Item# 15786

Price: $1,250

Click here for second page of the letter

MILITARY COURIER or COURTESY from TEXAS to ARKANSAS: CSA 12c, 10¢ bluish green (4 large to just clear margins) tied WASHINGTON / Ark. // FEB / 21 [1864] on cover (slightly reduced at right) to Col. J. R. Pettigrew, Fagan’s Brigade, Camden, Arkansas, with ORIGINAL 2-PAGE LETTER headed “Waco Texas Feb 14 / 64” to “Dear Jim” from “Yell” - Fountain Pitts Yell. He begins by saying “I drop you a line by Israel Pettigrew” who acted either as an official or unofficial courier from Texas to Arkansas where he dropped the letter into the Confederate mail system. Military mail was taken across the river between Arkansas and Texas by express services such as those run by Bernos and Barksdale of the 2nd Arkansas who advertised their services in the Houston Telegraph. Such express covers incurred a charge of $1.00 and catalog $3,500 in the CSA Catalog and are very rare. Others were sent by military courier which presumably achieved the same thing without the additional outlay for postage. In his letter, Yell speaks about wanting to keep up on news of his wife, Mattie, in Arkansas. He also says, in part, “There is some excitement here about the Feds landing a force on the Coast – expect a fight every day…saw that Marmaduke had taken Pine Bluff and torn up the Rail Road from Little Rock to White River. Am glad to hear that you are doing something in Arkansas for if they are not driven out of Arkansas we will be starved out in one more year for Texas with her droughts can’t support the Trans Mississippi District…If we succeed and I live through this war (he was killed in action two months later) will leave Texas.” Fabulous use and letter with great provenance of Ex Lemley and Gallagher. Ex Clippert. $1,250.

Fountain Pitts Yell (1834-1864) enlisted 1 July 1862 as Captain in Co. A, 2th Arkansas Infantry and later in reorganized Company S, 26th Arkansas Infantry (also known as Morgan’s Battalion and the 3rd Trans-Mississippi Rifle Regiment). He was promoted through the ranks to full Colonel and took command from Morgan in December 1863. Yell was the nephew of Arkansas Governor Archibald Yell and the son of Major General James Yell. He was a graduated of VMI and Cumberland University law school. He practiced law in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, prior to the war and was a state representative 1860-1861. His wife was named Mattie. He was mortally wounded in action at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April 9, 1864, while charging the Union works during the Red River Campaign.

Israel Delany Pettigrew (1827-1917) served as a private in Company D, 1st Battalion Arkansas Cavalry. In The Menard Messenger Vol. 10 No. 14, Thursday, February 1, 1917, his obituary stated that “He was 89 years old at the time of his death and came to this vicinity 40 years ago. He was born in Arkansas and served faithfully with the Boys in Gray during the Civil war. He was the father of thirteen children eight of whom are living, four girls and four boys. The funeral services were held the following day at the London cemetery.” Census records show him as born in Arkansas, to Charles Pettigrew and Nancy Hinson. He is buried in London, Texas. Confederate pension file # 33972 and VA file #5973. In both the 1860 (Washington County, Arkansas) and 1910 U.S. census (Mason, Texas), he is shown as a farmer. The widow’s pension (many questions answered “do not know” re military service) shows his enlistment in Arkansas for 4 years. At the time of his death from bilateral pneumonia, the widow was 59, thus 30 years his junior and his third wife, Sallie Virginia Hodges Pettigrew (1854-1927). I have seen official records as “Isreal” instead of proper “Israel” and both “Delaney” and “Delano” as middle name.

James R. Pettigrew enlisted 1 August 1862 as Captain in Co. K, Arkansas 34th Infantry, Trans-Mississippi Department (also called the 2nd Arkansas). He was subsequently promoted to Major and then Lt. Colonel.

The 1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment was a Confederate cavalry regiment. Officially designated by the Arkansas State Military Board as the 6th Regiment Arkansas Cavalry, it was almost never referred to as such during the Civil War. It was usually called Monroe's 1st Arkansas Cavalry, occasionally the 4th Arkansas Cavalry, and more rarely the 1st Trans-Mississippi Cavalry. It is also found in the Official Records of the American Civil War as Fagan's Cavalry and Monroe's Cavalry. The Compiled Service Records of the men are filed under the designation "1st (Monroe's) Cavalry," Rolls 4 and 5. Company D was organized at Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas, on May 19, 1862, by Captain Americus V. Rieff, and enlisted in Confederate service on May 22, 1862. Initially assigned to the 13th Battalion Arkansas Cavalry, it became a part of the 6th Arkansas Cavalry on September 1, 1862, when the battalion was consolidated with Wheat's squadron. Colonel James Fleming Fagan was appointed to command the new regiment, with James Cade Monroe as lieutenant-colonel and James M. O'Neill as major. Fagan and Monroe had previously served together as colonel and lieutenant-colonel, respectively, of the famed 1st Arkansas Infantry. Fagan was promoted to brigadier-general a month later, and Monroe succeeded him as colonel commanding the regiment.