American Historical Ephemera & Photography

CHAMBERS, James R. Autograph letter signed ("Lieut. J.R. Chambers"), to Mrs. Susan L. Taylor. Fort Delaware, [DE], 25 May 1864. 1 page, 4to, 7 5/8 x 8 3/4 in., sheet trimmed, toned, minor soil, addressed to verso. 

Prisoner of War Chambers writes to his friend about his situation: "I hasten to drop you a note having suffered in regard to shaving for six months but thinking constant that I would be exchanged but having given it up entirely I venture to ask you to send me a gentleman's dressing case containing a razor." 

Chambers enlisted on 28 August 1862 as a 2nd lieutenant and was commissioned on the same day into Company B of the 60th North Carolina Infantry. HDS notes that he was wounded in the left thigh and taken as a prisoner of war at Missionary Ridge, TN. He was hospitalized in Nashville, transferred to Louisville, confined at Camp Chase, OH, and transferred to Fort Delaware on 24 March 1864. He was paroled on 14 September 1864 and received at Aiken's Landing, VA for exchange. 

[With:] Confederate Adjutant Office envelope. Louisiana, n.d. 9 1/2 x 4 1/8 in. yellow envelope with blue 5-cent Confederate stamp (creasing, small separations along old folds, minor soil). Addressed to Colonel Lewis Sterling in Bayou Sara, Louisana.