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Confederate Nurse's Letter to Colonel Henry B. Davidson Pleading to Take her Brother Home. . ...
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Description
Confederate Nurse's Letter to Colonel Henry B. Davidson Pleading to Take her Brother Home.Two pages, 5 3/8 x 8 inches; "American Hospital" [the American Hotel in Staunton, VA]; July 12, 1863. A letter from Laura V. Arnold to CSA Colonel Davidson pleading for a furlough to take her brother home. Per her account, she had been nursing him for weeks and had received word that her mother was ill and was anxious to take her brother home. In large part:
"I make one more appeal to you this morning in behalf of my brother - who has been very ill for ten weeks and has just gotten so that he can be moved home and I have nursed him all through his illness and it so hard that I have to go home without him when he has been kept from his home so long by the yankees and I received a dispatch this morning from home stating that my mother is very ill and wants me to bring my brother and come home as soon as I can get...make this an exception his furlough for his mothers sake for she is ill an wants to see him so bad he has his papers from general Lee sending him from Richmond to Stanton so that he could get to his home and he belongs to Lees body guard and I am sure that he would not censure you if he knew the case for he is a man of feeling. I would telegraph to him if I posably could do so if will allow him to go I will pay his transportation to Winchester...Very Respectfully yours Laura V. Arnold."
Although she does not mention her brother by name, we were able to identify him as John Wesley Arnold. Arnold enlisted at Winchester as a private into Company A, Virginia 5th Infantry. He transferred to Company A, Virginia 39th Battalion Cavalry (Lee's Bodyguard) in October 1862. He was listed as a POW on December 20, 1862 in Warrenton, VA; and as absent due to illness on August 31, 1863 in the Civil War Database. He survived the war and was paroled in Winchester on April 19, 1865.
The American Hotel was one of two buildings repurposed by the Confederate Army for use as a hospital in Staunton. The American Hotel was primarily used to receive and triage incoming sick and wounded. Despite the considerable distance from Gettysburg, both the American Hotel and the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind received a considerable number of wounded after the Battle. Though Arnold's brother was likely not a combatant but suffering from a long illness incurred during his time as a POW.
Condition: Gently toned with both showthrough from the verso and ink transfer. A strip of mounting remnant along the right margin on the verso just touches the text.
Auction Info
2025 December 8 Arms & Armor, Civil War & Militaria Signature® Auction #6325 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2025
8th
Monday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 1
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