The Boyds were a farm family from the Diamond Hill area of Abbeville District, South Carolina. The head of the family was a widower named Robert Boyd, who was born in Ireland ca. 1800. The collection includes letters written by Boyd’s five sons: Daniel, William, Robert Pressly, John Thomas, and Andrew while serving in the Confederate Army. Daniel, Pressly, and Andrew Boyd served in Co. D, 7th South Carolina Infantry. William Boyd served in Co. G, 1st South Carolina Rifles (Orr’s); John Thomas Boyd served in Co. G, 19th South Carolina Infantry. Of the five Boyd brothers, only Daniel survived the war. There are also letters by a son-in-law, Fenton Hall, who served in the 6th South Carolina Cavalry (Aikens Partisan Rangers). William Boyd was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gaines Mill on July 27, 1862. Robert Pressly Boyd was killed near Harper’s Ferry in September 1862, at the beginning of the Maryland Campaign. John Thomas Boyd was killed at Murfreesboro on December 31, 1862. Andrew Boyd was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864 and died on May 30. Fenton Hall was killed in a skirmish near the coast of South Carolina in July 1863.