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Methodology The 124 letters included in this book were largely in good condition, folded and enclosed in their original envelopes. Some of the letters to and from Civil War battlefields were damaged, the ink blurred, or had pages missing due to the frequent redeployments of soldiers and the vagaries of the Confederate postal service. Many had been hand carried back and forth by soldiers going on or returning from furlough. As there were fourteen different letter writers,the editor had to become familiar with each person’s handwriting,some adorned with the many extra flourishes of nineteenth-century penmanship. The most difficult letters included crosswriting ,where because of a lack of paper,a writer would turn the letter to the side and continue writing over previously written lines.The writers varied in age from early teens to late sixties. Educational levels of the writers varied from David Anderson’s very basic schooling to Andrew Charles Moore’s law studies,and the quality of spelling and grammar in the letters also varied greatly.The editor wished to depict these writers as they were and endeavored to present each letter as written. In some cases where a writer constantly rehashed earlier points, portions were deleted. Each deletion begins with an ellipsis. Grammar was not edited, nor was spelling, unless to make a word understandable ,where a correct spelling was added in brackets.Capitalization,or lack thereof,was not changed,nor was punctuation.If a writer used an ampersand,it was retained. Brief identifications appear in brackets in the body of the letter as do short clarifications made by the editor. Longer explanations are contained in notes at the end of the letter. I have added some introductory and transition paragraphs to the letters. The editor’s task was made much easier by Harriet Means Moore Fielder (Mrs.John P.Fielder),his great-aunt.Known to her nieces and nephews as “Hattee ” with the emphasis on the last syllable,she was an 1897 graduate of Converse xxvi Methodology College and a historian by avocation who helped edit the volume William Anderson and Rebecca Denny and Their Descendants, 1706–1914 as well as various lists concerning the history of Nazareth Presbyterian Church and Spartanburg County Civil War veterans. Hattee read each letter and in pencil wrote a short identifying clue above many of the persons referenced. Her longer annotations were written on plain unlined paper or on scraps she saved from envelopes,advertising flyers,and even canceled checks. The notes were an invaluable resource to the editor. Upon her death in 1949, the letters were passed on to her nephew, Thomas Moore Craig Sr., who kept them in a filing cabinet and transcribed only the Thomas John Moore letters. ...

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