Page 1 of enlcosed letter to Gov. Manning

Page 2 of enlcosed letter to Gov. Manning

RICHMOND / Va. // AUG / 6 / 1861 cds with matching PAID / 5 Cts. on cover to Col. John L. Manning, Aide-de-Camp to Gen. Beauregard, Headquarters Army Potomac, Manassas, Virginia. Docketing up left side as sender being “J. H. Carrier, Gen. B’s groom, Aug 1861.”  Shallow nick at top edge and part of top flap missing. EXCELLENT LONG 2-PAGE LETTER signed John H. Carrier “To Governor Manning” saying he is sorry Manning misunderstood him on prior Wednesday and sent him away in disgrace. Says, if only he had been allowed a few words of explanation and an apology to the officers, he doesn’t believe he would have been sent away thus. See easily to read pages in accompanying links which explain Gen. Beauregard offering him a better position as a veterinary surgeon and that he found no fault with Carrier’s conduct. He feels he deserves a better position than that of a mere groom. Ex Wm G Bogg. $250.

John Lawrence Manning (1816-1889 - middle name sometimes spelled Laurence) was a Princeton-educated planter and served as the 65th Governor of South Carolina 1852-54. He was married to the daughter of General Wade Hampton I. According to the 1860 U.S. Slave Census, he owned 670 enslaved African-Americans, making him the 6th largest American slave owner at the time. He was a member of the South Carolina Secession Convention and a signer of the Ordinance of Secession. He served in the South Carolina Senate from 1861 to 1865 and in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1865 to 1867. Although elected to the U.S. Senate in 1865, he was denied the seat along with other southern Senators.