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RESTRICTED: Publication requires permission of donor.

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Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Eliza C. Killian Papers #4072, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Lent for filming by Mrs. J. Blair Waugh of Galax, Va., in November 1975.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, August 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 23rd.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 32nd.
• Families--Southern States--Social life and customs.
• Killian, Eliza C.
• Maine--Social life and customs.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Slavery--Justification.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• Tennessee--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Tennessee--Social life and customs.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• York County (S.C.)--Social life and customs.

• S. H. Steelman Papers (#4074) for correspondence of Eliza Killian and John W. Lloyd and their daughter, Anna.

Resident of Killian's Mill, Lincoln County, N.C.

Eliza C. Killian, daughter of Andrew (1800-1861) and Elizabeth Killian, lived at Killian's Mill, Lincoln County, N.C. These papers consist of personal letters written to Eliza by her sister, Julia Ann, referred to as Ann, and brother-in-law, J. E. Quinn of York District, S.C.; her brother, John A. Killian in California and in the Confederate Army in Virginia; friends in Spartanburg, S.C., Columbia, Tenn., and Brunswick, Me.; and friends in Confederate service in Virginia and Tennessee. There are also scattered letters written by Eliza to relatives and friends.

Letters between Eliza and Julia Ann, 1860-1861, discuss Eliza's visits, local news and mutual friends, Ann's desire to see her sister, and her problems of child-raising and household and farm management. After Julia Ann's death in 1862, letters from her husband, J. E. Quinn, to Eliza and her family continue reports on home and farm life and include military news and rumors.

Letters to Eliza from her brother John begin 31 March 1856 when he described his life in Angels Camp, Calaveras County, Cal. After enlisting in the Confederate army in 1861, he served with the 23rd North Carolina Regiment at Orange Court House and Taylorsville Station, Va., and wrote occasionally to his sister and family about his military experiences and mutual friends in the army. Of particular interest is a letter, 5 March 1864, in which John despaired of Confederate success, questioned the rightness of slavery, and condemned the social inequalities caused by slavery.

There are numerous love letters to Eliza from suitors both before and during the war from suitors such as Pinckney A. Ramseur of Spartanburg, S.C., 1858-1859, and W. D. Carpenter of Columbia, Tenn., and Atlanta, Ga., 1859-1860. Both of these suitors mention daily activities and local events as well as their affection for Eliza.

In 1859, Eliza began correspondence with Manuel Ebenezer Shell, a student at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., and her former teacher. His letters describe his trip to Maine, his life as a student, and, later, his military service with the 32nd North Carolina Regiment in Portsmouth, Norfolk, Camp Fisher and Suffolk, Va. Her letters to Shell comment on local religious and social activities, her educational deficiencies, and her regard for Shell. Both discuss their feelings about the war and the South's enemies. Shell died in July 1862.

During the war, Eliza received letters not only from her brother and M. E. Shell, but from other men in Confederate service. Like those of Shell and her brother, these letters describe camp life, military movements, promotions and changes in command, feelings about the war and the enemy, and personal news. Many also include expressions of affection and concern for Eliza. Correspondents include: Leroy D. Quinn of South Carolina, who wrote in 1861 from military camps in Sullivan's Island, S.C., and Richmond, Manassas, Charlottesville, Germantown, Fairfax Court House, and Centerville, Va., and who died of typhoid pneumonia in November of that year; John A. Thompson, who served with her brother John in the 23rd North Carolina Regiment from Orange Court House and Taylorsville Station, Va., from 1863 to 1864 when he disappeared in battle; and J. S. Cross, who served with the 6th Arkansas at Chickamauga, Tenn., in 1863 and 1864 (two letters only).

Eliza received her first letter, January 1864, from John W. Lloyd of Friendship, S.C., a merchant whose travels took him to Manning and Columbia, S.C. His letters include news of his daily life, mutual friends, and rumors about the war; her letters to him deal primarily with her feelings about the war, concern for him, and daily life at home. There are also letters to Eliza from Lloyd's sister Mollie, a milliner in Friendship, including reports on Lloyd's serious illness (typhoid?) in late 1864 and early 1865.

Eliza married John W. Lloyd on 13 July 1865 in Lincoln County, N.C., where they apparently settled. there are two brief notes in 1880 and 1886 between them while he traveled on business, and an 1866 letter to him from Y. N. Butler of Manning, S.C., about the prospects for liquor and tobacco sales in Manning.

Among the undated materials are a letter from Kate to Eliza describing a girls' school commencement and current fashions and a poem "To Miss Eliza" by Leroy D. Quinn.

Also included are letters to Mrs. J. Blair Waugh of Galax, Va., owner of the manuscripts, from archivists in North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, D.C., and Bowdoin College, Maine, which supply additional information about the letter writers and events mentioned in the letters. Interfiled with the manuscripts are typed copies of many letters made by Mrs. Waugh.