Confederate Veteran

Survivors of the Six Hundred Officers

Volume 7, April 1899, page 149

Fontaine proposes that the survivors of the Six Hundred gather at the Charleston reunion of May 1899 and form an association.

A letter from Lamar Fontaine of Lyon, Mississippi, to Robert P. Evans of the Charleston reunion committee, printed with the Veteran's own note appended.

Cite as

Lamar Fontaine, “Survivors of the Six Hundred Officers,” Confederate Veteran 7, no. 4 (April 1899): 149.

The page in the scanned volumeThe whole volume at the Internet Archive

Published
April 1899
Volume
7, no. 4
Pages
149
Author
Lamar Fontaine

SL RVIVORS OF THE SIX HUNDRED OFFICERS.

Lamar Fontaine, of Lyon, Miss., has written to Mr. bert P. Evans, chairman of Committee on Invitation, at Charleston:

"There is a remnant left of the six hundred Coniedrate officers who were confined in the stockade under the fire of our own guns on Morris Island, in Charleston harbor, in the fail of 1864. They are scattered iar and wide, and I am exceedingly anxious to get as many of them together as possible to attend our grand 'reunion at Charleston in May next. I have written to all that I know the address of to meet me in Charleston for the purpose of joining an association of survivors. "Tam not an 'organizer, nor do I wish to be an officer in it. I only want to be a private member. I should like for you to get us a private place for headquarters, a place to register and meet, and give it publicity, so that upon arrival we will know where to go. I would suggest that you publish the place you select in the CONFEDERATE Veteran, in the April number. "T think the privations that we survived while under negro guards and the fire of our own guns for fortytwo days in the harbor of Charleston entitles us to special notice, as the awful horror of that hell on earth will remain with each of us as long as reason sits enthroned.

"Hoping to hear from you on the subject, I remain, with kind regards to you and yours, your friend and comrade, LAMAR FONTAINE." Mr. Evans will be pleased to hear from any of the South Carolina survivors of the six hundred officers above mentioned, and would like one or more of them to take up this matter and inform him as to the possibility of getting up such a reunion during veterans' week here. He understands from some war records kindly furnished him by Dr. John Johnson that an effort was made in 1896 to get up a reunion of South Carolina survivors of these unfortunate prisoners. Mr. Evans would be glad to be furnished with any information he?ring on the subject, to be transmitted to Mr. Fontaine.

The scan

What the scanner made of this page, and what it is in the printed original.

  • “Coniedrate” is Confederate; “in the fail of 1864” is “fall”; “Tam not an organizer” is “I am not”; “he?ring” is “bearing”; “SL RVIVORS” is “SURVIVORS.”

Editorial notes

Statements in this article that are wrong, doubtful, or worth setting beside another account. The article’s own text is left as printed.

  1. “confined in the stockade under the fire of our own guns on Morris Island … for forty-two days”

    Forty-five days is the figure the association itself later used. Forty-two recurs in the Veteran because the men counted from the first shot rather than from the landing.

  2. “Lamar Fontaine”

    Fontaine was a real Confederate officer and the author of “All Quiet Along the Potomac To-night,” but his autobiographical claims were disputed in his own lifetime and several were shown to be false. His membership of the Six Hundred is not corroborated by the published rosters, and this letter should be read with that in mind.