[Letters] 30 Letters Received or Written by Paymaster Major Foster Amos Hixson: 1864 - 1867

1867. Unbound. Very Good. A collection of 30 letters (plus a pay receipt) spanning the years 1864 to 1867, written or received by Paymaster Foster Amos Hixson (1834 - 1904). Most are a single page measuring approximately 8" x 9¾", a few are smaller and are between one and three pages of content. Some general wear, one letter has been torn affecting some of the text, overall very good.

The majority of the letters were received by Hixson and primarily contain comments about sending along accounts and vouchers as well as requesting payments. Four of the letters are signed by Hixson and mostly deal with the same subjects. The other letters are largely signed by other paymasters and officers. The earliest letter is dated August 31, 1864 (as is the pay receipt the letter refers to) and the latest letter is dated July 6, 1867, which is a letter from an "old friend," and apparently sent just five days after Hixon was mustered out. The locations from which the letters are sent vary considerably. Altogether 11 different locations are listed including Washington D.C.; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Palatine Bridge, New York; and Tallahassee, Florida.

There is little tying these letters together save for the name Foster Amos Hixson. Not much is known about Hixson but according to *Find A Grave* Hixson was made Major in 1864, became a paymaster that same year, and made Colonel in 1866. There are three letters (and a pay receipt) written while the Civil War was still taking place (all with the stated location of Washington D.C.) but their contents make no direct statements about the war. One of these letters mentions a hospital, which appears to be called Ricaud Hospital, but we cannot find any record of such a place. What stands out are the oddball personal letters that bristle with strangeness and ambiguity. One letter, dated March 9, 1866 and sent from Savannah, appears to be signed by Hixson, implying he wrote it, but it also appears to be signed by someone else named J.W. Saunders. The letter addresses the recipient simply as, "Major," and begins very curiously, "I send you my [crossed out] ... If you don't like it you can send it back, or what is better, pitch it into some bottomless well." It goes on to ask about a piece of paper signed by "everyone except Ballard" (a Major who pops up in other letters), the writer also mentions taking a "steamer to New York," and tells the recipient to "take good care of yourself."

The strangest and most delightful letter is one that was sent to Hixson by C.W. Wingard, and opens with a sort of poem, "My dear Major, 'It is a fine distinction in the eye of the lover' - If I should say Wingard in Savannah & Hixton in Charleston then I would mean, 'status quo' - but if I should say Wingard in Charleston and Hixson in Savannah then I would mean 'presto chango.' A fine distinction in the eye of the lover, you honor! 'Eggs is eggs' and law is law." The letter goes on to explain, among many other things, that Wingard is getting Hixson's old post and promises to forward any news. A handful of colleagues are mentioned including one that appears elsewhere, Col. Elliott.

The more personal correspondence often refers to officers that appear in multiple letters, painting a picture of the world of 1860s U.S. military paymasters. But they also contain some rather charming moments such as an old friend telling Hixson of a military grand promenade concert, describing all the attendants, and how "the usual quantity of bourbon was disposed of and in disposing of it we were kept together till the small hours." And because some of the handwriting is so difficult to decipher, we believe that there are still more stories to discover in this collection.

A substantial collection of U.S. military related letters from the 1860s deserving of further study.