M.Warren
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2014
- Location
- Watauga Settlement
This is a series of 15 letters written by William C Penland of Clay county North Carolina. William was a member of Co. A, 7th Battalion North Carolina Cavalry. Colonel George N. Folk organized the 7th Battalion N.C. Cavalry at Asheville, N.C. July 18, 1862. The battalion was originally, composed of five companies but had grown to seven companies by the end of 1862. On August 3rd 1863 the 5th and 7th battalions were consolidated and formed the 6th Battalion NC Cavalry, 65th regiment North Carolina state troops.
In late September 1862 Colonel Folk was ordered to go with three companies of the 7th Battalion to Johnson City, Tennessee to capture or disperse a group of Unionist men believed to be organizing near Stone Mountain, located in Carter county Tn. Company B evidently went by way of Knoxville, Tennessee and was the location of William's first letter home on Oct. 12, 1862. My second great Grandfather M. Warren and his two brothers were also members in the 7th battalion NC Cavalry serving in Captain Browns Co.F and took part, joining Co.A at Taylorsville Tennessee now known as Johnson county, the location of Williams second letter. I'll be posting all 15 letters in this collection a few at a time along with other information on William and the 6th Battalion NC Cavalry, 65th Reg. NC state troops.
Original Source
Library of Congress
Photos are not part of the original collection of letters.
October 12 1862.
Knoxville Tennessee
Dear Father and Mother I take the present opportunity to inform that I am as well at the present time as I ever was hoping that these few lines will find you all enjoying the same like blessing all of the boys from Clay County are tolerable well James Crawford has come up and is well Joab Crawford has had the mumps but is well William Waldrupe is agoing to take my saddles home Zoro will please take them home and pay him one dollar for hauling them it has been raining here for two or three days and is a getting tolerable muddy it was the dustyest time when we first got here that I ever saw they have been running soldiers here for several days that is ever since we have been here they are breckinridgees men going to Kentucky there is a great many soldiers about this place everything is the highest here that I ever saw sweet potatoes are worth five dollars per bushel everything else in proportion onions are bringing ten dollars per bushel we are getting tolerable plenty for ourselves and horses to eat but some of them are a ganting up tolerable bad my horse doing about as well as any of them Uncle Wiley Moore has come he got here late Tuesday I heard from Aunt Margaret Mantooth yesterday she is well we do not know when we will leave here but I expect before very long there was a battle at Corinth last week we whipped them on Friday and Saturday but they whipped us on Sunday but we retreated in good order the report that we lost about four thousand in the engagement there was a great many of the wounded passed up the yesterday evenings train tell Mr. Sherman that John is well tell Mary to write me I helpt to take some deserters to jail yesterday they had went home without leave but come and the colonel sent them to jail to give others warning be sure and write for I would be glad to hear from home every day be sure to have those boots made for me for shoes are worth $10 dollars per pair and boots $9 dollars I have not wrote much of interest as I did not have any thing to write give my compliments to all inquiring friends so no more but remains your affectionate son until death
W C Penland
Ft Knoxville Tenn
Co.A, 7 Battalion North Carolina Cavalry
In care of Captain W P Moore
Camp Near Taylorsville Johnson County Tennessee Nov 23rd 1862
Dear Father and Mother
I take my pen in hand to write you a few lines to inform you that I am well and doing tolerable well hoping that these few lines will find you all enjoying the same blessing I was out on scout day before yesterday and got in last night It snowed a right smart snow while I was out It is very muddy here at this time there has been right smart of rain here lately there is a good many sick men in camps now I think there is between sixty and one hundred men down with the measles in the battalion there is a not very many in our company Dan Ledford and Arch Henson both have had them but are a getting better We are a going to move to morrow about 8 miles and station for a while but I do not know how long I have not drawn any money as yet but I think that I will draw soon we are a getting a plenty of corn and hay for our horses and a plenty of beef and cornbread to eat ourselves I can do better on the fare than I thought I could I am as healthy at this time as I ever was in my life there has been the most snow in this country that I ever saw at this time of the year but it looks at this time like we might have some right nice weather but it clouds up and snows the quickest it seems to me that I ever saw it I have never heard a word from home since I left there it seems to me that you haven't been a long time a writing or the letters have been misplaced I begin to want to hear from home I do not know when I will come home but I expect I will be there sometime this winter but I do not know Franklin Brown has been to Knoxville and there is no letters