 4] sorry for him. he was
only a boy about 18 years
old[.] he had got a plot
of our camp and the
fourts[sic] and the number
of troops heare[sic] and was
going out and taken
by our piquets and
brought back and hung
and they say their[sic] is to
be a Lieutenant shot in
a few days heare[sic] and
a bushwhacker[.] if they
are I shal[sic] go and se[sic]
them shot[.] we had
2 weeks of ice heare as slick
as I ever say in the north
and about as could[sic] as I ever
saw[.] they was [illegible]
river on the ice[.] I shal[sic] now close[.] please write
some to me[.] Me, Ledrow
to his mother and all
the friends

Physical Description

Letter, four pages, 5.25" x 8.25"

Subjects

Civil War; Spying; Executions

Geographical Area

Little Rock, Pulaski County (Ark.)

Language

English

Identifier

MS.000050, Box 2, Folder 3 writings

Resource Type

Image

Collection

David O. Dodd papers, MS.000050

Publisher

Arkansas State Archives

Contributing Entity

Arkansas State Archives

Recommended Citation

Letter, unknown soldier writing about the hanging of David O. Dodd, David O. Dodd papers, Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Rights

Use and reproduction of images held by the Arkansas State Archives without prior written permission is prohibited. For information on reproducing images held by the Arkansas State Archives, please call 501-682-6900 or email at state.archives@arkansas.gov.

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