Isaac F. Thomas Papers, 1861-1864

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Isaac F. Thomas Papers, 1861-1864. Accession 42854. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Originals in the collection of the Emory & Henry College Archives, Emory, Virginia.

Summary

Creator:
Thomas, Isaac F., 1837-1906
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Isaac F. Thomas Papers, 1861-1864. Accession 42854. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Originals in the collection of the Emory & Henry College Archives, Emory, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Letters, 1861-1864, from Isaac F. Thomas (1837-1906), of the 45th Virginia Infantry Regiment, Company C, to his parents, Wesley (b. ca. 1804) and Elizabeth Thomas (b. ca. 1801) of Grayson County, Virginia. Thomas's letters find him in Botetourt, Giles, Shenandoah, and Wythe Counties, Virginia; and Berkeley, Fayette, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Mercer, and Monroe Counties, (West) Virginia. Topics include the movements of the 45th Virginia and the Grayson Cavalry (8th Virginia Cavalry, Company C), the unit to which his brother Osker Thomas (b. 1834) belonged; the health and safety of various acquaintances; his recovery from typhoid fever; encounters between Confederate and Union scouts in the area; reports of various skirmishes and larger engagements, including fighting around Winchester, Virginia, in the summer of 1864, and the 9 May 1864 Battle of Cloyd's Mountain; camp life; prices and the value of Confederate currency; and his assignments as a nurse and commissary at a CSA hospital in Red Sulphur Springs, Monroe County, and a ferryman at New River in Narrows, Giles County, Virginia. The last letter is dated 20 August 1864, a few weeks prior to Thomas's being taken prisoner at the Third Battle of Winchester, Virginia, on 19 September 1864. Also included are copies of Thomas's service record from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and a biography of him written by two of his grandchildren.

Biographical / historical:

Isaac Franklin Thomas was born 21 October 1837 near Fries, Grayson County, Virginia, the son of Wesley (b. ca. 1804) and Elizabeth Thomas (b. ca. 1801). He enlisted with the Confederate States Army on 29 May 1861 in Wytheville, Virginia. Later that year, Thomas contracted typhoid fever, and spent some time as a hospital patient. Upon recovery he stayed on at the hospital as a nurse, and then commissary and steward. In the spring of 1862, he was assigned duties as a ferryman on New River at Narrows, Virginia, where he spent most of his service until mid-1864, when he began moving north with his unit. Thomas was captured at the Third Battle of Winchester, Virginia, on 19 September 1864, and sent to prison at Point Lookout, Maryland. Official records state that he was exchanged on 15 March 1865, but his descendants dispute this, saying he was never paroled or exchanged, but escaped and returned home to Grayson County on foot about June or July 1866. He married Nancy Saunders Perkins on 1 January 1867. Isaac Thomas died on 10 June 1906.

Acquisition information:
Loaned for microfilming by Emory Henry College on 18 September 2006.
Physical description:
1 reel of microfilm