151

T.J. Wright.

Pair of letters by the surgeon of the 64th U.S.C.T.

Memphis and Vicksburg, 1863-1864
Pair of Autograph Letters Signed to sisters Caroline and Felicitous Wright of Cincinnati, OH.  Each 4 pages on one folding sheet, one of them 8 x 5 inches and the other 12 x 7¼ inches; mailing folds, minimal wear. Each with stamped envelope (one Memphis postmark and one Vicksburg). With typed transcripts.

Thurlow Joseph Wright (1817-1877) was a Cincinnati physician and served in his local home guard early in the war. In December 1863 he was appointed as the surgeon of the 7th Louisiana Regiment Infantry (African Descent), which became the 64th United States Colored Troops in March 1864. 

His first letter was written at the Holly Springs Contraband Camp in Memphis, TN on 9 December 1863: "I shall in all probability be ordered to report for duty to one of the contraband camps below Memphis, perhaps Vicksburgh. . . . Yesterday a fire broke out in the smallpox hospital connected with our department which reduced the building to ashes. Though full of patients at the time, not one of whom was injured by the fire. It is rather remarkable that fires do not more frequently occur than they do, for they (the colored people) are the most careless creatures I ever saw." 

Dr. Wright's 10 July 1864 letter from Vicksburg describes a company of the 64th being threatened with death if they did not unconditionally surrender to a large guerrilla band, which caused the death of Captain James B. Rogers: "His death was brought about by fear. He was stationed at a place called Ashland on the Louisiana side of the river opposite Davis's Bend to protect the plantations, and all the men he had to protect them with was two companies of colored troops who at best could not muster much over one hundred men fit for duty. Reports say the guerrillas who infest that part of the state number several hundred. . . . They were attacked there by a superior number and fought the enemy for an hour or more when the enemy demanded an unconditional surrender or they—the guerrillas—would return in an hour or two with additional numbers and put all to death. The captain refused to surrender as was demanded of him. In consequence of having no means of escape but by water, and the only boat connected with the command had been taken away from its moorings a few days . . . it acted upon the mind of the captain with so much force as to bring on a nervous fever which terminated his existence." The official records state that Captain Rogers died of "disease" on 1 July 1864.

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