"Give oceans of love to all.."
The prisoner-of-war letters of Brigadier General Montgomery Dent Corse, CSA, 17th Virginia Infantry to his wife, Elizabeth Beverley, along with his commission as Colonel, Active Volunteer Forces of Virginia, May 17, 1861, and his Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America, July 24, 1865. Selected from the Montgomery Dent Corse Collection which was donated to the Alexandria Library in 1981.
Montgomery Dent Corse was born in Alexandria, VA on March 14, 1816, the eldest
son of John and Julia Corse. He attended Major Bradley Lowe's military school at Colross and Benjamin
Hallowell's school on Washington Street. In 1846, he mustered a company of volunteers for service
in Mexico, serving as their captain. He sailed for California in 1849 and participated in the
Gold Rush. He returned permanently to Alexandria in 1856.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commissioned as a Colonel, served with the 17th Virginia Infantry, and took part in the major battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. At the Battle of Sayler's Creek on April 6, 1865, he was captured and held as prisoner-of-war at Fort Warren, Boston, MA.
After returning to Alexandria, he went into a trading business with his brother and was a charter member of the R.E. Lee Camp, United Confederate Veterans. He donated his $8.00 monthly pension from the Mexican War to the cost of the Confederate Monument and thereby claimed that the Yankee government had a hand in paying for the memorial to Alexandria's fallen Confederates. Corse was honored at the dedication of the Monument at South Washington and Prince Streets in 1889. He died on February 11, 1895.
The photo in the background is from the photograph collections of the Alexandria Library, Special Collections Division and documents the original oil painting, also in the Collection.
CONFEDERATE COMMISSION |
THE LETTERS |
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OATH OF ALLEGIANCE |
COLLECTION CONTENTS |
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A project of the Alexandria Library, Local History/Special Collections Division |
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