The Parent Blog: Your Dear Son

The site you are viewing here, A Merchant of Hamburg, is a prologue to the story unfolding on its parent blog, Your Dear Son ~ Letters from the Civil War. [Update: I made "Your Dear Son" a private blog, for now. I am still adding to it. Contact me if you want to view the blog.]

The two blogs are related, but I keep them separate to avoid tangents and confusion. Here you will read about the soldiers' family and childhood through the lens of the career of their father, Henry Langford Jeffers (who left a rather unique written record), and the family's hometown, Hamburg, SC. 

Below is a preview of what is developing over there at the main blog: Your Dear Son ~ Letters from the Civil War:

The Jeffers brothers of Abbeville District, SC, served in the Confederate Army throughout the war. Their letters home are the central  subject matter of "Your Dear Son." The brothers' names were Henry, Thomas, and Spann; and here are some of the threads I am pulling together to tell their story:

• In their early twenties, Henry and Thomas were working in Charleston at the time of Secession. Caught up in the fervor, they quickly joined a militia, the Rutledge Mounted Riflemen. The excitement of coastal camps and military drills soon waned. Henry, not wanting to leave the state, waited to see what would unfold. But Thomas, wanting action, announced, "I think I shall go to Virginia."

• Thomas joined the Hampton Legion Cavalry (Beaufort District Troop) in June, 1861, and headed north. The regiment, eventually reorganized as part the 2nd South Carolina Cavalry, fought in northern Virginia until March, 1864. Then they were sent home to recover and gain new recruits. The 2nd SCC fought in the Battle of Johns Island in July of 1864, guarded the railroads, and in November, 1864, moved on to Wilmington, NC.

• Meanwhile, Henry remained with the Rutledge Mounted Riflemen. The company defended the railroads between Charleston and Savannah, kept a stand-off against the Union troops stationed at Beaufort, and in 1862 fought in the 1st and 2nd Battles of Pocotaligo. In March of 1864 the RMR were ordered to join with other companies to form the 7th SC Cavalry, and by May they were in Virginia, defending Richmond during the Siege of Petersburg.

• At first, the family managed to restrain the youngest brother, Spann, from joining the Army; not only was he a teenager, he was hearing-impaired. But Spann enlisted with the Rutledge Mounted Riflemen in January, 1863. “I get along very well,” Spann assured his folks. “I hear most of the commands, and when I do not hear, I do as others do.” So Spann was there with Henry in the 7th SCC, during the defense of Richmond. In 1865 Henry and Spann fought, surrendered, and received parole at Appomattox.