AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED G.H. BURTON, FROM TROY, SOUTH CAROLINA, 8 MARCH 1907, CONCERNING SHARPSHOOTERS' GUNS IN KENTUCKY'S FAMOUS CONFEDERATE ORPHAN BRIGADE DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
Troy, S. C: 1907. Single sheet of paper entirely in ink manuscript, 5-1/8" x 6-1/4." Very Good.
The commander of the Kentucky Orphan Brigade's Sharpshooters writes to "Joe," otherwise unidentified:
"In accordance with your request of recent date as well as to fulfill my promise to you I send you the history as it was written by Ed Porter Thompson in his history of the Ky Brigade of infantry known as the Orphan Brigade. I had twenty men in my sharp Shooter corps, but only eleven with guns to which your confederate order refers. The others were armed with telescope guns manufactured in the South but not near so effective at a distance as the Kerr rifles to which this sketch refers & which your order refers to. The Kerr guns was also a telescope gun. The telescope being much superior to the ones on the Southern made guns. I hope this is what you want, it is true as written by Thompson. If you want to say any thing about me you may say that I am now an humble minister of the Gospel trying to serve my Master as faithfully as I did my Country in the Confed war. As ever your True friend G. H. Burton."
Burton was a Confederate officer during the War, a member of Co. F, 4th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. This was the famous Kentucky "Orphan" Brigade. During the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 Burton was placed in command of the Brigade's sharpshooters, and decorated for gallant and meritorious conduct. After the war he married Sally Bushnell, moved to Georgia, and then to South Carolina, where he became a prominent area Baptist minister.
Find a Grave records "Cause of death: suicide by pistol shot." Item #41773
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