Sixteenth
South Carolina
C.S.A.
we are an independent people,
who can never be subjugated...
Sixteenth
South Carolina
C.S.A.

Emblems of Southern Valor, The Battle Flags of the Confederacy Joseph H. Crute, Jr. Illustrations by Roland N. Stock ISBN# 1-56013-001-6.

"Southern Soldier Boy"
Music by Dayle K.

Forrest, Miss, May 20, 1863
Leiut. W.M. Goodlett
Jackson, Miss.

Respected Sir

Your very kind note of the 25th inst was just received. I am indeed under many obligations to you for your kind wishes which you have lavished upon me, I can assure you that your good wishes are reciprocated may the supreme being watch over and protect you and guide you safe threw this perilous and unjust war, and return you crowned with laurel and glory, to those dear friends who are waiting with anxious hearts for your welcome return. I am in hope that time is not ere long when our dear brave heroes can prove to this tyrannical invader that we are an independent people, who can never be subjugated, only by our equals and they have never yet existed.

Very Respectfully,

M.M. Brown

A man of the north, may the same proud cry,
never yonder on the fields of glory.
you may fall but your gallant sufferings
shall live in your country's story
and maidens and mother and sister and wife
though it wings your heart so tender
ever teach your loved one like heroes bold
To die, but never surrender.

MMB



Who is M.M. Brown and what kindness was extended by Lieutenant Goodlett. Did he ever find his way there again? Did she wait, for I feel strongly, that this is indeed a lady. What became of Lieutenant Goodlett and M.M Brown, after the war? Is he the W.M. Goodlett who finds his way to Kentucky for the 1870 census? Like so much after war, only fragments are left... pieces of a far greater whole that cascade away like water over a fall. We have the life we learn with, and the life we live with after we learn. Wm. M. Goodlett and M.M. Brown, a single story, a lone letter... why should it alone survive, what makes it so very different? Although he is shown at the surrender in Greensboro, he is also shown in the hospital in Mississippi in January and what of Jane Ella, the wife who bore him a child in 1869? So many questions, so few answers... it is the stuff of high romance and high romance is but a single step away from the truly tragic. Speculation, yes... but that is all we have left.

My Thanks to Sandra E... the wonderful person who allowed me to use this letter.



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