A Letter from Belle to her Mama

Undated original letter, , 9 1/2” x 15” folded in half, written in pencil from Belle Tisdale to her mother Eliza Helen Pratt Tisdale. It includes a drawing of the girls in the buggy and a note in ink from Grandma Bernice Pratt to Eliza. Transcribed exactly as written.

Although there is no date on page 1, Belle writes Feb.17^th on page 2 when she closes the letter. On page 1 Belle mentions that she and Kate weighed themselves on a trip to the store. “Kate is lbs 52 & I am lbs 117.” In her letter of April 27, 1869 she gives her weight as 104 and Kate's as 67. On the basis of Belle's weight I estimate the date as February 17, 1870, even though Kate's weight does not make sense. The Kate mentioned may be Kate Tisdale and not Kate Craig. The paper is also identical to that used for the poem about “Our Fishing Excursion,” posted last month.

Transcription

Page 1

[imprint upper left of a domed building with word CONGRESS above it]

Dear Mama

We received your letter yesterday, I was surprised to hear that Martha's baby was born already.

Kate and I went to town yesterday, & were both frightened into sick head aches & cramp colics by nearly turning over in the mud 3 different times, in one of those places Rhodie fell down, one wheel went up on a bank, the other went down in the stiffest mud above the hubs & that brought the buggy exactly in this position [drawing of the buggy] only it was on the side, & just as I thought we were over; the mule gave a jump & jerked us out of the mud; I was so glad, that I had to cry; when we got nearly to millers we had to stop on account of a horrible mud hole just ahead of us, we never would have got through, if a man had not come and led us up the bridge & along the side walk untill we had passed it.

We went into Jackson's, bought some tobacco & soda, & weighed; Kate is lbs 52 & I am lbs 117; George is comeing next Sunday, at least he said he would if he was not sick, he has been having fever of & on for the last two weeks.

We have got our bundle at last, & are delighted with all our things the shoes are beautiful, but they are to large for me, so I sold them to Mary (they fit her to perfection) I will enclose

Page 2

$5 for you to get me another pair exactly like these, only a whole size shorter, I tried these on & they were much longer than my foot _________ even when my foot had spread around, please get them as near like these as you can.

I am so glad Papa's salary is increased, it will be a greater reward for his hard work than what it was before.

Give my love to all, and kiss them for me; I am glad Aunt France is well now & hope she will remain so, tell her the old lamp no longer sits on the jam in vain, for Kate & I dance in the dining room every night.

We did not get to the ball after all, so I must teach myself not to look forward to anything but disappointment & that will come with out anticipation. Grandma is in a hurry for the light so I must stop.

Feb 17^th Good bye your affec daughter Belle.

I will give you a better drawing of us in the mud.

[drawing]      the bridge

The mud

Page 3

[note in ink from Bernice H. Connelly Pratt to Eliza Helen Pratt Tisdale]

Eliza

My dear child

We recieved your letter yesterday and was glad to hear that all were well, and also to hear that Mr. Tisdales sallary  was increased, I don't know what put it into your head that Mr. Tisdale asked for that sugar he did not do it and I sent it of my own free will; you have given me many a thing and dont know how long I will or what I may need before I die; give my love to France and all the children Robert as well, I have no news,

Your aff ma

B H Pratt

Page 4

[Belle's PS to Mama is on page 4 of the folded paper]

direct to Mr. W. Pratt

care P. Milletré [?]

Please send them immediately.

PS

We have not spoken to Uncle Jene for a month; one day he & grand-pa had been in town & when they were eating supper they happened to speak of some murder that had been committed in town; & Kate as was natural asked: who was it? Or who did it? & they both snapped her up & said: what buisness was that of hers, or something to that effect; of course she told grand-ma; then she blased away at them & said there we were working our selves to death for them, & then when we asked them a civil question we could not get a decent answer & she would be glad when we could go home & Kate could go to her ma & she would go somewhere, then they might stay here & growl & snap one another up as much as they liked; next day we spoke to him he would not answer, several times I spoke to him, he would not answer. Now he has my pride roused & I would not speak to him to save his soul.

Good-bye. Belle.

On August 1 the 1870 census lists Belle as “Isabella” age 15 in dwelling 327 with her mother Eliza and sisters and brothers Mary, age 17; Frank, age 10; William, age 8; Olive Lee, age 6; and Robert, age 3.

