Valley of the Shadow
The Eve of War
Fall 1859–Spring 1861

Letters & Diaries

letters

John Letcher (1860)

John Letcher served as the Governor of Virginia from 1860 to 1864. He was elected in 1859 running on the Democratic ticket, defeating Whig William Goggin. He also had previously served as a congressman from 1851 to 1859. Letcher died in 1884 at the age of 70.

The two letters in this collection are petitions to Letcher, then the governor of Virginia, to free James McMullen, who had been convicted of grand larceny.