This letter was written by Thomas J. Horney (b. 1830) of Madison, St. Francis county, Arkansas. Thomas was enumerated as a 30 year-old railroad agent in the 1860 US Census. He was a native of Pennsylvania. His wife — Martha — was a native of North Carolina, and their sons, Thomas and Wilbur were both born in Arkansas, suggesting that Thomas moved his family there prior to 1853.
Homey wrote the letter to Lewis D. McKissick (1828-1903) — a Confederate colonel who served as the civil governor and provost marshal in Memphis in 1862. The letter pertains to the delivery of a “bearer of dispatches addressed to Gen’l. Beauregard” whose loyalty to the Confederacy was questioned. The suspect’s name was Byrd Smith (1790-1872) who resided in Glasgow, Howard county, Missouri.
Byrd’s son, was Gustavus Woodson (“G. W.”) Smith (1822-1896) who was a Mexican War veteran who served the Confederacy as a Major General. He resigned his commission in February 1863 and became a volunteer aide to Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard.
TRANSCRIPTION
Madison, Arkansas
May 20, 1862
L. D. McKissick
Civil Governor & Prov. Marshal
Memphis, Tennessee
Dear Sir,
This will be handed to you by Mr. John Morvill who has in custody by my order Byrd Smith who is a bearer of dispatches addressed to Gen’l Beauregard. I am not satisfied as to his loyalty and so send him under guard to you to be disposed of in the manner you may deem proper. I have understood that he has been under arrest heretofore [as] a Union man and a jayhawker. I suppose the proper plan would be to send him under guard to his destination. He says he can identify himself as the right kind of a man when he gets there. The Yankees are in the retreat from Cotton Plant in this county.
Yours respectfully, — T. J. Horney, Mayor of the town of Madison
Please give my men an order for a passport back.
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