The letter I chose to analyze was written by Private Richard H. Adams Jr. a prisoner of war born April 21, 1842 in Altwood Marengo County, Alabama. Private Richard H. Adams served as an officer during the Civil War with the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment, he originally enlisted in the service in May of 1861. Richard H. Adams Jr. served in many different campaigns during his time in the services in addition to a role which included Richard H. Adams as being staff officer for Gen, Wheeler until he was captured in Nashville, Tennessee in September of 1863. Richard H. Adams Jr. was a prisoner of war (between the years 1863 through June 1865) and would later in history be considered one of the immortal 600. The immortal 600 were prisoners of war who were sent to Morris Island in Charleston Harbor which was an area that was in direct line of fire from the Confederate guns of fort Sumter. He eventually survived the war and went back home, where he married Lottie Putman and spent his days as an engineer and postmaster for Radford, Virginia. Richard H. Adams died in Radford, Virginia in October 1896.
What remains of Richard H. Adams Jr. is 47 original letters dated from November 1863 to September 1866 all written by Richard H. Adams Jr. Including a manuscript dairy that he kept while serving the 5th Alabama Regiment in Virginia dated April 1862 - May 1862, transcriptions of two other diaries that were kept on which included a prison diary, a script of Wheelers raids which was written after war, a friendship book with fellow prisoners names, 2 pictures of Richard H. Adams Jr. and various clippings/documents. There were also 23 original letters addressed to Richard H. Adams Jr. from his wife Lottie Putnam written between, March 1864 to January 1865.
The letter I picked from remains of Richard H. Adams is one that was written while he was a prisoner of war and on Morris Island. Richard H. Adams hand writing is a little hard to read and there are some sentences that are hard to understand. The little bit I did read though sounds like he is talking about his passage to the island and a little bit about his situation. In one part of the letter he writes “Under very trying circumstances, in sight of Charleston, the smoke & under the range of the rebel guns and of the staples of the churches in which there are so many rebellious sprits at this time of divine worship.” I’m assuming one he is describing the scenes and events that are going on, and two the last part of that statement leads me to believe he is talking about all these events are happening on a Sunday which would be a day of divine worship. Going further into the letter when Richard starts to talk about his duty and pleasure of writing every Sunday it is confirmed that he wrote this letter Sunday September 11th 1864 while on Morris Island. In the letter it seems that he is trying to be hope full that an exchange will occur sooner than later and he will be able to go home. I am assuming the person he is talking to is someone he is close to maybe even Lottie as it is hard to decipher. I come to this conclusion because he had stated that he has not forgotten his duties of writing every Sunday and the archives of remaining items have the majority of letters addressed to Lottie. I can see that the person he is writing to is also close to individuals Richard must know as either family or friends, since there are two references to tell my little friend and also tell sis in his letter.
I feel that this letter was written as a way for Richard to keep himself hopeful and sane as there were references to him being the cheerful and hopeful person that the person this letter was for has always known. I am sure that this was a scary and difficult time for Richard and writing these letters helped him through this situation and gave him hope that he would eventually return home. There are many references to an exchange and hoping that an exchange would occur soon, I’m assuming that it was this exchange that would allow Richard to be free of being a prisoner of war and allowed to be sent back home.