THEODORE A. HONOUR COLLECTION
Papers, 1862-1885
(Predominantly, 1862-1865)

East Tennessee State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, Tennessee 37614

E-mail: archives@etsu.edu
Telephone: (423) 439-4338

INTRODUCTION

Title: Theodore A. Honour Collection
Collection Number: Accession No. 14
Physical Description: 1 linear foot, 2 boxes, 22 folders
Creator: Theodore A. Honour
Repository: Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance: The papers of Theodore A. Honour were given to the Sherrod Library, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee in 1969 by T. A. and Katherine Honour. They were transferred to the Archives of Appalachia on December 7, 1978. This collection includes one original and 273 facsimiles of letters written by the donor's great-grandfather during his service in the Confederate Army. The collection was brought together by Katherine Honour in working on her thesis "Theodore A. Honour: His life and letters of the Civil War Period," which is held by the Sherrod Library. The original letters are in the possession of the donor T. A. Honour and the Library of South Caroliniana at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.

Access: The collection is open for research.

Processing Information: David Goodin and Anne Sims completed processing, and the collection was opened for research on September 15, 1979.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Theodore A. Honour was born April 16, 1831 to Ann Caroline Bize Honour and John Henry Honour, a minister and banker of Charleston, South Carolina. In 1836, Theodore Honour became a bookkeeping officer in the Bank of Charleston, where he remained on the payroll until suspension of the bank in 1865. He married Rebecca Seigniors on October 14, 1857; the union eventually produced nine children. When hostilities threatened at Fort Sumter, the Washington Light Infantry, of which Theodore had been a member since 1852, offered its services for defense of South Carolina. Two companies of the infantry became the Eleventh (Eutwa) Battalion, which merged with the Twenty-fifth Regiment of South Carolina on August 14, 1862. The infantry served at Fort Sumter, along the Charleston coast, briefly in Wilmington, North Carolina, and in northern Virginia. In 1864, Theodore Honour was hospitalized at Petersburg, Virginia with a fever; he was sent home to Charleston on limited duty until the end of the war. Honour's tour of duty spanned the war from the bombardment of Sumter to surrender at Appomattox. After the war, Honour continued his banking career, first with the First National Bank of Charleston, then from 1872-1889, with the restored Bank of Charleston. He retired to his farm in Greenville, South Carolina in 1880 and died there March 30, 1913. His wife followed him January 29, 1915.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection consists primarily of letters (1862-1865) from Theodore A. Honour to his wife "Beckie" during his service in the Confederate Army. Honour believed the letters were valuable for their picture of Confederate military and civilian life. The letters also reflect the culture and values of a nineteenth century Charleston gentleman, Honour's view of the war, and of the letter as a literary form. Several letters express his intention to preserve the letters and bind them with preface and memoirs "for the future reading and for the children." The first two subseries of the Honour collection are facsimiles of the manuscript letters. The third subseries is Honour's typescript copy of the letters, with the preface and memoirs he meant to include in his book. An index to the collection follows the Box and Folder List.

Important subjects covered in the collection include:

Honour, Theodore A., 1831-1913
South Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Participation, Afro- American
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personnel narratives, Confederate
Washington Light Infantry

SERIES DESCRIPTION

Series I, CORRESPONDENCE AND TYPESCRIPT OF PROJECTED BOOK, 1862-1885, Boxes 1-2.

This series contains correspondence of Theodore A. Honour to his wife and other family members, 1862-1864. Also included are the Washington Light Infantry muster roll 1862-1865, newsclippings, obituaries of Honour's father, John H. Honour, 1885, as well as preface, memoirs, and typescript copies of letters 1862-1865.

Subseries I-A, CORRESPONDENCE, 1862-1863, Box 1.

This subseries contains manuscript correspondence of Theodore A. Honour to his wife, January 1862-September 1863, a letter to Honour's daughter, Theodora (May 20, 1862), and a letter to his father (April 3, 1863); original letter, February 4, 1863.

Subseries I-B, CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS, 1864-1885, Box 2.

This subseries contains correspondence of Theodore Honour to his wife January 1864-September 1864, muster roll of Washington Light Infantry 1862-1865, obituaries of John H. Honour, Theodore Honour's father (1885), memorial article on John H. Honour, 1885, newsclipping on Washington Light Infantry, undated, and appendix to letters.

