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CSA 1, 5¢ green (rounded corner upper right) tied AIKEN / S.C. // MAR / 7 [1862] cds on small ladies cover to “Dr. Richard F. Sams, Beaufort V. Artillery, Hardeeville, S.C.” with excellent 3-page ORIGINAL LETTER headed “Aiken, March 6th 62” from his wife, Carrie. In it she says, in part, “Why did you take so much of your letter to convince me of the utility of your volunteering? I am not opposed to it and am glad you have done so if the President thinks it best now. I once thought we might be annihilated but never subjugated but now do not look on the latter as impossible. When we see 12,000 men surrendering as prisoners of war, towns and cities surrendering shamefully and the men in the very seat of secession submitting to a dishonorable draft, I cannot feel that this is a people that can never be subjugated.” $250.
Dr. Richard Fuller Sams (1838-1878) enlisted July 1, 1861, as a private in Co. A, SC 11th Infantry (AKA 9th Regt SC Infantry) and is also shown in SC Beaufort Light Artillery, Co. C, as of June 1, 1862. Military records show him in mustered in to the former regiment on March 14, 1862. May 9, 1861, shows him as a Hospital Steward at McPhersonville 20 March 1863. It shows him returned to Hardeeville. There is a Special Order 166-13 dated July 14, 1863, from the Adjutant & Inspector General’s Office regarding Sams, but no further information. His wife was Caroline Elizabeth Pope Sams (1841-1919). They are buried in Atlanta at Oakland Cemetery.
LL Misc-1