In dwelling 326 are her grandparents, William, age 68, and “Bernea,” age 63, and Uncle Eugene, age 22. Aunt Albina and her husband George Durr with daughters “Bernece and Levilna” are in dwelling 328. Next in dwelling 329 is “Emmett" Craig with daughters Katie and Mary.  So it appears they are all living on the Pratt's old Oakland Plantation property.

Where is Belle's father, Benjamin Franklin Tisdale? We can't find him in the 1870 census anywhere. He is listed in the 1867 and 1868 New Orleans City Directories as working for J. B. Murison at 234 Calliope Street. Belle wrote to her Papa in April 1869. We know he and Eliza were still together because two more children were yet to be born, Marion Eugene in March 1871 and Charles Harry in May 1874.

A present from Uncle Jenie

Among Belle's letters was a small wooden box just three inches long. 

In the box were several rusty pen nibs and a part of a silver horse charm.

Inside the lid  Belle had written "A Present from my Dear Uncle Jenie."

Joel Eugene Pratt c1870

Uncle Jenie was Joel Eugene Pratt, Belle's mother's youngest brother. His name is also written as Eugene, Gene and Jene in different documents. The family always pronounced it Gee NAY in the typical accent of Louisiana. He was born March 2, 1847 in Baton Rouge and was just eight years older than Belle. There is a photo of him at about age 18 in my May 12, 2015 blog post “Pratts and Tisdales in the Civil War.” He served as a private in Company I, Ogden's Louisiana Cavalry, from May 1864 until May 1865.

Uncle Jenie may have given this box to Belle for Christmas or for her birthday on January 3. We can only guess at what year, possibly the late 1860s when she was living with her grandparents, Bernice and William Pratt, most of the time.

In the 1870 census Joel Eugene Pratt, age 23, is listed as a cadet at Louisiana State University. On the day after Christmas in 1872 Uncle Jenie married Adeline Theresa “Addie” Taylor (1853-1924). They had eight children that we know of: Joel Marshall, Mary, William Buffington, Eugene Taylor, James A., Warren Fernanda, Ava Eunice, and Mabyn Theresa.  There were evidently two others that died young as in 1900 Addie tells the census taker that she is the mother of ten children, seven of whom are living.

In the 1880 census Uncle Jenie, Aunt Addie and their three oldest children are living on Greenwell Springs Road next door to William and Bernice Pratt, Eliza Tisdale and her five youngest children, and cousin Kate Craig.

In her 1904 letter to Cousin Will Itti, Cousin Kate Craig Coutourié writes:

Uncle Eugene could not leave the old home place, and so bought a little corner of it, and put up a little home and still lives there.

Addie died August 10, 1924 at age 70 and Eugene died August 2, 1932 at age 85. They are buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1869 Fishing Excursion to the Amite River

In this poem about a family fishing excursion Belle Tisdale paints a vivid picture of a trip to the Amite by the Pratt, Tisdale, Craig, and other families. The winding Amite River, pronounced A-meet in Louisiana, flows south just a few miles east of the Pratt farm. It is still a popular fishing place today.

There is no date on the page but the ink handwriting matches Belle's letter of April 27, 1869, in which she writes  "...we intend to go to the Amite next Friday to stay all night and all next day and come home late in the evening; ..."  

[Original, 7 3/4" x 9 3/4" paper, written in ink on both sides of the page. There is an imprint in top left corner, the word “CONGRESS” with a domed building. Transcribed as written.]

On our fishing excursion

Twas early in the morn we started,

On that gay and happy tour;

All of us were merry hearted,

But of that you will feel sure,

When I tell you all that happened,

From the time we left our door.

The Sun had set, when all drew near;

The tent and two large fires,

Uncle Jenie, Uncle Emm,

My sister and my cousin,

Were seated on an old dead tree,

Which near our camp had fallen.

Now at a loss for what to do,

We thought we'd have some fun;

Some one says, suppose we dance!

No sooner said than done,

We yelled and whooped & shouted: Jack!

Till he came and danced on the wagon back, which served us as a floor.

Next came Frank who danced so light,

You could scarcely see him move;

Then Henry, well! To look at him,

Would be to much for you.

After that they sung some songs,

Which were funny to be sure,

We had no solemn things with us,

They are to much of a boor.

