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CSA #4, 5¢ blue singles placed in either top corner of the envelope, one canceled by a grid and the other by an Athens, Georgia postmark. Included is a long letter from Judge Junius Hillyer to his son, Captain George Hillyer, dated Athens July 29th, 1862. He states that he has spoken to Governor Joseph E. Brown, and that he will do everything in his power to get George a solicitorship as soon as Col. [Samuel Pinckney] Thurmond resigns.[GA] [VA]
Capt. Hillyer had served in the Georgia legislature before the war. His father had been a U.S. Congressman representing Georgia before the war as well as Solicitor of the United States Treasury under Buchanan from December 1, 1857 to February 13, 1861 when he resigned after Georgia joined the Confederacy. Thus it is obvious they were both well acquainted with Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown.
With his letter to his son, the elder Hillyer included a letter in the hand of Governor Brown, signed and dated July 27th, 1862 (ALS) in which Brown says, “It will afford me very great pleasure to appoint George in his [Thurmond’s] place if the Col. resigns his office…I have every confidence in George and have for him the warmest friendship.”
Judge Hillyer’s letter says that George can base his action upon the assurance that Governor Brown would give him that appointment. The stumbling block, of course, is that this would happen only after Thurmond resigned. Judge Hillyer, according to his letter to George, had a personal interview with Thurmond which he recounted,
“I told him today that I was authorized by you to claim the office & asked him to make out his resignation. He said that he could not do it until you resigned & came home. He said that if he were to resign now, it might turn out that you might change your mind or the government might refuse to accept your resignation & give you a discharge & that then in that event he would have lost his place without any reason. He said that it had been some time since I heard from you & that you might have perfectly recovered your health. He said the place was ready for you provided you claimed it at once. But until you put yourself in a position to accept it he did not feel willing to give up. He talked very fair & did not seem disposed to dodge but appeared to be candid & acting in perfect good faith. I told him that there was much good reason in his position & that I thought you could not object to it. So the matter stands. If you can resign & be discharged & come home I have no doubt that Thurman will place his resignation in your hands & you can go with it to Gov. Brown & get the appointment. He authorizes me to say so…My own opinion is that you had better get a furlough for sixty days in that time you can look over the ground. If you get a furlough you can resign as soon as you please…”
Capt. George Hillyer (1835 –1927) left his law practice to join the Confederate Army and raised a company known as the Hillyer Rifles in June 1861. He served as a Captain and fourth regimental commander of Company C, 9th Georgia Infantry Regiment, Longstreet’s I Corps, Hood’s Division, Army of Northern Virginia. He lost over half his men at Gettysburg. He made the official report on actions at the famed “Wheatfield” 2 July 1863. From 1870 to 1874, he was a member of the Georgia State Senate and later served as Mayor of Atlanta for one term. His father, Hon. Junius Hillyer, had been a U.S. Congressman representing Georgia before the war as well as Solicitor of the United States Treasury under Buchanan from December 1, 1857 to February 13, 1861 when he resigned after Georgia joined the Confederacy.
A scarce insight into the war via communication between father and son with fantastic addition of an ALS from Georgia Civil War Governor Joseph E. Brown, one of the most successful politicians in Georgia history. Subject of one of my forthcoming columns in The American Stamp Dealer and Collector. $750.
Click below for scans of letters
