Letter, 15 Nov. [1861], [Hilton Head Island], S.C., from Anonymous Union Soldier, “Fletcher” - Gifts to Manuscripts Division Announced 2005 (USCS) - South Caroliniana Library - University Libraries

Letter, 15 Nov. [1861], from Anonymous
Union Soldier, “Fletcher”
A gift to the SCL Manuscripts Division announced in 2005

Letter, 15 November [1861], from anonymous Union soldier identified only as “Fletcher” was written from “Hilton’s Head Island” (Beaufort County, S.C.) on patriotic stationery illustrated with a red and blue cut of clasped hands, the Constitution, and the flag.

Addressing his parents only a week after the capture of Port Royal Sound in an expedition led by naval forces under Samuel F. DuPont(1803-1865), the writer observes— “We have got on shore again at last.... we arrived here the fourth of this month and the war vessels commenced the attack on the fort that is on the point of the island and also one on the point of the other island opposite....The rebels ran and when we got on shore there was none left on the island so we did not have to fight any....They took any quantity of negros and a few white prisoners but I have not seen any of them yet.”

Of the three brigades of troops in the expedition, Fletcher’s was the last to land. “The rest of the boys” had gone all over the island and “shot pigs and sheep and got any quantity of oranges and sweet potatoes.” The Union troops, he notes, were camped “right in the middle of a cotton field.”

South Caroliniana Library
University South Caroliniana Society
The University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
Phone: 803-777-5183
Fax: 803-777-5747