Lot.
(American Civil War.) File of American Confederate Letters. Williams, Captain Leonard, 2nd South Carolina Cavalry, various places, July 18, 1861 - February 11, 1865. To Mrs. Anna Laval Williams, Greenville, South Carolina.
Collection of 130 manuscript letters, all but two to Mrs. Anna Laval Williams; 122 letters from the field by her husband, Captain Leonard Williams, 6 letters to Mrs. Williams from cousins & other relations, with content relating to the Civil War, 1 letter from Captain Williams to his servant Ned, 1 related letter.
Leonard Williams was born on his father¹s Sycamore Grove plantation, Newberry District, South Carolina on December 15, 1823. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from South Carolina College, he returned to Newberry where he became founder and principal of Newberry Academy, later Newberry College.In 1855 he moved to Greenville, South Carolina and settled into the life of a merchant and small planter. In 1858 he married Anna Laval, daughter of Major William Laval of Charleston.
When South Carolina went to war in 1861, Leonard Williams was among the first to muster in Greenville's Brook's Troop of Cavalry, which became one of the four cavalry companies of Wade Hampton's Legion. In 1862, he was elected as a captain in the troop, which was now part of the 2nd S.C. Cavalry. Captain Williams participated in 75 battles and skirmishes, was seriously wounded at Second Brandy Station, bore eyewitness to Antietam and the aftermath of Second Bull Run, led charges at Upperville and Jack's Shop and was personally commended by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart for "efficiency and bravery" at that battle, galloped through the woods at the "Buckland Races," and experienced hand-to-hand fighting at the East Cavalry Field near Gettysburg against General George Custer.
In his letters home, Captain Williams takes the reader into the field of combat and gives the details of fighting, but each letter also touches on many other subjects. He provides details on himself and his company, reports on camp life, and reflects on the war and its political and economic ramifications, he also attempts to instruct and guide his wife on the management of their farm and slaves in his absence. After the war, Williams returned to Greenville, restored his farm and rebuilt his business and was active in state and local politics. He died in May of 1908.
Few collections of Confederate soldier's letters extend through all the years of the war as these do, or offer the scope, depth of observation and immediacy provided by the letters of this educated, company grade Confederate cavalry officer.
David G. Douglas, Capt. Williams's great-grandson, has incorporated most of these letters in A Boot Full of Memories, a historical novel based on his ancestor's letters.