2 pages, 8”x10”, in pencil, written to his wife Carrie.  Dated “Camp 38^th Ala. Regt. Near Wartrace, Tennessee / June 20^th 1863”.  While the letter is written on a sturdy piece of lined, blue paper, it does show staining and age yellowing on both sides as can be seen in the scans above.

Fold lines with scattered small holes along those lines. Text on the left side of page 1 is faded and rather difficult to read due to the staining, with some words being unreadable, but the accompanying typed transcription helps fill in the blanks. Also included is a Xeroxed copy of an article about Holt and his letters from the January 1950 issue of The Alabama Review.

Text reads in part as follows:

“I have again returned this Saturday afternoon to my beautiful & somewhat secluded retreat on Duck River, perched upon a stone fence to invoke the aid of the muses in inditing to you this epistle. There is to me enough of the sublime to engage my fancy and to awake me from my day dreams….on the banks of this to be classic stream grow wide spread oaks, sycamores, birch &c under dressed with tall grass & clover. On the opposite bank is a weird looking dwelling all lonely as if some ghost or departed spirit had there taken up. Near it stands a few apple trees of immense size which spread their branches tenderly over the decaying roof. ..and now may be seen Lt. Gen. Hardee’s headquarters. One of the Signal Corps is waving and beckoning onward some distant object towards Murfreesboro which from the summit of these mountains is plainly distinguishable at the foot or base of these mountains…to my rear in the valley in which I write is encamped Gen. Stewart’s Division to which I belong. Still further to the rear on high hills extends the road from Fairfield to Wartrace, so you may guess the scenery is gorgeous, but for all this there is a void in our bosoms that render it almost a blank to us. We never see the cheering smiles of women! ….I wish you were here to walk with me through the fields of wheat and clover…to listen to the rocky streams and gaze upward at the mountains height….to take you in my arms and see & hear all these would make as happy as mortal man ca be….We had an alarm last night, but I think it was a false one. We still send troops to Gen. Johnson. Very certain we can’t advance on the enemy till the fight is over in Vicksburg and we get troops. I don’t think in case of an attack by the enemy that we scarcely hold our own as our forces here are so weakened. Write as often as you can…Give my love to all my people….I remain your devoted affectionate husband, Talbert."

Hiram Talbert Holt was a teacher and farmer. He married one of his students, Caroline Dewitt, thus violating one of his own rules of conduct for teachers. His Letters, often referred to before, give our best record of how the Dewitts of Alabama fared during the Civil War. Robert Partin, Professor of History at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn) has published articles about this family and Holt's letters in the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Volume 12, December 1953, pages 291-308 and Volume 15, September 1956, pages 243-252; and, in The Alabama Review, Volume 3, January 1950. There may have been other articles in other publications. Professor Partin also edited the many letters of Holt to his wife and others in an unpublished manuscript, The War Letters of a Confederate Soldier (1861-64), located at Auburn University. This manuscript gives different states as the birth places of Hiram T. Holt's parents; Lewis Holt was born in Virginia and Sarah Cave Holt was born in Georgia. Places quoted earlier were taken from the 1860 Census of Clarke County which one would assume were given by the parents themselves. Alma Adeleia Dewitt, granddaughter of Hiram T.  Holt carried a whole sack of letters to Professor Partin in 1948. Upon the death of Caroline Dewitt Holt in 1939 these letters were passed on to Alma. There were 138 letters and 41 other miscellaneous papers. Holt's first letter was written on 11 April 1861 at Fort Morgan and the last one at Dalton, Georgia on 18 February 1864, six days before his death.

