Letter, Alex Spence to Tom Spence
Object number1998.044.23
Date1861
Mediumpaper and ink
Dimensions9 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. (24.8 x 40 cm)
Credit LineOld State House Museum Collection
Terms
Location: the Slim Kentucky (a steamboat?)
From Alexander Spence to Thomas Spence. The Arkadelphia, Camden and El Dorado companies are "dissatisfied" with their treatment aboard the steamboat. He writes of the unequal treatment between officers and the men of the company who serve under them. He is traveling to Memphis and from there to Virginia (he mentions Lynchburg). He writes, "I fear the war has actually commenced [undecipherable] no telling where it will end."
Born on October 20, 1835, Thomas F. Spence enlisted with the Confederate Army on July 27, 1861 at Camp McRae, Arkansas. He served with Co. E. of the Arkansas 2nd Mounted Rifles. On December 31, 1862, Tom was killed during the Battle of Stone's River (Murfreesboro, TN). He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
Born in 1838 in Alabama, Alexander Spence served in Co. B of the 1 Arkansas Infantry (Colquitt's). Company B was known as the Clark County Volunteers. He enlisted in the Confederate Army in Little Rock on May 8, 1861. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in April 1, 1862. Five days later he was wounded at Shiloh. He was promoted twice more, to 1st Lieutenant and then rising to the rank of Captain. Alex was killed at the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864. He is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Arkadelphia next to his brother, Tom, killed two years before.
Status
Not on view
May 10, 1861
February 4, 1862
July 17, 1862
February 18, 1862
August 14, 1864