Manuscript Database
Creator/Title
Smith, Granville. Letter, 3 November 1863. 1 item.
Call No.
Mss. C S
Content
A letter written by Confederate soldier Sergeant Granville Smith of the 8th Kentucky Cavalry from Elberton, Georgia on November 3, 1863. The letter is written to Captain Isaac Shelby in Chattanooga, Tennessee requesting news of Shelby's command in Kentucky. It reads in part, "I have been here since my retreat from Tennessee about two months...I should have written to you sooner but have not been able to find out where your command was." Smith also asks if John H. Morgan "has been exchanged." This likely refers to Confederate General John Hunt Morgan (1825-1864), who was at this time imprisoned with several of his officers in the Ohio Penitentiary after leading an infamous raid across southern Indiana and Ohio known as "Morgan's Raid." Morgan would escape captivity on November 27, 1863, less than a month after this letter's writing.