Title: Jesse Hill Papers: correspondence, 1864-1865

Identifier: 0183-b1   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/28643)

Description: This folder contains photocopies of correspondence from Jesse Hill of Davidson County, N.C., to his wife, Emoline Hill, 1864-1865. At the time, Jesse Hill was serving under Lieutenant John Pratt, "Hooks" [Robert F. Hoke's] Brigade, 21st North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Confederate States Army. Hill's letters were written during the last years of the Civil War from various camps in North Carolina and Virginia (Kinston, Wainsborough [Waynesboro], Stanton, Newmarket, and Petersburg). Described are his issue of food and clothing and the conditions of health and welfare of the members of his company. Hill describes that due to a shortage of food and belief the war was lost, the desertion rate in his company was high. Hill contemplates deserting and reports that only ten men remained in his company in October 1864. Also described are the harsh conditions he faced. He was often forced to sleep upon the bare ground in wet clothing from forced marches through swamps and across rivers and creeks. In one letter he reports on a scouting mission near Kinston, N.C., during which women and children were robbed by the men in his company. Animals and livestock were killed and pillaging was rampant. Problems at home are also detailed including: farming, their mortgage, problems with neighbors, danger from lawless bands, the family's finances, and the lack of food.