Ira Roe Foster
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Ira Roe Foster (January 9, 1811 – November 19, 1885) was a teacher,
medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
, attorney, soldier, businessman, and politician from
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
. During the 1840s, Foster served as brigadier general in the Georgia Militia. In 1861, the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
began when the
state of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States. It borders Tennessee and North Carolina to the north, South Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Florida to the south, and Alabama to the west. Of the 50 U.S. states, Georgia i ...
and six other
slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were prohibited. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave s ...
s declared their intent to secede and form the
Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...
. Foster was appointed Quartermaster General of the Confederate state of Georgia. He continued to hold the position of Quartermaster General after the collapse of the Confederacy and the end of the war. He remained active in Georgia state politics into the Reconstruction period. Foster was also elected as the first mayor of
Eastman, Georgia Eastman is a city in Dodge County, Georgia, United States. The population was 5,658 at the 2020 census, up from 4,962 at the 2010 census. The city was named after William Pitt Eastman, a native of Massachusetts who purchased a large tract of l ...
. He served in the
Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...
and was elected to the
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s of both Georgia and
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.


Early political life and careers

Ira Roe Foster was born on January 9, 1811, on the
Tyger River The Tyger River is a stream in the U.S. state of South Carolina, and a tributary of the Broad River. It is part of the Santee River Basin. It is a generally shallow and narrow river. Pollution in the north fork was the source of dispute in '' ...
, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, to Ransom and Nancy Foster. He became a school teacher at an early age, then studied medicine and practiced in South Carolina. Foster moved to Georgia, likely in the later 1830s after Indian Removal, settling in Forsyth County. He was elected as a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
to the
state senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...
, representing Forsyth County for one term, from 1838 to 1839.Smith, Gordon Burns, ''History of the Georgia Militia, 1783–1861, Volume One, Campaigns and Generals'', Boyd Publishing, 2000, p. 292 In 1841, Foster became a licensed lawyer in
Cherokee County, Georgia Cherokee County is in the US state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 census the population was 266,620.US 2020 Census Bureau report, Cherokee County, Georgia The county seat is Canton, Georgia, Canton. The county County commissio ...
. He was elected as that county's State Representative to the legislature. On September 2, 1845,
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
John H. Lumpkin wrote to
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James K. Polk James Knox Polk (; November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of Jacksonian democracy and ...
, urging President Polk to appoint Foster to a consular position in the
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. Lumpkin reminded the President that ''the whole of the Georgia delegation'' supported Foster's application. Foster did not receive the appointment. In addition to being a merchant and attorney, Foster maintained extensive business interests in land and
flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
and
saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
s in north-central Georgia and Alabama. In early 1850, he also invested in the ''Dahlonega and Marietta Turnpike and Plank Road Company''.


Military service

During the Seminole Indian War in 1836 in Florida, Foster served as a colonel of a mounted infantry. He was seriously wounded and carried on a litter for 50 miles. He recovered and joined the Georgia Militia in 1842, becoming aide-de-camp for the Commander-in-Chief. Foster was subsequently commissioned brigadier general of the 2nd Brigade of the 7th Division in 1845.


