2023-08 Raynors HCA Live
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/26/2023
This letter was written by 44 -year-old Felicia Ann Chilton (Pickett) Chapman (1819-1870), the wife of Reuben Chapman (1799-1882) of Huntsville, Madison county, Alabama. Felicia wrote the letter in February 1864 after being "turned out" of their home in Huntsville which was occupied by Union troops garrisoned in the town. Felicia's husband, a former U. S. Congressman and Governor of Alabama, served the Confederacy as a delegate to France during the war and was not in the country at the time of this letter. She was the daughter of Col. Steptoe Pickett and a distant relative of Confederate General George Pickett. Her oldest son served in the Confederate army. Felicia wrote the letter to Dr. John Henry Erskine (1834-1878) of Huntsville, Alabama, who practiced medicine in Memphis prior to the Civil War but volunteered as a surgeon in the Confederacy and held one of the most important positions in General Johnston's Army. Officially he was attached to the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. Readers are referred to "Incidents of the War, the Civil War Journal of Mary Jane Chadwick" of Huntsville, Alabama.Datelined, Morgan County near Whitesburg [Alabama] February 16th, 1864, 2pp. In small part, "Dr. John Erskine Dear Sir, Since your mother and other relatives are cut off from all communications with you, they requested us when we came out the lines to write in their stead. Your mother's family as well as that of Mr. James Mastin and Dr. [Algernon] Wilkinson were all well a few days ago. When we were turned out of our house by the federal officers, your mother kindly invited us to stay with her. We remained there nineteen days and we will never forget the kindness of every member of the family. Notwithstanding the persecutions of the yankees, they are doing remarkably well. [They] have a plenty of provisions and are in no way disturbed in their families, yet their plantations share the general ruin of the country. Their house servants are all with them still, except Henry who ran away last summer. There is a negro school at the Cumberland [Presbyterian] Church and most of their younger servants attend it. ...Some officers called one day and demanded Mrs. Erskine's house for quarters but Miss Lillie [Pickett] 1 met them and talked them out of it. The houses of a great many of your old friends are now occupied by Federal officers including those of Messers Robert Watkins' widow, [John J.] Fackler, Beirne, [William] McDowell 2, Gov. [Clement Comer] Clay, [John] Withers Clay [editor of the Huntsville Democrat], [Stephen] Harris, Turner, and many others. The families of Mr. [George] Beirne 3, Mr. [William] McDowell, and [ ] are the only ones that have been turned out entirely. Willie is at home and has been having chills but is now better. Mr. Jimmie is also at home.Dr. [Frederick Augustus] Ross 4 has not been disturbed yet in the church service although he has the church crowded with yanks every Sunday and gives it to them over the left shoulder, after his own style. Several yankee parties have been given in town-one at Jere [Jeremiah] Clemen's, Maj. [William] Fleming, Benj. Jolly, and others. I suppose you have heard of the seven gentlemen that were sent out of the lines and of Mrs. McDowell's being sent to the penitentiary in Nashville as a hostage for the traitor [Charles] Sheats. 5 I have written long letter to Miss Meg Pickett for Miss Lillie and we've all written many letters for our friends in Huntsville.Mrs. Erskine gave me a memorandum of items to write to you, but amongst the many that she had from others it has been misplaced and she deferred writing to you for several days with the hopes of finding it. We are making our preparations to move south and may perhaps settle in Tuscaloosa or some other town convenient to one plantation in Sumter county. Respectfully, - Felicia C. Chapman".Post Script:1 22 year-old Lillie Picket died on 6 March 1864, just over two weeks after this letter was written. She was one of five women from Huntsville who were badly burned in a train wreck at Anderson Station on the railroad running to Nashville. She was taken from the cars alive but died soon afterward. Lillie's mother was Ann (Russell) Henderson Pickett. Lillie's brother, Edward Pickett, Jr., was an aide to Ge, Albert S. Johnston.2William McDowell's house at 517 Adams Ave was used as General Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel's headquarters. 3 The George P. Beirne house is located at 300 Williams Street in Huntsville. Members of General Sherman's staff took possession of Beirne's home and was forced to move in with friends elsewhere. 4 Dr. Frederick Augustus Ross (1796-1883) was a New School Presbyterian Minister. He was also a slave owner and authored several publication defending slavery, including one entitled, "Slavery as Ordained by God" which was intended as a counterpoint to Harriet Beecher's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Ross graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. 5 William McDowell was arrested in December 1863 by Gen. George Crook and held as a hostage for Charles Sheats who had refused to sign the Ordinance of Secession as the Representative of Winston county, Alabama. Sheats urged his friends and neighbors to work against the Confederacy, causing him to be arrested by Confederate authorities and sent to a prison in Montgomery. Mrs. McDowell was he sister-in-law of former Gov. Clement Clay and worked hard for her husband's release which was finally gained through the assistance of Benjamin Jolly because of his Union loyalty.
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.