Hiram Talbert Holt was a volunteer of the Suggsville Grays, the first company organized in Clarke County by S. B. Cleveland and later commanded by Captain A.R. Langford. Holt was one of the first forty-six men on roll on 4 March 1861. (See Ball's History of Clarke County, page 264). The Suggsville Grays were activated about 26 March 1861 and successively became company D, Second Alabama Regiment; temporarily a part of McKinstry's Regiment in the 32 Regiment. Holt became a member and died in Company I of the 38 Regiment of Alabama. Holt remained at Fort Morgan, Mobile until early 1862. At that time he was transferred to Tennessee where he endured eighteen days and nights of bombardment at Fort Pillow. Holt became a First-Sergeant during the campaign. Much later he gave up this rank, telling Caroline it was entirely too much work nothing but drilling constantly when not fighting. After the evacuation of Holt's company from Fort Pillow, he returned to Mobile where he became First-Sergeant of Company I, 38th Alabama Infantry Regiment. He was sent to Tullahoma, Tennessee in the spring of 1863 where his regiment became a part of the Army of Tennessee on 19 April 1863 at Tullahoma. From the headings of Holt's letters Professor Partin has listed places he served at or passed through with the Army of Tennessee as Tullahoma, Wartrace, on top of the Cumberland Mountain, Tinas Station near Chattanooga, Charleston, Missionary Ridge in Tennessee and Lafayette, LaGrange and Dalton, Georgia. On the front, at Wartrace, he wrote home to Caroline that her brothers (James) Lee DeWitt, Josey (Joseph) DeWitt and Lewis DeWitt were well. Before the Battle of Chickamauga his second daughter was born.  He never lived to see her and she died a few months after birth.   He saw hard times from this time on, not having "as much to eat in a whole week as he could eat even in one day." He also went two months at one time without changing his clothes. This was a revolting development for a man who often scolded Caroline for sending him so many fine clothes including a beaver hat and two pairs of shoes made by the cobbler in Thomasville. All this was done in spite of the money problems of the South after Succession. She, his and her families spun and wove for him and the other sons. His family had to provide for two Holt sons and two sons-in-law. The Holt and Dewitt families also sent food to the camps, even to Tennessee when there was transportation.

Holt was well aware of all things around him. He used his pen, or more often, stubby pencil to describe vividly the lands, the people and the events that surrounded him. His letters seemed designed to educate Caroline as to the way of the world outside her own little circle. He urged her to keep learning, reading and observing. He sent home papers for the family to read. Holt, himself a teacher, was not the stereotyped southern bumpkin. He signed a contract to teach Latin, philosophy and metaphysics in addition to nine other basic subjects when he signed on to teach in the school Caroline attended. Holt's letters leave no doubt as to his deeply religious convictions, his attempts to counsel his soldier friends about spiritual matters, his high regard for Rev. Lewis Lee Dewitt and his ministry. He also expressed his love and admiration for his "Carrie", his "little Dutch girl" and how he longed to walk in the fields and forests with her. Many of the men could not write home.  So, Holt became the reporter for them; asking his wife to send messages as to their welfare. He also asked Carrie to comfort his old parents and his sister in the loss of his brother and brother-in-law. He thought his poor mother had seen her share and more of grief.  After Holt had a furlough in December 1862, he never got another one although many of the soldiers in his outfit did get furloughs. He wanted one badly, and especially near the time in September 1863 when his second child was due. It will be noted that his first daughter was born the same month his unit, the Suggsville Grays were activated so he only saw her once after he left for Mobile that month. He never saw his second daughter. Hiram Talbert Holt wanted a furlough so badly, Caroline and the family scraped together money to hire a substitute to serve a few days in his place. (This was an allowable practice.) Although the substitute was paid, he allowed himself to be bought off and served in another man's place. Holt was killed the week his wife had arranged for his furlough. According to the granddaughter, Carrie was quite bitter. However, when the substitute became gravely ill after the war Caroline practiced her Christian charity and forgave him when he asked her to do so.

Hiram Talbert Holt was killed on 24 February 1864 in a picket line skirmish in Crow's Valley near Dalton, Georgia. Caroline's brother John Dewitt (Jack) and Joseph H. Fendley, who later married Carrie's sister witnessed his death. He was buried in the Battlefield Cemetery. The family had him disinterred when the war ended and buried him in the family plot at Choctaw Corner. He had a Masonic Funeral. Unfortunately his grave site is now lost. It may be indicative of the hard times that befell the South after the war, in that a family so well off as to own sections of land and slaves before the war, never managed a permanent marker for his grave! Yet, his letters were treasured and are still available for us today! No inscription on a tombstone could ever tell his story like the letters.

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