Valley of the Shadow
The Aftermath
Spring 1865–Fall 1870

Letters & Diaries

letters

McGuffin and Baylor Families (1854)

Before the war, Charles W. McGuffin worked as a clerk and lived in the household of merchant Preston Hogshead. Another member of the McGuffin family was a farmer and another was a cabinet maker. Brothers Charles W. and John B. McGuffin both served in the military during the Civil War. John B. McGuffin enlisted as a private in company L of the 5th Virginia Infantry on April 17, 1861. He also served in the 33rd Virginia Regiment in which he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. John died near Winchester in 1865 from wounds. Charles W. McGuffin enlisted the same day as his brother as a private in company D of the 5th Virginia Infantry. He worked in the Quartermasters Department in Winchester and Petersburg and was wounded in the back at Gettysburg. Near the end of the war, or soon thereafter, Charles married Mary C. Baylor, the daughter of an Augusta County farming family. After the war, Charles and Mary lived with David C. Baylor, probably Mary's father, on the Baylor family farm.


The following links provide access to the most likely matches in the Valley of the Shadow databases:

John B. McGuffin Household

Charles W. McGuffin Household

Geraldine McGuffin Household

Templeton McGuffin Household

George W. Baylor Household

Mary C. Baylor Household


In three letters in the immediate postwar months, members of the McGuffin and Baylor families discuss the Confederate defeat, the death of John B. McGuffin, and other family matters. Two other letters from 1883 and 1884 concern family matters, including illnesses and Templeton McGuffin’s estate.