Archive Record

Metadata

Accession number

2004.439

Catalog Number

2004.439.01

Collection

Pearce Civil War Collection

Object Name

Letter

Title

Hillyer (Elisha) Letters, 1861, 1863

Creator

Hillyer (Elisha K.)

Date

August 11, 1861

Dates of Creation

Letter, Aug. 11, 1861

Scope & Content

Two letters (August 11, 1861; February 8, 1863) document the military career of Elisha K. Hillyer, a second lieutenant in the 15th Mississippi Infantry, Co. I, also known as the Choctaw Guard. Hillyer's letters detail his interest in a woman named Mollie and his loneliness for her and his homesickness for his hometown of Choctaw, Mississippi. His letters contain descriptions of Yankee desertions, the taking of prisoners, and Hillyer's thoughts about fighting in Vicksburg.
The first letter (August 11, 1861; 4 pages) reveals a soldier who is homesick and lonely: "I never wanted to be anywhere as bad as I want to [go] back to Choctaw." Still he reminds himself and Miss Mollie, to whom he is writing, that he "is . . . struggling for those whom I dearly love and esteem more than I do my own self if possible." It is clear that Mollie and Elisha's relationship is still new because he stated in his letter his relief that Mollie is not engaged as he previously believed. This letter is most likely incomplete as it ends abruptly and lacks a signature.

Finding Aids

Available online and in the repository.

People

Hillyer, Elisha K.

Search Terms

Love letters
Motivation
Soldiers
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Port Hudson, Mississippi

Subjects

Jackson, Miss.
Love letters
Motivation
Port Hudson, Miss.
Soldiers
Vicksburg, Miss.

Credit line