Quartermaster General of Georgia

The Confederate-aligned
governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's Georgia National Guard, National Guard, when not in federal service, and Georgia State Defense Force, State Defense Fo ...
, Joseph E. Brown (to whom Foster had been both a friend and a political confidant) appointed Foster as Georgia's Quartermaster General on May 18, 1861, during the early months of the American Civil War. His assistant was Edward M.B. Galt, whose title was Chief of Ordnance, charged with supervising the forging and turning of gun barrels. On May 21, 1861, within days of his appointment, Foster appealed to the women of Atlanta to meet at City Hall and "prepare one hundred uniforms for soldiers preparing to leave for Virginia." In the fall of 1861, the need to obtain clothing for the Confederate Army was (temporarily) satisfied by the establishment of Quartermaster's depots. Garment shops were set up and shoe shops built to manufacture needed military supplies. Georgia companies fighting in Virginia sent men back to their state to collect clothing and blankets for the troops. Adjutant-General Henry C. Wayne instructed Foster to "proceed personally, or by duly accredited agents, into all parts of the state, and buy 25,000 suits of clothes and 25,000 pairs of shoes for the destitute Ga. troops in the Confederate service." Apart from that brief period in 1861 when supplies were adequate, Georgia soldiers were chronically in need of basic essentials. In December 1862, the
Georgia Legislature The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directly ...
appropriated $1,500,000 for the purchase of military clothing and blankets. Anticipating the inadequacy of that measure, it also authorized Governor Brown to seize factories and supplies, as needed. The Governor executed the order, but authorized Foster to pay sellers 10% and manufacturers 25% of the value of their seized goods. Foster, in the course of his duty, appealed to the people's "love of liberty" in meeting the demands placed upon them. While Foster's actions benefited the troops, the effect on civilians was harsh. According to the ''
New Georgia Encyclopedia The ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'' (NGE) is a web-based encyclopedia containing over 2,000 articles about the state of Georgia. It is a program of Georgia Humanities (GH), in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System ...
'', "The Quartermaster Department's persistent purchases (or impressments) of the bulk of the state's textile and shoe manufactures left civilians facing intense scarcity and exorbitant prices. These conditions often led to accusations of profiteering." While civilians may have faced scarcities and high prices, conditions for many Georgia soldiers were far worse. In late August 1863, following the
Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...
, one Georgia colonel forwarded a requisition to Foster "in which he reported his command as destitute of everything". Men in his unit had worn out two pairs of shoes on the Northern march, and "all faced the prospect of frostbite, pleurisy, or pneumonia in the coming winter." By this period of the war, Gettysburg historian John Heiser observes:
Georgia... had clothing depots in Atlanta, Columbus and Athens where uniforms based on a state-adopted pattern were manufactured, gathered for inspection and shipment to Richmond where these items were then distributed to Georgia units serving in Lee’s army.
Foster's level of organization in Georgia did not, however, result in the smooth flow of supplies, once they left the state. Heiser notes that
the logistical nightmare of getting clothing to Richmond warehouses followed by transport to the army caused countless shortages and more often than not, soldiers were forced to improvise by acquiring clothing through other means.
By 1864, the situation had become even more desperate. Writing to Foster on January 24, 1864, General
James Longstreet James Longstreet (January 8, 1821January 2, 1904) was a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War and was the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Ho ...
noted:
There are five Georgia Brigades in this Army – Wofford's, G.T. Anderson's, Bryan's, Benning's, and Crews' cavalry brigade. They are all alike in excessive need of shoes, clothing of all kinds, and blankets. All that you can send will be thankfully received.
The duties of the Quartermaster General required, on occasion, a degree of clandestine activity, both to ensure the security of textile mills, and to prevent mill owners from shipping their goods to out-of-state buyers. According to Dr. Harold S. Wilson:
The sources of dangers to the mills was not always clear. In June 1864, Enoch Steadman's Lawrenceville factory in Georgia inexplicably burned. This company worked exclusively upplying finished goods for Georgia soldiersfor Governor Joseph E. Brown, but Georgia quartermaster Ira Foster was forced to keep it under surveillance to ensure that the state received its goods. One of Steadman's employees arned himthat Quartermaster Foster had 'parties watching your concern and he has expressed the belief that you are sneaking and that he says he will have goods or blood.'
The Quartermaster General did not limit his efforts to supplying material to Georgia troops. On July 31, 1863, in an effort to thwart Union recruitment of foreigners, Foster wrote to
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Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
, proposing that the Confederacy send foreign-born "men of talent" to their native lands, especially to
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
"to write, speak, and in every way labor to disabuse the minds of these deluded Europeans" about inducements made by Union recruiting agents. Foster worked to maintain supplies and clothes for Georgia soldiers throughout the war, and continuing in his office even after the collapse of the Confederacy.


