To Gov. Pettus,

camp near Grenada 15 Jun 1862:

Dear Sir, I am a soldier in the Army and I am 54 years old on the 13th inst and got a dispatch from my home (Brookhaven), that my wife was in her moments of this life. I obtained a furlough from Capt. R. O. Byrne, my captain, which was duly signed by my Col. D. N. Nuess? and then had to give to J. B. Villipigue which he refused to sign. I have 8 children left in a helpless condition and I wish you to intercede for me so that I can obtain a discharge for me so that my children can have a protection. I can obtain a petition signed by my whole camp men asking for a discharge. I have served 2 months faithfully and am willing to return my "Boundy" that I have drew from the government. I ask this of you as a husband and a Father to think of 8 children left to the cold miseries of the world without a protector, if your excellancy will spare a moment from executory duties of your office to answer this. Inclose a not to Gen. J. B. Villipigue for a discharge. Your voice confer a favor on me which will never be forgotten. I remain your obedient servant, R. C. Breeden. Direct your answer in care of Capt. R. O. Byrnes, Co. C, 33rd Regt at Grenada. R. C. Breeden.

Courtesy of Sharon Sherry

Pvt. A.M. Summers

SEMI-WEEKLY LEADER (Brookhaven, MS) Aug. 6, 1906.

CONFEDERATE MOTHERS - THOSE LEFT IN LINCOLN COUNTY
WHO FURNISHED SONS FOR THE WAR

Mr. Editor: - I see an article in your paper of July 25, 1906, signed by J.F.G., stating that old uncle Daniel Chandler was the last of Lincoln county, so far as he knew, of the old patriotic fathers who furnished the boys for the Confederate army. In the above statement J.F.G. is correct so far as I know, but he also states that he only knows three mothers still living, and mentions them as follows: Louisa, widow of the late Daniel Chandler. In this he is right. She furnished one--Tom, as he was best known, who served all through the war in the 12th Mississippi Regiment.

Then he mentions old Aunt Martha Jordan, a deserving and honored old mother, but she didn't have a son in the regular service of the Confederate army. Then he mentions our mother, Kisiah B., widow of the late Hezekiah Summers. Now I would not detract honor from anyone whom honor belongs, but on the other hand would have that the honor rest where honor belongs. My mother, Kisiah B. Summers, still living and nearing 85 years of age did furnish two boys, Z.J. Emery Summers and A.M., who served in the 33rd Mississippi Regiment, until Z.J. Emery, on July 22, 1864, was wounded in front of Atlanta, Ga., and made a permanent cripple until his death, which occured at Gatesville, Texas, in 1886. A.M., by the providence of God, was spared to return to that venerable old mother without the shedding of one drop of blood, paroled at the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston at Greensborough, North Carolina.

Then there is old Aunt Elizabeth or Betsey Summers, who still lives and is right about 87 years old, and is in Lincoln County. She furnished three of those Confederate boys--H.H., E.M., and G.L. Summers. These three belonged to three different commands. H.H., the oldest, went out from Louisiana and served through the struggle to the end in the Trans-Mississippi department and was never wounded. I don't know his regiment, Sixteenth I think. He died in Texas March, 1906. Erastus M., second oldest, went out from Louisiana also, in the Ninth Louisiana Regiment and died early after reaching Virginia. He died of typhoid pneumonia. Gwin L., the youngest of the three brothers, served with Z.J. Emery and A.M., in the Thirty-third Mississippi Regiment until the 17th of December, 1864, when he was captured and carried by the enemy to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he remained until after the surrender of the Confederacy, when he came home in July, 1865, and lived until about 1880 or 1881, and died at home. These two Summers widows, my mother and aunt, are sisters, and while they furnished five boys, one three and the other two, their mother was living in those days and furnished four boys; and if they were my uncles, there were no braver men ever went to battle than those Ham brothers. Two of them fell on bloody battle fields. Tom H. Ham of the Twelfth Mississippi Regiment, fell at Seven Pines in front of Richmond, Va., R. Anderson Ham, of the Thirty-third Regiment, fell at our side, in a few feet of the cannon's mouth in front of the gin house at Franklin, Tenn. Capt. Wm. Ham died of measles in Louisiana command, and James D. Ham, of the Thirty-third Mississippi Regiment, the only one of the four that survived the war died at home in 1875 or 1876. Now remember the mother of the Ham brothers is not living. I only mention them to show that those old mothers still living not only gave their five sons to the Confederacy, but four brothers also. Then there is old Aunt Becky Burns, still living, who is 86 or 87 years old, who gave a son and a husband to the Confederate Cause. She is the mother of Joe S. Burns of the Thirty-third Mississippi Regiment, who stained two battle fields with his blood--first at Peachtree Creek, Ga., from which he recovered, and returned to the army in time to get a second wound at Franklin, Tenn., after that he got home and never returned to the army, not being able to serve any more. Now there may be others who have mothers living. I only can think of these four, all of Lincoln county, and out of all mentioned there are only three of the sons living, Tom Chandler, of Grant Parish, La., Joe S. Burns, of Copiah county, and A.M. Summers, of Lincoln county, Miss. Tom was with Lee at Appomattox, Va., while A.M. was with Johnston at Greensborough, N.C. I only write that things not get mixed but that those only who deserve honor have honor.
A.M. Summers
Bogue Chitto, Miss.

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