Then all retired for the night,

Except Eugene and George,

They rowed down to their set lines,

And found they'd caught two gars.

   

                                       By Belle.

Many years later Belle's younger brother Robert Tisdale reminisced about the trips to the Amite in a letter he wrote to Belle in 1929:

"...I would like to get a drink of water from the blue spring that comes out from under a big tree on the edge of the ravine. Lining the edge of the ravine just back of where we built the house was where the Federal troops built their dutch ovens in the ground when they went out there in 1878 to get away from Yellow Fever, and around the base of the big tree up on the bluff on the other side of the ravine was where the path wound that led to the Amite; it came out under the beech trees where we used to camp when Grandpa and Uncle Genie and you and all of us, went out there on our fishing trips. I can call up in my mind right now just how it all looked both in summer and in winter."

I can call it up in my mind, too, the golden sun sinking into the shadowy trees along the Amite River. I can almost smell the crackling fires and hear the buzz of the locusts. The beech trees and the moss-draped oaks and the sweet-smelling magnolias would cast long shadows toward the wagon. The first weekend in May would have been a pleasant time in south Louisiana for a camping trip, not too hot yet and not many bugs.

Belle mentions Uncle Jenie, Joel Eugene Pratt, and Uncle Emm, Emmett Craig, cousin Kate's father, as well as her sisters and brothers. Belle and Mary sit on a fallen tree with Uncle Jenie and Uncle Emm and watch the campfires after sunset. Perhaps little Lee and Robert sat in their laps while brothers Frank and Willie gathered fallen branches to feed the fire...a timeless scene easy for any camper to picture. 

It would have been a time to forget about the turmoil of reconstruction and the problems that were separating Belle's family.

March 14, 1867 Letter from Belle to Papa and Mama

Belle Tisdale c 1865

Belle turned twelve years old on January third, 1867. This carte des visite photo of her was made at A. D. Lytle's studio in Baton Rouge during the time she was living at her Grandma and Grandpa Pratt's Oakland Place Plantation. The original is in a carte des visite album in the possession of J. S. Sarradet.

The original letter is on 15 1/2” x 9 3/4” faintly lined paper, folded in half, with manuscript ink writing. Condition is good except for a torn corner on page 3-4. It is transcribed exactly as written. The original letter is in the possession of Vera Booksh Zimmerman.

Page 1

Oakland Place,                         

  March the 14th 1867

My Dear Papa,

          I was in A great hury when I wrote that last letter to you; because Grand Pa was in A hury to get to town. Ask Mama if she will come up here and come along with her. Bob, Aunt Bina's cat is A little, wilde because every time that Uncle Jena  sees Bob he commences to dance and that scares  Bob half to death. how are you all wee are all  well.   It  was freezeing cold last; night and it sleeted  last night, and then again this morning about A quarter of an  hour  after breakfast it turned warmer, A little, and then it  turned colder, than ever; and now iceicles About three or  four inches long are hanging on the houses.

Goodbye God bless you; your            

Affectionate daughter, Bella Tisdale.

     Page 2

PS 

     

I have not much to tell you but I thought as that last letter was so short I might as well write some more. As soon as it gets A little warmer I think; that is if the Amit is not to high we wil go and spend the day at the Amit; and if we go  I want you to come up and go with us. How is that blessed little Robert; I do wish you all had some sence, you would come up and go with us. Next Sunday Grace Mary Kate and I are all a comeing going up the road and stay until I see you all A comeing,

   Bella Tisdale

Oakland place March the 16, 1867

     My Dear Mama,

                 I have something splendid to tell you; Grand Pa is a getting up the timber to make A gin and he is a going to buy an engine to work his mill with. We say our lessons every

Page 3

day, and I work two hours every day on my slipper; and I will have it finished before next week is out; and just as soon as that one is finished I will commence the other one. Mary's ball of worsted has given out. Aunt Lizz says that there is no news yet; and Aunt Lizz sends howdy to you all.We have not had more than two or three days good weather since I have been here. Uncle Jena has gone to spend the day at Mrs. David's. Mary and Grace made A cake this morning; and what kind of egg's do you think she made them out of; I will tell you the whole truth; 

there was A goose a wa [torn]

when it [torn]

of water [torn]

that She c [torn]

that was [torn]

the goose [torn]

two or thre [torn]

he hopes th [torn]

your buisne [torn]

Page 4

Good bye God bless you      

 Your Affectionate daughter;

Bella Tisdale.

