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Letters From The Civil War (1864: Apr 15; Aug 16; Dec 24)

by William Samuel Craig

April the 15, 1864

Larkinsville, Alabama

After almost losing the presence of mind and dreaming about you and waiting last night till the mail train came in this morning at 1 o’clock I was so fortunate as to receive 2 letters from them sweet hands of yours which has released my mind in the highest degree. I received them about 2 o’clock this morning. I lit my candle and commenced to write in my weak way and manner. Your letters was dated April the 4 and April the 6. Your letters has found me in the veriest best of health and in the presence of mind again. I was so glad to hear that you was well. I do not know what to do hardly. I would like to write you a interesting letter but I don’t believe I can. My mind is with you so much that I can’t keep it on this paper enough to make it interesting to you but I will do the best I can.

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Civil War Ancestors

by Joyce Kohl

Genealogy is one of the most rewarding hobbies. It was mine for 25 years. While researching for authentic information for my family tree, a living grandson of one of my paternal great-grandfathers, Jerry Craig, invited me to visit him.

When I arrived at his farm in Norborne, Missouri, he brought out a treasure chest of “genealogical gold” and laid it on the table in front of me. In the box were some very old and very yellowed letters, a small notebook, some other items. He also had in his possession an official church record book in which all the marriages, births and deaths were recorded for a number of years during the lifetime of his grandfather and my great-grandfather. The first date I noticed on one of the letters was one of the years during the time of the Civil War. Carefully opening it, I discovered it had been written by William Samuel Craig to his wife, Levica. I remember being awed and so delighted that I could barely speak. The letters were all written in a beautiful script. They were each dated and signed.

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Letters From The Civil War (1865: Mar 27; Apr 3 & 9)

by William Samuel Craig

March the 27, 1865

Goldsboro, North Carolina

Editor’s Note: Across the top of this letter, this is written:

Dear I have been in another hard battle the 4 of this month. It lasted four days and nights. It was at Kingston but we drove them.

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William Samuel Craig

William Samuel Craig’s Letters From The Civil War appear exclusively here in Boles Blogs.

Mr. Craig was born on January 8, 1832 in Nicholas County, Kentucky. His parents were Robert Craig and Mary Conaway Craig. At the age of fifteen, his family moved to McLean County, Illinois. His father died there in 1852. On July 11, 1858, in Carroll County, Missouri, he married Levica Payne, the daughter of James Payne and Harriet Ridgell Payne. She was 23 years old; he was 26 years old.

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