Foreword
[Original Foreword by Carroll Ruffin Patterson]
Since my high school days many years ago, I have had an abiding interest
in history, particularly in the periods of the American Revolution and the
Civil War.
In 1949 1 learned that my paternal great-grandfather Josiah Blair Patterson
(9 June 1815 - 12 May 1864) of Cumming, Forsyth County, Georgia (a native
of Abbeville District, South Carolina ) had served with the l4th Regiment
Georgia Volunteer Infantry from its organization in 1861 until his death
at the Battle of Spotsylvania Virginia on 12 May 1864. His entire Confederate
service was spent as a member of Company E of that Regiment in which he served
as second and first lieutenant. As most Southerners who have Confederate
ancestry, I was aware that my Great-Grandfather had been in and was killed
in the War but knew none of the details.
On May 31 1949 1 received a letter from Confederate Pension and Record
Department, State Capitol, Atlanta, Georgia setting forth Lieut. Patterson's
service.
In January 1959, my cousin Mrs. Edith Harbin of Nelson, Georgia was gracious
enough to place at my disposal all the Patterson family correspondence in
her possession. Most of the correspondence consists of letters Lieut. Patterson
wrote to his family between 5 August 1861 and 17 March 1864 from what is
now West Virginia and Virginia. There are no letters in the collection from
12 July 1862 to 21 April 1863 and from 8 June 1863 to 18 August 1863 and
31 October 1863 to 17 March 1864. The last letter written by the Lieutenant
is dated 17 March 1864, approximately two months before he was killed-in-action.
From an examination of the dates of his letters contained herein it will
be obvious, I think, that quite a few of the letters written by him have
ended up in the hands of persons unknown or lost, perhaps both. He, obviously,
was a prolific correspondent and, apparently tried to write home
frequently.
To aid the readers of Lieut. Patterson's letters in following the career
of the l4th Georgia Infantry I have prepared an outline of the Regiment's
assignments and the campaigns and battles in which it is known to have
participated.
As to the career of the Regiment., special thanks are due Col. Allen
P. Julian of the Atlanta Historical Society, Atlanta, Georgia; Mrs. Mary
Givens Bryan of the Georgia Department of Archives and History, Atlanta,
Georgia and to the Library Colorado State College, Greeley for the loan of
the Official Records. Without their help there would have been a large gap
in the regimental history of the l4th Georgia Infantry.
The letters of Lieut. Patterson were copied verbatim from the originals
owned by Mrs. Harbin with no attempts at modernizing punctuation, etc. As
several of the letters are damaged missing words and/or sentences are indicated
thus __________.
My thanks are due, also, to the Librarian and her staff, Public Library,
Greeley, Colorado for keeping my interest in the Civil War active by notifying
me of each new book. My sincere thanks and deep gratitude will ever be due
Constance White Patterson, my wife. She worked long and hard in copying the
letters from the originals and in typing the many stencils. Without her this
small contribution to Civil War history would have never been prepared.