Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums

Captain Richard L. Myers

LH-397

Introduction
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Inventory

Introduction
This collection of typed transcriptions of Civil War letters was donated to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in 2014.

Biographical Sketch
Richard Lewis Myers, born 1819, at Climax, Rockcastle County, Kentucky, married Mary Chestnut, daughter of Abraham Chestnut of Rockcastle County, Kentucky, on October 28, 1853. Myers was captain of Company G of the Fourth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry.  Myers was a life-long Democrat and a slave holder at the time he raised his company of volunteers. While he was an ardent Unionist, his two half –brothers, Ike and Clay, joined the Confederacy and fought with John Hunt Morgan.

The 4^th Kentucky was organized at Camp Dick Robinson and mustered in October 9, 1861. Myers fought at the Battle of Mill Springs, Siege of Corinth, Battle of Perryville, Tullahoma Campaign and at the Battle of Chickamauga. Myers was wounded in the right leg at Chickamauga. He resigned his commission December 10, 1863. He returned to Rockcastle County where he raised his family and farmed until his death in 1894

Scope and Content
This collection contains loose and bound typed transcriptions of more than 100 letters written by Myers to his wife Mary. Included are occasional letters to other family members. The bulk of the letters dates from August 20, 1861 to November 22, 1863. Poems and undated and partial letters are also included. Sometime after September 1862, Myers returned to Mount Vernon. He apparently remained there until March of the following year. The next typed transcription of a letter written by Myers is dated March 6, 1863. This letter was written while returning to his regiment located in middle Tennessee. Additionally, there are typed transcriptions of 6 letters written by Myers to Mary and her father prior to their marriage in 1853.

While the original correspondence and poems remain with the donor, permission has been granted for the use of the transcriptions. They were initially preserved by Sallie Matilda Myers, oldest surviving child. She was the “black-eyed child” referred to by Captain Myers in his correspondence. The “noble boy” was Richard H. Carter Myers, the couple’s first son to live past infancy. However, he drowned in the Rockcastle River July 8, 1880 at the age of nineteen on the eve of his expected departure for college. Myers writes about his comrades, camp life, superiors, landscape, tactics, and combat experiences.

Inventory
Ac. 5859

One bound volume

One set of transcriptions (loose)

• Camp Dick Robinson, Kentucky: Aug. 30, 1861
• Camp Dick Robinson, Kentucky: Sept. 12, 1861
• Camp Dick Robinson, near Bryantsville, Kentucky: Sept. 21, 1861
• Oct. 14, 1861
• Lebanon, Kentucky: Dec. 17, 1861
• Lebanon, Kentucky: Dec. 23, 1861
• Campbellsville, Kentucky: Jan. 1, 1862
• Campbellsville, Kentucky: Jan. 6, 1862
• Lexington, Kentucky: Feb. 25, 1862  
• Louisville: Mar. 1, 1862
• Onboard steamer “Atlantic,” Cumberland River: Mar. 3, 1862
• Nashville: Mar. 9, 1862
• Camp near Nashville: Mar. 12, 1862
• Camp near Nashville: Mar. 16, 1862
• Camp near Columbia, Tennessee: Mar. 22, 1862
• Camp near Spring Hill, Tennessee: Mar. 28, 1862
• On the road from Columbia, Tennessee to Florence, Alabama: Apr. 3, 1862
• Savannah, Tennessee: Apr. 10, 1862
• Savannah, Tennessee: Apr. 10
• Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee: Apr. 16
• Field of Shiloh or Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee: Apr. 18, 1862
• Camp Shiloh, Tennessee: Apr. 23, 1862
• Camp Shiloh near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee: Apr. 23, 1862
• Camp Halleck 15 miles from Corinth, Mississippi: Apr. 29, 1862
• Camp Halleck: May 2, 1862
• Camp near Corinth, Mississippi: May 4, 1862
• Camp before Corinth, Mississippi: May 9, 1862
• Camp before Corinth, Mississippi: May 12, 1862
• Camp before Corinth: May 18, 1862
• Camp before Corinth: May 24, 1862
• Camp before Corinth: May 24, 1862
• Camp before Corinth: May 30, 1862
• June 1
• Camp near Corinth: Mississippi, Jun. 2, 1862
• June 3, 1862
• Corinth, Mississippi: Jun. 12, 1862
• Corinth, Mississippi: Jun. 16, 1862
• Camp before Corinth, Mississippi: Jun. 19, 1862
• Camp near Corinth: Jun. 20, 1862
• Jun. 21, 1862
• Iuca, Mississippi: Jun. 23
• Tuscumbia, Alabama: July 1, 1862
• Tuscumbia, Alabama: July 4, 1862
• Tuscumbia, Alabama: July 5, 1862
• Tuscumbia, Alabama: July 13, 1862
• Tuscumbia, Alabama: July 19, 1862
• July 20, 1862
• Pulaski, Tennessee: July 29, 1862
• July 30, 1862
• Murfreesborough: Aug. 3, 1862
• Camp near Decherd, Tennessee: Aug. 15, 1862
• Camp near Decherd, Tennessee: Aug.19, 1862
• Camp near Winchester, Tennessee: Aug. 27, 1862
• Manchester, Tennessee: Sept. 1, 1862
• Nashville: Sept. 9, 1862
• Louisville: Mar. 6, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: 15 miles from Nashville, Mar. 15, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: Mar. 18, 1863
• LeVergne ,Tennessee: Mar. 22, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: Mar. 24, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee:  Apr. 4, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: Apr.13, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: Apr.  22, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: Apr. 24, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: Apr. 24, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: May 9, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: May 13, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: May 17, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: May 24, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: May 28, 1863
• LeVergne, Tennessee: Jun. 1, 1863
• Triune, Tennessee: Jun. 11,1863
• Triune, Tennessee: Jun. 18,1863
• Manchester, Tennessee: Jun. 28,1863
• Camp near Decherd: Jul. 4, 1863
• Camp on Elk River: Jul. 12, 1863
• Winchester, Tennessee: Jul. 19, 1863
• Winchester, Tennessee: Jul. 24, 1863
• Winchester, Tennessee: Jul. 31, 1863
• Winchester, Tennessee: Aug. 3, 1863
• Winchester, Tennessee: Aug. 9, 1863
• Winchester, Tennessee: Aug. 10, 1863
• Sweedon’s Cove, East Tennessee: Aug. 20, 1863
• Bridgeport, Alabama: Sept. 1, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Sept. 3, 1863
• Bridgeport, Alabama: Sept. 4, 1863
• Camp on Lookout Mountain: Sept. 13, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Sept. 30, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Oct. 1, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Oct. 10, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Oct. 18, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Oct. 28, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Oct. 31, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Nov. 7, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Nov. 13, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Nov. 21, 1863
• Chattanooga, Tennessee: Nov. 22, 1863
• Undated letters
• Mexico, Mo: Sept. 1, 1860
• Apr. 27, 1859
• Doddville: Apr. 28, 1853
• Doddville: Jun. 7, 1853
• Mt. Vernon: Jun. 27, 1853
• Craborchard: Aug. 25
• Craborchard: Aug. 27
• Doddville: Sept. 7, 1853