Ross family. Correspondence, 1861-1864.
Title:
Correspondence, 1861-1864.
These letters were written primarily to members of the Ross family residing at "Wilmington," Fluvanna County, by other family members in the military service of the Confederacy. Written from camps and battlefields in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, the letters tell of the war and ask of family and friends. The principal correspondents are Nathaniel W. Ross, W. Daniel Ross, James E. Ross, and Richard P. White. Other letters are from J.B.T. Bragg, J.M. Bragg, R. Bragg, Ben C. Richardson, Nela F. Ross, B.I. White, and Luther C. White. Most of the letters are to Mrs. Frances H. Ross (mother), Lucy W. Ross (sister), Mary Eliza Ross (sister), Nela F. Ross (sister), and J.E. Ross (brother). Others are to Nathaniel W. Ross, John Bragg, William P. Ryals, and Luther C. White. The Ross brothers, James Eastin, Nathaniel W., and William Daniel, and their cousin Richard P. White, joined one of the five companies organized in Fluvanna County: Company C, Fluvanna Rifle Guard, assembled by Cpt. R.H. Poore, a lawyer from Palmyra. The company became part of the 14th Virginia Regiment, which moved from a camp on Jamestown Island, to Camp Curtis at Land's End, to Camp Randolph, in Suffolk, Petersburg, Falling Creek, New Guinea Station near Richmond, and thence north into West Virginia and Pennsylvania. A description of General Pickett inspecting the troops is in one of the last letters, since two of the brothers, William Daniel and James were killed at Gettysburg July 3, 1863, in Pickett's Charge. The letters capture the mood of the ordinary soldier as he comments on camp conditions, news from the front, reactions to newspapers accounts of the war, and, in a few cases, first-hand observations of action. There is a brief mention of the use of free negroes to build earthworks and batteries at Mulberry Island (now Fort Eustis) and a negro in camp is hired to do laundry.
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