(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Wellford, William. A plantation owner laments the arrival of Union troops...

(CIVIL WAR--CONFEDERATE.) Wellford, William. A plantation owner laments the arrival of Union troops and the loss of his slaves. Autograph Letter Signed to daughter Parke Farley Rogers of Middlebury, VA. 6 pages on 2 mismatched 8vo sheets; minor wear. With the original envelope (no postal markings). Farley Plantation, VA, 24 June 1862

Letter written by the owner of Farley Plantation. Wellford purchased Farley in 1843, remaining until 1863; the house was used by J.E.B. Stuart as headquarters in 1862, and as a Union headquarters by General John Sedgwick in 1863. Wellford notes the difficulties in the face of the Yankee incursion into the area: "The Manassas Rail Road was more strictly guarded by the Yankees & that they arrested every one they could find traveling with baggage & that he thought it would be . . . absolutely impossible for me to get you, your children & servants out of Loudon. You possibly may not have heard that since my return to Farley, old Robert & Julia have run off taking with them my most valuable horse, Badeur & old Humphrey left about the 25 May & I have not heard of them or the horses since."