Friday's Internet Edition, July 04, 2008.
|
| From left, Ken Wommack, Jane Brown and Anna Lena Cooper examine the Civil War letters. |
Her third cousin, Ken Wommack from Lewisville, and his daughter, Jane Brown of Asheboro, brought a book of some 100 copied Civil War letters, written by Wommack’s grandfather and Cooper’s grandmother.
Wommack said the letters were found some time ago in the attic of his father, Sidney L. Wommack’s house.’“Of course my parents knew the letters existed, but I was thrilled to find these, since I have been a dedicated genealogist since 1970,” he said. “My mother, Ada Maude Culler Wommack, had kept a notebook of family history notes, and that foundation and the letters has helped me tremendously.”
Brown said when she was a fourth grader and studying the Civil War history, she took one of the letters and transcribed it on the typewriter. “I wasn’t much of a typist, but did my best with my report. The letter was important.”
Cooper, who taught fourth grade all her teaching career, said “Well, I am impressed. There are very few fourth graders who could type when I was teaching.”
Wommack’s grandfather was James Cornelius Wommack. “James and his brother, Roswell Alpheus Wommack had a sister, Sarah Caroline Wommack Cooper, who was Anna Lena’s grandmother,” Wommack explained.
The 100 letters were written by the Confederate soldiers, James and Roswell Wommack, to their parents, Wilson Wiseman and Rebecca Wommack and sister Sarah, when they were soldiers in Company A, 11th Regiment, NC troops.
“I knew Anna Lena, my cousin, would like to have copies of the letters, so we brought these to her. We are also sharing genealogical information on our families,” said Wommack.
Cooper, in turn, had many old photographs of Wommack’s ancestors and some of the early Clemmons homeplaces of their family. She plans to have these copied for her cousin.
Although years passed since Brown wrote her fourth grade project on her great-grandfather James, she has now compiled a book on the correspondence of these two ancestors, as well as their half-brother, John Mikel, who left home as a teenager and joined the Confederate Army. Mikel became sick from some camp disease and died soon after he entered the war.
Brown said, “One of the most moving letters was one James wrote home about being by his brother John’s bedside as he lay dying.”
The letters from the brothers, most from the oldest brother, Roswell, who was a Lieutenant, describe the camp life, and being in the battles of Manassas, Gettysburg and Petersburg. James, who had joined the Confederate Army at age 16, was not the prolific letter writer his brother Roswell was.
“Roswell wrote about their locations during the war, including Pennsylvania,” said Brown.”“Both Roswell and James wrote their thoughts concerning the war.”
James wrote about going hunting in order to find food to survive the hardships of war. He wrote about being proud to have learned how to bake white bread.
The parents of the soldiers, and their sister, Sarah Wommack Cooper, wrote letters to the soldiers and described life in Clemmonsville, as well as news of their neighbors. Brown said the letters indicated that before John Mikel joined the army, he actually took food and supplies on the train to Virginia to his half-brothers, James and Roswell.
Neighbors in Clemmonsville also sent food and supplies to the soldiers.
Brown said the letters did not report hard-time conditions on the home front. “Probably the parents and sister did not want to worry the soldiers, and they in turn, did not actually describe the horrors of war.”
Roswell and James Wommack were never wounded and survived the war, coming home to Clemmonsville. At one point James lived in the old Hanes homeplace on Middlebrook Drive.
Brown plans to donate a copy of the letters to the historical collection in the North Carolina Room of the Forsyth County Public Library. She also plans to donate a copy to the files of Clemmons Historical Society, which will be included in the collection of Clemmons artifacts in Clemmons Town Hall.
The book of letters from 1861 to 1865 was an invaluable and much appreciated gift for Anna Lena Cooper.