Dabney-Jackson Collection, 1716, 1744-1867

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:

Dabney-Jackson Collection, 1716, 1744-1867. Accession 24816, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Summary

Creator:
Charles William Dabney
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Dabney-Jackson Collection, 1716, 1744-1867. Accession 24816, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of the papers, 1716, 1744-1834, of the Dabney family of Hanover, King William, and Louisa Counties, Virginia, and the papers, 1815-1867 (bulk, 1847-1867), of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863). These papers were compiled by Charles William Dabney (1855-1945) from various sources including his father, R. L. Dabney (1820-1898), Stonewall Jackson's chief of staff who used the papers to write Life and Campaigns of Lieutenant-General Thomas J. Jackson (1866).

Principally consists of letters written by, to, or concerning Dabney family members, the chief individuals being William Dabney (1718-1776), Revolutionary War officer Charles Dabney (ca. 1744-1829), his wife Elizabeth Dabney, George Dabney (1760-1843), Samuel Dabney (1752-1812), James Dabney, Charles William Dabney (1786-1833), and former Virginia Lieutenant Governor John Guerrant (1760-1813). Within this series there are also Dabney family accounts, affidavits, agreements, certificates, deeds, indentures, military reports, Revolutionary War military land warrants, plats, powers of attorney, receipts, and an oversize copy of the Articles of Capitulation signed at Yorktown on 19 October 1781.

Principally contains Civil War military correspondence, military orders, military and battle reports, military commissions, and personal correspondence to, from, and concerning General Stonewall Jackson. Personal correspondence includes extracts of letters from Stonewall Jackson to his second wife Mary Anna Morrison (1831-1915). Also in this series, there are letters written to R. L. Dabney after Jackson's death, memorandums, military records concerning Stonewall Jackson's involvement in the Mexican War, narratives of Confederate officers concerning Stonewall Jackson, newspaper clippings, and Jackson family promissory notes and receipts.

Biographical / historical:

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was born 21 January 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia, to Jonathan Jackson (1790-1826) and Julia Beckwith Neale Jackson (1798-1831). He attended West Point and became an instructor at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Jackson married first Elinor Junkin (1825-1854) on 4 August 1853. After her death during childbirth, Jackson married Mary Anna Morrison (1831-1915) of North Carolina on 16 July 1857. They had two daughters, Mary Graham Jackson (b. 1858) and Julia Laura Jackson (1862-1889). After Jackson's death 10 May 1863, Mary Anna Jackson returned to North Carolina. She became known as the "Widow of the Confederacy" and became the honorary president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She wrote about her husband and traveled about speaking on him. Mary Anna Jackson died 24 March 1915 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898), Presbyterian clergyman and teacher, was an educator associated with Hampden-Sydney College and with the Union Seminary of Virginia at Farmville, Virginia, 1836-1837, 1844, and 1853-1883. He married Lavinia Morrison (1828-1908) in 1855, and together they had several children including Charles William Dabney (1855-1945). During the Civil War he served with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, first as a chaplain with the 18th Virginia Infantry Regiment in 1861, then as an officer and chief of staff for Stonewall Jackson in 1862. After Jackson's death in 1863, Dabney wrote a biography of the general entitled Life and Campaigns of Lieutenant-General Thomas J. Jackson (1866). He was the son of Charles William Dabney (1786-1833) and Elizabeth Price Dabney, and the brother of Charles William Dabney (1809-1895), who served during the Civil War, in 1861 and 1862, as the captain of Company C, 15th Virginia Infantry Regiment.

Charles William Dabney (1786-1833) was the son of Samuel Dabney (1752-1812) and Jane Meriwether Dabney. Samuel Dabney was the son of William Dabney (1718-1776) and Ann Barret Dabney. Charles Dabney (ca. 1744- 1829), a son of William Dabney, served as an officer during the American Revolution in the 2nd Virginia State Regiment.

Acquisition information:
Lent for copying by Charles William Dabney, ca. 1928-1929.
Arrangement:
Arrangement

Chronologically with undated items at the end of the series.

Chronologically with undated items at the end of the series.

Organization

Organized into the following two series: I. Dabney Family Papers, 1716, 1744-1834; II. T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson Papers, 1815-1867 (bulk, 1847-1867)

Organized into the following two series: I. Dabney Family Papers, 1716, 1744-1834; II. T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson Papers, 1815-1867 (bulk, 1847-1867)

Arranged chronologically

Arranged chronologically

Physical location:
Personal Papers Collection, Acc. 24816
Physical description:
.675 cubic feet