{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/2/context.json","@type":"sc:Manifest","@id":"https://iiif.quartexcollections.com/ncdcr/iiif/776a5b16-187d-428e-9323-bef809618dde/manifest","label":"Williams_Felix_J_Letters_PC1839_Final","metadata":[{"label":"Title","value":"Felix J. Williams Letters, 1862-1863"},{"label":"MARS ID","value":"5240"},{"label":"Digital Collections","value":["Legacy Finding Aids Collection"]},{"label":"Identifier","value":"Williams_Felix_J_Letters_PC1839_Final"},{"label":"Digital Format","value":["application/pdf"]},{"label":"Hosted By","value":["State Archives of North Carolina"]},{"label":"Metadata Creator","value":["Cusick, Aaron"]},{"label":"Type","value":["Text"]},{"label":"Notes Public","value":"If you have questions about this collection, please contact the State Archives of North Carolina at archives@ncdcr.gov."},{"label":"Local Call Number","value":"PC.1839"},{"label":"Source","value":"Felix J. Williams Letters. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina"},{"label":"Language","value":["English"]},{"label":"Description","value":"Felix J. Williams (1844-1863) was the second son of the eight children born to Henry J. and Mary Williams of Scottsville, Alleghany County. He enlisted in Company K, 37th Regiment, N.C. Troops, on August 15, 1862, and joined his regiment near Martinsburg in the Army of Northern Virginia on September 26. These 20 letters of the young soldier were almost invariably written to his whole family, though a few were meant especially for his mother or his father.    For two months young Williams experienced only camp life and hard marches. In late October he and his regiment were detailed to tear up the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Hedgesville and North Mountain Depot in West Virginia, and on December 13, 1862, Williams was thrown into battle for the first time in the Battle of Fredericksburg. After the battle, the regiment went into winter quarters in Camp Gregg at Moss Neck on Rappahannock River about eight miles downstream from Fredericksburg. Here Williams and the regiment remained until the 1863 campaign opened at the end of April. On May 1, 1863, the regiment marched to Chancellorsville. On May 3, when Jackson's corps, under Gen. Stuart, drove back Hooper and the federal forces, the 37th Regiment sustained heavy losses--19 officers wounded and 1 killed; 175 men wounded and 35 killed, among them Felix J. Williams.    In the first letter written specifically for his mother, almost immediately upon joining his regiment, Williams complains of the food and the marching, and asks his family to hire a substitute to fight in his place. Though not from a welathy family, Williams had come from a prosperous and self�sufficient one. He and his father had raised grains and hay on the family farm of 100 acres of cleared land and 250 acres of woodland. The farm had also produced wool, butter, honey, nuts, and fruits for the family. The young soldier's letters hearken back to apples, dried peaches, chinkapins, eggs, and other good things at home when he writes from his comfortable but hungry winter quarters at Camp Gregg. He reports the visit of his father and grandfather with boxes of food just at the time that soldiers convicted of desertion are being shot in the camp (letters of Feb. 23 and 28, 1863).     A subsequent letter (March 8) mentions two desertions from the regiment and assures his family that he'd never desert-\"I will come out of this war like a man or I will die in it.\" Other letters refer to the issue of Austrian rifles to replace his company's old muskets (Feb. 18, 1863), contain reflections on his captain as a company commander (Mar. 19, 1863), and speak of sickness and religion in the camp (Apr. 18, 1863). A final letter written to Mr. and Mrs. Williams on September 4, 1863, by a cousin, H. B. Williams of the 48th Regt. (Va. Vols.), speaks at greater length on the subject of religion in the camp, and condoles with the parents on the death of their son."},{"label":"Digital Characteristics","value":"2 pages"},{"label":"Format","value":["Finding aids"]},{"label":"Rights","value":"The SA of NC considers this item in the public domain by U.S. law but responsibility for permissions rests with researchers."},{"label":"Source Collections","value":["Felix J. Williams Letters. Private Collections. State Archives of North Carolina"]}],"description":"Felix J. 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