Preview: Taylor (Ed.), “My Dear Nelly”

New in 2020 from Kent State University Press is My Dear Nelly: The Selected Letters of General Orlando M. Poe to His Wife Eleanor, edited by Paul Taylor. Paul is a Detroit Tigers fan and, among other works, is the author of this biography of Orlando Poe, the West Pointer, topographical engineer, 3rd and 9th Corps brigade commander, and corps and department engineer.

The selected letters of Poe to his wife, Eleanor Brent, span October 1860 to April, 1865, and follow his ups and downs leading various levels of infantry command but ultimately failing to garner the support necessary for permanent promotion. Consequently, he reverted to staff engineer duties and performed, by most standards, spectacularly.

What you get:

• Forward by Earl Hess
• 320 pages of text featuring 241 “highly literate and previously unpublished wartime letters,” fully annotated
• Ten page bibliography including unpublished manuscript and archival material and newspapers
• Full index
• Bottom of page footnotes
• Hal Jesperson maps
• Photograph and engraving illustrations scattered throughout the text

It’s good stuff. Check it out.

Brig. Gen. Milledge Luke Bonham Reports His Command for Duty in Virginia

CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN MARYLAND, PENNSYLVANIA, VIRGINIA, AND WEST VIRGINIA FROM APRIL 16 TO JULY 31, 1861

CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. – CONFEDERATE

O. R. – Series I – VOLUME 2 [S #2] CHAPTER IX, p. 831

Hdqrs. First Brigade, S. C. Vols., C. S. Army,
Richmond, Fa., May 11,1861.

Col. R. S. Garnett,
Adjutant-General Virginia Forces, Richmond, Va.:

Sir : In pursuance of Orders, No. 13, headquarters Virginia Forces, but recently called to my attention, I have the honor to report that, as brigadier-general, C. S. Army, Provisional Forces, I am in command of two regiments of South Carolina volunteers, numbering, in the aggregate, upwards of fifteen hundred. Camp at present near the reservoir. I was ordered by the governor of South Carolina to report to Governor Letcher, who directed me to report to Major-General Lee.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

M. L. BONHAM,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.

General Orders #13 – Maj. Gen. Robert E. Lee Assigned Command of All C. S. A. Forces in Virginia

CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN MARYLAND, PENNSYLVANIA, VIRGINIA, AND WEST VIRGINIA FROM APRIL 16 TO JULY 31, 1861

CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. – CONFEDERATE

O. R. – Series I – VOLUME 2 [S #2] CHAPTER IX, p. 827

General Orders,
No. 13

Headquarters Virginia Forces,
Richmond Va., May 10, 1861.

The following telegraphic dispatch has this day been received, and is published for the information of all concerned:

Montgomery, Ala., May 10, 1861.

Maj. Gen. R. E. Lee:

To prevent confusion, you will assume the control of the forces of the Confederate States in Virginia, and assign them to such duties as you may indicate, until further orders, for which this will he your authority.

L. P. WALKER,
Secretary of War.

Officers of the Confederate States Army now serving in Virginia will accordingly report (by letter) to the adjutant-general of the Virginia forces their present stations, the nature of the orders under which they are acting, and, if in command of troops, their numbers and organization.

By command of Major-General Lee:

R. S. GARNETT,
Adjutant- General.