Appealing for socks

As Quartermaster, Foster attempted to secure supplies from every source. In December 1862, according to
University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
professor and historian Kenneth Coleman, Foster "appealed to every woman in the state of Georgia to send him a pair of socks for the army." Another notable effort was the campaign to secure 50,000 socks from organizations such as the "Young Ladies' Patriotic Society" (pledging one garment a week from each member) as well as from individual girls and women of Georgia. In October 1863, Foster placed announcements in newspapers throughout the state, asking for contributions. He pledged to make available an ample supply of
yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. '' Thread'' is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern ...
for those knitters willing to undertake the task, but lacking in material. Foster also asked them to attach their names to their work, so that a complete and detailed record could be maintained of each contribution and contributor. In his request, he expressed hope that the socks would:
Cheer our soldiers, discourage desertions, hurry off able bodied furloughed men to the front and stimulate them to prefer honorable deaths in the face of the enemy, to dishonest lives prolonged by shrinking from duty.
On December 24, 1863, a notice was placed in the ''Savannah Republican'' by one Carrie Bell Sinclair, poet and president of the local Ladies' Knitting Society, stating:
Having received from the Quartermaster General a large supply of knitting thread, members of the Society, or any one interested in the soldiers, can be supplied by calling on me any time during the week. We have been unable to supply all who have come forward and entered their names as members of the Society, having been entirely out of thread for the last two or three weeks. But we have now on hand enough for eighty or ninety pair of socks, and we hope those interested in the matter will come forward now and assist us in getting them done as early as possible. With the beginning of the New Year, let us renew our efforts in behalf of the suffering soldiers, and do all that we can for their comfort.
Foster's sock campaign stimulated the supply of the much needed item, but may have also met with a certain amount of suspicion and
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. Rumors of
profiteering Profiteering is a pejorative term for the act of making a profit by methods considered unethical. Overview Business owners may be accused of profiteering when they raise prices during an emergency ( especially a war). The term is also applied to ...
by the Quartermaster's office had circulated earlier, when Foster's purchases and impressments of textiles and shoes had driven up the price of goods. Foster claimed that new rumors, which he denied as a "malicious falsehood!", had spread that he and his department were profiteering from the socks. It was alleged that contributed socks were being sold, rather than given freely to the troops. The charge would not have been without precedent. The historian Jeanie Attie notes that in 1861, an "especially damaging rumor" (later found to be true) had circulated in the North, alleging that the Union Army had purchased 5000 pairs of socks which had been donated, and intended for the troops, from a private relief agency, the
United States Sanitary Commission The United States Sanitary Commission (USSC) was a private Aid agency, relief agency created by federal legislation on June 18, 1861, to support sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army (Federal / Northern / Union Army) during the Ameri ...
. As the Sanitary Commission had done in the North, Foster undertook a propaganda campaign in Georgia newspapers to combat the alleged rumors and to encourage the continued contribution of socks. He offered $1,000.00 to any "citizen or soldier who will come forward and prove that he ever bought a sock from this Department that was either knit by the ladies or purchased for issue to said troops."


The Battle of Atlanta

Leading up to the
Battle of Peachtree Creek The Battle of Peachtree Creek was fought in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia on July 20, 1864, as part of the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. It was the first major attack by Lieutenant General, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood since taking comma ...
during the Atlanta campaign, Foster's home was occupied by General A.P. Stewart (CSA), who made it his headquarters.
Georgia Historical Commission The Georgia Historical Commission was an organization created by the U.S. state of Georgia for purposes of historic preservation. The Georgia legislature created it in February 1951 to promote and increase knowledge and understanding of the his ...
marker 060-90, erected at that location, states:
Site of the Ira R. Foster house which was occupied as headquarters by Gen. A. P. Stewart, SAduring military operations N. of Atlanta, July 16–21, 1864. From here were issued the orders directing his troops in the Battle of Peachtree Creek, July 20.
After Atlanta's capture by Union forces, a refugee settlement was established in Terrell County for civilians forced to flee the city. The ''Fosterville'' settlement, named after the Quartermaster General, was according to author Mary Elizabeth Massey, the "most ambitious refugee project approved by the Georgia General Assembly" uring that period On March 11, 1865, the
Georgia General Assembly The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each of the General Assembly's 236 members serve two-year terms and are directl ...
authorized General Foster to "continue to provide for maintenance of said exiles, or such of them as are unable by their labor to support themselves, or their families for the balance of the present year."


The capture of Milledgeville

After the
fall of Atlanta Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...
, General
William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...
began his March to the Sea. The route, from Atlanta to
Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
took the left wing of Sherman's army to the city of Milledgeville, Georgia's state capital. With the fall of Milledgeville imminent, Governor Brown ordered Foster to remove state records from the city. The task proved to be difficult, undertaken in the midst of chaos as Federal troops closed in on the city.''Georgia Land and People''.(1919) p.158
at archive.org
The records were stored at a "lunatic asylum" three miles outside of town. A train was held at the depot to facilitate their removal. But in the bedlam of panicked citizens fleeing the city, labor was difficult to find.


