LETTERS

The following is a transcription of a letter written March 10, 1902 by James
L. McNeely of Gateville, Texas to the Advance in Pontotoc County.  It was
published by that newspaper March 14, 1902.  Thank you very much to
Charmian Giles, who submitted the letter for inclusion on the 
Pontotoc County website.

Gatesville, Texas
March 10, 1902
Being a native of Mississippi, my old home in Pontotoc County and a
subscriber to your paper, reading so many letters from other parts of Texas
and never seeing any from this (Coryell) county, tho't I would write a few lines.
I was born in Lafayette county, Miss., the 3rd of January 1843.  My mother
died when I was quite young, leaving myself and two little sisters without a
mother to help raise us.  A few years later my oldest sister died, leaving
just two of us.  Later on our father married the second time, and in
February 1859, he died.
In 1862 I joined Co. G. 34th Miss. Regt..  Samuel Benton, of Holly Springs,
being our colonel.  Just before the war, my youngest and only sister married
Joseph A. Gray.  He and I went out in the same company.  A braver nor a
better soldier was not in the Confederate Army.  About three years ago that
dear sister died.  Later Gray remarried, and in three or four months he
died.  You are all familiar with the case - a shame and a disgrace almost to
the human race.
I was captured November 24, 1863, in front of Chattanooga, Tenn.  Our
brigade was commanded by one of the noblest men of the army, the lamented E.
C. Walthall.  I was carried from there by way of Nashville and Louisville to
Rock Island, Ill., prison and remained a prisoner until the last of March,
1865, which brought the war nearly to a close.  Now talk about tough times,
we had them while in yankeedom; half starved; nearly frozen in winter, and
drinking hot water out of the Mississippi River in the summer; with almost
all kinds of diseases amongst us, and dying daily.  We were guarded awhile
by a regiment of negroes, and every once in a while the black devils would
shoot down a prisoner.
Sometime in March we got news that we were going to be exchanged.  If you
ever saw a proud set of boys right there they were.  On the 27th of March
'65 we landed in Richmond, Va., for exchange.  I remember well on our
arrival at Richmond the first thiung that  caused me to think that our cause
was about lost, one of the boys and myself took a notion we wanted a drink
of liquor, and the two drinks cost a ten dollar confederate bill.  Well, as
soon as we could we got transportation and started for "home, sweet home".
The railroad being so badly torn up we made slow progress, having to foot it
so much.  Finally at West Point, Ga., myself and two comrades quit the
railroad and struck out across Alabama web-foot fashion.  While in Alabama
somewhere we heard of Gen. Lee's surrender.  We all (that is, what was left
of us) went back to our old homes to find a great many of them in ashes,
fencing all burned, stock gone - nothing left but an overpowered lot of
confeds. - not whipped, but starved and burned out.  Of course we had the
"git-up-and-git;" went to work to rebuild our houses, and today we are one
of the greatest, happiest, proudest and most prosperous people under the sun.
In December, 1867, I was married to Miss Elizabeth Craig, of Tippah County,
Miss., I think one of Tippah's best girls.  We have had our pleasures and
our sorrows, as all others.  We had two children born to us, a girl and a
boy.  The girl, the oldest, married J. W. Crow, a young man then in business
at Oxford.  They have three bright, lovely little children, two boys and a
girl.  In August, 1892, our son in his eighteenth year, was taken sick with
typhoid fever and the 24th of September following the Giver of all good saw
proper to take him from us - a hard trial, indeed.
I rented out my farm for the year 1893, and wife and I moved to Oxford.
During that year I sold the farm, and in January '94 Crow sold out his
business and we came to Texas.  Landed in Gatesville, Coryell County in
February and opened up a little business here about the 1st of March.  We
have done reasonably well - made a living and some beside.
We are very dry here; haven't had a real good, ground-soaking season since
the Galveston flood.  Crops were short last year; wheat and oats were
tolerably fair; corn almost a failure; cotton about half crop.  We have been
doing a credit business; didn't collect much over 50 per cent. of last
year's trade, but still going ahead in the same line, hoping for rain and
big crops.
We have a good town of between 2500 and 3,000; fine schools; flour mill;
electric light plant; artesian water; two banks; oil mill and compress; six
churches, and good, law-abiding people.  There are five saloons here but
little drunkeness.  We have good people, good society, and good land though
land is high - from $10 to $30 per acre - owing to quality and locality.
There are a number here from Pontotoc County - the Russells, Grishams,
Wilsons, Mayhews and others.
I hope to meet a lot of old friends from back there at the Dallas reunion.
Come on, Rebs, and let's enjoy one more reunion, if we live till that time,
for according to nature we will all soon have crossed over the river.
James L. McNeely

Published:  The Advance, March 14, 1902, Pontotoc, Mississippi
Submitted by Charmian Giles