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Christopher C. McKinney Letters
The McKinney group comprises five letters, all written by McKinney to his wife Mary in Petersburg. Four of the letters, dated 31 August to 27 November 1861, were written from present-day West Virginia, where the 8th Tennessee was attached to the brigade of Daniel L. Donelson in the Confederate Army of the Northwest. The final letter was written on 16 February 1862 from South Carolina, where Donelson's brigade had been sent in December to help contain the Federal enclave around Port Royal. McKinney often speaks of matters pertaining to his faith. He was himself an elder in the Presbyterian church — and like many religious men, he found camp life morally reprehensible. As he writes on 16 February 1862: "Mary I am sorry to say that many in the army who were professors at home do not act like porfessors here. Many are gone they are ruined cards whisky and profanity have got them." The prevalence of gambling, drinking, swearing, and other vices make the army "one of the most degrading places I ever was, the Grocery not excepted."
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