John Joel Tew (Joel John on tombstone) enlisted as a sergeant in Company K, 51st Regiment North Carolina Troops on April 4, 1862, ten days before his 26th birthday. In December 1862, Tew was elected Third Lieutenant of Company K. In September 1863, he was appointed Second Lieutenant. Tew was badly wounded in the left arm while commanding his company at Cold Harbor. He did not rejoin Company K until January 1865.
The transcript below is copied from the Spared and Shared website. Images of the letter accompany the transcript. Spared and Shared is a terrific repository of Civil War letters. I highly recommend you pay them a visit. https://sparedshared23.com/2023/05/10/1863-john-joel-tew-to-francis-matilda-elizabeth-tew/
Camp Florida
Near Wilmington
May 9th 1863
Dear Sister,
I can inform you that we are back in Old North Carolina again at last & is tolerable well. Hoping these lines may early reach & find you in the best of health. We reached Wilmington on Sunday night at ten & you can not imagine how glad the men was to get back. We are now 25 miles from the City on Topsoil Sound in the nicest camp we have been since we have left old Fort French & the rest of our Brigade is at French now.
I can inform you that I received a letter from you & Father Monday before we left town & I was glad to hear that you were all well but very sorry to hear of the accident that had happened to Mother. I hope that she will soon be well & not happen to such another.
I have not got anything interesting to write to you at this time—only we are highly spoken of by the commanding generals of Charleston & I am glad to think that so worthy a man as General Beauregard thinks something of us. But I fear it will occasion us to go to Virginia soon.
There has been a battle at Fredericksburg but I have not heard from it more than we gained the victory & drove the enemy back across the [Rappahannock] River. I have heard of two Brigades that was in the fight & Iverson’s was not mentioned in it & I hope it was not in the fight at all. I think if it had been & they did not all get killed, they would have written before now. But I shall patiently wait the result of the battle knowing that if Samson is killed or wounded, there is one above to protect him in his troubles.
You can tell Father that I am going to write to Gent. — Strickland this week or this evening about that money & if he does not pay it, proceed as I directed. Give case to Smith & not show my letter to Mr. Strickland any more. I never got the letter that he sent to me in Georgia. You may tell the gent plainly that I will not let him off at what it is now at. He sunk me & blew at least one thousand dollars. The suit will be damage. I am yours as ever, &c. — J. J. Tew