Subseries I-C, TYPESCRIPT OF HONOUR LETTERS, PREFACE, MEMOIRS, AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, 1862-1865, Box 2.

Typescript of correspondence of Honour to his wife 1862-1864, preface to the letters, memoirs interspersed with letters. Also letters from Honour's father (1865) and from Honour's brother, Fred (July 18, 1862), letters from Lieutenant W. S. Barton and from Captain James M. Carson, and an appendix to the typescript letters.
BOX AND FOLDER LIST

Series I, CORRESPONDENCE AND TYPESCRIPT OF PROJECTED BOOK, 1862-1885, Boxes 1-2.

Subseries IA, CORRESPONDENCE, 1862-1863.

Box 1

1. Correspondence, January 1862-April 1862.
2. Correspondence, May 1862-August 1862.
3. Correspondence, September 1862-December 1862.
4. Correspondence, January 1863.
5. Correspondence, February 1863.
6. Correspondence, March 1863-April 1863.
7. Correspondence, May 1863-July 1863.
8. Correspondence, August 1863-September 1863.
9. Correspondence, October 1863-December 1863.


Subseries I-B, CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS, 1864-1885.

Box 2

1. Correspondence, January 1864-April 1864.
2. Correspondence, May 1864-September 1864.
3. Correspondence, fragments, undated.
4. Muster roll, Washington Light Infantry, 1862-1865.
5. Newsclippings, Washington Light Infantry, obituaries and article by Edward T. Horn from The City Year Book concerning John H. Honour, 1885.

Subseries IC, TYPESCRIPT OF HONOUR LETTERS, PREFACE, MEMOIRS, AND OTHER CORRESPONDENCE, 1862-1865.

Box 2 (cont.)

6. Typescript, March 1862; letters from Honour's father (March 14 and July 18, 1862); letters from Honour's brother Fred (July 18, 1862); Memoirs 1862.
7. Typescript, February 1863-July 1863; letter from Lieutenant W. S. Barton June 3, 1863.
8. Typescript, July 1863-October 1863.
9. Typescript, October 4, 1863-December 1863; Memoirs, October 31, 1863.
10. Typescript, January 1864-March 1864.
11. Typescript, March 1864-May 1864.
12. Typescript, June 1864-September 1864; Memoir July 28, 1864; letter from Captain James M. Carson, September 18, 1864.
13. Memoirs, October 4, 1864; appendix to typescript; letter from Honour's father, June 5, 1865.

 

INDEX TO THEODORE A. HONOUR COLLECTION*
*Notations following index term indicates Box and Folder number of indexed materials.

Appendix: 2-13.
Attitude toward the War, Southern: 2-1, 2-7 thru 2-9, 2-11.
Barton, Lieut. W. S.: 1-8, 2-7, 2-8, 2-10.
Bank of Charleston: 2-1, 2-7, 2-10, 2-13.
Battle of Chancellorsville: 2-9, 2-11.

Battle of Drury Bluff: 2-11.
Battle of Gettysburg: 2-11.
Battle of Port Wilthall Junction: 2-11.
Battle of Swift Creek: 2-11.
Battery Bee, South Carolina: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3.

Battery Island, South Carolina, letters from: 1-1, 2-6.
Battery Haskell, South Carolina: 1-8, 2-8.
Battery Simkins, South Carolina: 2-8.
Battery Wagner, South Carolina: See Fort Wagner.
Beauregard, General P. G. T.: 1-1 thru 1-3, 2-6, 2-8, 2-10 thru 2-12.

Beauregard Light Infantry: 1-1, 1-2, 2-6, 2-12.
Blacks, attitudes towards: 2-7, 2-9.
Black Troops, reports of : 2-7, 2-9, 2-10.
Black's Island: 2-7 thru 2-9.
Bragg, General Braxton: 1-2, 1-3, 2-8, 2-9.

Buel, General Don Carlos: 1-1 thru 1-3.
Burnside, General Ambrose E.: 1-2, 2-9.
Calhoun Flying Artillery: 1-2.
Camp Gadberry, James Island, South Carolina, letters from : 1-2, 1-5, 1-7, 2-7, 2-8.
Camp Glover, James Island, letter from: 1-3 thru 1-5.

