Letter from Ellison Capers to his wife, January 4, 1863

Letter from Ellison Capers to his wife, January 4, 1863

Capers writes that the Regiment was on the move towards Wilmington but was then told to return back after a message was given to General Whiting. He then describes an almost fatal accident that occurred while he was directing the cutting down of trees. A tree fell down almost on top of him but Capers only suffered a bruised thigh. The rest of the letter is missing.

A1961.1, Box 3, Folder 1

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Ellison Capers Collection

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English

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https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/486

[Page 1]
At McNutt’s - N.E. River
Sunday Morning
Jany. 4th 1863

My own, dear, precious wife,

I got your sweet letter of the 1st of January on yesterday at this place. I am rejoiced to know that you are all still well. I sent you a telegram from Wilmington on yesterday, which you have got by this time. We left our camp on yesterday at 9 A.M. & when the Regt. was half way to Wilmington a courier met Col. Stevens with the order to go back. It seems that Gen. Smith sent Gen. Whiting a dispatch in cipher, which could not be read here, & was sent to Beauregard, who telegraphed Whiting to stop the movement of troops from this place. When I left Wilmington, yesterday, it was not known at Hd. Qtrs. what it all meant, but the Qr. Master told me

[Page 2]
that 1700 troops had been brought down from Petersburg, Va. to Goldsboro, so I think the beaten foe is again for the W. & W. R. R. A little accident, which might have been fatal, happened to me on Friday while I was finishing my work in the swamp on Isld. Creek, which gave me a ride to Wilmington on yesterday, in Mc Nutts buggy, a comfortable bed here, & the delightful society of those charming ladies, with whom, by the by, I am going to Wilmington to Church today, Episcopal. Well, darling, I was standing up on the trunk of a fallen tree about six feet from the water, just under me, directing the cutting of the tree, & especially one which I knew would fall in my direction. This tree was half way cut down on the

[Page 3]
side opposite to me, & which I did not know, & which the foolish fellow cutting it, on the side next to me, failed to tell me! My attention being called off for the moment, I was startled by hearing Col. Stevens, who had ridden down with me, & was sitting on his horse in the road, call out to me, “Look out Capers”! & looking up, there came the tree right for me! I could not move fast on the high log, & I was fearful if I jumped that I might be struck by one of the falling branches, so I stood still, until the tree got right over my head, when I moved a step & it brushed by me, not a leaf, or twig touching me! But it fell with all of its power on the trunk I was standing on, & of course knocked it whirling! And down went the

[Page 4]
[illegible] engineer, into the branch, & falling across a log, with all the weight of his proportions, & the additional impetus which six feet fall gave him, bruised his left leg, in the thigh, just above the knee. It made me so lame day before yesterday & yesterday, that I could not walk scarcely, but this morning I stand on it without pain & walk almost naturally. Ogier said “Keep quiet & it will be all right in a few days.” Most of the swelling and inflammation has gone, & I only feel it to be sore and stiff. What a mercy I was not crushed! What a blessing my leg was not broken! The Col. made his report of the work, but I have not seen. He has done me justice, I know. You say I must tell you positively, if you must go down with Charlie Goodwin. The positively

[The balance of this letter is missing.]