Arrest and Union commission

In 1865, Foster traveled to Virginia, where he was imprisoned by the Union Army for his service to the Confederacy. However, in recognition of his abilities, he was subsequently released and commissioned by the Union army to distribute livestock and supplies throughout Georgia. In his ''History of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881'', the historian I.W. Avery remarks:
In many particulars the Federal soldiers acted very cleverly. Gen.
ames H. AMES, short Air Ministry Experimental Station, was the name given to the British Air Ministry's radar development team at Bawdsey Manor (afterwards RAF Bawdsey) in the immediate pre-World War II era. The team was forced to move on three occasion ...
Wilson turned over to Gen. Ira Foster the Confederate mules, horses, wagons, and harness, for distribution to the poor, and Col. J.H.R. Washington of Macon, was associated with Gen. Foster to aid in the distribution.
On June 24, 1865, in General Order #31, General Wilson expressed appreciation to Foster and Washington, and relieved them of their
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, placing the task with Capt. R. Carter, A.Q.M., Cavalry Corps
Military Division of the Mississippi The Military Division of the Mississippi was an administrative division of the United States Army during the American Civil War that controlled all military operations in the Western Theater from 1863 until the end of the war. History The Divisio ...
.


Personal life and later years

Foster married Mildred Arthur Creighton Crooks in 1842. They had four children: Amalthea Camilla, Erycenia Penthecelia, Nancy Lucinda Creighton, and Marcus Lucuius. In 1867, Foster moved his family to Georgia Mountain,
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
, where he owned six miles of Tennessee River front farming land, a large portion of the mountain and a saw mill, purchased before the war. Simultaneously, Foster operated a saw mill in
Dodge County, Georgia Dodge County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2020, the population was 19,925. The county seat is Eastman. Dodge County lies in the Historic South and Black Belt region of Georgia, an area that ...
, building a residence there in 1869. Foster participated in the area's saw mill boom, which was said to average one mill every two miles, along the industrial corridor created by the
Macon and Brunswick Railroad The Macon and Brunswick Railroad ran from Macon, Georgia to Brunswick, Georgia. Its construction was interrupted by the American Civil War, and initially only ran from Macon to Cochran, Georgia. The gauge line was completed and extended to the ...
. In his book ''The New South Comes to Wiregrass Georgia 1860–1910'' author Mark V. Wetherington states: "Ira R. Foster shipped lumber to Brunswick, where it was loaded onto timber schooners and transported to international markets like Liverpool, Rio de Janeiro, and Havana." When the city of Eastman was incorporated in 1872, Foster served as its first mayor. Foster was also elected to the position of state senator in Alabama. He moved to Gadsden in 1883 when his wife died. There he built a two-story colonial home on the
stage coach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
route, in an area which became known as Foster's Cross Roads. In the
Alabama Senate The Alabama State Senate is the upper house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alabama. The body is composed of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, with each district con ...
, Foster was regarded as a reformer, supporting efficiency in state operations such as the consolidation of county
poor farm A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. Workhouses In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), "workhouse" has been the more ...
s into regional centers. His efforts, however, were largely thwarted by "localist sentiment" and the indifference of his fellow legislators. Foster continued to serve in the Alabama Senate until his death on November 19, 1885."History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography", Thomas McAdory Owen, Mrs. Maria (Bankhead) Owen, S.J. Clarke Company, Alabama: 1921, Biographical Sketch of Ira Foster Roe, p. 603.


See also

* Atlanta in the American Civil War * Blockade runners of the Civil War - Supplying the Confederacy * Confederate States Army - Supply and Logistics * General James H. Wilson *
Georgia during Reconstruction At the end of the American Civil War, the devastation and disruption in the state of Georgia were dramatic. Wartime damage, the inability to maintain a labor force without slavery, and miserable weather had a disastrous effect on agricultural prod ...
*
Georgia in the American Civil War Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia was one of the original seven Slave states and free states, slave states that formed the Confederate States of America in February 1861, triggering the American Civil War, U.S. Civil War. The state governor, De ...
* Irish Americans in the American Civil War *
Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces Each branch of the Military forces of the Confederate States, Confederate States armed forces had its own Dress uniform, service dress and fatigue uniforms and regulations regarding them during the American Civil War, which lasted from April 12, ...


