Collection of Confederate correspondence relating to Colonel Henry Brevard Davidson

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA

COLLECTION OF CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO COLONEL HENRY BREVARD DAVIDSON

An album of correspondence, orders, memoranda, and other papers relating to the headquarters and activities of CSA Colonel (later Brigadier General) Henry Brevard Davidson, approximately 245 items (some multiple pages) on a variety of paper stocks and sizes, 1862–1866, but only a very few post-dating the Civil War, the papers in a contemporary album, each tipped to a mounting stub; individual condition varies: some browning, staining, and fading, some marginal tears and fraying, especially to larger items, occasional text obscured by the mounts. The album very worn with both covers lacking.

An unusually complete documentary record of a Confederate command. Henry Brevard Davidson, born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 1831, served as a teenager in the Mexican-American War and earned an appointment to West Point. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1853. Davidson served with distinction on the Western Frontier, but he resigned his commission in 1861 and joined the Confederate Army, initially ranking as a captain. After serving on several generals' staffs, he was taken prisoner at the Battle of Island Number Ten in April 1862, being exchanged four months later. He was then appointed as the colonel in command of the military post at Staunton, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, and most of the material in the present collection dates from this posting. Most of the papers are incoming correspondence, but a few retained copies of Davidson's own letters are included.

The collection begins with a series of letters and orders concerning the American Hotel in Staunton being converted to a field hospital. In a 25 September 1862 letter to the Medical Director at Richmond, Davidson explained that "the wounded men … are coming in so fast" that he had to move some of them into the hotel even though it was not yet properly staffed. The hospital indeed remains the principal topic under discussion for several months. Among other matters that Davidson had to deal with were complaints about ill behavior by soldiers, including their occupation of the Presbyterian Church; complaints of spoiled stores; arranging transport not only for troops but for visiting dignitaries; finding housing for prisoners; considering requests for furlough; maintaining inventories of ordnance; and distributing signs and countersigns for pickets. Counted among Davidson's correspondents are Secretary of War George W. Randolph, Secretary of War James Seddon, Confederate Surgeon General Samuel P. Moore, General William E. "Grumble" Jones, General Jubal Early, and General Joseph Wheeler, the latter of whom had Davidson arrested for insubordination; Davidson was subsequently assigned to General L. L. Lomax. A number of letters and documents from February to May 1864 deal with the friction between Wheeler and Davidson. (For four letters from General Robert E. Lee to Davidson, please see lots 2190–2193.)

Some of the most significant documents in the collection include a remarkable message from Captain D. H. Wood, 24 September 1862, stating that "The Secretary of War has forbidden the transportation of the remains of deceased Officers & Soldiers at the expense of the Government"; a letter from General Jones, 12 April 1863, asking Davidson to postpone a leave since his "presence may be required to defend Staunton" from a Union attack; the order for Davidson's arrest, 13 February 1864, together with General Wheeler's accompanying letter of explanation; Davidson's commission as Brigadier General, 18 August 1863; and an autograph document signed by Davidson and countersigned by Union General George Lucas Hartsuff, Greensboro, North Carolina, 26 April 1865 (following Joseph Johnston's surrender to William Tecumseh Sherman), pledging that he and fourteen other Confederate officers and soldiers listed "have given their solemn obligation not to take up arms against the Government of the U.S. … and they are permitted to return to their homes. …"

INVENTORY OF LOT 2180, COLLECTION OF CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO COLONEL HENRY BREVARD DAVIDSON

NB: The recipient of all correspondence can be assumed to be Col. Davidson, unless otherwise noted
LS = manuscript, or clerical, letter signed
ALS = autograph letter signed
A photograph of any item here described can be provided upon request.

1. Major Samuel Melton, ALS, Richmond, 17 September 1862, regarding logistics of moving soldiers presently in Richmond to join Gen. Lee in the field.
2. Samuel Moore, Confederate Surgeon General, LS, Richmond, 29 September 1862, to Davidson, regarding his occupation of the American Hotel.
3. Clerical copy of General Orders No. 44, Richmond, 17 June 1862, regarding the return of medical officers to their regular duties.
4. Clerical copy of a circular letter from Surgeon General Moore, Richmond, 31 August 1862, prohibiting the detachment of medical officers from...