Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

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 Hundley Family Papers #4971-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy (filmed 2005-2006) available.

• Reel 1: Entire collection

Acquisitions Information

Received from Jo Ann Hundley of Chapel Hill, N.C., in March 1999 (Acc. 98318).

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: Linda Sellars, March 1999

Encoded by: Linda Sellars, March 1999

Revisions: Finding aid updated in May 2005 by Nancy Kaiser.

Updated by: Laura Hart, June 2021

Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the microfilming of this collection.

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--Social conditions.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Hospitals.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 21st.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Hundley family.
• Hundley, John H., -1863.
• North Carolina--History--1865-
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--North Carolina.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.
• Stokes County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Members of the Hundley family apparently were farmers in Stokes County, N.C. John H. Hundley enlisted in Company C, 21st North Carolina Infantry Regiment (North Carolina Troops) on 4 August 1862. During most of his enlistment, Hundley was incapacitated by an unspecified, but apparently preexisting, condition. He entered the hospital at Richmond, Va., in November 1862 and remained confined at various hospitals in Richmond, Lynchburg, and Lexington, Va., until May 1863. He returned to his unit in time for the Battle of Chancellorsville, the capture of Winchester and Martinsburg, and the campaign into Pennsylvania in June 1863. Although his unit had heavy casualties during the Battle of Gettysburg, Hundley received only a slight wound to his hand. In August, he returned to the hospital at Staunton, Va., where his condition took a turn for the worse. On 21 August, Hundley informed his wife that he had been furloughed to recuperate at a relative's home, but was too weak to visit her. This proved to be his last letter; he died soon thereafter.

The collection consists of letters and a few financial documents, 1849-1899 and undated, of the Hundley family of Stokes County, N.C., and related families. Most of the letters are from John H. Hundley to his wife, Sally W. Hundley, during his service in the Confederate Army in the 21st North Carolina Infantry Regiment North Carolina Troops, 1862-1863. Also included are a few pre-war financial papers related to the family's farming and post-war correspondence from individuals who relocated to Missouri and Colorado.

All but one of John H. Hundley's Civil War letters were written from Virginia, many of them from hospitals. Most of them were dictated to others rather than written in his own hand. The letters primarily describe the state of Hundley's health and his hopes to be sent home. In a letter of 19 July 1863, Hundley described his regiment's march into Pennsylvania and retreat back into Virginia. Hundley died in August 1863, apparently from illness.

Letters of 1864 and 1865 are primarily letters of condolence to Sally Hundley and letters lamenting the deaths of family members and difficulties on the homefront, particularly the absence of men in their communities. Letters of 1867 and 1868 give family news and report post-war hard times.

• Microfilm reel (M-4971/1)