William L. Amonett probably enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Farmer Guards, Company C (later Company I), Twelfth Regiment, Louisiana Infantry, Confederate States Army. While returning to his company, Amonett was apparently captured in Covington County, Mississippi, early in 1863. He escaped but was soon recaptured. Amonett was first sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and then to Memphis, Tennessee. He was subsequently imprisoned at Johnson’s Island, Ohio, around April of 1863 and released around January of 1864. He returned to Louisiana and remained there on parole until the war ended in April of 1865. Amonett was residing in Farmerville, Union Parish, Louisiana, in September of 1865.

Thomas Marion Ward was born in Bedford County, Tennessee, around 1825. He was the son of James and Rachel Kidd Ward. James Ward died around 1833, and his wife, Rachel; children Anne, Charles, Harriet, Jessie Blackman, John Kidd, Letitia, Moses C., and Thomas Marion; and sister-in-law Rebecca moved to a farm that Ward had purchased shortly before his death. The farm was located near Sharon, Madison County, Mississippi.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Marion Ward returned to Madison County and married Susan Young on October 27, 1851. The couple resided at Seven Oaks Plantation in Madison County where they had a son, Thomas St. Vincent (b. October 23, 1853). Susan Young Ward died shortly after the birth of her son.

Around 1859, Ward married his second wife, Martha (Mattie) Alma Taylor, daughter of Colonel Taylor of Mississippi. The couple also resided at Seven Oaks Plantation where they had eight children: Whitfield (b. ca. 1859), Viola (b. ca. 1861), Idelle (b. ca. 1863), Claudia (b. ca. 1864), Montgomery (b. ca. 1866), Rosamond (b. ca. 1870), Annabell (b. ca. 1873), and Mattie (b. ca. 1875). At various times in his life, Thomas Marion Ward was a physician and planter, as well as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He died after June of 1880.

William L. Amonett of Farmerville, Union Parish, Louisiana, wrote this letter to Thomas Marion Ward of Canton, Madison County, Mississippi, on September 30, 1865. Amonett begins by recounting his experiences since visiting at Ward’s home around 1863. He describes his capture by Confederate deserters; his subsequent escape from them; his capture by the Union army; and his imprisonment at Johnson’s Island, Ohio. Amonett discusses how war and imprisonment have affected his view of life, especially regarding military and public service aspirations. He comments on Reconstruction politics, including the roles that some former secessionists are playing under military rule and the gradual return of law and order to the Trans-Mississippi area. Amonett closes by asking for Ward’s opinion on the aforementioned matters and to be remembered in his prayers.

1. Letter. 1865. 1 folder.