Letter from Silas Stepp to his wife informing her of his capture by the Yankees in 1864 and later describing details of captivity.
Silas H. Stepp Letters, D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville.

This collection provides electronic facsimiles and transcriptions of the 17 letters. The originals have been retained by the family. Some supplemental photocopied information has been provided with the letters and is included in a folder for the benefit of researchers. 

Oct. 3, 1916.

Transcribed, proofed, and corrected by Dr. Michael Ellis, Missouri State University, June 2012

Silas Stepp, a Confederate soldier in the Civil War was born ca. 1823.  He was the brother of Azor, Elizabeth (a twin of Azor), Joshua, Fidillia, and Joseph. Stepp was married to Eleanor Nellie Fortune, who was born March 3, 1825.  Her brother Ben was also a soldier, and her sister was Lydia Fortune Brown.  Stepp and Eleanor had five children, Joseph, Ellen, Billy, Mary, and Silas Jr. .  Thomas Stepp, was the grandfather b. 1853.

At the time of the 1860 Federal Census, he and Eleanor were living on their Swannanoa farm with their five children (the last name is spelled "Step" in the 1860 Census).

 On April 27, 1863 in Buncombe County,  Silas Stepp enlisted in the Confederate army in Company D, 7th North Carolina Calvary Battalion.  During the war North Carolina was the only state that did not provide clothes for their soldiers, and all Confederate troops had to provide their own mounts, upon entering the Battalion Stepp brought a horse from home.  On August 3, 1863 Stepp was transferred to Company C, 6th North Carolina Cavalry Regiment (65th Regiment State Troops).  In early 1864 Silas asked his brother-in-law, Ben, to take his place in the war. Ben had been discharged earlier due to unknown reasons, and never returned to the war.

On June 22nd, 1864 Silas was taken prisoner at Jackson’s Mill, North Carolina, while scouting the area.  He was sent to New Berne on June 23^rd for four days, and then on to Fort Monroe.  A day later he went to Point Lookout, Maryland for a week and then ended up in Elmira Prison in New York.*  His brother Fidillia was also imprisoned with him in Elmira.  In his letters from prison, Stepp reported that he was in good health and that he was being treated well, however, his health deteriorated and he contracted pneumonia and chronic diarrhea which led to his eventual death in prison. He died on January 2, 1865 and was buried in Elmira.  His brother Fidillia survived the prison and the war.

In August 19, 1897 his wife Eleanor died and was buried in Tabernacle Church Cemetery in  Buncombe County.  All of Silas’s siblings except for Joshua survived the war.

*Note: Conditions at Elmira were very poor. The prison, only used for two years, was designed to hold approximately 5000 prisoners but during the peak of the incarceration, the prison held some9400 soldiers. Health conditions quickly deteriorated and before its closure, some 3000 soldiers died while imprisoned.