AARON CLAY, CO. B, 26th ILLINOIS INFANTRY – LETTER TO HIS MOTHER FROM PALMYRA, MISSOURI, OCTOBER 1861 – SOLDIER DIED IN SERVICE IN MISSISSIPPI, JULY 1862

AARON CLAY, CO. B, 26th ILLINOIS INFANTRY – LETTER TO HIS MOTHER FROM PALMYRA, MISSOURI, OCTOBER 1861 – SOLDIER DIED IN SERVICE IN MISSISSIPPI, JULY 1862

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Early-war letter written by Pvt. Aaron Clay of Davis, Illinois, to his mother, Sophia Clay, just weeks after he enlisted. Datelined "Palmira Oct the 17 1861", it was written in camp at Palmyra, Marion County, Missouri, where the 26th Illinois was posted that fall guarding the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad against Confederate partisans in northeast Missouri.

The letter is a simple, unpolished picture of a young farm-country volunteer's first weeks in the army, spelled phonetically throughout:

"My Dear mother i take my pen in hand to let you now that i am well at present and i hope that these few lines will find you the same now i will tell you a little a bout the times we have got best kinds of times appels are worth one shilling a bushel peaches are worth 15 cents a bushel and now a little about the times in camp we have got all that we want to eat and we are in camp in Misuria Marion Co Palmyra City and we will stay here winter i think i was on gard last night"

On the second page he asks for her photograph and says he is sending his own: "Mother i want you to send me your likeness here is my likeness this is all at present so goodby." He closes with instructions to "Direct your letters Misuria Merrion Co Palmyra City" and signs "Aaron Clay to Sophia Clay." The enclosed likeness is not present.

Aaron Clay did not survive the war. He enlisted as a private on September 28, 1861, and mustered into Co. B, 26th Illinois Infantry the same day. After its Missouri service, the 26th went on to the campaigns at New Madrid, Island No. 10, and the Siege of Corinth. Clay died on July 11, 1862, at Danville, Mississippi, near Corinth, less than ten months after writing this letter. His service record does not give a cause of death, though disease swept the Union camps around Corinth that summer.

Condition: Single leaf of lined paper written on both sides. Toning, foxing, and light staining throughout, with chipping and small losses along the right edge and partial separation at the folds. A later pencil notation "Missouri" appears at the top. The ink is dark and the text is legible throughout.  Dimensions are 5” x 8”.

A letter from a Civil War soldier who died in service, written in his own hand to his mother, is a poignant survivor.   [cm][ph:L]

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