Polley (Joseph Benjamin) Papers, 1862, 1 Item

Administrative Information

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Copyright: The copyright of these letters is held by Navarro College Archives, Navarro College, 3200 W. 7th Ave., Corsicana, Texas. Internet: archives@navarrocollege.edu.

Cite As:

Joseph Benjamin Polley Papers, 1862, Pearce Civil War Collection, Navarro College, Corsicana, Texas

Forms Part of:

Pearce Civil War Collection

Location: FK 2

Transcription(s): Yes

Scanned Copies on File: No

Accession Number: 2004.444

Processed by:

Megan Jorgeson, June 2005

Reproductions of original materials and transcriptions may be available. Please contact the archivist for further information.

Abstract:

One letter (September 3, 1862; 1 page) written by Corporal Joseph Benjamin Polley of the 4th Texas Infantry, one of the regiments of the famed Hood's Texas Brigade. This letter to his mother recounts the second battle of Manassas. "Since I left Richmond we have been in two fights on the old Manassas grounds and have defeated the enemy each time- on the 29th and 30th August."

Joseph Benjamin Polley was born on October 27, 1840, near Bailey's Prairie, Brazoria County, Texas. Polley's father, Joseph Henry Polley, a native of New York, came to Texas for the first time in 1819 with Moses Austin. He returned to Texas with Stephen F. Austin in 1821, and was one of the "Old Three Hundred" colonists. Joseph B. Polley graduated from Florence Wesleyan University at Florence, Alabama and returned to Texas to enlist as a corporal in Company F of the 4th Texas Infantry. Polley's regiment was a part of Hood's Texas Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. Polley received a head wound at the battle of Gaines' Mills in 1862, and suffered a severe wound in his ankle at the battle of Darbytown Road near Richmond on October 7, 1864. Polley's foot had to be amputated, and as a result of this, he was discharged on January 25, 1865.

Polley began studying law when he returned to Texas, and was admitted to the bar in 1868. He established his practice in 1876 in Floresville, Texas. Polley served as Wilson County attorney from 1877 to 1878 and was a member of the Sixteenth Legislature in 1879. He married Martha (Mattie) Legette in 1866 and they had four children together. Polley died in Floresville on February 2, 1918.

In 1910, Polley published a memoir of his army service, entitled Hood's Texas Brigade. It is considered one of the classics of Civil War literature. He also published A Soldier's Letters to Charming Nellie in 1908, which claimed to be a genuine Civil War letter cycle, but is now believed to have been a post-war fabrication.

In this letter written to his mother, Joseph B. Polley documents the second battle of Manassas, which had ended three days prior, on August 30. "Our regiments made two daring charges and in the second one began the battle and captured nine cannons." Polley informs his mother of the "comparatively trifling" casualties. "The enemy were routed, have fallen back near Fairfax and are now confronting us - One more fight and I think the war will be over."