AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO HIS FATHER, BY CONFEDERATE LIEUTENANT M.R. HAILEY, 154TH TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS, EXPRESSING ANGER AND DISMAY THAT "OUR COMPANY HAS BEEN OVERRUN BY LINCOLNITES.

Decatur [Tennessee], 1862. 4pp bifolium, each page 3-3/4" x 5-3/4." Entirely in ink manuscript, faded but legible. Good.

M[adison] R. Hailey [1843-1862] was from McNairy County, where he joined Company I, 154th Tennessee Volunteers, in May 1861. He was the son of William Carrol Hailey [1822-1887], a farmer. Madison died on May 3, 1862, less than two months after writing this letter. The cause of death was perhaps from disease.
The 154th Tennessee, an old militia unit first organized in 1842, was reorganized as a CSA Tennessee regiment in early 1861, keeping its old numerical designation. Later in 1861, Hailey was elected 2nd Lieutenant. The 154th became part of the 55th Tennessee Infantry on February 14, 1862 at Columbus, Kentucky. This letter was written about one month after the 55th was formed. The 55th Tennessee Infantry surrendered at Island #10 a few weeks after this letter.
Hailey's Letter to "Dear Father," reads as follows:
"I have been informed that our company has been overrun by Lincolnites. With my eyes filled with tears, I write you this address not expecting it ever to reach you. We have had a most horribly bad time. But it is sufficient to say that I am very unwell at present but hope that I don't die. I will get well soon. It is impossible for me to tell my feelings in regard to the Nashville affair [Nashville fell to the Union in February]. I am sorry to say that Tennessee is gone by the board. But if they ever get me, they will have as good a piece of meat as ever they chewed. There is one important thing you must keep your gab to yourself. Not say a word. If you do, you are gone up, sure as there is a God. I want you all to do the best you can. And don't look for me till you see me dead or when every Lincolnite is killed between me and home. You must write to me soon. | Yours Resp, | Lieut. M. R. Hailey.