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Notes on the Milton A. Hardin Letters
There were two Milton Hardins - cousins - who served in the same CSA Regiment and Company. The letter-writer is Milton Augustus Hardin, son of Asa. (See the Asa Hardin family Bible on this Web site.) His cousin Milton Avery Hardin was the son of John Hardin. Milton Avery Hardin's family recorded his name as Melton.
Mrs. Stewart mistakenly wrote Avery for Augustus. I substituted the correct name.
The Milton A. Hardin letters were given to Dr. Stewart or his genealogist wife, Margaret Stewart, before 1956. The Stewarts transcribed them using an old manual typewriter. Their name stamp appears on the transcription. The Stewarts added the military roster and a brief introduction of Milton A. Hardin. Many of the original letters are in the hands of a Hardin/Sloan descendant--Mark Jenkins of Comer, Gerorgia, and his cousin Jimmy Price. See Mark's Web site..
Other sources on the Web such as Ken Jones at http://history-sites.com/~kjones /tracy.html#31st-Inf record these people as Company C. I have Milton's CSA Service Card that shows he enlisted into Company B of the 31st Alabama Infantry Regiment. The date of enlistment was May 8, 1862, and he gave his age as 18. Further, many of his company's dead comrades at Vicksburg are recorded in Company B. During its history the Regiment may have been reorganized. Certainly three or four of the companies had alternate names.
As to the source of this information, Don Hardin (1913-1990), a descendant of John Hardin (1806), obtained a copy of the transcription from the Stewarts, later sending it to the Hardin Family Association, whose J. Oran Hardin of 2500 Winningham Road, Crewe, Virginia 23930 photocopied the transcription and sent it to me.
Notes on the text as published by Travis Hardin: The ellipsis (...) in the Stewart transcription apparently indicates indecipherable or omitted text, though the occasional underline also is used. Your current editor has corrected all obvious typographical errors such as extra letters in words and words run together, but NOT the language and spelling of the Stewart transcription, nor sentence run-on's. The symbols [ ] are used to insert my contemporary comments. First published on the Web March 2000 by Travis Hardin.
Last revised 28 Aug 2009