“SOME TIMES WE HEARE THAT THE YANKEYS ARE COMING”
78
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(CIVIL WAR—CONFEDERATE.)
Letters written to Private Ambrose Hite
from his family in Page County, Virginia.
12 Autograph Letters Signed, various sizes
and conditions.
Page County, VA, 1861-64
[800/1,200]
Ambrose Martin Hite (1843-1921) served in the 33rd Virginia Infantry, part of Stonewall
Jackson’s famous “Stonewall Brigade” in the Confederate Army. These letters were sent to him
at the front from his family members back in Page County, VA, mostly his father Abraham and
sister Susan. The letters are a mix of the mundane and raw. As Ambrose heads off to war, his
father writes: “We want you to send your dirty shirts home if you can now, and at any other
time when you get them dirty enough to wash” (18 July 1861). A few months later, his sister
had bigger concerns: “I was sorry to here of that fracus that you all had out there at the hanging
rock. . . . Some persons said 2 of your fingers was shot of, some said you was shot threw the
hand” (21 January 1862). His father was upset about stories of the company’s officers: “If I
was in your places I would take them down to the Potomack and duck them in the river. . . .
They had almost as well never come back to Page anymore” (19 February 1862). He later
worried: “You wrote in your letter that your shoes had nearly given out” (12 October 1863).
The Hite family also passed on news about the home front: empty stores, Confederate requisi-
tions, and rumors of Yankee raids. The Hites were loyal Confederates, but their own troops were
sometimes a greater threat than the Yankees, as sister Susan noted: “There are about 400 soldiers
camped out there this side of Luray. They say that they have taken up winter quarters there. If
they stay in there this winter, I think they will eat old Page out pretty clean” (13 December
1863). The most outspoken Confederate in the family was Hite’s cousin Kate, who complained
about the handful of civilian men loafing about Page County: “These detailed boys, I can’t
bear to speak of, for it makes me sick to look at them. I would sooner kick my own horse when
I go to church than for any of these detailed boys to wait upon me, for all they think about is
getting married, and before I will be any of there wife I will sholder my musket and go in rank
and help to fight for our freedom” (16 January 1864).
WITH
—a small group of other Hite family papers circa 1820s to 1892, most notably an 1864
receipt issued to Abraham Hite for 266 pounds of bacon, on printed Confederate army form *
Family register of the Hite family, 1842-48 * and an undated tax list, apparently from Page
County, listing many of the names referenced in the letters. Inventory available upon request.
“THE SLAUGHTER WAS TERRIBLE”
79
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(CIVIL WAR—CONFEDERATE.) Milling, John R.
A Confederate lieutenant’s
description of their great victory at Fredericksburg.
Autograph Letter Signed to
brother James Smythe Milling of Collinsburg, Bossier Parish, LA. 4 pages, 10 x 8 inches, on
one sheet; minimal wear. With original envelope bearing a Richmond postmark.
“Camp near Fredericksburg,” 24 December 1862
[400/600]
John Robert Milling (1836-1864) was raised in South Carolina and had moved to Texas
before the war. He served as a lieutenant in the 6th South Carolina Infantry. His regiment was
held in reserve at Fredericksburg: “We were up and down the line to the different points where
it was thought our aid would be necessary; we were in trenches most of the time and were under
fire.” Recounting the casualties, he notes that “two or three of us counted one hundred & fifteen
dead Yankees on about two thirds of an acre. That was on our left. The slaughter was terrible.
Our troops were strongly posted behind entrenchments & the Yankees were allowed to cross the
river before the fight commenced.”
