James A. Marchant family papers : correspondence, 1860-1868.

[Place of production not identified : producer not identified, 1860-1868]

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James Alexander Marchant (1828-1916), originally of Charleston, South Carolina, settled in Clinton, Louisiana, where he married Louisiana DeArmond in 1851. She was a descendent of the Yarborough and Felps families, who had settled in East Feliciana Parish in 1798; her grandmother gave the land on which the town on Clinton was founded. The Marchants had four sons: John James, Madison Monroe, Taylor Alexander and Langworthy. They owned a plantation and slaves and grew cotton, corn and wheat.</p><p>James A. Marchant served in the Confederate army throughout the Civil War, as an orderly and sergeant with the Packwood Guards, Company K, 4th Regiment Louisiana Infantry. His unit fought across the south-east, and he lost his left arm in fighting at Jonesboro, Georgia, during the Atlanta campaign. During Reconstruction, Marchant was elected parish assessor, but, having lost most of his property and slaves after the war, he decided to move his family to Brazil at the invitation of Emperor Pedro II; Pedro encouraged immigration by southern planters in hopes of building the next cotton empire. The Marchants eventually settled at Campinas in the state of S o Paulo. Thousands of Southerners emigrated to Brazil after the Civil War and many remain to this day, calling themselves 'Confederados'. James and Louisiana Marchant never returned to the United States following their emigration.</p><p>Three letters in this collection were written during the Civil War. One is from Louisiana Marchant's brother, John DeArmond, who served in the Confederate Army, and describes life whilst stationed at Ship Island, near Biloxi, Mississippi. The remaining two are from James Marchant to Louisiana. The first of these is an account of fighting at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and a description of the Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas's engagements with US Navy vessels on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers on 15th July 1862. The other is written from Canton, Mississippi, and describes the conditions in camp and Marchant's anxiety regarding the Union invasion of Louisiana and Mississippi. The remaining letters are to the Marchants from friends and family-members describing routine life and hardship in Clinton and East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, after the Civil War.

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October 24, 2023