In her letter, Belle refers to Uncle Jena. This is her mother's youngest brother Joel Eugene Pratt. The family called him Jena, pronounced in the distinctive Louisiana style as Gee NAY. I can just see him doing a little jig and scaring the poor cat. I believe that Aunt Bina is Albina Pratt Durr, Grandma Pratt's sister. Aunt Lizz may be Uncle James Pratt's second wife, Mary Elizabeth Coyle. 

The Amit that Belle mentions is the Amite River just a few miles east of Oakland and a favorite fishing spot. Belle asks about her baby brother, Robert Rafael Tisdale, who was born in  New Orleans on October 24, 1866. Evidently Belle is either knitting or crocheting herself a pair of slippers. This is the only letter I know of that Belle signs Bella.

Pratts and Tisdales in the Civil War

This Carte de Visite of Belle Tisdale's Uncle Joel Eugene Pratt (1847-1932) is the only photo we have of one of Belle Tisdale's relatives in Civil War uniform. The interesting thing about this photo is that it was taken in New Orleans at E. A. Piffet's National Gallery of Art in New Orleans. The two tax stamps on the back date it to between August 1864 and August 1866. New Orleans during the Federal occupation would not have been a place to walk into a photographer's studio in a Confederate uniform, so it must have been taken after the end of the war.

Joel Eugene Pratt was Belle's mother's youngest brother. He was just eight years older than Belle. He was listed in Andrew B. Booth's 1920 Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Confederate Commands, Vol. 3, page 195 as E. J. Pratt, Private in Company I, Ogden's Louisiana Cavalry. Booth's Records database is also available at Ancestry.com. 

Eugene is also listed in “Louisiana, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865” Index at FamilySearch.org. The microfilm images of the actual muster rolls can be found on fold3.com's “Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Louisiana.” NARA microfilm publication M320, roll 29. According to Eugene's pension application of 1915 he enlisted near Clinton, Louisiana, on May 4, 1864 when he was 17 years old.

Eugene's older brother Marion Franklin Pratt (1832-1909) was also listed in Booth's Records in Company I, Ogden's Cavalry, serving as a First Sergeant. Marion had served previously during the defense of New Orleans in Company G, Confederate Guards Regiment, Louisiana Militia, from March 8 to April 30, 1862. On Marion's pension application in 1908 he says he enlisted at Baton Rouge in 1862 and served in Duncan Stewart's Cavalry, Company A, Ogden's Battalion. Muster Rolls say he was taken prisoner on 2 May 1863. He must have been paroled because he says that his unit was consolidated in April 1865 and became Company I, Ogden's Louisiana Cavalry. Marion said he received a flesh wound while fighting near Jackson, Mississippi, and spent 60 days in the hospital there.

Both Marion and Eugene are listed in Union records of prisoners of war as surrendering at Citronelle, Alabama, on 4 May, 1865, and being paroled at Gainesville, Alabama, on 

May 12, 1865. (fold 3.com) The only story that has been passed down in the family was of Uncle Marion spending some time at the Confederate Veterans Home at Beauvoir in Gulfport, Mississippi. Check out the website at Beauvoir.org  Belle's daughter and my great aunt, Vera Booksh Ventress, had a wooden spoon that he carved while he was there.

Dr. James William Pratt
July 2, 1865
Moses & Piffet Studio, New Orleans

Records for James W. Pratt (1828-1920) have been hard to find. Kate Craig Couturie in her letter of 1904 says that all three of William Pratt's sons fought in the war. (See 2015 01 15 blog post.) There were several Confederate soldiers by that name, but so far none have turned out to be Belle's Uncle James. We do know that James was a physician, so he may have served in that capacity and was not listed among the soldiers. On 29 April 1863 the Confederate government paid James Pratt in Clinton, Louisiana, $8.00 for one coffin and $2.00 for digging a grave. Also in April they paid him $9.50 for repairing the Quarter Master's Stable and $7.50 for repairing tables at the hospital. Was that Uncle James? An April 1, 1864 receipt from the Confederate Depositary's Office [sic] in Columbus, Mississippi, shows that James Pratt purchased $800 worth of Confederate bonds. Once again we do not know if this is our James Pratt. In the 1890 Civil War Veterans and Widows Schedule, James Pratt of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, is listed as a veteran, but we cannot be sure this is the same James Pratt. Belle's Uncle James survived the war and lived to be 91 years old.

