Conditions Governing Use

Materials in this collection which were created in 1863 are in the public domain. Permission to publish or reproduce is not required.

Conditions Governing Access

This letter is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16858, Louis P. Stone Letter, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from McBride Rare Books by the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 9 April, 2024.

Biographical / Historical

Louis P. Stone was born in January 1843 in New York to Lucien and Catherine Stone. He married Emma F. Hukill and they had one child together, Bessie P. Stone. He was a Secret Service operative during the Civil War. Before the war, Stone was a druggist in Cincinatti and would later become a hotel owner in Deadwood, South Dakota. He was taken prisoner in October 1861 by General John B. Floyd while across enemy lines and escaped in February 1862. He was taken prisoner again in Lynchburg, Virginia but managed to escape to Washington where he fell ill and borrowed money to return home to Cincinatti. Louis P. Stone died of pneumonia in March 1903 at the age of 50 in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Content Description

This collection contains a letter from Louis P. Stone (1843-1903) to Colonel Tracy describing his exploits as a U.S. Secret Service operative and requesting payment for his services. Stone was a U.S. Secret Service operative during the first two years of the Civil War. The "Secret Service," before officially inaugurated as the investigative branch of the Treasury Department in 1865, was the unofficial name for the intelligence services in the Union Army. The letter contains Stone's account of being taken prisoner by Gen. Floid [John B. Floyd] on October 15th, 1861, one hundred miles within enemy lines while on a secret expedition for Gen. Rosencrans. He escaped from Richmond on February 22nd, 1862. He also speaks of the hunt for Stonewall Jackson and the Battle of Cross Keys (1862) in Virginia, and of being captured again and held in Lynchburg, Va.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Prisoners of war -- United States
• Secret service
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Correspondence
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
• United States History Civil War 1861-1865