Camp on Stono River, James Island, letters from : 1-2, 1-3.
Camp near Presbyterian Church, James Island, letters from: 2-9.
Camp Pettigrew, South Carolina, letters from: 1-2, 1-8, 2-7, 2-8.
Carson, James M.: 1-7, 2-12.
Charleston Battalion: 1-2, 2-8. See also Twenty-seventh Regiment, South Carolina.

Charleston, South Carolina, letter from: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-7, 1-9.
Charleston, evacuation of: 2-9, 2-13.
Charleston, shelling of: 1-5, 1-8, 2-8, 2-9.
Coal Harbor, Virginia, letter from: 2-11.
Cole's Island, South Carolina: 1-1, 2-7.

Colquit, Colonel Alfred: 2-7, 2-8, 2-9, 2-10.
Columbia, South Carolina, letter from: 1-2, 2-1, 2-7, 2-10.
Cumming's Point, South Carolina: See Fort Gregg.
Currency, inflation of: 2-1.
Davis, President Jefferson: 2-8, 2-9.

Disease in Confederate Army: 1-2, 1-4, 2-2, 2-6 thru 2-8, 2-10, 2-12.
Division Hospital, Petersburg, Virginia, letters from: 2-2, 2-12.
Dixon Island, South Carolina: 1-2.
Drury Bluff, Virginia, letter from: 2-12.
Eleventh Regiment, South Carolina; 1-4, 2-2, 2-10, 2-12.

Elliott, Major Stephen, Jr.: 1-9, 2-9, 2-10.
England: 1-2, 2-1, 2-6.
English vessels built for Confederacy, reports of: 2-8.
"Eutaw Battalion," Eleventh Battalion, South Carolina: 2-7. See also Twenty-fifth Regiment, South Carolina:
Finley, Second lieutenant W. Washington: 2-6, 2-7.

Folly Island, South Carolina: 2-7, 2-8.
Food prices, reference to: 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-6 thru 2-12.
Fort Beauregard, Sullivan's Island, South Carolina: 2-7, 2-8.
Fort Gregg, Morris Island: 2-8.
Fort Haskell: See Battery Haskell.

Fort Johnson, South Carolina: 1-2, 2-6 thru 2-8.
Fort Sumter, letters from: 1-9, 2-8 thru 2-10.
Fort Wagner, attack on: 2-7 thru 2-9.
Fortification seven miles from Richmond, Virginia, letter from: 2-11.
Fourth Brigade, South Carolina Militia: 2-6.

forty-seventh Regiment, Georgia; 1-2.
Forty-sixth Regiment, Georgia: 1-2 thru 1-4, 2-7.
France: 1-3, 1-5, 2-1, 2-8, 2-10.
Georgia Battalion: 1-9.
German mercenaries, reports of : 2-12.

Gist, General S. R.: 1-2, 2-7.
Goat Island, letters from: 1-1, 1-2.
Gordon Light Infantry: 2-6.
Hagood, General Johnson: 2-8, 2-9, 2-10, 2-11.
Hagood's Brigade: 2-6, 2-11, 2-12.

Honour, Fred, wounded: 2-9.
Honour, J. H.: 2-5, 2-13.
Honour, J. H. ("I. H."), letters from : 2-6, 2-7, 2-13.
Honour, Lawrence, wounded: 2-11, 2-12.
Honour, Theodore, birth of third child: 1-3.

Honour, Theodore, detached to Medical Corps: 2-12.
Honour, Theodore, detailed to Bank of Charleston: 2-10.
Honour, Theodore, head of Military Stores Department: 2-13.
Honour, Theodore, letter to his father: 1-2.
Honour, Theodore, letter to his son: 1-2.

Honour, Theodore, sick while in service: 1-1 thru 1-3, 1-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-11, 2-12.
Honour, Theodore, wounded: 2-9.
Insurance and Trust Company, Charleston, South Carolina: 2-6, 2-7.
Ironclads, Union: 1-3, 2-7 thru 2-9.
Iron clads, Confederate: 1-1 thru 1-3, 2-8.

