A Simple Story Badly Told
The story of the Sixth North Carolina State Troops and the Battle of Gettysburg should be well known by the readers of this blog and there is little more that I can add. While researching the involvement of the 6th North Carolina State Troops in the Battle of Gettysburg (way back in the in the 1990's), I came across a reference to a letter written to Governor Vance by the commander of the Sixth just a few days after the tumultuous battle. Hoping that this would add additional details to the story of the sacrifices made by our ancestors in gray, I went to the North Carolina State Archives to search this letter out. I was ecstatic when I found the actual letter, handwritten in pencil on lined stationary, by Major Tate, from the field, nearly 135 years previously, nearly to the exact day. Photo of the actual letter written by Major Tate to his cousin, Governor Vance describing the role of the 6th North Carolina State Troops in the Battle of Gettysburg I spent over 2 hours decipher