Harrison Wells of Zebulon, Ga., was a commissary sergeant with Company A, 13th Georgia Infantry Regiment, who served primarily in Virginia and Maryland. The collection is chiefly letters from Harrison Wells to his then fiancee May (called Mollie) Long, written from various military camps and battlefields while serving as a Confederate commissary sergeant during the Civil War. Letters frequently contain detailed discussions of military engagements and major battles including the Confederate capture of Harpers Ferry; the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam); the Battle of Chancellorsville; the Battle of Fredericksburg; the Second Battle of Winchester; the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House; the Confederate invasion and retreat from Washington, D.C.; and the Second Battle of Kernstown. Letters often mention troop movements and discuss the nature of the fighting and its aftermath, some with enumeration of casualties. Letters occasionally relate personal reflections, sentiments, and assurances of affections; descriptions of camp life and troop morale; opinions of specific military leaders, particularly Stonewall Jackson and Braxton Bragg; predictions for the war; and depictions of scenery and public reception in towns through which the troops passed. There are also two responses from May Long at Corona College in Corinth, Miss., chiefly discussing her schooling and leisure activities, but with some discussion of the impact of the war on the local area; Civil War era letters from members of Wells's family and from relatives of May Long including one describing actions in defense of the North Carolina coast; a few antebellum and post-war family letters including an 1857 letter from Eliab Horace Wells describing George Washington's home at Mount Vernon, Va., and the construction of the capitol at Washington, D.C.; a map drawn by Harrison Wells of the Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg, Va., area annotated with troop positions; an ambrotype of Harrison Wells and a daguerreotype of May Long; and other items.
