Conditions Governing Use

The materials from Washington and Lee University Special Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited with the source. Permission for publication of this material, in part or in full, must be secured with the Head of Special Collections.

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation: [Identification of item], William Beverley Pettit Correspondence, Coll. 0199, Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA. In some cases the citation format may vary. Please contact Special Collections staff to verify the appropriate format.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of J. Nathaniel Hamrick.

Biographical Note

William B. Pettit, an attorney from Fluvanna, Va., was Commonwealth's Attorney for the district, 1864-1872; President of the Virginia Bar Association, 1898; and member of the State Constitutional Convention, 1901-1902.

Scope and Contents

This is a collection of correspondence between William B. Pettit and his wife Arabella ('Bell') with scattered letters from other friends and relatives. The letters that date from 1850 to March 1862 include correspondence between husband and wife while Pettit was away on business. The war letters begin in March 1862 and end with Pettit's last war letter to his wife on March 3, 1864. After that date there are letters from Pembroke, the Pettit's son, while he attended school at Ashland, Va. The turn of the century correspondence concerns Confederate Veterans' activities and post-war business correspondence. Also included are newspaper clippings, one photograph, and the obituary of William B. Pettit (1905). The collection also includes Pettit's Civil War manuscript diary, 1862-1864, and account book. These two books are bound together.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Biography
• Confederate States of America. Army. Virginia Artillery. Fluvanna Artillery
• Correspondence
• Diaries
• Personal narratives -- Confederate
• Pettit, Arabella Speairs
• Pettit, Pembroke
• Pettit, William Beverley
• Soliders
• Virginia
• Virginia -- Fluvanna County