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.
[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.