Ironsides, U.S.S.: 2-7 thru 2-10.
Iron torpedo boat: 2-8, 2-9.
Jackson, General "Stonewall": 1-2, 1-3, 2-8, 2-9.
James Island, South Carolina: 1-1 thru 1-3, 2-1, 2-6 thru 2-9, 2-11, 2-12.
James Island, South Carolina, letters from: 1-2 thru 1-5, 1-7, 2-7, 2-8.

John's Island, South Carolina: 2-7, 2-8, 2-10.
Keokik, U.S.S.: 2-7.
Legal status of slaves in South Carolina: 2-8.
Lee, General Robert E.: 2-8, 2-9, 2-11, 2-12.
Legaresville, John's Island, South Carolina: 2-6, 2-7.

Legares Point, South Carolina, letters from: 1-8, 2-8. Also mentioned: 1-2, 2-7.
Long Island, South Carolina: 1-2, 1-8, 2-7, 2-8.
Longstreet, General James: 1-3, 2-9, 2-11.
Marion Rifles (Light Infantry): 1-2, 2-6, 2-7.
Maryland, invasion of: 2-12.

Memoir, Theodore A. Honour, Fort Sumter, October 31, 1863: 2-9.
Memoir, Theodore A. Honour, Charleston, South Carolina, October 4, 1864: 2-13.
Memoir, Theodore A. Honour, furlough to Charleston, July 28, 2864: 2-12.
Morris Island, South Carolina: 1-3, 1-7, 1-8, 2-7 thru 2-9, 2-12.
Newberry, South Carolina, letters from: 2-12, 2-13.

Olney, First lieutenant Hiram B.: 2-6, 2-7.
Palmentto Guards, Artillery Battery: 1-2, 2-7 thru 2-9.
Pee Dee Rifles (Legion): 1-2, 2-6, 2-8.
Pemberton, General John C.: 1-1 thru 1-3, 2-6, 2-8.
Petersburg, Virginia, assault on lines near: 2-2, 2-12.

Petersburg, Virginia, engagement near: 2-11.
Petersburg, Virginia, letters from: 2-11, 2-12.
Pressley, Captain I. C.: 1-3, 2-6, 2-9, 2-11, 2-12.
Railroad travel: 2-1, 2-13.
Rations in the Confederate Army: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-8, 2-10, 2-11, 2-12.

Richmond, Virginia: 2-2, 2-12.
Russia: 2-6.
St. Matthews Rifles: 1-3, 2-6.
Secessionville, South Carolina, battles of: 2-1, 2-6 thru 2-8.
Secessionville, South Carolina, letters from: 1-2, 1-5, 1-7, 1-8, 2-7, 2-9, 2-10.

Seventh Battalion, South Carolina: 2-12.
Simonton, Lieutenant Colonel Charles H.: 1-1, 1-2, 2-6 thru 2-8, 2-12.
Sixteenth Regiment, Georgia: 2-7.
Spartanburg, South Carolina, letters from: 1-6, 2-2.
South Carolina Hospital, Petersburg, Virginia, letters from: 1-6, 2-12.

Sullivan's Island, South Carolina; 1-1, 1-2, 2-8, 2-9.
Tennessee: 2-7 thru 2-9.
Treatment of Union prisoners, Confederate view of: 2-8.
Twelfth Battalion, Georgia: 2-9.
Twelfth Regiment, Georgia: 2-7.

Twenty-eighth Regiment, Georgia; 2-8.
Twenty-fifth Regiment, South Carolina: 1-2, 2-6, 2-8, 2-10 thru 2-12.
Twenty-first Regiment, South Carolina: 2-10, 2-12.
Twenty-seventh Regiment, Georgia: 2-8.
Twenty-seventh Regiment, South Carolina: 2-10 thru 2-12.

Vicksburg, Mississippi: 2-8.
Washington Light Infantry, losses of: 2-10.
Washington Light Infantry, mentioned: 1-2, 2-6, 2-8, 2-9, 2-12.
Washington Light Infantry, muster rolls: 1-8.
Wilmington, North Carolina, letters from: 1-3, 2-1, 2-12.

Wise's Brigade: 2-9, 2-11, 2-12.
Yeadon Light Infantry: 2-7, 2-11.

 

 

 

MTC 11/00