Letter from Ellison Capers to his wife Lottie, May 8, 1862 (Late morning)

Letter from Ellison Capers to his wife Lottie, May 8, 1862 (Late morning)

Capers talks about the fire that started in the city. He mentions that many people have lost their homes and furniture and now have nowhere to go. He says that it is very sad especially for him since he just came back from Edisto and Clark's Islands where homesteads are deserted and pillaged. He talks about a specific plantation, Bleak Hall, and the devastation that its suffered. He mentions runaway slaves and burning letters at the post office so no one will read them. He orders the doctor to destroy all the poisonous medicines. He closes the letter by remarking on the desolation of war but that enemies can only kill the body, not the soul.

A1961.1, Box 2, Folder 41

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Ellison Capers Collection

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https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/478

[Page 1]
Friday--11 A.M.

Since writing you early this morning, my precious wife, the steamer has arrived & brot the terrible tidings of the great conflagration in the city. We were on Clark’s Island all Wednesday night scouting, & could see the flames distinctly, but supposed it must be the woods afire, as the flames were so general. My noble old friend Col. Branch loses all of his furniture, the news of which he received by the boat. He goes to the city & will mail this for me. His wife expects in January. 20 of my friend Small’s company are turned out of homes & their poor families are homeless & penniless. I am having a list I am having a list of the sufferers prepared in order to give them leave to go to their various households. It will comprise fully one hundred of our Regt. I ordered the Daily Mercury to be sent to you, in which you will find an account of the fire. It is a sad sight to see these poor fellows getting ready to go to their blackened & ruined hearthstones, and to me, it is only the more so, for having returned from Edisto & Clark’s Islands, where every homestead is a deserted, pillaged place. At Mr. John Townsend’s fine plantation on Edisto, called Bleak Hall, my heart grew sick. In his residence, fine marble topped tables, sofas, chairs, & elegant glasses are overturned by

[Page 2]
the marauding negroes, (the enemy have not yet been upon Edisto Island) & every closet, pantry, & shelf is torn open, & the broken crockery & glass is strewn everywhere. The only occupants we found were some poor half starved cats and dogs. To add to all this, the evidences of an attempt to set fire to the residence are apparent in one room, & in the center of the hall the floor has been violated by some beastly negro! Every house on the island, that we visited, bears the same marks of ruin & desertion, in a greater or less degree. The residents must have been possessed of a most perfect panic for in many instances, private letters (which I ordered burned) are left on tables, drawers etc. I do not wonder that the poor afrighted negroes have run away from their homes, where their weak masters had deserted them, telling them, in some instances, to take care of themselves. There are at least 300 runaways on Edisto, one hundred and fifty of which are from this island. A cavalry company, with hounds, are now engaged in driving them up. Sixty were caught on Edings Isld. yesterday, though my detachment saw not one! At the post office of Edisto, I suppose I burned 500 letters, all of which were addressed to husbands, brothers, & fathers & signed with a Christian name or as follows: Your devoted wife, your anxious wife, your affect. mother etc.

[Page 3]
At the Dr shop, near the office, which was alike abandoned, broken open & pillaged, I ordered the Ast. Surgeon to indicate the poisonous medicines, which I had destroyed. Oh! The desolation of war! Hearts and hearthstones are broken & shattered, & but for the hope we have in a home which has eternal foundations, whose maker & builder is God, we too, my Angel wife, might be withered by this parching, perishing breath of war. But thank God, our enemies can only kill the body. If our earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have a house not made with hands. Our little Kate is there, and the noise of his tumult is not heard, nor does an anxious care fill the heart of a devoted wife or a precious mother grow weary of watching and waiting, for Jesus is there, and thanks be to God, you and I, my beloved Lottie, my devoted angel, have a hope in Him. Give my love to all. The Col. is about starting. Be cheerful & happy & may God bless you. Ellison.