References


Further reading

*Jeanie Attie, ''Patriotic Toil: Northern Women and the American Civil War'', Cornell University Press, 1998. The role of Northern women as volunteers and contributors of material in the Civil War. *I.W. Avery, ''The History of the State of Georgia From 1850 to 1881, Embracing the Three Important Epochs: the Decade Before the War of 1861-5; the War; the Period of Reconstruction'', General Books, LLC., 2010. The people and events in the History of Georgia 1850 - 1881. *William Le Duc, ''This Business of War: Recollections of a Civil War Quartermaster'', Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004. Logistical details of supplying the Army of the Potomac. *Richard D. Goff, ''Confederate Supply'', Duke University Press, 1969. Actions of the War Department in supplying the armies of the Confederacy. ASIN: B0006BWTQQ *Mary Elizabeth Massey, ''Women in the Civil War'', University of Nebraska Press. 1966. An impartial history of the work done by women on the homefront, of both the North and South, during the Civil War. *Joseph H. Parks, ''Joseph E. Brown of Georgia'', LSU Press, 1999. Biography. . *Harold S. Wilson. ''Confederate Industry: Manufacturers and Quartermasters in the Civil War'', University Press of Mississippi, 2002. Though mill-owners opposed the formation of the Confederacy, they served it reasonably well and overcame the extensive difficulties of dealing with quartermasters' demands and the evolving Confederate bureaucracy.


Correspondence collections

*''Ira Roe Foster Papers, 1862–1865,'' finding aid created by Rob S. Cox, May 1996, and Philip Heslip, October 2009 (Manuscripts Division, William L. Clements Library: The University of Michigan - James S. Schoff Civil War Collection) – a collection of 105 war-time letters (1862 to 1865). *''Ira R. Foster papers 1844-1873'' (Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library: The University of Georgia) – the collection consists of correspondence of Ira R. Foster from 1844-1873. Correspondence deals with his duties as Quartermaster-General of Georgia during the Civil War, The Georgia lumber industry (Terrell County, Georgia) and personal and family matters. Correspondents include C.R. Armstrong, Joseph E. Brown,
Howell Cobb Howell Cobb (September 7, 1815 – October 9, 1868) was an American and later Confederate political figure. A southern Democrat, Cobb was a five-term member of the United States House of Representatives and the speaker of the House from 1849 to ...
, D.H. Mason, William H. Stiles, and ''The Southerner and Commercial Advertisers''. *''Joseph Emmerson Brown Letters'' (AlabamaMosaic: The University of Alabama) - the collection contains twenty-three letters from Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown to Ira R. Foster,


External links


A plea for supplies - Letter from Lt. Col. S. H. Walkup to North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance''Civil War Industry and Manufacturing'' - New Georgia Encyclopedia(Civil War) ''Socks for Soldiers'' - Newark Advocate - September 18, 2011''Life in Dixie During the War''
(1893) - Mary A.H. Gay -
Digital Library of Georgia The Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) is an online public collection of documents and media about the history and culture of the state of Georgia, United States. The collection includes more than a million digitized objects from more than 200 Georgi ...

National Park Service - ''Plowshares into Swords''
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20131111234855/http://www.uttyler.edu/vbetts/socks.htm Socks, Stockings, and other Knitted items - Articles from Civil War Newspapersbr>Letter from Governor Joseph E. Brown, Milledgeville, Georgia, to General Ira R. Foster, February 15, 1864

Knittingdaily.com - ''Sock Knitting in the Civil War'' (Mar 14, 2012 by Kathleen Cubley)

7th Virginia Cavalry Quartermaster Documents - A Civil War Collection Virginia Military Institute ArchivesUnion Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs - New York Times (''America's Quartermaster'') April 12, 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Ira Roe 1811 births 1885 deaths Alabama state senators American people of the Seminole Wars American militia generals United States Army officers Businesspeople from South Carolina Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state) Businesspeople from Alabama Georgia (U.S. state) state senators Mayors of places in Georgia (U.S. state) Physicians from South Carolina Members of the Georgia House of Representatives People of South Carolina in the American Civil War People from Spartanburg County, South Carolina Quartermasters South Carolina lawyers Politicians from Gadsden, Alabama 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century Alabama politicians 19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly