American Historical Ephemera & Photography

3pp, 7 3/4 x 12 1/2 in. (creasing, some tears along folds and adhesive repairs, light soil). "A.G. Wilson" writes to an unidentified "Genl" with news from Selma, Alabama.

Though the recipient is not specifically identified by name, details in the letter suggest that it was written to Confederate General Benjamin J. Hill (1825-1880), who returned to Tennessee after the war. Hill became president of the McMinnville and Manchester Railroad and formed alliances with Reconstruction-era Republicans, such as former President Andrew Johnson. 

Wilson paints a vivid picture of post-war Selma and of Reconstruction more broadly, reflecting the simmering political, military, and racial tensions present after the war. "[Selma] was almost completely demolished by the Wilson Raid but almost every building is replaced by better ones ... " he notes. Wilson discusses the railroads being run by ex-Confederates, and politics, indicating that he has "but little confidence in any Yank North or South.... " With regard to the occuping Federal troops, Wilson states that "The Negroe and Yankee Troops have fight [sic] here occasionally. Is the only disturbances we have Except on one occasion the whole Yankee Command or a Regiment was ordered out to whip an old man who knocked Two Yanks down with a Box of Straw [?] who were trying to rob his son of a watch."