James Nixon Civil War Letters

Scope and Content:
Photostats of Civil War letters by James M. Nixon (d. 1863), 8th Fla. Regt., (1861-1863) to his wife, Louise A. Nixon, Mt. Pleasant, Gadsden County, Florida.
1. Apalachicola, Florida. September 9, 1861 to February 24, 1862. Family letters with instructions about the farm. 6 items.
2. Camp Retrieve, Florida. December, 1861. Family letters with instructions about the farm. 3 items.
3. Camp Milton, Florida. February, 1862. Nixon was apparently with recruiting officer, Major R. "going by Marianna and will probably be home Saturday night, as he is going to make the rounds in Gadsden..." This letter also refers to the clearing of land and the planting of crops. 1 item.
4. Charleston, S.C. July, 1863. On his way to "Washington and expect to be in Richmond about Wednesday." Stated: "I have been down to the battery and viewed Fort Sumter..." and described "the magnificent city," the hotel where he was stopping, and even the type of clothes worn by the people of Charleston. 2 items.
5. Culpepper, Virginia. July, 1863. Wrote about long marches, shortage of rations, and high prices paid for sugar, bacon, etc., then about "a fight with the yankee Calvary... we drove them back and took several prisoners." 2 items.
6. Camp near Bunker Hill, Virginia. "12 miles from Winchester, Virginia." July 1863. A real on-the-battlefield letter with a vivid description of battlefields around Gettysburg and of wounded and killed soldiers. 2 items.
7. Richmond, Virginia. August 8th. Letter to his wife from "The Florida hospital." Not in his handwriting. Letter states: "This is to inform you that my wound is still improving slowly. I am now in the Florida hospital under the best medical and surgical treatment, and hope to be able to start home in a few days. The Dr. thinks about next Wednesday or Thursday..."
The letter from the camp near Bunker Hill gives one of the best accounts of a Civil War battlefield among the Civil War letters in Special Collections.

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