In 1861, Texas-native Jessie Austin Holman (b. 1842) enlisted in Company F of the 8th Texas Cavalry, also known as Terry’s Texas Rangers, of the Confederate Army. During the Civil War, he fought at the battles of Mumfordsville, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Bull’s Gap, and Dalton, among others. Although never wounded, Holman was taken prisoner at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in December 1863 and held at Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois, until a prisoner exchange the next April.
Source:
Holman, Jessie Austin. “Jessie Austin Holman.” In Reminiscences of the Boys in Gray, 1861-1865, compiled by Mamie Yeary, 344-346. Dallas, Texas: For the author by Smith & Lamar, 1912.
Composed of a volume of three photocopies, the J. A. Holman Letters, [1862]-1863, 1865, document the familial and military affairs of Holman while serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Correspondence comprises an 1863 missive from Holman to his mother, an 1865 letter from his father to him, and an [1862] letter from P. D. Carvey to Eva [no surname] discuss battles in Georgia and Mississippi as well as the health and living conditions of Holman’s father in Fayette County, Texas.
This collection is open for research use.
J. A. Holman Letters, [1862]-1863, 1865, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s “History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light project,” 2009-2011.