Letter from Wade Hampton to Maj. T. G. Barker, Millwood, May 8, 1896 (page 1)
Book 1, Page 252 ·1896–1896
Transcription
Personal
Millwood May 8th 96
My Dear Adjutant —
As you & the other veterans at Houston put me in command of this Dept. of “Gordon’s Army”, I must go to Richmond when the corner-stone of Mr. Davis’ Monument will be laid. I want all my old staff to be with me, & you as the Chief of them. Both Dr. & Tom Taylor will go & so will Lowndes, so “if you want to have a good time, join the Cavalry”. But you had better practice riding on horseback before you venture again to direct military movements! Don’t disappoint me, for I wish to have not only my old staff, but as many of the “Old Brigade” as possible. I have been laid up here, by irritation on my leg, which forces me to use crutches, but I hope to be “on my feet” soon, when I shall go to Wash[ingto]n. I would have
AI Notes
First page of a handwritten letter from Wade Hampton at Millwood, dated May 8, 1896, to Major T. G. Barker, marked ‘Personal’. Hampton reports that the veterans at Houston (the 1895 United Confederate Veterans reunion) put him in command of the Department of ‘Gordon’s Army’ — the U.C.V. division headed by Gen. John B. Gordon — and that he must therefore go to Richmond for the laying of the cornerstone of Mr. Davis’ Monument. He wants his old staff with him, with Barker as Chief of Staff, and reports that Dr. & Tom Taylor will go, and so will Lowndes. He jokes that Barker had better practice riding on horseback before venturing again to direct military movements. He has been laid up by an irritation on his leg that forces him to use crutches, but hopes to be on his feet soon and then go to Washington. The letter continues on the next scan (p. 253).
Letter continues on the next scan.
The “corner-stone of Mr. Davis’ Monument” refers to the Jefferson Davis Monument cornerstone, laid in Monroe Park, Richmond, on 2 July 1896 — about eight weeks after this letter — by the surviving Confederate generation under the auspices of the Jefferson Davis Monument Association. Hampton, age 78, would be dead in six years.