there for us he has gone back and I do hope that he will bring us some news if he does not I will think that I will not get any soon I have wrote about five or six letters to you and one to Uncle Charles Penland and have never got any answer tell Mr. Sherman that John Sherman is well at the present time Cousin Robert Alexander is well also and has been ever since he left home I would like to be at home to get some good apples as I have not got any good ones since I left home everything is the highest that I ever saw it leather is worth $7.00 per pound and every thing else in proportion We are about twenty five miles from the salt works and salt is worth 20.00 per bushel at the works as it is getting late I will bring my letter to a close sure and write soon and give me the news of the day so no more at present but remain your affectionate son to his father and mother so fare you well
W C Penland
Taylorsville Johnson Co. Tenn
7th Battalion NC Calvery Co B
in care of Capt Moore
Mount Taylor, Carter County Tennessee Jan the 3rd 1863
Dear Father and Mother
I now take the present opportunity to write you a few lines I am well at this time hoping that these few lines will find you and all the family and friends enjoying the same blessing I am as hearty as you ever saw me I would have wrote you before this time but I wrote you one and had to go out to meet the Yankees and did not have to mail it the Yankees were within one mile of us and said to be in force and there was but few of us Col Folk could not muster more than one hundred and fifty men in all at this place there was a dispatch come to us last tuesday that the enemy were advancing on the bridge at Zollicofffer and for us to go as soon as possible as we saddled and loaded our bagage and started late in the evening and got four of five miles from camp and heard that the forces at Zollicoffer were whipped and all killed and taken prisoners and were advancing and we turned back and went to a better position to fight and formed line of battle and stayed there until midnight and then we went about six miles and camped until midnight and then we went about six miles and camped and throughed out pickets until morning and then we heard that there was a crowd of what we call tories in the crabb orchard that was a going to cutt us off if the Yankees whipped us and we had to retreat and we went up into that country and found none off until we started back to our former camp and as we came on down we were fired on in two different places out of the laurel two of our men were wounded but none killed we took six or eight prisoners and wounded men of them that had a gun and was in the woods near the south it was such a rough country that we could not get after them for the rocks and brush I expect that there was near fifty or sixty guns fixed at us that day and but two touched there was two men of Browns company that were left sick on the road and they started to come to the battalian and they were fired on by five guns but were not touched a single time we got back to camp last friday and I started to write saturday and sunday and was detailed before I had got half of a letter wrote to go about on scout the Yankees have burnt two bridges and taken four companies of Loves regiment prisoners these force were sixteen hundred men they have left this part of the country the Major Mcdowell surrendered without the firing of a gun but Colonel Love give them a fight at Carter Depot there was five or six of his men wounded and one killed there were two of the Yankees killed and two wounded they were the best armed that I ever heard of in my life had Colts rifles that shot five or six times and two naval pistols a piece that shot six times also there were several of our men runaway a few days ago and they will face tolerable tolerable rough if they get them you wrote to me to try to get A E Pendergrass off if I could he runaway when had been in camp only one week I think that it was a very little trick of them their officers were all kind to them and they were getting plenty to eat I fear that deserters will be the ruin of our country if they keep a deserting and going to that country there will be an army sent to that country it will be eat up and will be starved out I think that is the only danger of our country being ate up or coming to want a deserter ought not to be countence in any shape nor form whatever James Crawford is on the mend and is a great deal better than he was when I wrote to you before he as been very bad M A Martin had not mended much the last account that I had of him I have not heard from him since last thursday he was a little on the mend then R V Alexander is well at this time tell Mr. Sherman that John is well and is gone to Knoxville at this time with some prisoners I am well this morning and have plenty to do lately I have wrote every day for eight days and part of the night in fact, nearly every night more or less in that time I would be glad to be at home but I do not know when I can get a furlough I do not think there will be any furloughing soon in this battalion when we left camp we left all our our sick at camp and they left and we think that they went home we do not know what has become of write soon and give me the news so no more at present but remains your son as ever write to Johnson Depot Carter County Tennessee
W C Penland
To be continued..
