Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Letters of Lt. William R. Elam, 1861-1865, Accession #10662-a, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The collection was purchased by the Library from Charles Apfelbaum Rare Books & Collections, Valley Stream, New York, on December 30, 1985.

Biographical/Historical Information

According to James I. Robertson's 18th Virginia Infantry , Elam was an Appomattox County merchant who was mustered into Confederate service on May 7, 1861, with the rank of corporal. He was promoted to First Sergeant in May, 1862, was wounded at the Battle of Frayser's Farm on June 30, 1862, and was wounded and captured at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. He was exchanged and eventually promoted to First Lieutenant on May 27, 1864, but was again captured, this time at Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865, and imprisioned at Johnson's Island Military Prison from April 19 to June 15, 1865, when he was released on parole.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of twenty-five items, 1861-1865, mostly letters from Lieutenant William Robert Elam of Company H, "Appomattox Grays," Eighteenth Virginia Infantry, to Sallie E. Andrews of Columbia, Tennessee (usually addressed as "Sallie," "Friend," or "Cousin").

Elam's letters describe his life as a soldier and discuss his wounds and promotions, camp life, marching, and other activities; he writes from various localities in Virginia including Centreville, Winchester, Richmond, and Bermuda Hundred; and Appomattox, Berkeley, and Hanover counties, as well as Kinston, North Carolina, and Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay, Ohio. He mentions the participation of his regiment in the following battles: South Mountain, Antietam, Frayser's Farm (where he and his brother, John J. Elam, were wounded on September 25, 1862); Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Gaines' Mill, Second Manassas, Frederick, Maryland (September 30, 1862); Gettysburg (October 12, 1863); Cold Harbor (June 1, 1864); and Sayler's Creek. He also mentions other battles and events such as a fire in Charleston, South Carolina (December 14, 1861); the Battle of Dranesville, Virginia (December 24, 1861); Fort Henry (February 4, 1862); and the execution of two soldiers for threatening to kill their officers (December 14, 1861).

In letters from Johnson's Island, he reflects on the war and its outcome (June 15, 1865), his hopes for release, and mentions he is only allowed to write twenty-eight lines per letter according to prison regulations (April 20, 1865). Prominent men mentioned in the correspondence include: Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Ambrose Burnside, John B. Hood, Eppa Hunton, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, and William T. Sherman.

Also present is a July 24, 1864, pass for Sarah ("Sallie") Andrews signed by Colonel John T. Wilder (1830-1917) of the Seventeenth Indiana Infantry; on its reverse is a handwritten note by Andrews (?) stating that she is confining herself to home and will not take the "oath" until obligated to do so. There is also an undated note from Helen A. Thomson of Florence, Alabama in which she forwards a letter from Andrews to Elam and volunteers to act as a go-between for the forwarding of their letters to each other. Three numbered envelopes addressed to Andrews from Elam are also present.