96
●
(CIVIL WAR—CONFEDERATE.) McDole, Sarah.
Family letters of a
Virginia woman during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
23 manuscript letters,
various sizes, moderate wear.
Vp, 1853-72
[300/400]
These letters were written to and from Sarah M. (Wier) McDole of Pittsylvania, VA. Most
notable are two letters she wrote in July 1862 to her husband William, a private in the
Virginia Light Artillery, informing him that their 7-year-old son John had died: “It was a hard
struggle to give him up . . . He is better off, he is at rest.” Another letter from her brother John
in Cooksville, MS dated August 1864 describes the loss of his own son. Most of the remaining
letters were written to Sarah after the war, as the Wier family dispersed across the south due to
the disruption of Reconstruction. The collection includes letters from Alabama, Mississippi,
Kentucky, Georgia, and South Carolina.
97
●
(CIVIL WAR—CONFEDERATE.)
Papers of Miles W. Abernathy during
the war.
18 items, various sizes and conditions.
Vp, 1856-72
[200/300]
Miles Washington Abernathy (1801-1877) was a prosperous farmer in Jacksonville, AL. This
collection includes 10 of his tax returns from 1856 to 1872. The pre-war returns include up to
24 slaves, broken down by age groups. Two 1865 CSA returns are for bacon supplied as “Tax
in Kind.” The collection also includes 3 1864 CSA bond receipts, 3 receipts for corn and flour
supplied to the CSA in 1864, and an account book for wheat collected in Alabama by CSA
agent J.B. Forney (relationship unknown).
WITH
—3 unidentified cased daguerreotypes * and
a larger archive of business and personal records of Abernathy’s son-in-law Horace Lee
Stevenson (1843-1922), a Jacksonville attorney, dated mostly 1882-1899.
98
●
(CIVIL WAR—CONFEDERATE.) Sill, Edward E.
Letter by a Confederate
staff officer in the prelude to Fredericksburg.
Autograph Letter Signed to his sister.
3 pages, 9 x 5
3
/
4
inches, on one sheet; short closed separations at folds.
Fredericksburg, VA, 24 November 1862
[300/400]
Edward E. Sill (1831-1905) of Kershaw County, SC was a Confederate staff officer. “The
Yankee picketts were posted on one side of the river, and ours on the opposite side. In some
places the picketts were not more than 60 or 70 yards from each other. They were quiet and
friendly as the orders were not to fire without an attempt was made to cross the river. . . .
Generals Lee & Longstreet are both here, and in case of a fight they are fully prepared to meet
the enemy and I have no doubt as to the result, as we have an admiral position. The men are
poorly off yet for shoes, as they cannot be got. Numbers of them are entirely barefooted.” Sill
was correct about the battle, even without knowing about the Union blunders to come.
99
●
(CIVIL WAR—CONFEDERATE.)
Small archive of Virginia officer Charles
B. Tebbs, including letters, commissions, and a muster roll.
5 manuscript items,
various sizes; minor wear.
Vp, 1859-61
[600/900]
Charles B. Tebbs (d. 1867) was captain of the Loudoun Guards in the Virginia militia, which
became part of the 17th Virginia Infantry at the start of the war. He later transferred to the 8th
Virginia as Lieutenant Colonel, resigning from the service in April 1862. This archive
includes: A letter from C.B. Tebbs, Jr. dated at Warrenton, 14 January 1861, urging: “Please
run for the Convention. Mr. Ball is too slow. The fact is, he is fighting for time. Wrong! If all
South wld unite, we might get terms we cld accept. It is only chance. Delay & inaction is dis-
union forever.” * A manuscript muster roll of the Loudoun Guards with C.B. Tebbs as
captain, undated but shortly before the company’s April 1861 incorporation into the 17th
Virginia Infantry * Letter to Captain Tebbs, authorizing the Loudoun Guards to elect a third
lieutenant, 21 December 1860 * Commission as militia captain signed by Governor Henry
Wise, 16 November 1859 * Commission as Lieutenant Colonel on the active volunteer forces,
signed by Governor John Letcher, 28 June 1861.
I...,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48 50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,...194