Screven family papers, 1855-1870 (bulk 1863 Aug.-1864 July).

ArchivalResource

Screven family. Screven family papers, 1855-1870 (bulk 1863 Aug.-1864 July).

Screven family papers, 1855-1870 (bulk 1863 Aug.-1864 July).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62034119

Chiefly correspondence between Thomas Screven and his first wife Adelaide or Ade during his Confederate military service. Earliest items consist of letters from J.P. Screven to his son, T.F. Forman: letter, 13 Dec. 1855, Milledgeville, Ga., requesting that TFF send the buggy to meet him at the train depot upon his return home [possiblyly written during a visit to his wife, Georgia Screven, an imate at the Georgia Lunatic Asylum]; letter 22 Jan. 1856, re financial matters to be handled by John, his eldest son, granting permission for Thomas to "cultivate an acquaintance with Miss Jones," and reluctance to allow his daughter, Ada, to travel to Florida due to the cold weather. Letters of Thomas F. Screven to wife, Ade, discuss his Confederate military service, including bombardment of areas in and around city of Charleston, S.C. (Fort Sumter, Battery Marion, Shell Point, and Cummings Point) by Union forces on Morris Island; duels in Augusta, Ga., and Alabama; religious activities within the army; blockade runners seen in the vicinity of Charleston Harbor, S.C., and Wilmington, N.C.; scarcity of Confederate currency; troop movements; deserters on James Island, S.C.; ScrevenScreven's hesitancy in bringing his slave Quash with him to Virginia; visits to homes of residents in Amelia County, Va., where he was entertained with ice cream and sheep head soup; transfer of Union prisoners of war to Andersonville, Ga.; and military action on Whitmarsh Island near Savannah, Ga. Letters of Adelaide Moore Screven discuss life on the homefront in Savannah, Ga., and later in Athens, Ga., during winter of 1863-1864 when AMS moved in with her parents; topics include news of life for the family living in the vicinity of Savannah and Athens, Ga.; her letters document the health of their young children, Richard (identified by nickname, Dixie) and John, and her efforts to keep Thomas supplied with clothing and food; several letters of July 1864 discuss the death of Fidelia, the youngest sister of Ade, from complications associated with catarrh, and other health matters, including letter, 21 Sept. 1861, re sickness of Julia, a slave described as "my playmate as a child"; other letters sent to AMS include description of a visit to the Mills House Hotel in Charleston, S.C. Later letters discuss emancipation of the Screven family's African American slaves; social unrest and violence during Reconstruction, including murders in vicinity of Athens, Ga.; and letter, 21 July 1870, Mobile, Ala., from Franklin Buchanan, Admiral of the Confederate Navy, to Capt. Thomas F. Screven re his wish to send his family to the Florida springs for salt water bathing, occurrence of whooping cough at his estate in Maryland, and comment on the Franco-Prussian War in Europe.

50 items (1 letter size document box)

University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries