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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Sallie Leeper Scott Letter, Ms1989-092, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Sallie Leeper Scott Letter was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in 1989.
The processing and description of the Sallie Leeper Scott Letter commenced and was completed in February 2022.
Transcript available online.
Sallie Leeper Scott, daughter of John and Sallie Norris Scott, was born in Lower Chanceford (York County), Pennsylvania on September 2, 1847. By 1870, Scott had married house carpenter Robert James Barnett (1844-1905); the federal census for that year shows the couple living in York County with a young daughter. The 1880 census records the Barnetts still living in Lower Chanceford, with children ranging in age from nine years to eight months. Sallie Scott Barnett died in York County, Pennsylvania on July 28, 1926, and was buried in Pine Grove Presbyterian Church, Airville (York County).
This collection consists of a single letter written by Sallie Leeper Scott, of Lower Chanceford (York County), Pennsylvania to Robert J. Barnett of the chief carpenter shop at 17th & K streets, Washington, D. C., during the American Civil War. Written April 15-16, 1865, the letter focuses largely on personal news and local activities. Scott identifies Barnett as her "well wisher & lover" and thanks him for the recent letter which she found "very interresting & exceptable" and informs Barnett that she was in bed when she received it. She advises Barnett that there are plenty of jobs available locally, as work continues on the canal. She reports the recent marriage of William Moor and Mary Hickman, then adds some suggestive comments: "I dont know what gussie will Do know when wil moor as she Calls him is gone unless you Come up & hold her once a Week[.] but if that dont pleas You I expect if you are to come Home you could get in to a job Of sleeping with mary jane snyder for i expect she has to sleep by her self since john went to the Army." She then refers to a letter recently "forwarded from the president A Lincoln," but the reference is probably to a shared joke. "[T]he next one he sends to me," Scott continues, "he had beter not get you to write it & i wont be so sure to know that it come from you my Dearest friend & only lover & loveing Bob." There is no mention of Lincoln's recent assassination, suggesting that Scott had not yet heard the news. The letter is accompanied by a stamped, patriotic "The Union Forever" envelope, addressed to Barnett.
The guide to the Sallie Leeper Scott Letter by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).