Besides Belle's father, Benjamin Franklin Tisdale, and her cousin, Nathan Tisdale, whose service in defense of the city of New Orleans in 1862 has already been detailed, several other Tisdale relatives served in the Civil War and are listed in the Booth's Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Confederate Commands.

According to his obituary Nathan Tisdale left the defenses at Algiers in April 1862 and took off to find his brothers, Joseph and Richard. They were all sons of Joseph Wade Tisdale I (1808-1848) and his wife Mary Amelia Wilson (1815-1888).

Nathan Tisdale enlisted on April 23, 1862 at Algiers, Louisiana, where he was working as a ships carpenter. He was 30 years old and was a Private in Co. A, 30^th La. Infantry. He is listed as present on rolls from April 1862 to December 1862. He served on detached service at Charleston, South Carolina in May and June of 1863 and at Montgomery, Alabama from July 1863 to April 1864. While he was on detached service at Mobile from November 1,1864 to February 28, 1865, he was seriously injured during the Siege of Mobile. He is on the Roll of Prisoners of War of Quintaard Hospital, C.S.A, and was paroled at Meridian, Mississippi on May 14, 1865.

His brother Richard G. Tisdale is listed as a Private in Company F, 5^th La. Infantry. He enlisted at age 25 at New Orleans on May 3, 1861 and was in General John B. Magruder's Command in Virginia. He appears on rolls from 1861 through 1863. In July and August 1863 he was sick in Richmond. He was listed as sick in Lynchburg on Rolls from September 1863 to December 1863. The records say he “Left the Regiment sick. Not heard from since. Deserted.” In his pension application of 1906 Richard says, “I was transferred in the fall of 1863 to the Cavalry Service and continued in the Cavalry Service until close of war at which time I was under Brig. Gen.Imbodear[?]...” He says, “I was never taken prisoner until after the surrender. At the surrender our company disbanded at New Market, Va. From there I started on barefoot toward La. About 12 miles from Hartesville, Ga. While on my way home, I was captured by some Union soldiers and carried to Hartesville where I was immediately paroled.” In another statement he says that he made his way from Hartesville in May 1865 “...across the country towards Louisiana and reached home about the 10^th of June 1865...” Richard survived the war and the walk home and married Abby Mitchell in Butler County, Alabama on 24 February 1866.

Nathan's brother Joseph Wade Tisdale II was not so fortunate. He was 19 when he enlisted at New Orleans on 12 May 1862. He served as a Private in the same company as Richard, Company F, 5^th La. Infantry. He was killed on 1 July 1862, probably at the Battle of Malvern Hill on the James River in Virginia.

Eugene and Victor Tisdale, sons of Benjamin Franklin's brother Nathan O. J. Tisdale and his first wife Maria Louisa McCrae, also served in the Confederate Army and their records can be found at the National Archives and fold3.com.

Eugene was a Private in the 5^th Company, Washington Artillery Battalion. He was about 20 when he enlisted 6 March 1862 at New Orleans. He is present on Rolls in April 1862. During May and June 1862 he is listed as “Absent, sick.” He appears again on the rolls from September 1862 to February 1863. In March and April he was in the hospital at Tullahoma, Tennessee. He was admitted to the 1^st Mississippi C.S.A. Hospital at Jackson, Mississippi on 1 July, 1863 with variola, an archaic term for smallpox. The Secretary of War ordered his discharge on 7 August, 1863 and he was discharged from service on 28 September 1863.

Eugene's younger brother Victor was 18 when he enlisted as a Private in the 3^rd Company, Washington Artillery Battalion on 3 June 1863 at Mobile, Alabama. Victor is listed on rolls from August to October 1863. He was “Absent, sick at Lynchburg, since August 1, 1863.” He returned to his company on Nov. 27, 1863 and is listed on rolls from January 1864 to February 1865. He is on the list of prisoners of war paroled at Lynchburg, Virginia on April 13, 1865.

Belle's uncle, John B. Tisdale, her father's younger brother, served as a Second Lieutenant in Company A, 2^nd Regiment, Alabama Volunteer Militia. Another Alabama Tisdale cousin, also named Benjamin Franklin Tisdale, served as a Private in Company C, 46^th Alabama Infantry.