A Just and Holy Cause?: The Civil War Letters of Marcus Bethune Ely and Martha Frances Ely

A JUST AND HOLY CAUSE? details the life of the family of Lieutenant Marcus Bethune Ely and his unit, the Russell Guards (Co. H, 54th Georgia Regiment.) The Russell Guards were organized in Columbus, Georgia by Captain Charles R. Russell in May 1862. Most of the recruits were from Muscogee and Harris County. Ely's letters are filled with accounts of happenings from the spring of 1862 until late April 1864 in the coastal area from below Savannah, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina. Letters from Ely's wife Martha describe day-to-day life as well as hardships at home. In late April 1864, the Russell Guards boarded a train in Hardeeville, South Carolina and arrived in Dalton, Georgia, as Sherman's forces swept in from Tennessee and became involved in battles in Dalton, Dug Gap, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, and others in the Atlanta area. After the fall of Atlanta, they marched into Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi.