Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 Samonds Family Papers #5610, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Martha Brown in October 2014 (Acc. 102121).

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: May 2019

Encoded by: Laura Smith

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.
• Gettysburg Campaign, 1863.
• Samonds family.
• Samonds, Mary Brown.
• Samonds, Thomas K., 1828-1906.
• Soldiers--Confederate States of America--Correspondence.

Husband and wife Thomas K. Samonds (1828-1906) and Mary Brown lived in Mecklenburg County, N.C., though in 1852 "T. K." apparently worked in Arkansas and Mississippi. During the Civil War, T. K. Samonds served in Company I, 37th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry of the Confederate army and attained the rank of first lieutenant. He was captured after the battle of Gettysburg by Union soldiers, but managed to escape. After the war, Samonds owned a plantation in Sharon township in Mecklenburg County and was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for sheriff. He was forced to mortgage the plantation due to debts. Samonds died a widower in 1906.

The collection contains correspondence, mostly written during the Civil War, between T. K. Samonds and his wife Mary Brown in Mecklenburg County, N.C. There are also letters from family and friends such as T. M. Kirkpatrick, Emma Adams, W. H. Brown, William L. Simpson and O. S. P. Alexander. Early letters, 1852-1853, were written when T. K. Samonds and J. C. Brown found work and courting opportunities in Arkansas and Mississippi. Civil War letters describe duties in the Confederate army, regiment movements, the aftermath of battles such as Gettysburg and Fredericksburg, illnesses, daily routines, and household duties. Letters were written from camps near Staunton, Richmond, Yorktown, Petersburg, Kinston, New Bern, Orange Court House, and other locations in Virginia and North Carolina. Letters, 1879, describe travel to the North Carolina mountains. Transcriptions are available for all letters.