Benjamin Rice Holt Papers

Collection

Identifier: W-0159

Scope and Contents

The collection contains letters from Benjamin Rice Holt as well as letters and other documents from family members. Holt's wartime letters to his father and sisters show a very light-hearted manner and wry wit. One of his letters in 1863 tells how "our trip to the front was a very pleasant one the incessant rain to the contrary notwithstanding." He ends that particular letter by saying "our political sky looks brighter now than at any time previous and I think in a few more months we will all be at home."

The collection also includes a

Dates

1860 - 1939

Creator

Holt, Benjamin Rice (Author, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are responsible for using the materials in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any copyright claimants in collection materials. Copyright for official University records is held by The University of Alabama. The library claims only physical ownership of many manuscript collections. Anyone wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of literary property rights or copyrights. Please contact Special Collections (archives@ua.edu) with questions regarding specific manuscript collections. For more information about copyright policy, please visit: https://www.ua.edu/copyright/. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal implications, for which the University of Alabama assumes no responsibility.

Biographical / Historical

Benjamin Rice Holt, son of William White and Mary Arinton Holt, was born on June 12, 1841, in Richmond, Georgia. He graduated with some distinction from the University of North Carolina and at the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Clinch Rifles and served in the Fifth Georgia Regiment, Jackson's Brigade, under the command of General Braxton Bragg.

He was captured at Santa Rosa Island in October 1861 and spent some time in Fort Warren in Boston, Massachusetts, before he was exchanged. There is a transcribed letter from Holt's father to C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis asking that he be "specifically exchanged" and reassigned "to a place where he can render the most effective service to his country." He ends the letter saying, "If I have tresspassed[sic] too much on your valuable time put it to the acount of a father who has two sons and two grandsons now in the army at Corinth and is anxious to have another there."

Late in 1863, possibly during the battle of Chickamauga, Holt was wounded and received a medical discharge. One of the miscellaneous documents indicates that the wound was in his forehead and was so severe that "his brain was exposed to view and his wound was trepanned." He survived the surgery but was in frail health for the rest of his life.

Holt never married and died on October 20, 1885, in Milledgeville, Georgia.