Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has been assigned to the Alexandria Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Alexandria Library. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Alexandria Library as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of copyright in items created by the donor. Although copyright was transferred by the donor, copyright in some items in the collection may still be held by their respective creator(s). For further information contact the Alexandria Library, Local History and Special Collections.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Fragile handwritten documents. Handle with care.

Custodial History

This collection was transferred to Local History/Special Collections, Alexandria Library from the Lloyd House (Alexandria, VA.).

Preferred Citation

[item identification], Captain Rufus D. Pettit Papers, MS093, Alexandria Library, Local History and Special Collections, Alexandria, Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of DeeAnn Rowe, May 1, 1984.

Accruals

Gift of Janice Pettit Anderson, 2019

Biographical / Historical

Rufus D. Pettit was born in Bridgewater, New York in 1825. Captain Rufus D. Pettit was Superintendent of Military Prisons (1864-1865) in Alexandria, Virginia during the last two years of the Civil War. He previously served as an artillery officer commanding Company B of the 1st New York Light Artillery, but after the Battle of Chancellorsville he resigned due to poor health on May 20, 1863. He then joined the Invalid Corps, which later became known as the Veteran Reserve Corps. This formation was a body of Union troops utilized for lighter duty than front-line fighting. In this unit Pettit oversaw Union prisons in Alexandria, Virginia. Pettit was appointed a Captain in the Invalid Corps by a letter from Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton dated February 6, 1864. He died in 1891 in New York.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of hand-written letters to and from Captain Pettit regarding the prisons and prisoners in Alexandria, military orders, supply lists and ration orders, receipts, and prison reports Pettit drafted for his superiors. The five prisons in Alexandria were Alexandria Jail, Odd Fellow's Hall Prison, Slave Pen Guard House, Washington Street Military Prison, and Prince Street Military Prison. These prisons were used primarily to confine deserters from Union armies.

Topics include: military prisons, Union deserters, court-martials, supplies, rations, leave passes.

Items of note: There is a letter signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton dated February 6, 1864 to Pettit appointing him a Captain in the Invalid Corps.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged by document type, then chronologically.

Related Material

Papers of Rufus D. Pettit are also located at the Library of Congress and Onondaga Historical Association in New York.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Jails -- Alexandria (Va.)
• Military deserters
• Military life -- 1860-1870
• Pettit, Janice A.
• Prisoners -- Alexandria (Va.)
• Rowe, DeAnn
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865