JANUARY 1862 21ST NORTH CAROLINA INFANTRY SOLDIER LETTER – PVT. HARRISON ALEXANDER; POW CEDAR CREEK

JANUARY 1862 21ST NORTH CAROLINA INFANTRY SOLDIER LETTER – PVT. HARRISON ALEXANDER; POW CEDAR CREEK

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Item Code: 2025-3462

4 full pages in ink on one 5” x 7” sheet; very legible and good content throughout. Dated Manassas Junction, VA January 5, 1862. Written to “My Dear Cousin” regarding Christmas and New Years.

It was a busy time for their Christmas, “we were engaged in building our cabins. Enjoyed a little eggnog a rather scarce article but plenty of Confederate bacon[?] and bread. On picket…very cold and disagreeable. Very agreeable to get back to camp.” Shelter protected them from winter “cutting winds and snowy _____”.  Some guards so cold they would not give the signal and countersignal when grand rounds visited their posts. They spent New Years sort of the same way. Five Georgians died while on picket, they were supposed to be poisoned. ‘Gen. Beauregard and Johnson said we would  have a hot time in less than 10 days, 6 days have passed that it has snowed.

Fourth page of letter has great content. His cousin wants a New Years gift, etc. “if he got close enough to Old Abe I will send you a lock of his hair”. The rest of the letter is about back home and girls, etc. Signed “Hack” (his nickname).

Harrison Alexander, born in 1851 in Mecklenburg County, NC, was a 19 year old resident of Guilford County, NC when he enlisted on 6/4/61 as a Private. On that date he mustered into Co. M, 21st North Carolina Infantry (formerly the 11th North Carolina Infantry). Listed as a POW on 10/19/64 at Cedar Creek, VA; confined 10/21/64 at Point Lookout, MD. Paroled on 3/28/65 at Point Lookout, arrived at Boulware’s Wharf, VA on 3/30/65 for exchange. Alexander died on 2/26/1929 at Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, NC; he is buried in an unmarked grave in a family plot in Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte, NC.

Alexander’s regiment was organized in July, 1861 and was composed of twelve companies, A thru M. It was reorganized in April 1862 when Companies B and E were taken from the regiment and formed Companies A and B respectively of the 9th (also known as the 1st) North Carolina Sharp Shooters.

The designation of the regiment was changed from the 11th Regiment North Carolina Infantry (Volunteers) to the 21st Regiment North Carolina Infantry (State Troops).  [jw/ld][ph:L]

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