This is an interesting T-33 PF-7. I am still doing research, but 2nd Lt. R. S. Desportes was an officer from South Carolina, James Battalion, Company G. I believe he was wounded during the Seven Days battles, but I'm not sure if that was the time. I found a reference to him in a Jewish ancestry database online. If anyone has any information, please let me know.
It reads - "This is one of the first bills I received for my endeavors to hurl back the northern tide of dishonor and subjugation". Indeed.
I received the following information from a descendent of Lt DesPortes who wrote on the back of this T-33.
Richard Smallwood DesPortes of Winnsboro in Fairfield County, South Carolina, was indeed in Company G of James Battalion, 2nd South Carolina regiment. He entered the war as a lieutenant, and fought through the entire conflict, surrendering I believe in North Carolina with his unit in 1865. He was my paternal great-great uncle, and most of what I know of "Uncle Dick" was told to me by my grandfather John T. Campbell.
According to grandaddy, Richard DesPortes ended the war with a captain's rank and little else, as did most Southerners. He was allowed to keep his horse, which he traded for two bales of cotton in Columbia. This somehow led to his opening a dry goods operation there with a partner. The DesPortes Dry Goods Co. became successful, and Uncle Dick died in 1898 in Columbia a prosperous businessman. The company itself continued to exist, at least on paper, until 1938, according to family correspondence.
Capt. DesPortes' photograph is on Page 359 of Walter Edgar's excellent research work "South Carolina: A History". It is the only photograph of a uniformed Confederate soldier in the book.
