PVT. ERASMUS E. MARR,
CO. F, 10TH TEXAS INFANTRY

                                                              I can inform you that the regiment and all the Arkansas post prisoners are still here yet though all the rest of the prisoners that have been sent back south have been exchanged and sent to thire commands and whether we are exchanged or not is still a doubt with us    some say we are and some say not    at any rate we are kept here and no one knows how long we will be    our officers are still in prison yet   
[Ed: The officers of the 10th Texas Infantry were imprisoned in Camp Chase at Springfield, Ohio, on January 27, 1863, where they remain until April 10, 1863, when they were paroled and sent to Ft. Delaware, where they were held, until they could be exchanged; which was done the day after this letter was written.   The exhange was done at City Point, Virginia, then they were promptly put on the rail cars and reunited with their men at Camp Moddle Farm Barracks of Petersburg, Virginia.] Times are hard here indeed and prices of evry thing here are almost fabulous    for instance meet botter bacon and beef is now one dollar and twenty five cents per pound    chickens are worth from 4 to 5 dollars a piece and turkey sells by weight at a dollar a pound and eggs at 12½ cts a piece and cant be bought at that unless a person will take as many as a dozen   corn 5 dollars a bushel   flower 40 dollars a barrell   a good beef stear heare is worth six hundred dollars and a horse is worth five hundred and it does not take a good one to bring that    the health of the soldiers here is tolerable good and I understand it to be the case with all the soldiers in the state     Robert Elam [Ed: Pvt. Robert Elam, Co. A, 24th Texas Dismounted Cavarly] died at Camp Butlar   Springfield Illinois and I wish you to contrive some means to let his wife know it as none of the company to which he belonged know any thing of her or where she lives or her given name so as to write to her neither do I know her name    he died on the 7 of march with diareah   at the time of his death he had no money but his effects sold for forty eight dollars and that the ordily sergeant of the company has the money or if he has not got it yet he soon will have it    this money can be had by writing to him and directing where to send it    the ordily name is Bron I believe or by writing to me I can tell him as I do not know his given name    There is no news of much importance here at present    the worst feature of things here at present is great speculation that is going on here    at present the high price of things here at present is not owing to the scarcity of things but of its being in the hands of speculaters    I would like to hear from home verry much but where to write to me is more than I can tell at present    I rather think that we will be sent to Braggs Command in Tennesse and if so you will receive a letter from me shortly and can write to me        I have but little news to write as news is rather dull at this time    nothing more but remain yours

[Collection of Great Grand Nephew, Mahlon Marr - Byron, Georgia]   

Pvt. Erasmus E. Marr - Age 30 upon enlistment with Co. F, 10th Texas Infantry, at Fort Hebert on Virginia Point, Galveston, Texas, on December 5, 1861; he had been recruited at Millican, Brazos County, Texas, on December 1st.

Pvt. Marr was captured along with the rest of the near 4,000 defenders of Fort Hindman, at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, on January 11, 1863, arriving at Camp Douglas Prison near Chicago, Illinois, on January 29th. He was paroled from prison for exchange on April 1, 1863; then was exchanged at City Point, Virginia, on April 7th. Pvt. Marr was issued "1pr Shoes & 1 Hat" at the Institute Hospital of Atlanta, Georgia, on December 11, 1863.

Pvt. Marr was killed in action "Near Atlanta" on either July 21 or 22, 1864; according to the newspaper issue of the Galveston Tri-Weekly News, published at Houston, Texas, on September 5, 1864. On the 21st, his command had received an incredible amount of Federal artillery fire, followed by continuous lines of assaults from the enemy. That night, Cleburne's Division fell back from their lines on Bald Hill, to the inner works of Atlanta. They then counter marched through the night and most of the morning to attack the enemy at the rear of where the were the day before. Unfortunately due to lack of support, Cleburne's Division was unable to hold those works. It was due to the confusion of that two day battle, that the exact day of Pvt. Marr's death was not noted on the above mentioned Casualty Report of Granbury's Texas Brigade.