66

Henry C. Dickinson.

Letters of a young Virginia attorney on the eve of war.

Liberty (now Bedford), VA, 1857-1861
12 Autograph Letters Signed to his father and grandfather in Kanawha, WV, most about 10 x 8 inches with minor wear. With 11 related receipts and promissory notes, 1859-1863

  • Notes: Henry Clay Dickinson (1830-1871) was a young attorney in the western Virginia town of Liberty. As civil war neared, he wrote these letters to his father and grandfather in what would become West Virginia, urging them to move the family's enslaved workers further south in preparation for war. A few samples:

    "Our court adjourned last night. The slave charged with killing Mrs. Musgrove is to be hung" (30 July 1858). 

    "Grandfather . . . is day by day more in the idea of sending his slaves to Texas" (12 November 1858). 

    "What does grandpa propose to do with his slaves? Is it safe to delay moving them further south? I fear that 90 days more will bring us upon squally times. It is well enough to remember that Alabama has passed a law unanimously arming the state for secession in the event of Lincoln's election. . . . He who doubts this will produce civil war has I think too much confidence in the power of the federal government. . . . I should like (if I had a large slave property) to have it removed at least a few hundred miles from the battle field! " (25 September 1860). 

    "I have been for some time looking around for a Negro woman who cooks well, but can find none for sale here. If a fair cook can be had at a moderate price in Kanawha, I will send you the money to buy her." (30 September 1860). 

    The final letter in this lot is the most dramatic, dated a month before Fort Sumter on 11 March 1861: "I returned from Richmond where I had been for a few days trying to find out what Virg'a would do. . . . Virg'a will not secede, unless the western men yield under the pressure of Lincoln's inaugural address." He cites the authority of "Jubal Early, Union leader" (and soon to be a Confederate general). "There seems to be no just grounds to anticipate war, Lincoln being powerless to collect the revenue & both parties being anxious to avoid an encounter. The pressure here for secession is very great. . . . I understand that many persons in the east are preparing to move off their Negroes." 
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