Georgia soldier's letter to wife about weather, weight gain, national day of fasting and prayer.

CSA Today

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Honored Fallen Comrade
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
Location
Laurinburg NC
"The day is dark and rainy and everything looks gloomy without, and we have no duty to perform, as I seize this opportunity to write to you. Yesterday was fast day and a Beautiful bright day it was. It was the only bright day we have had since my return. It seems significant that the sky should be so unclouded on the day set apart for fasting for the only one in several weeks. … I have the [shirt?] you made me– very comforting, it is so warm and pleasant to wear this cold weather. I have not suffered from cold since I returned. I’ll say that I have improved in looks and appearance very much since I left for Georgia. I weighed yesterday and the scales stood at 168 pounds with my coat on. I think they cannot be correct. My weight used to be 140. We are getting now plenty of flour a little meat and sometimes a little sugar rice and syrup. …”

Source: Milo Grow’s Letters from the Civil War

http://longleaf.net/wp/milo/index.html
 
Prisoner of war record for Milo Grow showing his death from chronic diarrhea on January 3, 1864, at Point Lookout. Milo was reported captured on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg, most likely near the Stony Hill near the Rose Farm overlooking the Wheatfield.
M598_5-0158.jpg
 
When I read about era letters like this, and how lucky we are to have access to them, it gets me thinking about our descendants and what they may or may not have from us. We do so much of our work and communicating via computer, and I've noticed I don't hand write as much as I used to...just grocery lists and thank you notes.

So with CW era letters in mind, I started a journal of my favorite projects. My hope is that my great great grandchildren will someday be turning the pages, chuckling at my wild stripey socks, and trying to decipher my handwriting. :D

Via the linked site in the OP:

"Many Confederate units had to supply their own uniforms. In this case, families are supplied with the wool from which to spin, weave, cut, and sew a uniform."

Wow. I cannot imagine doing this. I would love to see how it was all done!
 
When I read about era letters like this, and how lucky we are to have access to them, it gets me thinking about our descendants and what they may or may not have from us. We do so much of our work and communicating via computer, and I've noticed I don't hand write as much as I used to...just grocery lists and thank you notes.

So with CW era letters in mind, I started a journal of my favorite projects. My hope is that my great great grandchildren will someday be turning the pages, chuckling at my wild stripey socks, and trying to decipher my handwriting. :D

Via the linked site in the OP:

"Many Confederate units had to supply their own uniforms. In this case, families are supplied with the wool from which to spin, weave, cut, and sew a uniform."

Wow. I cannot imagine doing this. I would love to see how it was all done!

I don't think this was the norm, certainly not in North Carolina, on the other hand, letters homes requesting socks, shirts and “drawers” were common.
 
Truly is a different time when reading those. Simple eloquence even in the barely literate letters and journals, etc. As opposed to today's that would read something like
"Sup bae...chillin nm u? :winkface:"
 
The son of Silas Grow, Milo graduated from Dartmouth in 1851, and then read law, but he pursued a different career path. While it is not unusual to find college educated men in the enlisted ranks, the other nine known Dartmouth graduates at Gettysburg were officers (one Confederate and eight Federals). The Confederate was Colonel Edmund C. Brabble of the 32nd North Carolina, the valedictorian of his 1857 class.

A glimpse of company politics may be seen in Milo's May 23, 1863 letter, in which he writes that "Captain H." [Frank M. D. Hopkins] went home "very much exasperated" with him. (Captain Hopkins resigned on April 29, 1863.) Milo writes, "He laid John's defeat entirely to me and I understood made several threats about me, telling what he would say about me at home. He is very unpopular with the company." Milo may be referring here to John S. Hopkins, the 1st Sergeant of Company D, and possibly the brother of the captain, who was apparently contending for the spot left vacant by his brother's resignation. This incident suggests the nepotism that existed, along with the risks of alienating a senior officer. Despite his humble rank, Private Milo Grow evidently exercised some influence within his company.

(Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College, by Rev. George Thomas Chapman (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Printed at the University Press, 1867; Compiled Service Records of Frank M. D. Hopkins and John S. Hopkins)
 
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