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Battle Fields of the South - Reply

Battle Fields of the South - Reply

John,

Thanks a bunch. My computer is acting up and is not let me post a reply. So here's my reply in lieu of a new post.

I could only get his ID as Tom E. C and a member of a Mississippi Infantry Regiment, the 13th, 17th or 18th.

I’ve today got only a brief additional bit of information. I do not find him returning to service after his 1862 discharge to attend his families estate in England.

I’m totally amazed at the depth of his work. Where in the world did he find the time and locate the information for the data and copies of documents he was able to produce?
From this wealth of data I would have expected him to have had a staff clerks position but that has not been confirmed.

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Christmas with the 18th Mississippi Infantry

The following account of Christmas in the 18th Mississippi Infantry was taken from a letter published by the Memphis Daily Appeal on January 7, 1862. At the time this account was written, the 18th was camped at Leesburg, Virginia, and the men of the regiment were spending their first Christmas away from home . . . . .

Yankees are the last persons thought of – cock-fighting and egg-nog, and egg-nog and cock-fighting interspersed with songs and egg-nog and story-telling are the prime order of things just now, and despite all the parson says, and not withstanding the ‘starchiness’ of full-blown officials, rye and ‘egg fruit’ are decidedly in the ascendant, and more than that has no baneful effect, since it simply lends to revive old associations and strengthen those bonds of brotherhood which has indissolubly linked us for ever to the fortunes of our country.

The above letter was only signed T.E.C., but fortunately I was able to figure out this these initials stood for Thomas E. Caffey, a private in Company D “Hamer Rifles,” 18th Mississippi Infantry.

Caffey enlisted in the Hamer Rifles at Yazoo City in May 1861 for 12 months service. The 25 year old was a native of London, England, and listed his occupation as teacher. At the end of his year’s enlistment, he applied for a discharge, stating he had to return to England to take care of the estate of his deceased parents. In 1864 Caffey published a book about his experiences in the war titled Battlefields of the South From Bull Run to Fredericksburg. This book is available for free download from the Hathitrust.org website.

https://mississippiconfederates.wordpress.com/2015/12/