Andrew Moffett Adger letters, May 21, 1864, and June 8, 1864

Unidentified young soldier in Confederate uniform and South Carolina forage cap with Palmetto insignia

Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs,

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Location

South Carolina Historical Society (Charleston)

Background

Andrew Moffett Adger was born on Dec. 17, 1846 in Charleston, S.C., the son of William and Margaret Hall Moffett Adger. He served as a private in the 25th South Carolina Infantry Regiment. Adger married Nannie Wilson Paul of Virginia.

Contents

A letter (May 21, 1864) from Adger on James Island, S.C., expresses his hope that his unit will be sent North:

"to see the war carried home to the Yankees, as it has been too long to us. It is time for them, now, to have a turn in the horrors of war. It makes one's blood boil to hear of the devastation created by them."

His letter of June 8, 1864 describes the entrenchments, fighting, and truce between the armies of Lee and Grant at Gaines Mill (Cold Harbor, Va.), and relates that:

"Grant's men were badly cut up. All here agree he is a perfect butcher ... perfectly indifferent to the wants of his wounded ... dozens of them, many dead, too, were left within 50 yards of his works, without the least attention being paid to them."

Forms part of the Margaret Hall Moffett Adger papers, 1825-1911.

(See the NUCMC catalog record)