These eight letters to Amanda Armentrout Brand, before her marriage to William Brand, concern life in Lexington and in Augusta county.

Benjamin F. Cochran and his brother John H. Cochran, two Augusta County natives, wrote these wartime letters (1861) to their mother. Benjamin provides the perspective of a private in the 1st Virginia Cavalry on the defense of Virginia in 1861. John also served in the Confederate military, enlisting as a private in the 46th Virginia Infantry in 1861. You may also read the prewar letters (1861) of the Cochran family regarding the secession crisis.

Before the Civil War, William H. Dunlap served as a miller's apprentice and Samuel A. Dunlap worked as a day laborer. The prewar letters (1853-1860) of the Dunlap family primarily discuss family and other personal matters, including visiting and courtship. You may also read one wartime letter (1861) of the Dunlap family.

This collection of prewar letters (1856-1861) contains the correspondence of the Evans and Sibert families of Augusta County, Virginia. In letters to Mary Anna Sibert, correspondents discuss friends and family, feelings of melancholy, longings for heaven, courtship rumors, atrocities committed by John Brown, and leisure activities. You may also read the wartime letters (1861-1865) and postwar letters (1865-1870) of the Evans-Sibert Family.

In these two prewar letters (1858), Andrew and David Gilkeson write to their brother Hugh. They discuss farming, the recent death of their mother, business plans, and offer advice on purchasing a slave. You may also read the wartime letters (1862-1864) and the postwar letters (1865-1867) of the Gilkeson Family.

Before the war, Kenton Harper had served as a captain in the Mexican War and as a United States agent to the Chickasaws. The two prewar letters (1860-1861) of Kenton Harper, a prominent farmer, discuss his military service before the Civil War. You may also read the wartime letters (1861) of Harper Kenton.

Jedediah Hotchkiss and his family settled in Augusta County before the war, where he taught school at Mossy Creek, Stribling Springs, and Loch Willow academies. In one prewar letter (1860) of the Hotchkiss collection, U. Burrows wrote to Sara A. Hotchkiss, Jedediah’s wife, about financial matters, including a land sale. In the only other Hotchkiss prewar letter (1859), Jedediah’s mother, who lived in the North, wrote to her children about her views on slavery. You may also read a large collection of wartime letters (1861-1865) and five postwar letters (1870) of the Hotchkiss family.

John Letcher served as Governor of Virginia from 1860 to 1864. The two prewar letters (1860) to Letcher are petitions to free James McMullen, who had been convicted of grand larceny. You may also read two wartime letters (1861) addressed to John Letcher.

John Howard McCue’s father was a prominent Whig judge and attorney in Staunton. His cousin, John Marshall McCue, was also active in politics and the law. McCue’s great grandfather emigrated from Ireland to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and moved eventually to Nelson County, Virginia. McCue came from a family of ministers and lawyers; he chose the law as his vocation. McCue practiced law in Nelson County in Lovingston, just over the mountain from Staunton. His family connections and law practice carried him often to Augusta. He was appointed commissary of the 51st Virginia in 1861 and served through the war. This collection of the McCue family prewar letters (1852-1861) includes correspondents from Augusta County, such as John D. Imboden, Jedediah Hotchkiss, and various family members and friends.

Francis McFarland was a Presbyterian minister in Augusta County, where he lived with his wife and three sons before the war. McFarland’s copious diary (1859-1869) details all aspects of his life before the war and provides a particularly revealing window into the life of a minister during this period. A farmer, McFarland discusses local agriculture, the slaves that he hires for his farm, and his efforts to preach to Augusta’s black population. You may also read a prewar letter McFarland received from another minister on the question of secession, and several wartime letters (1862-1864) of the McFarland family.

George Wils wrote three letters during the winter and spring of 1861, discussing school and the secession crisis. In the first, written on January 28, 1861, George and Sam tell their mother they want to leave school and return home. George wrote a second letter, on January 28, 1861, expressing the same sentiment. In a third letter, on March 18, 1861, George chastises his sister for writing short letters and gossips about friends, acquaintances, and family. He also expresses his wish that Virginia would secede, proclaiming his southern allegiance and disparaging the “Black Republican party.”

This collection of Last Wills, Estate Valuations, and Estate Sales (1850s) was drawn randomly from the Augusta Will Book held in the Augusta County Court House in Staunton, Virginia. Men and women specified the disposition of their property, wealth, and assets through their wills. Executors listed the value of the deceased's property before sale in Estate Valuations and listed the item sold, the buyer, and the price in Estate Sales. Please note that the Wills and Estates collection is not currently searchable with the letters and diaries.

The federal government created the Works Progress Administration to address unemployment in the United States during the Great Depression. In one of these projects, writers interviewed former slaves on their folk traditions and memories of slavery and the Civil War. Two interviews from former slaves from Augusta County, Virginia, mention slave auctions, harsh treatment by former masters, and the arrival of soldiers. Please note that the WPA interviews are not currently searchable with the letters and diaries.