Rebecca’s Letters–A Saga of a Confederate Family

Back in the late 1990’s my friend Lafayette Claude Eaton, Jr. published a book entitled “Rebecca's Letters, A Saga of a Confederate Family”. Claude and I became friend through correspondence researching my Wife family line – the Pridgen’s of Warren County, North Carolina. This friendship lasted until his death in April 2005.

The letters contained within the book were Civil War era letters written by Candis Arrington, Elizabeth Blount, Burrell Pitchford Davis, George Washington Davis, Isham H. Davis, Matthew S. Davis, Pettie Bet Davis, Rebecca Pitchford Davis, Elizabeth Davis Pitchford, Matilda Hinton Cheek Pitchford, Samuel Waite Pitchford and Benjamin Franklin Powell.[1]

The Book was 340 pages and 18 pages of index. A check on-line shows that the letters or copies of the letters are also on file at the University of North Carolina - The Southern Historical Collection at the Louis Round Wilson Collection Library as:

Collection Number: 03328-z

Collection Title: Rebecca Pitchford Davis Letters, 1855-1899.

Their extract reads:

“Rebecca Pitchford Davis (1812-1900) of Fishing Creek, Warren County, N.C., was married to Edward Davis (fl. 1861-1865) and had sons who served in the Confederate Army. The collection includes a mimeograph of typed transcriptions made of letters from Rebecca Pitchford Davis to her sons in the Confederate Army, 1861-1865, concerning family and neighborhood news and farm activities of her husband, Edward Davis; six letters, 1863, from these sons in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; eight personal and family letters before and after the war; and other items. An index and notes are included.”[2]

Burrell Pitchford Davis (1833-1901) is my deceased wife (1939-1998) second great grandfather. 

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in any of the family names mentioned above or if you are interested in the participation of  North Carolinian in the Civil War. 

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[1] Lafayette Claude Eaton Jr., Rebecca's Letters: A Saga of a Confederate Family, first (Vallejo, CA 94591-42: Self-published, 1998), preface.

[2] http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/d/Davis,Rebecca_Pitchford.html; Rebecca’s Letters, in the Rebecca Pitchford Davis Letters, #3328-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.