The last time I searched, the book, "Yesterday When We Were Young, Life in the Dutch Fork" by Elwood Jones was available from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. The letters in this fine book are informative from both the home and War points of view. It is a facinating, sad and personal, story about one family caught-up in the tragedy of the Amercan Civil War. I highly recommend this book.

On a related note, some of you may be interested in my current 15th SC Infantry research projects. One of these concerns the 15th South Carolina in action on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg. Bill Frassanito, the noted Gettysburg photographic historian, refers to the action in which the 15th SC and nearby units engaged that day as "The Black Hole of Information" about the battle of Gettysburg. The difficult question is whether the 15th SC was on the left or the right of Semmes Georgia brigade during the Confederate attack on the Wheatfield. In my book, I propose the conventional view that the 15th SC was on the right of Semmes during the July 2 attack on the Wheatfield. It is easy to take this view if one believes, without question, Gen. Joseph Kershaw's well-written and timely after-action report. However, since writing my book and after additional study of this subject, I am presently leaning toward the belief that the 15th SC was on the right of the 7th SC Infantry and therefore on the left of Semmes brigade. Col. Wyatt Aiken commanded the 7th SC at Gettysburg and his letters written immediately following the battle state that the 15th SC was on the right of the 7th SC during the Stony Hill/Weatfield affair. In addition. Aiken returned to Gettysburg following the War and worked closely with John Bachelder and various Union officers to reconstruct troop positions during the battle of Gettysburg. It is noted that Bachelder's Gettysburg troop positon map for July 2 shows the 15th SC adjacent to the right of the 7th SC around the 5:30 pm timeframe. There are other indicators that support my new hypothesis, as well.

My other current 15th SC project is more fully documenting the Regiment's activies during the time they served on the coast of South Carolina in late 1861 and early 1862. This time period begins with the Union attack on Port Royal Sound on November 7, 1861 in which the 15th SC suffered 21 casualties and the following Union occupation of Hilton Head Island. Fortunately, there are many letters written by men of the 15th SC during this time period. From these letters, I have been able to correlate the War time letters with some of the locations of camps and fortifications that have been well documented by SC archeologists. Similarly, I have found letters that describe when the 15th SC was ordered to James Island to help build Confederate fortifications prior to the battle of Secessionville on June 16, 1862.

If anyone has any letters or other primary sources of information that might help with either of these projects, I would like to hear from you.

With Best Regards,

Jim Clary
Cary, NC