In late September 1862 Colonel Folk was ordered to go with three companies of the 7th Battalion to Johnson City, Tennessee to capture or disperse a group of Unionist men believed to be organizing near Stone Mountain, located in Carter county Tn. Company B evidently went by way of Knoxville, Tennessee and was the location of William's first letter home on Oct. 12, 1862. My second great Grandfather M. Warren and his two brothers were also members in the 7th battalion NC Cavalry serving in Captain Browns Co.F and took part, joining Co.A at Taylorsville Tennessee now known as Johnson county, the location of Williams second letter. I'll be posting all 15 letters in this collection a few at a time along with other information on William and the 6th Battalion NC Cavalry, 65th Reg. NC state troops.
Original Source
Library of Congress
Photos are not part of the original collection of letters.
October 12 1862.
Knoxville Tennessee
Dear Father and Mother I take the present opportunity to inform that I am as well at the present time as I ever was hoping that these few lines will find you all enjoying the same like blessing all of the boys from Clay County are tolerable well James Crawford has come up and is well Joab Crawford has had the mumps but is well William Waldrupe is agoing to take my saddles home Zoro will please take them home and pay him one dollar for hauling them it has been raining here for two or three days and is a getting tolerable muddy it was the dustyest time when we first got here that I ever saw they have been running soldiers here for several days that is ever since we have been here they are breckinridgees men going to Kentucky there is a great many soldiers about this place everything is the highest here that I ever saw sweet potatoes are worth five dollars per bushel everything else in proportion onions are bringing ten dollars per bushel we are getting tolerable plenty for ourselves and horses to eat but some of them are a ganting up tolerable bad my horse doing about as well as any of them Uncle Wiley Moore has come he got here late Tuesday I heard from Aunt Margaret Mantooth yesterday she is well we do not know when we will leave here but I expect before very long there was a battle at Corinth last week we whipped them on Friday and Saturday but they whipped us on Sunday but we retreated in good order the report that we lost about four thousand in the engagement there was a great many of the wounded passed up the yesterday evenings train tell Mr. Sherman that John is well tell Mary to write me I helpt to take some deserters to jail yesterday they had went home without leave but come and the colonel sent them to jail to give others warning be sure and write for I would be glad to hear from home every day be sure to have those boots made for me for shoes are worth $10 dollars per pair and boots $9 dollars I have not wrote much of interest as I did not have any thing to write give my compliments to all inquiring friends so no more but remains your affectionate son until death
W C Penland
Ft Knoxville Tenn
Co.A, 7 Battalion North Carolina Cavalry
In care of Captain W P Moore
Camp Near Taylorsville Johnson County Tennessee Nov 23rd 1862
Dear Father and Mother
I take my pen in hand to write you a few lines to inform you that I am well and doing tolerable well hoping that these few lines will find you all enjoying the same blessing I was out on scout day before yesterday and got in last night It snowed a right smart snow while I was out It is very muddy here at this time there has been right smart of rain here lately there is a good many sick men in camps now I think there is between sixty and one hundred men down with the measles in the battalion there is a not very many in our company Dan Ledford and Arch Henson both have had them but are a getting better We are a going to move to morrow about 8 miles and station for a while but I do not know how long I have not drawn any money as yet but I think that I will draw soon we are a getting a plenty of corn and hay for our horses and a plenty of beef and cornbread to eat ourselves I can do better on the fare than I thought I could I am as healthy at this time as I ever was in my life there has been the most snow in this country that I ever saw at this time of the year but it looks at this time like we might have some right nice weather but it clouds up and snows the quickest it seems to me that I ever saw it I have never heard a word from home since I left there it seems to me that you haven't been a long time a writing or the letters have been misplaced I begin to want to hear from home I do not know when I will come home but I expect I will be there sometime this winter but I do not know Franklin Brown has been to Knoxville and there is no letters there for us he has gone back and I do hope that he will bring us some news if he does not I will think that I will not get any soon I have wrote about five or six letters to you and one to Uncle Charles Penland and have never got any answer tell Mr. Sherman that John Sherman is well at the present time Cousin Robert Alexander is well also and has been ever since he left home I would like to be at home to get some good apples as I have not got any good ones since I left home everything is the highest that I ever saw it leather is worth $7.00 per pound and every thing else in proportion We are about twenty five miles from the salt works and salt is worth 20.00 per bushel at the works as it is getting late I will bring my letter to a close sure and write soon and give me the news of the day so no more at present but remain your affectionate son to his father and mother so fare you well
