Thompson, M. Jefferson (1826-1876) to Mary G. Rogers
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05016 Author/Creator: Thompson, M. Jefferson (1826-1876) Place Written: Fort Delaware, Delaware Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 22 April 1864 Pagination: 1 p. : address ; 24 x 19.4 cm. Order a Copy
Thompson, a Confederate general taken as prisoner at Fort Delaware, writes to thank Rogers for a basket of "'goodies' such as only sweet ladies can make. ... which remind us of our dear homes in the days of 'piping peace' when Plenty and Happiness overspread our land, and before red-handed War had scattered Ruin and Desolations round our hearthstones." Petition style document signed by 11 Confederate officers (colonels) including Basil W. Duke, Hart Gibson, C.H. Morgan, Jas. J. Andrews, R.C. Morgan, Jno. A. Tomlinson, Cicero Coleman, Lucius H. Smith, W.W. Ward, Jas. Shecker, and Robert Vance. Thompson signs as a Brigadier General. Addressed to Rogers in New Castle, Delaware. Meriwether Jefferson Thompson, "The Swamp Fox of the Confederacy," was a brigadier general in the Missouri state guard. He served as a Confederate cavalry commander, was taken prisoner in August of 1863 and exchanged for a Union general the next year. Basil W. Duke (1838-1916) had been captured during Morgan's Ohio raid. He and his men had served as an escort for President Jefferson Davis; he was promoted to brigadier general in 1864. Robert B. Vance (1828-1899), captured at Schultz's Mill, Tennessee, was promoted to brigadier general in March of 1863.
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