Figures, Henry S. (fl. 1861 -1864) to Ma
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00653.01.22 Author/Creator: Figures, Henry S. (fl. 1861 -1864) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 21 June 1863 Pagination: 1 p. : envelope ; 20.8 x 25.7 cm. Order a Copy
They crossed the Shenandoah the other day and they expect to go to Maryland and Pennsylvania next. Major Scuggs will deliver this letter because he has been discharged and is going home.
Henry Stokes Figures of Montgomery Alabama enlisted in the Confederate Army on 10 June 1861. He served as private and sergeant in Company F of the 4th Alabama Infantry (the "Huntsville Guards") before being named adjutant, with a rank of 1st lieutenant, of the 48th Alabama (May 1863). He was killed at the Wilderness on the evening of 6 May 1864. Robert T. Coles, who served with Figures in Company F and later wrote a history of the 4th Alabama, recalled him as "a gallant soldier and esteemed friend, a youth of decided military talent" (Jeffrey D. Stocker, ed., From Huntsville to Appomattox, p. 166)
[draft excerpt]
Hd Qrs 48th Regt Ala Vols
(Sunday) June 21st 1863
My Dear Ma,
We left Culpepper last monday morning & got here day before yesterday & left that evening; crossed the Shenandoah river without taking off our clothes. As soon as we got to the top of the mountain we were put in line of battle to wait for the yankees. It was said by Gen Law that the Yankee general Slocum had orders to come through the gap in the mountain at all hazards, but he did not come, so yesterday we recrossed the river. You have heard by this time of our capture of Winchester, Va. by Genl Ewell. We are just twenty miles from Harpers Ferry. It is thought by all that we are going into Maryland & Pennsylvania. Dr. Hudson (Brigade Surgeon) told me yesterday that Gen. Lee was going to Penn to subsist his army; that he would probably remain there two months. Hooker's Army has left Fredericksburg. Rumor says he has gone to Washington to keep Lee from getting there....
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