W C Penland
Taylorsville Johnson Co. Tenn
7th Battalion NC Calvery Co B
in care of Capt Moore
Mount Taylor, Carter County Tennessee Jan the 3rd 1863
Dear Father and Mother
I now take the present opportunity to write you a few lines I am well at this time hoping that these few lines will find you and all the family and friends enjoying the same blessing I am as hearty as you ever saw me I would have wrote you before this time but I wrote you one and had to go out to meet the Yankees and did not have to mail it the Yankees were within one mile of us and said to be in force and there was but few of us Col Folk could not muster more than one hundred and fifty men in all at this place there was a dispatch come to us last tuesday that the enemy were advancing on the bridge at Zollicofffer and for us to go as soon as possible as we saddled and loaded our bagage and started late in the evening and got four of five miles from camp and heard that the forces at Zollicoffer were whipped and all killed and taken prisoners and were advancing and we turned back and went to a better position to fight and formed line of battle and stayed there until midnight and then we went about six miles and camped until midnight and then we went about six miles and camped and throughed out pickets until morning and then we heard that there was a crowd of what we call tories in the crabb orchard that was a going to cutt us off if the Yankees whipped us and we had to retreat and we went up into that country and found none off until we started back to our former camp and as we came on down we were fired on in two different places out of the laurel two of our men were wounded but none killed we took six or eight prisoners and wounded men of them that had a gun and was in the woods near the south it was such a rough country that we could not get after them for the rocks and brush I expect that there was near fifty or sixty guns fixed at us that day and but two touched there was two men of Browns company that were left sick on the road and they started to come to the battalian and they were fired on by five guns but were not touched a single time we got back to camp last friday and I started to write saturday and sunday and was detailed before I had got half of a letter wrote to go about on scout the Yankees have burnt two bridges and taken four companies of Loves regiment prisoners these force were sixteen hundred men they have left this part of the country the Major Mcdowell surrendered without the firing of a gun but Colonel Love give them a fight at Carter Depot there was five or six of his men wounded and one killed there were two of the Yankees killed and two wounded they were the best armed that I ever heard of in my life had Colts rifles that shot five or six times and two naval pistols a piece that shot six times also there were several of our men runaway a few days ago and they will face tolerable tolerable rough if they get them you wrote to me to try to get A E Pendergrass off if I could he runaway when had been in camp only one week I think that it was a very little trick of them their officers were all kind to them and they were getting plenty to eat I fear that deserters will be the ruin of our country if they keep a deserting and going to that country there will be an army sent to that country it will be eat up and will be starved out I think that is the only danger of our country being ate up or coming to want a deserter ought not to be countence in any shape nor form whatever James Crawford is on the mend and is a great deal better than he was when I wrote to you before he as been very bad M A Martin had not mended much the last account that I had of him I have not heard from him since last thursday he was a little on the mend then R V Alexander is well at this time tell Mr. Sherman that John is well and is gone to Knoxville at this time with some prisoners I am well this morning and have plenty to do lately I have wrote every day for eight days and part of the night in fact, nearly every night more or less in that time I would be glad to be at home but I do not know when I can get a furlough I do not think there will be any furloughing soon in this battalion when we left camp we left all our our sick at camp and they left and we think that they went home we do not know what has become of write soon and give me the news so no more at present but remains your son as ever write to Johnson Depot Carter County Tennessee
W C Penland
To be continued..
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