Collections : [Washington and Lee University, Leyburn Library]

This collection consiste of Alexander Sterrett Paxton's journals in six volumes (484 p.)during the American Civil War. They cover his service as a member of the 4th Virginia Infantry of the Stonewall Brigade, including his role as a Commissary Sergeant of the regiment. Journal entries explore the war experiences of a Confederate foot soldier and include: his insights into motives for war; observations and descriptions of ranking officers, fellow soldiers, friends and family; detailed accounts of battles and campaigns; and experiences in hospitals and camps, including a few pencil-drawn maps of Stonewall Brigade camps (1861-1862). Volume 6 includes a month-long dream journal that Paxton kept in 1864. The collection also includes correspondence between Paxton's second wife, Mary Frances Tapscott Paxton, and her family; ten pre and post-war photographs of Paxton, his brother, Joseph McClung Paxton and other family members (Tapscott family and Lilley family of Augusta County, Va.); and a ca.1860 fraternity/secret society bylaws document handwritten by Paxton.

The collection consists of eight bound diaries written by Andrew Hollinger and addressed to "The Team;" one binder of typed original poetry; and eight folders containing correspondences, materials related to Washington and Lee University, the ROTC Program, and Psi Upsilon fraternity, and a number of Hollinger's financial papers.

This collection consists of personal papers of the Blain family of Albemarle County and Williamsburg, Virginia, including the Civil War period diary (1861-63) of school teacher Mary Randolph Blain. The diary, written near the York River in Gloucester County, Va. provides a picture of civilian life both in that area and in Williamsburg, Va. where her parents lived during the period. Also included are two letters written from Randolph Harrison Blain, brother of the diarist and a member of the Confederate Kanawha Horse Artillery commanded by Captain Thomas E. Jackson, to their mother Susan H. Blain, describing the military situation in and around Lewisburg, West Virginia in the fall of 1863; a letter written from Mrs. Susan Blain to her daughter dated May 23rd 1864 sharing local news and mentioning the Battle of New Market; an unidentified multipage account of Confederate actions in the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864 possibly authored by Daniel Blain, brother of Margaret and Randolph and an Ordinance Officer in the 1st Virginia Artillery at the time, written on May 18, 1864 documenting the previous two weeks ; a typescript letter from Charlottesville, Va. lawyer and Civil War veteran Micajah Woods to Randolph H. Blain on their shared war service; a typescript muster record for Thomas E. Jackson's Battery of Horse Artillery compiled at the end of the war, and an unidentified manuscript war period list of captured Confederate prisoners after the "Battle of Williamsburg" (Va.) presumably in 1862. The list includes name, unit information, rank, and whether "exchanged" or "died".

This collection consists of photocopies of four letters, a reprint of the diary of Fanny Stone, which she kept while living in Cairo during the war of 1882, obituaries for Charles Stone, a magazine article about him, a photograph copy of Jennie Stone and John Stone as children, and an original manuscript copy of a certificate issued to Stone on May 10, 1880 from the Vice Counsel General of the United States.

This collection is a handwritten copy by Cornelia Peake McDonald of her 'A diary with reminiscences of the war', from March 1861-1865.

This a a collection of diaries of William Couch Davis, Jr., and his wife, Mary Anderson Davis, including accounts of William's jobs in France (1917-19), Cuba, Savannah, and Norfolk. They include many details about the Davis family of West Point, Virginia. One of Mary's diaries covers their first married year (1924-25) in Cuba and others cover their trips (1935-1959) out west in Canada and to Central America and Europe.

This collection includes 54 miscellaneous letters, 1821-1866; diaries and financial records McFarland kept while he was a missionary and during his two pastorates, 1823-1836, and 1841-1871, at Bethel Presbyterian Church, Augusta County, Va.; lecture notes taken while a student at Princeton University; and printed biographical sketches and engravings of McFarland.Correspondents include Stonewall Jackson, George Junkin, William Spottswood.

This collection consists of a diary kept by Frank Smith Reader between March-June 1864. In it, he describes the march up the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the burning of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), the pillaging that took plage in Lexington, and the march to Lynchburg. Reader also documented the weather, his daily duties, the conduct of officers, the 9th West Virginia Cavalry, the 5th West Virginia Cavalry, Ringgold Battallion, and Averell's Division. He also compares the appearance of the Shenandoah Valley, its homes and people with conditions existing at the time of his march through the same territory in 1862. Additional topics include the following: capture of Piedmont by McNeill, "Porte Crayon," skirmishes with McNeill and Imboden, enemy engagement, desperate fighting and the retreat from Mt. Jackson, General Hunter replacing General Sigel, the military capabilities of Hunter and Sigel, Crook's victories in the Kanawah Valley, Hunter's campaign, burning houses, subsisting off the country, engagement at Staunton, the death of Confederate General W. E. Jones, Governor Letcher's home, the destruction of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, the start to White Sulphur, being taken prisoner and marched under guard to Calihan's Station, being in jail in Covington, and the possibility of being sent south.

This collection consists of papers from the state of Georgia. it includes 84 miscellaneous items, such as legal documents concerning sales of slaves (1806-1855); Georgia naturalization paper (1809); law brief of a suit against the Habersham Iron Works and Manufacturing Co. (1843); requisitions and receipts for Civil War provisions (1864-1865); oath of allegiance (Sept. 1, 1865); broadside (July 31, 1863) There are four items from French settlers in Augusta, Savannah, and St. Mary's, Georgia: slave bill of sale, 1807; letter from Victoire Vincendiere to Mlle. Dugas de Vallon, 1826; letter from Chavenet to M. De Beauregard; July 24, 1820; and journal of a French merchant, 1811-1812.

This collection contains photocopies of a diary by Givens Brown Strickler written while he was a prisoner of war at Johnson's Island during the American Civil War and four photographs of the diary.