Two letterbooks, 8 Dec. 1862 - 14 Sept. 1864 and 24 Sept. 1864 - 25 Apr. 1865, recorded by Alfred Ward Grayson Davis (1806-1865) and his son Charles Lewis Davis (1840-1907) present a unified account of the endeavors of father and son as they worked in the capacity of Confederate Post Quarter Master at Greenville, S.C. The letterbooks are official in nature and contain no personal letters; the subject of most of the letters is the acquisition through purchase or impressment, shipment, receipt, and distribution of goods necessary to the war effort, among them corn, oats, rye, fodder, horses and mules, iron, horse shoes, nails, wool, cotton yarn, cloth, clothing, hides, leather, harness, shoes, wagons, and ambulances. Others concern the need for clerks, teamsters, money, stationery, blank forms, ink, pens, pencils, and blotters. In Sept. 1862, Davis was commissioned a major in the Confederate Quarter Master Department and received orders to assume the duties of Post Quarter Master at Greenville, S.C. Davis also served as Post Commandant until Maj. John Durant Ashmore was appointed enrolling officer for what was then the Fifth Congressional District. Because Greenville was the terminus of the Greenville & Columbia Railroad, the Quarter Master General recognized the upstate's potential importance as a bread basket for the Confederacy. Because of the railroad, Greenville's economic sphere of influence extended northward to Asheville, N.C., eastward to Spartanburg, southward to Greenwood, and westward to Anderson. Firms in Greenville, S.C., whom Davis contacted to inquire about their ability to support the war effort include: Gower, Cox, Markley & Co. (manufacturers of wagons, carriages, and other vehicles); Grady, Hawthorn & Perry (manufacturers of cotton and woolen cloth, paper, and milled wheat, successors to Vardry McBee's Reedy River Factory); William J. Gibson (trustee for Weaver's Factory, manufacturers of cotton cloth); Hodges, Davis & Co. (manufacturer of shoes); William Bates (manufacturer of cotton yarn on Rocky Creek at Batesville); Samuel N. Morgan & Co. (manufacturer of cotton and woolen cloth at Cedar Hill Factory on South Tyger River); Lester Brothers (manufacturers of cotton cloth on Enoree River at Pelham); and David Lopez, Superintendent of the State Military Works (manufacturer of guns and other iron and brass-work). Later letters of Charles Davis written as the Confederate States faced shortages and hunger, reflect a sense of urgency, obligation, and compassion toward both the civilian and military populace with whom he interacted, including letter of 24 Oct. 1864 requesting several hunderd uniforms, shoes, and other goods needed by soldiers as winter approached; and a letter, 25 Oct. 1864, that pleads for assistance for two indigent upstate women from whom corn had been confiscated by Confederate cavalry.
