Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Various [Letters of Mitchell Pugh, Byrum Hesh, Thomas Mitchell & Eli Pugh, D company, 50th regiment, Virginia, infantry] [decimalized]

Order a pdf of this item here.

Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03135.06 Author/Creator: Various Place Written: Various Places Type: Header Record Date: 1854-1887 Pagination: 29 items Order a Copy

Collection of twenty-nine letters, twenty-two of which are war date, from various individuals: Mitchell Pugh, Byrum B. Hesh (or Bryam D. Hash), Thomas F. Mitchell and Eli Pugh of Co. D, 50th Virginia Regiment; A. Pugh of Co. C, 16th North Carolina Cavalry, and William T. (or L.) Perkins. There are also letters to E. L. King, D. Pennington, and Kate.

The majority of the letters are addressed to L. [Liendema?] D. Wood. Common topics both before and after the war include crops, health, and family news. War-date letters mention skirmishes in Princeton, West Virginia (#3 and #4); Pack's Ferry, Virginia; and the Kanawha valley (#7). There are also references to the prison at Johnson's Island (#8 and #9), and soldiers left behind at Petersburg, Virginia (12). Later war-date letters mentions girls at home, Eli Pugh's rheumatism, and lack of supplies. Other letters (#23 and #24) discuss bushwhacking, burning, and stealing. Several postwar letters discuss the murder of Matt Davis by Jones Greer, including a detailed account of the murder (#25), and news of the trial (#26).

Citation Guidelines for Online Resources