Section Xxii--a Confederate Mailbag And A Glimpse At Some Of Its Contents

Just before the cessation of hostilities a Confedérate mail-saek lmavily laden witb. letters, paper, etc, was captured north of Mobile. This some time ïu May was emptied uear wtiere the writer's couipany was encamped. The contents wero a ronfuscd mass ol papers, torn envelopes and open letters, all having been hurriedly eiamined at división headquarters. Very many of tha letters were f o poorly written as to be alraost unintelligible; others showed good penmanship and education, refinement and culture in the writers. All were writteu upon the thin, poor, shoddy paper of Confedérate manufacture. Several very crude wood cuts were found that had been forwarded as Valentines to certain members of the fair sex by their admirers. One of these, now in the writer's possession, was printed on the shoddiest kind ol paper by George Dunn & Company, publishers, Richmond, Va., and just below a rude cut of a female with low-necked dress, short sleeves, flowing skirts, wide liounces and capacious hoop skirt, is a stanza the last words of which are: "Ah let me still survive, and burn in Cupid's flames, but let me burn alive. " The following is deerced of jufflcient interest to give in full: Near Aügüsta, Ga., Marcü i, 1865. Unknown Friend: Being confined to our tents to-day fn Order to have some pastime, Mr. Kennedy, of Fifty-fifth Tennessee regiment, Quarle's Brigade, proposed the namea ot several young ladies of lus acquaintance. The aames were all put on strips of paper And then ín & nat; each one had to draw per ballot, and me oame he drew he was to write to that lady. Among eight names 1 drew yours, and In discharging the obligation resting on me ycu will excusa me Tor my presumpuon. J will refer vou to Mr. Kennedy, wbo is a rnend of j'eurs and atso particular friend of mine, lor partícula relating to me. In tioing justlce Io you, I will state that I in Quite a voung man and an Alabamiao ry tjirtti ; have been soldiering for rour years; nare passed througb many dangers, een n3 unseen, and by the Umdness of an overrullng Providence 1 am stili spared, a moDument of God's mercy. I hope to live to see tliis cruel war over. and that ] may theD ncd some loving and confiding compamon and with ber gilde emoothly down the stream ol time hand in hand, until J reach the valley ot dealh. even then I hope 10 have so lived tbat lean then launch out upon the unknowD future and ride safely into port. I have no oew9 that -ül interest tou. We are bere in Camp of Directioa awaiting orders. I thinli we wilt not try to get with our command, wbo are at or in vicmlty of Colutnbia, S. C-, Hut go to Montgomery, Seliaa or Mobile. If we come to Mobile 1 will be happy to forrn your acquaintanoe. U sir. Kennedy 13 With me 1 will try and do 1 to. Hoping that you will not thir.lc hard of thfs, but write in answer, I remain your sincere bt unknown friend. James A. McCault, First alabama Regiment, Company "D," Quarle's brigade army Tennessee. This letter has now been in the writer'3 possession almost twenty-one years. He has read it many times, and alvvays with rene wed interest, and it has never failed to bnng before his mind an all-pervaiMng sense of what " nüijhl have been," had it not miscarried and fallen iuto the hands of a Yankee instead of the fair one intended. The letter was in a great heap with many others, and likc all the rest had been removed from its envelopR, so that it was impossible to ascertain the name of the young lady addressed. It was written on blue-tinted paper of umisual good qnality for Confedérate manufacture, tho handwriting good, and indeed the wbole makeup of the letter waa just of the kiod most likely to impress the mind of a young lady. Had it reached its destmation an Interesting correspondenre would rertainly liave followed, and very likely a love affair, and perhaps an engagement and marriago. May be, however, McCauly carne to Mobile, was there during tha siege, flring at the invaders, and when off duty calling upon his "unknown friend." And may be he feil at Spanisb. Fort or Blakely in defense of his native Alabama. Such a letter as h writes is calculated to set in operation a thousand conjectures, and then it has the ring of the true soldier with- as is usual with brave men- an entire absence of bitter epithets for his enemies. In a different vein is the following, found at the same time and yet in the writer's possession : TAI.UAHASSEE L.AND1N0, Dec. 20 ('GM - My Dearly Beloved Mother: What 10 this wide world is the maiter with yoo ail that I never hear from any of you f Have the Yankees forbidden your wnting, and won't they allow your letters iree passage to Mobile? Just four years ago we arrived home and were together. How many events have transpired since that time. For tour years has a desolating war been waged upoD our land, and oh, how many have met their fate, and I fear many more will have to sacriflee their lives before the end of the struggle for independence. I suppose ere this you have hearJ of the battle of Franklin, Tenn., which was fought two or three weeks ago. It must have been an awful flght. Our soldiers charged tbeir line of breastworks and suceeeded in capturing (?) them. Il was a great slaughter and almost a drawo battle. We claim a victory. but lost from Bve to eight thousaod men. Oh! how many of our brave, true soldiers sacrificed their lives on their country's altar that dayl How many fond hopes and anticipatious ani loved ones met their doom. and now lie buried in the cold soil of Tennessee I Is it not awtul to thinl of? And when those they loved. off in dislant States, hear of their deatbs how sad their hearts will be I We lost several good Generala whose places can hardly be filled. ♦ The Fifteenth Mississippi went into the flght with two hundred and twenty men and lost seventy. Loring'c división thai day lost seven hundred men; it is said the loss of line and field offleers was great. I heard from Cousin Bob not long since. He was weiland in line spirits; he said they got but very little to eat, that they would kül a hog and never clean the huir off, and they wouia get their rations of meat with the hair on and cook it on a stick. He would make his bread on his oil cloth and bake it on a fence rail. He has been In several fights since I heard from hím. Welí, mother, the Yankees have been pretty close to us. They have been up on the rallroad as f ar as Pollard; they destroyed thf track for some distance and then left. There was about four hundred white men and flvo hundred negroes. Governor Watts has called out the militia to drive them back. Yankee General Sherman has evacuated Atlanta and gone in the interior of the State; he has been to MUedgeville anü several otherto us. No one can imagine wbat he intends doing; the papers say that he Is soon to be surrounded and captured. I hope so, fout fear he is too wide awake to be caught in a trap. The mean oíd wretch I I wish he would be caught and hung to the lirst limb. Ohl that I was a man; I would be wüling to sacriflce every thing on earth and Lo and liiht Xor my country. I daily wish that I was a man. llow I wish I could see you all and be happy once agaïn on earth. Do you hear from graudma oftenr How does she and Aunt Vicky get along with tut; Yankees? Where is floward now- m the army? Give my love to Hunty and the girls. How is Mrs. Julia Murphy? My love to her. I suppose you would lilie to hear something of the ramily. All are well ; tUe childreu grow fasi ; they will soon be large enough to go to school. Hall is so much like our iamüy in every respect; he is a smart, sweet chïld, and so are all the rest. How do you expect to speud your ChristmasT I hope jileasantly. ] expect to see nopleasure at all. it will be a very dull one here. Dear mother, do write often to me, and make Beckie wrue, too, and teil me every thing coneermng you all. ♦ I will close for this ame. I wil! look imxlously lor u letter (rom you. ' Good-Uye, úear'iaother; believe me your loving ctiild, Victoria Nixon. On one margin of the letter was written the following: "Pou'tnever seud another letter to M- k, as they penerally open them all at that office. Seud them herealtor to Lowniies - uow, be oertain to do it. " This letter is written in a Close hand, opon yellow paper, letter size, of better quality tliau most of the Confedérate manufacture. Like McCauley'9 letter, it has been in the wnter's possessioa uventy-one years, and the young Nixons, then below school age, are now, if alive, mature men and women,and Hall, good lookin and smart like his molher's people, is approaching middle age. Aye, tbe baby boy that may ba pulled at lüs mamma's dres3 skirts while she was unloading her heart to her mother, and wishing slie were a man that she miLht do battle ior her beloved South, and sayins bitter things of our gallant 8hermaD- her baby boy of twenty-one years ago very Ukely just came of age in time to cast nis ürst vote for Clevelaud in 1384. And hi mamma, if living, notices some gray hairs iu her nead, and some of the marks oí time upon her face as she turns to the glass. And what about "you all" - thatphrase so common in the South. "Beckie," most likely, long since married and is now the motherof a large brood of children that look like our fnmily. Good Mrs. Julia Murphy is probably a nice, fat, old lady, who remembers all about tbe war and the time of "tbe surrender. " But Mrs. Victoria Nixon has probably auended two funerals in the past uventyone years, one aot a great vvhile after the war closed, ivhen grandma died and as buried at the old family burying grouuJ, under the great live-oak; and the ether a short time ago, when the "dearly beloved mother" ivas laid beside the busband that dieJ many years betore and left Cehind a idow and a number of childrsn. But Aunt "Vicky" comes over on a visit sometimes, and hile old and infirm bas a memory that's n-onderfully tenacuus id recallinc old ihings, especially the many Lood traits of sister and cnother- Mrs. Nixon's mother and grand ma. Cousin 8ob has grewt; tp mlddle aga and is a rotund. jolly. prosperous farmer, and is vcry fond of telling bow oearly be carne to starvatioö when figbting under Hood. Fellow soldier upon tbe Moble campaign, did it ever occurio ycu that those fellovvs over there tbat you üred at so recklessly bad homes, friends and kmdred like you, all of which were as near and dear to tliem as svas yours to you !