"believe most Confederate soldiers were illiterate.".......absolutely NOT. What I mean is that a person doesn't have school education to be educated. i'm sure most Confederates had at least some schooling, but it all depends on what part of the South they came from. I'm sure in the more rural areas it may have been very limited. That does not mean these men were not smart, very smart, as they proved to the yankees more than once. One has to look no futher than the brilliant Gen N B Forrest for an excellent example, who had very little "schooling" as such.